Trip 2001
Northbound Up The Intercoastal Waterway
This details Leo's and Mona's cruise aboard Snug as they explore the Intercoastal
Waterway between Florida and the Chesapeake Bay.
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5-17-01
We made a safe crossing of the Gulf Stream yesterday..Starting out from
West End Grand Bahamas the winds and waves were more then we would have
preferred
but after 35 miles both diminished . It took us 10 hours to do the
77 miles. We are in Stuart, Fl where we will remain until Mom and
Helen arrive next Tues..Then we will cruise to the following Wed when Mom
and Helen will fly from Orlando to Dm.
5-23-01
My Mother and sister Helen arrived yesterday. We spent the night in Stuart
and left aboard Snug at 9am this morning. Rain and thunderstorms were all
around us but no actual storm was where Snug was. The area of the ICW were
are in now is the Indian River famous for citrus. Many million dollar homes
line the river. We are spending the night in Fort Pierce. We
filled Snug with 212 gals of diesel. We can go 1600 miles now without more
fuel.
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5-24-01
This is the second travel day for Mom. Yesterday we went from Stuart,
Fl to Fort Pierce. Today we are in Sebastine Inlet Marina. Docking
was a challege to overcome the 15 mph wind and back into the slip next
to the restaurant's overhang. Again there was a threat of thunderstorms
that didn't materalize. Snug as usual performed well. Again
Mother was able to see the homes of the upper class.
5-26-01
We are in Smyrna Beach, FL today. We have only 16 miles to Daytona.
We are trying to get a slip at a marina between here and there
for tomorrow or we will stay here tomorrow. We have been running
our portable generator to produce electricity for the air conditioner and
for mom oxygen making machine. She is doing great and enjoying the scenery.
5-28-01
We are at Halifax Harbor Marina in Daytona Beach, FL We have had
a great trip. Travel on the ICW this weekend is not recommended but
not dangerous. Lots of wake from speeding boats. We will leave
from here going to St Augustine on Thurs morning. Mom and Helen return
to Iowa Wed at 730am.
6-3-01
Today was a great day. Up at 530 on the waterway by 6am. We were
mostly alone until 10am. The homes were in our class so our fantasies
were more realistic. Lots of wildlife. The surrounding area
is mostly marsh which looks like mature oats. It is something to see a
boat off in the distance it looks like it is on land but moving. Then you
can see the stream of water they are cruising on. We went 55 miles by 1pm
never exceeding 2000 rpm our normal speed of 6.5 mph. We had a strong
current with us much of the day. Stopped at Amelia Island borrowed the
courtesy car and went shopping at WalMark, Scotties and Wenn Dixie. I just
gotup from my 1 hour nap, now to BB.
6-10-01
We remain in Beaufort, SC. It is nice here so we don't mind being
here. We have had a series of minor problems with the boat.
We hope to leave Tues am. Tomorrow we hope to get a part that will
send us on our way.
6-13-01
We are still in Beaufort, SC Four tornatoes passed very close last
night. Today the winds are 25 and gusting. Hopefully we will
leave in the morning. We spent two hours setting on the basement
floor in a bank building converted to a restaurant. along with 50 others.
All is well.
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6-15-01
We are in Georgetown, SC We are making 60 miles per day. We
get up at 530 am and leave at 6am and finish between 2-4pm hopefully missing
any afternoon
thunderstorms. So far so good. We saw 4 alligators today.
6-16-01
We are in North Myrtle Beach,last stop in SC. Saw only one alligator
but lots of Ospreys. All is well.
6-18-01
As usual the dock was behind us by 0600(tha't o'dark hundred for you military
types) The sunrise was lovely, the first time we
have seen the sun for several
mornings because of the weather Allison has been giving the coastl
Made all the restricted swing bridges with little delay. The Camp
LeJune firing range was not in use today, and we saw a wild boar wandering
along the shoreline. In Swansboro tonight and then
a short run to Oriental, NC tomorrow. A favorite place! Will
have screen replaced on the "smiles" on the fantail and relax a wee bit.
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6-19-01
We are in Oriental, NC. We saw a wild boar walking along the water edge.
The pay phone at the marina has a data port that permits access to email
accounts. Wish all marinas had this. Weather is hot. We appreciate
our air conditioning. We won't leave Marsh Harbour so late (May 9)
next year.
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6-21-01
We are in Columbia, NC and expect to make Norfolk VA this weekend. We are
on Alligator River. The marina is a Texaco fast food restuarant.
We were the
2nd one here at 1215pm and now there are 50 boats. Hamburger Steak
dinner with two vegatables is $5.99. Chicken, roast beef, crabs, osyster,
shrimp etc
also available. Tomorrow we cross Albemarle Sound.. It is only
15 miles across but can be hazardous. We plan to leave by 6 am before
the thunderstorms and high winds come.
6-24-01
Today was a good day. We started at 6am and finished by 930am.
We traveled thru Norfolk harbor and saw aprx 200 US Navy ships , air craft
carriers, subs
etc. We also passed large container ships.. We are in the
Sailing Center for the US Navy courtesy of Mona's ex who was a military
person for 30 years. We start up the Cheseapeake Bay tomorrow.
6-25-01
Yesterday Sunday we went to the Naval Base theater and saw Pearl Harbor.
We thought it excellent and were happy we saw it. We left 545 am and had
a rock
and roll trip. The forecast was forseas 1-2 with NE winds 10-15 we
had 3 ft seas and 15-20 mph winds. It wasn't dangerous but not our
preference. We are
now in Deltaville, VA one of our favorites a lot like Oriental, NC
primarily a fishing community.
6-26-01
All days should be like today. Ideal cruising day. We are in
Sollomon's Island, MD tomorrow in Annapolis at Bert Jabins Yard #2 where
we will be for a month. Son Bob will be on the boat with us for a
week starting this Friday. Doug will be with us for a couple of days
over the fourth. Then Mona and I will drive to
Pittsburg PA to visit friends Skipper Bob and Elaine. Then we
will go gunkholing on the Cheasepake Bay off and on until we go to Norfolk
to store the boat and return to DM on July 29th.
6-27-01
We arrived in Annapolis at 1200 noon after a pleasant morning cruise from
the Sollomons. We are Bert Jabin's Yard #1 at 7310 Edgewood Rd.
It is a much
better marina then Yard #2 was last year. We will be here a month.
I probably won't send as many daily logs but any of you should feel free
to call us on our cell phone as we always have it with us. Sometimes
calls don't go thru but usually we get a voice message soon after the call
when we are on digitial and we are.
7-4-01
Tonight we will be in a dingy with Dick Gilbert and Julie Gammack at the
mouth of the Savern River in Annapolis by the Naval Academy watching the
fireworks. The city has a barge they anchor in the harbour from which
the launch their fireworks. Bob and Doug are kayaking this morning
then Mona and I are joining them and Bob's friend from work at her house
for lunch. Mona and I have so many new toys we need to reorganize the boat.
7-15-01
We are back home aboard Snug after spending most of a week with Skipper
Bob and Elaine. We enjoyed our visit with them and happy to find
that a year and half of landlubbing has not changed them one iota. Elaine
and Mona recovered the cushions in the main salon then we toured the surrounding
community near Pittsburgh including the Amish communities. Now we will
enjoy a week of being a tourist in Annapolis and Washington, DC then take
the boat to Norfolk and board our plane at 6:50 am from Washington National
for Des Moines on July 28. We have made many purchases here in the Annapolis
area. We have a new printer, scanner, laptop computer, new
covers for the main salon cushions, a new $3000 dingy etc. We probably
will leave Annapolis Saturday and go to
Tangier Island in the middle of the Bay. Skipper Bob says it
like being in the Bahamas. As usual I got the Washington Post, Annapolis
paper and the NY Times. So much to do and so little time.
7-21-01
We are cruising again after a month as a landlubber. We are at Calvert's
Marina in Sollomon, MD We had a perfect day weather way and boat
performance. This being a weekend we had lots of fisherman to contend with.
We passed the fuel terminal that supplies fuel for large ships. There
were at least 50 boats fishing there but no ships refueling.
7-22-01
We are on Tangier Island up the middle of the Chesapeake Bay about 50 miles
north of Norfolk. It is a walk back in time or maybe more appropriately
a gulf car ride back in time. Ninety-five per cent of the transportation
seems to be by gulf cart. Three family names dominate the community.
It truly is an island and compares in many ways with the Abacos. Depending
on the weather forecast in the morning we will either head for Norfolk
Navy Marina or Fish Harbor Yacht Club in Deltaville. The cruise here today
was ideal waves less then 1 foot and wind less then 10 mph.
We were unable to send this email yesterday as the cell phone reception
wasn't strong enough. We could receive and send telephone calls.
We are underway on the Chesapeake Bay heading for Norfolk now. I
am using the house battery and the interverter and the cell phone to send
this email. Periodically it is raining with a south wind of 10.
7-23-01
We missed one today. We decided that since the forecast for the rest
of the week calls for thunderstorms every afternoon thru Saturday that
we should high tail it for Norfolk. A thunderstorm was forecasted
for this afternoon but late. As we approached the Norfolk harbor the sky
became very black and the winds picked up to 25 knots and it rained. We
finally made it thru the storm (no lightening) and docked the boat at the
Navy base. One hour later all hell broke lose with an hour of very
heavy rain lots of lightening and strong winds. We had elected to
make Snug go faster then usual otherwise we would have been out in the
very bad storm. Tomorrow we have a 20 mile trip to where we will
store Snug.
CLICK HERE to continue the southbound
trip back to the Bahamas in October.
