Trip 2003
Northbound Up The Intercoastal Waterway
This details Leo's and Mona's cruise aboard Snug as they explore the Intercoastal
Waterway between Florida and New York State.
1-17-03
It has been a busy time here. Sunday as per usual we took Snug to Hopetown
for the Champagne Brunch with Jack and Betsy. Monday Mona's son James,
wife Molly, her mother and brother arrived. I left before they arrived
to join my daughter Diana and her husband Dave at the Atlantis Resort in
Nassau. It is a fabulous place. Dave won an all expense paid trip
for his outstanding performance at Iowa Paint. They left Nassau at noon,
Tuesday and I was suppose to leave at 4 pm but the weather cancelled my
flight. I stayed in a very nice Inn called Orange Hill and flew back to
MH the next morning. James and family leave tomorrow morning. Our friend
Chris Hayne arrived yesterday. He arrived in his experiment plane that
has a 22 ft wing span. He buzzed our marina so we could know to come to
the airport and pick him up. It looks like a toy but he averaged
237 miles an hour in his flight from Florida to MH. He made it in 1 hr
20 minutes what takes us 3 days in Snug. Chris is baby sitting Snug.
His wife arrives Tues to join Chris. We leave Sunday for our Panama Cruise
aboard Celebrity Cruise Lines with Jan and Burt.
1-29-03
We have just been informed that due to a mechanical problem our ship will
only cruise at 14 knots instead of 21 so we will be delayed in arriving
in San Diego by one day. We will arrive on Monday instead of Tues. We will
leave the ship in the morning and stay tomorrow night in Acapulco at the
Princess Hotel. Hopefully we will fly out Friday or Sat. There are
2000 of us to find flights. We assume we will fly to San Diego but
won't know until tomorrow. We will keep you advised.
2-1-03
W e arrived in our room a 430 am today. Our flight was delayed out of Acapolca
so we could not land in San Diego as all flights are banned after 11 pm.
We are at the LA Airport Hlton 1-310-410-4000 room 1062. We will remain
here until 1030 pm Sunday. We will arrive Marsh Harbour on island Express
at 430 pm. Monday Feb 3.
2-3-03
We arrived home back on Snug at 5 pm tonight. Our flight from LA was uneventful.
Snug's baby sitters Chris and Patricia Hayne took good care of her during
our absence. We hope they will baby sit her next Jan to May when we take
our Round the World cruise on Holland America.
2-16-03
We just returned from a weekend in Hopetown. It was our turn to host the
Hopetown Sailing Club weekly cocktail hour 530-630 pm Sat nite. We also
were invited to a cocktail party at Senator Tom Harkin's home north of
the Hopetown settlement. We were late to Tom's party but enjoyed both get-to-gathers.
Tom and I date back to the '70s when he was a staff lawyer and I was on
the Board of Directors of Polk County Legal Aid.
A friend Bill Hawkins who was also spending weekend in Hopetown had
heart problems not an attack and was air evacuated to West Palm Beach for
implant of a heart pacer. He is expected back next week. We were without
our boat because a part is in the repair shop so we brough this boat back
to MH Marina. We spent the night at Club Solei's Resort. It was our third
anniversary of marriage and Valentine's Day.
We really enjoy our cruising trips. When we are too old to cruise
on our own boat we will live aboard a cruise ship full time. This trip
was to Aruba 20 miles north of Venezuela then to Panama Canal, Costa Rica
and Acapulco, Mexico. Aruba is a Dutch desert island with beautiful golf
courses expensive condos and very clean. The Canal was everything I expected.
It is a remarkable achievement even today thru the jungle and mountains.
Twenty thousand men died building the canal. Costa Rica was a lush as advertised.
We went on an 8 hour nature trip spent an hour climbing thru a rain forest
with huge waterfalls. It always rains where we were. There was a
butterfly preserve and a humming bird collection outdoors with no confinement.
The humming birds are attracted to the area by flowers and sugar water
feeders. Acapulco was spectacular but dirty and poor. The cliff divers
were spectacular. The ships engine was not performing properly
so they took us off the ship and put us (all 1964 passengers) in a five
star hotel (The Princess) and gave us $120 daily for meals including drinks.
They also credited our on board account with $100 and refunded us $800
cost of the trip. They also credited us 25 % off the cost of our
next trip. We are trying to arrange a cruise to Alaska in May or
Sept with Mindi and Rick. We still have our Round the World Cruise for
108 days next January.
Daughter Jill and her husband David are coming Feb 20 for a week. I
think they have only missed one year of the nine since I retired.
My good friend Dan Johnston visits us next. His god son Peter Hedge's
(Carole's middle son) won an Academy Award nomination for best adaptation
to a screenplay for the movie "About a Boy". His new movie "Pieces of April"
which he wrote and directed is currently at the movies. The temperature
has been in the 80s and 70s at night.
3-21-03
We are waiting in Green Turtle Cay for Bill and Marylou Hawkins.
They are in Marsh Harbour waiting for weather to make the Whale Cay passage.
We are
buddy boating with them back to Florida. Snug's bottom has been painted.
The opportunity to email is very limited. The public library is available
for a couple of hours MWF for all who need a public access for email service.
It is possible the next email will be when we reach West End, Grand Bahamas
prior to our crossing the gulf stream to Florida.
3-30-03
We had an excellent gulf stream crossing yesterday. We will be here at
North Palm Beach Marina in Florida for 3-4 days while we prepare for our
trip to the 1000 Islands. They are at the junction of the St Lawrence Seaway
and Lake Ontario. We will spend 3 weeks in DC in May. We are now connected
to our cell phone.
4-3-03
We bought the store during our 5 days in North Palm Beach. We got a new
washer-dryer, new computer, car radio, etc. We are in Ft Pierce tonight.
Tomorrow we hope to spend the weekend in Coca Beach at Indian Cove Marina.
We will rent a car for the weekend and then go to Patrick AFB and Mona
will stock up at the commissary. We ate 3 nights at a Thai restaurant and
another night at an Italian. There are advantages to the US.
4-5-03
We are in Merritt Island, FL Mona will shop at the PX at Patrick AFB today.
I will spend the time reading the newspapers, then back to the boat to
install the new toys. The new navigation computer worked fine yesterday.
We rented a car for the weekend special of $9.95 each of 3 days and got
a free upgrade to a Toyota Camry what a car.
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4-13-03
We received sad news today from Skipper Bob and Elaine. Elaine's Dad passed
away this morning. He got extra time here due to their love and care. We
hope they will find the strength to deal with their loss from the love
of their many friends. We were held up 3 days in Daytona Beach, FL by the
weather. The winds were 25-30 with thunderstorms. Yesterday we spent the
night in St Augustine. We had dinner with my cousin Zeke Oxberger and Deb.
They are moving to Portugal in the near future. We hope to visit soon.
Tonight we are at Amelia Island, FL We need to peddle fast as we are meeting
my mother at Gangplank Marina in Washington, DC like we did last year.
We will be celebrating mother's 90th birthday.
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4-20-03
We are at Barefoot Landing, Myrtle Beach, SC. It is a shopper's paradise.
Mona is spending all day shopping. It is an outlet mall a la Super Wal-Mart.
There are 15 apparel stores 10 attractions, 6 jewelry stores, 23 specialty
shops, 4 shoes, 14 Seasonal Kiosks, etc plus 18 restaurants. We will have
a slight modification of our itinerary. Due to health reasons my Mom will
not be able to join us on Snug so we are flying home either 10 or 17th
of May for a week. We have reservations at Gangplank Marina in Washington
for the month of May. Also we will not be returning Snug to Chesapeake,
VA for the months of Aug and Sept. Skipper Bob and Elaine may take over
Snug while we are on the Canadian Canals July 31 and take her south for
us. We will rejoin them sometime in October. We continue to extend an invitation
to family and friends to join us for a vacation aboard Snug somewhere along
our trip.
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4-28-03
We were in Belhaven, NC for 3 nights, two due to weather and one because
of mechanical problems. Unfortunately Belhaven doesn't have good Verizon
coverage so we were unable to email. We had a good day cruising today and
we are at the Alligator River Marina. Tomorrow we cross the Albemarle Sound
and the next day the Dismal Swamp Canal into Norfolk, Va. We are flying
home May 14 for a week to visit my mother whose health is not good. We
hope to be in Washington, DC in 3-4 days.
5-22-03
We arrived in Gangplank Marina in Washington, DC on May 3rd. We flew to
Des Moines. Mother had planned to fly to DC and spend a week with us on
Snug but her health is not too good right now. She turns 90 in July. She
was able to join us eating at a restaurant a couple of times. We will leave
here May 27. We are heading for NYC on Snug to attend a performance of
my Grand Niece, Danni Cisna with the Greasepaint Live Group in Central
Park at the amphitheater. Then we will continue to the 1000 Islands and
the Canadian Canals.
5-28-03
We are in Solomon, Md, tomorrow Annapolis, then on to NY. I thought the
past 3 weeks in Washington the weather was terrible, then I read the last
clear day was 30 days ago. The average high was 68, normal is 75. I thought
Doug when left the area he would take his Seattle weather with him. Perhaps
when he gets closer to Nova Scotia the rainy weather will join him.
5-31-03
We are in Cape May, NJ. Yesterday we set a record for us of one day cruise
of 129 miles. We left Annapolis at 530 am and arrived here at 930 pm a
16 hour day. The forecast was for unfavorable weather for crossing the
Delaware River a distance of aprx 60 miles. The weather was ideal yesterday
so we bit the bullet. Sure enough today and tomorrow are definite gunkhole
day. These are our last layover weather days if we are to make Central
Park by Friday.
CLICK HERE to continue the
journey north through New York State.
