Update on Waveaway resting in Florida

Hello to All,

Since late November, we have been "wintering" in Florida. We spent the holidays in Marathon Florida and moved up to Stuart Fl spending the last month at the Hutchinson Island Marriott Marina....really nice spot. However, we realize we have not updated or kept current on this blog since leaving Panama City Fl in November. This post attempts to bring readers up-to-day with our travels.

We left Panama City and went direct to Clearwater Fl...distance of about 250 miles. This was the first trip that we have been over open water and out of site of land for any long duration. We left at 1200 noon and arrived in Clearwater at 1400 the next day. We took turns during the night and had a great trip with light winds and clear skies. We dodged shrimp boats during the night and crab pots once we got closer to the west coast of Fl. All in all uneventful...we like that.

As a side note, during all our travels down western Florida, we we often in the company of Dolphins who would play in a wake and keep us company for a while. It was always fun to watch; they seemed to enjoy the company as well. Sometimes they would play in our wake and sometimes they would play in the bow wave...really neat stuff.

The next 5 days were spent working our way down the west coast of Fl with stops in Sarasota, Ft Meyers and Shark river...various anchorages between as well. During this time we only stayed at one marina in Clearwater preferring to anchor the rest of the time. We have evolved to the "rather anchor out" group as this is easier to do....and certainly cheaper. We like the solitude and the independence anchoring give us.

We arrived in Marathon just prior to Thanksgiving and opted to cook the traditional diner on board. After diner we joined other marina folks in singing and merriment until all we done. We also had two manatees as slip mates everytime we washed the boat!

The month of December found us back up in Virgina for our daughters graduation from Virgina Tech...Bio Chem honors graduate headed to Pharmacy School...we are very proud. We headed back to the boat just before Christmas with Ashton opting to stay in Virgina to get his checking account back in the black by working for two months (also his girlfriend, Naomi, was anxious to have him around for awhile).

We had several visitors during Dec and January, old friends from California (Gene and Julie Laughery), my sister Ruth, and my best man at my wedding ,Mike Saviano. Seems everyone wanted to visit the Keys during the mid-winter stretch...can you blame them? Also during this time we would take Waveaway out for exercise to the reefs to snorkel and fish.

During the downtime I also had Waveaway pulled for an insurance survey and had one prop removed and reconditioned as that shaft have exhibited some vibration after "touching" several objects on our journey (bottom in New Jersey; logs in the rivers etc). Good news is the reconditioning fixed the vibration (total cost 700$) and my cutless bearings had not suffered any ill affects.

I also had the engines tuned up while there and took Waveaway out for sea traisl where we got the old girl up to 18 Knots...wide open! The mechanic chastised me for not opening her up more often. I resolved, fuel costs or not, to open her up during the last 30mins of cruise each day (more on that later)

Also during this time I played chauffeur for Cathy as she had to fly in and out of Miami five times to do the work thing. We did manage to get to Key West three times and do those tourist things there. Crazy place.

On Feb 1, Cathy and I (Ashton was still in Virgina earning $s) starting a move north up to Stuart. We took the Hawk channel as the depths are more forgiving and the weather was excellent. We picked a nice anchorage just north of Key Largo for the first night. And I proceeded to "blow out the soot" and pushed her up for 10 mins or so as we neared the inlet. All went well until I came off power as we were entering the inlet and both engines flamed out....sporty. I quickly realized I was running on the forward tank which was getting low after 9 hours of running that day (only 90 gals in the fwd tank). So, when I came off of plane, the angle of the boat went from 5 degrees up to approx. level with the fuel leaving the area of the fuel pick-up lines. ...stupid me. I quickly gave the helm to Cathy and told her to try and stay in the channel while I went below to switch tanks and re-prime the engines. She did what she could but without power we were at the mercy of the tides and waves. We lucked out and the tide pushed us directly into the inlet. Meanwhile I was swapping and pumping madly in a HOT engine room but was patting myself on the back at the same time at a modification I had done putting hand priming pumps on the engines. I had it changed and primed in less than 1 min with the engines restarted shortly thereafter....lots of lessons learned on WAY too many legs. BTW, we had an uneventful anchorage even seeing florescent jelly fish that evening coming and going with the tide.

The next day we went outside again direct to Ft Lauderdale...about 7 hours of cruising. We stayed just off Miami Beach and had a great trip pulling into the inlet by all those huge cruise ships! We entered the New River which takes you to downtown Ft Lauderdale and pulled up to the wall there managed by the City Marina (cheap). We met my sister there and had a great time people and boat watching late into the evening. This was a neat stop.

The next day we went out the inlet again to avoid the Sunday Inter coastal Waterway congestion. However, on that day we paid the price with 4ft beam seas all the way until I called uncle and went into the Palm Beach inlet. We continued north up the ICW another 30 miles until we pulled into the Marriott for our one month stay.

Ashton returned yesterday to prepare for the final leg north. We plan to begin heading up to our next short term destination, St Augustine, one week from today (3 March). We will then ease our way north waiting on favorable winds or temperatures. More updates more often as we actively begin cruising again on 3 March!

Touch and Go in Mobile AL and Headed South!

FIRST,
Here's to the folks left behind slugging it out day in and day out in the Pentagon

Dave and Susan (overworked and under paid!) They are only smiling because of earlier free drinks!




David and Mildred....both great Americans!

Bring passion and a Latin flair to everyday Pentagon crises.



These folks were my favorite peeps I worked with and for at the Pentagon. They are all closet loopers. They work in one of the hardest places to keep your sanity, Air Force A8, which is where you either get money or have it taken....makes people a "bit" on edge. Anyway, I miss them all. I know one day they will take their own loop....it doesn't suck and you guys need a vacation!

Blog continues.....

Hello to All,

We are currently in Mobile Alabama, taking a breather from a very busy 10 days of "river running". In the past 10 days we ran almost 800 miles...averaging about 80 miles a day...and at 10 MPH! It was fun but I was glad to see the ocean again after 6 months of fresh water cruising. Here is a brief recap;

When we returned to our boat from our vacation from our vacation...life if tough, i know, we had to rest for 3 days...weather was crap. Here is a picture from our front porch in Highlands NC...really nice place.

But then we started from Green Turtle Bay KY running down the Kentucky lake. The weather was cool and rainy which added to our motivation to "push er up". That night we pulled into a quiet anchorage and finally saw blue sky for the first time in a week. Here is a typical shot of the house that are along the lake...not quite as spectacular as the 30,000 island in Canada, but still pretty nice scenery to cruise through







We left the lake and started the locking process again beginning the SLOW decent back to sea level. Some of the locks were quick and some others we waited 3 hours or more....yeah, I do really well waiting on anything. Ashton says I start pacing after about 20 mins. Cathy just goes below...smart girl.



After the lakes we started the rivers again...only 500 more miles of them!





Fall colors added some needed scenery...we timed it about right with the leaves changing and the temperatures in the 70's


The time change made our days a bit shorter...we would start getting a bit anxious toward the end of the day, with day-light fading and we still had 20 miles to go. We pulled into on place using flashlights...spotlight had burnt out...not fun.

The mornings were always foggy. Here are some crazy loopers leaving before most folks are even up (except those lucky guys working at the Pentagon)

Here we are...the blind following the blind. This day we had to make 100 miles due to no suitable anchorages or marinas so everyone, including us left butt early and of course, the fog had not burnt off yet. I followed the guy in front of my part of the way using radar....made me think of my old C-5 days trying to find the tanker in crap weather....don't really miss that. Sun came out and burned it off making for a glorious cruising day. Ashton and I tucked into a 1 boat anchorage that night and watched the Cowboys kick Philly butt...love my SAT TV!


This is just a cool picture...taken by a marina we stayed at in Mississippi








And so, we are DONE with river cruising after 1400 miles of it (not counting the stuff we did in Canada)...here is the parting river shot. We will increase our blogging tempo as we should have more stuff to explain away and we are FINALLY back in the land of Verizon WIFI.

Takinig a break in Grand Rivers KY

Hello to all,

As you can tell, we have taken a break from our blogging responsibilities after departing Chicago on the 16th of September. Frankly, there has not been a lot to say or to show in the way of pictures. This part of the trip is "river travel" which is a bit monotonous and without beautiful vistas...for the most part. Here is a recap:
Ashton and I returned from our trip to California (Cathy caught a flight back to D.C. from California) and did a late night provisioning run before dropping the car off the next morning. That day's trip consisted of mainly industrial cruising through lower Chicago and then one Lock that took us to our destination that evening, a free wall in Joliet Ill...with electricity. There we met cruisers Joan and Steve, aboard Colorado Cat who we had last seen sitting on a the front porch of the dilapidated hotel in Killarney Canada. Joan invited Ashton and I over for dinner which was wonderful, as was the wine! We stayed in Joliet for two nights just because...

The next day we traveled 77 miles down the Illinois river and tied up to a free dock in Ottawa Ill. We were met by the town's ambassador who told us where all the good places were etc. This led to me going by the farmers' market in the morning for fresh cherry pie and fruit. The next day we traveled another 80 miles and pulled into a nice anchorage occupied by Colorado Cat (they called and let us know it was a good anchorage) . We joined them for a wonderful dinner of steak, dessert of my newly purchased cherry pie, great wine and conversation. It was pretty neat as we were tucked back in this little river, out of the way of the tows that traverse this part of the world. These gulls would follow us down the rivers hoping we would chew up some of the famous jumping carp...which we did and that made these gulls happy...bad day for carp however.







We made the Mississippi the next day







and traveled to a barge/dock called Hoppies. This was the only place to get fuel for miles but was a great overnight stop. The "experienced lady" there took us aside and gave us great tips on getting down the river ....basically all the way to Mobil. She was great...here is a picture. She has worked the river her whole life






There are not many places on the Mississippi to anchor so we called the lock master at Kaskaski River lock and asked if we could tie up to his wall for the night...he said "sure". Later we were joined by an 80 foot Coast Guard buoy boat who pulled up to our front (literally 2 ft away) for the night. I watched as the Master Chief ran his folks through the evening rituals of readying the boat for the next day. Wasn't much else to watch there, trust me. The next morning I departed on "George time" with Ashton still asleep. There was a pretty good layer of fog on the river so I went slow and used the radar and GPS to monitor position and watch for tows....made me feel like I was back in the Air Force going into Europe in the winter!






We made the Ohio river the next day and anchored behind a small island which provides shelter from the tows, but not much else. However, we had a great night of stir fry and lots of cold beer...life does not suck.

Traveling up the Ohio River was a pain. Both locks we had to go through were having mechanical issues and we waited a total of 4 hours. Plus, we were traveling up river so we had about a 1 1/2 mph current against us. We made our anchorage late that evening which was occupied by four other looper boats....it was fun to see those folks again (Our Time...the folks we "tasted" scotch with in Frankfort MI were there)

Finally, on the 25 of September, we pulled into Green Turtle Bay Marina KY. I paid for a month marina slip here because of planned trips to see Mom and attend a wedding for my Cousin's daughter in D.C. Besides, it is still hot and the leaves are not turning yet and we see no reason to continue south until those two things change! So, we will talk to you when we return from visiting family.



All the best,
George, Ashton and Cathy
Aboard Waveaway
Currently Lying Greeen Turtle Bay KY

Sitting in Chicago enjoying a beautiful Labor Day

Typical sand dunes down the east coast of Michigan

Hello to all,
We made it down the east coast of Michigan and currently sit tied to a wall across from Millennium Park in Chicago. Our stops down the coast included Frankfort, Leland, Muskeg on, Holland and South Haven. All of these were wonderful stops with lots to see and do. Total miles covered in the last almost three weeks has only been 200...not exactly setting speed records here. The reasons for out slower pace have been weather (you most likely saw the flooding taking place around Chicago) and the need to go back to DC for life maintainer issues. We will stay in the Chicago area for another week as we leave for California on Friday to attend a wedding of our dear friends, Gene and Julie Laughrey's daughter, Jessica. Our kids grew up together while we lived in California and now Jessica, who I still picture as about 8 or 9 (she is 23 now!) will get married...the FIRST of all our kids to tie the knot!

Chicago has been fun but not cheap, we suffered the theft of two bikes last night...we are on a very public wall and it IS Chicago...oh well. I am glad they didn't steal my Fortress Anchor as it is worth much more than the bikes....make you think we were dealing with you common opportunist. A friend of ours chased two intruders off his boat the night prior....wall was cheap...falls under you get what you pay for!

Here are some nice pictures of the last three weeks along with comments particular to each area. All in all we have had a relaxing time with no large maintainers issues and have met some great friends!

Here we were at South Haven, waiting for the weather (winds) to improve. Each Harbor of Refuge has these long sea walls that one can walk out. They protect the harbors and provide a nice pier to fish off or just gaze at the water.

These globes were part of the global warming art exhibit in Chicago. Each globe was done with a different theme. Some were interesting...theme got old


Here is the famous Navy Pier. A fun visit.





I took this picture in Millennium Park on my morning walk

Here is the Chicago Canal which give the boater a neat view of the down town as you cruise through.

Working our way down Lake Michigan...We are feeling a change in the wind!

We picked Cathy up in Cheboygan and headed to Mackinaw City. The day was nice, but the wind was from the NE at 10 so there was some rolling action...Cathy and Ashton were not happy. As far as the weather, we have noticed the frequency of frontal passages change from once every 5 days to once every 3 days. This is making the journey down Lake Michigan a bit slower than anticipated. I posted earlier how we had learn the "turn back lesson". We have not forgotten that one an when the wind is over 15 knots, we stay put. This lake will turn ugly early.

After stopping in Mackinaw City, Asthon and I took the ferry over to Mackinac Island. Can you say touristy? Here are some pictures. Close your eyes and imagine the most wonderful fudge smells...now keep them close and imagine the most potent horse urine smell...OK, now mix them...welcome to Mackinac Island.
However, we made our way out of the madness of the forced 1900 main street and took a nice hike around the island.

The next day we made our way down to Charlevoix, which is arguably the prettiest town we have visited on the entire trip. It is hard for pictures to do justice to the beautiful harbor, water and buildings. This town is home to the houses built like little Tolkien cottages. We stayed here three days due to high winds. During this time, we participated in a dingy poker run again...didn't win but had a great time.

Monday found us headed south again to the picturesque town of Leland MI. This town is still a working fishing village...whoo hoo, fresh Walleye!
The trip was a bit rolly as the seas had not calmed from the day prior storm. Ashton and Cathy did the Dramamine thing again while Steel Stomach George manned the helm. We pulled into Leland and they squeezed us into a nice spot by the fuel dock. It seems that Leland is a Harbor of Refuge and they cannot deny any boat a place to wait out a storm...and there was a storm due the next day. Here are some pictures of all the boats in this relatively small marina.
We waited out the storm (30 knot winds). While we where swapping stories on the dock during the day, we spotted a trawler (another Looper) that was getting smacked by the ways making its way to our refugee. It seems this trawler left during the sucker morning calm and then pushed on as the winds picked up. Well, they made it in and the look on the older couples face was part embarrassment, part terror...oh, the lady was also part PISSED! They were doing the loop in phases and she said this phase was OVER!


Today we are in Frankfort with plans to stay two days as they are calling for gale force winds tomorrow.

All the best,
The Worleys aboard Waveaway
Currently lying Frankfort Michigan