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September 27th, 2017

9/27/2017

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A Wet, Wet Summer In Ketchikan Alaska

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Ketchikan is always rainy, but this year actually set a record for summer rainfall. I ran 28 trips for Baranof Fishing Excursions in July. While we caught occasional glimpses of the sun, it rained pretty much every day, often several inches in a day. The forecast was for 6 inches over the 30 th and 31 st . We got 7.5.

Daytime temperatures were in the low 50’s, with 40’s overnight. Living aboard Laughing Gull was a soggy experience to put it mildly. Due to the weather and busy schedule, my boat remained tied to the dock except for a few after-work trips when it wasn’t raining too hard.

Fortunately the Big Buddy propane heater worked well and hard in an effort to dry things out and keep me warm. I didn’t dare leave the heater running while I was sleeping or away from the boat, so the it ran only a few hours each day. While there was always wet gear, I never slept in a wet bed or started the work day with wet clothes. It did take 3 days, though, for some wool socks to dry after I’d hand-washed them.

The first week of August was a delight: warm, sunny, and calm. Without halibut tickets (tightly limited permits necessary on charters) though, I began focusing on salmon after my guests had caught enough rockfish for lunch. While salmon are great game fish and table fare, they lack the mystery of halibut for me. I think of open-water salmon fishing as mostly technology-driven: downriggers, inline flasher blades, colorful hoochie skirts, all presented at the right depth. 

Halibut fishing is more art. They’re invisible on the fish finder, voracious one day, picky the next. When they strike, you’re left wondering whether you found the right spot or if you were just lucky enough to be there when the “bite” happened.  The next three weeks of August were July all over again: increased winds which canceled some trips and shortened others. Finally on August 28, Libbey returned, bringing sun and calm seas with her.

It felt great to be running Laughing Gull again. In the fjords and inlets around Ketchikan, with their winds and powerful currents sometimes fighting each other, she handles the seas just as beautifully as she does Downeast, three-thousand miles away in Maine.  We had hoped to make the 175-mile circumnavigation of Revillagegidoe Island, on which Ketchikan is located. With a must-do ferry reservation and the summer’s sketchy weather record, though, we decided that filling the freezer with fish was a better idea.

We ran southeast to the halibut grounds off Hog Rocks and Point Alvah for our first foray (no ticket needed for a personal trip), overnighting on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service mooring in Thorne Arm. Our next run was northwest to Clover Pass, then on to the tiny outpost village of Loring. It has a delightful little museum of fishing and canning artifacts dating back to its 1895 founding. Dolores, a third-generation resident, was our interpreter, and she gave us a great tour of the museum, her gardens, and the remains of the steamship Ancon (wrecked 1889). This wreck is the subject of a painting by Albert Bierstadt which now hangs in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. We enjoyed viewing a print of it in Loring.

The town dock is open for mooring, so we tied off for the night, taking advantage of the fish cleaning table to process our catch of a couple of nice halibut (one near 40 lbs.) and a big yelloweye rockfish. Halibut steaks on the grill at sunset and a nice chat with Dolores’s daughter as she returned by boat from a berry-picking excursion with her dogs rounded out a perfect evening. 

After returning to Ketchikan and depositing our fish in the freezer at Baranof Fishing Excursions, we re-provisioned the larder as a trip south to Bostwick Inlet called us. While the scenery there is always grand, the fish weren’t biting. We had planned to anchor in Blank Inlet, which would have given us both seclusion and ready access to Ketchikan, where we had planned to meet up with a friend for a final day of fishing.  When we attempted to anchor in Blank Inlet, though, Laughing Gull’s always cranky windlass started spewing sheared bolts and washers on the bow deck. Unwilling to give up one last night in the backcountry, we ran to Ice House Cove and tied off to the U.S. Forest Service mooring for one more lovely, sunny evening.

When my buddy had to cancel his plans to join us, we decided we had enough halibut in the freezer and a few salmon would be welcome. We ran northwest to Valnear Point and joined the trolling fleet to let the technology do the work. We ran a silver/pink flasher with a pink mini-hoochie off a downrigger on the port side. On the starboard side, I deployed a Great Lakes style rig: a braided copper line outfit with a green/silver/glow flasher and a green crinkle fly that I had tied last winter.  Both rigs were successful and we caught a nice mix of cohos, pinks, and a chum salmon. As many times as I’ve done it, I always get a bit of extra satisfaction catching fish on a fly I’ve tied.

Back in Ketchikan, our good friend and brilliant artist Beth Antonsen invited us to a fabulous dinner of Swedish fish cakes. I’d agreed to take one of her museum-quality benches back to a customer in Maine in our truck, and Libbey was hoping to swap some of her Whitefield Pottery work for one of Beth’s lovely paintings. A delicious loaf of Beth’s home-baked Norwegian bread for the road made me feel  overpaid for the cartage.

A day of errands: return library books, pick up freezer (plugging it into the truck’s inverter and hoping we’ll have frozen fish on the other side of the continent), put boat on trailer, with a nice Thai lunch. Then we went back to the Wal-Mart parking lot for the night, with the alarm clock armed for a 4:45
a.m. ferry check-in.  We made the ferry on time, no small consideration given the difficulty of securing reservations for a 46-foot- long rig at this time of year. A six-hour boat ride across the wild seascape of British Columbia and we reached the seaport of Prince Rupert.

A few cursory questions from a friendly Canadian Customs official and we were on the road headed east. We made about 250 miles before pulling into a highway rest area for the night. We spent the next 8 days crossing the continent on the Trans-Canada highway system, driving 9-10 hours per day. We might have driven longer days, but not knowing when the next rest area would appear, we opted for earlier stops.

We crossed the border between Ontario and New York.  While the U.S. official at Cornwall was less cordial than his Canadian counterpart at Prince Rupert, his questions were just as cursory. I’d researched the issue of transporting frozen fish through Canada and anticipated no major difficulty, but I was relieved not to have to unload the truck for an inspection.

Despite saving almost 600 miles, coming home on the Trans-Canada probably took an extra day-and- a half compared to picking up the U.S. Interstate system in North Dakota. Speed limits are lower, and the road goes through mostly small towns, with bypasses for the larger cities. Traffic was vastly lighter, and the wild scenery was great. We spotted elk, deer, a bear, and a wolf on the drive.

Total cost is about the same. U.S. gas was about $2.60/gallon, and we paid tolls of about $250 on the way out. Canadian gas ran $1.05-1.35 per liter © and there were no tolls. The Canadian dollar was worth $0.82 US.
Happily the freezer and inverter functioned flawlessly, so we have fish for the winter and to share with family.

I’ll wait until next spring to reopen Laughing Gull Boat Charters but will start looking at possible projects for Big Pine Consulting later this week-leads and inquiries always appreciated. Thanks for joining me for this adventure.

Capt. Steve Spencer, edited by John Page Williams 9/27/17

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June 30th, 2017

6/30/2017

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This Trip Is For Him

Ketchikan AK: Started taking folks out fishing and dining for Baranof Fishing Excursions on June 15 and have run 9trips to date. I meet my guests on the dock as they get off their cruise ship, take them to our outfitting shack, gear them up in rain gear, boots, and life jackets, and head out in a 20’ open aluminum skiff.
We run 10-15 miles to the first drop and then fish near the bottom with jigs for rockfish (delicious and hard-fighting, all seven species of ‘em). After 3-4 hours of fishing, we head for fish camp, a remote campsite in the rain forest by a gravel beach.

The camp area is covered by large tarps to keep the rain away. Stone fire rings with blazing camp fires and rustic benches are welcome after the often rainy and chilly conditions on the water.
We take photos of the catch on the cleaning table; then the guests relax by the fire with a hot drink while I fillet the fish. Our chef prepares a great bouillabaisse with potatoes, tomato stew, and the fresh fish, which I serve. We enjoy a dessert of blueberry rhubarb bread pudding topped with whipped cream, candied ginger and caramel.

Then we take a leisurely ride back to town with side trips to check out likely eagle and wildlife-watching spots, and it’s time to gear down and say good-bye. The format makes a great trip, but I also look forward to targeting halibut next month when business picks up.

At times there can be a bittersweet poignancy to guiding that grabs my heart. Last week as I chatted with a woman guest who was fishing alone (Mom stayed on the ship), she shared that her father was in the terminal stages of Parkinson’s Disease back home and had only brief moments of lucidity. They’d often dreamed of fishing in Alaska together, and she hoped to be able to share her memories of this trip with him.

Just yesterday we were fishing a drift that had yielded pollock and sablefish the day before, when a woman in the bow walked back to me in the stern. She gave me a tearful hug and asked if it was okay for her to dump some ashes. It was the first anniversary of her husband’s death; he’d always wanted to
fish in Alaska but never got here. I said, “Of course, anything I can do to make it special?” She said “Thanks, No.” I scanned the area for hazards, took off my cap, closed my eyes, and sent a good thought. Then back to the tiller, the fish finder, and my other guests.

Sure, there were sad moments for both of these ladies, but I remain amazed at their positive outlook and overall good cheer. The power of the dream of fishing in Alaska is hard to overstate for so many anglers (obviously including myself).
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Our customized Seaway 24 as a loop boat

6/8/2016

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Perhaps the third most common question after “ How do you feel now that the trip is over?” and “What are you going to do now?” is “How did the boat do?”. As expected, the boat did absolutely great. We'd cruised Laughing Gull as extensively as possible for the two years before our loop and knew she's comfortable, seaworthy and economical. She is also a real head turner, we get lots of compliments on her downeast good looks.

My evaluation of her seaworthiness is based entirely on experience before the loop. On the loop we had no schedule and almost no need to be anywhere at any time. We boated when it was “fun” and “comfortable” the idea of “safe” or “passable” was not in the equation. If we wandered up some lovely sheltered estuary to explore when a blow was forecast and the blow didn't happen that was fine with us. If we encountered sloppy conditions we simply turned back to a sheltered spot and waited for conditions to improve. I've negotiated rougher seas in my 16' tin skiff than anything we dealt with on the loop.
Before the loop I had Laughing Gull out on 3 occasions that were safe and passable but really not fun or comfortable. Two of these occasions were schedule driven(one of the greatest boating hazards in my opinion) and the third featured a weather forecast that reversed itself after we'd committed to an open water run.
The first schedule driven event was a charter to show a couple of photography instructors some puffins for courses they proposed to run with me providing boat transport. The lead instructor was a Russian and could only be in town for 3 days. The local instructor partner grew up running the nasty breaking inlets on the New Jersey coast and was up for anything. So considering this a “working” trip as opposed to a regular charter for fun we picked the best of the 3 days and bounced across Muscongus Bay to Eastern Egg Rock and photographed puffins. That done, Jersey guy decided we needed to go see Pemaquid Point Light, one of Maine's more spectacular light houses but a 5 mile run across a beam sea. Well obviously the boat and I made it okay, the Russian fellow was an amazing shade of green and Jersey guy was talking about pizza and beer. The boat was incredibly solid but graceful in the breaking 5 foot chop we negotiated that morning and I was never doubtful. We saw any number of 6-7 foot waves but were able to go around them.
The second schedule driven occasion was a long run from Providence Rhode Island to Gloucester, MA. A few days earlier I'd run Laughing Gull for 3 days(300 miles give or take) from Damariscotta Maine to Providence to attend the Land Trust Alliance Rally. I'd had the pleasure of my boss's company on the way down but a big workload, a busy wife and 2 small kids made a quick train ride home a better choice for him.
I left Providence about 7 a.m after a marina operator was kind enough to sell me gas before he was open. The weather forecast was just okay and scheduled to really blow the next day so I needed to make some miles. Considering the forecast it was likely that I'd be curtailing the trip and phoning Libbey to come and get me with the truck and trailer. If I could get across Massachusetts Bay to Gloucester I could save her the aggravation of Boston traffic while towing the boat trailer.
When I came out of the Sakonnet River mouth breaking 4 to 5' seas were rolling in out of the Southeast, again larger seas were present but avoidable. I slogged up the RI coast at 7-8 knots until I reached the point where the land swings north to New Bedford, MA. I realized there that if I made my way 6 or 7 miles to windward across Buzzards Bay I'd have a 30 mile sheltered run in the lee of the Elizabeth Islands and the western shore of Cape Cod.
That plan worked fine and a few hours later I was coming out of the Cape Cod Canal and it was time to decide whether to hook west into the shelter of the Boston Harbor islands or straight line 25 miles of wide open Massachusetts Bay and save time. Fog was just starting to show at a few river mouths so the straight line course looked best.
By the time I was halfway across the bay, seas (moderately steep but not breaking) were running to 4 feet on the stern quarter. I found I could run in fair comfort at 12 knots after trimming the engine up. Slower would have been more comfortable but heavy fog was starting to pour out of Salem Sound into the bay.
Visibility was less than 50 yards and dark was less than a half hour away when I idled by the breakwater into Gloucester Harbor. At 150 miles and 11 hours underway this is my longest daily run to date in Laughing Gull. I made it to Hampton NH the next morning before wind started to howl and it was time to call for a pick up.
The weather forecast for the Hawk Channel between Key West and Bahia Honda Key was for wind at 10-15 knots. seas at 2 to 3 feet and diminishing. The truck and trailer were up in the Everglades and our vacation time was coming to an end, it looked good to go.
By the time we neared Bahia Honda winds were 15-20 and seas were abeam at 3-4'. I'm not sure if the pass into Bahia Honda is technically a breaking inlet but the steep surf was about 5' and breaking. Laughing Gull easily found a sweet spot on the back of a big wave and we chugged in a few hundred yards to shelter, being careful to not out run the wave.
The bottom line is that I'm convinced this boat will handle far rougher water than I have the nerve to put to sea in.
Our customizing(please see earlier posts) of the boat greatly improved our comfort and efficiency. The half cock sliding roof position added just the right amount of shelter. It was set at the beginning of the trip and never changed. While it somewhat impedes casting a fishing rod, the kayak on the wheelhouse roof extends along the roof line so the roof slider adds little impediment to that. Both weather and bug curtains worked superbly, offering quick and thorough protection when conditions changed. The on deck galley worked very well although we were able to design some improvements to food storage that we'll work on over the next year.
Most folks seem to favor larger boats (mostly in the 35-50' range) for looping and that's fine for them but we never wished for a bigger boat. We did see a few 22' C Dories(a venerable and much loved west coast pocket cruiser) with loop flags and admired them greatly but agreed we preferred our open cockpit and downeast panache . While the bigger boats have more space, once we've got comfortable places to drive the boat, sit, sleep and cook we don't feel the need for any more space. Most marinas charge by the foot so short boats are less expensive although there are a few evil marinas that charge minimums, often based on a 30' length. Only one of those got our business and only because there were no other options in S. Haven MI that night.
Also on the topic of economy I had a friendly chat at a fuel dock with the skipper of a 52' swift(semi planing) trawler. He told me his boat carried 1200 gallons of fuel in 2 tanks. When I told him my single tank topped off at 65 gallons he responded that he needed more than that to get out of the harbor. I replied that my fuel budget for the whole loop was for 1500 gallons. A few days down the river we got together at a marina with him and his wife on their handsome boat for drinks and had more fun comparing and contrasting our loop experiences. While the popular trawler yachts and recreational tugs get very good fuel economy, most are displacement hulls and limited to speeds of 10 knots or less.
There is no need for speed while looping. As mentioned above lots of folks do the trip at less than 10 knots and have a fun and safe trip. Indeed we estimate that we did about ¾ of the trip at 6-8 knots for both the pleasure and economy of travel at that speed. However the ability to comfortably cruise at 15-20 knots gave us a lot of flexibility and convenience.
The suggested looping “calendar” calls for loopers to exit Lake Michigan by September 15 to beat the fall gales. To meet that goal we ran on plane from Troy NY to Chicago-1370 miles. We also made all of our crossings over 10 miles on plane and were happy we did for safety and avoiding boredom. Our 40 mile crossing of Lake Michigan ended with a surprise rain squall giving us a bit of a spanking just as we reached Chicago. We were very happy not to have been caught mid lake. We also planed on occasion for far more mundane reasons like getting to town in time for lunch at a diner or to reach a prettier anchorage before dark.
A shallow draft is an enormous help in looping the way we wanted to loop. We draw 2 feet with our engine down and this gave us access, often barely, to many of our favorite anchorages and fishing holes. The larger vessels with their 4-5' drafts simply can't get into those spots. This is particularly true in Florida where waters are often shallow and many loopers spend a big part of their trip due to great cruising opportunities and avoiding the winter weather to the north. Of course if your preference is marina to marina cruising this is far less of an issue for you.
Laughing Gull is powered by a 115 hp Yamaha 4 stroke engine with a 9.9 hp auxiliary. The 115 has performed flawlessly since we bought the boat-entirely reliable so far, very economical and plenty of power for our taste even with 6 passengers aboard (speed drops to 24 mph max). If I were to do the loop again, I'd certainly choose the same boat and engine. Libbey and I will do subsequent posts about what gear worked and didn't work.









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Laughing Gull Loop Stats

6/2/2016

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Miles 6904
Days 260 (about 9.5 months or 37 weeks) 8/4/15-/18/16 not including 2 road days Maine to NH
Gallons of Gas 1572
Average Miles per gallon 4.4
States passed through 15 (New York, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, S. Carolina, N. Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey)
Canadian Provinces 1 (Ontario)
Nights at anchor 199
Nights at marinas(paid) 45 (about once every 6 nights on average)
Nights at free docks/dolphins 16
Expenses:
Gas              $5370

Groceries      5566 ($150 average/week)

Marina          1630 ($16-54 per night $36 average/night $44 average weekly)

Entertainment 2770 ($75 average/wk)
Repairs           2814

Miscellaneous   2801


            total $20,372

Interestingly our loop expenses didn't seem much different than our at home life expenses. We already owned Laughing Gull and plan to keep her so things like depreciation and ownership are somewhat the same whether we're home or looping. We probably could have considered boat insurance and registration in the same manner but they're included in miscellaneous.
Our grocery(including ice and propane) expenses. approx $150 per week, probably ran a bit higher than at home despite an unavoidable small overall drop in quality. At home we make strategic use of a good sized freezer and pantry and stock up when prices are good. Obviously that doesn't work when food storage is a 40 quart cooler and a couple of 20 quart tubs.
One of the factors that makes calculating the cost of the trip a bit challenging is subtracting out the expenditures that were not made because we were looping. For instance we normally burn around $2,000 worth of fuel oil to heat our house. While we were gone we had the water pipes drained and let the house go cold. We canceled the insurance on the car and incurred no operating expenses on that. The truck was insured but saw very few miles or expenses.
Ten days of our marina total was spent in Charleston for my hospital stay so that skews our stats in that area. Our estimation is that our ratio of marina nights to nights at anchor is probably a good bit lower than most other loopers. While some of that certainly is driven by the fact that we're frugal Mainers, we're convinced that our love of wild places, fishing opportunities and the cat's peace of mind play a much bigger role.
Boat gas was a big item of course but we enjoyed prices lower than expected. Additionally we saved a lot of gas by running slow (6-8mph) for an estimated ¾ of the trip. We'd originally estimated 6,000 miles at 4 mpg(at 20 mph) and $4 per gallon for a $6,000 total. Instead we went 6,904 miles (there are just too many rivers along the way that need to be explored) at 4.4 mpg and $3.42 ave. per gallon for a total of $5370. We made no effort to shop for cheap gas, we simply filled up when convenient. I almost certainly could have made it across Florida Bay and got gas for $2.69 at Fiesta Key but lacking that spirit of adventure I paid $5.49 at Flamingo in Everglades National Park.

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May 30th, 2016

5/30/2016

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Day 260 Days End 6,904 miles

5/18/2016

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Laughing Gull “crossed her wake” today at Troy New York. We left August 4 of last year and its a bit unreal to have completed the loop. We're tied up to the dock at the Erie Canal Visitor Center across the Hudson from the boat ramp. Al will drive our truck and trailer over from NH tomorrow and pick us up. So now or soon the “how do you feel about it being over?” and “what will you do now?” questions have to be faced.

The second question is easier to answer. Libbey is anxious to reopen her studio (WhitefieldPottery.com) and resume throwing her lovely pots. Within a few weeks the boat will be spiffed up and maintenance brought up to date and Laughing Gull Boat Charters (lgboatcharters.com) will be taking bookings.

I'll also be looking for interesting and worthwhile projects at BigPineConsulting.com . I'm not opposed in theory to obscenely lucrative projects but have to admit I'm more experienced at interesting and worthwhile. Inquiries and leads are greatly appreciated.

The “how do you feel about having completed the loop?” question defies a simple answer. T.S. Elliot's quote:
“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."
comes to mind, if perhaps a bit convoluted and over dramatic for a Mainer. Certainly we're not done wandering, or coming home. We're really looking forward to reconnecting with family and friends and our favorite Maine haunts. We're also brainstorming our next expedition, possibly a long south/southwestern road/hiking/paddling trip next winter (suggestions welcome).

We'll put up a few more blog posts before ending. Trip stats, favorite gear/unsuccessful gear, and fitness afloat are possible topics. If any reader is considering a loop trip, we'd be glad to share more details or brainstorm if you'd like. Thanks for joining us on the loop.

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Closing in on the Finish

5/15/2016

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3/27-29 While the grey skies did not clear, there was little rain and the beauty of the mashes amongst the Georgia Sea Islands continue to amaze-one of the more delightful surprises to date. The marsh grass is just high enough so that its impossible to see over them from the helm. Libbey often stood on the gunwales to enjoy the expansive view as we cruised along.
A maze of deep channels and canals connecting them would have been a navigation night mare if not for the well marked ICW route. Would love to visit again when the water was warmer and the fish are biting. The usual refrain from the locals “you should have been here last week, the fishing was great” was changed to “you should have been here next month, the specs and the reds will be unbelievable!”
We booked a night at the Isle of Hope Marina (a fine marina and a lovely old small town) and took the bus into Savanah. While not a city person, I have to say I was struck by the beauty of this city, particularly its lovely parks and squares. We spent a fine day walking and trolleying from park to park by way of beautifully kept historic homes and mansions.
After a quiet supper at the marina we did a little laundry and grocery shopping the next morning and struck north into the South Carolina low country
3/30-4/3 Our first night in the aptly named low country was spent on St. Augustine's Creek a deep wide marshy creek off the ICW. One of the immediate differences between SC and GA is that more of the rivers, creeks and back channels seemed to have manes on the chart in SC. Its not uncommon to be on more than a dozen different named rivers and creeks in the course of a days travel. Small wonder why many folks simply refer to a location as mile 123 or whatever on the waterway.
Another day of slow cruising through the marshes and we anchored early on Jarvis Creek when it breezed up hard just before we needed to make a big crossing of Port Royal Sound.
We scooted across Port Royal Sound on calm seas the next morning and ran up the river to Beaufort.
In SC they pronounce it “BewFort” as opposed to “Bofort” NC. In SC they've not heard of “America the botiful”. Beaufort is a lovely town with a historic district full of grand old mansions with stunning landscaping. We shared shrimp po'boy and rib eye steak sandwiches at the Produce Market and Cafe and called it a fine visit before we anchored across the river on a back channel of Factory Creek away from the houses and the nonexistent factories.
We woke the next morning to dolphins chasing fish all around the boat. We watched them dart and zip after their breakfast while we enjoyed ours. We hauled anchor and ran across St. Helena Sound well ahead of an approaching thunder storm. With gusty winds in the fore cast we poked our bow a few miles up the winding channel of Rock Creek and dropped anchor along a wild wooded shore. The boaters of Rock Creek are certainly among the most polite we've encountered on our loop to date. Not one of them zipped by on plane and “waked” us. Everybody slowed down and gave us a friendly wave.
As predicted winds were 15-20kts and gusting the next morning so we had a second cup of coffee and broke out the books for a few hours. The breeze dropped in the afternoon so we chugged 7 miles up to Church Creek, the last good anchorage before Charleston.
4/3-4/17 Please see “A bump in the road” post below
4/18-21 Underway from Charleston. A new routine, while until now Libbey has mostly driven while I exercise or take short breaks, we're now an hour on and hour off. Works great, wish we'd started this sooner. A warm sunny day and light breeze and boat traffic made for a pleasant crossing of Charleston Harbor and we made good progress up the ICW before anchoring on Awendoo Creek.
When we were boating down the inland rivers, spotting another boat flying the looper flag was pretty common and a good occasion to strike up a conversation. When we hit the gulf everybody seemed to scatter and flags were seen far less often. Well, we're apparently back in sync with the pack for these few days we started seeing lots of looper flags and had a number of good chats with folks. When we're cruising at 6-7 knots (best economy and very relaxed) we're slower that most cruisers. When we run on plane at 15-18 knots (wanting to get somewhere at a certain point in time) we're faster than most loopers.
4/22-25
These days tend to blur together. Someheres in here we pass through the heavily developed SC/NC boundary amidst the McMansions and condos that I 'll enjoy forgetting and get intro the wilder and lovelier northern NC.
I'l not soon forget the sight of our anchor dropping overboard when the swivel pin let go one sunny morning in Swanboro. This despite the mechanic's application of loc-tite to the threads a few weeks back on the St. Johns River. We've got 2 spares so we'll look for a good chance to replace the excellent performing Manson
4/26-29 Arrived Oriental NC, “Sailing Capital of NC” and a nice friendly small town. Our hull is badly crusted with shell growth and her top speed has been reduced to 15 knots. We had made an appointment at Deaton's Marine Service to haul and scrape and the crew did a quick and excellent job. We took a a slip there for two nights to wait out a blow that didn't happen but we enjoyed the down time and exploring the town. The yard even had a loaner car which has been rare since we hit the salt water so we got a number of errands accomplished.
We got an early start the next day and ran on plane all day(106 miles)-wanting to get across the open reaches of the Neuse River ( they state that its 6 mile width gives it the widest river mouth on the east coast), Pamlico Sound and the Alligator River. As we ran north down the 5 mile wide Alligator River the breeze pipe up and we bounced our way into a side bay called South Lake. While I was scanning for a likely anchorage, Libbey spotted a bear swimming across the lake. We chugged over to get a closer look (through binoculars) and watched him swim ashore. Big bear! I'm looking forward to some of my more experienced friend's estimate of his weight but I'll guess 250 lb plus. \
The spare Danforth Anchor refused to set on the first 3 attempts-not encouraging.
A twelve-fifteen mile crossing of Albermare Sound was our next course. We made our first attempt mid morning and decided that a second cup of coffee back on South Lake was more fun than taking 3-4' breaking waves over the bow so we turned around.
The breezed died by early afternoon so we made a long run across the Albermarle and up the river past Elizabeth City. The Danforth again failed to set after several attempts at Goat Island (described as good holing ground in the cruising guide) so we continued up the Dismal Swamp Canal to the barge channel by South Mills Lock. The anchor again failed to set so we tied off to the bulkhead.
4/30-5/2 We locked through South Mills Lock (our first since St. Lucie River at the east end of the Okochobee Waterway) and enjoyed a stop at the vistior center and state park with its half mile board walk through the swamp. Anchorages are non existent and dock space is highly sought so we were pleased to find a seried of old pilings that we could tie off for the night to catch the morning lock schedule. Another advantage of a 2 foot draft!
Although we quite liked the Dismal Swamp the weather can certainly be described as dismal, cool, damp and showers. Nice to drop all the curtains and fire up the stove to make a cup of cocoa sort of weather.
The weather followed us out of the swamp and on to the Chesapeake Bay-magnificent in any weather!
An onshore swell and and an outgoing tide made the mouth of the James River stand up in 3-4' swells that weren't quite steep enough to break. We picked our way through them and soon found smoother going as we headed for the mouth of the Rappahanock. We stopped at NorView Marina at the river mouth for gas and to use the wifi to purchase fishing licenses.
We decided to overnight on the Corrotoman River a small tributary to the Rappahannock. Once again we had anchoring trouble. I finally got the anchor to sort of hold by deploying 120' of scope in 6 feet of water, many times the normal 5:1 scope to depth ratio. Fortunately we're meeting up with my friend (Senior Naturalist for Chesapeake Bay Foundation and editor of this blog on the Seaway web site) John Page Williams and he offered to pick up a Rocna (Manson twin) at West Marine in Annapolis.
5/3-6
We ran down the Corrottoman and across the Rappahanock to the small town of Urbanna and booked a slip in the town marina. We walked into town for groceries and planned to return for a soft shell crab dinner but a strong thunderstorm was forecast so we opted for dinner on the boat. We were interviewed about our trip for the local paper by Larry Chowning, a friend of John Page.




The next day what John Page calls Blackberry Winter weather and had warned me to expect continued as we ran up the Rappahanock to the town of Tappahanock and anchored on the flats below town. We were greeted by a pair of police boats that hoped we were the originators of a distress call that had been broadcast earlier. We'd heard the Coast Guard radio announcement of the call earlier and had been on the lookout. Hope it worked out okay.
Our mission on the Rappahanock was to use our the story of our loop to help further the work of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Chesapeake Conservancy. These two superb organizations have done amazing work to protect the bay and steward the Captain John Smith National Historic Water Trail. The Conservancy has just released an app Boaters Guide to the Chesapeake which I loaded on to my phone and was delighted by how simply I could access such an array of information. The CBF and the CC are part of a coalition working together to protect Fones Cliffs, a spectacular 4 mile stretch of sandstone bluffs that are critical eagle habitat and the site of an historic Indian attack on the John Smith expedtion. Libbey and I had the pleasure of hosting Joel Dunn CC's Executive Director, Peter from his staff, a newspaper reporter and Pam from Virginia Public Radio. Bill Portlock from CBF and John Page escorted us in their Boston Whalers and Bill took some great photos of the outing. Looking forward to seeing the media coverage and will share links when I get them.
After saying good bye to our guests we ran back down river to the mouth of Wilna Creek and firmly planted our new Rocna anchor in the river bed. A good night's sleep was had by all.
Blackberry Winter continued the next day and since we'd missed the soft shell crabs in Urbanna we decided that lunch in a warm restaurant really beckoned. The Virginia Street Cafe is locally famous for their soft shells and we had a terrific leisurely late lunch. We anchored in the creek in town for the night.
5/7-9
Our destination today was the Patuxent River. To get there we'd have to cross the 7 mile wide Potomac River mouth, a river mouth that frequently gets rough when wind and tide are opposed. We made our first attempt late morning. Seas were already at 3' and breaking before we cleared the bar at Smith Point so we decided to tuck into the Little Wicomico River and wait for conditions to improve. Fortunately the weather buoy at the river mouth is monitored and reported hourly by NOAA weather radio. When we heard wind speed had dropped to 8 knots and the current was slack we knew it was time to go. We planed across the river and up the shore to the Patuxent arriving well before dinner time and finding a sheltered anchorage on Mill Creek.
Winds of 15-20 knots with gusts to 30 were in the forecast for the next day so we just moved a few miles up river to St. Leonards Creek. We fished a bit along the way and at anchor but despite marking a lot of fish on the fish finder we had no bites.
As I sat in the cabin working on this blog that after noon I heard a splash and a yell. Admiral Peary had done a swan dive off the wheelhouse roof and was scrambling to get back aboard. He wasn't getting back aboard quick enough to suit Libbey so she jumped in to give him a hand. She held him up and I scooped him aboard with the landing net. I'd left the cabin door open so of course he has to run in there dripping water over everything except luckily my computer and camera. A scared cat and a wet wife but no real damage.
Today we ran from the Patuxent to the Rhode River just south of Annapolis. Tomorrow we'll be hosted at the East Point Yacht club and will be sharing stories with John Page and his friends.
5/10
John Page invited us to lunch at CBF and kindly loaned us his truck to do a grocery run. We ran from CBF to East Point Yacht Club and tied up for the night. After a great dinner of fish tacos and crab cakes washed down by Loose Cannon IPA (a great local brew) we shared our slides and stories with three very experienced and delightful boating couples.
5/11-14 Running Hard
We woke to a cold drizzle and knowing we have to return to the Chesapeake for a much more serious exploration we decided to put some miles behind us. We ran up the bay and were across the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal by 1:45 pm. Knowing Delaware Bay's reputation as a potentially snotty crossing we decided to take advantage of the flat seas and make the 56 mile run (or 52 mile run if you straight line the bay instead of following the ship channel). We entered the canal at Cape May and motored a few miles to Sunset Lake, a prosaic name for a heavily built up lagoon. This has been the longest mileage day of the trip-133 miles.
Our next big crossing is the 26 mile open water run from Manasquam Inlet to Sandy Hook then 10 miles across New York Harbor into the city. Weather looks doable for Saturday morning so we decide to take 2 days to poke across the 100 remaining miles of the NJ ICW. The first day is surprisingly pretty with lots of big marshes full of birds. Condos and summer homes to be sure but with more visual relief than expected.
The second day was big open water-Great and Barnegat Bays. With the wind expected to pipe up in the afternoon we elect to put the boat on plane and ran for Port Pleasant. A quick stop for lunch and a walk at the Brielle Yacht Club and we were ready to anchor. By mid after noon we're anchored out in a pool known as the Glimmer Glass. Side by side summer houses surround us but we have a big flock of brant for company.
As predicted this morning was calm as glass and we're running by 6:15 a.m. By 10 a.m. We were anchored off Liberty Island sipping on coffee and photographing the statue. After a leisurely brunch we headed up the river in a building southerly breeze, the sort of wind that manages to follow the river's twists and turns. By mid afternoon we were able to find good cover behing the Stony Point National Historic Landmark. Hard to believe we're within a 100 miles of where we started in Troy NY.
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April 18th, 2016

4/18/2016

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March 29th, 2016

3/29/2016

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Moving Along
2/5-12
As predicted, the weather window we wanted for a few days in the Marquessas never materialized. We spent another few days wind bound in the Mud Keys enjoying some good fishing and then back to Key West for a night and a Cuban meal. Next morning we struck east to Saddle Bunch Keys then on to Bahia Honda.
2/12-15
We left the Keys with a big (40 miles) open water run north from Bahia Honda State Park to Cape Sable a day before several days of strong easterly winds were forecast. Little Shark River has a well marked river mouth and is right in the middle of the Everglades gulf coast. We spent the night there and the next morning we wandered up the coast to the Broad River. We followed the Broad up to Tarpon Bay and down the Harnery River to the Gulf . Having read the Everglades described as the River of Grass we were again interested to observe only mangroves. We had our third alligator siting of the loop on the Harney. For some reason our alligator encounters are down on this Florida visit, probably due to cooler water.
2/15-17
A couple of days in the 10,000 Islands area was our next stop. We treated ourselves to lunch at the Rod and Gun Club in Everglades City (est. 1865) and really enjoyed the decor and sporting memorabilia of old mounted fish and tackle. Sad to say, the lunch could only be described as mediocre-crab cakes that I strongly suspect came out of the freezer and were given a ride in the microwave.
2/17-20
Florida's first Marine Protected Area was our next destination and this time it was right to explore. Estero Bay is a shallow bay, perhaps 20 miles more or less square. We spent two nights anchored off Mound Key State Archaeological Site. We kayaked and fished and hiked the island, enjoying the interpretive panels describing the pre contact life and culture of the Calusa Indians. We also managed to catch a nice sea trout for supper which we grilled-really like the grill feature of our propane stove!
2/20-21
We departed Estero Bay and made a short run to Sanibel Island where our new friends Ted and Carrie hosted us for some lovely meals and our first night ashore in a bed. The next morning Ted drove us to the local farmer's market and we picked up a few treats.
2/21-2/22
A late morning departure allowed us an easy run back to Cayo Costa for a night in a crowded anchorage. I was really annoyed at the catamaran sailor that anchored 40 yards upwind of upwind of us and fired up his generator at sunset although he shut it off quickly enough when I yelled at him. I have no idea why he didn't anchor further away, the were hundreds of acres of good isolated room to anchor.
2/22-3/1We had a half day run to Englewood where we visited with Lib's Mom for a week and helped her get to the airport for her return to snowy northern Maine. A daily three mile walk to Stump Pass and back plus some bicycling provided some much needed aerobic exercise. More windlass repair and great service from the Stump Pass Marina folks and were ready to travel.
3/1-6
We left Englewood about a week and a half ago. We spent the­ first couple of nights at Don Pedro State­ Park, a lovely barrier island park with great trails and beaches to walk. From there it was back to Cayo Costa for a night at anchor where unbelievably we had another encounter with ill mannered catamaran sailors.
This episode involved again a boat anchoring perhaps 30 yards to port, again with lots of isolated anchorage available. Pretty soon two more boats rafted up to them. Almost immediately the dinghies started to swarm in and the party was on. The folks were pretty quiet until just at sunset somebody powered up the PA and started broadcasting the clubs news and events. I'm not sure if I learned anything about the harbor or catamaran cruisers from these experiences but having vented I'll move on figuratively and literally.
3/6-8
The Okochobee Waterway bisects southern Florida, allowing boaters to skip the long trip down around the Keys by leaving the Gulf at Fort Meyers and entering the Atlantic Intra Coastal Waterway at Stuart. We loafed up the Caloosahatchee River around the Rim Route on Lake Okochobbee and down the St. Lucie River over the course of five easy days. The Caloosahatchee was a pleasant mix of wild and pasture with a few small towns. We spent a couple of nights In LaBelle, a pleasant little river community with ample free public dockage. This has been a real rarity on our loop. LaBelle must have an exceptionally talented grant writer to have been able to develop three fine facilities within a half mile of each other, one of which even has free water and power. A walk around town through the live oak shaded neighborhoods, a few groceries, a super BLT at the coffee shop and a nice chat with the onwer of the honey store and it was time to continue eastwards.
3/8-10
The river remained scenic through the town of Moorhaven where the engineering of the shores became more obtrusive. The south shore was a graded and mown bank similar to an interstate highway shoulder. The north shore was the head high grass that we had been looking for in the Everglades. We found (from Skipper Bob Guidebook) a delightful side basin and spent the evening watching hundreds of egrets, ibises and herons of all species flying in at dusk to roost on a wooded point a hundred yards from the boat. Their pre dawn departure sent the cat racing around the cabin and mewling crazily. Needless to say we had an early breakfast of ployes (French buckwheat pancakes) with walnuts and bananas and maple syrup.
3/10-11
We stopped at the Patokey Municipal Marina for ice the next morning. We had called ahead and the receptionist had advised that it was windy and it would be a bouncy stay if we chose to overnight there. The wind was off the land and the basin was very calm. The marina was largely deserted, less than a quarter full and the docks reeked of guano from hundreds of roosting terns and black skimmers so we were glad to keep moving.
Dolphins, in addition to being amongst our favorite critters, are a nautical term used to describe the tripods of pilings that are driven in series in water of sufficient depth to moor a tow. We spent our last night on the Okochobee Waterway tied fore and aft to the dolphins at the St. Lucie Lock after agreeing with the lock master that we'd move if a tow needed to moor. He strongly hinted that was unlikely and he was right.
3/11-13
We've spent the last two nights at anchorages just off the AICW and are finding that the best anchorages are man made albeit unintentionally. The spoils islands that dot the waterway were created by dredging to keep the waterway navigable but they often provide excellent protection and have naturalized to the point that they're quite scenic. Bridge causeways are another great anchorage possibility once you get used to the traffic noise and there's always a sheltered side.
3/13-14
Now in Titusville at the municipal marina, we're enjoying an overnight at very well maintained and professionally staffed facility. Walked into town for a great breakfast at the Sunrise Bakery. The highlight of the stay though is the manatee that's hanging around our slip. They're attracted to freshwater so when I started flushing the motor and hosing the deck he was right there. More soon.



Farewell Florida, Georgia on my mind
3/14-17
We spent these days wanderin up the Intracoastal Waterway. We enjoyed the wild scenic character of Mosquito Lagoon but were glad the mosquitoes were for some reason not on duty. While much of the stretch nortn to the St. Johns River is heavily developed we were able to find wild (and fish-less) anhorages most nights.
3/17-24
I've wanted to explore Florida's St. Johns River for years perhaps because Maine's St. John River is a favorite of mine. Other than the facts that they both hundreds of miles in length and flow north for siginificant portions of their lengths, they could not be more different. Maine's St. John's northern reaches drain the wild northern tip of Maine. Its a swift shallow river that in spring time offers one of Maine's premier whitewater backcountry canoe trips.
Florida's St. Johns is naviagable by cruising boats to at least 200 miles from the sea. By Florida standards tides run big here. We saw our first five foot tidal range of the trip here. While the lower forty miles are pretty heavily built up, the river becomes wilder up river from the town of Palatka. We found some lovely anchorages in the back river channels. A hike on Murphy Island yielded a great bobcat sighting afoot, a first for both Libbey and me.
Going up and again back down river we had the real pleasure of visiting and sharing meals with one of our Alaska friends and her husband. Thressa and I were wilderness fishing guides in Ketchikan, Alaska in 2008 and have stayed in touch through Facebook. She and her husband Randy are liveaboards at Holland Marine in Green Cove Springs. It was great to meet Randy and reminisce with Thressa about all the halibut and rock fish our guests pulled from icy waters of the Tongass National Forest.
3/24-26
We spent almost exactly four months in Florida and were ready to go and stay longer a the same time. One last night in Florida at Piney Island on the Amelia River and we're into Georgia. Since we don't plan to buy Georgia fishing licenses we were hoping for a last fish dinner until S. Carolina. Hopes were high when the drag on Libbey's reel started to scream.. We quickly realized it was probably too much fish for too little rod. Actually it turned out to be too much fish for the hook which broke in half on a strong run.
Our first night in Georgia was spent anchored in the marshes along Jove Creek just off Mackay River in the ICW. Grey skies and vicious no-see-ums but still very pretty.










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Cat Onboard, Cat Overboard

3/13/2016

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What we have learned about traveling with a cat onboard

Though for years we had taken our cat Leo on the boat the longest trip with him was 5 days. As we were making plans for our “Loop” trip Leo passed away and we adopted a new kitten,
Admiral Peary. The Admiral was 1 year old when we started our trip.

What we did right to get him ready for the big adventure:

We regularly put him in his kitty carrier with treats, took him for rides in the car, and to visit relatives with cats and on our boat for several overnight trips, all with the hope of getting him used to adjusting to new surroundings. This worked pretty well, he does not get car or seasick and is a pretty adaptable little guy.

What we did OK:
We bought a collapsible 16 x 19 x 23 inch wire crate so we would have an option to keep him on deck when we were at a marina. On average we stay at marinas about one night a week. The crate was set up at home in the living room for about 4 weeks before we departed. I regularly fed him in it which somewhat decreased his fear on the crate. I tried leaving him in his crate overnight and he was so miserable and crying I usually let him out after a few hours. I thought on the boat he would sleep in the cuddy with us and we would only be using the crate when we were tied up at a marina. Boy was I wrong. The first week the cat ran wild every night in the cuddy, we got almost no sleep. The cat was happy to sack out all day and was again ready to romp that night. We decided to put him in his crate on deck at night. He was miserable and howled and rattled the cage for hour after hour until I would go rescue him, then we were back to romping in the cuddy. Finally on night three using the crate I just put a pillow over my head and left him out there. Night four was much the same but night five much to my amazement he curled up in the crate and went to sleep. We didn't hear a peep from him until just before sunrise. I have a food and water bowls and kitty litter boxes in both the cuddy and the crate. His preferred food bowl and litter box are in his crate. So, though I wish we had started him earlier getting used to his crate in the end it has worked quite well.

At home our cats have their own “kitty” door and come and go as they want. The Admiral loved to climb trees, race around the yard and chase bugs. He would head out of the house an hour before sunrise and return for breakfast when he heard the coffee grinder in the kitchen. I have worried that a 24' boat is a pretty confined world for this guy. An “indoor” cat might have an easier transition to the boating life.

What we failed at:
I had hoped to be able to walk the cat on a leash. I bought the halter and leash when the Admiral was 8 months old, read the instructions and realized I was 7 months late for leash training according to the directions. He got used to wearing the halter but being on a leash has not worked at all. He panics when he feels restrained by the leash and tries to back out of the leash and kind of goes nuts. On a lock on the Trent Severen Waterway in Canada I found a nice quiet grassy park areas away from people with no traffic,a bicyclist went and he panicked, We tried a night time walk at Kentucky Dam Marina in and a very quiet 6:00am walk at Pebble Isle Marina, nothing works I am afraid in one of his panics he will succeed in getting out of his halter and we will never be able to find him.

This cat is very sensitive to noise and very observant, He gets more alarmed at noise and movement than any cat we have ever had. When Leo heard another boat he would often get on the cuddy roof and practically wave to the passing boaters; he seemed to love profiling and having his picture taken. The Admiral will hear a boat long before Steve or I do and immediately leaves for his safe spot on the roof or dives into the cuddy. Would cats with a different more laid back personality be able to handle a leash better? I think they might. Best to start young.

What we have learned so far:
Cats can swim. Actually I already knew this because when I was 7 years old my sister and I took our cat for a ride in the boat, when we got about 30 feet from shore he made a great leap of about 15 feet and had to swim the rest of the way.

The Admiral is in his crate at night but has full run of the boat when we are doing a slow cruise (5MPH) and when we are at anchor. His favorite place to hangout is on the wheelhouse roof under the kayak. We try to anchor in areas that have little current but that isn't always possible. He is not allowed on deck unless Steve or I am on deck with him.

The first month he fell in twice when we were at anchor and then again about 6 weeks later. It has now been 5 months since his last swim so it seems his sea legs and judgment have gotten much better getting better but I do worry.

Cats can do a self-rescue if you have ropes and covered bumpers out. At anchor we probably look a little sloppy. We loop and drape the dock lines from the side and stern cleats so they drag in the water a couple feet. I also made polar fleece covers for the bumpers so the cat can get his claws into them to re-board. We were at anchor the second week of the trip on the Erie Canal when Steve and I had heard a splash knew the Admiral had gone overboard; we were grabbing the fishing net and anxiously looking over the gunnel for him when he hauled himself in on the dock line.

After several months without an overboard incident we had gotten a bit complacent. We anchored late in the day on the Perdido River, is was a glass calm night and I forgot to put the “kitty ropes and bumpers overboard. Suddenly we heard a splash but it was dark, he is a black cat and we couldn't see him, he got swept back behind the transom but was able to cling the the outboard engine. It was very frightening to have him overboard and not be able to see him, as I had always thought if he began to be swept away I would just jump in and rescue him. After that experience he now goes in his crate as the sun goes down, no more on deck after dark.


Admiral Peary enjoys watching the birds, is fascinated by fish coming on board and would like to figure out how to help Steve clean the fish. He keeps us and is good traveling companion. Of course I am a cat person and really could imagine spend a year without a cat.

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    We're Steve and Libbey from Whitefield, Maine. We're launching this blog as we start our attempted circumnavigation of America's Great Loop in August 2015. We'll be traveling living aboard our 24' Maine lobster style boat the Laughing Gull



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