Mar '08 The Great Loop Adventure

On 3.5.08 we took the boat to Jim's brother's, Carl. It was Jim's birthday so Carl treated us to a great dinner out....

3.06.08 We launched at the ramp by Whitehair Bridge, near DeLand FL. Our first night was spent by "G3" behind the island...one of our favorite beaching stops but it was taken by some campers so we anchored out...

3.07.08 We headed across Lake George...tornado watches and high winds were in the forecast...we had the high winds...and plenty of rain....but at our backs so we had a nice push N on the lake.....We tied up at the city dock in Palatka...freeze warning were out and we really appreciated the elec hookups....nice and warm all night...but had to get up and reset docklines a couple of times...wind and tides.

3..08 We noticed a fair amount of water in the port hull....and suspected a "scupper" leaking. Scuppers drain the water from the lower part of the boat..overboard...but the thru-hull fitting didnt have a good seal....A call to Carl and the truck and trailer were on the way...Our Great-grandson Matthew is born today around 1150.

3.09.08 We hauled out...Jim and Carl recaulked all the scuppers...it required 24 hrs of drying time so Carl spent the night in a motel. We stayed in the boat on the trailer...it makes a great camper and we used it as one last summer.

3.10.08 The best part of the trip was meeting our newest Great-grandson, Matthew Jacob. My daughter, Tammy, (now a grandmother) came to Palatka and picked me up. A beautiful baby...with a great disposition...my Granddaughter, Shaina is so proud...as she has every right to be....he is darling. His dad, Anthony, seemed to be pretty happy with his "new" family.

3.11.08 We spent the night at Hallows Cove. We are still new at tides...anchored in 3' of water...rowed as close to shore as we could and walked the rest of the way in...to give the dogs their daily run....Jim noticed the water had gone down a bit and we realized it wasnt low tide yet..as we had thought....we hustled back to the boat but by the time we got there it was already aground...we could spin it but not push it to deeper water.....at midnight it was calm so I put the anchor in the dingy and rowed it out to deeper water. We stayed up and waited for the shuttle to launch but too many clouds to see anything....a bit later the boat was floating. Because the anchor line was out so far we just pulled on the anchorline until there was enough water under the boat to put the motor down...then motored to 8' of water and went back to bed for a few hours....

We had a nice run today...we are anchored near Mill Cove...a few miles S of the entrance to Sister's Creek and the ICW. if we have the tide figured right we'll be up and running by 7am so we can have a ride on the outgoing tide instead of running against it.

Didnt take many pictures...too busy with the video camera....will do better from now on....