July 6, 2011

Thursday…crossing Lake George

Forgot to mention the “little accident” when Jim spotted a big gator last night and told me to grab my camera. I was on deck while it swam towards shore so I started knocking on the boat to attract it’s attention….it worked…it started to really puff itself up and arched it’s tail. I wanted to get a picture of it like that so hollared down to Jim to knock on the boat. I didn’t realize he was in the galley fixing our evening  wine. He had 2 glasses poured …along with the soda he puts in his…when he leaned on the shelf to knock….it collapsed!…all the wine and soda spilled on the cushions. Needless to say…he was not a happy boater at that moment.

After several towels and lots of sopping up we got everything shipshape.  I rinsed all the towels in the river and hung them on the rear railing to dry…now we look like liveaboards.

Captain Jim from “Sailbad the Sinner” dingyed down to visit over coffee this morning. After they hauled anchor, we took Raisin ashore for a walk then headed N.

Thunderstorms started to roll in and a bit of rain hit us. We decided to check Lake George and make a decision whether to cross or wait till evening when things settled down. Lake George is shallow and can build up steep waves quickly.

Once we got to the gate we could see storms all around but the lake was flat. The wind was on our rear quarter and would be a push if it did get worse so we started across. 

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It turned out to be one of our best rides across. Just enough breeze to keep us cool and give us a bit of a shove.

Back on the river we spotted this gator sunning on a log.

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I cant figure out if its smiling at me….or just showing off it’s pearly whites.

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When we arrived at the dock in Welaka, we tied up next to this little pontoon houseboat. He has everything he needs for a stay on the river….including airconditioning…..the nice thing about a boat like this is he can get into places we only dream of going because of our 3’ draft.

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Supper at Shrimp R Us, compliments of Ed and Carole (Tortoise).  We’ll be using up the gift certificate they gave us when we have our sausage/gravy and biscuits for breakfast.  Thanks so much guys….we’ve really enjoyed all those free meals. Too bad you weren’t here to enjoy them with us.  But I imagine you are enjoying much nicer boating weather in Maine.

This is one of the “locals”. It hangs out at the dock and the people fishing give it some of the small ones.

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We’ll remain at the dock overnight.  Have breakfast then head S in the morning.