USN Yorktown-now a museam

I took 46 photos today at the Yorktown, which is too many to attach here. But this is a special place that many of my friends would really love. The Yorktown was decommissioned in 1970 after service in World War II, Vietnam, and was also one of the ships to receive the Apollo spacecrafts after landing in the Pacific. In fact the Yorktown was the ship that pulled Apollo 8 from the sea, after the first successful trip to the moon over Christmas 1968.

Sitting on her deck on down in her hold, the Yorktown has every plane and helicopter that flew from her decks, from Hellcats, Corsairs, to F4's, and F14 Tomcats (of Top Gun fame). My friend John Wurth flew these planes in his Navy career, and I was overwhelmed by how huge this carriers are, and how small they would be to land a plane on. The Yorktown almost 900 ft. long, which felt huge. But compare it to the USN Reagan which is one of the Super Carrier's today, is three times as big.

Along with the Yorktown, there is a World War II diesel class submarine that you can tour. I cannot believe Casey Fox served on a nuclear submarine that was under water for 6 months. I was claustrophobic after 5 minutes. On land they recreated a base camp from Vietnam, with Huey helicopters and the a big gun ship called "Puff the Magic Dragon". Jay Carey flew these helicopters in Vietnam.

All in all, its a fabulous way to spend the day and see this carrier, planes, helicopters, and submarine. My hat is off to those that served. Also inside the Yorktown is a section devoted to Medal of Honor recipients. Very humbling.

Our time in Charleston has been filled with Civil War history, seeing a city that has played a significant role in our country's history, and remains today a vibrant port city. It is a wonderful place to visit. And have I mentioned the food??? Um mm. Good.

Life without all the Stuff

We are within a few hours of closing on our house in Austin, and it occurs to me that I have spent a lifetime of accumulating "stuff", and now I am shedding it faster than a cat sheds her fur in springtime. It is freaking me out!! Have you tried to live your life without a car? Everywhere we go, we are constantly walking, or riding our bikes. I am losing more weight, as Shelley and I have walked at least 7 miles today in and around Charleston. We are always asking at marina offices if there is a car available, but most of the time there is not....so we walk. and Walk...and walk.

I have also spent more time in a grocery store in the past 25 days than I have in the past 25 years. People look at men funny when you are in the grocery store pushing that cart around at 2 or 10 in the morning. For me, this is weird. But I have to say I am becoming a good grocery shopper, able to tell the best bananas from the too ripe ones. Shelley still calls me a rookie however.

So instead of my life's routine of heading off to work, I now check the weather, and plan the day. Where are we going over the next week, and where will we stay each night. You have to plan for the important events, like where we will do a pump out, and where is the next grocery store. No more planning for sophisticated estate plans. No, I am planning every day things that we need in boat life. Food, water, beer, bananas, and pump outs. At the end of this trip, we both will need to de-tox at some alcohol clinic.

Then there is the weather. Rock Chalk is a very safe and sturdy boat, and most of our travels are in the Intercoastal, where we are not as concerned about big storms and high seas. But big winds in thunderstorms with lightning all around when you are on a boat is a bit disconcerting. No sweat though, Rock Chalk has a good navigation chart plotter that tells me where I am at all times as long as I have a GPS connection. If that goes, then you will see me panic. Knock on wood.

We have talked to many of you about joining us for some leg of this adventure. I hope you all can find some time to experience this. Remember, its sophisticated camping. There are sacrifices one makes on a boat, but all in all its pretty comfortable. Our grandsons' Max and Leo and granddaughter, Rylee, and daughter Shana, will join us for the upper part of the Chesapeake Bay, the Delaware canal, and then a couple of days cruising up the outside of New Jersey on our way to New York. They will get a chance to see the fireworks over the 4th of July at the Statute of Liberty. Cool.

Jay and Anne Carey will join us for the lower part of the Chesapeake, and believe me I am preparing my long list of questions about the ocean for Anne. Keith Carmichael has suggested an app for the iPad that lets you look and identify all the stars in the sky. I think Shelley has that app, but we have not used it yet. Maybe Keith can show me when he and Robin visit.

But for now, I am busy each night planning the next 8 days it will take to get from Charleston to Norfolk, Virginia. We are going to do the Dismal Swamp route, which should be quite interesting. Rock Chalk is alot like the Sundance Kid. You remember the movie, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? Remember the part when he is shooting cans off a fence post. The Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) can't hit anthing until he rolls one way and shoots before he hits the ground. His line says it all..."I am better when I move". Rock Chalk. Marc

Charleston, South Carolina

Yesterday was cloudy and rainy all day. We took Rock Chalk from Edisto Beach up the ICW to Charleston in about 4.5 hours. Naturally the hardest rain came just as we rounded the southern tip of the Charleston peninsula, and were looking for our marina, The Charleston Maritime Center. We found it, got tied up, and the skies opened up. It rained really hard for an hour. Great to wash the boat off.

Today (Saturday, April 23) the skies cleared and it was a beautiful day. Perfect for the ferry trip out to Ft. Sumter, and for discovering Charleston by foot. I love the history of these kinds of things, but Shelley can speed walk at world record paces through any museum, fort, tourist attraction, etc. She has no slow speed. Then she has the audacity to complain that I am actually reading these plaques by each photo or artifact. She just doesn't do this stuff, so we agree to meet up at the end. It works.

We are tied up at the Charleston Maritime Center, which is a small marina on the east side of the peninsula and within a few blocks of City Market of Charleston. If you have been to New Orleans, this place has a French Quarter. If you have been to Savannah, this place has some beautiful homes from the early 1800's. What struck me today was reading the philosophy of the orators of South Carolina in 1860. It was all about limited federal government, states rights, individual freedom, and a strict interpretation of the Constitution. All this led to South Carolina being the first state to secede.

Although today we all look at the horrible nature of slavery, I have to agree with why they felt it was so important that they were willing to leave the union to follow a path that they felt was critical to their economy and livelihood. When you read the quotes of all the leaders of the south and the strict constitutionalists, you see an amazing parallel for today. Less federal government, more personal freedom, is the true meaning of our constitution. But I pontificate.

One of the reasons I have been dreaming of this trip for years was to see the eastern third of the US by water, where so much of our history as a country was developed. Charleston is a perfect example of what I am learning. Cool. Marc

Happy 27th Anniversary in Rainy S. Carolina

It's raining in South Carolina. Not bad though. This is the first rain we have had in 19 days, so no complaints. Yesterday was our 27th anniversary and we spent it on the beach at Edisto Island, SC. Once again Shelley found an off the grid marina up a creek on the back side of Edisto. It was a short 3 block walk to the beach and we took our Jayhawk cooler on wheels (thanks Criag and Shana) and guess what we did? You got it Leo, we looked for sea shells. For those of you who have not met our grandson Leo, (age 7) he loves shells. He and Shelley looked at this encyclopedia size book, all on shells, just to get prepared for this trip.

It also occured to me that I really need our good friend Anne Carey on this boat as our resident scientist. I once asked Anne how the ocean worked and she knew!!

Anne was the person that also showed me how to read those star gazer books. I could never make the photos of stars in the book look anything like the real sky at night. Then Anne had me raise the book up over my head and compare the photo with the night sky and it suddenly all came into focus. Really she is a scientist, and there are so many things we are seeing on the ocean and I have so many questions.

I am making a list and will email you Anne. Be ready.

Its really raining now. Reminds me of those storms in the Caribbean when visibility drops to a few yards in front of the boat. We made it into Charleston Harbour just in time to get docked and all secured before this hit. The USS Yorktown is anchored across the way, plus Ft. Sumter, and all of Charleston are ours to explore over this next week. Can you believe it, we are staying one place for a week!! Marc

Beaufort, South Carolina

Don't know about you, but when I am gone from the office I set my email up for "Out of Office" messages. What has been funny since we left Austin April 3rd, is that every day I get a message from my auto message saying quote, "Your out of office message is on, and no one has emailed you." I had to laugh.

Welcome to retirement. I have to thank my partner and successor, Mike Priede. He is obviously receiving the 100 emails a day that I used to get, and I cannot tell you how nice it is to be out the bullets flying overhead.

Shelley continues to find these off the grid places. The last couple of days it was Bull River Marina near Tybee Island. Pretty run down place with really ugly bathrooms, docks full of splinters, and beautiful scenery. We took the ding several miles up the St. Augustine creek to Tybee itself. It was early on Monday morning, so nothing was open but their pretty beach. I was shocked but it took half a tank of fuel in the ding to get to Tybee, so here we are with not really enough gas to get back to our marina. Shelley came to the rescue and made fast friends with this family who were putting their kayaks into the water. Before I knew it, the dad was taking me across the island to the nearest gas station to refill my tank.

Plus this family suggested we visit Little Tybee across the channel. It is a nature preserve and the only way to get there is by boat. We took the ding across and spent the next several hours looking for shells for our grandson Leo. He and Shelley have a thing for sea shells. She found some, and took a photo with her cell phone and sent them to Shana, asking Leo to research what kind of shells she had found. That little guy is just 7 going on 8, and by evening we knew. They were angel wings. Way to go Leo.

Today is Beaufort, South Carolina. On the way here we cruised up the coast of Hilton Head. What a pretty place, and the homes on the shore were fabulous. Then it was Paris Island, and all those marines in training running their morning jog to all those great songs we sang as boys...."I don't know what I've been told, Eskimo women are mighty cold....UH-RAH!

Can't wait to see Beaufort. We are at a marina two miles outside of town, so we will get a cab into town tomorrow. We hear nothing but nice things about this town. We are also hoping that we will close on the house in Austin tomorrow. Yahoo!!! But we miss the pool. So much is happening in such a short time. Almost homeless in South Carolina. Marc

9 foot tides cause me Stress!

Have I mentioned that coastal Georgia has huge tides. If you look outside this evening (Sunday) its a full moon. This shot was just taken off the front of Rock Chalk with the moon rising over Tybee Island. Very pretty right?? It is but it causes these massive tides that we have been fighting these last few days. Today's low tide was 9 feet down, just as we were coming up the Wilmington River into Savannah. So many times I would look at my depth sounder and see that I had less than a foot under the keel. This boat with it's shallow draft has saved me many times already.

It is really hard to look at a river and figure out where the deep water channel is. I am getting better at reading the water, but it is stressful, and today was the ultimate. Shelley says, "Charge on, Marc! She is not driving. But we made it to Tybee Island and the Bull River Marina without hitting the bottom and I was so relieved after 7 hours of this today, that I had to just sit on the back of the boat, sip on a Gin and tonic, and smoke a cigar. I am better now, but really, these tides, currents, and little rivers are a real navigational challenge.

We are here for two nights, then its off to South Carolina, which is just a mile away across the Savannah River. We will spend a couple of nights in Beaufort, SC, then on to Charleston. I know these rivers, tides, and currents are with me until we get up the Hudson and get into either the Erie Canal, or go north to Lake Champlain. We have yet to decide which way we will go to get to the St. Lawrence Seaway. But that is a long ways away. Right now, I am going to get better at reading rivers. Where is Huck Finn when you need him. Marc

In Search of Blue Crab

If you know Shelley, you know her passion for good food. Most of our vacations, whether to the Caribbean or to Europe, she is in search for wonderful food that you cannot find at most restaurants. Yesterday after weeks of searching on the internet, she hit a gold mine. Its called the Sunbury Crab Co. and Marina in Sunbury, Georgia.

Its not an easy place to find. By road its 10 miles east of I-95 where the road ends at the shoreline. From the water, you take a left turn off the ICW and go west from marker #116 up the Medway River. Now my chart covers only the Intercoastal Waterway. So I as captain of the ship, am stressing a bit as we venture into unknown waters, that had one marker right off the ICW, but then you are on your own for 6 miles up the river.

Thankfully, my Raymarine chartplotter had the depths of the river I should follow and Shelley had an internet site that described how you weaved your way from one side of the river to the other to stay in deep water. I am pleased to say we made it, and it was way worth it. Way.

This place reminds me of those out of the way beach restaurants you would find scattered around the Caribbean, that are very eclectic and run by unique individuals who love being off the grid. They are way off the grid here in Sunbury, and they love it. We had the freshest and best blue crab for dinner last night, along with fried oysters, and barbequed shrimp. All of which they caught earlier that day by the husband of the proprietor and her sons. Simply fabulous, and what fun people. Elaine runs this place and she met us at the dock to help us tie up. Shelley had been talking to her on the cell phone to give us extra guidance to her dock in a 4 knot current. Once securely tied, she escorted us up to the restaurant at the end if the dock for a beer (which she joined with us) a cigarette (which she and Shelley enjoyed), and local lore. Basically we got her entire life story in a half hour. Very nice lady.

The food was fabulous so we knew we would have to somehow find a way back to this place. I just didn't think it would be tonight. But here we sit. Its 11:30 am and we are still at the dock while this line of severe thunderstorms threaten us from the west. This is the same storm that hit Oklahoma with tornadoes Thursday, and Alabama on Friday. So for the first day in two weeks, we are sitting. Yikes!!! This is hard.

The reward is making a good weather judgement, even though right now it still looks fine, but then being able to eat ashore one more time tonight. I just met Elaine's husband and her son as they were headed out in their crab boat for fresh Blue Crabs!!

The moral of this story is slow down, smell the roses, taste the wonderful blue crab, and avoid tornadoes. Nuff said. Marc

If it is Thursday, It's Georgia

Rock Chalk is back in its summer waters, Brunswick Georgia. Are you surprised that Shelley and I have basically gone from the west coast of south Florida (Ft. Myers) all the way across Florida, then up to Georgia? Now we are slowing down. Right.

There is bad weather headed for Georgia on Saturday, so we are going to our next destination early tomorrow. Shelley wants to go to the Sunbury crab comapny on the Medway River. I have a chart for that, but its 5 miles off the Intercoastal somewhere between St. Simon and Savannah. It is supposed to have the best crab cakes in Georgia. Storms may hit tomorrow night, but we will be tied up to the SCC marina.

I am forcing myself to go slow, ie at 8 mph. I have been following other trawlers who can only cruise at 8 or 9 mph, and it forces me to stay slow. But even going slow, we plan on spending the weekend on Tybee Island near Savannah, then a couple of days in Beaufort, South Carolina, and then a full week in Charleston, SC. That should be fun. Then its on to the Dismal Swamp in North Carolina.

It has become obvious that Shelley is a major risk taker. All day long I was obsessing with a small passage I knew was coming up the west side of Jekyll Island. I have taken the boat through there before, and know it was really shallow. Today's low tide was several feet lower than normal, and we were hitting that spot at exactly 12:30, which was dead low tide. We were not even to the shallows when I looked down and we had six inches below our keel. Yikes!!

Shelley said keep going. I said lets anchor and wait an hour for the water to come up. Well, 5 minutes later we are barely skimming over the bottom, and I am having a heart attack. Shelley is very calm reading her iPad. We made it through, but barely. Should have anchored and waited an hour. Rock Chalk

Tuesday in Jacksonville

The house has not closed yet, and we have been on the boat for only 7 days at this point, yet it feels like a different world. We have traveled from Ft. Myers, across Florida and up the east coast to almost being in Georgia. At this pace, we will have this loop out of the way by the wedding. Just kidding.....

We have covered water that we have seen before, as beautiful as it is, we decided to get north to spend time in places we have not been, like South and North Carolina. But we are sitting at Palm Cove Marina waiting on the paperwork to be completed to close on the house. We need a title company or a bank, and there are plenty near this marina. So we may be here for awhile.

Good news is that Shelley is really using her new camera, and I have finally figured out how to add photos to this post. So tonight I will try to add several shots from over this past week. Hope you enjoy these. Marc

Daytona Beach at Dawn

This morning in Daytona Beach

The Start of the Loop

More photos coming

Remember me talking about trying to add a photo to this blog. Well I think I have figured it out. Here is a shot from the early morning we left Moore Haven, Florida and crossed the Okeechobee. Here the fog is lifting, and we could finally see beyond the front of the boat. We saw lots of wildlife and alligators that morning. More photos to come. Marc

Life at 8 mph

For someone who has never been able to drive a car below the speed limit, and likes to see the world at 70 mph, it is quite an adjustment to the pace of a trawlercat. Unlike the first two days when we needed to cross the Okeechobee fast, the last two days I have not had the rpm over 1600. At idle, Rock Chalk goes about 5 mph. Add about 1000 rpm and we are at our optimum cruising speed of 8.5 to 9 mph. The boat gets great fuel economy there, burning about 3 gal per hour. Going fast (18 mph) we burn 14 gal per hour.

It took 41 gal to cross Florida in two days averaging 5.5 gal per hr with a combination of several fast hours, and mostly normal 8 mph. Going the same distance up the east coast over these last two days, but at a slower pace got the above 3. With diesel at $3.80 its nice to save some fuel.

Then we have to factor in Shelley. She likes to go fast, and her argument is that by doubling our speed, we get there in half the time, therefore burning less fuel. The math does not support that hypothesis. A six hour trip at normal speed burns 18 gal. Even cutting the time to a 3 hr. trip burns 42 gal. We gotta really need to be there to justify that.

So I am reluctantly trying to adjust to life at 8 mph. You know you can see stuff this way. Imagine that.

Life on a Boat

Rather than a continuim of a geography lesson of Florida, I thought I would share with you a "day in the life", as we get into our routine on Rock Chalk. For the first time since I was five, I do not "have" to get up to get to school, classes, or work. So you think I would sleep in, relax, not be in a rush. Wrong. Both Shelley and I wake up early, say 6:00am, and force ourselves to not get up until 6:30. I make coffee and turn on the computers. We read the Wall Street, and all the various sites that we have saved.

Then I start the process to get the boat underway. That includes making sure the dinghy is tied tight, getting the electronics on, bringing up the binoculars, cell phone, charts, and cruising guides. Everything needs to be handy. Preparation is pretty simple right now, because we have been up and down the Florida east coast, so I know the water and the places we can anchor, pick up a mooring ball, or stay at a marina. Once we get north of Savannah, I will have to be studying the charts and books much more.

We were off from Sunset Bay Marina in Stuart at 8:15 this morning and enjoyed the cruise back out the St Lucie river to the ocean inlet. The intercoastal crosses right at the inlet from the ocean, a place they call the "Crossroads". At exactly 9:00 am this morning, April 8th, we turned north in the intercoastal for Canada. Yeehaw!!

4 hours later we picked up a mooring ball in Vero Beach. We made phone calls and texted our kids. I talked to a rep on a case, all while running down the intercoastal. You just have to keep the reds to port and greens to starboard.

Still have not figured out how to attach a photo to this blog, so Shelley is going to try today. That is all for now.

Stuart, Florida

After two fairly long days we have crossed Florida through 5 locks and across the country's second largest fresh water lake, Lake Okeechobee. We are on a mooring ball in the St. Lucie River, just a few miles from the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway.

Many of you have asked about the lovely problems of fixing our holding tank. I am pleased to say it is done, and the boat is odor free. My smeller is not so sensitive, but Shelley can smell a bad bilge from Austin. The real problem was a leaking macerator pump....well you do not want to know.

This morning we woke early knowing that we wanted to get across the lake before the winds kicked up. We untied from the dock wall before dawn. We were not the first off our dock, as two other boats left ahead of us headed for Stuart as well. The lock into Okeechobee was just a 100 yards from the wall we stayed on, and as soon as the far gate of the lock opened, we ran into the thickest fog I have ever seen, let alone try to navigate a boat through. Luckily my Chartplotter works great, and Shelley stood on the bow watching for obstacles. Literally we could only see about 15 yards in front of the boat. Rock Chalk runs at almost 6 mph at idle, which felt like way too fast in that soupy stuff.

As the sun finally came up it gave us better visibility which lead to some fantastic photos, that unfortunately I still have not figured out how to attach. Soon I promise. Lots of alligators in the water and on the banks, so this is not the place to water ski, although the water surface was smooth as glass. Memories of Table Rock, except we did not worry about large creatures biting our leg off on our early morning skiing there.

The fog had lifted by the time we got to open water in Okeechobee. You cannot see shore from the middle of that lake, so again we were following our chartplotter. The lake was smooth and it was a beautiful ride across. We picked up a mooring ball in Stuart, and cleaned the boat. It was time for a cigar and beer. Nuf said. Marc

The Holding Tank

Today we had the lovely job of trying to figure out why the port holding tank is leaking into the bilge. I have no nasal sense of this problem, but Shelley can smell it 100 yrds down the dock. We had some work done on our lines that drain the two holding tanks so we can travel through Lake Champlain and into Canada. You cannot have your lines connected or a pump connected that in anyway would allow you to dump in their pristine waters. I do not want to do that anyway, but I have to prove it when we get there. So whatever the mechanic did while we were away, is now leaking.

Guess who gets to stick his head into a very small compartment up front and clean up the mess and then resolve the pumpout problem. I am happy to report I did it all today. Pump out is working, and we will leave out of Ft. Myers tomorrow am headed for Lake Okeechobee. It takes three days to cross "Crackerville" then we are back in the real world. Bonsoir (That is good evening for all of you not fluent in French)

April 4, 2011. Ft. Myers First Day of Retirement

Welcome to retirement!! My first day here in Ft. Myers was spent shopping and provisioning the boat. This is hard work! Give me my office and 60 reps yipping for my attention any day.

Case in point, a Super Walmart in Ft. Myers, Fl. These guys check your id going in the store. You have to have special permission to get in if you are under 75, and only then can you stay for a short time. The seniors get to stay as long as they want, and believe me they own this store. I have never seen anything like this. These folks are worse than Mopac at 5:00 pm. If you are in the way of one of those little powered scooters for the "disabled", you're fair game.

Seriously, Walmart at 10:30 am is a madhouse. Add some east coast US attitude, and I am just trying to stay out of there way. Naturally, Shelley is trying to speed walk through this store, and I am fighting little old ladies for my passageway through the bread aisle.

I am going to have to get in shape to survive in this world.

It was a beautiful day in South Florida, with light winds from the south. But tomorrow we are supposed to get that front that you all got today. Rainy and windy. We may stay another day here, before we head up the Caloosahatchie to Moore Haven. That is the small town on the west side of the Okeechobee, about 50 miles from here. I do not want to cross this shallow lake in high winds on the nose in relatively shallow water ie 5 ft. Remember Lake Cheney on 35 mile windy days. Not fun.

Have I told you that everything on a boat is broken, you just haven't found out yet. Well today we found another problem just when we thought everything was perfect with Rock Chalk. We had a mechanic work on the drain line from the black water holding tank. It has to be disabled for us to get into Canada or Lake Champlain. They are very particular up there that you cannot dump shit into their lake. OK, I get that.

But after removing my hoses so nothing can be discharged direct overboard, I cannot seem to do a "pumpout:. For those nautical novices of you, a pumpout is when you attach a really strong hose which has a huge pump to it, to your holding tank opening. Turn on that pump and you get to watch your black water pump out through this hose. Part of the hose is a glass section so you really get a good look at what you are pumping out. Very fun. Naturally Shelley has nothing to do with this operation. This is strickly Captain work. I am armed with surgical gloves and a face mask that would work in Japan today. Unfortuantely we could not get the real suction we needed today, so I am trying to figure out what is wrong. I think it has something to do with the mechanic working on the lines to drain the tank. Ummmmm. You think financial planning is difficult.

But after a hard day of fighting little old ladies, and my non- sucking holding tank, I showered, just in time for a beautiful sunset and a glass of wine as we look out the back of the boat over the Caloosahatchie river. Ahhh boat life. Ahh Retirement.

Hopefully I can figure out how to post a photo of Rock Chalk. We'll see. Marc