We like water

I am convinced that humans like water. We are mostly made up of water, and we seek to be in and around it. That has never been more clear than this last month. Rock Chalk has now trasversed 2100 miles of water. That is like driving from the east side of Texas at the Sabine River to El Paso, then back, then back to Junction, Tx. All at the speed of a golf cart.

In all of that water, I cannot tell you how many boats we have seen from a guy canoeing to Canada from Florida, to a gazillion people in fishing boats, to people who make their living on the water like shrimp boats, to the really fancy "Sport Fish" boats. Those are the sleek Hatteras boats with outriggers to run four fishing lines at a time. There are so many of those. People like the water and they love to fish. What is up with that fishing thing? I am OK with it, but it was never a passion. I cannot tell you how many people are fishing in this world. From every pier, from canoes, from kayaks, from sport fish boats, from 25 ft. center cockpit boats, from you name it, people are fishing everywhere. I like to eat them, but I am not crazy about fishing. This is a huge industry and it seems to be doing fine. Lots of boats out there. Lots.

Today marks our official first month on the boat. We are in Oriental, North Carolina, and it is cool outside. Florida was warm and beautiful, and Georgia and South Carolina were just starting spring, with lots of bugs. It is still pretty cool in NC. We were attacked by vicious flys, or should I call them B-52's, in the swampland of South Carolina. It was so bad that we zipped up all the screens on Rock Chalk to keep them out as we were running during the day. Tomorrow it is stormy, so we will sit and wait.

All of this we are getting used to. Many of you have spent time on a charter boat over the years with me in the islands. I look back at those trips and them seem pretty easy. I have to tell you how many times I have screwed up on this trip so far. Just today, as we prepared to leave Morehead City Marina, I wanted to slide the boat up the dock by hand to allow an easier exit from the dock. I pushed and pulled, and so did Shelley. We even enlisted a guy from the next boat, and we just could not get the boat to move up much. Finally I relalized that I still had a line tied on the far side that I could not see. Daaaahhh. What an idiot!!

Two days ago in the Intercoastal we came upon a tow boat pulling a huge pile of floating pipes, going the same way as we were. I knew the protocal was to call the tow boat captain and ask him which side he wanted us to pass him on, his port or starboard. In nautical terms that is one whistle or two. So I kept calling the skipper on Channel 16 asking him his preference, "One whislte or two"? I got no answer after repeated calls, and now I am right on his stern. Finally, some stranger gets on the radio and tells me to try channel 13. Now how was I to know that the tow boats don't monitor the universal frequency that all the rest of us do, but they have their own exclusive channel!!!!. So I change to channel 13 and ask the question, and the captain was polite and said two whistles..ie I pass him on his port, my starboard. I guess I was supposed to know that.

So there are many things to learn on the water. Shelley has been a great navigator. She is very good at reading the charts and telling me which marker we are at and where we should be going. We follow the red to port, green to starboard day markers that are numbered, and mark the intercoastal channel. Once you see the number on the marker, you look at our chart and it tells you right where you are. It is pretty easy once you get the system. But it is all the other rules. Oh well, I am learning.

We started this journey in Marathon at mile marker 1150. We went to Brunswick, Ga, at mile market 680, then back south to Stuart at 950. We crossed Florida to the west coast and back which was 130 miles each way, and now we are at mile market 130 in Oriental. That means that we are 130 miles from Norfolk Va. where marker # 1 starts the official ICW to Key West. From Norfolk obviously we continue north across the Chesapeake, around New Jersey and into New York. So 2100 miles is really just the start, all at golf cart speed, and with so many rules to learn. I am ready. Marc