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

Hello from the middle of Florida. I am sorry, but this is Crackerville!!! We got to Rock Chalk on Thursday night, Feb. 10th at the Whiticar Boat Yard where we were having her serviced for her 2000 hr. update. They did a good job, and the engines are like new. Bob and Jean are with us, and they are wanting to complete the trip that they had always wanted to do, ie. cross Florida on the Okeechobee canal. We found a great marina in Stuart at the beginning of the canal called Sunset Bay Marina. From there we have headed across Florida in a ditch basically until we got to the lake today. Winds were out of the north this morning at 20 so we had some waves just like summer on Lake Cheney. Rock Chalk did well at 18 kts. and it took about 2 hrs. to cross the lake. It was really pretty straight forward.

Then we got to Clewiston where we thought we would stay at the famous Roland Martin Marina, made famous by the TV show and the bass fisherman. What a dump! They had more yellow tape around the docks than a murder scene. Nothing was working and the only person around the marina, was this 18 yr old girl who knew how to let you buy a souvenir, but had no clue how to do a pump out.

So we are now in search of a pump out. For those of you who are not nautical, that means that our black water tanks are full, and there is no place to dump them. Yikes! So we pushed on to Moore Haven, and when I say that we are in the middle of crackers, this is the epicenter. Most of the bubbas are bass fishermen, but I would tell you that the prevalent house here is a double wide. Shelley and I got the foldable bikes out and rode around Moore Haven. Not much to see but at least we got another six pack of beer.

Bob and Jean are doing great on the boat. There are many many steps on this boat, and I will challenge all of you that if you come on this boat, your legs will be sore. So they are doing well. Bob even rode the bike today. Jean is helping me navigate, as she used to fly.

We are headed to Ft. Meyers tomorrow, then on to Pine Island. Bob and Jean will meet up with many of their friends. From there who knows. Isn"t this what a boat is about, not a huge plan but playing it by what feels right. That is what we will do after we drop off Bob and Jean on Friday. We might leave the boat at Burnt Store Marina near Pine Island, or go on up to Tampa. Once we make a decision, then I will blog about it. Hope you are all OK. Marc

Photos of the Trip to Georgia