[Most recent entry is at end.]
[Previous log file is http://www.geocities.com/bill_dietrich/Magnolia/MagnoliaLogEarly2003.txt ]

2/28/2003 (Friday)
At anchor in Boot Key Harbor at Marathon FL.
Warm and humid day: 80 degrees inside boat before 10 AM.
Worked on pilothouse screens, screwing hooks into the
pilothouse and hanging screens with dowels on them.
Very sweaty work; had to towel off every 5 minutes.

Dinghied ashore, did internet cafe and groceries,
bought starting fluid ($2).  Loaded more water.
Back to boat, then back ashore.  Did library,
dropped car at storage place, biked back to marina,
put bike in dinghy, loaded more water, back to boat.
Sweating all day, too.

Started raising anchors shortly after 5, and didn't
get them up until almost 6.  Secondary anchor had
hooked 50 or 75 pounds worth of primary anchors
chain, so I really had to sweat to get the tangle
up to where I could deal with it.  Just then, a guy
came over by dinghy from a nearby boat, where they'd
been watching the entertainment.  He started spouting
off about how he'd been doing this for 22 years,
how I should have put my anchors 180 degrees apart
and 100 feet apart (I did, more or less), how he was
going to tell me how to fix the problem, how he'd
been doing this for 22 years.  I told him I appreciated
him coming over, but I didn't want him grabbing
the tangle; I told him it was dangerous, I was afraid
it would let go and drag him under.  Finally I said
"please move away so I can finish raising the anchors",
and he said "you're just like a British guy !" (I think
that was an insult).  He moved away saying "Okay, I've
been doing this for 22 years but you know how to do it
better."  Two minutes later I had the secondary anchor
completely up, a few pokes later the tangle let go,
and 5 minutes later I was moving.

Got out of the harbor and through Seven Mile bridge
just before dark.  A few shoals to watch out for on
the gulf side, but really not hard with the GPS and
the lights of Marathon to keep me oriented.  Anchored
near Knights Channel and Rebecca Shoal about 7:40.
Calm night.  Feels good to be out of the harbor.

Just after I went to bed, I heard a powerful boat coming
past, and looked out to see it being flagged down by
an equally powerful police boat with flashing lights.
They floated nearby for 15 minutes, then dispersed.

3/1/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor in Florida Bay outside Marathon FL.
Raised sail and anchor at 0730, wind going in
direction I want to go.  By 0800, I was tired of
doing 2.3 to 2.7 knots.  Started the engine, took
down the jib, and motor-sailed at 6.2 to 6.4 knots
with the mainsail up and the engine at less than
normal cruising RPMs.

Out of sight of land from 0945 to 1100.
Had to watch out for crab-trap floats all the way.
A couple of sailboats going the other way, and
one following me, several miles behind.
Ran RADAR to exercise it.

Wind blew harder and harder, but it's a tailwind
and following seas.  Probably 10 knots when I started,
20 when done.  Went up Little Shark River and
anchored about 3 PM at lat 25.19.748 long 81.08.263
About 10 other boats here.  Hot now that I'm out of
most of the wind.

At 3:45, had to start the engine, raise anchor,
remove the trip line, and re-anchor a couple hundred
feet away.  The powerboat next to me was lying to
the current, while I was lying to the wind.  But
my boat was pointed by the current, putting my
trip line near my propeller.

About 5 PM, started getting attacked by no-see-ums
and barely-see-ums.  Mostly better inside the boat,
but still a lot of scratching and cussing.
Salad and grilled chicken for dinner.
Insects seemed to go away by 7:30 or so.

3/2/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor in Little Shark River.  Bugs started
up again at 6:30 or so; eased off by 8 or so.
Anchor up and moving by 8:15.  Five more boats
came out right behind me, one going south, four
going north.

Motor-sailed through breezy, hazy, humid conditions.
Out of sight of land, although it's only about 7
miles to the east of me.

Anchored about 2:30 in Indian Key Pass, just east
of Indian Key, at lat 25.48.876 long 81.27.681
I'm pretty exposed to the wind and some swell,
but I like the breeze, the swell is moderate and
right on the nose, the wind is supposed to lessen
tonight, and I'm as far as possible from land
and those pesky bugs !

A little uncomfortable later, as current swings
the boat around so the swell hits directly on the
stern, but I think I'm going to stay here.

Too windy through the cockpit to cook anything.
Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.

3/3/2003 (Monday)
At anchor in Indian Key Pass.  Nice cool morning,
few bugs, one other boat anchored, some small
fishing boats and a canoe moving through.
Greased tach fitting on engine, tightened
stuffing box, cleaned water strainer.  Several
dolphins hunting.  Moving by 0900.  Didn't put
up sail because there are some dark clouds (but they
went away within an hour).  Have to
head SW a bit to round the Cape Romano Shoals.
Stuffing box still leaking; I'll have to repack it.
Put seizing wire on shackles in the running rigging.

Watched the condo towers of Marco Island all day as
I did a 240 degree arc around them.  A bit rolly
at times when the swell hit from the beam.  Saw
a few dolphins.  Lots of boats in the Coconut Island
anchorage.  I anchored about 3:20 in Factory Bay,
right in the (very wide) east channel.  A couple more
boats anchored right after I did.  Put some paint
on the "anchored" dayshape I'm making.

Nice, spacious anchorage with good holding.  A bit
of noise from workers doing construction on a
waterfront house.  And nowehere to get ashore for
free, and apparently not much to do once you get ashore.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

3/4/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor in Factory Bay at Marco Island FL.
Did a bunch of cleaning and straightening up, in
preparation for having my friend Gary come aboard.
I was supposed to radio him at 1000, and I did.
Then, I got a radio message through a towing service
saying that he couldn't contact me because his boat
had a bee infestation.  I thought he might have heard
my radio call, and might come over in his runabout.
At 1030, I launched my dinghy and tried to start
the outboard.  It ran for 30 seconds and then died
and wouldn't start no matter what I did.  I worked on
it off and on for almost 2 hours; finally, running
some carb cleaner through it may have done the trick.
With only one wrong turn, I found Gary's boat(s)
and dock behind his house, and docked there.
Sure enough, there were bees circling in the cockpit
of his big boat, the Morgan Out Island 41 "Eileen".
I left the outboard running and walked around
to knock on the front door.  But no one was home.

Back to boat, a bit of lunch, then raised anchor
about 2:15 and motored up the "old ICW" to Naples.
Anchored about 4:20 in a lovely wide canal
(the "Port Royal anchorage") surrounded by
multi-million-dollar houses.  But no way to get
ashore.  Lat 26.06.503 long 81.47.445

Calm, almost cool evening, with only a few bugs.
Saffron rice and chicken-and-potato soup for dinner.

3/5/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor just inside Gordon Pass, a couple miles
south of Naples FL.
Raised anchor about 0830, motored up to Naples
to see what the harbor looked like.  As expected,
it is totally full of marinas and a city mooring
field; nowhere to anchor.  Turned around and
came back out.  On the way, got waked by a big
fast powerboat (and he didn't answer the radio
when I called him ahead of time), but at least he
saw me give him the finger.  He yelled "what ?",
and I pointed to his wake just as it rolled me.

Went out Gordon Pass, which was a bit rough with
incoming tidal current and breaking waves alongside
the channel.  Lots of swells on the beam out in the
Gulf; a bit uncomfortable.  Had the mainsail up,
but it was just slatting around in the swell as
I was motoring partly downwind, so I took it down.
Saw another boat sailing wing-on-wing, and they
were really rolling and their sails were flopping.

Arrived at the mouth of San Carlos Bay, off
Ft Myers Beach, where there were parasailing boats
operating.  Followed slightly confusing channel through
Matanzas Pass.  Passed under bridge, and then
saw lots of boats in anchorage.  Still, not
much of a problem finding a decent spot at 2:30 or so,
on south side by red 28, near Estero Island.
A little tricky because I arrived just at high
tide: if I'd run aground, it would have been ugly.
Not much extra water as it is: I'll probably be
in 4.5 feet at low tide, and I draw 3.5 feet.
The usual number of interested eyes watched me
put down two anchors.  Lat 26.27.331 long 81.56.778

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

3/6/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Nice cool morning.  Did a bucket of laundry.
Dinghied ashore to free dock behind someone's
house.  Walked south along the main strip, getting
oriented and finding useful things (supermarket,
library, etc).  Did library and a few groceries.
Seems like a nice place, unless you're in a car
(traffic is very slow).

Back to boat, and after lunch, sat in my undies
in the pilothouse, reading a book, munching
cheese curls, watching boats go by, enjoying a
cool breeze, looking forward to going to the
beach, and thinking "this is great !".

Put more paint on the "anchored" day-shape.
Dinghied ashore, and intercepted a nice cruising
couple and pumped them for some local information.
Went to the beach for a couple of hours, and it
was nice.  Plenty of pretty women, lots of activity,
half-dozen boats anchored almost in the breakers.
The water itself is nothing exciting: pretty shallow,
very gentle surf, lots of churned-up sand limiting
visibility.  But I had a short swim that was nice.
Did lots of walking on the beach, and read a magazine.

Salad and fruit and egg-salad sandwiches for dinner.

3/7/2003 (Friday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Took bike ashore in the dinghy and biked to the
library.  Did internet and newspapers, then biked
down to Matanzas Pass Bridge / Times Square just
to see that part of the island.  Left the bike
locked to a telephone-pole guy-wire ashore.
Back to boat for lunch.

Measured fuel level 7.0 inches at engine hour 2586.9

Dinghied to a couple of boatyards, asking about
working on a new exhaust riser/elbow.  The first
said they used to have a good welder, but alcohol
took him over.  The second place said to bring
the part ashore on Monday and they'll see what they
can do.  Then went ashore and talked to the guys in the
house whose dock we use.  A couple of nice old retired
guys who just like watching boats and talking to
cruisers.  We had quite a nice chat for a half-hour
or so, before I headed out to the beach.  Nice long
walk on the beach, and then back to the boat.

Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner.
Had propane leak from fitting on regulator; wonder
if it needs cleaning or a new gasket.

3/8/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
The one beer I had with dinner last night gave
me a headache half the night and this morning.

Dinghied ashore and biked to the library.
Back to boat for lunch, then dinghied ashore
again.  Hopped on local trolley to do a tour of
the island, and quickly realized that
a) it's air-conditioner wasn't up to the task, and
b) traffic the other direction was going 5 MPH;
it would have taken an hour plus to get back.
So I hopped off after 15 blocks and walked down
the beach to my usual spot, then walked down to
the pier and back.  Beach was really hopping
on a Saturday afternoon: 50 boats anchored
close in, lots of people having fun, and lots
of seriously beautiful women (including 5 in
thong bikinis; I counted).

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

3/9/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Loafed all morning.  Then took fresh water pump
apart and put gasket gunk in it to try to stop
the leaking.  Removed exhaust riser/elbow from
engine so I can take it ashore to boatyard
tomorrow.

Dinghied ashore.  Some cruisers at the dinghy
dock recognized my dinghy from Marathon; they
left Marathon a couple of days before I did, and
spent an extra couple of days around Cape Sable.
They're heading for Lake Okeechobee soon.

Went to the beach, and it was really busy !
Maybe spring break has sprung, or it's just
busy on a Sunday afternoon.  About a hundred
boats anchored and pitching up and down just
outside the surf.  Counted 8 thong bikinis
in the hour and a half or so I was there.

Back to boat.  A Gulfstar 40ish trawler has
anchored close to me, but they had time for
only a brief shouted conversation with me.
They said they have the same kind of one-piece
exhaust riser that my engine does.

Salad and cheese-and-crackers and fruit and
tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.

Rained off and on much of the night, fairly
hard a couple of times.

3/10/2003 (Monday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Still cloudy in the morning, but sunny by noon.
Dinghied to boatyard at 0900, showed them the exhaust
riser/elbow and discussed options with them,
left it with them.  They're going to write
up an estimate for something made out of pipe,
a few welded pieces, and a cheap elbow; the
estimate will cost $30 or so.

Dinghied across harbor, ashore and did library
and groceries.

Dinghied ashore and went to beach.  Less crowded,
partly because it's a bit cooler today.  But
still fun.

Salad and hotdogs for dinner.

In the middle of the night, figured out how to
do the exhaust elbow a bit more simply.

3/11/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Measured and diagrammed exhaust system piping,
then dinghied over to boatyard and dropped it
off for the guy I'm working with.  Dinghied
across harbor and did library and groceries.
When I got back to the dinghy, there was a nasty
note telling me I'd blocked the ladder and I
wasn't to use the dock any more.  (I'd tied up to
the ladder, but it was easy to move my dinghy
aside, and the dock is low and easy to get
onto from any direction anyway.)  Another
cruiser there laughed and said probably it was
from the crazy woman on "Black Out"; she likes to
boss everyone around, even though it's not her dock.

Back to boat for lunch, then dinghied over and
found the metalworking shop, and discussed the
project with the guy.  Told him to go ahead;
probably will cost $250 or so.  Across harbor
and ashore and biked to north end of the island,
to Bowditch Park.  Not as nice as I hoped; walked
on the beach, then biked to the pier and walked on
that, then went to my usual beach and walked there.
Only one thong bikini seen today.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

3/12/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Dinghied ashore and did library, then took the
trolley south to the end of the line and back,
just to see the rest of the island.  I'm in the
best part of the island, it appears.  Did groceries
and back to boat.

Dinghied ashore and went to beach.  As I was
walking to the beach, a woman came out of a house
and asked me to carry a container of hot soup to
her neighbor; she didn't have any shoes on and
the yards here are all gravel; I did the favor for
her.  One thong bikini seen today.  About a dozen
dead stingrays washed up on the beach.

Salad and pork chop and saffron rice for dinner.

3/13/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Started cutting up old firehose to make fenders
on davits.  Dinghied ashore and did library,
bought gas ($5) for dinghy.  Back to boat for lunch,
cut and drilled more firehose, dinghied to
metal shop but guy wasn't there, went to
beach.  Today's thong bikini count: two.
Now I know it's spring break: a plane went past
towing one of those banner signs.

More work on firehose.
Salad and cheese-and-crackers and eggsalad
sandwiches for dinner.
Some crazy guy yelling from his boat several times
during the night.  Fortunately I'm fairly
far away from him.

3/14/2003 (Friday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Dinghied ashore to canal near supermarket.
Did library and then bought soda at supermarket.
Back to boat, and had nice visit with John,
who has been reading my web site for a year or so,
and bought his boat (Pearson 28 "Tyche" ?) a couple
of months ago.
Dinghied ashore to check on progress of exhaust
piping; almost ready.  Went to beach.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.
Lots of lightning south and east of here,
but it looked like cloud-to-cloud lightning,
not strikes to earth.  I hate lightning.
Crazy guy yelling from his boat from 6 to 8.

Rained a little in the middle of the night.

3/15/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Dinghied ashore and biked around the Shrimp
festival parade; it was fun.  Bought fruit
at the produce stand.

Back to boat for lunch, then finished working
on firehose to make fenders to put on davits.
Looks pretty good.
Dinghied ashore and went to beach; counted
six thong bikinis.  Beach really hopping today.

Back to dinghy dock,
and was having a nice chat with some other
cruisers when some woman came ashore in a
fury, ramming her dinghy into another one,
and started snarling at me about putting
my dinghy in the wrong place and not using
a stern anchor.  Then she had the dock owner
come out to tell me the same thing.  None of
us knew those were the rules; I promised to
obey them from now on.

Cheese-and-crackers and salad and tuna-salad
sandwiches for dinner.

3/16/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Loafed all morning, then dinghied ashore in the
afternoon and walked on the beach.  Counted
six thong bikinis.  Beach was mobbed.  Saw a
40-foot powerboat that had anchored too close
to the surf; a SeaTow boat barely managed to
get it free.  More than a hundred other boats
anchored near the beach.  I don't know how people
can sit on some of them; the swell was making
them roll violently.  Saw one young guy out on
the bow of a small motorboat raising the anchor,
and the bow was going up and down 4 or 5 feet
very rapidly.

Back to boat, and loafed some more.  A couple
more boats came into the anchorage, and one
tried anchoring in several different spots
and screwed it up each time, ending up close
to other boats.  There's plenty of space;
they just couldn't get it right.

Spaghetti for dinner.

Started raining with occasional lightning about
10 PM, then started pouring about midnight.
Kept pouring for over 2 hours; I've never been
in such sustained heavy rain in my life.  Just
kept pounding down and pounding down.  And it
was the worst possible situation: the tide changed
during the heavy rain, so the rain came from several
different unusual angles, and soaked even the INSIDE
of the pilothouse 3 feet up in most places.  Then it
slacked down to normal rain for a couple more hours.

The opening ports I rebedded seem to be fine, but the
boat is leaking in two places I've seen only in heavy rain
(fixed port in walk-through, and in starboard-forward
corner of aft head), and four places
I've never seen before (fixed port on port side
of V-berth, fixed port on port side of main cabin,
and two places on transom, including right into the
foot of my berth, getting my mattress wet).

3/17/2003 (Monday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Dinghied ashore and did library and groceries.

Back to boat, and started attacking woodwork near
foot of my berth, inside and outside, to see about
fixing that leak.  Have to remove inside wood because
the stern railing seems to be through-bolted through
the teak trim.  It's the usual pain: the interior
woodwork is three layers: molding, panels,
plywood backing.  And they overlap unevenly, so
to get something off you usually have to take
off everything on both sides of it.  I worked on
it for a while, doing a few things to make it
easier to take off next time (adding removable
connectors to wiring, etc), and trying to get
to the bolts and nuts I need to remove.

Gave up and dinghied to welder (he was busy),
then ashore to beach.  Windy today, but still
a decent-sized crowd.  Counted two thong bikinis.
Lots of grey clouds blowing through.
Gulf is rough.

Back to boat, having a brief chat with a guy
on the dinghy dock.  I helped him with the
computer in the library this morning.  He's
French, don't you know, and he seems to be
on a mission to cover as much territory as
possible.  He said something about having
sailed 60,000 miles.  He was in the Chesapeake
two months ago, came down here, went across
to the Bahamas, is here again, is leaving
for Cuba soon.  Whew !  Not my style.

Sat on boat and watched dark clouds approach.
Sure enough, at 5:15, it started blowing a
cold wind, got darker, and then blew 40+ and
poured rain for about 10 minutes.  A few
strokes of lightning a mile or two away.  Within
20 minutes it had stopped raining and was
relatively calm again.  Sun came out for a while.

Salad and grilled cured ham hock slices for
dinner.  I picked them up in the Chesapeake,
and they're incredibly salty and loaded with
sodium, and made the grill start dripping
flaming drops of fat.  I poured buckets of
water around to keep the drops from melting
the fiberglass or the dinghy fabric.  I have
to figure out a good way to clean grease out
of the grill after every use, without making
a big mess on the boat.  Or maybe I just need
to stop grilling greasy things.

Huge, bright full moon rising.

3/18/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Did a bucket of laundry.
Dinghied ashore, did library and groceries.
Back to boat, and excavated the rest of the
interior wood so I could get at the leaks
into my berth.  Found several screws that seem
to be leaking.
Dinghied to welding shop, but the welder was
out because his son broke his arm.
Went to beach.

On the way back to the boat, stopped by the
boat behind mine and had a nice chat with the
couple aboard.  Boat is "Nansea", home-ported
to Naples FL, but they said a day ago was the
first time the boat had been to Naples.
I think they bought it in the Chesapeake,
and picked a nice-sounding home port in FL.

Salad and cheese-and-crackers and eggsalad
sanwiches for dinner.

3/19/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Going to be hot today, probably up to 90.
But at least there's a fairly strong breeze.

Dinghied ashore and did library and groceries.
(I'm doing groceries just about every day because
I can carry only small amounts on my bike, and
I'm stocking up because the next few stops have
no supermarkets.)  Donated $5 to the dock owner
and loaded water.

Found out why the fleet of shrimpers never seems
to move: the shrimp burrow into the bottom to
hide from the full moon.  So the fleet is getting
ready to move out soon.

Also found out why I've been coughing a bit on
the beach: red tide.  I knew there was red tide
somewhere, and there are dead fish in the surf
every day.  But apparently the toxin in the
water gets released into the air, and causes
respiratory irritation in people.  I guess the
red tide is right here (although the water
doesn't look red).

Couple from Nansea came by and invited me to
a movie in air-conditioning, but I had a full
afternoon of work planned, so I declined.

Worked on deck leak, taking out about 20 screws,
cleaning up the holes, and rebedding them with caulk.
Hot work in a hot and humid afternoon.
Dinghied to welding shop, and my exhaust system
is ready to try for a fit; picked it up and
brought it to the boat.  Dinghied ashore and
went to beach.  Loaded more water.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

Hot and humid night.

3/20/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Tried fitting the exhaust riser/elbow; needs
a bit of adjustment as expected.
Dinghied ashore to library.
Another hot but windy day.

Back to boat, fitted new exhaust pipe again,
and realized it doesn't match my specifications:
the riser is 4 inches short.  And my original spec
probably was short by an inch anyway.  Took it to
the welding shop, told them to add 5 inches.
Turned out they thought my measurement was
end-to-end, while I measured between the centerpoints
of the elbows.  Should be ready tomorrow; total
bill will be $250.  They want cash; have to hit
an ATM !  I need to buy some hose, too, and that
woun't be cheap.

More recaulking of deck screws on the stern.
Many have no caulk at all; no wonder they leak.

Was doing dishes about 1:30 when John came by in his
dinghy and said a boat had dragged into another
boat, would I help ?  Dinghied over to find an
old semi-derelict snagged on the side of Dieter's
boat.  The bowsprit of the old boat was snagged
on a spare anchor and a solar panel on Dieter's
boat.  I boarded the old boat, and we rigged a
line from the bow to a forward cleat on Dieter's
boat, to relieve some of the pressure on the
snagged area.  Then we scratched our heads,
wondering where Dieter was, should we call the
Coast Guard, etc.  If we cast the old boat loose,
it probably would just hit the two boats nearby.

About then, Dieter appeared.  He called the USCG
and argued with them for a while, and finally
they and a fish-and-wildlife boat appeared.
They debated back and forth for a solid 2 hours,
trying to figure out if they should do anything,
what to do, etc.  Meanwhile Dieter and I were
holding the boats slightly apart to keep them
from grinding together.  We put out a third
anchor on the old boat, but soon the tide changed
and the boat ended up right on top of that
anchor.  Various other liveaboards came by in dinghies,
and one had a first name and phone for the owner.
The phone number turned out to be a bar he often
hangs out at.  We tried to figure out if the anchor
lines were snagged in Dieter's propeller or rudder.

So we stood there in the sun all afternoon, talking
and waiting for a decision.  John gave us water,
and we all told stories and such.  The old boat was
a mess, full of old empty food cans, most of the
stanchions yanked out of the deck, no cleats (just
one samson post near the bow).

The USCG boat left and came back 20 minutes later,
and searched the old boat again.  Finally fish-and-wildlife
agreed to take responsibility, and they used the USCG
boat to take the old boat away and re-anchor it.
John said "they're going to anchor it right next
to ME !", and sure enough, they did.

I went back to my boat, and decided not to go to the
beach today; I'd had enough sun for one day.  I'm sure
all the girls at the beach were disappointed.

Salad and cheese-and-crackers and chili for dinner.

3/21/2003 (Friday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Very windy today, blowing 15-25.
Hard to tell if that old boat has dragged further;
I don't think so, but one guy said it did.
Dinghied ashore, did library, got cash to pay
welding bill, got groceries.

Dinghied to the welding shop about 2:30, and they
were closed already !  Tried again at 3:45, they
still were closed, and got to the store at the
boatyard to find it closed too.

On the way, was hailed by a nearby boat.  They
asked if I'd seen anyone on their boat, and they
were very upset because a new mainsail and an
18 HP outboard (and maybe a dinghy) had been
stolen.  I hadn't seen anything.  As I looked
at their boat, I realized it was a sister-ship
of mine; I think theirs is a 1971 Gulfstar 44,
and mine is a 1973 Gulfstar 44.

Decided not to go to the beach; my skin needed
a rest from the sun, and I was tired.  Stopped
by Nansea and was invited aboard; had an ice-water
and some nice conversation.

Salad and chili-over-rice for dinner.

3/22/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Woke up with a headache.
Looks like it's going to rain hard soon.

Dinghied ashore and did library.  As I was
doing my internet access, it started blowing
and pouring rain sideways, and suddenly I
couldn't remember if I'd closed the forward
hatch.  I could remember closing everything
else, but I suspected I'd forgotten to
close that one.  I just could see tons of water
pouring in through there, soaking everything.
And of course I hadn't thought to wear my
foul-weather jacket to the library, even
though I knew it would rain.
Sat at the library for another half-hour,
waiting for the rain to die down, and finally
got on my bike in the middle of soft rain and
pedalled back.  Dinghy had lots of water in it,
but fortunately the boat was closed up properly
when I got back.  I got wet, and the dinghy got
water inside the keel again, but nothing else wrong.

Dinghied ashore and went to the beach.  Still a
bit rain-soaked, and lots of dead fish at the
high-tide line.  But plenty of people, and I
counted two thong bikinis.

Back to boat, and the couple from Nansea came by
and pointed out that a boat had sunk overnight or
today.  Not sure, but looks like a smallish powerboat,
sunk to the gunnels.

Cheese-and-crackers and salad and tuna-salad
sandwiches for dinner.

3/23/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Feel absolutely lousy, with a headache.
I think some of it is due to red tide.
Hard rain for about 15 minutes at 0900.
Still have a leak on the transom, into my berth.
Slept and took pills and read all day.
Rained hard at 1 PM.
A couple stopped by at 4, but all they wanted
to do was look at my barbecue; they're about to
buy one.
Salad and spaghetti for dinner.
More rain at 9 PM, then rained much of the
night from midnight to 6 AM or so.

3/24/2003 (Monday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Dinghied ashore and did library.  Went across
harbor to welding shop, but the guy wasn't there.

Ate lunch, caulked more screws on transom, then
picked up exhaust piping from welding shop.
Found guy at boatyard and paid him $250.
Back to boat, fitted it on, and found that one
pipe was wrong size (he was thinking ID, I was
saying OD).  Can fix it with a reducer and a nipple.
Back to  boatyard, they had good prices on hose
but none in stock.  Went to place next door, and
prices were much higher but they had it all
in stock.  Bought 1 foot of 3" exhaust hose for $20 (!),
and 4 feet of 1" hose for $30, reducer and nipple for $4.
Dumped it all on the boat and went to the beach.
Very windy on the beach today, but lots of people.

On the way back, stopped at John's boat
(Pearson 323 "Tyche") and had
a nice chat, and a tour of his boat.
He told me the couple on the converted fishing
boat "Gulf Pak I" are making a B&B on it; sure
enough, they're framing in a room on the aft deck.
Can't imagine they got a permit to do that, but
maybe it's just a charter-boat from a legal
point of view.
Cool and windy at sunset; going to be a cool night.

Ran genset for 1 hour to exercise it and cook dinner.
Salad and pigs-in-a-blanket for dinner.

3/25/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Feel fine today.
Did some work on exhaust piping, then dinghied
ashore and did library and groceries.
Back to boat, more work on exhaust.  Have to
exchange some small parts; again, I screwed up
ID versus OD of piping and hoses.

Dinghied to metal shop and had them adjust one
pipe-joint slightly, then to boatyard to
exchange a reducer and a nipple.  Back to boat,
put it all together, and fired up the engine.
Ran fine, one small leak in a joint I put
together.  Engine sounds same as before (I was
afraid it would sound like a fishing boat), but
the exhaust riser gets VERY hot very quickly
(because now it's a dry riser).  Maybe I
should wrap the riser in insulation to
avoid any ugly accidents.  Ran engine
for 30 minutes to test and exercise it.
Still some oil coming out the exhaust.

Dinghied ashore to beach, stopping to chat
briefly with Bob on Nansea.  On the way back,
stopped to chat with John on Tyche.
Curious: he says his (much smaller) engine
comes up to full temperature pretty quickly
at fast idle; mine won't come up to full
temp until it's under load.

Cleaned grease out of the grill.
Salad and grilled pork chops for dinner.
Started doing my income taxes (the numbers
are VERY small).

3/26/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Dinghied ashore to library, then took free
bus to a shopping center on the mainland.
Bought lots of junk food, because that supermarket
has much better prices on junk food than the
supermarket on the island.  But of course they were
out of the corn chips I wanted.

Back to boat, checked battery water, tightened
exhaust fitting and ran engine for 5 minutes (still
has a very slight leak), poured water on transom
and still have big leaks there.  Had a nice chat with
Brian from nearby boat; it's about 27 feet long,
1964, gasoline engine doesn't work, but he has an
outboard on the stern.  He's been living on
various boats for 27 years.  Although he has a halyard
banging, and his anchoring setup is suspect.
Recaulked some screws and holes on the transom teak.

Dinghied ashore and went to the beach.  Saw two
nice thong bikinis.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

3/27/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Dinghied ashore and did library until early
afternoon.  Rained off and on while I was there.
To hardware store and bought pipe strapping ($2)
and an impact screwdriver ($12).

Back to boat, and found that another big boat
("Geneve" from Bradenton) had anchored quite close by.
I told them I thought they were too close,
and they said they'd move a bit.

Salad and fruit and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner.

The other boat hasn't moved, and they all took
off for dinner ashore.  When they came back (after
I was in bed), I got up and told them I needed to
raise anchor and go refuel tomorrow, and they were
on top of one of my anchors.  They said they'd
be gone by then.

3/28/2003 (Friday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Woken up at 0600 by Bryan knocking on my hull,
telling me there was a problem.  Got up to find
very damp, foggy morning, and that big boat
aground and listing right next to me.  I'm
swinging with the tidal current, and they're aground.
Bryan woke someone on board, and they must
have said "ok, we're aground", and gone back to
sleep.  15 minutes later I yelled over to them,
someone came up, and called me a pain in the ass
when I asked him to put out a stern anchor to
keep them from swinging into me when they
floated off.  Then he went back to bed.

I sat in the cockpit reading and keeping an eye
on the situation until they started
stirring at 0830 or so.  I let them know I
wasn't happy; their stupidity and mistakes
cut my sleep and endangered my boat.  At 0900 they
started trying to kedge and motor off, but they're
stuck solid.  At least one of the guys is
a bit apologetic.  They have an 8-foot draft,
I have a 3.5-foot draft, and we have about 8.5
feet of water at high tide.  I guess they figured
"there's a big boat; we're a big boat too;
we can anchor there too".  I'm doing chores
and keeping an eye on them, but I had to miss my
scheduled internet slot at the library; I don't
dare leave while these guys are stuck 10 feet
from me.  If their stern frees first and the
current swings them, they'll hit me.

Measured fuel level 7.0 inches at engine hour 2587.5
Tested deck leaks on the transom; seem to be fixed.

It's 0955, high tide is within 30 minutes or so,
and they're still not free.

They got free about 1025, without hitting me.
I think they were briefly aground again a
little further back.  But I was already in the
dinghy and heading ashore.

Did library, bought dinghy gas ($6).
Back to boat, quick lunch, no sign of "Geneve",
started raising anchors.  Had to use dinghy to spin
the boat around a couple of times to untwist the rodes.
Inside the chain locker, one of the mounts
for the rope reel has detached from the hull;
I'll have to rebuild it.  Lots of muck and
barnacles on the rodes, but only in two
10-foot sections.  Deck got very mucky.

Motored over to the fuel dock and had to
wait for 30 minutes in tricky wind/current
situation with a lot of traffic through
the channel.  Finally got to the dock, and
the guys there were super-friendly; we had a
nice chat and lots of stories and laughs.  Best of
all, the price of diesel has fallen 20 cents
in the last week for some reason !  Bought
139 gallons for $190 ($1.36/gallon including tax).

Back to my anchoring spot, put down two anchors.
Hard to get them right with wind and current
at right angles to each other.  Scrubbed the
muck and barnacles off the deck.  My back is
very tired from all the anchoring, fueling
and scrubbing.  No time for beach today.

A little later, a TowBoatU.S. boat brought in a
30-foot sailboat and they anchored near me.
Not too close, but hard to tell since it's
directly to sunward of me.

I don't see John of "Tyche" in the harbor any more.
I thought he might be out for a day-sail, but
now it looks like he must have left and headed south.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

3/29/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Fuel level 16.75 inches at engine hour 2588.9
Dinghied ashore to library and hardware store.

Coming back, suddenly realized that the sailboat
that got towed in and anchored near me is
"My Brother's Keeper", owned by Richard.  I met
him in Tavernier in a marina I stayed in for
a couple months just after I bought Magnolia.
He helped me a lot with advice, at a time when
I was totally stressed with the shock of boat
ownership and living aboard.  He sailed up
from the Keys and had 40-knot winds off Cape
Romano, blowing out his mainsail.  He made it
into Marco Island with engine problems.
He has a towing membership, so called them up
and had them TOW him from Marco to here !
I'm amazed they would do that; must have taken
12 hours.  He's planning to stay here a while
and do boat-detailing work.

Quick lunch, then helped Richard put out a
second anchor.  Then we dinghied ashore, met up
with another boater, Harry, and walked around.
Harry often goes around with a parrot on his
shoulder, although he didn't have it today.
He told us it's a great woman-magnet, and
sometimes gets him free beer in bars too.
Richard and Harry are much more into where to
eat and drink beer than I am, but we had fun
walking the street and the beach.  Saw four nice
thong bikinis and one shouldn't-wear-a-thong.  Very
entertaining mini-soccer game on the beach among a
group of very pretty girls in bikinis.  Should
be a new national sport, I think.  They were good,
too; I think they might have been part of a
college soccer team or something.

A couple of interesting things during the
conversation with Richard and Harry.  Apparently
Richard's boat has an old Atomic 4 gas engine that is
dying; he can't run it very much.  He tried to sail up
to Marco Island in one shot from Tavernier, I think,
with some buddies on two other boats.  They got hit by
40-knot tailwinds after midnight somewhere between
Cape Sable and Cape Romano and lost contact
with each other.  They called the Coast Guard
and persuaded them that it was a dire situation,
setting off a huge helicopters-and-boats search for
their missing buddy, who turned up safe a day later
at Coon Key.  His cell-phone had been out of range
and it wasn't clear if his VHF was working.
Richard's mainsail got blown out, partly because
it doesn't have any reef-points, but he made
it into Marco Island.

Then Richard had TowBoatU.S. tow him from Marco
to Ft Myers Beach.  It was a 9-hour tow, at 9 knots !
We started talking about towing memberships (I don't
have one), and Harry mentioned that he had used his
membership so much (because of groundings and
also some engine problem) that they cancelled
it on him.

Another thing: I noticed that every time I asked
them about places to sail to on the west coast of
Florida, most of what they told me involved identifying
the best bar in each town.  And as we walked around
Ft Myers Beach, Harry was telling us the price
of beer in each bar in town, which place had
a great hamburger or hoagie for $5, that the VFW
had a great prime rib for $10.  I told them I
was impressed by how many guys at Dockside in
Marathon were drinking and smoking every penny
of their VA pensions away, and it soon turned out
that Harry and Richard are both ex-military.
And they both smoke, and they both are very fluent
with bars and restaurants.  I said something
about I didn't understand how you could
afford to do that all the time, and Harry said
"well, actually, I'm just about broke now".
He sold two fishing rods off his boat last
week, although he didn't need them anyway.
And Richard is hot to find some work detailing
boats up here, to finance repairs to his mainsail,
a diesel replacement for his Atomic 4, and
various other boat things.

Installed new O-rings on the deck fill caps.
Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

3/30/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
A front coming through today, and I thought the
weather would be really nasty, but it's just
very cloudy in the morning.  Not even raining yet.
Reinstalled some of the interior wood in sft cabin.

Dinghied ashore, biked to supermarket for groceries,
then loaded groceries and bike into dinghy and
back to boat.

Edge of front came through at 1230 with a brief
rain squall and then some wind.  Soon a boat was
dragging a little toward Richard's boat.  My dinghy
was still down, so I got in and went over and took
a 3rd anchor out for the guy on the dragging boat.
I think he stopped dragging without the 3rd anchor.
It was clear in front of me, but there's a marina
about 2 boat-lengths behind me; if my anchors let
go, it'll be ugly.  But they're solid.

Blew 25-30 for several hours.  Saw the last thing
I expected: a wind-surfer came into the harbor.
He was pretty good, in rough conditions with lots
of obstacles.  Very strange when
the tide changed: now the current is holding us
beam-on to the wind.  Richard's boat suddenly
sailed forward against his anchor, freaking
him out; he was sure he'd gone adrift.
He's still sailing close to his neighbors.

Reinstalled the wood in the aft cabin; a relief
to have all those big pieces of wood and molding
out of the way.

Blew very hard most of the night, but periods of
less wind started occurring.  It's keeping me
just upwind of this marina, and I keep imagining
the carnage if I break loose.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.

3/31/2003 (Monday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Wanted to leave town today, but I'm not going anywhere:
it's blowing 15-20 with gusts to 30+, and it's
a very cold wind.  The warm water is keeping the
boat at a moderate temperature, but as soon as
you get out into the wind it takes your heat away.

Dinghied ashore to do library and get groceries.
Warmer in town, where buildings cut off the wind.

Salad and chili for dinner.  Used a little too much
hot Hungarian paprika !

4/1/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Up at 0700, into dinghy, and spun the boat around
twice to untwist the anchor rodes (took some
effort; there's a little tidal current and a fair
amount of wind).  Raised anchors with no problems,
moving by 0800.  A bit of a scare as I got funny smells
from the engine, but I think it's just a little
anti-freeze venting and burning off.  Auto-pilot
doesn't seem to be working.

Motored up the Caloosahatchee river to Ft Myers.
Long slog through a sunny but pretty cool and
very windy day.  Was intercepted by a Customs boat
west of Cape Coral; they just motored along next to
me and asked me where I'd been in the last few weeks
and where I was going and where I lived.  I guess if
I'd been out of the country recently, they would
have boarded me.

Anchored next to Ft Myers city mooring field about 1 PM
(I'm too cheap to pay $8/day for mooring).  Engine hour 2594.1
Anchoring was a little weird; there seems to be upriver
current here.  Where was it as I was motoring upriver ?
I tried to come up with the tide, and got no help from it.
(But maybe I had the tide time wrong.)
The entrance channel is very shallow, and after I came in,
"Adaggio" called me and asked about depths, and said
they've been waiting all day to "escape" from the mooring
field; they draw 5 feet.  "Tyche" is here; I'll try
to hook up with John.

Loafed all afternoon, feeling tired.
John rowed over about 6 PM and we had a nice chat.
He confirmed that there's not much to do ashore.

Salad and chili-over-rice for dinner.
Not feeling well.

4/2/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor at Fort Myers FL.
Coolant level lower than usual, but not too low.
Slept late, waiting for tide to rise.  Got moving
about 1115 and eased my way out of the anchorage
and through the shallow channel to the main waterway.
Motored up the river through nice weather.
Fairly scenic river up above Ft Myers.

Through one opening bridge and then Franklin Lock.
The lock tender didn't give me lines far enough
apart; I had to wrestle my boat up a little so
I could cast a line around a bollard.

Thought of anchoring in basin by lock, but it was
too small.  Anchored at 3 PM near Hickey Creek,
a couple miles east of Franklin Lock on the
Caloosahatchee River.  Unfortunately, I'm still in
the river and parallel to it, so some of the big
boats flying down the river rock me with big wakes.
But that stopped fairly soon.  Anchorage was
nice and quiet overnight.

Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner.

4/3/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor on the Okeechobee Waterway east of
Franklin Lock.
Coolant level low, but steady.
Got moving about 0800, motored up to LaBelle.
Some nice houses and pretty scenery on the way.
Anchored about 1120 in the river at LaBelle.

Dinghied ashore to a boat ramp, got rid of garbage,
walked over the bridge and into town.  Not much
charm, but convenient facilities.  Saw several very
large trucks full of oranges go past.  Library usually
charges $5 for non-resident use of computers, but
the nice lady let me go on for free.  Did library,
got groceries, back to boat.

Repacked propeller shaft stuffing box.
Watched a couple of boats med-moor at the free dock;
the first took more than 20 minutes to get in,
and the second docked in 2 minutes flat.
A jet-ski roaring around pointlessly for a while.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.
A couple more boats anchored in the river as I am.

A big commercial barge came through the bridge
and past me about 11 PM or so.  Plenty of room,
and he was using a big searchlight to make sure,
but I'm further out in the middle of the river
than I planned.

4/4/2003 (Friday)
At anchor on the Okeechobee Waterway at LaBelle.
Checked engine zinc.
Raised anchor about 0830, through bridge,
motoring on.  About a mile east of the bridge,
I heard a plane go over, then an ultralight
floatplane did a touch-and-go landing about
200 yards ahead of me.  Auto-pilot still on
the blink: every part of it seems to work
except the change-course buttons.  But hard to
really check it in these restricted waters.
Stuffing-box nut is running a little hot,
but there's plenty of water coming through
the cutless bearing.

Saw why ash was falling on my boat at LaBelle:
they're burning brush at the orange groves.
Went past 6 or 8 burning piles in one place,
right at the edge of the waterway; lots of smoke.
Someone said there's poison ivy in it, too.

Went through Ortona lock, and that was about the
scariest lock experience I've had.  Light tug
"American Muscle" came charging in right behind
me as I entered the lock, and came past me as I
was grabbing lines.  My stern swung out toward him
before he got to me, but fortunately I had the
forward line fast, and I threw the engine into
reverse and swung my stern away from him.  Then his
wash hit me, and I bounced around.  Then he and his
mate swore at each other a few times as they tried
to handle their lines; guess they don't know what
they're doing.  Then a huge mega-yacht came piling
in next to me, and a mini-mega-yacht behind me
(barely enough room).  I should move forward,
but I was barely keeping the boat in control as
it is; no way I was going to move.  Then the lock started
opening, and the current yawed me back and forth,
in and out.  The forward rub-rail went crunching
into the concrete wall a few times; I didn't get
a fender far enough forward.  I had to keep trimming
the lines in as the water level rose.  Finally it's open,
and then as we're leaving the yacht behind me wants
to floor it and pass me while we're barely
out of the mouth of the lock.  I'm not nice; I don't
pull over at all to help him.  He starts to go
head-to-head with waiting oncoming traffic, and has to
drop back and wait.  Finally he's able to roar
around me and the boats ahead.

Another huge brush fire, but a mile or so off
the waterway.  Now getting into more of cattle country.
But I can't see very far; there are dikes right
at the edge of the river.

Was kind of anxious about what would happen at
the Moore Haven lock, but it was a piece of cake.
Zipped right in, one boat ahead of me, no problem
tying on and controlling the boat.  An alligator
paddled across the bow as I was approaching the lock.

After the lock, turned to port and went 200 yards up
the "old canal" and anchored about 2:15.  I'm just
about filling the canal, but I don't think there's
any big traffic through here.  Nice to be at rest after
all the tight channels, traffic, locks, and hand-steering.
There's an island between me and the lake, and I have
to go 10 miles south to actually get into the lake,
but I'm here !

I can hear alligators grunting in the bushes every
now and then, and I've seen 4 or 5 of them swimming
in the canal.  Fair number of bugs: dragonflies,
wasps, etc.

A kayaker came by and confirmed that this canal
is safe from big commercial traffic, as I thought.
And a trimaran has anchored 100 yards south of me.
But every now and then a small fishing motorboat
will roar past at 30 or 40 knots.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

Heard air-boats (I think) out toward the lake after dark.

4/5/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor at Moore Haven at the edge of Lake Okeechobee.
Did various chores: dishes, bucket of laundry, loosen
stuffing box nut, check battery water, put strap on
exhaust hose, etc.  Raised anchor about 11 and motored
down the waterway.  Not much scenery: a dike on the
starboard side and islands of dead trees on the port side.
A few other cruising boats, and several small fishing
motorboats going flat out.
Turned to port at Clewiston and went out into the lake.
It's huge: about 30 miles by 25 miles.  Motored and
motored out into it, then picked a nice bit of water
and anchored about 4 PM, at lat 26.48 long 80.45,
a couple of miles NW of Kreamer Island.  Nice
and peaceful and isolated, and should be too far
out for flying insects.

Salad and an attempted ham-onion-potato
casserole-equivalent for dinner.  Barely tolerable.

4/6/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor in Lake Okeechobee, near the south end.
Decided to loaf and stay put today.
Fiddled around with a few boat things, but mostly
loafed and read.  Blowing a little harder than forecast.
Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.

4/7/2003 (Monday)
At anchor in Lake Okeechobee, near the south end.
Blowing 20 today; time to move to a more sheltered
anchorage.  Raised anchor about 9, motored through
channel at Pelican Bay and into the Waterway.
Down to Pt Chosen, through the bridge (hand-operated;
a guy came out and pushed a big lever around in
circles to make the bridge swing around so I could
get through).  A mile south of the bridge, went into
a nice basin and anchored about 12:20.  Lots of
room, nice scenery, hundreds of hawks circling
and roosting in trees.  Or maybe they're vultures,
who have heard of my cooking ?

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.
"Tern" came in and anchored; think I saw them
at Ft Myers Beach, maybe.

4/8/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor near Pt Chosen on the Okeechobee Waterway,
at the very southernmost tip of Lake Okeechobee.
Raised anchor about 1030, motored and motored up
the waterway.  Arrived in Moore Haven about 3:15.
Tough to make a U-turn in the tight canal with
wind gusting up and keeping the bow from coming
around; almost ended up in the bushes.  Should have
picked a wider spot, but none are more than 10 feet wider.

Salad and sausage-and-noodles for dinner.

Miserable night: hot, no breeze, several insects
buzzing and biting me in bed all night.

4/9/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor at Moore Haven.
Raised anchor about 10; hard in strong wind and
tight channel.  Through Moore Haven lock, then
motored down and through Ortona lock.
Blowing hard on the nose all day.
Tried to slow down so green sailboat who locked
through with me at Ortona could get through
LaBelle bridge with me, but he didn't respond
to radio, and he stayed far behind no matter
how much I slowed down.  I finally gave up
and went through the bridge, and he got stuck
waiting there for 10 minutes.  Heard the
bridge trying to raise him on radio, too.
Anchored just west of LaBelle bridge at 3:40.

Waited a little bit to make sure the anchor
was holding, then dinghied ashore to town dock.
Dumped lots of garbage, did quick internet
and newspapers session in library, then got
some groceries.

Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner.
Nice night; some wind, but cool for good sleeping.

4/10/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor at LaBelle.  Cool and blowing 15+.
Raised anchor about 0815, and it was a real pain to
wash the mud off and keep the boat from heading
into the banks at the same time.  Really have to
fix my auto-pilot.  Blew harder and harder
as the day went by and I went west.

Blowing 20-25 on the nose at Franklin lock.
I did a good job there, getting in and finding that
their lines barely reach my cleats.  Quickly
bent on the docklines I had ready for exactly
such a situation, and had everything under
control.  Then watched a small motorboat make
three attempts to come in behind me, getting
all confused and blown around in circles by
the wind three times.  They finally gave up
and didn't lock through.

Blowing harder and harder: 25-30 with gusts to 35
at Ft Myers.  A big ferry-boat came up behind me
as I neared Ft Myers, and I sped up so he didn't
have to slow down to the point of losing
control.  The wind was making both of us
crab across the channel, and made going under
the bridges dangerous.

I headed for the NW bank of the river and
anchored about 3:45, due west of Ft Myers
and due north of Cape Coral.  Sheltered from
some of the wind and swells, but still pretty
rough.  But it's shallow with good holding
and safe.  Probably should have anchored
10 miles earlier up the river for more shelter.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches and
cheese-and-crackers for dinner.

4/11/2003 (Friday)
At anchor in the Caloosahatchee River near
Ft Myers and Cape Coral.
Raised anchor at 0730, before wind increased.
Anchor was hard to get up; it was dug in well.
Tricky job getting back to the main channel;
went through some 4.5-foot water.
Motored down the river through cool day,
wind blowing 15-20.  Had to waste 20+ minutes
waiting near Sanibel Causeway bridge before
it opened.  Motored down to Ft Myers Beach
and anchored at 11:50, not too far from my
previous anchoring spot.

Dinghied ashort, taking bike (which is not
easy).  Biked to library, did internet and
newspapers.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

4/12/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Dinghied ashore and biked to library, did long
internet and reading session.  Back to boat.
Fuel level 12.75 inches at engine hour 2636.9
Started sawing wood for anchor chain locker
but blew out a fuse inside the inverter, I think.
Finished the sawing by hand.
Then John from "Tyche" came by; he came into
the harbor this morning.  And then Richard
from "My Brother's Keeper" came by; I missed
seeing his boat when I came in.

John came by a little later, and we talked
and looked at charts, then went ashore and
had a nice walk on the beach.  A bit windy.
Dinghied back and stopped to have a nice
chat with Richard.

Salad and eggsalad sandwiches and saffron rice
for dinner.  Gorgeous red sunset.
Saw a disaster on "Coquette" nearby:
the husband went to turn the meat on the grill,
and the whole grill pivoted around the stern
rail and dumped dinner overboard.  He said a
few choice words I couldn't quite hear, then
zoomed off in the dinghy, apparently to the
supermarket for more meat.

4/13/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Woke up with a splitting headache; stayed in bed
all morning.

More hand-sawing of wood for anchor chain locker,
then put a coat of paint on it.
Opened up auto-pilot binnacle.  Tested bulb in
place; seems to be okay.  Took the compass bowl
out, removed wires to the bulb, and tested it;
seems okay.  Not sure how to get the bulb out
completely; doesn't seem possible.

Dinghied ashore, stopping to invite John along
for a walk on the beach.  Both of us stopped
at Richard's boat and spent about 45 minutes
chatting and petting his cat, Crackers.  The cat
jumped onto all three of our dinghies and
wandered and rolled around.  Richard
says the cat even likes to swim occasionally.
Then had a nice walk on the beach.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

4/14/2003 (Monday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Bit of a headache again this morning; think
it might be due to red tide; some other people
are complaining of headaches too.
Dinghied ashore to library, then did groceries
and loaded water.

Assembled and painted wood for anchor chain locker.
Inflated the dinghy; the front tube was low.
Dinghied ashore, walked on beach, happened to
meet John there.

Salad and cheese-and-crackers and eggsalad
sandwiches for dinner.

4/15/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Dinghied ashore, did library, bought $4 of gas
for dinghy.
Put wood in anchor chain locker; mostly works.
Opened up auto-pilot motor unit but couldn't
see how to lubricate the motor.
Replaced fuse on inverter; fixed.

Dinghied ashore and walked on beach.  Hot sun.
Saw two very beautiful women in thong bikinis.

Blew hard for a half-hour at 5:30; various
boats re-anchoring to deal with it.
Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

4/16/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Dinghied ashore and did library, bought some
fruit, had nice chats with John and with guy
from "Agape".

One of those jobs when I wish I had a 20-foot
boat: got in the dinghy and washed the sides of
the hull with a hull-cleaner based on phosphoric
acid.  Made most of it look pretty good, but
didn't get the toughest waterline stains off.

Dinghied ashore and had a nice walk on the beach.

About 5 PM, started blowing hard, with wind
directly opposing the tidal current, and lots
of boats went crazy.  The big boats tended to
point toward the current and get blown forward
onto their anchors, and the little boats
sailed back and forth or did circles or spun
in place.  Lots of boats coming closer to each
other than usual, including a little boat
close to my bow.

Salad and cheese-and-crackers and tuna-salad
sandwiches for dinner.

4/17/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Dinghied ashore, did library, got a few groceries.

Looked at auto-pilot motor; still trying to figure
out if it can be oiled.  Took auto-pilot binnacle apart,
removed bulb, tested it (looks fine), put spare in,
auto-pilot still doesn't work.  It's a control
problem, I think:  the mechanics are fine.

Got ready to clean waterline spots on the hull
and then go to the beach, and just then the wind
kicked up hard and opposed the tidal current,
just like yesterday.  Boats started going wild,
and 50-foot gaff-rigged ketch "Bliss" that anchored a
bit close to me yesterday evening started
getting VERY close.  The guy came up top and
took about 45 minutes to put out a third anchor
to pull away from me a bit.  He's still a bit
close, and he's in the channel.  A pontoon boat
came by and just swerved at the last minute to
avoid his third anchor rode.  A couple hundred
yards ahead of me, I saw a small boat at anchor
T-bone an anchored catamaran and get stuck to it.
After 30 minutes or so, the owners of the catamaran
appeared and took their boat elsewhere.  Guess I'm
not going to the beach today; have to stay here and keep
an eye on things.  While hoisting the dinghy, I split
the seat of my swimsuit, so I sewed that while
watching the boats go crazy.

Salad and sausage-and-onion sandwiches for dinner.

4/18/2003 (Friday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Launched dinghy at 0730 and attacked waterline
stains with RustAid (it's some kind of acid).
Scrubbed and washed deck too.

Dinghied ashore and did library.  Took bus
to Summerlin Square and bought stuffing-box
packing ($7) and groceries.  Nice chat with
guy at dinghy-dock.  Snagged a floating bag
of garbage out of the water.

Did a bucket of laundry.
Dinghied ashore and went walking on the beach
with John.  It's hopping today; I guess everyone
has Friday off because it's Easter weekend.  Saw
one very nice thong bikini.

Back to boat, the wind/tide thing is going on
again, and the big ketch is swinging
close on one side and a powerboat has anchored
with one anchor on the other side.  [Why do
powerboaters anchor so weirdly ?  I told them
they probably want two anchors in this harbor,
so they put a second anchor off one side,
instead of on the bow !  Another big powerboat
is anchored with one bow anchor and TWO stern
anchors, because they've had so much trouble
with swinging close to another boat.  This just
holds these powerboats sideways to the strong
tidal currents a lot of the time, putting strong
forces on the anchors and making the boats list.]

Finished reading Michener's "Caribbean".  What
a depressing and infuriating book !  A quasi-history
of 500+ years of history in the Caribbean, and
it's a sad story of men enslaving, torturing
and slaughtering each other for money and religion.
What a terrible waste of human life and potential !

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.
Blew hard while I was trying to cook dinner in
the cockpit; had to build an enclosure out of
cockpit cushions to keep the heat from blowing
away.  Then about 10 PM the wind died completely,
leaving a hot and still night that made it
hard to sleep.  Marina nearby set off some pretty
nice fireworks.  Must be an accident on top of
the bridge: lots of flashing lights.

4/19/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Dinghied ashore and did library.
Back to boat, to find that all of the too-close
boats have left.

Cleaned bilge a bit.
Dinghied ashore and had a nice walk on the beach.
It's hopping again today.  Saw 5 very nice
thong bikinis.  Hot today, and sun is strong.

Salad and chili for dinner.
Rained off and on until midnight, fairly hard
at times.  Made it hard to sleep; had to close
all but the main hatch, and it was hot and muggy.

4/20/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Slept late.
Defrosted and cleaned refrigerator.
Put jib whisker pole (reaching strut) back
together and lashed a hook onto it.

Started to dinghy ashore, and found John in his
dinghy chasing a pelican who'd gotten tangled
in a kite-string.  The kite was still flying,
200 feet up, and the string was wound around one
of the bird's wings.  I joined the chase, and
finally John snagged the bird and freed it.
The bird took off and the kite went in the other
direction, the reel of string skipping across
the water.  Soon someone in another dinghy
caught it and went through the harbor trying
to return the kite to the owner, who probably
was 5 miles away.

Had a nice walk on the beach with John; beach
was really hopping again today.  Not too many
thong bikinis, but we saw one beautiful woman
in a thong getting onto a jet-ski.  She was
wearing a life-vest that said "15" on the back,
and John said that's her rating on a scale
of 1 to 10.

Loaded some water.
Attacked stains on side of hull with Soft Scrub.
Cheese-and-crackers and chili for dinner.

4/21/2003 (Monday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Dinghied ashore and did library, then groceries.
Back to boat, raised anchors about noon, and
motored out of the harbor.  I always have bad
luck timing the Sanibel Causeway bridge; got there
5 minutes too late and had to wait 25 minutes
for an opening.  Some small boat had sunk just north
of the bridge, SeaTow was pulling people out of the
water, and the bridge-tender was all excited
about it.  Probably the most excitement in his
life in a while.

Motored on through the "miserable mile", which
wasn't too miserable.  It's called that because
the channel is narrow and there's very shallow
water on each side, and tidal currents try to
push you out of the channel.
Anchored a little before 3 PM
just outside of Ding Darling wildlife refuge,
outside the little cut into Tarpon Bay.
Two powerboats are anchored much closer to shore,
but I think it's too shallow for me, and I
want to stay out in open water to avoid bugs,
and I'm leery of anchoring in specially-restricted
waters (don't want to get cited for damaging
sea-grass or something).
Wind stronger than forecast, and some big wakes.
But it settled down by 7 or so.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

4/22/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor outside of Ding Darling wildlife refuge.
Launched the dinghy, put the bike in it (not easy),
and tried to go through the cut into Tarpon Bay.
Too shallow, so started to go the long way around.
It's a manatee / minimum wake zone, and it's longer
than I thought.  After 15 minutes, realized I was
only 1/3 of the way there, and this wasn't worth it.
Turned around and went back to boat.  Took bike
back out of dinghy (not easy).

Put down the swim platform and jumped in with snorkel
gear and a putty knife to scrape the bottom.
Usually I mostly enjoy this job, but today it was
awful.  No barnacles, but billions and billions
of little "sea lice" (I think; they didn't sting;
maybe they were just crabs or something).  As I
scraped them off, they clouded up the water and a lot
of them crawled all over me and attached themselves
to me.  Some on my face and around my mouth, on
my chest, a few in my ears, many down my swimsuit,
many all over my gloves.  After a while, a school of
small fish came along and darted around 2 feet
below me, feasting on the crabs.  Why don't they
eat them right off the hull ?

More barnacles on the propeller than I expected.
My nice new zinc that I put on 2 months ago is
completely missing; the screws must have worked loose !

Scraped for an hour or more, then called it quits.
Wiped off as many crabs as I could in the water.
Nasty job trying to shower all the dying crabs off
on deck.  Still feel a bit itchy in places.
Found a nice deposit of dead crabs in my navel
later (probably more than you wanted to know).

Raised anchore about 1 PM and motored north.
Lots of traffic, and I'm a bit tired.
Saw lots of Mercury test boats; someone told
me there's a Mercury factory up here, and they
test or burn-in outboard motors by running them
on boats here.  Saw several oddly plain-looking
boats, white or beige with no trim, most with
no glass, roaring around at high speed with
a driver wearing a crash helmet.

Started to go into Tween Waters (Roosevelt Channel),
hoping to anchor, but got spooked by all the
traffic and the tight channel.  Someone was
sailing a big boat out the channel as I got
just inside the mouth, and they deliberately
came very close to me to emphasize that they
had the right of way.  Impressive skill, but not
very courteous.  Then a small boat hovered right
next to me and wanted to ask local directions,
as I was waving him past so I could make a U-turn.
After I got  back out, there was a sailboat race
I had to maneuver around.

Motored up to Cayo Costa and anchored about 4:30
at the very SE tip of the island, just north
of Captiva Pass.  Seems like a nice place, and
I'm glad to stop moving.

Some nasty dark clouds came over about 5 PM,
but they kept going SE, maybe to dump their
rain on Ft Myers Beach or so.
Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

4/23/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor in Pine Island Sound, off the SE
tip of Cayo Costa island.
Anchorage got rolly from 4 AM to 6 AM, as
the tide came in and held me abeam to the swell.
Then from 6 to 9, the boat swung around and the
wind held it stern-on to the swell, so waves
were slamming into the stern noisily.  Didn't
sleep well.

Dinghied ashore and had a nice walk on the beach,
around to the Gulf side of Cayo Costa.  Couldn't
go more than 1/2 mile or so, because of dead trees
fallen across the beach and into the surf.
Lots of shells.  Lots of rental boats with people
coming ashore to enjoy the beach and look for shells.

Raised anchor about 11:30 and motored up the ICW
to Useppa Island, where I anchored on the SW side,
across from Cabbage Key.  Not a very good anchorage,
since it's right next to the ICW, but it's the only
one around with protection from NE and E.  I'm not
going ashore, because Useppa is ultra-rich and private,
and Cabbage won't let you land unless you stay in
their marina or eat at their restaurant.

Those Mercury test boats come through here, too.
They must go a long way !

Traced steering hydraulic lines, opened relief valves
under port aft berth.  Wheel behaved differently
with valves open; didn't hard-stop at starboard
full-turn.  But no matter what I did, couldn't
get it to bleed fluid out of the valves.  Maybe
didn't turn fast enough ?  At least my steering
seems to still work after messing with it.  I was
trying to fix bleeding problem, and see if maybe
I could figure out something about autopilot problem.

Salad and fruit and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner.

4/24/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor at Useppa Island in Pine Island Sound.
Raised anchor about 9:15 and motored over to
Pelican Bay.  Lovely anchorage, except that the
entrance is very shoaly.  Dinghied ashore and had
a nice, long walk on the gulf-side beach.  Lovely,
and plenty of people and seashells.  Nice campground
and cabins there.  Although the guy running the tram
mentioned that last week there had been a group
of 20 people from Colombia camping there, and their
neighbors all left early because they couldn't
stand the late-night noise.

Raised anchor about 1 PM and headed up Charlotte Harbor.
Nice 12-15 wind from right direction, so I raised all
the sails !  Did about 5 knots for a while, until the
wind eased a bit and then I had to turn mostly downwind.
Furled the jib and mizzen, started the engine, and
motor-sailed up to Punta Gorda.  Took a long time,
but at least I was going with the wind and swells.
The Harbor is so big that the few markers are hard
to see; took me forever to see the Cape Haze marker,
and I almost went on the wrong side of it, which
would have put me aground.  Found later that I was
misreading the scale of the chart, so I was a mile
or more off course.

It was hard to furl the main in strong wind and big
swell with no auto-pilot to hold the boat on a course.  
Anchored about 5:30 near the SE corner of the bridge
at Punta Gorda.  I was expecting to be sheltered
from the forecast SE wind, but the wind has turned SW,
so it's rough.  By 10 or so the wind died down, and
overnight it went SE.  I'm tired from all the
hand-steering, fiddling with sails, and raising and
lowering anchor twice today.

Salad and a clam-casserole-like concoction for dinner.
There's some kind of small concert or recital going
on ashore, in a gazebo at the waterfront.

4/25/2003 (Friday)
At anchor at Punta Gorda FL.
Dinghied ashore to park at waterfront.
Did library (sprinkled rain while I was there).
Walked out to highway, found a West Marine,
bought propeller shaft zinc ($13).

Back to dinghy, to find that wind was up to 20
or so, waves kicked up and filled dinghy with water.
Pulled the plug and wrestled with the dinghy, pulling
it higher ashore to help it drain and try to keep waves
from refilling it.  Got it empty, wrestled it out
into knee-deep water, put motor down, and started
the motor while standing outside the dinghy.
Hopped in and motored away before wind and waves
could drive me ashore again.

Out to the boat, where it's blowing 25+ with gusts
above 30.  Boat is rolling a lot.  Most dangerous
point was when I had the dinghy attached to the
davits but still in the water with me in it: a big
wave could have lifted the dinghy with me in it
and slammed us down, breaking the davits.  Made it
okay, and had fun hoisting the dinghy while boat
was rolling.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

Wind died cimpletely about 8 PM, making it too
warm to sleep well.  Slept in cockpit for an hour
before it got moist and rain threatened.
Rained a few times, then started blowing and
raining and thundering about 2 AM.  Kept going
off and on, with the lightning all seeming to
be cloud-to-cloud.  Then at 5 AM the wind blew
and the heavens opened, and rain pounded down
for several hours.  Finally eased about 9 AM.

4/26/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor at Punta Gorda FL.
Decided such a grey, blah day was a good day
to cover some miles; not a good day for going
ashore, and there's not much to do here anyway
except the library.  And I want to get back to
Ft Myers Beach, order a bunch of stuff mail-order
(charts and guides for a trip up the Tenn-Tom),
and wait in a comfortable, well-known place
for the stuff to arrive.

Raised anchor about 10:15 and motored south.
Started to regret it when I turned the corner
from the Peace River into the main body of Charlotte
Harbor: strong wind and big swells knocked my
speed down 2 knots.  But within a mile or two
that eased, and I made 5 knots most of the day.
Some nasty lightning ahead as I got started,
too, but that went away.
As forecast, the weather slowly improved, although
it was cool and wet and windy and grey most of
the time.  But it never actually rained on me.

Arrived at Pelican Bay and anchored about 2:45.

Salad and chicken-carrot-rice for dinner.
Sun came out for the first time, with a vengeance,
at exactly 6:30.  Bright and warm for 45 minutes
or so, then the clouds came again.

4/27/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor at Pelican Bay on Cayo Costa Island.
Raised anchor at 8 and went out Boca Grande pass.
Getting out of Pelican Bay near low tide was a
close thing; some 4-foot-deep water on the way out.

Ugly swells from 2 directions out in the Gulf;
boat rolling constantly, and every couple of
minutes it rolled 15 degrees to each side
several times, making it really uncomfortable.
Put the mainsail up and tried to motor-sail,
but the sail just kept flogging and slatting
around, especially because I was going downwind.
Took the sail down.  At times, the rolling
eased a bit, but the whole trip down was
uncomfortable.  Was relieved to get into Ft Myers
Beach harbor again.  Put down 2 anchors at 3:15.
Sunny and warm.

Maybe I should have done this segment on the ICW
instead of in the Gulf.  The ICW would have been
an hour or two longer, a lot more comfortable,
but I would have had to pay strict attention
every second because of traffic and narrow
channels.  The Gulf was rolly but I was able to
read or leave the helm for a minute at a time
whenever I wanted to.  Would have been a lot
better if the auto-pilot was working; really
have to attack that again.  And I could have
waited until more settled water tomorrow, but
it might not have been much better.

Salad and chili for dinner.

4/28/2003 (Monday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Did a bucket of laundry.  Dinghied ashore,
carrying the bike, and found a place that will
accept a UPS delivery for me.  Did library and
ordered New Orleans - Panama City chartkit ($82).
Requested mail in Marathon to be sent to me.
Bought groceries.  Back to boat, then dashed back
ashore to call up and correct the address on
the order I just placed (doh!).  Back to boat.

Dinghied ashore, stopping to chat with Richard
(he was pouring gasoline into his dinghy fuel tank,
while smoking a cigarette) and pet his cat, Crackers.
Walked the beach, which was windy and a bit deserted.

Fruit and salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.

4/29/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Very foggy in early morning.
Tried to dinghy ashore to library, and the outboard
started and then died.  Even using starting fluid
didn't work; it would fire for 5 seconds and die.
Paddled to the dinghy dock behind the supermarket,
fortunately down-current and downwind.
Did library, bought groceries.
Motor wouldn't start again.  Paddled down the
canal and then had to fight small current and
some wind to get to the boat.  Exhausted by
the time I got there.

Richard came by, wanting help to move a boat,
and we tried the outboard again, but no go.

Took the carburetor out of the outboard, and took
apart the fuel-pump side of it.  Looks okay, a little
gunk in a few places, but nowhere important.
Replaced the fuel pump diaphraghm and put the
carb back on the motor.  No go.  Took it off again.
Fairly discouraged.  Noticed there's no gasoline
in the carburetor at all; something is keeping
an air-lock against fuel being pumped in.

Found something more annoying than a jet-ski: someone's
running a gas-powered modeled boat in the harbor,
about 100 feet from my boat.  Loud and annoying.

Fruit and salad and chili-over-noodles for dinner.

4/30/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Very grey and still, slightly drizzly, in morning.
Up a little early and worked on carburetor; took
apart the non-fuel-pump parts and examined and
cleaned them; don't see anything wrong.  Put
it back together and back onto the motor, and
got the motor started !  Heard air wheezing out
as I pumped gas in; maybe there was a problem
on the priming side of the carburetor.

Dinghied ashore and did library.  Ordered
charts ($150) and guidebooks ($41) for Tenn-Tom
and Mississippi trip.  Started raining fairly
steadily while I was in library.  Bought some
groceries, and it was raining harder when I
came out of the supermarket.  Biking in the
rain, carrying tire pump and groceries, was
not fun, but I had my foul-weather jacket.
Outboard started okay !  Back to boat, and
rain got heavier after I got inside.

Yes !  Took apart the auto-pilot some more,
decided the compass bowl and photo-cell
were okay, but then found that the "drive
cable" between the compass motor box and
binnacle was bad.  The binnacle end is stripped,
and all I may have to do is cut it a bit shorter
to fix it.  Will check with manufacturer.

Fruit and salad and chicken-corn-rice for dinner.

Rained until 2, then sun came out at 4 and it
was a nice day !  Clouds came back by 7, and
by 10 or so it was raining occasionally.  Warm,
still, humid night with most hatches closed
made it hard to sleep.

5/1/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Dinghied ashore and did library.
Weather turned nice while I was in there.

Cleaned bilge a bit.  Pumped water out of dinghy
keel.  Tried to patch gouges on side of hull, but
found that all the hardener has leaked out of
the tube.

Dinghied ashore.  Package of 2 months worth of
mail arrived !  About 5 pounds (1/2 magazines) in
2 months; I'd like to cut it down more.
Bought hardener ($2).  Took a walk on the beach;
very windy, not very many people, but still saw
two thong bikinis.  One woman had a bit more
tattoo than bikini.

The mail contained an "antique boat" sticker for
my boat; free registration from now on !

Fruit and salad and cheese-and-crackers and
saffron rice for dinner.  Took forever to cook
the rice, since a strong wind right into the
pilothouse kept blowing all the heat away.

5/2/2003 (Friday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Woke up with a sinus headache, and it got worse
as the morning went by.
Dinghied ashore and did library.  Loaded water.

Put gelcoat patch mix on gouges on sides of hull,
a tricky job pulling the dinghy around by hand,
mixing the stuff in the dinghy, putting in on
the gouges, wiping off the excess, then taping
plastic wrap over it to let it cure.

Dinghied ashore, stopping to chat with Harry
and Richard, and someone on Daulphin Dancer
(because they're from Mobile, where I'll be heading).
My charts arrived !  Two big boxes of them.
Nice walk on the beach, but it's a hot afternoon.
Almost 90, and it will be around 90 for the
next several days.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.
Warm, still night but no rain clouds.

5/3/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Still have nagging sinus headache.
Did a bucket of laundry.
Dinghied ashore.  Saw Dieter on the dinghy dock,
and he said his propane alarm had gone off in
the middle of the night.  He jumped up and
turned off the propane, and then found that the
alarm had been set of by a 5-liter bottle of
red wine which had broken and gotten all over
his carpeting.

Did library and got groceries.
Ordered another guidebook ($42).
Took a look at the auto-pilot cable, and decided
I couldn't repair the end myself.  And the manufacturer
suggested a more dire possibility: stuck gears
in the binnacle might be stripping the cable.
Removed and caulked screws on top of transom
to try to fix deck leak.
Put new screw and spacers on cover over anchor
chain hawsehole.  Hot afternoon.

Dinghied ashore and walked on beach.  Lots of
boats and people, but a thongless task.
On the way back to the boat, stopped to talk
to Steve on Magic Daulphin from Mobile AL.
Richard said I should talk to him.
Talked about the Tenn-Tom and Mississippi,
but he's never done that trip.

Salad and cheese-and-crackers and tuna-salad
sandwiches for dinner.

Started looking at the charts I bought for my
trip up the Tenn-Tom and down the Mississippi,
and suddenly had a panic: the bridges are lower
than I expected !  I consider my mast height to
be 53 feet, and there are many 52-foot bridges
above Mobile AL, and a 50-foot bridge at
Knoxville TN !  (Found out later that I don't
have to go to Knoxville; it's off on a side-river.)
Then I realized: the top 3-4 feet
of my "height" is removable stuff (mainly, radio
antenna), and I could loosen stays and tilt the
mast back to gain several feet if I really had to
(it would be a pain, I've never done it, but it's
a deck-stepped mast and it would be possible).

There still may be a problem: those bridges are
52 or 50 feet above "normal pool" level; if
there's high water when I get to them, I might
not be able to get through.

5/4/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Totally still, hot morning.
Got in dinghy and wet-sanded the gelcoat patches
I did to the sides of the hull; some look good,
some just tolerable.  Many need another coat.
Used dinghy to push the boat around to untwist
anchor rodes a bit.  I wonder if there's a
better way; I don't see anyone else doing this,
although most people here don't have two chain
rodes, and a lot of people here never leave.
How else to keep two all-chain rodes from twisting,
or raising the anchors once they are twisted ?

Went through more of the batch of mail I received;
missed some IRA renewals; they're raising my boat
insurance rate (as they're doing with everyone).
Going from $868/year to $1058/year; time to go
without insurance or go with liability-only.
I was starting to think about doing this anyway.

Today is the 2-year anniversary of my purchase of
"Magnolia"; I've been living aboard for 2 years !
Wow !  I've met nice people and had some good times
and been to some really cool places, and there's a
lot more ahead.  The life still is a pain sometimes,
mainly when it's hot and humid, but generally it's
pretty good.  I'm still learning new things every
day and going new places, and I'm VERY glad that
I got out of cubicle-and-apartment living.
I still haven't slowed down enough, and I'm not
patient enough to be a good sailor (as opposed
to cruiser).  Stock market losses and being
without a paycheck and medical insurance still
keep me awake sometimes.  Onward !

Dinghied ashore and had nice walk on the beach.
Saw 3 or 4 thong bikinis.  Back to boat, loaded
some water.  Spent a couple of hours straightening
up and cleaning the boat, in advance of:

Dinghied ashore to marina and picked up Jerry
and Becky, a couple I met through email.  They
bought a sistership of mine, a 1973 Gulfstar 44
motor-sailer, about 6 weeks ago.  Took them
out to Magnolia, and we had a lovely 3-hour
visit.  They brought homemade peanut fudge things !
They got a terrific deal on their boat, and
it has the 270 HP turbo version of my 130 HP engine,
and has a much higher cruising and top speed.
They're totally reworking the interior of their
boat: changing the V-berth into a queen bed,
removing the port aft berth to make an office, etc.
Lots of fun talking about all the similarities
and differences between our boats, and what
we plan to do with them, and lots of other things.
Nice people.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

5/5/2003 (Monday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Dinghied ashore and did library.
Then caught bus to NAPA auto, another bus to
Summerlin Square, and then another back to beach.
Nasty surprise: now that the "season" is over,
the bus comes every hour instead of every half-hour.
And they charge for it now.  So a 90-minute
trip turned into a 3-hour ordeal.  Bought a
tip ($1) to fix the auto-pilot cable,
and groceries, and a swimsuit.

Fixed and reinstalled the auto-pilot drive cable,
and it was a struggle.  The clamps on the ends
are a bit strange, and it took a while to get
the cable on.  But the auto-pilot seems to
work again; will have to take the boat out for a
spin to see for sure, and we'll see how long
the fix lasts.

Decided I'd had enough sun and heat and sweat for
today; not going to the beach.  I'm kind of
wiped out.  It's hot.

Fruit and salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner.

5/6/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Another hot day; going up to about 90.
Stupid outboard won't start again; or rather, it
started, ran fine for 30 seconds, then quit and
couldn't be restarted.  Fires up fine with starting
fluid, but then dies again in a few seconds.
Paddled ashore and did library, got groceries.
Two guidebooks arrived.  Paddled back to boat.

Hot afternoon; every time I move, I sweat.
Read Tenn-Tom guidebooks.
Cleaned bilge a little.  Got ready to repaint
rudder stuffing box mount; scraped it.  Tried to trace
wiring under navigation station.  Tested backup VHF.

In early evening, messed with outboard and managed
to get it to start with starting fluid.  I wonder
if it's at the age (9 years) when it just needs a
new carburetor ?  Not sure why that would be.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.
Rained briefly about 9 PM, so I had to shut most
of the hatches and lie in bed sweating in the heat
and humidity.  Ran a fan a bit to cool off.
Was able to open the boat by 10 or so.

5/7/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Another hot day; going up to about 90.
Dinghied ashore, did library, got some dry groceries.
Got insurance quote; I'm going to drop boat insurance.
Can't get liability-only; full insurance is $1058/year.
Caught bus to Summerlin, renewed my boat
registrations ($15).  Looked in West Marine for a
while, got more groceries, and bus back.
Chatted with Justin on bus, Richard on way back to boat.

Dinghied ashore, stopping at a marine supply place
among the fishing boats to look for a spare anchor.
No anchors for sale, but a machine-shop guy would make
any size plain-steel Danforth-type anchor for about $250.
Walked on the beach; pretty empty.
Guy from green ketch stopped by to say hi; I think we
saw each other in LaBelle.

Salad and cheese-and-crackers and tuna-salad sandwiches
for dinner.

5/8/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Another hot day; going up to about 90.
Dinghied ashore, did long session at library, got
some groceries.  Yes !  Homemade brownies arrived
from my lovely, wonderful, terrific sister in PA !

Painted rudder stuffing box mounting.
Phares (odd name) and Stephanie stopped by, and I
invited them aboard for a quick tour.  They have a
1972 Gulfstar 44 "Andromeda", sistership to my 1973.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.
Homemade brownies for dessert !

5/9/2003 (Friday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Dinghied ashore, did long session at library, got
some groceries.

Brought down the jib  and mainsail, so I could
examine the halyards, and to prepare for climbing
the mast (ugh!).
Caulked wire entry on top of transom.
Fuel level 11.0 inches at engine hour 2660.9

Gave myself a bit of a haircut.
Salad and corned-beef-onion-noodles for dinner.
Surprisingly good corned beef from a can.

5/10/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Did bucket of laundry.
Dinghied ashore, did long session at library,
working on broken links on my web site.
Tried to go for free skin-cancer screening,
but they were all booked up.

Dinghied ashore and had a nice walk on the beach.
Tried to call Mom for Mother's Day, and got
her answering machine.

Snorkeled under the boat and put on a new
propeller shaft zinc.  Got sea lice all over me.
Was surprised at how well it went.  The zinc
was a nice one: the bolts had little plastic
washers to keep them from falling out, and
no copper insert to mash down.  Dove once and
set half of the zinc on top of the shaft, then
dove again, put the other half against it,
and got a couple quick turns on one bolt to
hold them together.  Still had to
dive many times, turning the bolts in with an
Allen wrench.  Put some caulk on the bolt
threads to help keep them secure.

Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner.
Homemade brownies for dessert !

5/11/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).

Climbed the mainmast at 0800.  Halyard feeds
looked good.  A few cracks in the body of the
masthead box, but they're in the middle and
may have been there for quite a while.  Wanted
to unbolt and flip over the two radio antennas,
but as I loosened the bigger one, found that
the fiberglass wand was just standing loosely
in the bracket; nothing was holding it into the
bracket; it's broken.  Took the wand out and
brought it down to deck.  The thin white wire
going into the bracket had a lot of cracks
in the insulation, too.  Both VHF radios still
work; probably that antenna was unused for years.

Scraped and painted a small corroded section
on the mainmast compression post.
Dinghied ashore to supermarket, stopping to
chat with Richard on the way.  He told me
a bird landed on his boat and started crapping
all over his windshield, then went up to the
spreaders and started barfing in all directions.
Huge mess to clean up.

Back to boat for lunch.
Dinghied ashore, seeing a small sea-turtle
swimming in the harbor on the way.  Nice walk
on the beach, saw 2 thong bikinis.  On the
way back, had a nice long chat at the dinghy dock
with Bruce (from "La Dolce Vita") and Mel.
Watched a big manatee slowly swim under the dock.
It had 4 or 5 small propeller-scars on its back.

Salad and corned-beef-mustard-onion-noodles
for dinner.
Hot, still night; didn't sleep well.

5/12/2003 (Monday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Dinghied ashore, did library and groceries.
Outboard quit a couple of times each way.

Topped up battery water; was slow again.
My solar controller must really be charging
the batteries hard.
Dinghied ashore, stopping to chat with Bruce
and Justin.  Bought gasoline ($5).

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

5/13/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Climbed the mainmast at 0730.  Got the remaining
radio antenna turned upside down as I planned,
but then put the bolt in backwards, and then
dropped the nut when I tried to put it on.
Fortunately the nut bounced off something soft,
so it didn't hit the deck hard, and it stayed
on deck instead of bouncing overboard.
Have to go back up again tomorrow.
Radio still works with antenna upside down
alongside the mast; reduced my mast height
another foot or more.

Outboard started and died, and this time I couldn't
get the bulb to feed fuel into the inline filter.
Something feels loose inside the bulb.  Switched
back to the old bulb.  Worked better, still couldn't
get it started, finally got it started.

All morning at the library, working on broken
links on my web site.  2nd cruising guide
arrived in mail, then back to boat for lunch.

Dinghied ashore and caught bus to Summerlin.
Renewed car registration, bought some teak plugs ($4),
various groceries.  Made the mistake of weighing
myself at a free scale in the supermarket; oh, well,
always thought my boat needed a little
more ballast.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner,
homemade brownies for dessert.

5/14/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Climbed the mainmast about 0715.  A bit cooler
this morning, which is very nice.  Fixed the bolt on
the radio antenna, spritzed the windvane and
sheaves with silicone spray.  Saw 3 manatees
swim by while I was 1/3 of the way down; they
all had propeller-marks on them.  Hoisted
the jib.

Now my mast height about water should be about
49 feet, instead of the less-than-53 it was before.
Probably should consider it to be 50, to be safe.
I have to get under a lot of 52-foot bridges
(at normal water) on the inland-river trip coming up.

Dinghied ashore, did library, some groceries.
Lunch, then got fuel.  This was a 2-hour ordeal
in the heat: spin the boat with the dinghy to
untwist the anchor rodes, hoist the dinghy,
raise two anchors (cleaning off some very mucky
sections of chain), motor to fuel dock, fuel
up ($140 for 105 gallons at $1.25/gallon plus tax),
then back to my spot and put down two anchors,
then wash off the deck.  I'm sweaty and exhausted.
Engine hour 2661.7
The fuel-dock guys tell me my timing is good:
in a day or two, the place will be a madhouse as
boats arrive for the air-show and boat-race.

Mel stopped by and we chatted a little about rigging
and such.

Low, dark clouds came over and it rained hard
from 6:15 to 6:45, then was nice again.
Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

5/15/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Did a small bucket of laundry.
Dinghied ashore and did library.  Hardware store
and bought $5 worth of various small parts.

More patching on gelcoat gouges on hull sides.
Dinghied to boatyard, expecting to have to walk
to Napa Auto.  Boatyard didn't have any anchors for
sale, but they did have most of what I was going
to get at Napa, so I bought 4 oil filters ($34)
and some starting fluid ($3).

A couple of fighter-jets flew over about 3 PM,
and several more about 6 PM.
maybe in preparation for the air-show ?
Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner.

Dinghied ashore to see the parade for the
boat-race, but it was pretty lame.  Only 4 or 5
race-boats.

Hot and still night; didn't sleep well.
Disappointed by the lunar eclipse; I expected
some kind of angry red color.

5/16/2003 (Friday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Dinghied ashore and did library, got groceries,
loaded water.

About 1 PM, there was a red biplane doing aerobatic
stunts over the beach; saw it from the harbor.
Nice loops and stalls.  Then a single-wing plane
came and did more of the same, plus spins.
It was just about able to hover in place, nose-up,
at the top of one of the stalls.
Then a pair of biplanes came by and did some loops.
At 2:30, something MILITRY! came over and
shredded the air for a while.

Repaced water filter under galley faucet; the old
one was disgustingly dirty.
Dinghied ashore, checked for mail, did hardware
store, loaded water.

More work on hull gouge patches: removed the
plastic over them and wet-sanded them.
Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

5/17/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Dinghied ashore, did library and some groceries,
donated $10 to the dinghy-dock guy.

On the boat at 1130 when the air-show started.
A couple of cranes are putting race-boats in the
water in the harbor, so they can go out for
practice runs, then get out again.  One fancy
semi-race-type powerboat came by with three
nice-looking women wearing thong bikinis sitting
lined up across the stern.

Dinghied ashore and walked the beach for an hour.
Tons of people, and a couple hundred boats
out 1/2 mile, watching the air-show
But only one nice-looking thong bikini.
The air-show wasn't very impressive:
lots of dead time, only a few good acts.
Back to the boat to get out of the heat and
give my skin a break from the sun.

Fuel level 17.3 inches at engine hour 2661.7

Evil dark clouds blew over about 6 PM, and it
looked clear behind them.  But in fact it was
grey, and it poured rain for 30 minutes or so,
then drizzled for a while after that.
Salad and chicken-and-potatoes-au-gratin for dinner.

5/18/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Dinghied ashore; tried to call Mom but got her
answering machine.  Did groceries.
Chatted briefly with a guy who's been living aboard
for 28 years, mostly here.  Nice guy, but he was
having his 9 AM beer.

Dinghied ashore to the beach in time for the
11 AM race, but it didn't happen.  Walked the
beach for a while, tons of people, saw 4 or 5
thong bikinis.  Turns out they had so few boats
enter that they changed from two races at 11 and 1
to one race at 12:30.  Back to the boat for
a quick bite of lunch, then back ashore to
see the race.  It was interesting, but not
that great.  Only about a dozen boats (and
three helicopters chasing them), and the boats
were in 3 or 4 different classes, so you
couldn't tell who was winning or anything.

Back to boat, and loafed most of the afternoon;
I got too much sun already today.
Put some clamps on the jib whisker pole;
maybe I'll be able to use it tomorrow.

Dinghied ashore late, bought gasoline ($5),
retrieved my bicycle and hauled it to the
boat.  Everyone's leaving town after the
races, and what a bunch of yahoos !  Must
be the same people who love NASCAR.  They're
all yelling at each other, whistling at
women, revving engines in bumper-to-bumper
traffic.  A bunch of unhappy people who
had their cars towed for illegal parking, too.
Said goodbye to Harry and Richard.

Salad and eggsalad sandwiches and fruit for dinner.

5/19/2003 (Monday)
At anchor at Fort Myers Beach FL (Estero Island).
Raised anchors about 0800, motored out of harbor.
Put sails up, but swells off Sanibel were rolling
me so badly and the wind was so light that the
sails were flogging and banging, and I took them down.
Motored up to Boca Grande Pass and anchored about 3 PM
in Pelican Bay, approx lat 26.41 long 82.14.5

Front came through about 6 PM, with dark clouds
and some wind and rain.  Of course it blew from
S and SE instead of the forecast E, so I was
a little close to a neighboring boat, maybe 60-70
feet away.  The woman on the boat freaked out,
started blowing danger signals, giving me the
evil eye.  My anchor was holding fine, and I
was watching it.  An hour later she
was giving me grief about not having an anchor
light on; it wasn't even dark yet, I was
reading in the cockpit as I ate dinner.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.
During the night it blew fairly hard from the E
as predicted, and I swung away from the other boat.

5/20/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor at Pelican Bay (Boca Grande Pass).
Raised anchor about 0800, motored out of the
pass, and raised sail by 0900.  Turned off the
engine and sailed about 4 knots in a 10-12 wind
on a close reach.  Dropped to 3.3 or so knots
when wind eased to 8-9 knots.  Auto-pilot working
a little more than I'd like, but I don't know if
I have the sails balanced properly, and there's
a bit of a beam swell moving the boat around.

Worked on the rudder position indicator, which
has never worked.  Got a little life out of it.

Sailed until 1 PM, covering about 13 miles in
about 4 hours.  Wind kept fading down to 5-6 knots;
was at 7-8 most of the time.  The boat was doing
2.5-2.9 knots much of the time.  Started engine
and took down jib and mizzen.

Went in Venice inlet and anchored about 4:30.
Very tight shoaly anchorage, full of local
boats and a few cruisers.  Had to put down 2 anchors,
and I'm close to a moored boat and slightly
in a channel.

Worked some more on the rudder
position indicator, and found that remounting
its potentiometer next to the rudder is going to be
a challenge; not sure how the old mounting worked.

As usual, dark clouds and blew hard and a little
rain by 6 PM.  The last couple of weeks, the
weather has been the same every day: gorgeous,
sunny, hot all morning and early afternoon, then
windy and maybe thunderstorms in early evening,
then calm and maybe cloudy/sprinkling at night.

Watched a couple of guys fishing from a dock
just  behind me; they had a great time, but seemed
to catch and release the same couple of fish again
and again.  Not sure if they kept anything.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner, last
of the homemade brownies for dessert.

5/21/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor at Venice FL.
Raised anchors about 0815, motored up the ICW.
Gave the finger to some big powerboat who roared
past me at high speed with a big wake, and wasn't
listening to the radio.  He gave me the finger back.

Through 3 or 4 bridges to Sarasota, where I anchored
at about 1115, at lat 27.19.582 long 82.32.819
Nice spacious anchorage with lots of boats in it.
Last bridgekeeper told me there was a baby dolphin
in the bay next to his bridge.

After lunch, dinghied ashore; $2 to land dinghy at
park.  Saw the funniest dinghy name I've ever seen:
"Row vs. Wade".  Walked to library and did a long
internet session.  Town is fairly pretty but useless:
lots of boutiques and a nice waterfront park,
but no grocery store, and museums and such are
several miles away.  Sat in the bayfront park
reading stuff for a while.  Supposed to be a
reggae festival onshore fairly close to my
boat tonight.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.
Could hear a bit of the music festival, but it
was a bit far away, and definitely a lot of the
music was not reggae.  Nicer weather than
usual this evening: no thunderstorms or rain.

5/22/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor at Sarasota FL.
Raised anchor about 0845, motored through
the Ringling bridge and motor-sailed up the ICW.
Was supposed to be iffy weather, lots of
thunderstorms and rain, but it's lovely.

Anchored just south of Longboat Pass, at 1100,
at lat 27.26.313 long 82.40.733

After lunch, dinghied ashore and walked around
a bit.  Some nice houses and trees, and the
gulf beach is nice; sat there for a while
watching someone fly a stunt-kite.  Fairly hot
at times, and no stores in evidence.

Back to boat, and wondering where the evil
storms are; the radio is full of dire forecasts
for today.  Fair number of boats roaring through
the anchorage at full speed; it's on one of
the approaches to the pass, and these people
have no courtesy.

Lovely evening: about 10-15 degrees cooler
than usual, which feels wonderful !
Salad and cheese-and-salami-and-crackers
and fruit for dinner.

The dire weather finally arrived just after
I went to bed.  About 9 PM, there were dark
clouds overhead and a gentle S 5 wind.  Suddenly
the wind changed to N 25, and we were off !
All the boats went slewing around, and I wondered
if I'd left enough room between my anchor and
the shoal to the south.  The answer was yes,
but only by 30 feet or so.  And I was swinging
over top of a crab-trap float.  About 10 minutes
later, the deluge started, and it poured rain
until 11 or so.  The powerboat ahead of
me, which came in just before the storm,
was grilling steaks; I could smell them.
Humid and stuffy inside the
boat, and half the time the rain was blowing
in from the stern and soaking the inside of
the pilothouse, so I couldn't keep the main
companionway open.  Slept fitfully.  Was able
to open things up a bit in the early AM.
No deck leaks, except a little moisture inside
the frame of the fixed port in the walk-through.

5/23/2003 (Friday)
At anchor just south of Longboat Pass.
Started pouring rain again at 0700, and
kept going although the forecast said it
was supposed to go south at 0800 and the rest
of the day was supposed to be nice.

Raised anchor at 1000, motored through
the bridge and out through Longboat Pass
into the Gulf.  Rainy with swells from SW as
I expected.  Bad planning: didn't realize I'd
be going more NW than N, so the swells really
rolled me and the rain came into the pilothouse.
Worse, my @$%^@$& auto-pilot crapped out again !
Motored up across the mouth of Tampa Bay and
into Johns Pass, five hours of hand-steering
with everything wet.  Halfway through, I turned
more N, so the rolling was replacing by pitching,
which is easier to take.  And at least the
swells were aiding my speed.

Got out from under the rain about 1130, and sun
came out by 1200.  But still windy and rough and
everything is wet, including me.  And with no
auto-pilot and constant swells, the boat slews
off wildly any time I leave the helm to do anything.

Sitting at the helm, tried to shift position to
do something, and my right foot slid along the
wet cockpit sole, in one of the few places where
there's no non-skid, and I jammed 3 or 4 bare
toes hard into the base of the binnacle.  Hurt like
hell, but I don't think anything's broken.

Into Johns Pass, where a sailboat came in ahead
of me and totally missed the well-marked channel.
They swerved when they saw me and realized I
was in the channel, and came across some
nasty-looking shoals with breaking waves to
get to the channel.  They were a catamaran
motor-sailer, so they must have a shallow draft,
and they made it.

Anchored about 3 PM in a lovely wide protected
canal inside Johns Pass, on the inland side of
Madeira Beach, at lat 27.47.602 long 82.47.181
I'm tired, and a bit headachy from
breathing my diesel exhaust fumes all day.
Opened up all the ports and hung everything
out to dry.

Rainclouds came over at 4, but then it was sunny
again soon after.  At 6, I watched a mother and
baby dolphin feeding in the canal; the baby was
about 2 or 2.5 feet long.

Another nice, cool evening.
Salad and spaghetti for dinner.
Watched pelicans who were acting like that most
dangerous of animals, an intelligent sheep:
they tended not to fly so much as plummet.
Huge, noisy crashes into the water as they
attacked fish.  Very successfully, too.

Fireworks over the beach started just after I
went to bed, but they were annoyingly sporadic.
Several nice ones would go off, I'd get up and
watch, then they'd stop for a couple of minutes.
I'd go back to bed, and a minute later more
would be going off and I'd get up again.

Rained very hard at 2 AM; no wind, just rain
straight down.

5/24/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor inside Johns Pass.
Bit of a headache this morning.
Fuel level 14.25 inches at engine hour 2684.9

Raised anchor at 0945, having to wash lots of
muck off the rode.  Motored out through the
bridge and up to Clearwater.  Not much wind and
lots of rolly swells.  In through the Clearwater
bridge, through a confusing intersection with
lots of traffic, then anchored about 100 yards
off the channel.  Anchored about 1245 at
lat 27.57.646 long 82.48.390   Lots of wakes,
but they're mostly on the nose, which is okay.
But every now and then a big one rolls me
from the side and wipes me out.

About 2 PM, launched the dinghy and looked for
a place to get ashore.  It's a concrete jungle
here; nowhere to get ashore.  Eventually went
back to the first place I tried: a mud-flat
close to my boat.  Went aground 50 yards from
shore, so I anchored the dinghy there and
waded ashore through soft muck and sea-grass,
probably violating half a dozen environmental
protection laws.  Came ashore at the parking
lot and bay-walk of a retirement community;
figured some old guy probably would freak out
and call the police about the terrorist frogman
coming ashore.

Lots of hot nothing in this part of town, but
then I found the nice supermarket that I'd
heard was there.  Got a good load of groceries
and frog-manned back to the boat.

Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner.
Fireworks over the town later in the evening.

5/25/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor at Clearwater FL.
Got going early, because now the wind has
me parallel to a busy channel, and I'll get
badly waked as everyone starts roaring past
on the way to their holiday weekend fun.
Raised anchor by 0630 and motored out through
the pass.  Motor-sailed north up the coast,
but there's little wind, so I took down the jib
and left the main up.  Took it down too, until
after lunch when the wind piped up a little,
when I put it back up.  Did a bucket of laundry.

The next few days, I'll be going up around the
bend of the Florida Panhandle.  A tricky trip,
because there are no harbors or anchorages
at all between just north of Clearwater and then
to Carrabelle FL.  About 160 miles or so, but
I'm not doing it straight across.  I'm looping to
the NE a bit so I can stay in shallow water
where I can anchor.  But there's no shelter
to anchor behind; I'll be exposed.

Just realized I'm entering a bit of a "dead
zone" as far as my charts are concerned:
it's a joint between two chartkits, and
all I have is a 1-2,000,000 scale chart
(shows the whole state of Florida) for this
lower part of the Panhandle.  And no decent
chart for Carrabelle, which I want to enter.

Tired and headachy in the afternoon.  Out of
sight of land after 2 or so.  Perfect auto-pilot
territory; too bad it's not working.  Finally
anchored at 4:45, in the middle of empty water
except for a few scattered fishing boats
and some nuclear powerplant towers east of me.
Water is 15 feet deep.
Lat 28.47.924 long 82.56.097
Did about 52 miles, straight-line.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.
Tried lemon juice instead of soy sauce; not
a success.

5/26/2003 (Monday)
At anchor in the middle of nowhere, 1/3 of the
way up the Florida panhandle from Clearwater
to Carrabelle.

By 2 AM, I'd gotten some sleep, but couldn't
sleep any more and was sick
and tired of feeling the swells roll the boat
and make the interior wood squeak and crunch.
Got up, raised anchor, and motored on in the
dark.  The only risk is that I might plow into
an unlighted marker, but it's 5 miles between
markers out here and I've seen a couple of lit
ones far away.  Water's 15-20 feet deep, so
that's no problem.

Nice sunrise: perfect orange ball appeared
on the horizon.

Wanted to stop and anchor and take a nap,
but a big swell has appeared out of the WNW,
and I don't think I'd sleep much with the
boat plunging up and down.

Motored all day, taking little 1-minute naps
in the cockpit.  Didn't have to touch the helm
too much most of the time; it held a pretty
steady course.  Raised mainsail once, but the
swells made it slat, and it made the helm a
full-time chore, so I took it down.

Anchored at 6 PM in the middle of nowhere;
nothing but water in all directions, 60 miles
to the east of Carrabelle.
Lat 29.41.290 long 83.56.574
In 45 feet of water !  Hope I can get the
anchor up again.  Salad and tuna-salad
sandwiches for dinner.

Tried to sleep, but it's too sunny and hot and
also the boat is leaping in all directions,
pitching and rolling and gyrating.  Impossible.
So I start to calculate the options, trying
to arrive at Carrabelle in daylight, hoping
I can stay awake and functioning that long,
wondering how long I can tolerate being anchored
here.  Finally realize that I'd better get that
anchor up while there's still light; it's going
to be tough.

Raised anchor about 9 PM, with the bow of the
boat surging up and down, a big strain on the
windlass, the boat trying to turn sideways and
roll every time I motor forward to get some
slack in the anchor rode.  The anchor seems
heavier than usual even when there's only 20-30
feet left to bring in; I guess I almost never
anchor in water even 25 feet deep.

Then it's off on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride !  Motoring
straight into swells that don't seem that high,
maybe 2-3 feet, but they come fast and close
together, and boat is hobby-horsing wildly.
Surging up over some swells to land with a thud
on the next swell, slicing through some, huge
bursts of spray bouncing away from the bow,
often the boat veering away strongly after hitting
a swell. No water over the bow, but the whole
front half of the boat is getting soaked, and I
have all of the ports and hatches closed tight.
It's very dark, no moon, I don't know exactly
where I'm going, and my mind is mush from
sleep-deprivation.  Hope I can do this.

I just keep going, with constant hand-steering,
making the compass needle line up with the
course I want.  Can't see anything, so I rely
on the depth-sounder to see if I approach
shallow water, but it's all 50-60 feet deep.
Play some music CD's, have some snacks,
occasionally there's some brief traffic on the
VHF.  Only go past one marker all night, and
it's flashing rapidly and I can't tell if
it's the "horn" on my chart.  The big swells
on the nose ease by about 2 AM, which makes
steering a lot easier; now I can doze for
a minute or two between steering corrections.

Finally see multiple lights, including some
house or building lights, and what looks like
several islands.  Slow down and head in,
watching the depth-sounder, and it takes
forever to get to 20-foot deep water.
Lots of green channel markers; looks
like a major commercial channel, which is
puzzling.

Anchored about 5 AM in 20 feet of water at
lat 29.47.885 long 84.33.056  Put everything
away and went to bed.

5/27/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor off a barrier island somewhere
near Carrabelle FL.

Wake up suddenly at 0830.  Take a look outside
and it doesn't resemble anything I saw in the
night.  Just one low sandy island with some
houses on it.  No sign of all the channel
markers I saw in the dark.  Never did find them
during daylight.  Everything completely different.

Raised anchor about 0930 and motored up around
the NE of the island into St George Sound, but
soon found shoals everywhere, and no marked
channel.  I found a slightly better chart (1 to
400,000 scale instead of 1 to 2,000,000) but it
still has no details on this whole Sound.
Went back out and motored down the length
of the island, in the main inlet, and up to
Carrabelle.  Anchored about 1:15 in 5 feet of
water over a big grassy shoal in the middle
of town, lat 29.51.024 long 84.40.313
Had to try anchoring twice; first time I
was swinging too close to the channel.
I'm tired.

Well, I made it across "The Big Bend", from
Clearwater to Carrabelle.  Things learned:
- don't assume the chartkits contain all the
	charts you need
- fix the auto-pilot
- anchoring with no shelter is intolerable
- on the return trip, plan to do the crossing
	as straight as possible, with no stops
- I did manage to pick a nice weather window
- the Gulf of Mexico and Florida are big !

Cleaned myself up and dinghied ashore.  Nasty
carcasses of fish all over the little sandy
spit by the boat-ramp.  Did library, then
walked around a marina and started talking to a
70-year-old guy, Willy.  The guys here are all
nuts for fishing tournaments.  We had a nice chat,
and then I took him out to see Magnolia.  Back
ashore, chatted to someone else for a little
while, then back to the boat.  Found her hard
aground and up about 6 inches at 6:30.
Looking at the tide program, I'm caught
by an unusually low low tide.  Shouldn't
have much of a problem getting out tomorrow.

Fixed (I think) the auto-pilot again.  The
problem was the drive cable again; I think by
crimping a tip onto it, I made the cable too
long relative to it's sheath, so now the
sheath tends to slip out of the fastening nut
on the end, and then the tip slides out of its
socket and doesn't engage any more.  May have
to get a new crimp-tip and shorten the cable
a little.

One wire cable for hoisting the dinghy is
frayed through.  Will need one more
swage-sleeve than I have on board to fix it.

Salad and cheese-and-crackers-and-salami
and fruit for dinner, while swatting
yellow flies.

At full low tide, I'm up almost a foot more
than usual.  No problem, but it will be
a sickeningly lurch if someone wakes me and
the boat falls over to rest more on one side.

5/28/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor at Carrabelle FL.
Slept long and solidly, got up a little
at 0830, and then slept again until 0945.

Tested auto-pilot briefly.  Listened to
weather forecast, and again found that the
NOAA synthesized voice here speaks a different
dialect than in south Florida.  Here it says
"ta" for "to", and "pertecked" for "protected".
As in "winds 5 ta 10 knots, light chop in
pertecked waters".

Fuel level 11.25 inches at engine hour 2727.2
Cleaned engine intake strainer.
Added 1/2 quart of oil to engine.
Exercised valves on all through-hulls.
Added water to batteries; they keep getting low.
Added a little water to the engine coolant.
Drained a little fuel out of the engine
water-separators / primary filters; first/port
one had fair number of particles in it,
second/starboard one had a few particles,
no water in either one.

Dinghied ashore, went to hardware store, got
groceries, did library.  Back to boat,
raised anchor about 1:15, and motored out of
the harbor.  Went out to the inside of the
inlet and anchored about 2:15 at
lat 29.47.415 long 84.40.300 in 20 feet of water.
I plan to leave about 8 PM, go out the
inlet, and do the trip to Panama City, which
should take about 20 hours, arriving about 4 PM.
If I had waited at anchor in town, I would
have been caught by low low tide again, and
also would have had to go out the channel in
near-dark, and the channel markers are far apart.

Greased the anchor windlass and checked its
oil.  Greased the tach adapter on the engine.

Canned stew over rice for dinner.  Edible.
Heard on the radio that the Ft Lauderdale area
had 11 inches of rain !  Later heard that
all of S Florida is getting soaked, even over
where I was near Ft Myers.

Started blowing harder about 6:30 and there's
a chop coming down the length of the Sound
at me, so it's time to go.

Raised the anchor by about 7:00; what an
ordeal !  I guess I hadn't clutched the
windlass all the way after greasing it, and
when I put the chain on it, the pull was so
strong that soon the chain had run out and
some rope ran out too.  Conditions were ugly,
15+ knots of wind and strong chop.  So I had
to keep repeating: motor forward, hurry to bow
and get another 10 feet of chain in, cleat it
off before the boat slid back and the load
came on again, do it again.  High loads on
the chain, and the big swells made the bow
leap around and blow off quickly when I motored
forward.  Left the chain piled on the foredeck
because I had to pull the rope below first.

Motored out through the inlet, with strong
wind on the beam and a strong tidal current
helping me.  Got out and found equally bad
conditions out in the Gulf: 15 knots of wind
with steep short swells.  Got rolled badly by
a series of swells on the beam, everything
crashing around in the cockpit and down below.
Had to work in the V-berth and then on the bow
to get the anchor chain stowed, and it was
dangerous work.  Fortunately the auto-pilot
is working; would have been 5 times worse
without it.

Conditions a little better once I got out
of the inlet approach and could turn more
directly into the wind.  But apparently
the 10-15 forecast is going to be 15+,
and the swells are making the boat pitch.
Making a little more than 4 knots, and
sometimes we slam down into a swell and
drop to 2.5 knots briefly.  Prop cavitates
for a while until speed gets back up.
But the auto-pilot is working, so I can rest.

Saw some strange lights and turned on the
RADAR to see if it would help.  Realized I
should have used it when I was making landfall
the other night.  Think the lights are fishing
boats.

Spend much of the early AM motoring through
fishing fleets.  Only come close to 4 or 5
boats, but there are lots of lights on the
horizon and all over the place.  They look
strange, all winged out and lit up, and
often it's hard to tell which way they're
facing and whether they're moving.

5/29/2003 (Thursday)
In transit from Carrabelle to Panama City.

0700, sun's up, and I'm frustrated.  Seas have
been lumpy with strong swells and wind on the
nose.  I've been averaging barely 4 knots.
Every minute or two, the swells align so the
boat rises high over one swell and blasts into
the next one, killing the momentum and slowing
down to 3 knots for a while as the prop
cavitates and we slowly build up to 4.3 or so
again.  Soon we crash into another swell and
slow down again.  What I hoped would be a 20-hour
trip is turning into more like 26 hours.
At least the auto-pilot has been working perfectly.

Feeling really grim by noon.  The speed is bad,
my course is getting me rolled a fair amount,
I'm tired, the wind is staying strong and the
swells are big, the dinghy is grinding it's
rubrail to pieces against the davits and chafing
every lashing I have it tied with, lots of
creaking and groaning noises as the boat
flexs in the swells.  Hope the main lifting wires
don't chafe through and drop the dinghy;
one of them chafed through on my way across the
Big Bend.  Very dangerous climbing around deck
and lashing things down and relashing them.
Should have stayed in Carrabelle and
waited for a day with less wind.  I'm wondering
why I bought a boat.  I hate the Gulf of Mexico.

Feeling a little better after lunch.  And motion
gets a little more tolerable as I change course.
I'm tired, and worrying about what to do if the
engine quits, if the dinghy drops, if the auto-pilot
craps out.  Not many options out here.

Wind kicked up to 20 and swells got really
big the last couple of hours.  As I approached
Panama City, I had to keep turning aside to
take the biggest swells more on the nose;
some of them were huge and steep.
Still got rolled and pitched quite a bit.
Kept looking at the chart and GPS, saying things
like "only another 15 miles to go", and then
realizing that meant ONLY another 4 hours to go.

Very tricky getting in the inlet.  The swells
were very nasty and from the beam as I came
up the coast, so it took a long time to get
abreast of the inlet.  Then I turned between
two sets of swells, getting rolled pretty well
anyway, and headed in with large following seas
hitting me from the port stern quarter.  I was
slewing around pretty good for a while.  Then of
course nothing is simple: fishing boats coming
out, SeaTow towing someone in, dredge operating
in the inlet mouth, some other traffic.

Anchored about 6:15 just inside the Panama City
inlet, in Grand Lagoon, at lat 30.08.038
long 85.43.777.  Plenty of room, but I'm
near a channel and a boat-ramp; I'll get waked
a bit, but I just needed to find the nearest
refuge and stop.  Trip took 23+ hours.

The boat is covered with salt.  At least nothing
fell overboard, although the anchor windlass
handle got loose.  I'm afraid to look at the
dinghy and it's lashings.  Below, the books all
stayed on the bookshelf until some time in the
last half hour; then they got dumped everywhere.
But I got here, the engine and auto-pilot
worked great, tomorrow's a new day.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

5/30/2003 (Friday)
At anchor near Panama City.
Slept late.
Walking around, my back went "ping"; I must
have strained it, probably when raising the
anchor in St George Sound.
Raised anchor about 11, motored
over to anchor closer to the "city".
Anchored about 12:15 across from the town,
behind Redfish Pt.

Dinghied ashore about 1:30, 3/4 mile across
the open bay.  Went into Massalina Bayou and
met Bruce, who it turns out is anchored
next to me in a red Durbeck ketch.  He was in
the bayou kibitzing with someone painting on
a ferrocement ketch anchored there.  We had
a nice chat.  Then I went into the city
marina, and it took a while to find the
free dinghy dock.  Big place, oriented
toward cars; took a while to walk around it.
Long chat with Kenny at the dinghy dock;
turns out he's the small white Beneteau
anchored near me.  Went to the library,
did internet, read a weeks worth of
newspapers.  Back to dinghy dock, met
someone who's anchored in Smack Bayou,
not far from me.  He said his friends
went from Panama City to Destin yesterday,
in same conditions I saw, and afterward
they called NOAA and complained that the
forecast was inaccurate.  Back to the
boat, and crossed the bay in nasty
conditions, blowing up to 15, spray
getting me pretty wet.  Outboard motor
quit halfway, but fortunately because it
just wasn't drawing through the inline
filter; two pumps and it started again
right away.  Had to be careful
of my back as I hoisted the dinghy.

Lots of dolphins feeding around the boat;
saw 5 together, then a couple of singles
later.  And I've seen swirling schools
of medium-sized fish, too.  I think this
part of Florida must be teeming with fish.

Later, Bruce stopped by for a quick look
at my boat.  It was really messy, since the
trip loosened a lot of stuff, I had things
out drying, stuff is piled up where I had
to dig to fix the auto-pilot.  And, being
a former carpenter, he snorted when he saw all
the Formica.  But he generally said nice things.
I mentioned the dolphins and he said once
he saw kids feeding dolphins at the inlet,
and the dolphins were coming 1/2 out of
the water and letting the kids touch them
as they fed them.

Chicken-and-rice for dinner.

Later, a powerboat anchored ahead of me
and started running a very loud generator.
And they ran it ALL night.
And a small beam swell came up after midnight;
thought I was protected from that direction.

But it's nice here; 5-10 degrees cooler
than in Ft Myers Beach, and no bugs so far.

5/31/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor near Panama City FL.
Half a dozen dolphins came around the boat
a couple of different times, feeding.
Raised anchor about 0820 and moved a little
further into the cove, to get more shelter.
Also warmed up the engine so I could do
an oil change.

Did the oil change, and what a disaster !
Took about 4 hours, and the new filters
that were supposed to be compatible turned
out to have rubber rings that are not compatible.
The first time I fired up the engine, some
leaks from the filter housing.  Adjusted it
and tightened it again, fired up the engine
again.  This time I got jets of oil spurting
out of the housing, out the open door of
the engine compartment, and onto my cabinets
and carpets !  A real mess, although replacing
the carpeting has been on my to-do list for
a while.  Took a while to clean up.  Put the
old filter's rubber ring in, fired engine up,
no problems.  Got 9 quarts out, put about 11 in;
was about a quart low to start with; extra
quart is spill.  And a day or two later it looks
like I overfilled it slightly.

People are swimming and fishing off a beach
and boats nearby, small sailboats are racing
in the bay just behind me, and I've spent
all day wresting with oil.

Dinghied ashore through fairly rough water,
disposed of used oil and trash, and did library.
Coming back was really rough, blowing 20+ with
swells.  Got fairly wet.

Kenny came over about 5 PM and we chatted for
about 2 hours; he was delighted when I provided
a couple of cold beers.  Very nice talk about
places we've been, boating, women, etc.  He's
quite a character: Vietnam vet and merchant
seaman, living on a 25-foot sailboat with no
engine and no head, no refrigeration,
very much into "smoking", firm and interesting
views on women (always pay cash)
and the USA (Communists and UN'ers are taking
over), doesn't do much of anything all day.
He's cruised quite a bit around Florida and the
western Caribbean, living for a year or two in
each of a dozen places.  He was on an Amtrak
train when it hit a truck, so he's suing
for damages (he wasn't hurt, he was just
on the train).  We've both been a lot of the
same places in the Keys, and had fun comparing
impressions.  A lively guy, lots of fun to
talk to.

Salad and cheese sandwiches and
cheese-and-salami-and-crackers for dinner.

6/1/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor near Panama City FL.
Blowing W 15+ again today; if I'd waited at
Carrabelle for better weather, I'd still
be waiting.  And the forecast is for more of
the same indefinitely.

First day without boat insurance; they were
raising my rate from $870 to $1070, and I
decided it wasn't worth it any more.  Thinking
of going out of the country in 9 months
anyway, so it would have stopped or gotten
more expensive then.

Loafed much of the morning, then worked on
leaking fresh water pump, and tightened
rudder shaft stuffing box nut.  Cleaned
the outboard lower housing a bit.  Put new
registration sticker on dinghy.  Greased
grease-points on outboard.

Dinghied ashore, taking the bike with me.
Did library, then biked to grocery store
and got some groceries.  Rough, wet ride back
across the bay as usual.

Found a powerboat and sailboat rafted together
and anchored very close alongside me, maybe
60 feet apart.  I'm a 44-foot boat on 100 feet
of anchor chain.  I hoped they would leave at
dinnertime with the rest of the day crowd, but
they didn't.  Fortunately, when I said they were
too close and asked them to move, they complied
without much hesitation.  There's plenty of
room here.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

Watched the water nearby boil with fish for
20 minutes or so, in a moving patch about 50
feet across.  A school of bigger fish, maybe 8
inches long, was attacking a school of little
fish, maybe 1 inch long, and a few dozen birds
were cheeping overhead and diving in.  Could
see the bigger fish breaking the surface of
the water frequently as they made violent
maneuvers to catch the little fish.  Quite
a spectacle.

6/2/2003 (Monday)
At anchor near Panama City FL.
Woke up with a sinus headache.
Today's my birthday !  I'm 45.
Fuel level 9.0 inches at engine hour 2753.6
Cleaned up various spilled oil spots.
Ran engine for 15 minutes to test it.
Worked on the starboard bow nav light.
At lunchtime, Kenny came over and we
had a nice chat.

Dinghied ashore, bought swage parts ($8) for
dinghy hoist, line ($41) for dinghy hoist,
auto-pilot cable tips ($2), engine oil ($15).
Did library, got groceries, got water.
Dinghied back to boat with a full load: me,
bike, groceries, water, bike pump, etc.
Put starboard nav light back together.

Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner.

Raised anchor about 7 PM and motored up the
bay.  Got to Hathaway Bridge and slowly eased
under it.  The chart said 50, the gage said 52
(since I'd timed it so mostly-low tide gave me
an extra 1.5' or so), and I really should need
only 50, but it was dark and I was nervous.
Made it, and motored on.  Pulled into first
convenient cove and anchored in the dark
about 8:50 at lat 30.13.836 long 85.44.941
Motoring in inland channels in the dark
makes me nervous; too many things can go wrong.
Had to deal with a tug-and-barge that went
on the wrong side of a marker, and a boat
that was flying a green light up top (from
a distance, it looked like an extra green
marker).

6/3/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor an hour north of Panama City FL,
off the ICW in West Bay.
Nasty clouds and 30+ knot winds at 0515,
then the rain started.  Glad to have it;
need to wash all the salt off my boat.
But then the day continued grey and damp.
Raised anchor about 0915.  Checked the
engine intake strainer and then left the
valves set wrong, but managed to see the
problem before the engine had run more than
30 seconds.  Shut it down and reset the valves.

Very windy and rough on the West Bay, but
then I was in a canal for several hours,
and that was calm and with a favorable current.
Had to maneuver through an extensive dredging
operation as soon as I entered the canal;
lots of moving parts to watch out for, and
a trawler towing a sailboat coming the other way.
Passed a couple of large (1x4) barges coming
the other way in the canal; I'll bet a 1x4
seems small by the time I've come down the
Mississippi at the end of the year.

Into Choctawhatchee Bay by 1:30, and started
to put up the mainsail, but the wind's
mostly on the nose; changed my mind.

Whoops: got to the Ft Walton Beach bridge at
6:30, expecting to see the clearance gage
reading about 51, and it's reading 49 !
Supposed to be a 50-foot clearance, plus
the tide should be down 6 inches from high.
Maybe I can get through at 2 AM, when the
tide should be at dead low, and down another
6-8 inches from now.  Going to be very close.
If I can't get through here, and can't get
through the nearby 50-foot bridge at Destin,
which is my only alternative, I'll have to
backtrack all the way to Panama City !

Made a U-turn and anchored east of the bridge
at lat 30.23.943 long 86.35.138

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

6/4/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor at Ft Walton Beach FL.

Got up at 0130, raised anchor, motored over
to the bridge at 0200 (dead low tide), and
found the gage still reading 49 on the nose !
Must be zero tidal range here; the nearest
station I have info for is at Destin,
several miles away, and it only has a 1-foot
range.  Back to my anchoring spot.  Now I have
to find out the actual gage at the Destin
bridge, and if the inlet is marked well.
If I can't get out there, I'll have to
backtrack to Panama City.

Slept late, then spent the morning cleaning
up and straightening up.

Long dinghy ride to get ashore downtown.
Brooks bridge is STILL reading just less than
49 feet; never changes !  Did library, got
groceries.

Called anyone for gage on Destin bridge, and
it's 48, and at dead low tide it'll be only
48'9" or so.  I'm screwed !  Back to
Panama City tomorrow.  Wasted 3 days and
a bunch of fuel.  Both of the charted 50-foot
bridges here really are 48- and 49-foot bridges.

Scott hailed me from shore; I'd left messages
for him when I was ashore.  I dinghied over
and brought him out to see the boat, then
we went ashore and he treated me to a nice
seafood dinner (I've been eating my own cooking
for about 4 months straight, which is too long).
Lots of good conversation about various things.
He's an Air Force lieutenant colonel, former
B52 bombardier, Air Force Academy graduate,
has a 23-foot sailboat, has been a lot of
interesting places.  We had a good time;
could have talked for another couple of hours.
He did confirm that the Destin bridge
was supposed to be built to be 50 feet
high, but they screwed up and it ended
up at 48 feet.  Guess they never
corrected the charts.

Dinghied back to the boat, and it took 5
minutes to get back inside: too dark to
see the combination on the lock, and the
dinghy stern light I usually use as
illumination wouldn't light.  Had to climb
in and out of the forward hatch (not easy)
to turn on lights so I could get the main
hatch unlocked.

Very still and humid, warm inside the boat,
I worked up a sweat getting the dinghy up
and climbing around and opening the boat,
and can't stop sweating.  So I took a couple
of cushions out to the foredeck and
snoozed there for a half hour, until I
cooled off enough to go to bed.

6/5/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor at Ft Walton Beach FL.
Up at 0400 because the wind backed and
grew and blew me against a shoal.  Raised
anchor, moved 50 yards, put it down again.

Fuel level 7.25 inches at engine hour 2766.1
Blowing 10+ from exactly the direction
I'll be going.

Raised anchor about 0830 and got going.
Long day of motoring.  Only interesting
sight was a standard house, on pontoons or
a barge, being pushed by a standard
motorboat, up the ICW from Panama City.

Anchored about 8 PM in Grand Lagoon just
inside the Panama City inlet, at
lat 30.08.004 long 85.43.749
Wanted to anchor slightly further west,
but there was a newly sunk small sailboat
right where I had planned to be !

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

6/6/2003 (Friday)
At anchor near Panama City FL.
As I feared, the weather forecast for the
next 5 days is bad: SW 15-20 winds and lots
of thunderstorms, and I need to travel W
in the Gulf.  Guess it's an opportunity
to acquire some patience, which I definitely
need to acquire.

Started raining at 0945, and then blew harder
and poured with 1/4-mile visibility a little
after 1000 for a while.

Fuel level 5.25 inches at engine hour 2777.6
Added water to batteries.

Sprinkled a little much of the day, with
moderate winds from SE.  Kept thinking it
would have been perfect for my trip, but the
wind is supposed to be SW 20 at Destin,
halfway through my route.

Blew, poured, low visibility again at 4 PM.

Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner.

Evil clouds coming over at 7 PM, and
started raining.  At 8 PM, started blowing
SE and E 20+ with long gusts to about 35+
with very heavy rain, and kept doing that
for an hour or so.  Then kept raining
and blowing 15-20 all night, until about
5 AM or so.  Still cloudy and breezy
and threatening after that.

6/7/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor near Panama City FL.
Still blowing SE 15 or so, with thick clouds.

About 1000, raised anchor and headed over
to the anchorage closer to the city.  Tossed
over the decision for a while: the place I'm
leaving is more sheltered in SE wind, but
the wind's supposed to go SW tonight, and
there are a lot of wakes where I am now.
Want to be closer to town, to go to library.
Good to run engine, to charge batteries.
Maybe get fuel on the way over; I have
barely enough for the next leg of the trip,
and would like a safety margin.

So I go, and it's a sloppy, wet move.
Get near town and the fuel dock is occupied.
Anchor near Redfish Pt about 1115, and
it starts raining moderately hard just as
I get the anchor down, so I'm glad I'm
not on the fuel dock.  Have to run engine
an extra 30 minutes to charge batteries more.

Rain eases around 1 PM, and I dinghy ashore.
Nice to get off the boat, and into a dry library.
Do internet and read newspapers.
Back to boat.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.
Sunny for about 45 minutes at 6 PM.

6/8/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor near Panama City FL.
Sunny and partly clear morning; looks nice.
Putting clothes out to dry, solar panels
working.  And the weather forecast sounds
good for leaving tomorrow.
Fuel level 5.0 inches at engine hour 2779.2

Raised anchor about 1130 and headed for fuel
dock.  Had trouble raising them by radio, then
as I approached the dock several small boats
appeared suddenly, and everyone wanted to get
to the fuel dock.  Had to make two circles in
congested circumstances, then had trouble
throwing my lines to the guys on the dock,
so I was pretty stressed by the time I got set.
Loaded 75 gallons of fuel at $1.19/gallon
plus tax (total $95), plus water.
Back out to anchor.

Kenny came over for a nice chat for an hour
or so.  Then I snorkeled under the boat for
an hour or more.  The prop zinc is still there.
Removed a fair number of barnacles from propeller
and hull.  Nice sunny afternoon.  400-foot
freighter went by about 1/4 mile away.

Heard later that about 8 people drowned
along the coast today, from here to Pensacola.
The weather was nice, but the surf still was
nasty from days of storms and strong winds.
People ignored warning flags and went swimming.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

6/9/2003 (Monday)
At anchor near Panama City FL.
Another sunny day; some rain-clouds but none
over me.  Dinghied ashore, bought gas ($5),
did library, got groceries, got water.
Back to boat, raised anchor by 1130, motor-sailed
out the inlet and west up the coast.  Conditions
a little lumpy, wind almost right on the nose,
but not too bad.  Doing about 4.8 knots.

Didn't see another boat all day and night, from
inlet to inlet.  Must not be fishing territory.
Some pitching or rolling much of the time; a
little uncomfortable but really not a bad
trip at all.

6/10/2003 (Tuesday)
In transit from Panama City to Pensacola.

Had to slow down a little to get daylight to
enter Pensacola inlet about 0600.  Nice big whiff
of petrochemicals as I turned west on the ICW;
maybe blowing from Mobile ?  Anchored about 0645
in Big Lagoon at lat 30.19.190 long 87.20.422
I'm several miles west of Pensacola; won't
be going there this time.

Down for a nap.  Awakened at 0900 by sounds of
a fighter jet landing on my boat.  Turned out
to be the Blue Angels practicing; I'm anchored
about 2 miles from their home air-base.  They
went around me several times, and I could see
them do their whole routine over the base.

Sunny, hot day.  Did a bucket of laundry.
Lots of dolphins feeding here.
A lot of water near the rudder stuffing box,
but I'm no longer sure that's it coming in
through there.  Hope I don't have a hull
or rudder skeg leak.

Raised anchor at 1:15 and motor-sailed west.
Some nice-looking houses and waters.
Crossed from Florida to Alabama; boy, Florida
is a huge state !
Anchored about 4 PM at south end of Wolf Bay,
at lat 30.17.875 long 87.34.553
A lot of small fishing boats here dragging
nets along the bottom, I think.  Amazing
that the environmental laws allow that.

It appears that I have a leak near the
base of the rudder skeg.  Will have to
monitor it.  Maybe tightening the nuts
from the inside of the boat will fix it.
If it gets bad, might have to haul out
to fix it, which would not be fun.

Chicken-and-rice for dinner.  Propane
fitting is leaking; wondered if I'd blow
myself up.  Several dolphin-watching tour
boats came around.

6/11/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor in Wolf Bay, just W of
Florida/Alabama border.
Added water to batteries; forward two were
pretty low.
Raised anchor about 0745 and motored west
through a long canal/creek to Mobile Bay.
Raised sail about 1045, did about 3.7 knots,
so I motor-sailed with all sails up (with
engine not working hard, did 6.2 knots).
Mobile Bay is huge and there aren't many
sheltered places to anchor.

Since I was heeling a bit, went down and
dried off, sanded and caulked the place
I think is leaking, near the rudder skeg
backing plate.  Worth a try.

My timing was great: about 2 PM, the weather
got threatening and I took down the
sails, then some really
evil thunderstorms with 40- and 50-knot
winds went across the mouth of the bay and
the canal I'd come through.  I watched from
10-15 miles north, glad that I wasn't down
there any more.  And then about 5-10 miles
north of me, a decent-sized storm dumped
plenty of rain on downtown Mobile.

Went into Dog River, the best anchorage in
the whole bay.  Nice spacious river, but
shallows very quickly.  When it went to 5.5
feet, I stopped at 3:15 and dropped anchor in
the middle, at lat 30.34.347 long 88.05.880

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.

Still have leak near rudder.  Upon further
investigation (sponging up water and then
looking for it's reappearance), found that
the locking nut had worked loose, and then
the main nut had loosened (should have
checked for that first).  Was made
confusing by the contorted path the water
had followed, out the back of the shaft
and around and then behind a beam.
Tightening the nuts stopped the leak.
Will repack it tomorrow.

6/12/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor in Dog River, 10 miles south
of Mobile AL.
Dinghied ashore about 0830, tried a couple
of marinas before I found a decent place
to tie up, then walked around for 20 minutes
before the dockmaster of the place I'd tied
up appeared.  Very nice guy, Cliff, former
policeman.  Turned out he had to drive up to
Mobile anyway some time today, so he did it
early and drove me all the way to the
battleship park.  Had a nice chat on the way
up; turns out he has a sailboat, has done
deliveries, etc.  Nice guy.

Toured the USS Alabama battleship, the
submarine Drum, and saw lots of airplanes
including a close relative of the SR-71
(the A-12).  Very interesting.  Rained
hard a couple of times during the touring.
The battleship is aground: they've built
a low cofferdam around it, and they're
doing all kinds of welding on it.  They
towed it 5600 miles from Washington State
to get it here.

Had to get a cab ($10) from the battleship
park to downtown; no other way to get there.
Downtown was disappointing; the art museum
branch that was supposed to be there has
moved out, the library was poor, and not
much else to see.  Had a false start catching
the bus back, and it rained hard a couple
of times, but finally got to the right
place and didn't have to wait too long.
Ducked into a small firehouse museum for
a minute while I was waiting; the guy running
it seemed starved for company.  Long, twisty
bus ride through lots of interesting
neighborhoods.  Had to walk
a couple of miles from the end of the bus route
to get back to the marina, but didn't even rain
on me.  Back to boat by 5:30.

Fuel level 9.0 inches at engine hour 2809.8

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

6/13/2003 (Friday)
At anchor in Dog River, 10 miles south
of Mobile AL.  Lots of rain from 6 to 9 AM; it's
been raining all over this area for 3 or 4
days now, and it doesn't look like it's
going to let up.  Saw a very close rainbow:
the left end was about 1/4 mile from the boat,
and the right end about 1/2 mile away.

Dinghied ashore about 10 AM and biked 4 miles
to stores, got groceries, biked back.  Hot
and sweaty work, along a busy highway with
no shoulders, but at least it didn't rain.
Chatted briefly with Cliff; he wondered if
the bridges upstream are going to be
passable since they've had all this rain.

Felt tired and hot all afternoon; guess the
bike-ride really took a lot out of me.
It's a gorgeous, sunny, breezy, dry afternoon.

Raised anchor about 3 PM and went to the
fuel dock.  Got 105 gallons of diesel at
$1.26/gallon including tax ($132).
Loaded some water too.  Back to anchor in
the river again.

Fuel level 16.0 inches at engine hour 2810.4

Salad and sausage sandwiches for dinner.

6/14/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor in Dog River, 10 miles south
of Mobile AL.  Beautiful sunny day.
Raised anchor about 0915 and motored out,
then motor-sailing up the main ship
channel by 1015.

Not too much problem getting through the
main industrial part of the harbor, but it
was tense watching to see who was moving and
trying to decipher the warnings on the
radio ("mumble mumble casting off from pier 5
southbound"; no pier 5 on chart, no signage).
Only had to talk to two ships.

Following breeze had me breathing my own
exhaust fumes all morning and some of the
afternoon; not fun.

Nice going up the river; wide and a bit muddy,
maybe a little higher than normal.  Water is
the color of tea-with-milk.  Overtook
one 1x2 tow and then we had to wait 5 minutes
at a railroad swing bridge until a train crossed.
Much later, a 1x2 coal tow came the other
way.  Some small fishing boats, and nothing else.
Current is about 0.8 knots against me.
Some nasty floating logs and thick tree-branches
at times.

The charts have a bad feature: they tell you
too much about the power-lines you're going
under.  I'm nervous enough about power-lines
without being told that it's a 230 KV line.

Put the anchor down about 5 PM near Whitehorse
Bend, but soon realoized it was a bad place to
stay.  I picked it because it's the widest spot
in the river, but it's also the trickiest
bend, shoals on both sides, and when I tried to
anchor near shore I found very shallow water
and swirling currents.  The more I looked at
where I was, the less I liked it.  So I raised
anchor and motored up another mile or two,
and anchored in a straight part about 1/4 mile
below a big raft of old barges.  Put the anchor
down, decided I wanted to be closer in, raised
it again and put it down about 20 feet further
in.  I'm only 30 feet or so from the bank,
held parallel to it by the current.  Should
be okay.  At Mobile River mile 29.5,
lat 31.00.351 long 87.59.380 at 5:30 PM.

Starting to blow hard by 6 PM; there have
been threatening clouds for the last hour or so.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

More insects or frogs or whatever chattering
than I think I've ever heard.  A real racket.

Saw a tow go by about 10 PM, and another
about 11 PM.

6/15/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor in the Mobile River at mile 29.5
from Mobile.
Raised anchor about 0845; it was stuck so
hard I was afraid I'd snagged a tree-root,
and would have to see if my trip-line did
any good.  But it came out; the current
had buried very solidly.  Just as it came
out and I wanted to drift out into the river
as I stowed it, a 4x2 tow of empties
heading downstream appeared.

The current is stronger today, about 1.7 to 2
knots against me.

Heard engines at one point, looked back to
see a sportfisher overtaking me, and they were
making a very deep hole in the water, going
upstream at 15 knots against a 2-knot
current.  Their wake echoed from the shores
for a while.

15 minutes later, a cruising trawler overtook
me.  So I'm not the only fool going up the river.
Another big powerboat overtook me.
Auto-pilot stopped working about 11 AM.

Passed a 3x3 tow.  Got to junction of
Alabama and Tombigbee rivers, where they
join to form the Mobile river, and went
up the Tombigbee.  Hot afternoon with
little breeze.  Hoped the current would ease,
but it didn't.  Less junk in the water, though.
Some rain at 2 PM, then nice again.

At one point, suddenly saw a red buoy way over
toward the green side of the river, wondered if
I should honor it, then realized it was
floating down the river !

Got tired of doing 3.7 knots over ground,
and pulled over and anchored a little after
4 PM, at Tombigbee mile 60.5,
lat 31.15.724 long 87.59.092
Watched a tree-trunk go over my anchor
trip-line float without snagging it.

Three guys in a small fishing boat came by
to say hi and ask how much my boat cost.
Poked at the auto-pilot a bit.  Drive
cable seems to be okay, but the
pump may not be pumping (bad news).
It seems to be clicking but the fan belt
on it isn't turning; could mean the electric
motor is bad, the hydraulic pump is seized,
hydraulic pressure is at max ?

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.

Counted 5 tows going downstream and 1 going
upstream during the night.

6/16/2003 (Monday)
At anchor in the Tombigbee River at mile 60.5
from Mobile.

Raised anchor about 0845 and started motoring.
Another warm day with little breeze and lots
of humidity and clouds.  Lots of small
butterflies hitchhiking on the boat: 20 or 30
flitting around, and more than 100 sitting on
the bow pulpit and the lifelines; looks like
a scene from "The Birds".

Got frustrated and almost pulled over and
stopped about 1100: current grew to 2.2 knots
against me; I was doing 3.3 knots over ground
when I should have been doing about 5.5.  Finally
tried cruising very close to the bank, no more
than 20 feet from the trees in water 10-15
feet deep, and that cut much of the current.
I also started taking the inside of left-hand
bends, which put me on the wrong side of the
channel.  But I was so close in to the trees
that I figured it wouldn't interfere with the
tows.  A big one passed in a bend, and I just
stayed very close to the bank, and there was
no problem.

Got to the first 52-foot bridge, and after
some back-and-forth with the bridge tender,
made it through with 10 feet to spare.  The
charts and guides have this calculation you're
supposed to do: that bridge has 52-foot clearance
above water at level 24.9, so if today's water
level is 27, you have about 50 feet of clearance.
But the bridge tender didn't work in those
terms, and couldn't tell me the water level,
and conveniently there were no gauges on the
bridge.  He said he was open 43 above a head of 20,
which I figured made 63 for me.  We went back and
forth a little, and I apologized but said I
didn't want to have an accident, and he told
me about a tow which tried to get under while
the bridge was down, and tore off all of their
RADAR antennas and stuff.

Went through very slowly, which was tricky in
the strong current with no auto-pilot, stepping
out of the pilothouse to look up at the top
of the mast.  Seemed to have 10 feet to spare.

The next bridge was a fixed bridge, and it took
a while to see that its gauge was written in huge
letters carved into the concrete of one of its
towers.  Unusual, and not easy to get a precise
reading since it was marked only every 10 feet,
but it said I had about 8-10 feet to spare,
and I made it under.

A big relief to get through the bridges; I had
no idea how high the water really was, and
was afraid I might have to wait a couple of
days or something.

Looked for an anchoring spot, and suddenly the
water is 40 feet deep right up to the banks !
Finally found a tolerable spot of 20-25, and
anchored about 4:15 at mile 94.5,
lat 31.31.818 long 87.57.790

Salad and fruit and salami-and-cheese-and-crackers
for dinner.

No tow traffic during the night.

6/17/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor in the Tombigbee River at mile 94.5
from Mobile.

Raised anchor at 0930 and motored on.  Pretty
uneventful day.  Made about 4.6 knots most of
the time, by hugging the banks to stay out
of the current.  Under one bridge and then
through the Coffeeville Lock, which was easy
because there was no other traffic and they
have floating bollards, so I didn't have to
keep adjusting my lines as the water rose.

The rivers have been pretty (lots of green,
trees growing like crazy, dense on the banks)
and quiet, with big gaps between houses or
any other signs of civilization.  Very few tows
the last day or so, since getting north of a
big powerplant at mile 90.

Anchored at 4 PM at mile 127.2,
lat 31.52.022 long 88.08.435
Nice breeze started just before I stopped.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

6/18/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor in the Tombigbee River at mile 127.2
from Mobile.

Raised anchor at 0915, motored up the river.
Routine day, a few tows, a few bridges.
Scenery got a little nicer: higher banks on
the river, could see through the trees to
meadows and pastures a few times, more
houses.

Anchored at 6 PM at mile 174.5,
lat 32.15.127 long 88.00.540

Salad and corned-beef-and-noodles for dinner.

Pretty exciting evening.  A tow came by at 9 or
so, another at 9:30.  I always watch the first
couple closely, to see if I've anchored
somewhere that makes them come very close.
Didn't seem to be any problem.  About 9:45, saw
this flickering light, and thought it was another
tow.  But went up on deck and saw the most
amazing front to the north, a huge bank of
clouds with lightning flickering inside it
constantly.  At times there were several bolts
per second.  It was partly hidden by the high
river-bank I'm next to, but I still sat on
deck and watched for 10 minutes or so.

At 10:30, heard another tow, but it didn't
seem to be coming by.  Got up and saw that a
tow was stationary in the river above me, and
then saw that another was approaching from
below me.  They had managed to meet right
at the shallow bend where I was anchored.
The one above pulled over, facing me from about
1/4 mile away, and let the other one go past.
Then the waiting tow slowly edged out into
the channel and went past.  It looked like
a 3x3.  I'm sure they wished I wasn't there,
although I really had picked a decent spot.
In fact, they probably arranged to meet there
because it was the only mostly-straight
spot for miles; there are lots of tight bends
north of me, and two bridges, one under
construction, south of me.

The front full of lightning passed a little
north of me about midnight, although much of
the lightning had dissipated by then.  Some
wind and rain.  I was a little anxious that
wind might push me into the bank, or make
tree-limbs tear off and fall onto the boat.
But the wind wasn't very strong.

6/19/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor in the Tombigbee River at mile 174.5
from Mobile.
Hard rain and some loud lightning at 7 AM.

Raised anchor at 0930 and got going.  Lots
more motoring, and the current is a little
stronger today.  If I get in the middle of
the river, my 5.5 knots turns into 3.2.
So I hug the banks.  But it means I can't
leave the wheel for more than 10 seconds or so,
or else the boat starts slewing off radically
to one side or the other.  Making lunch and
doing other things takes some finesse under
these conditions.

Up through Demopolis Lock with another boat,
and then I checked out Demopolis Yacht Basin
to see if I could anchor there.  It looks big
on the chart, but as usual they've filled it
up with marina and commercial dock.  So I go
back down the river 1/3 of a mile to a nice
nook I saw, and put the anchor down there.
But it's a bit of a fiasco: there's a gentle
back-eddy in it, so I swing around opposite
to the way I expected to face.  And it has
a ledge of nice 10-foot water that quickly
drops off to 50 feet.  I get to a reasonable
spot on the second try, but I'm nervous that
just a light current is holding me; a strong
wind could put me against the bank or out
into the channel.  I suppose I should pull up
and put down 2 anchors, but that's a lot of
work.

So I anchored about 7 PM in the Tombigbee
River across from Demopolis Alabama,
at mile 215.5, lat 32.31.096 long 87.50.776
It's been a long day.

Saw a tow go straight over a big tree
floating down the river.  He must have seen
it.  Went kablam under the first barge, hit
off the second and came up to the side of
the tug.  I guess those tugboats must
have well-protected propellors.  They must
hit floating stuff all the time at night.

Chicken-and-rice for dinner.

There's a train track nearby; heard whistles
several times during the night.  I love that
sound.  Heard them at Mobile also.

6/20/2003 (Friday)
At anchor at Demopolis Alabama.
Did a bucket of laundry.  Started making
a dent in 3 days worth of dirty dishes.
Tried to start the outboard and it wouldn't
go.  Tried for 10 minutes, took a 30-minute
rest, tried again and finally got it going.

Dinghied ashore, taking the bike, and
landed at a boat-ramp area.  Got rid of
a week's worth of garbage, and biked into
town.  Feels good to be ashore after 6 days
on board.  Seems like a really nice town, bigger
than I expected.  Went to library and started
dealing with almost 2 weeks worth of email.
Library is in a pretty cool old building,
lots of nice wood floors and high ceilings
and a wide wood staircase.

Back to boat for lunch.  Dinghied ashore again,
looked around a bit, did some more library,
biked to supermarket, got groceries, long bike
ride back.

Salad and sausage sandwiches for dinner.

6/21/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor at Demopolis Alabama.
Gorgeous sunny day.
Did a bucket of laundry.
Fair number of small fishing boats racing past;
I keep imagining the result if they hit a
floating log, of which there are many.

Dinghied ashore and biked to library; finally
caught up on 2 weeks worth of email, and
newspaper-reading.  Back to boat for lunch.

Dinghied ashore, past a whole flock of bass
boats pulled up to the bank; found out later
there was a tournament this morning.
Biked around some
neighborhoods of gorgeous old houses.  Some
great views from the tops of the river bluffs.
Paid $5 to tour Bluff House, an early 1800's house
full of antiques.  Wonderful, but the normal
guide was on vacation and the woman running it
knew very little about the house.

Across the bridge to the Yacht Basin, scoped
out the place.  Saw a dozen 8 to 15-inch
turtles swimming near the restaurant dock
with kids dropping french fries to them.
Watched a little baseball on TV.

Had some nice conversation with a couple
of cruisers (the guy was from Holland) and
a 74-year-old guy who worked at the marina.
Once I got the old guy diverted from telling
us all the gruesome details of his medical
history, he turned out to be fascinating.
In the Navy in the South Pacific during WWII,
traveled a lot in Europe later, worked on
tugboats for a while, was on freighters, etc.
Said some of the tugboats didn't have very
protected propellers; they just counted
on the barges and keel to push the logs
aside.  He said in the spring there was
a log-jam in the river right by the
Yacht Basin; no one could move anywhere
for a while.  Said some of the tows on the
Mississippi river have 200 barges in them.
He's been married 51 years
and counting, outlived all his brothers and
the rest of his generation.  I asked him
about this term "the Black Belt" I'd seen
in the newspapers, and he said it referred
to central and southern Alabama and Mississippi,
which had lots of poor black people,
because those had been the slave-owning areas
with the big plantations, while northern
Alabama had had few slaves.  I'd assumed
slavery was more or less evenly distributed
through the South in those days.

The other couple was pretty interesting too; they
came up from Marathon recently, in one 7-day trip
from Marathon to Destin.  Said a boat burned
in Boot Key Harbor recently, from spilled
gasoline on a gas genset.  They're hauling out
on Monday, and staying through October in
Demopolis, working on the boat, mostly.
I don't think I'd want to spend 4+ months
here.  Apparently the marina prices are very
cheap, something like $3 per foot per month,
maybe plus electricity.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.

6/22/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor at Demopolis Alabama.
Loafed most of the morning.
A pontoon boat beached nearby and 5 kids
went swimming, in muddy water that quickly gets
60 feet deep and has currents and floating
logs.  But they didn't have any problems.

Replace the stuffing on my rudder shaft, and
it turned into more of an ordeal than expected.
My extractor tool broke halfway through (the
corkscrew end snapped off), so I had to get the
second piece of packing out with screwdrivers,
fingers, needlenose pliers, etc.  But I got it
out and put three new pieces of stuffing in.

Spent the afternoon loafing, and tightening the
rudder stuffing nut to stop leaking.  Not
much boat traffic today.  Another boat full of
kids who went swimming, but they all wore
lifevests.

Gave myself a haircut (you didn't think I
paid good money to look this way, did you ?).

Salad and corned-beef-and-noodles for dinner.

6/23/2003 (Monday)
At anchor at Demopolis Alabama.
River is a foot or more lower today, I guess
because there hasn't been any rain in 5 days.
Dinghied ashore, having to wade through lots
of gooey deep mud at the landing, and did library.
Went to marine store, bought rudder shaft
packing ($14) and engine oil ($9).
Chatted with Bill, who offered to give me a
ride to the supermarket and back.  He's
also going up to Kentucky Lake / Barkley Lake,
and he confirmed the impression I'm getting,
which is that there are no supermarkets or
libraries up there, which would be a real pain.

Back to boat for lunch.  Dinghied ashore,
started to bike to the library, got intercepted
by Bill.  Locked the bike to a stop sign and
he drove me to the supermarket.  He's an
interesting guy, lived lots of interesting
places including Mexico, has a 40-foot
houseboat he's trying to sell since his wife
and he decided to build a house in Cape Coral FL.
But's he's overweight and has congestive heart
failure, a pacemaker and a defibrillator,
and can't walk much or exert himself much.
I filled a supermarket cart completely with
$70 of food (much of it soda; I wanted to get
all the heavy stuff while I had a car available).
Hauled it into his truck, then into my dinghy,
then up into the boat.

Dinghied ashore again, bought some hardware
stuff, tried to go to a little museum but it
seems to be permanently closed, went to library.
Still 89 degrees when I came out at 6 PM.

Salad and fruit and sausage sandwiches for dinner.

6/24/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor at Demopolis Alabama.
Woke up with a sinus headache, and couldn't
get rid of it.  Loafed most of the morning.
Rudder shaft still leaking; I keep tightening
the stuffing-nut more and more.

Dinghied ashore after lunch and bought
stuffing-extrator tool ($27!).  Did library.

Salad for dinner, then headache got so bad
that I went to bed.  Lousy, headachy,
mostly-sleepless night.

6/25/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor at Demopolis Alabama.
Stayed in bed late with a headache.
Did a bucket of laundry.

Felt lousy all day; didn't go anywhere or
do anything, just laid around reading
and dozing and taking pills.  Did finally
get the rudder stuffing to stop leaking.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.
Started feeling better in the evening.

6/26/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor at Demopolis Alabama.
Headache just about gone.

Dinghied ashore, did library.  Trying
to figure out all the logistics when I get
up to Kentucky Lake, how to get a Greyhound
from there, etc.

Back to boat, passing a really gnarly tow on
the way: a complete dredging outfit, with dredge
and lots of pipes and barges, being pulled by
one tugboat and pushed by another, with a third
darting around pushing in various places.  They'd
have done better to break it into three tows.

Dinghied ashore, looked around the marina but
no one I knew was there, went to library, then
went to Gaineswood, an old plantation house.
Beautiful interior, lots of nice furniture,
some stained glass, great plasterwork,
somewhat eccentric layout.  The main owner
had 12 children with his first wife; 6 of the
children died; she died 3 years after they
started the house.  He had one more child with
his second wife.  House took 18 years to finish.

Went to supermarket, bought lots of meat for
the freezer, then biked quickly through the 5 PM
heat of town, to the dinghy, to the boat,
slap everything into the frig.  Almost got too
much to fit in the freezer.

Chicken-and-rice for dinner.

6/27/2003 (Friday)
At anchor at Demopolis Alabama.
Totally grey and humid day, going to rain.
Fuel level 12.1 inches at engine hour 2859.0

Dinghied ashore about 9, sprinkled
on me as I biked to the library.  Started
raining steadily after I got inside, and rained
the whole 4 hours I was there.  Finally got
hungry enough to leave during a slight break
in the rain.  Biked back to the dinghy, found
a solid 3 inches of water in it.  Motored
back steering with one hand and bailing
with the other.  Rained picked up again
and shows no sign of letting up.  At least
it's cooler than usual.

Rain eased about 2:30.  Loafed all afternoon,
when I should have been looking into the
autopilot problem.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.

6/28/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor at Demopolis Alabama.
Dinghied ashore, did library, got groceries.
Suddenly realized that my Florida intangible
tax return is due on the 30th.

Back to boat, ate lunch, and then did my
tax return.  Dinghied ashore, copied and mailed
it, and found out a boat I'd sort of been
waiting to meet had stayed in the marina last
night and left this morning !  I wasn't listening
to the radio, I thought of calling the marina and
didn't, and I stayed aboard because of all the rain
yesterday.  I guess they're in a hurry.

Brief rain with large drops at 5:15.
Salad and sausage sandwiches for dinner.

6/29/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor at Demopolis Alabama.
Started raising anchor at 6 AM, and as I feared,
it was an ordeal.  The eddy current had spun the
boat 200 times over the last week, and the anchor
chain was incredibly twisted, and the anchor trip
line had wrapped around and lashed the anchor to
the chain, 3/4 of the way up.  Had to keep raising
it a few feet, untwisting or unlooping parts of
it, having it fall down a bit.  Had to be careful
not to get boat-hook or fingers caught, because
if it let loose, 75 pounds of anchor and chain
would head for the bottom.  Took 45 minutes
to get it all done.

Motored up the river, officially entering
the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway (doesn't look
any different here) and made good time, doing
5.3 to 5.5 knots.  My luck almost ran out just
south of Heflin Lock: as I was motoring along
30 feet off the bank, the boat hit a submerged
tree or log.  The port bow rode up on it a bit
as I steered away and threw the engine into
neutral.  Got out into the middle of the river
and looked into the bilges to see if water was
coming in, but it really wasn't that sharp a
collision.

Found an NPR radio station that doesn't have
interference all over it !  Missed the radio
in Demopolis; now I can hear news and
intelligent talk and classical music again.

Up through the lock, and did even better above it:
5.5 to 6.5 knots !  But I know my tachometer
is not reliable, and I think maybe the added
speed is mostly higher engine RPMs.
The scenery is nicer here:
more side-ponds and channels, some houses,
some fishing boats and pleasure boats.
But found that my 1991 charts (bought new a
couple of months ago; they're the latest) are
not accurate: many of the side-ponds that look
like great anchorages on the chart actually are
completely silted-in and have trees growing in
them.

Anchored about 6:15 near Cochrane Cut-Off, at
mile 287.4, lat 33.02.749 long 88.13.297,
off the Tombigbee River.  I did 70 miles today.
Rudder stuffing still leaking badly.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

6/30/2003 (Monday)
At anchor on the Tombigbee River, between
Demopolis AL and Columbus MS.
Woke to hear lots of chirping birds; very nice.

Solidly grey sky; looks like a lot of rain
today; heard later that tropical storm Bill
is about to hit the Louisiana coast, probably
about 300 miles SW of me.  But the rain
ahead of it is moving NE toward me, it sounds.

Tightened rudder stuffing nut again.
Raised anchor about 0745; it started
raining 2 minutes later.  Motored up
the river, rained much of the time.
Soon heard that the next lock is closed
for a couple of hours because of some
kind of fueling operation.  Got a couple of
miles from it, radioed and confirmed it, and
pulled over and anchored at 10:30.  No good
anchorage here; I'm swinging way out into the
river, but I don't think there'll be any
traffic until the lock clears.  Rain stopped
just before I anchored; very convenient.
Small current here, and wind opposed to it,
so the boat is swinging unpredictably.

Rudder stuffing still leaking badly.  I keep
tightening the nut further and further.
Maybe I should take all the stuffing out
and put it all back in differently.
Tightened it one more time.

Had to wait an hour and 45 for the lock to
clear.  A boat north of the lock had to wait
3:45; they were very unhappy.  Close squeeze
between me going in and a 2-wide tow coming
out, but otherwise I would have had to wait
far away, and the lock-tender wanted to get
all the traffic cleared ASAP.  I had called
the tow on the radio and he said I was okay
where I was.  Locking through was tough:
more turbulent than usual, and the current
kept mashing the boat into the side of
the lock, pinning a fender and threatening
to tear it off.  I had to push off as hard
as I could several times to ease the pressure.

Motored up past some nice houses, parks,
trailer-parks and some empty terrain, crossing
into Mississippi (the Magnolia state!), to
Columbus MS.  Went under a railroad bridge
just as a big freight train crossed; the
first of three engines went about 20 feet
behind my stern, and I waved to the engineer,
who was leaning out his window looking down
at me.

Tried several places as potential
anchorages, finally found a tolerable one,
although I had to put down a stern anchor
because the wind/current is making me swing
strangely.  It's a good place because it's
protected by a buoy a little upstream: the
tows have to swing way to the other side
of the river to honor the buoy.  Only the
second time I've ever put down a stern
anchor, I think, and the first time I lost
the anchor because the shackle pin wasn't
seized !

Anchored about 5:45 in the Tombigbee River,
mile 332, at lat 33.29.717 long 88.27.939
Called to see if the boat I was trying to
meet had been at the marina; they hadn't.
They must have flown right through, in
a hurry.

Chili for dinner.

An unsettled night, and not just because of
the chili.  At first, the boat was hanging
mainly on the stern anchor, and the wind
started blowing a little from that direction,
blowing little sprinkles of rain into the
pilothouse.  But then things magically worked
out: the wind increased and the boat swung
around, dragging the stern anchor, and
hung on the main anchor, pointing into the
wind and rain, with the stern anchor keeping
it from swinging into the bank.  More wind
and steady rain after midnight.  Got up many
times during the night to see how the boat
was sitting and where the anchors were.
Came close to bank at times, worried that
the stern anchor would foul on something (it
had no trip line on it), lots of worrying.
Poured rain sideways at the boat for much
of the time.

7/1/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor on the Tombigbee River near Columbus MS.
Swinging a little too close to the middle of
the river for comfort, weather very wet and
threatening, and no way I can dinghy ashore and
leave the boat here.  At least the stern anchor
didn't snag the bow anchor rode; I expected it
would, since the boat flip-flopped a couple of
times during the night.

Raised anchors about 0645,
motored up a couple of miles into Stennis Lock,
through it and anchored in an unused (I hope)
loop of the old Tombigbee River just past
the marina, at about 0740, at
lat 33.31.381 long 88.28.746
Had a surprise in the lock: I made a nice
clean stop next to the slot for the middle
bollard, went out to throw lines around it,
and found the bollard was missing !  Had to
motor up to the next one.  The middle one
on the other side was missing, too.  Would
have been nice if the tender had warned me.
These bollards are 15-foot high, 4-foot
diameter floating tanks; can't imagine
how they'd get destroyed.  Maybe they were
removed for painting or something.

So now I've moved from a 1-mile dinghy ride to
Columbus, to a 4-mile bike ride away.  And I
doubt I'm going anywhere today anyway: it's
windy and grey and threatening to pour rain.
Must be the result of tropical storm Bill.

Loafed in bed, tried to get some more sleep.
Blew fairly hard and rained, and my anchor
slowly dragged.  By 10:35, had to start the
engine, raise anchor in near-horizontal rain,
and put it down again in the shallowest water
I could get to.  I think there's a lot of grass
on the bottom here.

Took rudder shaft stuffing out and put it
back in differently.
Weather calmed down a little until 3:30 or so,
when it started blowing again.  Sunny again
at 5 PM.  Tightened rudder shaft stuffing
again and again.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

7/2/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor near Columbus MS.  Was a nice,
clear, cool night, no wind.  Very restful.
And it's a beautiful sunny day, lots of
clouds but no rain.

Messed with rudder stuffing some more;
still leaking.  Maybe I cut the pieces of
stuffing too short, and I just have to
replace them all.

Dinghied ashore, and everything worked out
well.  Found a nice large boat-ramp area
just east of me; I thought there was a ramp
there, but this place is huge and has a nice
wooden fishing dock I tied off to.  Long (3
to 4 mile) bike ride into town, as I expected,
and I got a bit lost once or twice amid highway
on-ramps and such.  But asked directions a few
times, and found the downtown, conveniently right
at the Welcome Center.  Parked and
locked the bike while accidentally standing
on an ant-nest, and they bit my sandaled feet.

Got oriented a bit, and went to the library.
Gorgeous old building, lots of historical
displays inside, very nice.  Did internet
and read newspapers.  Biked back to dinghy,
stopping for some groceries along the way.

Dinghied to marina, to check it out.  Took
a walk down the road to the lock/dam recreation
area.  Interesting, but the lock is on the far
side, so I couldn't see it up close.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.

7/3/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor near Columbus MS.
Up early, dinghied ashore, biked into town
by 0730 to tour the place before it got too
hot.  Wound through the old section of town;
lots of beautiful old houses.  Lots of
lawn-mowing services doing their thing.
Got some looks from people zipping off to
work, as I cruised through their neighborhood
shirtless and sweaty.

About 0900, went into library at Mississippi
University for Women, and did internet in
the cool air-conditioning for a while.
The MUW is a nice place, but about 1/4 of the
buildings are in process of being demolished
for some reason.  Saw an auditorium/theater
where the seating area was demolished but
the stage (including curtain) was still up;
strange-looking.

Biked around a bit more, ate some lunch at
a nice shady bench, then went into the
public library and read newspapers and
did a little more internet.  Came out to
find some rain, and I'd violated my rule and
left the boat hatches open.  Biked halfway
back and went into Walmart supercenter and
got groceries.  Biked to dinghy, bike into
dinghy, back to boat, and everything is fine.
Either the rain missed, or was very light.
Rudder stuffing still leaking like mad.

Fuel level 10.0 inches at engine hour 2880.7
Another very hot afternoon; got extremely
sweaty hoisting bike, hoisting dinghy,
checking fuel level, checking engine fluids.

Raised anchor about 3:45 and motored a couple
of miles up the river to anchor near Waverly
Plantation at 4:30.

Lots of fishing boats and jet-skis roaring
around.  Very hot (95 inside the boat,
probably the same in the pilothouse), and
no breeze at all.  Would have been tolerable
if I'd sat still, but I worked on the rudder
stuffing and it was totally sweltering.  Kept
coming up with sweat pouring off, wiping
myself with a towel, and getting no relief.
By the time I was done, I was totally wrung
out from the bike-riding that morning and
getting overheated now.

But I figured out the problem with the
rudder stuffing: the new stuffing is the
wrong size.  Can't see how I overlooked that
when I replaced the stuffing a week or two
ago, but I did.  I put a piece of the old
stuffing back in, and the leak is stopped.
The new looks more like 3/8" instead of 1/2",
although I thought it came out of a 1/2"
package.  Maybe I bought 3/8" and put it
into an old 1/2" package I had ?

Finally got cooled off a little by 7 or so,
took a shower, had salad and sausage
sandwiches for dinner.  Too hot to sleep
inside, so I put up the new pilothouse
screens I made 6 months ago (first time
they've been used in anger), and slept
in the pilothouse for a while.  Nibbled
a few times by bugs, and there's no
breeze.  Eventually moved inside.  And then
some wind came up at midnight and I had
to go take all the screens down before
they blew away.  Let out more anchor rode;
don't want to drag into low power lines
1/8 mile further down.  Wind soon stopped.

7/4/2003 (Friday)
At anchor north of Columbus MS, near
Waverly Plantation.

Dinghied up under the powerlines and an
old railroad bridge to a boat landing,
and walked up the road to Waverly Mansion.
Had a wonderful tour, given by a very
friendly and knowledgeable guide.  He lives
in another historic house, in Columbus.
When I admitted I'd been to Columbus and
had looked at but not toured any of the
historic houses, he was very disappointed in me.
(There's only so much house-touring one can
do, and at $5+ apiece, it adds up !)

Waverly is fabulous: a 4-story, octagonal
house with spiral staircases.  Unique design,
to get natural air-flow to carry the hot
air up and out the top of the house.
First floor was for routine use and
entertaining, 2nd floor strictly private
bedrooms for family, 3rd floor all storage
of trunks and trunks full of clothing and
draperies, 4th floor all windows and cupola
for ventilation and light.  Full of antiques,
most original.  This was a 50,000-acre
plantation with almost 1,000 slaves on it.

He told me all kinds of things I didn't know.
Because it was a working plantation, with
the windows all open most of the year for
cooling, dust and dirt was a ferocious
problem.  They kept covers over everything
(furniture, lamps, mirrors, etc) when not
in use, and a staff of 50 was dusting and
cleaning constantly, all day, every day.
Many things (mirrors, picture frames, etc)
had gold leaf on them, and a fly landing on
them would leave a little black spot, ruining
the finish.  These old houses have tons of
mirrors everywhere, glossy finish on everything,
crystal cabinets with shiny glass on all
sides, etc because lighting at night was
generally by candle, so every glimmer of light
had to be preserved and used.  The so-called
"petticoat table" (mirror underneath so women
could make sure their slip wasn't showing)
was nonsense: the mirror was to reflect light;
women constantly showed their slips while
dancing, and often lounged in their undies
during the hot day if no men were around.
The furniture was never out in the middle
of the room as we show it today: women in
big hoop skirts could never had navigated
around it.  Hoop skirts were deadly to
Southern women: the skirt caught fire if
they walked too close to the fire, made
them fall down stairs, sometimes caught
and dragged them under carriages (happened to
Mary Lincoln).  The women were smart and
well-educated; they kept the books and
ran much of the huge plantation enterprise.
The girls went to college at the University
of Virginia (my alma mater); the boys went
to Oxford (I thought England, but the guide
meant Oxford Mississippi).

Some people say closets weren't
built-in because there was a "closet tax"
or "door tax", but that's nonsense: there
never was any such tax, and they didn't build
in because it would have taken up wall space
and spoiled air-flow.  On the dinner table was
a little silver "wagon" with wine carafes on
it, but they never rolled that around: it
was a signal that told whether drinks were
being offered or the party was ending: if the
carafes were "on the wagon", the hosts were
signaling that the party was ending.
The draperies (curtains, carpeting, etc) for
the house could cost as much as the building
of the house itself.  Because of the difficulty
of travel, guests who came a distance often
stayed for 6 months or more.

The owner-slave relationship was interesting.
These owners, at least, were so rich that they
treated their slaves well, never hired them
out, didn't overwork them.  The owners were
responsible for keeping about 1,000 people
(owners, servants and slaves) in health, and
it was costly in years when drought killed
the food and money crops.  The slaves in the
kitchen cooked constantly all day, just
producing every kind of food they could think
of, which first went into the owner's
dining room.  Anything not consumed there
(by far the bulk of it) went to the slaves,
so they cooked and cooked.  The crops were
both "food crops" to feed the 1,000 people,
and "money crops" to export.  After the war,
the black people almost all stayed in place,
but became sharecroppers, and the relationship
between former owners and former slaves
didn't really change much for a while.

After the tour, we were chatting.  When he
found out I lived on a boat, he shuddered
and said "ooh, nasty things, why would anyone
ever want to live on a boat ?  Nasty,
sweaty, sandy, salty.  We spent a week on
a friend's 75-foot sailboat in the BVI's,
and they absolutely love it, but it was
a hell-hole, and at the end we told them so.
Water was short because another guest used
it all up, we had to jump in the ocean
to wash off, which my wife hated, toilets
were a hassle, etc."  I was laughing
and agreeing with him, mostly.

Back to boat, lunch, then raised anchor
and motored up the river.  Tons of boats
and people out, zipping around dragging
kids on those inner-tube things, swimming,
partying.  Lots of stares and waves as I
went by in my big sailboat.  Up through
Aberdeen lock, then made a left turn and
anchored in the Blue Bluff / Aberdeen Dam area
about 4:30, at lat 33.50.344 long 88.31.793,
mile 358 of the waterway.

Several boats here with people swimming,
and some noise through the trees from
a recreation area (on the bluff) that's
totally hidden.  I launched the dinghy,
put down the swim platform, shaved, and
then jumped in for a brief swim.  Refreshing,
but visibility almost zero.

Just about everyone left around 7 PM.
Salad and spaghetti and a beer for dinner.

7/5/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor near Aberdeen MS.
Grey and a little rain around 8 AM.
Listened to Car Talk, then put the bike in
the dinghy and went ashore.  About a 2-mile
ride to town.  Passed a couple of cute
young goats by the side of the road, then
realized they were part of a big flock of
them in some fenced-off business.
Aberdeen is a nice little town,
lots of old houses, lots of solid brick
buildings, several huge churches.  Got
some groceries (never skip a chance to get
groceries) and biked back to boat.

Messed with the tachometer a little, then
raised anchor about 1:30 and motored up the
river.  Through Amory lock, tried to pull off
and anchor, but immediately ran aground.
Backed off and decided to go up through the
next lock.  Had to wait 10 minutes there, but
got through Wilkins lock and pulled over
and anchored about 5:15, near Smithville,
mile 378, lat 34.04.290 long 88.24.885
I'm anchored in the middle of a big bay,
more than 1/2 mile to each shore.
Rained a little just as I got out of the lock.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

7/6/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor near Smithville MS.
Tightened the propeller shaft stuffing nut;
it was leaking and filling the bilge.

Raised anchor about 1000 and motored up
through fairly boring territory.  Threatened
rain all the way, but didn't rain.  Went
through Fulton lock, making a terrible exit
(crosswind blew me back into the side of
the lock, scraping fenders before I could
stop the momentum of the boat).
Found out from the lock-tender that
Fulton does have a library, so I pulled over
and anchored just north of the lock, at
mile 392.5, about 12:45 at
lat 34.16.578 long 88.25.527
Have to wait until tomorrow to go into town,
because everything will be closed today.

I guess you feel I'm obsessed with libraries,
but this seems to be the last town for a
while, and I'm still doing
a lot of internet searching to figure out
where I can leave the boat for a few weeks,
where the supermarkets and libraries ahead
might be, and so on.  Plus I update the
log through internet at libraries, plus
I read newspapers and magazines there.

About 2 PM, a small motorboat with 5 good
old boys in it pulled up to a shoal nearby,
sand under 6 inches of water.  They unloaded
coolers and beach chairs, went swimming, and
the boat left and came back later with a
few more guys.  They're just hanging out
in the river and having a fine time.  They
must have come from the boat-ramp 1/4 mile away.
It's a grey day, but warm and only an
occasional sprinkle of rain.  Then they
started playing volleyball, using a net that
I'd seen there, staked up with poles standing
in the water; I hadn't been able to figure
out what it was.  They must come out here
often.  They left the net up when they
went home.

Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner.

7/7/2003 (Monday)
At anchor near Fulton MS.
Did a bucket of laundry.
Dinghied ashore, had to wade the last 20
feet, carrying the bike.  Biked into town,
which was small but nice.  Did library,
back to boat.

Raised anchor about 12:45 and motored up
the river.  Following wind kept me
breathing my exhaust fumes most of the day.
Through Rankin, Montomery
and Whitten locks (the last has an 84-foot
lift; I had trouble with the boat trying to
swing into some indentations in the wall,
which would have been a disaster).  One of
the lock-tenders had a good laugh at all
the laundry drying on my lifelines.
Into Bay Springs Lake, which is wide and
has nice clear water.  But it's kind of
empty: almost nothing but trees everywhere.

Anchored about 6 PM at mile 419, at
lat 34.36.555 long 88.17.997
Lots of room, nice and quiet.
Dumped a bucket of nice cool lake water
all over myself at the start of my shower.

Salad and chili for dinner.

7/8/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor in Bay Springs Lake.
Beautiful clear, sunny day; probably going
to be hot.  Nice breeze, but as soon as
I get going, I'll be going the same speed
and direction as the breeze, and I'll be
sweltering with no air going across the
boat.  I've started using a fan in the
pilothouse occasionally as I travel.

Fuel level 9.0 inches at engine hour 2896.2
Added water to batteries; I think the
alternator really overcharges them.
Took the fenders down; no more locks
for a while !

Raised anchor about 10:15 and headed up
the Divide Cut, a 20-mile narrow section.
Came out into Pickwick Lake, very scenic
lake with lots of tree-lined banks.
Some houses and boats and a couple of
marinas.  Wound my way through a little
and then anchored in Aqua Yacht Harbor,
near the marina, about 3:30, about mile 448,
lat 34.59.048 long 88.14.741
Lovely breeze at anchor, nice sunny day,
beautiful locale.  I'm about 2 miles from
the end of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway,
where it hits the Tennessee River.  And I'm
just about on the Tennessee / Mississippi border.

Every now and then, dumped a bucket of nice
lake water all over myself to cool off.
Wouldn't mind a swim, but I'd have to launch
the dinghy and put down the swim platform.
I really need to install an additional ladder.

Nice guy on a jet-ski stopped by for a chat;
he owns a C+C 30 sailboat nearby.

An hour later, I was hailed by some sailboat
heading for me.  Guy at the helm yelled that
someone had told him about me, could he raft
up to me.  I said yes, so we put out fenders
and lines and rafted up without much problem.
First time I've rafted with anyone.
He came over and we had a long chat, showed
the boats to each other.  He's an interesting
guy, ex-Navy, on his 4th boat, wife took
everything else in the divorce, the boat's
a real project boat, just put a new engine in.
The amazing thing is that he snuck into the
nearby marina after hours 4 days ago, has
stayed there for 4 nights without anyone
noticing and charging him for the slip !
And he's been borrowing tools from their
service people to do work on his boat.
He's about to head down the Tenn-Tom and
to Florida, just in time to hit
hurricane season.  His boat was hit by
lightning a while ago, frying some
instruments and making it even more of
a "project boat".  It's a former IORC boat,
with all kinds of complicated rigging
and 12 sails.  Like me, he's a
computer programmer and a New Jersey boy.
He wants to go south, crew on big boats,
get a captain's license.  He's been up
and down the Tenn-Tom a couple of times,
but I get the impression he hasn't
anchored on it.

We talked for a long time, and he kept
pointing out some rainclouds as very
dangerous.  Finally, as the sun was setting,
one of his friends came by in a motorboat,
asked if he was anchoring out tonight,
and said "rain coming in 5 minutes".
I think he may have hoped to stay rafted
to me all night, but I wasn't going to
do that.  I said "time to break up the raft,
especially with a storm coming".  We
separated, I started closing up my boat,
and then I saw him motor right back to the
marina and go in !  Rain and a little
lightning passed well to the north of us.

Tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.

7/9/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor in Pickwick Lake.
Raised anchor about 0900 and motored out of
the lake and out of the Tenn-Tom waterway,
into the Tennessee River.

Wow, what a nice river !  About 3/4 of a mile
wide, 5-10 times what I've been used to.
Had a little trouble adjusting my mind to
the new scale of the river and the charts.
Beautiful high banks with tons of trees and
some well-located houses.  Nice mixture of
deep water for the commercial traffic and
shallow water for anchoring.  First tow I
saw is larger then the ones on the Tenn-Tom:
looks like a 3x6.

Motored up 12 miles to Waterloo AL and anchored
about 11:30 at river mile 227.5,
lat 34.54.885 long 88.02.951

Dinghied ashore, taking the bike, but the trip
was a waste.  Smallest town I've seen yet,
just some houses, a post office, a high school,
and a gas station with tiny food market.
At least my timing was good: 15 minutes after
I got back to the boat, evil black clouds
started coming over, and 30 minutes after that
there was lightning and then a fair amount
of rain.  Two lightning strikes so close
that I barely started counting "thousand-and-"
before I heard the thunder.  I hate lightning.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

7/10/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor in Tennessee River near Waterloo AL.
Raised anchor at 0900, making it harder
by raising mainsail first.  Wind was stronger
than I thought, and the bow blew around like
crazy.  Motor-sailed up the river in a very
breezy day, and the wind kept changing,
gusting and dying and shifting all over the
place.  Sometimes I got half a knot from it,
sometimes zero, sometimes an accidental jibe
(I kept those small).

River is beautiful, but the current started
increasing, and by the time I got 3/4 of the
way to Florence, it was up to 1.5 to 2 knots
against me.  Slow going the last 5 miles,
and when I took down the sail, the current
made me veer back and forth so wildly that
a couple of guys in boat came by, probably
thinking I was having a heart attack or
something.  Wish the auto-pilot was working.

Got to Florence, and anchored near the
park/bridge intersection about 2:15.
Thought the strong current would hold me
in place along the bank nicely, but the
strong wind blowing up the river, and the
swells from it, has me sailing back and forth,
even sailing forward against my anchor rode,
against a 2-knot current, coming too close to
the bank, then out into the river.  And dark
clouds are coming up the river.

Raised anchor and went up to see if I could
anchor between highway bridge and old railroad
bridge.  Just enough room, but if anything
goes wrong, it's a death-trap:  I'll have a
2-knot current pressing me against the low
parts of the highway bridge.  Back out and
downstream, doing 8 knots because the
current's with me.  Looked around for another
spot, as it started to rain, but the best
I could do was 1/2 mile downstream from my
original spot.  Still a bit far out into
the river for my taste, but now that the wind
is less, it's stable.  And I'm further from the
bridge, so tows can see and avoid me more easily.
But I don't think I'll stay here long.
So finished anchoring about 3 PM, at mile 255,
at Florence AL, at about lat 34.46.6 long 87.41.4
Put out a stern anchor to try to keep from
swinging too close to the bank.

Rained hard and some thunder for 15 minutes,
then it stopped and the sun came out again.
Pretty here: tall bluffs on the south side of
the river, and a park (with some campers)
on the north side.  Wilson dam and hydro
plant is just upstream.

Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner.

A restless night, listening to my anchors
grate over the bare rock river-bottom.
And the current stopped; they must have
closed the dam or something.  So the boat
swung around upstream, pointing downstream
into the wind.  About midnight, I raised
my stern anchor to keep it from snagging
the primary anchor rode.  Several tows
went by during the night, but the river is
wide and they had no problem seeing and
avoiding me.

7/11/2003 (Friday)
At anchor in Tennessee River near Florence AL.
Water seems to be down a foot or so from
yesterday, but some current has come back;
by 0800 the boat was pointing upstream
again.  A totally grey day.
Fuel level 7.25 inches at engine hour 2910.3

Put the bike in the dinghy and motored up
the river against stiff current.  A bit
nervous about leaving the boat in a precarious
anchorage.  Took a while to get up to the
marina against the current.  Bought gas ($3),
but the guy running the office couldn't give
me any directions to things in town !  Got on
the bike and figured it out myself.  Turned
sunny and hot just as I got on the bike; wish
I'd put on sunscreen and a hot.  Had to get
up a stiff hill to get into downtown.  Found
main library, but it wasn't open yet, so I
biked around town for a while, seeing a lot
of really nice old houses.  Ended up at University
of North Alabama, which has a pretty campus.
Their mascot must be a lion, because they have
an enclosure right in the middle of campus
with two young lions in it.  And they were
active; every lion I've seen in a zoo or
safari park has been dead asleep.

Found the university library and did internet
and newspapers.  Biked to public library,
which is new and a beautiful building.
They confirmed that there's no supermarket
in town.  Bought a loaf of bread in a
grocery/bait shop, and headed back to boat.
Very hard time getting the bike back into
the boat and the dinghy hoisted: the current
was over 2 knots, dragging the dinghy away
strongly, and I was hot and tired and hungry.

Raised anchor about 1:45 and motored down
the river, with a lovely 2+ knot current in
my favor.  Doing 7.3 knots over ground as
the engine is loafing along.

Current slowly decreased as I went along,
but still about .7 knot as I went under
Natchez Trace bridge.  Turned and tried to
go into a nice cove there, but it got too
shallow and I backed out.  Anchored in the
river just outside it about 4:45, at mile 236,
lat 34.50.473 long 87.56.578

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

7/12/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor in Tennessee River.
Lovely night of solid sleep.

Raised anchor about 10 AM and motored down
the river.  Lots of people out on a sunny
Saturday.  Several nice sailboats sailing,
most doing well but one really letting the
sails flog a lot.  Past the turn-off for the
Tenn-Tom, across the state line into
Tennessee, and almost down to Pickwick Dam.
Pretty strong wind on the nose, and lots of
small chop.  Pulled into a lovely cove and
anchored about 1:45, at mile 211,
lat 35.03.237 long 88.10.576

The only annoyance is a motorboat flying
around dragging someone on one of those
drag-behind things (what are they called ?).
Noisy and some wakes, but also entertaining:
the guy actually goes fairly airborne on
the fast turns.  But later, a jet-ski appeared.
Still later, a powerboat with an associated
go-fast boat anchored.  The go-fast boat was
a little two-seater with souped up engines
and straight exhaust pipes.  Absolutely
earsplitting, and he had engine problems,
so he kept roaring out, roaring back in,
tinkering with the engine, then roaring out
and in again.  Pretty irritating.  And if I
owned a house and dock here, I'd be mad:
everyone's creating wakes and the docked boats
are rocking a lot.

Salad and corned-beef-and-noodles for dinner.

Laid in bed in the dark listening to wonderful
bluegrass on the radio, and a huge bright
full moon came up.  Magical.

7/13/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor off Pickwick Lake in the Tennessee
River.

Raised anchor at 0745, motored down to
Pickwick Lock.  My timing was perfect, didn't
have to wait at all.  Got through and had
a huge current with me as I went downstream,
3 to 3.5 knots for a while, 2.5 to 3 after that.
Looked at Shiloh National Military Park as I
went past, but didn't know if anything good
was there, and anchoring would have been tough
and then I would have had to haul the bike up
a steep 15-foot dirt bank.

Anchored at 11 AM across from Savannah TN,
mile 190.5, lat 35.13.045 long 88.16.018
Probably 1.5 to 2 knots of current, and
I'm a little close to a bend, but other
than that it's okay.

Dinghied ashore, and what an ugly trip !
Very hot and going downwind as I dinghied
over, so I was sweltering.  Got to the
boat ramp, and it was all concrete and
rip-rap, nowhere to leave the dinghy.
Went further down the shoreline and found
a softer place, but had to carry the bike
and everything up a steep slippery bank
wearing wet flip-flops.  Then everything
seemed to be uphill from there: uphill to
the main road, brief downhill and then
uphill into town, went way out trying to
locate the library (just to see where it
was).  Got very overheated and tired.
Back into town, saw a few nice houses,
went to supermarket, took 5 minutes to find
a water fountain inside it.  Got groceries,
and as I biked back, dark clouds came over
and gave me a lovely headwind.  Slow going
in the dinghy against current and wind,
and fun hoisting the dinghy too.
Left the bike ashore; I need to go to the
library tomorrow.

Dark clouds went away for a while, but
came back with a vengeance about 4 PM.
At 4:30, sirens went off and a loudspeaker
announced a severe thunderstorm warning
for our county.  Radio says the same,
but it sounds like the worst will miss
Savannah.  The worst is supposed to be
wind up to 69 MPH and 2-inch hail.
First strong winds blew me sideways a
bit, and I was tempted to start the
engine so I could motor away from the
bank, but the current quickly straightened
the boat out.
Lightning a few miles away on each side.
Raining hard by 4:50.  Sat in the cockpit
for a while, watching the rain and
lightning and wondering if my pilothouse
windows and solar panels could withstand
2-inch hail.  A couple of huge lightning
strikes at various times about 1/2 mile
from me.  I feel sorry for the people
in tents; I've seen a fair number of
them camping in the last couple of days.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.
Rain eased a bit by 6, and mostly stopped by 7.

A big 3x6 tow of empties heading downstream
went by about 8:30, and had to be less than
100 feet away.  Made me nervous; maybe I'm
in a bad place here.  But there's no help
for it.

A couple of smaller tows went by in the night;
no problems.

7/14/2003 (Monday)
At anchor in the Tennessee River near
Savannah TN.  Huge 3x6 tow went by about 7:15,
heading upstream.  Impressive sight.
Big towboat with three funnels, all engines
working hard.

Dinghied ashore.  Had a nice chat with an
older guy sitting in the park; I asked about the
river before they built the dams, and he said his
father told him about times the river was so small
you could wade across it.  Now it's 60 feet
deep, 1/3 of a mile wide, with a strong current.

Saw some horses (and later cows on the other side
of town); first livestock I've seen on this trip.
Biked to the library, did internet and newspapers.
Came out into the heat, got groceries, biked
back, carried everything down the steep bank and
into the dinghy, back to the boat, heaved everything
aboard and stowed it.  Hot and tired and hungry.

Raised anchor about 1:45.  Rode seemed to be
snagged on something at one point, but I slewed
the boat around a bit and it slowly loosened up,
I guess.  Maybe it was just buried deeply near
the anchor.

Motored down the river.  Hot afternoon; several
times I dumped a bucket of water over my head
to cool off.  Some nice houses along the way,
but not much else of interest.  Got to Clifton TN
and anchored straight across the river from
the center of town about 6 PM, at mile 158.2,
lat 35.23.423 long 87.59.785   Hot.

Salad and sausage sandwiches for dinner.

Saw something strange swimming down the river
at dusk.  Fairly large, kind of square head
sticking out of the water.  Seemed to be
going too fast to be a turtle.  Couldn't
tell what it was.

Big tow went by about 10 or so.  Made a
big wake which rolled the boat.  I got up
in the dark to try to counteract the rolling
a bit, and smacked my face hard into the edge
of a door which had swung half-closed.
Got a nice cut near the bridge of my nose,
and a nosebleed.  Fortunately didn't break
my glasses.  Had trouble sleeping the rest
of the night.  Hope I don't get a scar that
spoils my classic good looks.

7/15/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor in the Tennessee River at Clifton TN.
Loafed all morning.
Dinghied ashore without the bike (not worth
it for such a small town).  Went to little
2-room library and did internet, enjoyed the
air-conditioning.  Walked through town in
broiling heat at 2 PM; as I expected, there's
not much here.  Got some groceries.  Back to
library, enjoyed the cool for a couple more
hours.  Enjoyed the gossip too; this must
be the hub of the town.

Salad and corned-beef-and-noodles for dinner.

7/16/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor in the Tennessee River at Clifton TN.
Pretty good rain at 6 AM, then sunny by 9.
More rain at 10:30.
Fuel level 5.4 inches at engine hour 2924.5

Dinghied ashore, went to library, did internet.
Was planning to leave town this afternoon, but
then found out that the riverboat Delta Queen
is arriving tomorrow, with a bunch of people
for a house tour and BBQ (a big tent has been
set up near the riverfront).  So I'll hang
around to see that.

Started reading up on the auto-pilot, getting
ready to investigate the problem with it.

Found a mud-wasp building a nest INSIDE my boat,
flying in and out of the main hatch, bringing
mud in.  Zapped it a couple of times
with bug-spray; it flew away, to die, I hope.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.
A couple of women wandering on the shore
near the boat, looking for arrowheads.

7/17/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor in the Tennessee River at Clifton TN.
Looked out at 7 AM to find dense fog; can't
see more than 100 feet.  Cleared up by 8:15.

Took a wrench to the auto-pilot power unit,
and got some good news.  The unit consists of
an electric motor and a hydraulic pump,
linked by pulleys and a fan belt.  It looks
like the problem is the pulley on the motor
has come loose and slid inward, and is binding
on the housing of the power unit.  I guess the
set-screw came loose.  Fixing it is straightforward,
but as usual a simple thing is the obstacle:
even after loosening the set-screw more,
the pulley is sticking on the shaft and I can't
budge it.  Applied some penetrating oil and
waited, but still couldn't budge it.

The "Delta Queen" riverboat appeared about 11 AM,
playing tunes on a steam organ, I think.  The
whole town turned out to watch them come in.  Took
a solid half-hour to tie off and get a gangplank
down, because the shore here is almost unimproved
(no dock).  After they were done, I radioed them
and got their okay to land my dinghy near them.

Dinghied ashore and checked out the festivities.
Found out the lunch was free for everyone,
after the passengers got theirs.  The town was
sponsoring it to attract people to the town.

Went to hardware store and bought carb cleaner ($1),
but they didn't have any kind of pulley-puller.
To library and did internet.  Back to the center
of town and got my free lunch.  Pulled-pork
sandwich, baked beans, coleslaw, soda,
apple pie.  Decent food but nothing special;
I was hoping for some good BBQ.  Several
of the townspeople serving were happy to
meet me, curious about my sailboat that had
been anchored by them for 3 days.

Sat down and had a long chat with an older
guy who's a passenger on the Delta Queen.
Had a marvelous chat, talking about my trip,
both of our careers in computers, the Delta
Queen's trip, the various rivers, etc.
He worked for IBM in California, and moved
away from Silicon Valley about 3 months
after I got there, and about 3 months before
the Loma Prieta earthquake.

He told me a lot about the Delta Queen.  I could
see it had a stern paddlewheel, but he told
me the boat was completely authentic (except
for modern navigation equipment).  Steam engine,
paddlewheel propulsion, steam bow thrusters.
Built of wood, in 1920 or so, in Scotland.
Disassembled, shipped to St Louis, reassembled,
and operated as a floating speakeasy during
the 20's and 30's.  Went through 7 or 8 owners
after that, spending some time in the
Sacramento River delta in California.  Now
cruises up and down the midwest rivers; this
cruise is from Louisville to Chattanooga, I
think (although he said it was dry states until
Demopolis; maybe I have the Chattanooga part
wrong).  He said it took an Act of Congress
to keep it licensed today, because of the wooden
construction.  They have a full-time guide on
board, giving them lectures about the history and
geology and such.  I didn't think there were many
passengers, but he said it's a full house: 200
people. When we finished talking, he said "nice
to meet you, and it's nice to meet someone who's
doing something interesting !".  The passengers
did look pretty uniform: old retired people.

Raised anchor about 2 PM and motored down the
river.  Hot and uneventful.  Anchored about
6:30 near Denson's Island, mile 125,
lat 35.45.143 long 88.00.191
An odd anchoring job; water is 45 feet deep
on both sides of island, even the non-channel
side where I hoped to find shallow water.
So I put the anchor on the 6-foot deep shoal
downstream of the island, then led the chain
rode to the non-channel side.  Ended up in
35-foot water, out of channel, but without
short scope in case of a blow.

Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner.

7/18/2003 (Friday)
At anchor in the Tennessee River.
Very foggy again from 0600 to 0800.
Did a bucket of laundry.

Raised anchor about 0815 and motored down
the river.  About 0930, pulled into Cuba
Landing marina to call someone I might meet
with, and to see if they had charts for sale.
Struck out on all counts.  Back on the road,
and about 1215, eased into a channel south
of the I-40 bridge and anchored near
New Johnsonville TN, mile 101,
lat 36.01.016 long 87.59.409

Put out my laundry to dry, but it's not
very sunny today, mostly gray.

Put the bike in the dinghy and went ashore
about 1:30.  As I expected, it's a very
industrial area: huge power-plant, rail
line, other factories.  Biked up the road
to some stores, got some groceries.
Back to boat, stowed everything, raised
anchor about 2:30, as wind picked up.
Through an opening railroad bridge
and down the river, which is wide again.
Started raining about 3:30.

Got tired of the blowing rain and the chop.
Pulled into Richland Creek (it's called a
creek, but it's half a mile wide at this
point) and anchored about 4:45, mile 88,
lat 36.10.032 long 87.54.210
Wind changed 180 degrees as I entered the
creek; must be funneled by the land.

Beautiful place; several little coves,
sprinkling of houses, some with big lawns
coming down to the water, tons of trees.
I'm anchored right in the middle, far
from the shores, great view.  15 minutes
after I arrived, the rain stopped, the
wind died, and the few other boats left.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

7/19/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor off the Tennessee River.
Rained hard from 4 AM to 5 AM or so.
Nice and sunny by 8 AM.
Fuel level 4.0 inches at engine hour 2935.4

Got a late start, and then the anchor rode
is covered with goop, and halfway through my
bucket springs a major leak.  Raised anchor
about 10:15 and motored down the river.

About 2 PM, pulled into Paris Landing State Park,
and the diesel price is so good that I decided
to fuel up.  Nice chat with the attendant as
I bought 134 gallons at $1.30/gallon ($174) and
then loaded about 150 gallons of water.
Thought the fuel dock would be jammed on a
nice Saturday, but they're having a bit of a
slack day, maybe because of the early rain and
greyish skies.  But they don't have the charts
I need; I may have to mail-order them.

Had thought of anchoring near the marina,
but it's busy and there's not much space,
and the attendant tells me there's not much
of interest in the park, so I motor out.
Down the river for an hour or so to anchor
about 4:15 in Panther Bay, mile 60,
lat 36.31.357 long 88.00.911

Now I'm really in what I consider to be
Kentucky Lake.  Current is down to half a knot or
so, and the dam is a mere 37 miles downstream.
Officially, I've been in Kentucky Lake since
Pickwick Dam 145 miles ago, but that felt more
like river to me.

Spaghetti for dinner.
Hot and still evening, and flies started swarming.
I started slaughtering them with a flyswatter,
and by the time dark falls, I'd killed about
three dozen of them, swatting most of them when
they landed on my legs.

Hot, still, muggy night.  Listened to blues
on the radio until midnight, and got very little
sleep all night.

7/20/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor off the Tennessee River.
Thick fog from 5 AM to 8 AM or so.
Woke tired and with a sinus headache.
Started popping pills and went back to
bed; finally got some rest.  Got up
about 11:30.
Fuel level 14.6 inches at engine hour 2940.6

Raised anchor about 12:15 and motored down
the river.  Hot day, hazy, no breeze.  Called
various marinas to see if they sold the charts
I need, but no luck.  I'll have to order them
somehow.  Boat getting swarmed by flying
beetles, which flop around and then all died
after a while, leaving nasty trailing stains
on the fiberglass.  Anchored about 3:15 at mile 42,
out in the river to try to get any breeze that
might come up.  Just south of routes 68 / 80
bridge, at lat 36.45.994 long 88.06.533
Poured some buckets of river water over
me to cool off.  Nice jazz playing on the radio
most of the afternoon.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.
Another warm night, with only a little breeze.

7/21/2003 (Monday)
At anchor off the Tennessee River.
Woke up with a bit of a sinus headche.
Blowing hard this morning, 20+ trying to put
me on a lee shore, some rain, and the radio has
a severe-thunderstorm warning for many places,
including the county I'm in.  Was thinking of
going ashore and biking a couple of miles
to a visitor's center, but I can't leave the
boat in this situation, and I'm feeling too
tired to bike anyway.

Raised anchor about noon and motored straight
across the river and into KenLake Marina.
Bought a little gasoline ($4) just to be nice,
wanted to buy groceries but even their
restaurant had no bread to spare,
and called to mail-order Cumberland river
charts ($24).  Had them sent to a marina
that I should be near in a few days.  Noticed
some nasty scrapes on the side of my hull;
probably got them when I fueled up yesterday.

Motored down the river through rough
conditions; wind 20-25 and lots of chop.
Pulled into Bear Creek and anchored at about
3:15, mile 30, lat 36.54.636 long 88.12.972

Dark clouds coming over about 5 PM.  Worst
of it might pass to the north of me.  Rained
several times during the evening.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

7/22/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor off Kentucky Lake.
Woke up at 6:30 and said "wow, it didn't rain
all night, I was able to keep the aft hatch
and aft ports open all night".  Two minutes
later, it rained.  Cool and grey morning.

Raised anchor about 9:30 and motored across
to anchor near the North Welcome Station
at about 10:30.  Ate an early lunch and then
dinghied ashore, taking the bike.  Hot by
the time I got there.  This is the "Land
Between the Lakes".  Biked a mile to the
"welcome station", which had some tourist
brochures and a friendly attendant.  But she
had the typical car-based attitude:  "oh,
yes, there's a library: just go 5 miles to
the interstate, go to the X exit, then
three blocks on the right".  Had trouble
finding the bike trail I wanted.  Started
to bike up the road, but after a couple of
miles and a couple of long rises that left
me gasping, I decided that I had proved how
out of shape I am, and turned around.
Probably did 5 miles total.
By the time I got back to the boat and
hauled everything aboard, I was wiped out.

Raised anchor about 1:30, in a stiff wind,
and motored down the river into the wind
and chop.  Slowly cruised
by the opening to the Barkley Canal, past
Grand Rivers, past Kentucky Dam, and into
Taylor Creek.  Lovely big anchorage, next
to a huge marina but with plenty of room,
behind a large breakwater, next to a public
boat ramp, in a no-wake zone.  Perfect !
If only there were a library and groceries
nearby.  Anchored about 2:45, mile 23,
lat 36.59.290 long 88.17.177

Lots to look at as I cruised by
Kentucky Lock and Dam.  At least three big
tows waiting to get through, which means
a pleasure boat like me would wait hours
to get a chance (lowest priority).  And
there were 30 or 40 other barges moored
in the area; more tows could appear or
be formed at any time.  The dam and lock
itself is quite an operation: hydro power
plant, lots of powerlines, a highway and
railroad running along the top of the dam,
three things that might be container-cranes
straddling the railroad, more powerlines
and an interstate bridge just downstream of it.
The lake's about 2 miles wide here, but only
50 or 60 feet at the deepest; I thought it
would be deeper near the dam.

Three ducks came by to quack at me in hope
of getting a handout, but I just quacked
back at them.

Salad and tomato-and-eggsalad for dinner.

7/23/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor in Taylor Creek, near Kentucky Dam.
Nicely cooler and breezy day.
Dinghied ashore and biked about 4 miles to
Gilbertsville.  Nothing there but trailer-homes.
Came back and checked out the marina a bit.
Back to the boat.

Did an engine oil change.  About 10 quarts
out, and 10 quarts in.  Leaked from filter
housing the first time, but got it tight on
the second try.  Still spilled a bit of oil
in the engine compartment; haven't been able
to avoid that yet.

Dinghied ashore.  Person at service facility
kindly took my used engine oil to dispose of
at the county waste facility.  Biked a mile or
so to the lake beach, and sat there for a while,
enjoying the scenery.  Beautiful clouds, nice
sun and breeze.  Legs tired from all the biking.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.  A bit strange
with hickory-smoked sausage instead of italian
sausage.

7/24/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor in Taylor Creek, near Kentucky Dam.

Raised anchor about 11:45 and motored out of the
creek and across the river.  Anchored about 12:30
outside Lighthouse Landing marina, mile 23, at
lat 36.59.802 long 88.14.404  Close to the main
channel, where the tows get ready to go through
Kentucky Lock, but there's enough room and the
depth is good.

Dinghied ashore.  Tried to land on a beach, but
it turned out to be rocky; I think I damaged the
prop slightly on a rock.  Had to go into the
marina, which turned out to be a confusing maze.
Finally got to a very wobbly dock, went to the
office, and they said it was okay to leave the
dinghy there.  Biked into "town", which is just 8
or 10 stores and an extremely popular restaurant.
Bought brake pads for the bike, and groceries.

Salad and grilled pork chops for dinner.

7/25/2003 (Friday)
At anchor in the Tennessee river, near Kentucky Lock.
Worked on the auto-pilot pulley, but couldn't
get it loose.  Added lots of water to the
house batteries.  Breezy and choppy today.

Raised anchor about 9:45 and went through Barkley
Canal.  Goodbye to Tennessee River / Kentucky Lake,
hello to Cumberland River / Barkley Lake.  Smaller
and less choppy over here.  Went into Green Turtle
Bay to see if there was room to anchor, but they've
filled it in with marina.  Anchored just outside
the breakwater about 10:45, mile 31.5 on the
Cumberland, lat 37.00.407 long 88.13.148

Put new brake pads on the bike.
Worked on the auto-pilot, and got it fixed !  Some
hammering freed up the pulley, and I slid it back
into proper place and tightened the setscrew.
Seems to work now.

Hot this afternoon, and going to be hot tomorrow.

Dinghied into the marina about 4 PM, and it's
pretty boring and dead in there; maybe everyone's
hiding from the heat.  But my package
containing the charts I need was waiting for me,
no hassles picking it up.  Bought some distilled
water.  Back to boat.

Raised anchor about 5:15; there are too many
wakes to spend the night here.  Motored up the
Cumberland river and anchored about 6:15 in
the river at lat 37.00.955 long 88.07.900,
at mile 38.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches and fruit for dinner.

7/26/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor in the Cumberland river, in Barkley Lake.
Woke up and found the cockpit (actually, the whole
topsides) infested with some kind of flying waterbug
things.  So many that I could hear their wings
making a loud hum in the cockpit.  Went up and tried
to chase them out with a towel and spray, but half
of them didn't budge.

Raised anchor about 8:30 and motored up the river.
Shooed away most of the bugs, but it took a while.
And they left nasty dark green spots all over
my fiberglass.

Pulled into McNabs Creek, where there's supposed
to be a county library.  But as I expected, there's
no way to get to it from the water.  Not a public
road, beach, bridge, ramp or anything exposed;
all the backyards of private houses.  Had to
give it up.

Tested auto-pilot, and it works.
Motored up to Lick creek and anchored next to
Canton KY at 1 PM, mile 64,
lat 36.47.439 long 87.57.988
Scrubbed green bug-spots on fiberglass, to
little effect.  Maybe the detergent will soak
in and the next rain will take them off.

Lots of bugs flitting around the stern of the
boat.  Got ready to go ashore, and just then a
fishing tournament ended and about 15 boats
circled, waiting to be trailered-out.
Dinghied ashore, got on the bike.  Found
less town and more hills than I hoped.
Hot afternoon as usual.  Bought a couple
of nice home-grown tomatoes.  Back to the boat.

Raised anchor about 3:15 and motored out.
Saw some people running down to the shore
to take photos of my boat as I went past.
Uneventful trip until I tried to stop.
Pulled over at a couple of places and
quickly ran out of depth, so had to back
out and go further.  Finally found a spot.
Anchored about 5:45 at mile 75,
lat 36.39.791 long 87.54.020

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.
Not very good; thought I had another
bottle of soy sauce on board, but can't find it.

Lots of excitement at 7:45.
I'm always interested to see the first tow
come by after I've anchored, to see how close
they come.  So I watched as Ocie Clark came
downstream with a 2x5 tow.  I'm on the outside
of a turn, not far out of the channel, but
definitely out of it, in 6-foot water, with
lots of open space for them to see me.
Anyway, they come past, and I say "wow, they're
pretty far on the other side of the channel".
Then I say "wow, they're OUT of the channel !".
I'm out past the green side; they went on
the far side of the first red buoy in the
turn, and ran aground.  The buoy is about
15 feet from the side of the 3rd barge, I guess.

I see guys moving out onto the barges to
see where they are amd what's happening.
They put both engines in reverse and floor
them, and after some tense moments when they
go nowhere and I wonder if they'll have to break
up the tow to get it free, they come free and
start making progress backward.  I wonder how close
they'll come to me once they get back in the
channel.  But they never DO get back in the
channel; they back until the red buoy is halfway
down the first barge, turn a bit to starboard
so the buoy is almost scraping the first barge,
and go forward again, still out of the channel !
The buoy scrapes down the sides of a couple of
barges, and ends up going underneath the last
barge and the tugboat; it pops up behind.
They make it without going aground again, and
pass on the correct side of the next red buoy,
then have to floor the engines to slew around
to keep from hitting the far (green) bank,
which is rock and would really hurt.  Wow !

I guess they were lucky that the barges were
empty.  Full barges would have grounded
sooner, but would have hit harder, and been
harder to back off against the current
and turn.  And they're lucky there was no
rock underwater.  I wonder if the pilot gets
points on his license or something.

Several more tows came past during the night.

7/27/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor in the Cumberland river.

Raised anchor about 8:45 and motored up the
river.  Got up to Dover TN, at mile 89, and had
to do a tricky anchoring job.  Depth went
from 40 to 5 quickly.  Tried twice, first
time it was hard to get the anchor up.
Got a semi-reasonable spot in the entrance
to a side-channel.  Done about 11:30, at
lat 36.29.398 long 87.50.037

Dinghied ashore and started biking.  Whole
town is full of steep hills, and it's hot.
Found hardware store and library, and figured
out that supermarket is too far out of town.
Back to boat.  Hoisted everything and dumped
water over myself.  Nice couple came by in a
motorboat, to tell me I had anchored in view
of their house last night.  The guy has been
down the Mississippi on a houseboat; he says
fuel is hard to get, which I've heard from
others.

Raised anchor about 2:15 and motored up to
Cumberland City TN.  Hard to anchor there;
huge power-plant has filled in most of the
non-channel area.  Tried to get into a shoal
protected by channel markers, but wind is
fighting current and shoal is too shallow
to get far enough from the channel.  Raised
anchors and crossed the river to anchor
upstream of the ferry.  Too deep here (30+
feet) for good holding, but fairly far from
the channel.  Wind still fighting current.
Anchored at 5:30, mile 104,
lat 36.23.736 long 87.37.893

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

7/28/2003 (Monday)
At anchor in the Cumberland river at
Cumberland City TN.

Dinghied ashore at the ferry landing.  Biked
up and immediately found that "town" was
about 5 buildings, mainly a 2-room City Hall,
a bank, and a Post Office that was the local
entertainment: everyone drove in to pick up
their mail.  Sat on a bench on the porch of
City Hall for almost 4 hours having a very nice
chat with several guys and watching everyone go
in and out of the post office.  Talked to one guy
for a couple of hours about WW II, the war in Iraq,
religion, various parts of the country, the
river, etc.  Wonderful time !  He was on a PT
boat in WW II, and he briefly met JFK out there.
He says most of the PT boat captains were from
rich, famous families for some reason.  All of
the PT boats were scrapped after the war;
I think he said they had wood hulls.
Another guy was a Marine parachute rigger in
the Viet Nam war.  Someone came by with a
bunch of apples from their yard and gave them
out to us.  Everyone in town knows
everyone else, and knows the dirt about
them too.  I think I was the excitement of
the day; when I got back to the dinghy, the
ferry-boat guys said everyone who'd seen my
dinghy landed there had commented on it.

Got back to the boat about 1:45.  Quickly
raised anchor and got going to keep ahead of
a big tow I saw coming up behind me.  Motored
up to Clarksville and anchored about 5:45
in about the only spot available, close to
a nasty rock rip-rap embankment.  Put out
a stern anchor to try to keep from swinging
into the wall.  Mile 126.  Lots of rush-hour
traffic gawking at me as it goes by.

Nasty clouds came up about 6:20.  And then
the loudspeakers came on in town, warning
of coming thunderstorms, everyone seek
shelter.  I'd heard warnings on the radio
earlier (mentioning violent thunderstorms
with "excessive lightning"; seems like an
odd way to put it), but for some other county,
not this one.  Wind hitting me on the stern,
slewing me around.  Started engine, raised
stern anchor which wasn't holding, mainly
used reverse to hold myself pointing toward
the bank and pulling away from it, against
the anchor.  Heavy lightning, not too close.
Wind gusting up to 35+ at times.
Rain blowing sideways so hard that it came
in one side of the 9-foot-wide pilothouse
and went out the other side.  Worst over
by 7 or so.  Gentle rain and plenty of
lightning continued for a while.  Some of
the lightning was very persistent: big
strokes that stayed lit for almost 3 seconds.
Salad and egg-salad sandwiches for dinner.
Had to run the engine for a while to charge
batteries; I forgot to get the alternator
running when I started it earlier, and the
batteries got dragged down.  Put down the
stern anchor and shut off the engine about 8.
Kept raining with a bit of lightning until
10:30 or so.  Then occasional rain.

7/29/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor in the Cumberland river at
Clarksville TN.  Grey day.

Dinghied ashore.  Could barely get ashore; the
banks are steep and covered with rip-rap and
some poison ivy.  Had to leave the bike in the
dinghy and walk in.  Asked for directions and
was told that everything good is on the far
side of town.  Finally found a very nice library
in the local college; did internet, catching up
on 2 weeks worth of email.  Bought a loaf of
bread at a bakery, but there's not even a
small grocery store within reach.

Back to boat.  Lubricated prop shaft stuffing,
which has been running hot since I tightened
it yesterday.  Raised anchor about 12:45, motored
half a mile up to the railroad bridge, and
hailed it.  No response.  Hailed it 10 different
ways on 3 different channels, blew a horn at
it, tried high power on radio.  Tried my backup
radio, in case last night's lightning had
damaged my primary radio.  Tried to hail a
tugboat on a dredge near the bridge.  Tried
to hail any commercial traffic.  Finally called
"radio check, radio check" and got a response
from someone coming up the river.  Turned out
to be pleasure boat Four Cees.  I tried
hailing the lock 25 miles up the river.
They tried calling phone numbers for the bridge
and the lock, and got no answers or recordings.
I tried hailing a couple of marinas 6 or 7 miles
up the river; no answer.  Finally they phoned one
of the marinas, learned that the lock people
know how to get the bridge to open, and I think
the marina people are going to try to call
the lock some more.  About then, Four Cees
went out of range and I'm alone.  And of course
no tows are coming by, just when I'd like to
talk to one of them.

Four Cees suggested docking at the concrete
excursion boat dock in town to wait, but I made a
pass by it, and it looked too high and unfriendly
to work.  Finally anchored back in my old spot
at about 2:15.  Waste of an hour and a half.
Afternoon is getting sunnier.

The bridge is nominally 50 foot clearance closed,
in the "swing" part of it, but the gauge doesn't
have a line painted at the 50-foot level, or it's
under water.  Hard to tell if the clearance today
is 49, 50, or 51.  My mast is about 49 above water,
maybe a little more if I've mismeasured something.
So I'd really like to get the bridge opened.

Sat around resting, and hoping someone's phone
call would connect and some guy would appear on
the bridge and call me on the radio.  By 4, I
realized that wasn't too likely, so I put the
singhy down again and went ashore.  Climbed
the bank, found a non-working pay-phone,
then a working pay-phone, called Cheatham
Lock, and the guy said he had a phone number
somewhere, call back in half an hour.  I'd
have to call the railroad, they'd call a
tugboat company, and they'd send out someone
to open the bridge.  I'd forgotten to bring
a pen with me.  By then I was totally hot
and mad and worried I'd be stuck there for
4 days waiting for this bridge.  And I have
plane tickets in a couple of weeks, and I
need to find somewhere to leave the boat.

Back to the boat, kept trying to call a
tugboat attached to a dredge near the bridge,
to see what he knew.  Finally decided to
dinghy up there.  Went up and talked to the
boss, and he didn't know.  He'd been working
there 3 weeks and never seen the bridge open.
He thought the gauge looked like 51 feet
of clearance.  Suggested I go for it.  Then he
suggested I measure the gauge from the 45 line
to the water, and that sounded like a fine idea.
So back to the boat, grabbed a tape measure, back
to the bridge, and came up with 50.0 feet.

Rechecked my boat records, and my measurements
said 49 with the top 6 inches of that fairly
expendable (wind indicator).  So I decided to
go for it.

Raised anchor a little before 6, and of course
as I approached the bridge, a big tow came under
it from upstream.  Waited for the water to settle
a little, then eased under, with the guys from
the dredge watching.  Hard to tell how much
I made it by, and I almost had my eyes closed
anyway, but I made it without touching.  Tricky,
because I wanted to go as slow as possible,
but too slow and the boat gets out of control
and starts turning sideways, and the bridge
pyklons were not overly far apart.  And have to
step away from the helm and out of the pilothouse
to see up to the top of the mast.

But: there are two more railroad bridges further
up the river that definitely are too low for me;
I have to get them to open.

Motored up the river, and anchored in a
reasonable little bulge at about 7:10, mile 132,
lat 36.29.380 long 87.20.610
Some people in townhouses at the top of the
bluff thrilled to see a big sailboat down below.
Starting to see cornfields through the trees.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

7/30/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor in the Cumberland river
upstream of Clarksville TN.
Thick fog at 6:30, clear by 8.

Raised anchor about 9:30, motored up the river
against increasing current.  Perfect timing
at Cheatham Lock; got in just as a tow came out,
with another waiting to come down.  Lock tender
gave me home phone number for some guy to
call to open the Clarksville railroad bridge,
but couldn't tell me anything about the
next two upstream from me.  River
is prettier and wider in lake above lock,
with views of hills in the distance, and
some nice high rocky bluffs.
Motored up to Ashland City TN and anchored
at 2:45, mile 158, lat 36.16.102 long 87.04.447
Hot; dumped a couple of buckets of nice cool
river water over myself.

Started to hustle to launch the dinghy and
go ashore, but found the front tire of the
bike was flat.  Took it apart and patched it;
now best to wait overnight to let it dry and
see if it holds.  Looks like rain anyway.
Saw someone launch a houseboat and almost
back their truck too far into the river:
the exhaust was bubbling up from underwater,
and they spun wheels and water was flying
before the truck slowly made it back up
the ramp.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.
That nice loaf of bread I bought yesterday
is already going moldy.

7/31/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor in the Cumberland river
at Ashland City TN.
Rained from 2 AM to 6 AM, then poured from
6:30 to 8:30.

Dinghied ashore about 9:30, and found that
the library was built on the highest spot
in the county (it seems), up a couple of
long hills from town.  Chugged up there,
did internet, tried to call the railroad
bridge people.  Eventually got to the
voice-mail of the right person, but that's
all.  Got groceries, back to boat, started
raining a bit just as I got aboard.  But it
quickly stopped; the afternoon got sunnier
as the day went on.

Raised anchor about 2 PM and motored
up the river.  Uneventful.  Went past a
plant where they haul barges out of the
water, sideways up a bunch of rails;
pretty cool.  Called a marina
for info about the bridges, was told first
should normally be open, second should be
on radio.  We'll see tomorrow.  Anchored about
5:30 at mile 177, lat 36.10.582 long 86.54.231

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

8/1/2003 (Friday)
At anchor in the Cumberland river.

Huge tow went upstream just before 9; 3x5 of
fully loaded coal and sand barges, tugboat
engines really working hard.

As I got ready to raise anchor, it suddenly
started to drag, and I went out to find a big
log snagged on the chain.  Probably about 15
feet long and 15-inch diameter.  Pushed at it
with a boat-hook and slewed the boat back and
forth with the engine, but it wouldn't let loose.
I couldn't see any branch snagging the chain;
the log looked like it was just balanced
perfectly.  Lots of current rushing over it,
so hard to budge.  Finally got off it by
motoring forward repeatedly, cranking in 5 or
10 feet of chain each time the boat drifted
back.  When the anchor came off the bottom,
I was able to back away from the log and then
raise the anchor the rest of the way.
Got going about 9 AM.

Motored up the river against stiff current,
1.5 to 2 knots.  Lots of industry along
this part of the river: barges and factories,
including Ford and Exxon.

Success at the first RR bridge;
it's open and looks like it hasn't been closed
in quite a while: there's a wire dangling
into the water from it.

Industry and bridges got heavy as I got into
Nashville; barges parked on both sides of the
river in places, and bridge after bridge.
Success at the 2nd RR bridge; the tender
answered on the radio and opened the bridge
for me.

Pulled over near the municipal dock, which
looks deserted.  Area is smaller than I hoped;
1/2 mile between two bridges, much of it taken
up by the municipal dock, power lines
overhead, river not very wide.  But I anchored
just downstream of the dock, at noon, mile 191,
lat 36.09.911 long 86.46.519.  Not a very
comfortable spot, and I'll have to watch to
see how well the anchor holds in this strong
current.  On the other hand, the current should
keep me from swinging into the bank or out into
the channel, and the pull on the anchor will
always be in the same direction.

The Nashville skyline is impressive, and I'm
right in the middle of it.  Unusual-looking
BellSouth skyscraper looms on the downtown
side of the river, and Titan stadium on the
other side.

Did a bucket of laundry.  Fresh water-pump
is leaking copiously.

Big riverboat "General Jackson" came past
at 1, but it's a fake: the paddlewheel is
just for show.  Thought it would dock, but
it went past.  Then it turned around
downstream of me, I saw a gangplank off the
bow, and I wondered if they wanted to stop
right where I'm anchored, at the downstream
end of the dock.  But they didn't call me
on the radio, and they didn't answer my
radio call.  And they just went right back
upstream.

Various small logs and debris bouncing off
and sliding along the hull; there's a lot
of junk in the water here.

Dinghied ashore about 3 PM; a real adventure
launching the dinghy and putting the bike in
it in the 2-knot current.  Landed up at the
floating dock, which is empty but has a large
sign listing all kinds of charges; seems
they want $5 or $10 to land my dinghy.  I
didn't pay anyone and didn't see anyone to pay.

Strted to explore town, found the Visitor's
Center, did the library, which is huge and nice.
Called some people who want to meet me, and
made arrangements.  Back to boat by 5:30, and
hooking the dinghy back to the hoisting
rings was very hard in the strong current.

Local guy told me the General Jackson usually
turns around exactly where I've anchored.
And the bridge upstream is having a grand
re-opening on Sunday, opening as a pedestrian
bridge.

Salad and a grilled pork chop and grilled
chicken for dinner.  City dock filled up
with smallish boats.  The General Jackson
came by again.  They charge $35 for a trip
from Opryland to here, including a meal and
whatnot.

Mostly sleepless night.  Bright lights from
town and the stadium, traffic noises, noises
from people on the bank looking down at me,
drift hitting the hull all night, warm
night with intermittent breeze.  Suddenly
rained hard for a little while at 2:45.

8/2/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor in the Cumberland river at
Nashville TN.
Did a bucket of laundry.
Weather is sounding dicey; chance of
severe thunderstorms this afternoon, and
lots of rain tomorrow.
Cleaned up the boat a bit; expecting company.

Dinghied ashore and biked a couple of miles
to the Parthenon.  Interesting place.  They
had a Tennessee Centennial expo in 1897, and
build a dozen or more temporary buildings
that were replicas of Greek buildings, an
Egyptian pyramid, etc.  Afterward, they
all were torn down except the Parthenon;
people liked it so much they wanted it kept.
But it was made of wood and plaster, and
by 1920 it was falling apart.  So in the
20's they rebuilt it using concrete.
Recently, they added a 42-foot high gilded
statue of Athena inside (that's what the
original Parthenon held).  Athena is holding
a small statue of Nike, the winged goddess of
victory, in her hand.  I guess that's who
the sneaker company is named after.

Bike tire going flat again.
Biked through Vanderbilt University a little,
then went to the Frist art center.  Nice
Ottoman art exhibit, lots of fantastic
calligraphy.  Also a small modern art area,
and a floor of African-American quilts that
were quite good.

Put the bike in the dinghy, and back to the boat.

Heard the General Jackson on the radio asking
if that sailboat was still anchored down there.
I piped up and said I was still here.

Was expecting some friends at 3, but I started
getting more and more nervous about the
weather.  Chance of severe thunderstorms, and
I don't think I can leave the boat here so
we can go for dinner.

Lots of people walking across a bridge downstream
of me, heading for the football stadium.  Heard
cheering from there later.

I hoped 3 PM would arrive before the storm, but
the weather came at 2:30.  Strong wind, a little
rain, even the current seem to strengthen.  I'd
been waiting with the dinghy in the water, planning
to use it to pick up my  friends, and
suddenly decided to raise it.  Getting the
hoisting wires connected was very hard.  Just
then, my friends appeared on shore.  We tried to
yell back and forth, but couldn't do it.  Finally
got the dinghy up, then started raising the anchor.
It came up with a nice big tree-branch snagged on it.
I put on a nice show for my friends, weaving all
over the river as I tried to get the branch off
and the anchor up.  Got the boat-hook stuck in
the mess, too.  Finally got it loose by putting
the anchor back to the surface of the water
and then violently yanking the boat-hook up
and down until the branch came loose.

Then had the bright idea of docking to get my
friends aboard, so I went up and did it.  An
ugly docking: thought the current would stop
my forward progress, but instead it shoved
the bow sideways onto the dock.  Anyway, got
the lines secure and my friends Robbie and
Bernie aboard.

Gave them a tour of the boat and chatted for
a while.  We had been planning to go to dinner,
but I couldn't leave the boat there, and didn't
want to anchor it here again.  So they left
and I headed up the river.  I'll see them next
weekend up above the next lock.

Cast off about 4:15, and anchored about 5:15
on the river at Mills Creek, mile 195,
lat 36.10.016 long 86.42.745
Current still fairly strong, but I'm out
of the worst of it, lots of room, much
shallower water, away from the lights and
noise of the city.  Feel much more comfortable.
Too bad; I would have liked to spend a couple
more days at Nashville.  But it's just too
tough an anchoring situation there.

Cheese-and-crackers and oddments for dinner.

8/3/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor in the Cumberland river upstream of
Nashville TN.  Lots of rain from 2 AM to 4 or so.
Lounged in bed reading a good murder-mystery.

Raised anchor about 10:30 and motored up the
river.  Very strong current, 2 to 3 knots at
various times, so progress was slow.  Weather
got nicer as the day went by.  Passed a tow that
had deliberately nosed its full coal barges against
a shoal, with the tugboat halfway out into the
channel and using one engine to hold them
against the bank; I think they were working
on the other engine or something.  A wasp came
in the cockpit, I sprayed it, and it blundered
right onto one of my legs and then the other.
In my frantic attempts to kick it off before
it could sting me, I kicked a bare foot right
into the boat.  For a little while, thought
I'd broken my big toe, but it's just bruised.

Finally made it up through Old Hickory Lock, and
onto Old Hickory Lake.  Lots of drifting wood
right in the exit of the lock; tried to coast
through much of it, to avoid getting it into
the propeller.  Did a brief loop into
Anchor High Marina's cove, but it was a madhouse
in there on a Sunday afternoon.  Back out and
anchored in a small cove just upstream from it,
mile 217, lat 36.17.585 long 86.38.683  Tired.

Spaghetti for dinner.

8/4/2003 (Monday)
At anchor in Old Hickory Lake near
Hendersonville TN.  Bit of a headache.

Dinghied ashore, taking the bike.  Biked around
and got the lay of the land.  As I expected, I
came in on the unfashionable end of town, and
had a long ride.  But the good stuff is near a
big creek that I intend to go up tomorrow, so
that's convenient.  The library could be better;
they don't have a lot of newspapers, and as a
visitor I'm restricted to one computer where
I have to stand up the whole time !

Back to boat, quick lunch, finished a bucket of
laundry.  Hoisted bike and dinghy.

Raised anchor about 3:45.  As usual, it came up
with a good-sized dead tree hanging on it.  Got
it off by dropping anchor a little and motoring
side to side.  Motored up the lake a bit, and
anchored about 4:15 near Lakewood Marina, mile
220, lat 36.15.002 long 86.38.090

Dinghied ashore and looked for a friend of the
friends I'd met the other day.  Found his
sailboat, but he wasn't there.  Back to boat,
hoist dinghy.

Chicken-and-rice for dinner.

Front with huge, roiling lightning-clouds
went over from 10 to 11.  Lots of wind,
very little rain, but tons of cloud-to-cloud
lightning, just continuously.  Only a few
strikes to ground, and they were far away.

8/5/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor in Old Hickory Lake near
Lakewood Marina.  Still a little sinus
headache nagging me.

Richie came rowing out to my boat about 8:30.
Came aboard and we had a nice chat about
boats and stuff.  He's done a lot of sailing
around the Gulf Coast, owned several boats,
has a Hunter 38ish sailboat "Come Monday"
now that he lives on in the marina.  We
chatted until 10, then he had to go to work.

Jumpered main batteries to genset battery
to charge it; I need to run the genset to
exercise it, then I need to start working
on the genset.  Been putting it off too long.

Dinghied ashore to Lakewood / Old Hickory Village.
Biked around to see what was there, browsed in
a flea market store while waiting for the
library to open.  Did internet and newspapers.
Apparently last night's storm hit Nashville
very hard: many people without power today,
and at a big lake near town, an entire dock
turned over, wreaking havoc on the boats
tied to it.  55 MPH winds, golf-ball-size
hail.  Glad I wasn't still down in Nashville
for that !

Found out I'd made a mistake: I thought
Hendersonville had a Greyhound bus stop, but
it doesn't.  Fortunately, it turns out
Old Hickory Village is in the same county as
Nashville, so I can take a county bus
to the Nashville Greyhound station.
Means I'll have to leave Magnolia out on
the lake instead of in a more sheltered
creek, but on the other hand I can ask
Richie to keep half an eye on it, since
it'll be near his boat.  Should be fine;
I'll put down a second anchor, and there's
plenty of room here.

Couldn't find the supermarket Richie
mentioned.  Back to boat; hot afternoon.
About 20 bass boats suddenly blasted out of
the dock area at 5:30; must be an evening
fishing tournament.

Cheese-and-crackers and tomato-and-egg
for dinner.

Dinghied ashore, but Richie wasn't home.
Bass boats flocking back to the dock.
Asked someone about the supermarket, and
he said there is none close by.  So I
put the bike in the dinghy and went back
to the boat.

8/6/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor in Old Hickory Lake near
Lakewood Marina.  Still a little sinus
headache nagging me.  And my back went "ping";
now I have to be careful with it.  Foggy morning,
and very grey day after that.  Ugly somewhat
moth-like insects flocking and mating on
the boat.

Raised anchor about 0730 and motored up the lake.
Almost zero breeze, and lots of floating
driftwood, and some floating garbage: styrofoam
chunks, bottles, etc.  Had to zigzag many times
to avoid big treee branches.  But it's a pretty
lake: lots of coves, nice and wide, lots of
interesting houses, some small bluffs.

Up into Station Camp Creek and anchored about
10:30 near Gallatin TN, mile 237,
lat 36.21.129 long 86.28.475

Dinghied ashore and it was a long, tough bike
ride through lunch-hour heat and traffic, for
little result.  Couldn't find the museum that
was the main reason for coming here; I
remembered the address wrong, bungled the
directions someone in town gave me, and
apparently it's hard to see and I must have
gone right past it at one point.  Did
manage to get in touch with Ron, who invited me
to his place for dinner.  And got groceries,
after a week with no bread, fruit or salad.

Raised anchor a little after 2 PM, and motored
down the river to Cedar Creek.  Clouds looking
more threatening, and some thunder as I
arrived.  Anchored about 3:30, mile 233,
lat 36.16.491 long 86.30.428

Dinghied ashore, met Ron and brought him out
to the boat.  Showed him the boat and had a nice
chat.  Rain sprinkles stopped, sun came out,
weather turned nice.  Went back ashore and
went to Ron and Becky's house, where they
treated me to a tremendous homemade dinner:
steak with all the trimmings.  Had a great time,
talking about boats, mainly.  They have so
many projects going that it makes my head hurt:
improving the house, building an addition to the
house, building a pool, major rebuilding of a
Bristol 40 in a big shed, fixing up an RV,
planning to build a house in Florida, running a
small concrete-construction company, on and on !
They gave me some fresh tomatoes, some books,
and a little "peg-leg captain" statue.
Really nice people.

8/7/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor in Cedar Creek off Old Hickory Lake.
Loafed all morning.  Raised anchor about 1130
and motored down the lake.  Anchored about 2 PM
back at my old spot next to Lakewood Marina.

Dinghied ashore, biked to library, spent
several hours there.  Can't figure out the
bus to Nashville, so I'll probably take Robbie
up on his offer of a ride.  Still have to
find a marina to leave the dinghy in.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

8/8/2003 (Friday)
At anchor in Old Hickory Lake
next to Lakewood Marina.  Nice sunny day,
a wisp of fog early.  Loafed all morning.

Raised anchor about 11:45 and motored up the
lake and then up Drakes Creek.  Beautiful area.
Anchored near the boat ramp and Creekwood Marina
about 12:45, at lat 36.17.298 long 86.36.325

Lots of jet-ski traffic.
Cleaned engine intake strainer.  Checked the
zinc, and it probably should have been replaced
a month ago.  Found the starboard-forward engine
mount has a nut that should be tightened, but it
seems immovably frozen to the stud.  Checked
genset to see if it's in shape to attempt to
start it.

Salad and chicken/rice/onion/tomato for dinner.
Tried to start the genset but the battery is
too low.

Robbie and Kevin came by on a boat and rafted
to me; we chatted a little and I gave Kevin
a tour of the boat.  I lost a boat-hook overboard
when they arrived, and Robbie was going to swim
for it, but I flagged down a passing boat and
they retrieved it for me.  Lent my copy of
Quimby's to Kevin; they're doing a trip down
to Barkeley Dam in a couple of weeks.

8/9/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor in Drakes Creek at Hendersonville TN.
Woke with a nasty headache.

Dinghied ashore and biked to library, then
groceries, then two gallons of engine oil ($11).

Ron and Becky stopped by on a Sea-Doo to say hi.

Dinghied ashore at 4 and was picked up by
Robbie and Bernie and taken to a cookout at
Percy Priest Lake.  It's a huge lake near
Nashville, and I was surprised to see large
numbers of sailboats in the marinas.  Plenty
of wind and lots of good sailing on the lake.
Many of the boats are fairly new Hunters and
Beneteaus, but there are older, more unusual
boats too.

We had a cookout on the dock, hosted by
Todd and Tracy.  Had a wonderful time, lots
of telling of stories and laughter.  Met
some nice people, Ken and Janet, from a nearby
boat.  Great food, and then as dark fell,
Robbie said "let's go sailing!", so Robbie
and Bernie and Todd and I got on Todd's
sailboat and out we went.  Made me a bit
nervous, out in the dark on a strange boat
with a skipper I didn't know, after drinking
plenty of beer, in a lake I wasn't familiar
with.  But they'd done it a lot, and we
didn't hit any logs or run aground.  Saw
some very nice fireworks in the distance,
and we couldn't figure out what the
occasion could have been.  Found a big
new fender floating in the water and
picked it up; a profit for the evening !

Went across the lake to Elm Hill Marina,
the one where a storm last week turned over
a roofed dock, capsizing or sinking about 30
small boats with it and injuring several people.
We could see the submerged dock dimly in the
dark.  They said the same marina almost burned
down a few years ago: a houseboat caught fire,
someone cut it loose to get it away from other
boats, and it drifted straight into the
marina restaurant and burnt it to the ground !
Burned the fuel dock too, but the pumps and
tanks didn't go up.

We pulled into a slip near some of
their buddies, and joined his friends for
a little party on the dock.  Met some people
from nearby boats too.  Lots of retelling
of stories of crazy things they've done
together.  And lots of people wanted to hear
about my decision to live on a boat, and
my travels.

We motored back to the home dock and packed
everything up about 11 PM.  Robbie and Bernie
drove me back, and I dinghied home in the
dark and hoisted and stowed everything.  Into
bed somewhere near midnight, I guess.

8/10/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor in Drakes Creek at Hendersonville TN.
Loafed all day, reading and listening to the
radio and watching all the boats and jet-skis
zooming past.

Fired up the genset, and it started up easily
and ran okay.  Exercised the freezer a bit,
used the oven to cook dinner, burned a CD-ROM
backup of my laptop.  Ran the genset for an
hour and 15 minutes.  The voltage was a bit low.

Salad and pigs-in-a-blanket for dinner.

Sun looked like a pink neon ping-pong ball
as it set.  Nearly-full moon came up yellowish.

8/11/2003 (Monday)
At anchor in Drakes Creek at Hendersonville TN.
Suddenly decided to rebed the opening port over
my berth.  Took several hours to get it out.
Repainted it, and ran out of time to put it back
in before both the rain and the time I wanted
to go ashore arrived.  Unfortunately, I had
already launched the dinghy, and the rain
was very heavy, so the dinghy got a lot of
water in it.  Really poured and blew, much
harder than the news had led me to believe.
My anchor dragged about 100 feet, so I started
the engine in case I needed it.  Fortunately
the plastic I taped over my missing port
held through all the wind and rain.  Some
lightning.

Kept raining until 6 or so; hoisted the bike
and dinghy back up and didn't go ashore today.

Salad and chicken-and-saffron-rice for dinner.

8/12/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor in Drakes Creek at Hendersonville TN.
Reinstalled the opening port over my berth.

Dinghied ashore, biked to library, went to
some stores.  Bought spray paint ($5).

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

The daily thunderstorm came at 8:15.  Suddenly
blew with gusts up into the 40's and buckets
of rain.  Some loose jugs and stuff on deck
almost blew over the side, but I captured it.
Some lightning.

Still and muggy all night after the storm.

8/13/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor in Drakes Creek at Hendersonville TN.
Grey and humid day.

Raised anchor about 10:45, moved up the creek
1/2 mile to get to slightly shallower water and
get out of the traffic from the boat ramp, and
put down two anchors about 11:30.  Sweaty work.
Put the anchors toward the sides of the creek,
so a storm blowing up or down the creek will
distribute the load across both anchors.

Cleaned mud out of the anchor chain locker.

Stupidly dinghied ashore just before it started
to rain.  Stood under a tree that didn't give
much shelter for 15 minutes until the rain stopped.
Went to library.  Got sprinkled on again as
I returned to the boat.  Warm and muggy.

Richey stopped by in his motorboat for a quick
chat.  Turns out he's another one of these
guys who owns not only a sailboat but a "fleet":
big sailboat, motorboat, jet-ski, Hobie cat, and
he's thinking of buying a 23ish sailboat too !
Rained a bit just after he left; lightning
strikes within a mile or so.  Wished for a
bit of strong wind to test my anchors, but
didn't get any.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

8/14/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor in Drakes Creek at Hendersonville TN.
Sunny morning and going to be a hot day.

Tested bilge pumps; switch for primary was
tangled up and not working.
Did a bucket of laundry.
Tried to free nut on engine mount, but it
won't budge.
Added water to batteries.
Pumped water out of the hull of the dinghy.
Scrubbed the sides of the boat hull; lots
of spiders and spider-eggs.

Dinghied ashore, biked to library, got a
few things at the supermarket.  Got back to
the dinghy to find that someone had untied it
from the end of the dock, dragged it ashore
on rip-rap, and chain-and-padlocked it to
a piece of the dock supports !  Lots of water
in it, too, probably from getting waked while
it was ashore on rocks.  Got a lift
out to the boat from a jet-skier, picked up
bolt-cutters, jet-skied back to the dock,
and "unlocked" the dinghy.  Back to the boat,
then decided to bring the bike out too, in
case someone decided to lock or damage it.
A jet-skier suggested it might have been done by
a city employee who objected to a boat tied
to the dock.  Other city guys are doing work
on the dock but don't know who did this; maybe
an earlier crew moved and locked my dinghy.

Hot, still afternoon.  Poured a bucket of
creek water over myself every now and then.
Finally got a little breeze now and then
after 4 or so.  Listened to the radio
reporting about the huge power blackout in
the Northeast.

Chicken-and-beans for dinner.

8/15/2003 (Friday)
At anchor in Drakes Creek at Hendersonville TN.
Loafed most of the morning.  Not planning to
go ashore today; library is closed, it's going
to be hot, and I don't want someone to lock
up my dinghy again.

Fuel level 10.6 inches at engine hour 3003.5
Tested primary bilge pump again.
Put some chain on the anchor rodes to keep
them from pulling too sharply sideways.
Took stuff out of the dinghy and added
lashings to it.
Cleaned the cockpit, and stowed a bunch of
stuff that had accumulated in it.
Add bleach to the water tanks.
Tied down the jugs and fenders left on deck.
Hot afternoon; dumped buckets of water
over myself.
Got a suitcase out and started packing.

Chicken-and-rice for dinner.
Finished eating through the refrigerator
(my favorite chore; if you have a fridge
that needs eating-through, I'm your man!),
turned it off, and defrosted and cleaned it.

8/16/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor in Drakes Creek at Hendersonville TN.
Left at 9 AM to go on vacation from the boat
for a couple of weeks.  Kevin and Robbie picked
me up in Kevin's motorboat and took me down
the lake; faster than I've gone in a boat in
years !  Robbie drove me to Nashville, caught
a Greyhound to Indianapolis to my sister's
house.

Culture shock: a real bed, a real bathroom,
cable TV, air-conditioning !  Sharp
thunderstorm at 4 AM, and I woke up ready
to dash around the boat closing ports and
seeing if the anchor held,
but nothing needed to be done.  Wind and
rain made a gentle tapping noise on the
sides of the house.  Very strange feeling.

8/17/2003 to 9/5/2003
On vacation from the boat.
Saw all of my brothers and sisters, and
my dear sainted Mom.
Bought water filters ($24), sink strainer ($1),
carvac filters ($5).
Got new eyeglass frames.
Did work for Mom: dug up garden, fixed
air-conditioner fan.  Tried to fix computers
and struck out; we ended up getting a new
computer for Mom.
Went to dentist.
Took the train into New York City and saw the
sights: walked across the Brooklyn Bridge,
went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, walked
across Central Park, etc.
Floppy drive on my laptop died, so updating
the log onto my web-site will be suspended for
a while.

9/6/2003 (Saturday)
Greyhound to Nashville, picked up by Robbie
and Bernie and Todd, drove to the boat-ramp,
7 of us in Richey's motorboat, then out to
Magnolia.  Everything perfect with her;
nothing lost or damaged or stolen.  Took a
moment to track down an odd beeping sound:
low battery on my CO alarm.

We had a little party aboard for an hour or
two, drinking and talking and showing everyone
the boat.

Peanut-butter crackers for dinner; no fresh
food aboard, and I didn't feel like cooking.

During the night, a powerboat and sailboat
came in and anchored near me.  The sailboat
is a little too close.

9/7/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor in Drakes Creek at Hendersonville TN.
Replaced batteries in CO alarm.
Replaced CarVac filter.

Guy on the sailboat next to me hailed me,
and it turned out to be a friend of Richey's,
and he'd been keeping a bit of an eye on
my boat while I was gone.  So that was nice.
And they invited me over for breakfast, but
I'd already eaten, and I had chores to do.

Replaced sink water-filter; old one was ugly.
Removed jumper-cables from batteries and
added water to the house batteries.

Got the outboard started with only a few
spritzes of starting fluid.  Went over and
picked up Glenn and Betsy from Caroline, the
sailboat next to me.  Brought them to my boat
and gave them a tour.  Nice people.

Removed propane tank from the stern rail;
seems mostly empty.

Dinghied ashore before 1, taking the propane
tank.  Someone had promised to pick me up
at 1 and take me on some errands, but he
never showed up; guess he forgot.  Waited
until after 3, then went back to the boat.
Ran the engine for 15 minutes to exercise
it; it started a little reluctantly.

Corned beef and noodles for dinner.

9/8/2003 (Monday)
At anchor in Drakes Creek at Hendersonville TN.
Cool, foggy morning.

Odd: when I was in Indianapolis a couple of days
ago, President Bush was visiting town.  Now that
I'm here, he's visiting Nashville (15 miles away).
Maybe he's following me ?

Worked a bit on raising the anchor, to see how
hard it will be.  The rodes are all twisted,
and I don't know where the little chain I put
across them has gotten to.

Pumped up the bike tires and took it ashore
in the dinghy.  Biked to library, ordered
floppy drive for my laptop (to be delivered to
a marina at other end of the river), called
Robbie to arrange to meet tonight, got groceries.

Called marina, and they say my used anchor has
not arrived yet !  I thought it would have arrived
a couple of days ago.  Now I'll have to wait here
longer, and try to trace it, which could take
a couple of days.

Pumped more air into the dinghy tubes.
Raised the 2nd anchor, which took about 2 hours.
Had to use the dinghy to spin the boat 8 or 10
times, and deal with various tangles and lots of
mud.

Dinghied ashore and was picked up by Robbie
and Bernie.  They took me to buy gasoline ($5),
propane ($17), and a ton of groceries.  They were
pretty wiped out, because yesterday they got up
at 6 AM to go fishing, then went to the Titans
football game and were up until 1 AM.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.
Homemade cookies from my sister for dessert.

9/9/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor in Drakes Creek at Hendersonville TN.
Bit of a headache.
Lashed propane tank into place.
Did a bucket of laundry.
Richey stopped by to chat.

Called the marina, and they're pretty sure my
anchor hasn't arrived yet, so I'll have to
call Florida and get a tracking number.
Wanted to leave town today, but have to wait.

Dinghied ashore, did library, left phone and
email messages to get anchor tracking info,
got some groceries.  Odd: the viruses that
were making my emailbox overflow every single
day have suddenly stopped almost completely.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

9/10/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor in Drakes Creek at Hendersonville TN.
Headache again; popped pills.
Did a bucket of laundry.
Anchor hasn't arrived yet; can't leave town.

Dinghied ashore, biked to library and spent
most of the afternoon there, got some
more groceries.

Salad and grilled pork-chop and saffron rice
for dinner.

9/11/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor in Drakes Creek at Hendersonville TN.
Loafed all morning.

Dinghied ashore, went to library.  Found
that the guy who said he shipped my anchor
almost 2 weeks ago apparently shipped it 2 DAYS
ago !  Even that's not clear; UPS didn't enter
the addresses into their system, so I can
track a package but can't be sure that it's
coming here.  Have to wait another 3-5 days
here to see if it arrives.  And last reports
are that it seems to be heading for Phoenix,
which is wrong; the guy probably put the
wrong zip code on it too !

Got a few more groceries.

Salad and egg-salad sandwiches for dinner.

9/12/2003 (Friday)
At anchor in Drakes Creek at Hendersonville TN.
Did a bucket of laundry.
Lots of cleaning up and straightening up.
Shook up the fire extinguishers.
Replaced battery in fire alarm.

Dinghied ashore at noon and met Roy, and gave
him a tour of the boat.  He treated me to a
nice BBQ lunch, then drove me to a couple of
marine stores, but they had no zincs for me.
Sat talking for another hour or so (fine time
except our politics are completely different),
then met his friend Irving and the three of us
went out to the boat for another tour and
some conversation.  Nice time.  Roy gave me
a cup full of home-grown mint.

Tried to track my package, but it's between
Texas and Phoenix, on unstoppable progress
westward to somewhere, where they'll
say "wrong zip code" and send it here
(I hope).  UPS can't stop it, doesn't
know where it's going, etc.  I think this
is a hole in Homeland Security.

Peanut-butter-and-banana sandwiches (my usual
lunch) for dinner.

9/13/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor in Drakes Creek at Hendersonville TN.
Dinghied ashore, did library, got some groceries.
Ordered zincs (for an outrageous price once shipping
is included, but there are none in town).

Maybe I was tracking the wrong package: another
package with a similar number shipped from the
right place on the 11th and has made it to Knoxville.
If that's it, he shipped it even later than
I thought before.

Patched gelcoat chips on the dinghy sole.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.

9/14/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor in Drakes Creek at Hendersonville TN.
Lots of rain from 2 AM to 7 AM.
Fairly breezy day.
Cleaned insides of fixed ports.
Messed with tachometer to try to recalibrate it,
but no luck.
Ran engine for 15 minutes to exercise it.
Stayed on the boat all day; library is closed,
and the water is fairly rough and windy.

Salad and chili for dinner.

9/15/2003 (Monday)
At anchor in Drakes Creek at Hendersonville TN.
Cool, breezy, sunny day.
Put penetrating oil on loose engine mount.
Greased the tachometer adapter.

Dinghied ashore, biked to library.  Found my
package was delivered, but it says to Nashville.
Phoned the marina, and they have a package
for me !  Bought a gear-puller ($8) and masking
tape ($5) and some groceries.

Raised anchor about 12:30; it was an effort, since
there was lots of mud on it, the anchor was buried
solidly, and there was a bit of wind.  Motored down
to the marina; feels good to be moving again.
Fuel dock looked a little iffy, so
I anchored out and dinghied in.  My package was
sitting by the driveway, where the UPS guy had
plopped it.  It looked like an anchor with
wrapping around it.  Took it out to the boat,
raised anchor, and motored down the creek and
river.  Opened the package as I went, and it's
the right thing.  Nice brand-new CQR 45 anchor.

Unfortunately, got to Old Hickory Lock at the same
time as a tow going my direction, and had to wait a
couple hours for them to split up and lock through.
Drifted in the lake for a while, taking the old
CQR 35 off and putting the new CQR 45 on.  Then
anchored near the lock.

Not my best job mooring inside the lock; I'm
a bit out of practice.  Out of the lock a little
before 5, and down the river.  Nice current; I'm
doing 7 to 8 knots.  Almost immediately, I
encounter a tow coming up the wrong side of the
road.  Manage to radio him and coordinate
things in time.

Salad and celery-and-peanut-butter for dinner.

Anchored as it was getting dark, at 7:30
about 4 miles upstream from Nashville.  In the
entrance to Mill Creek, a spot I used on my
way up the river eons ago.

9/16/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor in the Cumberland river just
upstream of Nashville TN.
Cool, foggy morning.

Raised anchor about 8, went down to Nashville,
then had to wait 45 minutes at the train bridge,
as two very slow trains passed over.  Plenty of
time between them to get me through, but I guess
they don't want to take any chance of delaying
a train.

Down the river, past Ashland City,
eventually through Cheatham Lock,
then anchored about 5:30 a few miles upstream
of Clarksville, in another spot where I anchored
on the way up.

Salad and noodles-and-chili for dinner.

9/17/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor in the Cumberland river just
upstream of Claskville TN.
Very foggy in the early morning.

Raised anchor at 8 and headed down the
river.  Got to Clarksville and the low
railroad bridge about 8:45.  Tricky
situation: I got under that bridge on
the way up, but the gauge on this side is
very unclear.  And now there's a work-barge
blocking one side of the bridge.  Went dead
slow, but couldn't afford to slew sideways
too much because quarters are very tight.
Came to almost a dead stop, and was greatly
relieved when I slid under the bridge with
probably a foot to spare.

Met a 4x4 tow a few more miles down the
river; that's the widest I've seen, I think.
And the river isn't very wide here.

Lots of motoring all day, then tried to
go into Terrapin Creek to anchor.  Ran
aground immediately, and had a hard time
getting off even though I'd been going
very slowly.  Went further down the river
and anchored out in the middle at mile 64.5,
across from Canton KY.  Didn't do it well
the first time, so raised it and nosed a
little further into 6+ foot water, then
anchored again about 5:15.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

9/18/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor in the Cumberland river across
from Canton KY.
Got up to find bugs had spawned all over
the boat in the night, leaving greenish
dots all over the place.  Raised anchor
before 8, then spent 10 minutes scrubbing.

Motored down the river, and anchored about
12:30 across from Green Turtle Bay marina.
Hot, still afternoon.

Long dinghy ride to marina.  My packages
were waiting for me (floppy drive, and zincs).
Biked to supermarket and got groceries.
Got a bit lost on the way back; the marina
resort roads are confusing.

Have to decide: do I make a 14-mile
roundtrip to fuel up at the marina where
diesel is 8 cents/gallon cheaper ?  If I need
160 gallons, save $13 but spend 2.5 hours and
$4.50 of fuel to get there.

Went snorkeling under the boat, but visibility
was about 2 inches.  Dove down and felt the
prop zinc; it's there, but it's shrunk and no
longer tight on the shaft, which is not good.
Scraped some muck off the waterline, but
couldn't see to do any more scraping.

Salad and egg-salad sandwiches for dinner.

9/19/2003 (Friday)
At anchor in the Cumberland river just above
Barkley lock.
Cool, grey, slightly rainy morning.
Installed new engine zinc.
Fuel level 7.1 inches at engine hour 3032.8

Raised anchor about 8:45 and headed into
Green Turtle Bay marina.  Bought 155 gallons
of diesel at $1.55/gallon ($230), 3 gallons
of gas ($6).  Filled the water tanks and
jugs.  Filled the fuel tank to overflowing;
this may be the last easy fuel available
until New Orleans.  Several people stopped
by to look at my boat.  One had a 1972
Gulfstar 43.

To Barkley Lock, which was difficult.
Had to wait 45 minutes to get in, and there
was a pontoon boat fishing right at the
entrance gates.
The bollard was two bollards, one 3 feet
too low and the other 4 feet too high.
I used the high one, but that meant I didn't
have good leverage when pulling on the lines.
The wind swirled and made my boat oscillate.
After closing the gates, they reopened and
we waited 5 minutes to let one more boat in.
As we left, the boat ahead of me dawdled, and
the one behind started early, so I had to hang on
and wait, fighting the wind coming in
through the open gates.

Got out at noon, found nice 2.5-knot current,
and the sun came out about 12:30 !

Cumberland river joined into the Ohio river,
which is nice and wide but loaded with tow
traffic and dredges.  Saw a big fox running
over a big bare spot on the bank; I've
never seen a fox in the wild before.

Motored down to Paducah.  Tried to go inside
Owens Island, just to see what was there,
but the markers at the Tennessee / Ohio
junction were confusing and my chart was
a black-and-white copy, so I almost ran aground.
Made a U-turn and gave up on that plan; went
down the wide side of the island.  No protected
anchoring spots, so I decided it was safest
near the tiny marina.

But as soon as I anchored near the marina,
someone in the marina said I was in the
"navigation channel".  I'm not really,
and the river is 1/2 mile wide here, but apparently
the tows often nose barges in to shore here,
as they do everywhere else.  I raised anchor
and moved a little closer to the marina, then
the marina manager called, said he was
the "harbormaster", and said I'm still in danger.
But none of them offer any alternative
(other than staying in the marina).
I can't believe tows would nose in without
looking first.  Finally got settled a little
before 6, and I don't know how well I'll
sleep tonight.

Put the new floppy drive in my laptop, and
it doesn't work.  Crap !

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

Uneventful night; none of the tows came
close to me.  Lots of light from the hotel,
too, so I was pretty visible.

9/20/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor in the Ohio river at Paducah KY.
Cool night and morning.

Dinghied ashore, tying up near a replica
of Columbus's "Nina", and biked to library.
Did internet and some newspapers.  Went to
railroad museum, which had several lonely,
enthusiastic and knowledgeable volunteers;
had a great time talking to them about the
rivers and railroads and history and stuff.

Went to the main street, where there was
some sort of biker get-together going on
(lots of chrome).  Also, the river barge
River Explorer had docked and let off a lot of
people; I passed that barge when I was coming
down the Cumberland, I think.  Went to the
Market House museum, which had a lot of cool
old pianos and drugstore counters and an old
plug-style telephone switchboard.

Biked over to the marina, which is a set of
small barges floating in the river, with
a really funky metal catwalk to it from
shore.  Had a nice talk with a very
knowledgeable guy there.  Almost
went into the River Heritage museum, but
it looked a little pricey for what you got.
Climbed on an old locomotive near the
riverfront.  Back to the boat for a very
late lunch.

Realized I missed an art museum, and it's
closed tomorrow and Monday.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.

9/21/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor in the Ohio river at Paducah KY.
Grey morning.

Big fuel barge nosed into the bank upstream
of me; there's plenty of room.

Dinghied ashore and biked up to the shopping.
Turned out to be pretty far away, 3 or 4 miles
each way.  Frustrating to be in a Walmart
Supercenter and being limited to how much
you can carry back on a bike.

Back to boat, lunch, then back ashore.
Some powerboats came by my boat, and then
I saw them up at the dock, and they said
"hey, weren't you in Hendersonville last
week ?";  I was.

Biked to library and spent whole afternoon
there; pretty crowded on such a grey day.
Rain held off until about 1/2 hour
before it was time to leave; mild rain
as I biked back, put bike in dinghy, out
to boat, haul bike into boat, haul dinghy
up, etc.  Foggy, too.

Spaghetti for dinner.

Rained all night, and lots of tows doing
strange things out in the middle of the
river next to me.  Sometimes the wind made
the boat head for shore a bit.  Didn't
sleep well.

9/22/2003 (Monday)
At anchor in the Ohio river at Paducah KY.
Raised anchor at 0815, sun started coming
out about 0830.

Almost had a total disaster: almost went
over dam 52 !  It's only about 5 feet high
at the moment, but it would have been ugly.
The charts say they're removing
dams 52 and 53 and building Olmsted dam.
Got to the site of dam 52 and saw no dam,
no concrete, no warning signs, no warning
buoys, just a dredge in the middle of the
river and a rusty lock on one bank.
Then the lockmaster called me and said I
was about to go over the dam !  Made a
quick U-turn, then waited 15 minutes to
get into the lock, and had to shift fenders and
lines from starboard to port.  It was the worst
lock I've ever been in; port side tie-up, where
I was set up for starboard and my pilothouse
opens to starboard; the lock wall was big
round caissons instead of a flat wall that
my fenders could hand; fixed bollards instead
of floating.  But the lockmaster was very
nice and helpful, although he probably
thought I was an idiot.  He said he'd drop the
water slowly to avoid damaging my boat, then
he dropped it VERY slowly, making it a long,
drawn-out process.

Passed three cruising sailboats coming up the
river with their masts down and lashed on
deck (and one more with no mast at all;
must have had it shipped ahead), and 5 or 6
powerboats.  Part of the annual "great loop"
migration, I'm sure.

Rough on the river today: 15+ knots of wind
on my nose, and a 2.5-knot current helping me.

Tons of barges anchored in the river and along
the shore near Cairo IL.  But I found an empty
spot across from town and anchored a little
before 3 PM.  Not sure I'll be able to dinghy
ashore tomorrow; the shoreline looks all
concrete; nowhere to leave a dinghy.

From here, about 850 miles to New Orleans.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

Lots of tugs going back and forth at night,
and one broke up the barges just upstream
and motored up the river with them.  He
came a little close to me, maybe 200 feet
upstream, and floored the engines, so I had
6 to 8 knots of current past me for a
minute.  I watched anxiously, but my anchor
held fine.

9/23/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor in the Ohio river at Cairo IL.

Dinghied ashore.  Extremely difficult landing:
the whole shore is rock, the current is
strong, and there are wakes from tugs.
Found a big log stuck along the shore,
and nestled against it as an impromptu dock.
Took an anchor ashore, hooked it over a
big rock, and piled a couple more rocks
on top.  Took a locking cable ashore,
looped it around a rock, and piled
another rock on top.  Just then, a tug
came to get some barges just upstream from
the boat-ramp and me, and blasted a strong
prop-wash downriver 20 feet abeam of me as
I held on and the dinghy swirled in the
backwash.  Lifted the bike ashore, plus
a bag of garbage.  Hauled it over the rocks
to the boat-ramp, and up to town.  Whew !

Town turned out to be interesting.  The area
nearest the river is partly abandoned, as
is some of the west end of town.  But there
are plenty of nice old buildings, and a nice
historic district with lovely tree-shaded
streets and old houses and a nice park.
Biked around there a bit, then went to
the library.  Their only internet computer
was broken, and they have no newspapers, but
the building itself is beautiful, and it's
part museum and full of old furniture, some
American and some Italian Renaissance.
Gorgeous stained glass over some of the windows.

Then went to the Custom House museum.  Had it
to myself except for an old lady who reminded
me of my grandmother.  She let me wander through
the 2nd and 3rd stories, telling me to turn
lights on and off as I went, then insisted on
narrating a tour of the 1st floor for me.
Wonderful old building, incredibly high ceilings,
gorgeous floors, some wood and some stone.
Part of 2nd story floor is built from arched
brick, something I've never seen before.
Lots of 1920-1950's stuff, including an
optometrist's office, a pharmacy, a post office,
a dry-goods store.  All seem to be contents of
real businesses that existed in town, some in
this very building.  Great WW II uniforms and
documents and photos.  Whole room full of arrowheads.
Lots of town photos, many showing town flooded
by the river.  Marvelous place !

Got groceries, and picked up a BBQ sandwich on
the way out of town.  Back to the dinghy, which
I was relieved to find intact.  Fought stiff
current to get back to the boat.  Major ordeal
to haul everything back aboard while a 2-3 knot
current kept sweeping the dinghy away.

Raise anchor about 1:30 and headed down the river.
Soon at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi
rivers, which was cool.  Then down the Mississippi.
About 3.5 knots of current, so I'm doing 8 knots,
keeping the engine at lower-than-normal speed.
A lot less traffic here, which is nice.
Did a 360 to pick up a milk-crate floating in
the water.  Passed a 5x5 tow.

Passed a huge mass of barges and tows on the
bank, not near anything notable.

Went into the "harbor" (really a creek) at
Hickman KY.  Would have been just big enough
to anchor in, and very nice, except it's full
of barges.  Back out into the river, and
anchored at 6:10 just upstream of the Hickman
Harbor entrance.  About 1.5 knots of current
where I'm anchored.

Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner.

Lots of tow activity in the river at night,
including a lot close to me, feeding a nearby
plant.

9/24/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor in the Mississippi river at Hickman KY.
Added water to batteries.

Lots of blasting of horns from the tugs as
they go by me; I think they don't like me
being here, they have to go an extra 1/4 mile
up the bank to do their stuff.

Came on deck and started lowering the dinghy,
and a tug came over and told me to leave, I
was in their fleeting area.  I asked why they
had to have this exact spot, and they just kept
saying "we got a 40-barge tow".  They steamed
away, and I got irritated and got in the dinghy
and strated heading into town.  They came
steaming after me, blowing the horn, until I
gave up and circled around inside the "harbor"
to talk to them.  They told me to anchor
right in the harbor entrance.  So I went
back out, raised anchor, and went into the
harbor entrance and anchored.  Not happy with
it, but I got back in the dinghy and went
ashore.

Main part of town is pretty empty; lots of empty
lots and unused buildings.  Biked up a big
hill to the library.  Wonderful scenic overlook
behind the library; can see for miles and miles.
Did internet, then down the other side of
the hill to the supermarket.  Didn't really need
anything that was light enough to carry on the
bike over hills, but dutifully got some
groceries anyway.  Up the big hill and down
the other side to the dinghy.

Back to the boat, and raised anchor about 12:45.
As it came up, the ferry went by and then a tow
went by, so things were pretty exciting for
a couple of minutes.  Got out into the river
and had to wait for a big 7x6 or so tow to
go downstream, then I followed him.

Heard the USCG announce on the radio that
I was no longer obstructing the channel !
Called them and told them I'd been chased
out of my anchorage and told to anchor
in the harbor entrance, but they just said
"complain to the tug company".  And they
said the tow may have needed that exact
area; they can't land just anywhere,
which I knew.  I shouldn't have gotten
irritated, and as soon as I heard horns,
I should have gotten on the radio.
Now it'll take a while for my blood
pressure to settle down.  Oh, well, no
damage done to anything except my ego.

Motored down the river, and the tow ahead
was doing only 3 knots or so, so I passed
him.  As I got along him, he started doing
7 knots or more, so I had to speed up a
bit to pass and then open a safe gap between us.

Stiff breeze in the afternoon.  Lots of
swirling water too, making hand-steering
a chore.  Finally started the auto-pilot and
let it work for a while.

Started working on the bike tire; looks like
I picked up a staple in the rear tire.

Tried to anchor about 4 PM, but the current was
too strong.  Went further downstream and
anchored a mile or two upstream from New
Madrid MO about 4:30.  About 2 to 2.5 knots
of current where I'm anchored.  At least I'm
far out of the channel, and not near any
kind of barge area.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.
Too tired and stressed out to cook.

9/25/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor in the Mississippi river just
upstream of New Madrid MO.
Patched the bike tire.

Raised anchor about 9 AM in strong breeze
and rising current.  Motored down inside
New Madrid bar, which was a little closer
than I thought.  Turned out to be a great
anchorage, except that right now the wind
is blowing straight down it.  But the current
is less, and when the wind shifts, it'll
be nice.  Anchored at 9:30.

Cleaned the heads.
Used a nut-cutter to get the frozen nut
off the starboard-forward engine mount.
In the process, the big wire to the
alternator fell off; crimped a new
connector onto it.

Dinghied ashore, and found that I'd mounted
the bike wheel crooked; had to go back to the
boat, grab a couple of wrenches, and fix
it ashore.  Biked into town and got the
lay of the land.  School let out and kids
driving around honking car horns at each
other; I guess that's the excitement here.
Neat little town, nice
library, and a river museum.  Got some
groceries and bought nuts for the engine
mounts ($1).

Gave myself a bit of a haircut.
Guy named Larry stopped by in his boat,
to admire my boat.  He does some fishing
and various jobs, and we had a nice chat.
Salad and grilled pork chop and hotdogs
for dinner.

9/26/2003 (Friday)
At anchor at New Madrid MO.
Boy, the weather is nice !  Nicely cool for
sleeping at night, sunny and warm during the day.
Did a bucket of laundry.
Installed new engine mount nut, raising the
nut underneath a bit so it carries it's
share of the engine weight.

Started blowing hard at noon, opposing the
current, so the boat's moving and swerving.

Dinghied ashore and biked into town.  Had
to detour to avoid an area where a grain bin
on the waterfront had started burning.
Did hardware store, library, liquor store.

Wind eased a bit at 6:30.
Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

Wind picked up a bit at midnight; expected
thunderstorm and lots of rain, but got just
a little lightning in the distance and a
few sprinkles of rain.

9/27/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor at New Madrid MO.
Completely grey day.

Loafed all morning.  Started getting nice
after noon.  A houseboat named Tweedle Dee
pulled in and anchored.  Dinghied ashore
and biked to museum.  Nice civil-war era
stuff, weapons and furniture and clothing
and pictures of the town and such.  Two
nice old people running the place; I chatted
with them for a while.

Back to the dinghy, and stopped by Tweedle Dee
for a chat with a guy on board.  We're both
leaving tomorrow morning; probably see them
in Caruthersville.  He's looking for a dentist,
to have an aching tooth pulled.  They came
down the Upper Mississippi from Minneapolis
(I think), then went up the Illinois for a
while.

Salad and fruit and grilled sausage sandwiches
for dinner.

9/28/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor at New Madrid MO.
Cold morning; winter's coming.
Flocks of birds appearing; must be start of
the migrations.
Fuel level 16.0 inches at engine hour 3055.7

Raised anchor about 8:30; Tweedle Dee was
out about 10 minutes ahead of me.
Shaft vibration seems normal; I was worried
my fiddling with the engine mount might
have thrown alignment off, but it probably
was off anyway.

Started blowing NW 15+ and cold about 10:30,
and it was cold in the pilothouse.  Slogged
on to Caruthersville MO.  Anchored at a
stupid spot on the waterfront, but it was on
a lee shore and near a dredge and too near
the casino boat (security rules).  So raised
anchor, crossed the river, and anchored
between some dikes and off a sandbar about 2 PM.
Not a great spot (should have gone closer
to upstream dike, and gotten further in),
but somewhat sheltered from
the current, the wind is supposed to ease
tonight, and it's straight across from the
boat ramp I want to land at tomorrow.

Tweedle Dee pulled into a creek (old
harbor) a few miles upstream from town;
they'll have to move down tomorrow, I guess.
I probably should have done that too.

Chicken-onion-greenbean-mushroomsoup thing
for dinner.  Pretty good, actually.

9/29/2003 (Monday)
At anchor at Caruthersville MO.
Cold night and cool morning.

Dinghied ashore, and found the only
reasonable way across the river was to
get the dinghy up on plane.  Hard to
get ashore; found a little patch less rocky
than the rest, so beached the dinghy there.
Found a path up through the weeds, across
a flood-levee, and biked into town.

Not much in town; stopped at Chamber of Commerce,
and they made sure I knew about their
riverboat casino.  Library opens late, so
I got groceries and left.

Raised anchor about 11.  Tried calling Tweedle Dee
on the radio, but just got wise-guy tow captains
responding "Tweedle Dum".  Almost 5 knots of
current going down the river now.

Starting to see bunches of tows now; strings of 3
or so following each other, a couple miles apart.
Often see one or two pulled over to the side to let
another come past.  Some big ones, too: 5x7, 6x6.
Pushed by big triple-prop tugboats.

Anchored about 4 PM in the middle of the river
at mile 799, about 14 miles upstream of Osceola AR.
Failed again to get out of much of the current;
I keep trying to hide behind dikes, and they
keep turning out to be smaller and have shallower
water behind them than I expect.

Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner.

Current strong enough at times to make
the propellor freewheel; stuck a hose against
the shaft to stop it because the noise was
disturbing my sleep.

9/30/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor on the Mississippi river a bit
upstream of Osceola AR.
Added 1/4 quart to the transmission fluid.

Raised anchor about 9:15, and had to get
behind a big tow going downstream.
Started to pass him, but he was going
too fast for me, so eventually I dropped
back and followed him.  Made for a lumpy
trip; these tows tear up the water and
leave wake and prop-wash that you can still
feel 5 minutes after they pass.
Went down to Osceola and anchored about
11:15.  Disappointed: the convenient channel
up to town has been blocked by a dike and
a sandbar, so I had to stop just upstream
of a plant.

Got ready to go ashore, and saw a guy in a
canoe come into the creek.  Eventually he
came by and said hello.  He looked in his
60's and fairly scary-looking, but was
pleasant.  He's one of those guys I've
heard about who canoe down the Mississippi !
I don't know where he started, but his
canoe has a Minnesota registration number.
I asked where he's going, and he said he's
trying to figure out how to get to Florida,
so he can buy an old sailboat for $1000 and
get back into sailing.  He built his own
sailboat years ago and sailed it on the
USA west coast.  I saw a bedroll and a
disassembled bike in his canoe, and not
much else.  I suppose he has some food and
water.  No charts; he's using a Rand-McNally
street atlas.  He said he did the same trip 30
years ago, so this is sort of a nostalgia
trip for him.  He said back then, the river
didn't have all these dikes forcing him out
into the channel as it does today.

He went to ask the guys at the plant if he
could land there.  I launched the dinghy and
went upstream a bit.  Landed at a sunken
barge, saw traces of an old road I was looking
for, and hauled everything up the bank.
Started biking on the old road, but it quickly
became nothing but ruts through weedy fields,
and it smelled like cow.  Soon I was seeing
fresh cow-patties, and hoping they weren't
bull-patties.  Biked a mile or two with no
way to get out to a real road, then dead-ended
at a barbed-wire fence.  Came back and found
a black cow contemplating my dinghy from the
riverbank.  Quickly got myself down the bank
before the cow could amble much closer (I'm a
city boy), loaded up as she watched, and went
back to the boat.

Looks like the canoe guy went ashore at the
plant, but I'm not up for that.  Don't need
anything from town except the library.
And it's looking more like rain.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.
Started blowing about 6:30, and from the
one direction I have no protection from.
At least it started before dark; now I'll
be sure my anchor is not dragging.  There's
not much room here.  Started raining a bit
about 8:30 or so.

Feel sorry for the canoe guy in this
weather; wonder where he's sleeping tonight.
On the other hand, he chose to do this,
and he knew (better than me) what he was
getting into.

10/1/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor at Osceola AR.
Cool, foggy morning.
Raised anchor about 8:30 and got going.

Saw someone camping on Hatchie towhead;
a tent and some gear and a skiff.
Saw some houses on the bank a few miles
down from there; first houses I've seen
from the river, other than those in towns.

Was doing 10.8 knots over ground at one
point, through a chute at mile 765 !
That's with engine at less than normal revs.
Probably had 5.5 knots of current.

Got to Memphis TN, went up the Wolf river.
Narrower than I'd hoped, and they bring
barges through it.  And a Coast Guard station,
which security rules prevent anchoring close to.
Waved at Tweedle Dee in the marina as I went by.
Found a spot along one side and anchored at
about 2:30, then spent 45 minutes taking
a lone ashore to pull the stern in close,
and putting out a stern anchor to keep
from swinging into the shore.  Now to see
how long until someone comes along and tells
me I can't anchor here.

Think there may a homeless camp downstream of me;
heard voices, and saw someone washing clothes
on the riverbank.

Sun came out and the afternoon turned nicer.
Took the dinghy down the river to the marina.
The dockmaster there is a really nice guy;
chatted with him for a while.  But keeping
my boat there would cost $44/night.

Chatted with Doug and Sally on Tweedle Dee
for a while.  They zoomed past me while I
was in Caruthersville, to get here because
Doug had a bad tooth.  He met a dentist
right on the dock, and the doc put him in
his car and took him right off to the office.

Walked up to the Riverwalk display, which is
fabulous.  5-block-long scale model of Ohio
and Mississippi river system, and billboard-sized
models of river systems from Pittsburgh to
Colorado and Ohio to Louisiana.  Really cool
layouts of all the towns, too.  Fantastic to
see all the places I've been, and the ones
ahead too.  But got kicked out by a security
guard; turned out I was there after closing time.

Chatted with Doug and Sally again, then back
to the boat.  Passed a homeless person bathing
in the river, totally naked (I think).  I was
chilly wearing jeans and a sweatshirt; he must
have been frozen.  Took my own quick shower on
the stern of the boat, and the wind chilled me.

Salad and fruit and grilled sausage sandwiches
for dinner.

10/2/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor at Memphis TN.
Loafed most of the morning.
Fuel level 14.8 inches at engine hour 3075.2

Dinghied ashore, landing next to USCG station
in the hope that would keep the dinghy safer.
Biked into downtown.  Found library, which is
just a small branch.  Started catching up on
email.  I'm a little disturbed by all of the
signs of a high-crime area: the library has
a full-time guard, locked restrooms, and
invited me to put my bike inside the foyer
so it didn't get stolen.  Outside the welcome
center there are "24-hour surveillance" signs.

Biked down Beale Street, which has some major
resurfacing going on.  Wandered around town
a bit.  Went to the welcome center, which has
12-foot-high statues of Elvis and B. B. King.
Back to the library to pick up bus schedules
and read newspapers.  Memphis is a huge city;
looks like some of the best things require
a bus ride.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

10/3/2003 (Friday)
At anchor at Memphis TN.

Dinghied ashore at 0900, biked to bus
station, took bus to U. of Memphis art
museum.  Wow, Memphis is ENORMOUS !
The bus kept going and going, and progress
across the city map I had was slow.
Eventually found the art museum, which
was small and not worth the effort.
Did some email in the school library,
back to the main street, and missed my
bus by 200 yards.  Waited half an hour for
the next.  Got off at Brooks art museum,
grabbed a quick lunch, then went into the
museum.  Nice place; wide variety of
exhibits, although a couple of galleries
were closed for some reason.  Back out
to main road, and again missed my bus by
100 yards or so; saw it zip by just as I
came out of the front door of the museum.
Waited half an hour for the next one.
Back to the bus station, biked to the
library and did internet and newspapers.
Back to the boat.  Water-skiing boat
going up and down the river, waking me.

Salad and eggsalad-on-crackers for dinner.

10/4/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor at Memphis TN.

Dinghied ashore, biked McGrevey-Neeley
mansion and took tour.  Great house, nice
tour, but the guide talked nonstop.  Had
to interrupt him to ask questions.
Then went to Peabody Center, took a quick
look at the "folklore museum", which was just
a bunch of (interesting) paintings and
photos spread through a cafe and gift shop.
Got a few groceries.

Sailboat "Beluga" stopped by briefly and
we chatted a little; they went up the
river to anchor for the night.

Salad and hotdogs for dinner.

10/5/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor at Memphis TN.
Grey day.  A little rain at 10.
Homeless people yelling in the bushes.

John and Monique on "Beluga" stopped by again,
and we rafted up for an hour.  We gave each
other tours of our boats, chatted.  When
John asked about how I did oil changes, I
was shocked to see that somehow I managed
to shear off the fitting on top of the
tube down to the oil sump.  I don't need
it; I don't change oil that way any more.
But I must have snagged it on my clothes
one time too many, and sheared it off.

Dinghied down to the marina.  Tweedle Dee
left this morning for Helena.  Walked through
the Riverwalk Park complex for an hour or
two; very nice.  Guy in the marina says the
city has a $100 million plan to rebuild the
entire riverfront and island; they're going
to move the marinas and the USCG station,
demolish grain silos, build another
pedestrian bridge, make the whole area into
a park, etc.  Saw a powerboat in the marina
with 12 gasoline jugs strapped down across
the whole width of the swim platform.

Back to boat, and ran engine
for 30 minutes to charge batteries.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.

10/6/2003 (Monday)
At anchor at Memphis TN.
Another grey day.
Water level dropped 2 feet in 24 hours.
Checked engine zinc; looks fine.

Dinghied ashore, biked to library, did
internet and newspapers.  Tried to go to
Peabody art museum, but it's closed Mondays.
Got groceries.

Back to boat for lunch, then back ashore to
try another art museum.  My information was
bad; it was a small art gallery, and it was
closed anyway.  Wandered around a community
college for a while, back into town, got
some more groceries, back to boat.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.  Spaghetti
didn't work too well with hickory-smoked
sausage, but you can't find hot Italian
sausage here.

10/7/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor at Memphis TN.
Started working at 0730, to raise anchors
and get ready to go to fuel dock.  A ton
of work: had to launch dinghy, untie from
shore, try to raise stern anchor, give up
and hoist dinghy, slack main anchor, raise
stern anchor from boat.  Dumped diesel jug
into tank, put oil in dinghy tank, got
water jugs lined up.  Raised main anchor.
Wasn't moving until 0900.

Went to fuel dock and bought 20 gallons of
diesel at $1.39/gallon ($28) and 2 gallons
of gasoline ($4).  Probably could have
loaded another 10-15 gallons of diesel, but
the vent was making bubbling noises and I
didn't want to risk a spill.  Loaded water.
Moving again a little before 10.

Down by West Memphis, passed the biggest tow
I've seen.  A 6x7, with a big 3-engine tug
plus a small tug pushing it up the river.

Passed two casinos at Tunica MS.  One was
a huge, boxy thing; the other was a
fairy-tale castle.

Close encounter with a tow; he was going
into a bend as I was coming out.  I stuck
close to the greens on the starboard side,
and came within a foot of hitting one.
He had forced me that close, since the next
green 100 yards ahead was sliding down the
side of his barges.  I usually would have
gone out of the channel in that situation,
but there was a nasty-looking shoal not
far outside the channel.

Surprised to see Tweedle Dee anchored at
mile 694; they left 2 days ago from Memphis,
and I thought they'd be in Helena already.
Called them on the radio to make sure they
were okay, and they're just taking their
time.  Anchored in a spot between two dikes,
completely shielded from the current,
but between two working dredges.

Kept going to mile 681.  Tried to anchor
downstream of one dike, but they've
punched a hole through it, and it's shoaled
in.  Went 1/4 mile further, and found a
lovely anchorage inside a big hook-shaped dike.
Opening is bigger than it looks on the chart.
Anchored about 4:15, about 18 miles upstream
from Helena AR.

Hearing strange rumbling noises miles away.
Maybe a military target range ?

After dark, watched a big tow creep very
slowly downstream around the bend next to me.
Can't imagine why they were going so slowly,
unless it's a green captain.  Kept expecting
to hear them crash.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

10/8/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor on the Mississippi River, between
Memphis TN and Helena AR.
Woke at 7:30 to find thick fog; visibility
maybe 100 feet.  At 9, still foggy, 100 yards.
Tows going on right through the fog.
Replaced cotter pin in bow anchor chain roller.
Fog thicker at 10 AM.

Saw another tow going extremely slowly through
the bend.  Maybe it's a very tough bend for a
certain class of tow (large, loaded, downstream) ?
Fog starting to clear at 10:30.

Raised anchor about 11 AM, went down the river
as the fog finished clearing.  Not much traffic
until almost Helena, then 4 tows close together
going upstream.  I just went out of the channel
and stayed about 50 feet out, watching the
depth sounder the whole time.

Got to the nice anchorage at Helena AR, and was
relieved to find it empty (no barges).  Anchored
about 1:15.

Saw a sailboat go motoring past down the river
about 5:30.  Wonder where he could be going;
I'm in the finest anchorage for 50 miles in
either direction, and it'll be dark in an
hour or so.

Salad and fruit and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner.

10/9/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor at Helena AR.
Raised anchor about 0900 and moved slightly,
more into the center of the anchorage.

Dinghied ashore in anchorage, but found nothing
but mud and weeds and fields ashore.  Back into
the dinghy, out to the river, and went ashore
ina  little mud patch.  Hauled bike up over the
rocky bank, across a grassy, sandy field, to
a road.  I'm in a riverfront park, and it's
slowly filling up with campers here for the
blues festival.

Biked to end of road, and found there's a
small harbor which doesn't appear on the
chart, and the other side of it has a boat-ramp
right into town !  Much of it is filled with
a grain silo and barges, but the upstream
end has some space.  Not sure if I'll try
moving into there; it's a bit small for
my boat.  And by the time I get there,
other boats may have appeared.

Biked into town.  A mixture of vacant buildings
and some historic buildings, including several
big churches.  They're blocking off the main
street for the festival.  The supermarket has just
gone out of business; nearest is 4 miles out.
The mailperson says every business at that location
has shut down because of shoplifting !
Found the library and did internet and newspapers,
and toured the museum attached to it.

Picked up a few groceries at a gas-station
market, and biked back to the dinghy.
Almost stepped on a 2-foot-long snake in
the rocks, wearing my flip-flops, as I
went back down the riverbank.  Started
raining hard as I got the dinghy going.
Expected to find Tweedle Dee in the
anchorage with me, but I'm alone.  Saw
a couple of small boats go down-river as
I got back to the boat.

Cut battery-box lids to make them fit.
Heard blues festival music from town,
about a mile away; must be very loud.
Lots of rain at times.
Ran engine for 30 minutes to charge batteries.

Salad and fruit and cheese sandwiches for dinner.

Rained most of the night until about 4 AM.

10/10/2003 (Friday)
At anchor at Helena AR.
Very damp, foggy morning.
Loafed all morning and dinghied ashore after
lunch.  Wandered through the blues festival,
went to the Delta Cultural Center (lots of
Civil War photos), did library, then back
to the blues festival for a couple of hours
of good music and pretty women.
Nice, sunny afternoon.

Found a bunch of boats docked to a barge
in the "inlet".  Turned out to be the Memphis
Yacht Club; they come down for the festival
each year.  That explains the powerboats I've
seen zipping down the river today.  Chatted
with the security guard for a while, and
had trouble getting away from him; he's
desperate for someone to talk to, and he
told me all about his divorce and its
aftermath.

Fruit and chili for dinner.

10/11/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor at Helena AR.
Another very damp, very grey morning;
a few sprinkles of rain.

Dinghied ashore after lunch.  Wandered
through the blues festival, did library, back
to the blues festival for a couple of hours.
Took little breaks and went biking through
town a bit.

Back to the dinghy, chatted with some guys
standing near it, then back to the boat.
Fruit and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.

10/12/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor at Helena AR.
Totally fogged in until 10.
Saw a bunch of powerboats heading up the
river as the fog started to clear; everyone
going from Helena back to Memphis now
that the festival's over.

Raised anchor at 10 and headed down the
river.  Lots of tow traffic today, and
lots of bends where several tows are pulled
over to let others by.  Got stuck behind
a slow one for a little while, but passed
them and had clear passage for a while.
Very grey day.

Was passed by a fast tow, and followed them
for the next couple of hours.  Sun started
coming out in later afternoon.  Anchored
about 4:30 at mile 610, in a nice side-channel.

Made a ham-onion-rice-mushroomsoup thing
for dinner; pretty good.

10/13/2003 (Monday)
At anchor off the Mississippi River
at mile 610.

Grey morning.  Added water to the batteries.
Raised anchor at 0730.
Slight rain from 8 to 9.

Tons of tow traffic on the river today,
most of it upstream of me.  The tow captains
are complaining about how hard it is to
keep track of where everyone is.

Motored on and on.  Arrived a little upstream
of Greenville MS about 3:30, and planned to
anchor inside a big L-shaped dike on the river.
But then I listened to the weather forecast,
and it could be ugly: thunderstorms, wind
blowing S for a while, then W, then NW 15-25.
Not sure if it all applies to my area, but
decided to head into the harbor, despite
being tired.

Took more than an hour to
get in and anchored; it's a long harbor,
stuffed with marine businesses.  Saw lots
of tugs and barges in dry-dock, with guys
grinding or welding on them.  Fortunately
not too many tugs moving, maybe because
it's late on a holiday.  Anchored
about 4:45, in a nice empty area protected
by channel buoys and with good room in
all directions.  Tired.

Salad-like-mix and peanut-butter crackers
for dinner.

10/14/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor at Greenville MS.
Wind blowing from SW at 5:45.
Rain at 7:45, wind from NW by 8:30.
Totally clouded-over and grey.
By 9:30, wind blowing 15-20 from
NNE through NW.  Not going ashore today.

Bright and sunny and clear by 1, but still
windy.  Wind eased a bit about 3, but keeps
rising and falling.

Saw the "canoe guy" about 4 PM !  Same guy I
talked to in Osceola exactly 2 weeks ago; that
was about 250 miles ago, so he (and I) are
averaging a little less than 20 miles a day.
He was heading out of the harbor here today.
I waved at him, but he was looking straight
into the sun to see me, and he didn't wave back.

Strange: there's been no traffic through the
harbor at all since I've been here.  There are
several large marine businesses and casinos
upstream of me; I thought there'd be traffic.

Made a ham-onion-rice-garlic-mushroomsoup
thing for dinner; pretty good.

10/15/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor at Greenville MS.
Beautiful sunny day.
Did a bucket of laundry.

Dinghied ashore, stopped briefly at the marina
but it was deserted, biked through town.
More prosperous than many of the other
towns I've seen, but still a fair number
of vacant buildings, and no museums or much
else of interest.  Did library,
got groceries.  Strange supermarket, very
Southern, I guess:  20 kinds of smoked
sausage, but no Italian sausage, and every
part of the pig except the squeal: feet,
jowls, maws !  Brief chat with a guy
back where I landed the dinghy.

Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner.

Right after dinner, I heard someone hailing
me.  It's a small boat pulling near in the
dark, and it turned out to be someone the guy
I chatted with mentioned: "river Bill".
He's on about an 18-foot motorboat with an
outboard that doesn't work at the moment,
using solar panels and a trolling motor to
move, but he also has a mast and sails rigged.
His boat is stuffed; the deckline looks
like a heap.  He has two big wolf-like
dogs on board with him.  He says he's been
cruising the rivers for 6 years, and used
to be a shrimper near Pensacola.  He had
a sailboat in Lake Pontchartrain in New
Orleans, but it got crushed against a
seawall in a hurricane.  He's going down
there to try to get a Columbia 26 sailboat.
He's been here a week.  A real character.
He complained about not being able to
afford fuel for his outboard, but he offered
me a cold beer, and he had just come from
spending some time in the casino.

10/16/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor at Greenville MS.
Beautiful sunny day.
Did a bucket of laundry.
Made a big batch of hot oatmeal for
breakfast.

Tweedle Dee came into the harbor and we
had a short yelled conversation as they came
past.  They were in Helena for the blues
festival when I was, and we just missed
seeing each other.  They were very impressed
with how downtrodden the town is.

Launched the dinghy and went down to see
River Bill.  He pulled up on the sand island in
the middle of the harbor.  Talked to him for
well over an hour.  We're the same age within
3 months, but look completely different:
I'm a clean-shaven computer geek, and he's
completely tattooed with a full beard and
lots of wild hair.  He offered me a beer
for breakfast.  He's been working to get
his outboard working again, but for now
he has sails and three trolling motors
(powered by 6 batteries and two solar panels)
for motive power.  His boat is stuffed
with "stuff", plus one large dog and one
medium-sized dog.  He says when the outboard
is working, he often can't resist zipping
around at 40 knots (it's a 55 HP, I think,
on an 18-foot motorboat), and the fuel just
takes all his money.  He says he's leaving
the harbor today, once his batteries get
charged.  He gave a couple of different boats
tows up and down the rivers, until his outboard
gave out.  He often goes ashore by just
ramming the boat up onto a sandbar, and
once it cost him: he hit a submerged
rock and bashed a big hole through the bottom
of the boat.  He had to go tie off to a barge
and get some help to lift and repair the boat.
He's navigating with a road atlas.

Dinghied up to town, did library, got
groceries.  Saw the guy from the riverfront
park at the supermarket, and he said he'd
just given River Bill a lift to there to
buy dog food.  Biked back to the harbor,
and they arrived back just as I did.
Wind has picked up a bit, and now he
has a stiff upwind haul to get back
to where I'm anchored, or to get out
of the harbor.  Said hi to River Bill one
more time, and after I left, I realized
he was hinting that it would be nice if
I gave him a tow.  Don't feel like doing
that, since he's not in danger, I have
groceries to get into the fridge and
freezer, and it's almost 2 PM and I
want some lunch.  And I don't want
to get signed up as part of his act.

Got back aboard, and 15 minutes later
the wind eased a little and I saw him out
in the harbor motor-sailing a bit.
He'll have a lot of tacking to do if he
wants to get upwind.  A little later, saw
him anchored not far from where he
went ashore.

Went around the  boat in the dinghy,
working on the rub-rail.  Replaced several
missing screws, and put wood-filler in
holes where the screw was just spinning
without gripping.

Pumped some water out of the dinghy keel.

Salad and cheese-and-crackers for dinner.

10/17/2003 (Friday)
At anchor at Greenville MS.
Cool, breezy day.
Raised anchor about 8 AM; took a while because
there was sticky muck on much of the chain.

Some narrow parts of the channel just south
of Greenville, with lots of tow traffic.
Went through some strong "swirls" in the
water, and over a small standing wave in
the strong current.  Weather getting colder
and greyer.

Lots of tow traffic, and some radio chatter
about the river being closed somewhere above
Greenville, and someone going aground last
night.  Maybe the water dropped a little
and the river shoaled ?  Heard later that
the river might be open again up there.
The water does seem to have been dropping
over the last couple of weeks; it dropped
a couple of feet while I was in Memphis,
and a foot or so while I was in Greenville.

A bit of pressure near the end of the day;
came up behind a big tow going slightly
slower than I wanted to go, and then he
said he was about to "back up" and "do
a flanking" and he wanted me past him.
So I floored it and crawled past, about
0.2 knots faster than he was going.
Getting cold and shivering a bit, too.
Made it down to the anchorage I was
shooting for, and it looked good.
Glad it's okay; the next good one is
another 10 miles further.
Pulled in across from Chinaman Light,
a few miles south of Lake Providence LA,
and anchored about 3 PM at mile 481.

Worked on aft head sink drain a little.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.
Very little meat on the chicken I
bought; don't get "stripped back portions" !

10/18/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor on the Mississippi River at mile 481.
Cool, grey day.
Lots of ugly moth-related bugs all over the boat.
Raised anchor about 0915.
Just ahead of a tow right away; took a while
to figure out that I was going slightly faster
than him, so I slowly pulled away all day.
Sun started to appear about 12:30.
Lots of tow traffic again today.

Arrived at Vicksburg MS, and the Yazoo River past
the city front makes a very narrow anchorage,
with barge traffic.  Anchored about 2:30, tight
along one bank between a buoy and an anchored
houseboat, with a stern anchor to keep me
from swinging into bank or channel.  But the
weather is supposed to be good, and the bank
is soft mud.

Just after I arrived, a small tour boat went
past, and the guide was using me as an example
to tell everyone about the annual migration of
pleasure-boats down the river to warm weather
in Florida.  Beautiful sunny day now.

Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner.

Lots of barge traffic past the boat during the
night.

10/19/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor at Vicksburg MS.

Dinghied ashore and biked all around town.
Lots of exercise; the "bluffs of Vicksburg"
are just hills (I was expecting more like
the white cliffs of Dover), but the streets of
town go up and down and all over the place.
Everything closed, as I expected on a Sunday
morning.  Several small museums and a nice-looking
library but no groceries.  Very sticky mud
on the riverbank; had to work hard to get
the outboard skeg free of it.  I think the
water level is continuing to go down, day
by day and minute by minute.

Cleaned and gapped the outboard spark plugs;
they're all oily as usual (all low-speed
operation).  Greased the lube points and the
throttle cable.  A little later, managed
to loosen two big nuts I've always wanted to
loosen, but tilting the motor is still
very hard, and I think grease isn't getting
through the responsible joints.

Tweedle Dee came into the "harbor" about 4 PM,
and they're bummed.  They like a nice dock
or marina for getting ashore, and they don't
like to dinghy ashore.  So they don't like
what they see here.  They went further up
the channel to look around.

A little later, the sailboat "JenRae" (Pearson
323) came in and called Tweedle Dee.  They
didn't answer, so I responded
and chatted with JenRae.  They've come down
from St. Louis, heading for Punta Gorda.
They went ahead and docked at what I think
of as the "tour boat" dock; maybe it's
okay to dock there.  They'll see if anyone
kicks them out.  They're going to do the
Tenn-Tom trip next spring.

Tweedle Dee came back down the channel after
a while, reporting nowhere to go ashore, and
lots of derelict tugboats and barges up there.
I pointed out that JenRae had docked, but
Tweedle Dee said they needed to back in, to
get their scooters off the boat.  They're
very disappointed with Vicksburg, without
having stepped ashore yet.  But 10 minutes
later I saw that they had indeed docked, next
to JenRae.

Salad and a ham-onion-noodle thing for dinner.

10/20/2003 (Monday)
At anchor at Vicksburg MS.

Dinghied ashore, talked to cruisers on
Tweedle Dee and JenRae, then biked to
library.  Did internet and newspapers,
then found a supermarket and got groceries.

River's gone down another 6 inches or so;
lots of mud showing on all the banks.
Guy from Tweedle Dee went to Corps office
to get Atchafalaya chart (and they didn't
have any), and they told him the water will
go down another 8 inches, then come up 2 feet.

Lunch on the boat, messed with the aft head
sink drain some more, then dinghied ashore.
Chatted with the guys at the dock, then
biked to an ATM and then to the Old Courthouse
Museum.  Wonderful place, full of Civil War
and Vicksburg stuff.  Never knew that there
were "tinclads" as well as "ironclads".
Also, the name "Dixie" comes from the French
word "Dix" on a 10-dollar note issued by
a Louisiana bank and widely used before the
Civil War.  And the bluffs of Vicksburg
gradually fell victim to the developer's
bulldozer; there used to be some decent
cliffs and caves.  Nice kittens and cats on the
cool slate porch at the front of the
building; spent a while scritching the kittens.

Back to the dock, and chatted and had a beer
with the guys there.  One guy said those big
tugs burn 12,000 gallons per day !  Let's see
if that could be right:  My 100-HP burns about
1.5 gallons/hour, maybe 3 if I pushed it hard.
That's 75 gallons in a 24-hour day.  A big
tug might have 20,000 HP of engines.  That's
200x mine, so 15,000 gallons per day.  Wow !

Back to the boat, showered, ate a little salad,
then tried to start the genset.  Wanted to burn
a CD-ROM, to take into town tomorrow so log
and site are updated.  Laptop's floppy drive
still broken.  But it turned into a disaster.
First, the genset battery wasn't strong
enough to turn it over well, despite a couple
of days of charging.  Used the house batteries,
and it turned over, but heard some funny
gurgling and then a backfire.  Stopped and
looked in the engine compartment, and there
was some haze in there, but didn't see
anything damaged.  So cranked it again,
got it running, and heard all kinds of water
sloshing.  Looked in to find water gushing
up from the genset exhaust system.  Shut it
down, thought for a moment, and realized
I'd forgotten to open the through-hull
for the genset exhaust.  I almost never close
it, but I closed it a couple of months ago when
I left the boat for a vacation, and never
re-opened it.  Went into the engine compartment,
and found that the exhaust pressure had blown
chunks out of the top of the genset water-lift
muffler.  Better than having water back up into
the exhaust valves; guess I got off cheaply for
my stupidity.  But won't be running the genset
for a while.  Lots of exhaust and some water in
the engine compartment to clean up.

Cheese-and-crackers for dinner.  That's all I
deserve.

10/21/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor at Vicksburg MS.

Cleaned the boat a little.
Dinghied ashore, taking laptop and CD-burner,
went to Visitor's Center, and used their AC
power to burn a CD with web site and log file
updates on it.  Then put CD in their computer
and sent the updates off.  Nice chat with a
guy working there, about boating and various
things.

Met Randy at the dock, gave him a tour of
Magnolia, then we went ashore and had lunch
and talked about boats and life.  He sent
me email a while ago, saying "if you're ever
in town, drop me a line".  He says my web site
talked him out of wanting to live on a boat !
That's fine; it's not for everybody, and
there are lots of other ways to boat, or
other things to do in life.  He stumped me
with a question "what one thing could you
add or fix to make the experience a lot
better ?".  I couldn't think of anything
at the time, but later I thought:  a woman !

Toured the Coca-Cola museum; it was invented
here and first dispensed and then bottled
here.  Pretty nice little museum, showing
the original equipment, lots of Coca-Cola
memorabilia, old-time soda fountains, some
nice old furniture.

To the Old Courthouse Museum again, to
scritch the cats some more and talk to
the staff some more.
To the hardware store, and bought an elbow
for the aft head sink drain ($1).  To the
library, to read newspapers and magazines.
To the supermarket, to get a few groceries.
It's a hot afternoon, and I'm bushed from
heat and walking and biking all the hills
here.  To the dock, brief chat with
everyone, then to the boat.  Tired.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.

10/22/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor at Vicksburg MS.
Mopped up in the engine compartment and
started taking the genset muffler out.

Raised anchors about 0945 and headed out.
After being passed by one tow and then
going around a bend with that tow and two
oncoming tows, it was a no-traffic day.
Anchored about 3:30 at mile 390.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

10/23/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor at mile 390 of the Mississippi River.
Had a nice, quiet night; a nice change from
the heavy barge traffic and train whistling
of Vicksburg.

Removed the genset muffler.
Raised anchor about 0900 and motored down
the river.  Uneventful trip.  Anchored
about noon across from Natchez MS.  Managed
to get out of most of the current, but I
may be in the top end of a barge "fleeting area";
these guys take up all of the good anchorages.

Worked on the aft head sink drain, and it's
the toughest kind of work: getting hoses onto
barbed hose fittings.  Lots of straining and
swearing.  Got it mostly right, and the drain
works, but really need to get it better.

Dinghied down along the Vidalia side of the
river, and found Tweedle Dee docked to a rock
barge, with a crane operating right next to
them lifting rock from dump trucks and dumping
it on the barge !  I stopped to talk to Sally,
then landed my dinghy just downstream of them,
almost losing my flip-flops in the sticky mud,
and biked out through the gravel business.
Biked into Vidalia, did library, went to
tourist info, and there's not much to see in
town.

Biked down to Riverview RV park to meet Cappy.
Turns out he's one of the owners of the place.
We jumped into his truck and he took me for
a brief tour of the Vidalia waterfront, scouting
out better places to anchor.  Then we went across
the bridge to Natchez, and he took me up and down
and all around town, showing me everything.  He
knows everyone and everything that's going on,
and gave a wonderful tour and commentary.

Back to the RV park, biked back to the gravel
company, and chatted with Doug and Sally on
Tweedle Dee for 15 minutes.  Then up the river
to the boat, planing to make headway against the
current.  Made it back just before dark.

Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner.

Lots of big wakes from tows during the night.

10/24/2003 (Friday)
At anchor at Natchez MS / Vidalia LA on the
Mississippi River.  Raised anchor at 0820, went
down under the bridge and anchored again about
0845.  Closer to town and easier to show boat
to Cappy, and out of barge area.

Ate breakfast, cleaned up the boat, then
dinghied ashore.  River is low enough to expose
bottom-mud at the banks, and it's like crusty
snow: you step on it, it holods for a second,
then you sink in 6 inches and have trouble
getting your foot out.  Was told later that
it's called "gumbo".

Biked to the RV park.
Met Cappy, drove back to the dinghy, and
took him out to see Magnolia.  Toured the
boat and chatted for a couple of hours.
Big plume of smoke rising a few miles away
across the river; smells like a forest fire.

Back ashore, got lunch at Wendy's, then
saw Cappy's fleet: 3 aluminum skiff hulls,
and a big aluminum jet-boat with twin V-8's !
And he showed me some big power-cats on the
internet he has his eye on; $800K boats.
I kept suggesting he think cheaper, older,
smaller.

Off to the Vidalia library, then back to
the dinghy about 4:30.  Wind coming upriver,
current is negligible, and Magnolia is backing
onto shore; I think the rudder might have been
digging into mud.  Hitched the dinghy on,
ran to start the main engine, and motored off.
Then raised anchor while the wind was
trying to put me ashore again.  Anchor
came up with a steel cable snagged on it
first time, but I dropped it again and
it came up clean the second time, luckily.
Could have been difficult to get off.
Motored out further from shore and dropped
anchor.  Much safer now, but out in stronger
current.  No perfect spot, I guess.  Shouldn't
have stayed where I was this morning when I
saw how little current there was.

Lots of smoke all over the river from that
fire.  No dinner.

Cappy invited me to "Angels on the Bluff",
an annual event here.  So I got dressed
up in long pants and a dress
shirt, and dinghied up and over to the
Natchez boat ramp about 6 PM.  Had to
make the dinghy plane to get up and
across through the current.  Managed to
find a tiny little patch of mud near the
boat ramp, almost got my rolled-up pants
wet getting out, wiped most of the mud off
my feet, put on my sneakers, and then hoisted
the bike and myself up about 30 feet of
rocks.  Then up, up, up to the top of town.
Biked to the Visitor Center, found Cappy
and crew, and we all loaded onto the 7:15
schoolbus.  They do a bus full of 50 people
every 15 minutes, from about 5 to 8 PM, I think.
Lots of groaning about fitting adults into
kid-sized seats.

They drove us off to the old city cemetery,
which is very large and full of old tombstones.
They had candles in cups lighting the way
through all the paths in the cemetery, and
guides to lead us.  We stopped at about 8
different places in the cemetery, where
actors in period costume gave us little
speeches and dramas about the person whose
grave they were standing next to.  Several
of them were very good, and several not
so good.  But it was a fun and unusual
experience, and we had a gorgeous evening
for it.  Interesting how mobile some people
were back in the 1800's: one guy had worked
in Natchez, then when gold was discovered
in California, he took ship to Panama,
got across the isthmus, another ship up to
San Francisco.  Didn't make money there, so
when gold was discovered in Australia,
he went there !  Came back to Natchez
years later and ran businesses here.

Got back to the Visitor's Center about 9:15,
and then I biked back to the boat ramp.
Left the bike locked to a post ashore.
Clambered down the rip-rap to the dinghy,
took off sneakers and rolled up pants,
waded through mud, cast off, paddled
to get the outboard free of the mud, and
strted going across the river in the dark
with no lights on the dinghy.  Big tow
about a mile upstream was coming down,
sweeping a big spotlight, and they spotted
me.  I was surprised; I was wearing dark
clothes, and the dinghy is light gray.
Anyway, I was racing across a mile ahead
of them.  The biggest danger was that I
might hit a floating log or something
(although there's been very little debris
in the river so far) and stall in front of
the tow or get swept down the river.

Surprising to see how dim my anchor light
was; hard to see 300 yards away, and I knew
where to look for it.  Got to the boat and
hooked up the dinghy in the strong current;
fortunately I've done it so much that I can
do it in the dark with no problem.  Hoisted
the dinghy.  Starting to blow harder; a front
is coming through tomorrow.

10/25/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor at Natchez MS / Vidalia LA on the
Mississippi River.
Very cloudy and damp and blowing a fair
amount; thunderstorms possible this afternoon,
and gusty winds and rain likely.  I think I'll
stay aboard today; don't want to have to
dinghy back across the river in wild
conditions.  And I'm tired.

Lots of wind and clouds all day, just a brief
sprinkle of rain.  Never got as nasty as I
feared, but I'm still glad I stayed aboard.
Can't figure out why the wind is coming
from the south as a front is coming across
the region; thought the front was heading SE.
An hour of sun at 3 PM, then back to clouds.
Checked engine zinc; it's fine.

Salad and peanut-butter crackers for dinner.
Ran engine for 45 minutes to charge batteries.

Short burst of 30+ wind at 7 PM, then hard
rain for a couple of hours.  After midnight,
completely calm for 5 or 6 hours, then
starting blowing from north.

10/26/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor at Natchez MS / Vidalia LA on the
Mississippi River.
Totally grey and damp and blowing from north.
Getting colder, too.
Ran engine for 45 minutes to charge batteries.

Ugly day.  Felt like doing nothing, so I did.
Read and listened to the radio.  Completely
grey and breezy and cold and damp all day.

Ham-onion-noodle thing for dinner.
Ran engine for 30 minutes to charge batteries.

10/27/2003 (Monday)
At anchor at Natchez MS / Vidalia LA on the
Mississippi River.
Grey and cool, but not much wind, and sun is
trying to come through the clouds.

Dinghied across to the Natchez side.  The
river has risen a couple of feet, so the
little mud-patch where I landed before is gone;
had to land 50 yards further down.  That meant
a much longer scramble up the rip-rap to get
to the road.  My feet sank into lots of deep
mud, and I sat on the rocks trying to scrape
it off, but ended up just putting my socks
and sneakers on over fairly muddy feet.

Up the bank, reclaimed my bike (which I left
locked there 3 days ago), and walked the bike
up into town.  Biked around, checking out the
old train depot, the cathedral (very nice
stained glass), then did the library.  Cold
even in there !  Saw lovely historic photo's
in the Presbyterian church, then came out
to find chill wind.  Biked to lovely scenic
overlook at riverfront: tremendous views up
and down and across the river, but too cold
to enjoy it much.  Back to the boat-ramp.
Scrambled down 120 feet of rip-rap dragging
the bike with me.  Sat down, took off sneakers
and socks, then loaded everything into the
dinghy, sinking into foot-deep mud as I did so.
Sat in the dinghy and washed my legs over the
side, then went across the river to the boat.

Lunch on the boat, then dinghied over to the
Vidalia side.  Chilly biking into the north
wind.  Did library, then groceries.

Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner.

10/28/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor at Natchez MS / Vidalia LA on the
Mississippi River.  Cool and a little breezy
but clear and sunny.
Fuel level 13.0 inches at engine hour 3126.7
Raised anchor about 0815.

Lots of traffic on the river today; saw 5
tows coming upstream within 3 miles once,
saw 4 within a couple of miles later.

Anchored about 4 PM in a nice anchorage at
mile 298.  Did about 65 miles today;
another 70 to Baton Rouge.

Tired.  Loafed for a while, got savaged by
a couple of mosquitoes, and then didn't have
the energy to cook dinner.  Got incredibly
dark very quickly.  Salad and tuna-salad
sandwiches for dinner.

10/29/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor on the Mississippi River between
Natchez and Baton Rouge.
Woke with a headache again.
Did a bucket of laundry.
Raised anchor about 0830.
Beautiful sunny day, slightly breezy and cool.

Uneventful trip.  Several tows, but nothing
tricky.  Can't get rid of my sinus headache.
Air started getting a petrochemical
tinge to it.  Anchored about 2 PM at mile 252,
about 20 miles upstream of Baton Rouge.

Every now and then, I catch a whiff of something
and think "uh-oh, smells like the propane tank
is leaking".  Then I realize it's from some
refinery.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

10/30/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor on the Mississippi River 20 miles
upstream of Baton Rouge.
Nasty sinus headache all night and morning.
Raised anchor about 0830.

Strong wind blowing; rising to 15-20.
Rough trip at times, and my head's aching.

Got to Baton Rouge, and it's full of barges
and tugs and docks and refineries, as expected.
Saw a small tug named "Cletus", just like the
hillbilly character in "The Simpsons" !
Wind roaring straight up the river.
Found a reasonable anchoring spot near a boat
ramp and an apparently abandoned big dock.
Opposing wind and current making the boat
spin crazily.  Anchored about 11:45.

One freighter or tanker in harbor, and
another came up later; another after dark.
First big ships I've seen on the river.
They go faster than the tows !

A few bites of chili for dinner, then I
couldn't eat any more.  Headache still
crippling me.

10/31/2003 (Friday)
At anchor at Baton Rouge LA.
Headache slightly better this morning.
Did a bucket of laundry.
Cold chili for breakfast; yum !

Re-anchored about 0930; best to get
closer to shore, now that the strong
SE winds have weakened.

Pumped up the bike tire, and it went
flat again very quickly.
Dinghied ashore without the bike and
walked into town.  Sunny and hot.
Went to one library, couldn't do email.
Walked to another library and did email.
Then to State Capitol building, and up
to the observation deck on the 27th floor.
Stunning view in all directions.
Head and stomach not feeling so great.
Then a long hot walk back to the dinghy,
which had shipped some water and gotten
stuck in the mud.  Back to the boat.

Had some lunch.  Was thinking of going
ashore again, but I was feeling weak and
queasy, and I ended up just pulling up
the drawbridge (the dinghy) and loafing.
Felt much better by dinnertime; headache
seems to be gone !

Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for
dinner.  Watched rush-hour traffic on I-10
bridge come to a near-standstill.

Tug spotlighted me in the middle of the
night and hailed me to tell me my anchor
light wasn't very bright.  Duh !  The harbor
is fairly bright at night, I'm over in a
sensible spot, and I've been here 2 nights
so most local tugs should be aware of me
by now.  I'm comfortable.

11/1/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor at Baton Rouge LA.
Patched the bike tire, but it still leaked
afterward.  Gave up and dinghied ashore
without the bike again.  Met a young guy
named "Trey" on the shore, and we chatted for
a while and then walked down to LSU together.
He lives and works there.  Interesting looking
guy: some kind of Mohawk haircut, and some
word tattooed in big letters across his throat.

Turns out LSU is having its big homecoming football
game today, against Louisiana Tech.  People started
tailgate-partying before noon, and game time is 7 PM.
I wandered around for a while, did internet in the
library, wandered some more, and then walked back
to the boat.  The partying scene on campus is wild;
people have set up canopies and barbecues everywhere
through campus, even on the loading dock of one
building.  Lots of seriously beautiful women, too.
Parking is a mess, scalpers looking for tickets,
helicopters overhead and more people pouring in.
Art museum closed for renovations.

A long, hot walk there and back; probably did
8 miles of walking today.  Really miss my bike.

Found a catamaran "Sol y Mar" anchored
upstream of me, above the
bridge, in a supposedly off-limits area.  Will be
interesting to see if they get rousted out, and
where they go ashore.

Chicken-and-rice for dinner.

11/2/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor at Baton Rouge LA.

Dinghied ashore and picked up Robert.  Took
him out to see the boat, and we chatted for
a long time.  He's an ex-marine, had a lung
transplant a few years ago, and works as a
paralegal.  Has an Allman 31 he's doing lots
of work on, at Mandeville on Lake Pontchartrain.
Told me that Huey Long had the upstream highway
bridge (since replaced) built low so big ships
had to stop and use the port here.

Went ashore and Robert
took me to lunch at Georges, a local/student
place where I had a catfish poboy.  More
very beautiful women there.  (Interesting that
both guys I've met here say that the women
are amazingly beautiful here.  We wondered
if it's the Souhern heritage, or the climate.
Maybe the French and Spanish influences ?)
Robert drove me to the supermarket, where
I got groceries (but forgot to get bread).

Back to the boat, then dinghied ashore again.
Tried to hail the catamaran, but I think they're
inside with air-conditioning running.

Went to LA art and science museum (disappointing,
but at least it was free, because it was the
first Sunday of the month), Old State Capitol
building (fabulous building, blah exhibits
celebrating politics and probably designed by
political committees), and USS Kidd destroyer.
Had wonderful time talking to the volunteer working
there today, a 69-year-old black man who served
on board ages ago.  Lots of fun.

Salad and peanut-butter crackers for dinner.

11/3/2003 (Monday)
At anchor at Baton Rouge LA.
Opened my eyes a little before 7 to see the
catamaran a mile down the river; they
left early.

Raised anchor about 0830.  Lots of traffic
on the river for an hour or two, then not
much after that.  A couple of freighters
came up the river past me.  Pulled into
the last sheltered anchorage before New Orleans
(100 miles from it), and anchored about 1:15.
An otter swam across my bow as I was pulling in.
Nice and spacious and peaceful here,
after the crowding and traffic and
bright lights and interstate traffic noise
of Baton Rouge.  Hot and sunny day.

Loafed all afternoon.
Salad and spaghetti for dinner.
Fighting some mosquitoes inside the boat
much of the night.

11/4/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor on the Mississippi River
about 100 miles above New Orleans.

Added water to batteries.
Raised anchor about 0845 and headed down
the river.  Uneventful.  Started clouding over,
and the weather forecast is a little startling:
a tropical wave 200 miles SE of New Orleans
and heading straight for me, and then a cold
front coming down.  Probably won't be too
bad, but my options are pretty limited.

Got to Donaldsonville LA, brief rain sprinkle,
circled around a bit scoping out the situation,
and then anchored at about 1145.

Repaired bike tire again, but the hole is
bigger than I thought.  Probably time for a
new tube.  Suspect this one isn't the right
size anyway.

Dinghied ashore, and chatted with a guy in
a truck at the boat-ramp, then had a long
chat with the volunteer at the historical
museum.  He was amazed and admiring of my
cruising life, but he'd never have the
desire to do it himself.  Museum was nice:
in a huge old department-store building,
with some of the original wares, plus photos
and memorabilia from other parts of town.
Some unusual things:  a photo of Sisters
of Charity nuns wearing habits that make
you realize where the "flying nun" idea
came from; a photo of 5 former mayors of
Donaldsonville which suggested that they
must have one through a lot of mayors in
a hurry; a diagram showing about 20 grocery
stores in town simultaneously, I guess
showing a time when every store was
a specialty store.

Long session in the library, then got
groceries.  Pretty dark when I got out,
and I had a tough time at the dinghy.
Had to bail out some water,
couldn't unlock the paddle because I
couldn't see the combination wheel,
outboard stuck hard in mud that still
let my feet sink in a foot or more,
took lots of pulls to get the outboard
started, and mosquitoes munched me.
But got back to the boat okay.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.

11/5/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor at Donaldsonville LA.

Raised anchor about 0820.
Foggy, then hazy, morning.  Made it a little
harder to see the traffic.
Current is down to 1 knot or so.
Overtaken by the Hunter 25ish sailboat "Zap".
Saw 3 people on board.  Radio communication
very fuzzy; wasn't able to talk to them much.
They came down from Minneapolis.

Now in the seriously industrial area of the
river:  many stretches where both banks are
full of docks and fleeting areas, refineries
and grain companies and so on.  Passed by a
freighter as I went under Gramercy bridge,
which caused some anxious moments, especially
as he changed speeds a couple of times while
picking up a pilot.  Lots of freighters
anchored or being loaded/unloaded at docks.
Some fleeting areas with 100 or more barges
in them.  Lots of moving parts to keep track
of, to see if any of them are moving toward me.

After some circling, found an empty stretch
with nice shallow water and protection from
possible N or NW winds and nice wide section
of the river; probably last such spot before
New Orleans.  Anchored about
2 PM, mile 133.5, on the La Place LA side.
Tomorrow, have to do 40 miles to New Orleans,
then 7 or 8 miles through a canal full of
locks and bridges.

Freighter came in and anchored just upstream of
me, about an hour after I got here.
Heard tugs down the river trying to hail
"Zap" a couple of times, to no avail.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.
Propane camp-stove suddenly sprang a leak:
a jet of flame from a pipe-connection,
threatening to scorch fiberglass in the cockpit.
Got it out, taped it up, finished cooking
dinner, but I need a new stove.

Half a dozen freighters went by at night.
Some huge wakes, from a couple of them, and
from unknown sources.  Freighter next to
me was gone by 0400.

11/6/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor near La Place LA.
Raised anchor at 0640.  Foggy.
Grey and lots of refineries and other plants
billowing steam and smoke into the air.  This
whole stretch of river makes me think of the
description of Mordor in Lord Of The Rings.

Surprisingly little traffic until near
New Orleans, then it got interesting.  Freighter
started overtaking me, and I hugged the bank,
and suddenly a single-barge tow pulled out in
front of me and froze when he saw the freighter.
So I made a U-turn and waited them both out.

More freighters up and down as I went through
New Orleans.  Skimmed the bank along the
French Quarter, but you can't see much.
Looks small compared to all the massive
concrete of the rest of the city.
Deepest depths I've seen: 200 feet deep
right at the bend at the French Quarter.

Turned off the river and into the Inner Harbor
Canal about 12:15, and took more than 2 hours
to go the next 5 miles (as I expected).  A lock
and 5 opening bridges to get through, and I
didn't know the names and radio channels of
most of them.  The lock was horrible; they
put me in following a tow (I should have waited),
and I forgot to ask which side I could tie on
(turned out to be port side, no bollards,
had to scramble and move everything and then
their "helpful" staff had short lines and
kept giving unclear instructions).  The tow
had great difficulty getting in, so they
all got anxious to get me in past the bascule
bridge behind me which was holding up traffic.
I was shifting fenders and lines, trying to keep
the boat under control, trying not to hit the
walls or the tow very close in front of me.
A mess, and I was sweating like crazy in the
85-degree heat and sun.  Then the lock changed the
water level a whole foot, if that much.  I held
on while the tow powered out, making a lot
of prop wash past me.  And then my engine wouldn't
start right away; couldn't hear very well, but
I think the starter wasn't turning; gear probably
needs oil again.

Then one of the bridges didn't respond until I called
it 20 times, and the next one had a bad radio.
Lots of fun.  Glad to get out into the lake.
Turned west along the shore, found a little cove
at Lakeshore / Spanish Fort, and anchored at
about 3:15.  Lat 30.01.753 long 90.04.946

Glad to be off the Mississippi River, and away from
commercial traffic for a while.

Saw someone wade across a creek I'd thought of
dinghying up, but they hardly got wet up to their
knees; too shallow.

Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner.

North wind 10-15 came up as predicted, about 1 AM,
and soon the boat was rolling and pitching,
sometimes violently.  This whole side of the lake
is totally exposed; no shelter unless you go into
a marina.  So I tried to sleep as the boat
gyrated until 6 AM or so.  Still a bit rough
after that.

11/7/2003 (Friday)
At anchor in Lake Pontchartrain at New Orleans LA.
Slightly cool, totally grey, a little foggy,
and the lake water is lumpy.

Raised anchor about 1015 and headed over to
see what West End looks like.  As expected,
no space to anchor inside the breakwater:
it's all marina.  Went out and around, and
found a semi-sheltered spot on the outside
of the west side of it.  A very nice breakwater
being built nearby, but there's a USCG station
inside, and I don't know if they'd let me
anchor inside.  Anchored outside about 1100,
and let engine run a little more to charge
batteries.  Much calmer here.

Loafed all day, reading and listening to radio.
Totally grey all day, and I feel the same way.
Wind has mostly died, no rain, but everything
still and damp and grey.

Fruit and peanut-butter-crackers for dinner.
Ran the engine again to charge batteries.
Squirted oil into the flywheel housing
to maybe lubricate the starter gear.

Wind started again about 9 PM.  Another
sailboat anchored nearby about 10 PM.
Then both of us pitched and rolled in the
swell all night; miserable.  Decided to
give up on New Orleans.

11/8/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor in Lake Pontchartrain at New Orleans LA.
Cool, cloudy blowing N 15, "anchorage" is extremely
rolly.  Weather forecast says it'll be cool and
cloudy and blowing N 10 all week.

Raised anchor at 0445 and motored out in the
dark.  Very rough, but at least I'm going pretty
much straight into the swells.  Doing about 5 knots,
but every 45 seconds or so, hit a series of big
swells and get knocked back to 4 knots while
the prop cavitates for a while.

Got across the lake, through some bridges, and
suddenly the water is calmer, and I'm in winding
rivers with low marshes on the sides.  Dolphins,
and commercial fishing boats.  Been a while
since I saw those.

Anchored at 1140 up the Pearl River, on
the Louisiana / Mississippi border,
lat 30.11.627 long 89.35.092
Sunny and warm and calm here.

Swatted a hundred flies in the cockpit.
Salad and grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner.

Slept well; first really quiet anchorage I've
had in more than a week.

11/9/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor in the Pearl River on LA / MS border.
Got started late, raised anchor about 9 AM.
Raised the mainsail and motor-sailed down the river,
through bridge, out into Lake Borgne / Mississippi Sound.
Raised the jib, and had to take it down 3 minutes
later, as I turned onto the ICW and wind came
exactly on the nose.  Realized I can't make Biloxi
today, will have to divert into Gulfport.

Wind eased and swells lessened as the morning went on.

About noon, engine suddenly made an odd
racing noise.  Throttled back and checked the
situation: still moving, so prop hasn't fallen
off or gone loose.  Looked in engine compartment,
see a little leaking from top of injector 2,
but nothing else wrong.  Shaft and stuffing box
look good.  Kept going.

About 1:30, engine raced briefly again.

Ten minutes later, engine raced, I throttled
back, then it raced up and down and then
stalled.  Raised mainsail and jib and started doing
about 3 knots mostly in the right direction.
Fortunately, engine died in best possible place:
nice, wide-open water, and 10 minutes after a
tow passed me.  I can sail to a mostly-sheltered
shore anchorage if I need to.

Went into engine compartment and bled the
primary fuel filters.  A little unpleasant,
since the engine is very hot.  No problems
with filters: pleanty of fuel, and only a little
gunk at the bottoms.

Tried starting the engine, after it had been
off for 10 or 15 minutes, and it started
pretty easily and ran okay after running a
little unevenly for the first 30 seconds.
Got back on course and took down the jib.

Made it into Gulfport, did a circuit inside
the fishing-boat harbor, then anchored outside,
just off channel, at 4:15.

Salad and fruit and cheese-and-crackers for dinner.

Got rolly about 8 PM or so; went out and put
up mizzen as a riding sail.  After a few adjustments,
seemed to work somewhat, or else the wind just
shifted to a slightly better angle.

11/10/2003 (Monday)
At anchor at Gulfport MS.
Fuel level 9.0 inches at engine hour 3182.1
Checked strainer on fuel lift pump, and
it's okay, but the cap on the pump seemed
loose; maybe air was leaking in through there.
Started engine at 0730, rigged sheets for
sails, raised the mainsail.  Raised anchor
at 0815, motored out tight channel past dredge.
Wind and swells right on the nose, as usual.
Motor-sailed.

Into Biloxi and anchored about 11 AM.
Nice, sheltered spot, across from nice beach.

Dinghied ashore to a corner of the beach.
Happy to find I'm in the right part of town;
I was guessing.  Went to visitor's center,
then library, then did $4 worth of busses
to get to Walmart and back.  Bought new
propane stove ($41), bike seat ($20),
two bike tubes ($4), deck cleaner ($5).
On the way back, talked to a guy who's
sailed a fair amount, and is looking to
buy a sailboat maybe next year.

Salad and chicken-and-rice for dinner.

11/11/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor at Biloxi MS.
Put new tube on bike tire.
Did engine oil change; got the filter seated
correctly on the first try.

Dinghied ashore, stopping to chat with guy on
Lord Nelson 35 "At Ease" (he's ex-military).  They
stopped to wait for tide to get into a marina.
They're coming back from a couple of years in
the Caribbean, and we chatted about various
islands and plans for a while.  He says don't
spend a hurricane season in DR and PR; go to
Trinidad, and work up and down the islands
for a couple of winters to cover it all, if
necessary.  Antigua mized, Bequia good.

Biked to supermarket and got groceries.
Hard ride upwind on the way back.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.

11/12/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor at Biloxi MS.
Did a bucket of laundry.

Dinghied ashore and found that my bike has
been stolen !  New seat and tube and all.
It was locked, but not locked TO anything,
because there was nothing to lock to within
200 yards.  Walked around a bit hoping someone
had dumped it nearby.  Went to visitor's
center and had them call the beach maintenance
dept, but they didn't grab it.  Took busses
to Walmart and bought a new bike and lock
for $73 total.  Had to pedal back 5 miles,
and it's misadjusted so I was stuck in
3rd gear out of 15.  Stopped on the way
at a library, at police station to report the
theft, and at the supermarket.  To boat for lunch.

Back ashore, and biked around the east end of town.
More casinos over there !  Eventually found a
boatyard I was looking for, and bought 3 propeller
shaft zincs ($17; very cheap).  Went to
Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum, which
was pretty interesting.  Then to library
to read newspapers.

Salad and chicken-onion-noodle-mushroomsoup
thing for dinner.

11/13/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor at Biloxi MS.
Cool and very windy; front coming through.

Dinghied ashore, did library.  Went to
George Ohr pottery museum; nice but overpriced,
and the lady at the desk insisted on telling
me about every other thing to see in the
whole Gulf area.  Went to aquarium, which was
quite nice.  Back to boat.  Wind howling.

Apple and cheese-and-crackers for dinner.

11/14/2003 (Friday)
At anchor at Biloxi MS.
Cold and windy.

Raised anchor about 0830, and getting the mud
off the chain in windy conditions was a pain.
Motored over to Beau Rivage marina and
bought fuel.  125 gallons of diesel
at $1.06/gallon ($132), and 3 gallons of
gasoline ($5).  Loaded tons of water; I
knew one tank was empty, but the other
must have been almost empty too.  Kept
pouring and pouring water in, checking
to make sure I wasn't filling the bilge
or something.  Probably loaded more than
200 gallons into tanks, and 10 gallons
into jugs.  Forgot to ask if they'd take
my used motor oil.  Measured the fuel in
the tank 4 times and got 4 different
readings on the dipstick; gave up.
Engine hour 3187.

Left the fuel dock about 1045, making
a hash of it and almost hitting a
submerged board; should have asked for help.
Out into Mississippi Sound.
Put the mainsail up, but the wind is on
the nose as usual.  Left it up anyway.

Easy motoring, as the wind died and the day
got nicer.  Then some exitement: went into
Pascagoula harbor, which is full of Navy
ships being worked on, and a Navay air station,
I think.  Engine surged a few times just as
I approached an open railroad bridge, but
the engine didn't stall.  Held my breath as
I went under a highway bridge, then wound past
fishing fleet and anchored in very shallow
water, but the engine kept running fine.
Anchored after 4 PM.

Salad and spaghetti for dinner.

11/15/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor at Pascagoula MS.
Was a calm night, and now a gorgeous day.

Fuel level 16.25 inches at engine hour 3192.
Auto-pilot pulley has slipped inward again;
pump was making noise yesterday.

Dinghied ashore, and biked around for a
while trying to find the center of town and
the interesting sites.  Finally found
library, then got groceries.  Back to boat
for lunch.  They had a sale: a gallon of
milk for 10 cents more than a half-gallon,
so I got a gallon, and now have trouble
fitting it into the refrigerator.

Loafed a bit, then dinghied ashore again.
Looked at the Spanish Fort museum, but it
didn't look like it would be worth $4.
Went to library to read newspapers, then
another grocery store.  Biked back overloaded
with bags.

Salad and eggsalad sandwiches for dinner.
Fixed auto-pilot pulley, and tightened
engine fuel-pump cap again.

11/16/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor at Pascagoula MS.
Damp, still morning.
Raised anchor at 0630 and headed out.  Had to
hover for 15 minutes in front of the railroad
bridge so a train could cross; was nervous that
my engine might quit.  Got through and out of
the harbor okay.

Engine surged badly a couple of times around 9 AM.
Then it surged and died a little after 10 AM.
Tried to restart it, and it wouldn't start.
Tightened bolts as I drifted, only nicking
myself once on the very hot exhaust pipe.
Started after that.

Got a little wind, so raised the mainsail.
Then the wind died again.

Small powerboat zoomed past me, then halted
a few miles up, and called me on the radio
to ask if I knew where they could buy
gasoline.  Read an entry to them from Quimby's,
don't think the marina answered either radio or
telephone, saw them stop a local, and then head in.

Pulled off and anchored in the crook of
Dauphin Island AL just after noon.

Soon found I'm off the end of an airstrip (not
marked on the chart); small planes taking off
and landing over me.  I'm not too close; think
I'll stay.

Thought a couple of times of diving under the
boat to put a zinc on and scrape the hull,
but the water's cold.  And I'm a bit tired and
headachy.

Salad and cheese-and-crackers and fruit for dinner.

11/17/2003 (Monday)
At anchor at Dauphin Island AL.
Tightened fuel-pump bolt again.
Raised anchor at 0615 and headed out.  Put up
mainsail as insurance, but wind is on the nose
as usual.  Some anxious
moments as I fought strong current and a headwind
and then went under a big bridge: if the engine
quits now, it'll be dicey.  But no problem.
Raised jib and got some good push out of the sails,
but tired of tacking through oil rigs and peering
around the jib to see them, so took it down.
Motor-sailed with the main not doing much.
Across Mobile Bay ship channel with no problems.

A couple of miles east of the ship channel,
doing 4 knots into strong ebb current and
headwind, the engine surged and died about 9 AM.
Started sailing, surrounded by several oil
rigs and some anchored fishing boats.
Tried to restart the engine a couple of times,
tightened the fuel pump bolt, tried again,
batteries got low.  Sailed for 15 minutes or
so, and then the engine started (with difficulty).
Motor-sailed on, trying to avoid putting any
obstacle down-wind and down-current of me.

Wonder if surging gets worse at higher RPMs.
Maybe a fuel-line connection is loose ?

Very relieved to get off Mobile Bay about noon.
But now I'm in a more dangerous and unforgiving
place: Portage Creek / Alabama Canal / the ICW
east from Mobile Bay.  10 miles of narrow,
often rock-lined canal with commercial
traffic.  And it was a nail-biting experience;
I didn't get a break.  1 knot of opposing
current and 15-20 knots of wind on the nose,
so I made about 3.5 knots over ground, taking
3 hours to get through.
At the narrowest part, through a bridge, with
the strongest current, caught up to a tow
behind another VERY slow tow.  A sailboat "Uffdah"
caught up to me as I was stuck behind them.
Couldn't get either of the tows to answer me
on the radio, to find out what was going on.
We all made barely 1 knot over ground as
we went through that narrow point.  Then
the very slow tow pulled over a bit, and
as I accelerated slowly to pass him, my
engine started surging.  Some loud cursing
kept it from stalling.  Then I slowly passed
and pulled ahead of the slow tow.  Couldn't get
a break at the second bridge, either: had to
pull over and wait while another tow went
through it.

But I made it without accident, and anchored
after 3 PM at the SE end of Wolf Bay, in
Orange Beach AL.  Same place I anchored on the
way up, about 5 months ago.

I guess I took a risk, but since the engine
problem is intermittent, the alternative was
to sit for several days at Dauphin Island
working on it and testing it.  And the weather
is going to be very nasty for the next day or two;
better to sit here or in Pensacola.  And Mobile
Bay and the canal are risky any time your
engine isn't 100%.

I'm all stressed-out.  Time to relax, and I
think, maybe, YES: I will have a BEER with
dinner tonight !  Where did I buy that beer,
anyway ?  Kentucky ?

Salad and chili and beer for dinner.

11/18/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor in Wolf Bay.
Blowing hard; nasty weather expected today.
Headache from the single beer I had last night.
Investigated fuel lines and tried tightening
various things, but no obvious problem.

Raised anchor at 0900 and headed out.
Engine surging as soon as I get up to
slow-cruising RPMs.  Probably should have
stopped and anchored again; if the engine
quits in this high wind, I could be in
trouble.  But I pressed on, and only had
one really anxious moment when the
engine surged badly.  Through Perdido Key
bridge, and anchored about 1115 in the
west end of Big Lagoon.  Blowing 20+ with
gusts to 25+, supposed to clock around
from SE to NW over the next 18 hours,
all kinds of heavy-rain warnings.
Plenty of room here, not too much
fetch from the important directions,
so here I am, back in FL !  A guy using
a para-sail to surf a mile away; amazed
that anyone can do that in these conditions.

Blew S 20-25 much of the afternoon, with
lots of rain at 3 PM or so.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.

Started blowing SW 25-35 about 10 PM, with
gusts up into the 40's.  Blew like that
until 6 AM or so, when it changed to W 20-25.
Anchor held perfectly.

11/19/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor in Big Lagoon about 10 miles SW of
Pensacola FL.
Installed new secondary (last) fuel filter
on engine.
Oil level is rising; maybe I have a blown head
gasket letting fuel into the oil sump, and
forcing oil into the cylinders ?
But oil still smells pretty normal.
And I don't see smoke in the exhaust (although
it's hard to tell with all the wind).

Engine started up fine.
Raised anchor about 8 AM.
Engine still surging at moderate RPMs.

Nasty day; started to regret moving as I
neared the inlet and the restricted waters
around the Naval station; engine is surging,
wind is howling 30+, fighting ebb tidal
current to get to Pensacola.  Swells and
wind on the nose and dicey engine keeping me
below 3 knots most of the time.

Engine finally quit about 200 yards short of
where I wanted to be.  Wouldn't restart.
Anchored, rested for a couple of minutes,
and then engine restarted.  Raised anchor,
nosed in further, and anchored again at
about 11:15, at west end of Pensacola.

Blew hard and cold all afternoon.  Had thought
of going ashore, but too cold and rough.

Spaghetti for dinner.

11/20/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor at Pensacola FL.  Cold and breezy.

Dinghied ashore and biked into town.  Long
session at the library, including paying my
credit card and buying plane tickets for
Christmas.  Biked through town, but totally
failed at tourist-type stuff: couldn't find the
visitor's center, and by the time I found the
museums, I was ready to leave.  Got groceries,
back to boat for lunch.

Tried to get #2 injector out, but it won't budge,
and I'd have to take the return pipe off all
six injectors to pull it out, which I'm
reluctant to do right now.  Checked the air intake,
and pumped some excess oil out of the oil sump.

Raised anchor at 3:30 (should have gotten started
earlier) and motored down toward the inlet.
Wanted to go across it, through a narrow cut,
and anchor in Big Lagoon.  But just short of
the inlet, the engine quit.  I coasted out of
the channel, trying to restart the engine
with no luck.  Just as I was about to anchor
at the edge of the channel, got the engine
started.  Pulled over further and anchored.
I'm barely out of the channel; it goes
pretty close to the barrier island here.
Stupid place to anchor, but it's supposed
to be calm tonight, didn't want to chance
the rest of the trip with the engine like
this, and this avoids going through that
narrow cut twice.  So, got 90 minutes out of
the engine before it quit.

Salad and cheese-and-crackers and fruit
for dinner.

Don't think I slept a wink all night.
Worried about engine, about coming trips
to get back to Ft Myers Beach, and also
swinging a little too close to the beach here.
Got up several times to pull in chain to
pull myself away from the beach.

11/21/2003 (Friday)
At anchor at Pensacola inlet.  Cool in early
morning, but going to be a gorgeous day.
Drained some excess oil out of the sump.

Raised anchor at 0630 and started out inlet,
on trip to Panama City.  About 105 miles ESE,
in the Gulf.  The weather forecast is good/bad:
very calm waters for two days, but also
very calm winds.  Should be N this morning (good),
SE this afternoon (on the nose), and nothing
tonight.  At normal cruising speed, this trip
should take about 18 hours.  I expect to end up
drifting for a while; who knows how long it
will take ?  Don't want to run the engine too
hard or too long; if the oil is being thinned
by fuel, that can't be good for the bearings.
Most dangerous part will be Panama City inlet:
it's rock-lined.

A little after 7, put up all the sails, and
soon shut off the engine.  From 7 to 9, made
3 to 4 knots generally SE, balanced without
auto-pilot.

Wind dying by 10:30, and faint by 11.
Motor-sailed from 11:15 to 5, but the sails
usually weren't doing anything.  Saw one
fishing boat and one powerboat; it's empty
out here.

Got to the halfway point at 5 PM, and shut
down the engine and drifted in the middle
of the Gulf.  Hardly a breath of wind, and
water calm with occasional swells rolling
the boat.  Fruit and eggsalad
sandwiches for dinner.  Tried to nap for
a few minutes, but the boat is rolling and
creaking too much.  Let the
engine cool a bit so I could check oil and
drain some more out of the sump.  Not easy
with the engine fairly hot and the boat
rolling a lot.

Got moving again at 6:45, in the dark.
No wind at all in any direction.
Motored and motored.  Wind came up again,
mostly on the nose, after midnight.

11/22/2003 (Saturday)
In transit from Pensacola to Panama City.

Arrived off Panama City inlet about 5 AM.
Had to waste 30 minutes to let dawn start, and
it was tough, shivering in the cool breezy
dark and my eyes trying to close themselves.
Edged closer and closer to the inlet as the
light improved, until I could see well enough
to enter it.  Came in with mainsail up as
a backup in case the engine quit.  Anchored
at 6:45 inside Grand Lagoon,
and went to bed.  Up 15 minutes later to move
50 yards; I was bumping on a shoal.  Loafed
and dozed until noon.  Lots of wakes on a nice
Saturday here.

Dinghied ashore to state park, and biked through
it and out into the nearby streets.  Not much to
see, and I got hassled by a guy at the entrance
booth, who thought I should pay an entrance fee
(I didn't).  He even thought I should pay for
anchoring 75 yards offshore from the park !

Chicken-and-rice for dinner.

Started draining the oil sump.

11/23/2003 (Sunday)
At anchor at Panama City FL.
Finished draining the oil sump, put in oil.
Added water to batteries.
Did a bucket of laundry.

Raised anchor about 0930 and motored up to
the Redfish Pt anchorage, across from town.
Anchored in stiff E wind.

As I was lowering the dinghy later, a fairly
huge freighter came steaming past, maybe 200
yards away.  But I'm protected by the shallows
here, and well out of the channel.

Dinghied ashore, dumped 4 gallons of used oil into
the disposal facility, then biked to the library.
Did internet and newspapers, then back to the
dinghy.  Got 100 yards out into the bay, in rough
conditions, and the motor quit and wouldn't restart,
not even with starter fluid.  A sailboat was right
there and offered me a tow, and I accepted gratefully.
They towed me back to let me off upwind of the
marina, and I paddled around to tie off near the
fuel dock.  Couldn't get a peep out of the motor.
More perfect timing: 2 guys in a skiff I'd seen at
the dinghy dock came over to fuel up, and I asked
them for a tow.  They agreed easily, and it turns out
they're on another anchored boat, in the bayou
out past where I am, so it wasn't even out of their
way to tow me.

I handed them a line, crossed over
into their skiff and we towed my empty
dinghy across.  One guy remembered my boat from when
I was here 6 months ago, because I have a pilothouse
and he's added one to his boat.  The other guy has
worked as or for a diesel mechanic for 12 years.
When I described my engine problem to him, he
said every time he's seen fuel dumped into the oil
in a Perkins as I described, it's been the lower seal
on the fuel injection pump.  I guess if that seal
is an oil/fuel interface, he might be right.
There has to be a shaft or gear driving the
injection pump from the crankshaft or camshaft, so
there may well be an oil/fuel joint.  They dropped me
off right at my boat, and I thanked them profusely.
Could have been ugly if I was stuck ashore with
darkness falling.  Worse if I'd blown down the bay
in the dinghy.

Grilled sausage sandwiches for dinner.

Wonder what else is going to break ?  Genset and
outboard down, engine limping.  Oh, well, nothing
that effort and/or money won't fix.

11/24/2003 (Monday)
At anchor at Panama City FL.
Rained a lot from 4 AM to 7 AM.
Morning totally grey and starting to blow a
cold, strong wind from NW.

Loafed all morning, had lunch, then tackled
the outboard motor.  It started right up,
ran horribly for 10 or 15 seconds, then died
and wouldn't restart.  Took out the spark
plugs and cleaned them, the bottom one was
really filthy.  Still no start.  Took
carburetor off and disassembled it.
Nut on bottom of priming bowl was loose,
but no other problems found.  Put it all
back together, and the engine started and
ran fine !  Let it run for 10 minutes or so,
then took a spin downwind 100 yards to see
Kenny, who I met when I was here 6 months
ago.  His dinghy was there, but he had the
hatchboards shut and didn't respond to my hails,
and I wasn't about to knock on his hull; I hate
when people do that.  Back to the boat and
hoisted the dinghy.

Spaghetti for dinner.

11/25/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor at Panama City FL.
Cold and breezy.

Trying to analyze the weather.  Will be a
2-day trip SE to Clearwater.  About a 2-day
window starting early this morning,
but the cold would sap my strength, and any
delay during the trip would put me in strong
weather, and I need stuff from shore today.
So I'll have to watch for the next window.

Dinghied ashore into stiff cold wind.  Outboard
hesitated once, but I throttled up and it kept
going.  Biked to library, did newspapers and
email, and everyone's telling me I can't run my
engine with any diesel in the oil, or it'll
ruin my bearings.  So I have to fix the engine
here.  Got groceries and bought 6 gallons of
oil ($51).  Dinghied back to boat through
dead-calm and warmer conditions.

Kenny came over.  We chatted
while he had a beer and I ate lunch and then
took the fuel lift pump off the engine.  We
looked at the gasket between the pump and the
block and said "that's diesel where it shouldn't
be".  He left.  I took the pump apart and found
a big crack in the pump diaphragm !

Dinghied ashore and went to marine store.  He
referred me to a Perkins dealer, who was about
a 6-mile bike ride away.  Chugged over there
and bought two fuel lift pumps ($131) and
an impeller-removal tool ($50).  One pump to
be picked up tomorrow, closer to the marina.
Chugged back to dinghy dock, back to boat,
installed the new fuel lift pump, and fired up the
engine.  Surged once slightly after 10 minutes.

Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.

11/26/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor at Panama City FL.
Drained oil sump and replaced with new oil.
Ran engine for 45 minutes; ran okay.

Dinghied ashore, stopping by to see if I
could help a grounded sailboat.  But before I
could get to him, he had hopped out into the
water and pushed himself off the shoal.
Picked up spare fuel pump,
did library, got groceries, disposed of used
motor oil, bought 3 gallons of oil ($25).

Fruit and salad and grilled sausage sandwiches
for dinner.

11/27/2003 (Thursday; Thanksgiving)
At anchor at Panama City FL.
Ran engine for 45 minutes; ran okay.
Laptop died and took phone number for Mom with
it; couldn't call her.
About 2330, wind switched from SE 10 to NW 35
in seconds, with blinding rain, as squall at
edge of front came through.  

11/28/2003 (Friday)
At anchor at Panama City FL.
Blew hard (25-30) and cold all day;
blew harder all night.

11/29/2003 (Saturday)
At anchor at Panama City FL.
Time to cross the "Big Bend".
Raised anchor at 0630 in cold NW 20.
Out the inlet about 0730, to find big swell
from the WSW.  Cool and breezy.  Felt queasy
for a while.  Swell was fine, following, helping me
motor-sail 6-7 knots, until
I turned the corner at Apalachicola.
Then had nasty NE swell on the beam, had to turn
80 degrees from intended course to reduce the
rolling, and making only 4 knots.  Slept below
much of the night, letting auto-pilot and engine
make progress.

11/30/2003 (Sunday)
Out in the middle of the "Big Bend".
Motor-sailed all day, then anchored S of
Cedar Key as night turned calm.
Slept from 7 to 11 PM, then wind picked up.
Raised anchor and motored south.

12/1/2003 (Monday)
Arrived in Johns Pass (south of Clearwater)
and anchored about 1 PM.  Slept.  Showered.

12/2/2003 (Tuesday)
At anchor inside Johns Pass.
Motored south in Gulf across mouth of Tampa Bay.
Anchored inside Longboat Pass about 2 PM.

12/3/2003 (Wednesday)
At anchor inside Longboat Pass.
Motored south down ICW all day.
Anchored near Englewood Beach about 3 PM.

12/4/2003 (Thursday)
At anchor near Englewood Beach.
Motored south down ICW all day.
Anchored at Fort Myers Beach / Estero Bay about 4 PM.
Got a nice central spot near my friend Richard,
who came over to chat for a while.
He's working on a deal to reopen a historic
building as a restaurant, and has sunk much
of his cruising kitty into it.
Salad and chili for dinner.

End of Tenn-Tom / Mississippi River trip !


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