Posted June 16, 2010        Health Issues Bring Changes

Our last article appeared in the December 23^rd issue of the Moundville 

Times, and described our participation in the Tuscaloosa Christmas Afloat Parade. As most readers know, wintertime usually finds us in south Florida, enjoying the mild weather for which this area is famous. The winter of 2009-2010 however, would be different. My Dad has done amazingly well caring for my Mom since her broken pelvis in 2003. In a premonition of sorts, shortly after our arrival in September 2009, my Dad asked Mary and I to stay in the Moundville area for this winter. We were happy to be able to do this, and more than willing to comply. From September till early November, we spent about half of our time with my parents in Moundville, and the other half of our time at the boat. We celebrated as Alabama football fans enjoyed a memorable championship season. With the cold weather of December, my Dad’s breathing became progressively worse. At this time, we moved to Moundville full-time, and this remains our status today. My Dad’s premonition would prove to be correct. As December turned to January, our presence was needed at the house in Moundville 24/7. At least we would not endure the miserable weather while sitting in a boat on the Warrior River! Both my Dad and Mom required hospitalization this winter. His emphysema was becoming progressively worse, limiting his physical ability to care for my mother. So we took over most of this responsibility, in order to allow him to concentrate on his own needs. Our family is so fortunate to have the assistance of Ilean Jackson. Without Ilean, the option of my parents remaining at home would have been very difficult, if not impossible.

This photo shows my Dad, Ilean Jackson, Betty Davis, and my Mom at home this May.

There are two marinas (and only two) located north of Tuscaloosa on Holt Lake. Just after coming out of Holt Lock, Hide-A-Way Harbor Marina is located on the first cove to the right. This marina is 8 miles above Tuscaloosa, and 350 miles by water above Mobile. They have about 50 slips, and generally are filled with boats. One-mile further up, also on the right, you will find Eagle Cove Marina. Approximately 70 boats are berthed here, and this has become our home marina when we travel to Tuscaloosa. Owned by friendly Greensboro native Quinn Stewart, we like the location as well as the beautiful setting at Eagle Cove Marina. The transition from live-aboard to land-based living would require some adjustment. First would be a few steps to winterize "What Daze It?" We had hardly even seen freezing temperatures since moving aboard in 2003, much less the sub-20 degree temperatures we were sure to experience. As we now all know, this winter would be one of the coldest and wettest in decades! Second, we were putting more miles on our 15-year-old car,

 

Ilean and Mike pictured with their Mazda 5’s at the Hall house.

and it was requiring progressively more maintenance, we decided to replace it with a nearly new vehicle. We really are not the types who follow trends in anything, so it was no surprise that we spurned the popular SUV class of vehicle, and opted instead for a mini-minivan. We didn’t want the larger Dodge Caravan, Honda Odyssey, or Toyota Sienna, settling instead on a Mazda 5. We especially liked the flexible fold-down seating for 6, good gas mileage of a four cylinder engine, dual sliding side doors, and the fifth rear door having 6’ headroom for loading groceries and supplies.

 

Here is what HID thought about the snowfall in Moundville on Feb. 12!

 

Snow flurries at Eagle Cove Marina on Feb 12, 2010.

Settling in as Moundville residents, we were beginning to resume a variety of activities in the community. These included more regular church attendance, visiting with friends and neighbors, volunteering for community projects, a host of home improvement jobs, and gardening. The gardening project came about as the result of a sad circumstance. Our neighbor, J.B. Davis, had always worked a garden plot next to our house. In March, he was diagnosed with a form of leukemia, and Mary volunteered to plant a portion of his garden. She was planning to do him a favor, while learning about gardening from a lifelong expert. To everyone’s dismay, J.B. passed away on April 7. Mary remains fully committed to J.B.’s garden, and with Beverly’s help, we hope to have a good harvest this year. We were blessed to have such a wonderful neighbor, and will think of him every time we work the garden or enjoy the vegetables that it provides.

Oil Spill in the News

The recent explosion and sinking of the offshore rig "Deepwater Horizon" and now the resultant flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico have dominated the news. The image of a massive oil slick progressively moving toward the Gulf Coast is horrifying. Once the reality of what happened sinks in, my thoughts then move on to "How will this affect our activities and travels along the Gulf Coast?" It is surprising how clearly oil and water separate. They quite simply, will not mix. Oil, being much lighter, floats readily on the surface of the water. Lighter oil, such as gasoline, will evaporate fairly quickly. Heavier oil, such as the crude leaking from the damaged wellhead, will hang around in the environment for a long time. Because the oil floats on the surface in a fairly thin layer, a boat can operate in the oily water. The intakes for cooling water for the engines are typically several feet below the surface, and will not ingest oil from the surface. This is why you are seeing video of boats operating in and around the spill area without any problems. The sides of the boat will become contaminated with oil, but little to no oil will be ingested. Once the oil comes ashore, now that is the real problem! There is hope that booms and barriers will contain the oil, and allow it to be suctioned up before reaching beaches, wetlands, and inland areas. Now we are seeing pictures of wind driven waves pushing water (and oil) easily over the top of the deployed containment booms. I do not see how booms can work in the open Gulf along the beaches. The breaking waves will overtop the booms in this setting, rendering them ineffective. There is more hope for containing and preventing oil from flowing into the more protected bays, creeks, rivers and coves. In order to do this, the booms must stay in place to block the flow of the surface layer of oil. This means the route inland to all bays, waterways, creeks, rivers and coves will be necessarily blocked by these critical oil booms in the region of the spill. No traffic can move while these booms are deployed, unless the integrity of the boom containment is broken. It remains to be seen where the booms will be deployed, and how much they will restrict normal waterway traffic. The prevailing winds and currents generally move Gulf water from east to west. This is why the muddy outflow from the Tombigbee, Warrior, and Mississippi Rivers discolor the seawater in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, as it swirls westward. The coastline east of Mobile Bay on along Florida has much clearer water, as any beachcomber knows. I would expect the majority of the spill to move west of the Alabama coastline, although strong weather systems could certainly change the movement of the spill. Unfortunately, time will tell the story of where the oil comes ashore.

 

Posted May 7, 2010     Tuscaloosa Christmas Afloat- Dec. 12, 2009

The winter of 2009, finding us in the Moundville-Tuscaloosa area, allowed us to do something onboard "What Daze It?" that we never thought possible; participate in a Christmas parade! Tuscaloosa is home to Christmas Afloat, a parade tradition that started 19 years ago. A local boating club, Pirates of the Warrior, coordinates the event. We belong to the Pirates, and participate in many of their fall events, but this was our first parade. We had heard many of the members tell stories of pre-parade decoration times starting as early as Thanksgiving to be ready for the Dec 12^th event. Other stories describe hair-raising man-overboard scenarios, fog-bound parades, and pitch dark mid-river collisions. We knew our boating experience would be put to the test as first time participants. We were fortunate that our friends and neighbors at Eagle Cove Marina, Will and Denise, offered their boat decorations for our use. They had been in the parade for several years, and agreed to donate their lights and figures, so long as they could ride along with us. We happily accepted! Quinn Stewart, owner of the marina, volunteered the use of two large boxes of lights, so long as we had the patience to replace the dead and broken bulbs. I started the decoration tasks about two weeks prior to the parade, but did most of the work in the four days preceding the Dec 12^th parade. Mary and Ara, another neighbor and boating friend, assisted me in this task. In all, we put in about 40 hours of work preparing the decorations. Of course, we have yet to remove and store the lights and figures!

 

These two photos are of "What Daze It?" the night before the Christmas Parade on the Warrior River. The weather was pretty here, and the decorations almost finished.

On Saturday morning, the Pirates held a one-hour meeting with the captains of all the participating vessels, to inform us of the route, the order of boats, and to go over a great deal of safety related information. The Coast Guard Auxiliary and the Tuscaloosa Marina Police were there, and laid out their responsibility as escorts, spotters, and rescue vessels along the route. They even closed the river to other marine traffic for the duration of the parade. The majority of the participants came from the two marinas located eight miles north of Tuscaloosa on Holt Lake, Eagle Cove and Hideaway Harbor Marinas.

 

Pictured here is a raft of three houseboats as we wait to lock down-river in Holt Lock.

Most boats locked through together at 2:30 PM, and assembled near the 6:00 PM starting point at Riverview Boat Ramp, just above the Hwy 82 (McFarland Blvd) Bridge. The route would then follow down river in front of the U of A Riverwalk Park at Old Lock 12, past the Corp of Engineers, then under the Hwy 69 (Lureleen Wallace Blvd) Bridge. At this point we would turn around and head up river along the Northport side to the finish line and Judges Boat, at Cypress Inn. The weather was cold and rainy, which surely limited the spectator turnout. We still saw many people brave the elements along the route. The preferred method to watch appeared to be from inside cars parked along Jack Warner Parkway. The boats all looked fantastic, from the smallest pontoon to the largest houseboat, and everything in between!

　

　

Six hours later, here is the same raft of three houseboats, entering Holt Lock on the return home from Tuscaloosa Christmas Afloat.

The next day was the awards ceremony, at Eagle Cove Marina. We were pleasantly surprised to learn we placed 1^st in the cruiser division! We also heard that at least one boat had an encounter with trees along the shoreline on the way home! Next years parade will be the 20^th annual event. It is sure to be the biggest and best yet. Mark your calendar now for the date: Dec. 11, 2010 at 6:00 PM!

2009 Tuscaloosa Christmas Afloat Winners

Pontoon

1st place - Kevin Cook, 2nd place - Cecil Simmons, 3rd place - Foman Deerman

Cruiser

1st place - Mike Hall, 2nd place - Ed Cook, 3rd place - Bobby Ballenger

Houseboat

1st place - Terry Duncan, 2nd place - Quinn Stewart, 3rd place - Mike Johnson

Overall Winner: Jason Clark (houseboat)

At the conclusion of the parade was an exciting fireworks display, launched from the Corp of Engineers dock. The final accomplishment for the evening was safe passage for all boats back upriver, through Holt Lake, to our designated slips in the marinas. This certainly was a dark trip. In some ways, the lighted boats helped guide the fleet home. At the same time, the lights on our boat tended to kill my night vision! It was very difficult to make out the riverbank on either side of the boat, a scary situation!

 

Posted August 26, 2009       Back from the Bahamas

We are now back in Mobile, having basically an uneventful return trip from the Bahamas. We are no longer Bahamas virgins! As many of you had told us, we did not want to come back to the states! The Exumas were so, so beautiful! The clarity of the water, along with the vivid blue and green colors were especially memorable. We are already gearing up for our return, although this may not happen until 2010-2011. In Early September, we will travel up the Tombigbee-Warrior Rivers to Tuscaloosa, Al. We will remain here till mid-November.

 

From our Bahamas trip of spring/summer 2009, our tracks are in green, Todd & Brenda's from Lifes2Short are in yellow.

Posted Friday, June 19, 2009   From the Exumas, Bahamas

The Exuma Island chain is a necklace of small islands extending 140 miles southeast of Nassau, New Providence Island. We explored the north and central portion of the Exumas, turning back north just before reaching Lee Stocking Island on May 27. Our time in the Exumas spanned from the end of April until the end of June. March, April and early May were unusually dry and windy, while late May and June turned out to be very wet with calm to moderate winds. Although not particularly crowded with cruising boaters, the more southern part of our trip was most enjoyable, for we had the beautiful surroundings all to ourselves. We experienced some mechanical difficulties, which we successfully fixed on our own. At separate times, both of our toilets broke down and clogged (ugh!), and our dinghy engine was out of commission for 2 ½ days. We left Marco Island on April 18, 62 days ago. We have spent 58 days at anchor or on moorings, and 4 days in marinas. We soon plan to depart the Bahamas, returning to south Florida in early July.

051- Anchored off Big Majors Spot near Staniel Cay, at Pig Beach, where they swim out to meet the dinghy for a handout.

016- Many small, rocky caves exist near the waters edge in the Exumas. Here we are inside one, with "What Daze It?" anchored nearby.

049- Here you see the windy, rough conditions on the Ocean side, typical of the early May weather. The seas for this day in the ocean were quoted at 5 to 8 feet.

016- This photo shows another, larger cave.

020- Here is how the dogs got to-and-from the beach for the three days that our dinghy engine was out.

RCC II- During rain showers, we would catch rain to pour into our water tanks.

25- A double rainbow from the bow of "What Daze It?" at Rudder Cut Cay.

053- One unusually calm day allowed these photos of the beautiful coral reef we would see nearly every day. The water here is about 5’ deep, and it looks as if Mary and HID are in front of a giant aquarium!

 

059- Another shot of the unbelievably clear water. Again, the coral and fans you see here are in 4 to 5 feet of water!

078- These large coral formations grow up to near the water surface off Darby Island, Exumas.

070- We were able to buy bread from the local Bahamians. This loaf came from Lorraines mothers kitchen at Blackpoint.

071- The famous Lorraine’s Café at Blackpoint. This is one of the larger communities in the central Exumas, though probably fewer than 200 live here.

074- Many of the locals weave palm fronds into straw mat strips to make hats, bags and mats.

079- Here are Mary and Eunice in her house, as Eunice was working on a straw mat for us.

004- Mary and Mike swim with the local nurse sharks near the dock at Compass Cay Marina.

021- The dockside sign at Compass Cay Marina.

050- This rock feature is called Rachael’s Bubble Bath, located at Compass Cay.

035- A small, shallow pool, warmed by the sun to near 100 degrees.

034- As the water rises to near high tide, the waves crash over a small rocky spit, then gush out into the pool, creating a cooling bubble bath!

066- Here is the full view of Rachael’s Bubble Bath at Compass Cay.

095- Dual water spouts near our anchorage at Warderick Wells in Exuma Park.

100- Mike snorkels through a small cave at Warderick Wells. It took a very calm day and slack low tide to make this possible. We learned from locals that these conditions do not exist very often, and we were privileged to enjoy the beautiful coral colors present along the cave floor.

153- Mary and I did some volunteer work while at Exuma Park. Here we mounted 10 sets of cabinets in a storage shed.

158- Mike works to get a reluctant outboard motor going for Exuma Park.

 

074, 014- Here Mary has bananaquits eating sugar from her hand at Park headquarters

021- "What Daze It?" lies on a mooring ball in the north mooring field at Exuma Park headquarters.

027- This is an actual skeleton of a 53’ sperm whale that washed ashore in Exuma Park. The sign explains that it was killed from ingesting plastic debris.

Posted Saturday, May 9, 2009

On April 30, in Nassau, we picked up the only guests we expect for our Bahamas stay. Rusty and Angela Herrington joined us for 10 days. They flew into Nassau for $50 per ticket, and out from Staniel Cay, about 100 miles to the south, for $250 per ticket. The wind did finally ease up two days after their arrival. They enjoyed the beauty of this island paradise for the duration of their stay. Here were our "ports of call" during these 10 days.

R&A 002- Pictured is Angela on the flybridge, feeling a bit under the weather due to the 2-4’ seas on the Bahama Yellow Banks. Two days before, we were in 6-8’ seas, Angela!

ExWRA 011- pictured here are Rusty and Angela with Highborne Cay in the background.

ExWRA 015- Angela goes for her first snorkel dive, and 2 seconds later, looses her top!

ExWRA 021- Mary, Angela and Mike at Normans Cay with the beautiful Exuma Sound in the background.

ExWRA 029- Here we are on our "private" beach at Shroud Cay in the Exuma Land and Sea Park.

ExWRA 039- We took the dinghy through the mangrove creeks at Shroud Cay to the Sound side, look at the wonderful colors in the water here!

Waderick Wells 008, "What Daze It?" lies at anchor at Park Headquarters in the Exuma Land and Sea Park. Wonderful snorkeling here on the reefs around the boat!

Thunderball Cave 001 (yes, from the Bond movie "Thunderball")- Mary waves inside Thunderball Cave at Staniel Cay.

Thunderball Cave 011, on the Sound side of Staniel Cay, the sound side always has beautiful color in the changing water depths.

Posted 4/30/09     To the Bahamas!

Visiting Alabama

Our current travel plan had us in Marco Island from February till mid-April, then the Bahamas from late April till early July. Since we would be away from family for such a long time, we decided to rent a car and drive back to Alabama for a two-week visit in March. We enjoyed getting to spend real quality time with both sets of our parents.

Preparing for the Bahamas Trip

Traveling back to Marco Island, we now set our mind and body to the task at hand, preparing the boat for an extended cruise to another country. Mary made extensive lists of the necessary ship’s stores, and the resulting long, long shopping lists. We also completed two major projects on the boat, sanding and varnishing our exterior wood, and changing our main battery bank. We purposely bought a boat with little exterior brightwork, but when the wing doors and frames do need painting, it’s still a big job!

Photo- Varnishing the wing doors, Mary completes one of the tasks on our very long to-do-list.

We removed the doors and spent a large part of the next 15 days chipping away at the task. Mary has more patience than me, and was assigned the job of head painter. That meant I was the chief sander and scraper. She put on six coats, and the doors now look pretty good. The other major maintenance project was to change out nine of our batteries. This included our entire house bank of 8 six-volt, golf cart batteries, as well as the starboard engine starting battery. We were very lucky to get six full years of heavy use out of the old house bank. This is the best I’ve ever experienced from a set of batteries. Usually I’m lucky to get half that life! The batteries were still functioning fine, we just didn’t want to take the $expensive$ chance of battery failure in the Bahamas. I had to rebuild one of the battery boxes due to rot near the bottom. My back was still recovering two weeks after the job! Among some of the many other small jobs accomplished between sanding, varnishing and lifting batteries were changing oil in all three engines, and rebuilding one of our toilets. Needless to say, we did not enjoy leisurely days at the beach during March and April!

We want to say a special thank you to our hosts at Marco Island, John and Alex. Sadly, they both lost their fathers during the time we spent there this spring. We were glad we could offer some help and support during this difficult time for them. We hope our next visit with them will come under more pleasant circumstances.

Dancing with the Wind

On Saturday, April 18^th, we departed Marco for our trip south and east to the Bahamas. This winter and spring has been especially windy for the tropical area of south Florida and the entire Bahamas Island chain. We have repeatedly heard from cruising friends and associates located in the Bahamas that this year has been unusually windy. So much so, that it has often been difficult to find areas that are protected enough just to sleep at night and function during the day. Our plan all along had been to delay our departure until mid-April, in order to miss the windiest time of the year. It was with some trepidation that we received the news of the wind that just never let up.

Photo- "What Daze It?" lies at anchor off New Turkey Key in the 10,000 Islands.

Photo- Mary and HID shelling along one of the deserted beaches in the 10,000 Islands.

We dashed through the 10,000 Islands and the Florida Keys, spending a mere 3 days there, in a rush to cross to the Bahamas in favorable winds. We left the Florida Keys from Key Largo, and arrived at our first Bahaman destination, Alicetown, Bimini. We experienced west winds of 5-10 mph while we crossed the Straits of Florida and the mighty 4-knot Gulf Stream. We enjoyed relatively calm seas of 2-3 feet, and stayed two nights in Bimini.

Photo- The beautiful aquamarine waters off our first Bahamian landfall, Bimini.

We had one more day forecast with fair winds, before a howling east wind would dominate the weather for a week or more. We used this day to travel across the Great Bahama Bank to the Berry Islands. Unfortunately, we needed one more day to reach a more protected anchorage, but by this time the 20-30 knot east winds were upon us! The more protected anchorage was north about 20 miles via the open Atlantic Ocean, with waves in the 5-7 foot range. My plan to do this was vetoed by Mary. We had just made three consecutive passages of over 100 miles. We were exhausted from the long, rough travel. We moved to the best shelter available, and although not perfect, at least we could function during the day, and sleep at night. All total, we spent 6 nights in the Berry Islands. We can attest to the fact that this cruiser’s paradise has its fair share of thorns! We look forward to departing the Berry Islands.

Photo- Here is "What Daze It?" at a marina in Nassau. Check out the size of the boat next to us, at 120+ feet, that’s a big one! We understand it belongs to the owner of Kalick Beer, the local Bahamian beer.

Photo- This photo looks north over Nassau Harbor towards Paradise Island and the Atlantis resort.

On Wednesday April 29, we moved 50 miles southeast to Nassau, the most populated city in the entire Bahamian Island chain. The wind was due east at 20-30 mph with seas of 6-8 feet. To say it was rough would be an understatement. We made it safely, and ME was the only one to become seasick. We spent the next 24 hours washing the saltwater from inside, as well as outside, the boat. Even though we were prepared for the rough conditions, our things were tossed around in the boat like it was a washing machine! From Nassau we are only 40 miles from our true paradise destination, the Exuma Islands. We plan to travel there on Saturday. The wind is forecast to ease up, and we plan to ease up with it!

Departing for the Bahamas, posted 4/18/09

We spent way too much time and effort getting everything ready to go...but now it's done! Next time I think we'll just fill with fuel and water and go! Attached below is the latest trip plan. Upon departing Marco Island, we will remain for two and one-half months in the Exumas, before returning to Florida. Thanks to John and Alex for allowing us to stay with them during the winter! We will be in Mobile in August, then head back up the Warrior River for fall. We will have limited communication and internet access, so we hope to post occasional updates and photos.

Exumas Track- Shown here is the track of “Lifes 2 Short” from their 2008 trip to the Bahamas. We will follow a similar path on our 2009 trip.