tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116669382012-02-16T14:15:23.628-05:00--- This is the blog of <b>FLUKE</b>, a Krogen Whaleback. ---<br> We are Carol and Wayne and Eddie. <br> Come cruising with us.<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.comBlogger1711100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-9164436442405360322011-11-09T14:47:00.000-05:002011-11-20T16:10:01.511-05:00

May 10 to October 31 Here are some numbers for our travels on FLUKE in 2011. This was by far our longest trip yet. We bought fuel 3 times totaling 1121 gallons at an average cost of $3.51 and burned over 1600 gal. The fuel usage numbers include the hours running the generator, primarily to recharge the batteries, but sometimes for cooking or laundry. This was significantly less than in the past

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-66773575713020348222011-11-03T18:31:00.000-04:002011-11-03T18:31:48.210-04:00

October 24 – 31, 2011 At first light, on October 24, we had a great start since when we pulled up the anchor we didn't have one of the underwater cables attached to it which would have really complicated our departure plans.  The passage out of Beaufort inlet was mostly calm.  Two other Krogens came out right behind us, so we knew we would have some radio company at least until we got to

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-86365179154428612012011-10-27T17:55:00.000-04:002011-10-27T17:55:49.387-04:00

October 21 – 23, 2011 With great travel weather in the forecast, there was a mass exodus from the wall at Chesapeake, VA.  We were all in a line waiting for the 8:00 a.m. Great Bridge opening. Squinting required I tried to take a shot of what we have to see on clear mornings when we are headed in the same direction as the sun is rising.   Even though FLUKE has raked windows that have

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-13304868008443196312011-10-23T11:08:00.000-04:002011-10-23T11:10:24.672-04:00

October 16 – 20, 2011 Our remaining time at the Piankatank River anchorage was spent being glad we hadn't tried to move down the Bay a day sooner since the wind really did pick up a lot. We were tucked in well enough not to be affected, but we could hear radio chatter from boaters who had tried to go out, but turned back to a safe port because conditions were too rough. I was actually hoping

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-39679950976256068502011-10-15T16:48:00.000-04:002011-10-15T16:48:08.958-04:00

October 7 – 15 I can't believe it's been over a week since the last blog post!  After leaving Barnegat Light with our repaired engine we had a safe run down the 40 miles of coastline to arrive in Atlantic City at 4:30 p.m.  We sure were surprised to find out we were the first ones to pull in to anchor in The Pond for the night.  3 sailboats had entered the inlet ahead of us, and we just

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-30648037989738259452011-10-07T18:49:00.000-04:002011-10-07T18:49:26.909-04:00

September 30 – October 7 After leaving the Hudson River, we first anchored off the east side of Staten Island near Huguenot Beach, an area of single family residential homes, most of which are very large, but built right on top of one another.  We had anchored here before and knew the sandy bottom provided good holding and there was plenty of room.  Losing the back yard We sure were

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-7265057191701998032011-10-02T17:37:00.000-04:002011-10-02T17:37:52.532-04:00

September 27 – 30, 2011 It's about 160 miles from Troy, NY to the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.  It takes us 4 days because we can only go 25 miles the first day, there are a limited number of places where we can safely anchor, the tidal current on the Hudson can be severe, and we don't want to do any traveling after dark.  I've decided to take you on a navigation picture story of what we had to deal

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-34236272684115391522011-09-27T17:54:00.000-04:002011-09-27T17:54:51.805-04:00

September 19 – 26, 2011 This is truly a momentous post for me.  I am writing from the same dock I where I first presented our cruising plan with the June 13 post, meaning we all (sometimes I wasn't sure all of us would be back here together) have come full circle.  Poor FLUKE is dirty and stained,  with a few new scratches and only a couple of missing parts, but she was put to the test and

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-18812617312936216362011-09-26T09:05:00.000-04:002011-09-26T09:05:11.917-04:00

September 16 – 18, 2011 Our next planned stop after leaving Lock 7 was the wonderful little town of Mechanicville, located between Lock 2 and Lock 3.  The lowest bridge on the Champlain Canal is between Lock 4 and Lock 3, and we got under it without losing any more boat parts. At the town wall This photo shows FLUKE tied up at the town wall.  Eddie is there because I wanted to give you an

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-90980128947567355442011-09-24T15:22:00.000-04:002011-09-24T15:22:08.253-04:00

September 11 – 15, 2011 For this section of locks, after leaving Lock 11, we ended up spending one night at Lock 9 and four nights at Lock 7.  I'm going to divide the post into canal scenery for the lock series and then Lock 7 history and activities. As a reminder, the Champlain Canal from Locks 12 – 7 is a 24 mile man-made, mostly straight “ditch”, with little variation in the width and a

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-10745219135459433842011-09-22T17:06:00.000-04:002011-09-22T17:29:53.588-04:00

September 6 – 10, 2011 In the chronological order of the blog, by date, I wrote that we had gone all the way to the southern end of Lake Champlain and had wanted to lock through Lock 12 to get into the Champlain Canal.  However, Lock 12 was closed.  It's time for an overview of the Champlain Canal. Completed in 1822, the Champlain Canal connects the Hudson River to Lake Champlain to supply

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-35081145752981723562011-09-20T16:35:00.001-04:002011-09-20T16:41:29.788-04:00

August 26 – September 2, 2011The first thing you should notice are the dates which indicate that this is the longest that we have stayed in one place for the entire summer. Of course, that wasn't totally by choice as I indicated when I posted the Irene update three weeks ago when we were “trapped” in Vergennes.Otter Creek FallsThis time I will be writing about what a wonderful little town

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-86195138617926949942011-09-19T19:50:00.001-04:002011-09-19T19:55:24.027-04:00

August 23 – 24, 2011 When I wrote the synopsis post for Lake Champlain, I told you that I would be writing a special post for two of our favorite places. Valcour Island, NY is certainly one of them and should be on every cruiser's anchorage list. Valcour Island was the site of a 1776 Revolutionary War Battle for Benedict Arnold and his naval fleet while he was still on our side fighting against

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-52642024156584974042011-09-18T18:41:00.002-04:002011-09-18T18:48:59.084-04:00

August 22 – September 5, 2011Lake Champlain is supposed to be the kind of place where cruisers could spend most of the summer, exploring the islands, coves, and towns that call the big Lake home. The clean water, striking scenery, historical sights, and ease of travel all add to the list of reasons for making it a destination. When we entered the Lake after coming down from Canada I posted a

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-26627604622405092042011-09-16T17:52:00.001-04:002011-09-16T17:54:13.453-04:00

August 20 – 21, 2011Lock 9 is the last lock on the Chambly Canal, and it is right in the middle part of the waterfront of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, located on the west side of the Richelieu River flowing right next to the Canal by this time.FLUKE at the town wallHere we are, having gone through Lock 9 and Bridge 12, and tied up to the west wall. We had hoped to tie up on the Canal's east side so

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-45309497421515652492011-09-15T13:46:00.001-04:002011-09-15T14:00:38.664-04:00

August 18 – 19, 2011The word on the Chambly CanalOur 40 mile trip south on the first portion of the Richelieu River ended at the delightful town of Chambly. Southbound cruisers encounter the three lock flight, 35' lift, to enter what I think of as the Chambly Canal. I told you in the last post that the Richelieu River and its associated canals mostly facilitated the timber trade from the St.

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-44942561999936641952011-09-14T09:21:00.002-04:002011-09-14T09:29:13.200-04:00

August 18, 2011That title should get your attention! It's time for a geography lesson so that you get a feeling for where we are now heading. Today we will be changing the northeasterly direction that we've been heading in since leaving from Montreal to a southerly direction when we turn onto the Richelieu River. That's why I said we were heading “home”. We are way far from home and will have

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-51759291715939659342011-09-13T11:07:00.002-04:002011-09-13T11:12:57.117-04:00

August 17, 2011Our destination after leaving Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue was the Richelieu River, about 80 miles away. Most of that distance would be spent on the St. Lawrence River, but a portion of that contains the St. Lawrence Seaway, which is a whole navigation project in itself as I will describe later on.The objective of the first part of this segment of the journey was to be able to get

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-2641855985150417142011-09-12T15:23:00.002-04:002011-09-12T15:30:43.690-04:00

August 16, 2011We decided to take the express bus (instead of the train) from Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue into Montreal for our city tour. We walked to the bus station adjacent to the University campus in time to ride the 8:00 a.m. bus. The fee was $3 for Wayne and I, and $2 for Eddie since he was entitled to a senior discount. The bus driver didn't ask for any ID verification of his age. Those

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-85255182398254824232011-09-09T17:41:00.001-04:002011-09-09T17:45:20.765-04:00

August 15 – 16, 2011For the guys, it was a miserable start to the day because I got up first and started singing Happy Birthday to Ursa, 13 years old. My singing is SO bad.We had an easy morning, only having to go 25 miles to reach Sainte Anne-de Bellevue Canal and lock. They call it a canal, but it is really just a lock with a big cement corridor, much like the Carillon Canal and lock we just

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-9940529020318147102011-09-08T16:17:00.005-04:002011-09-08T16:26:27.103-04:00

August 12 – 14, 2011As soon as we exited the last of the flight locks in Ottawa and were floating free in the deep water of the Ottawa River, I breathed a sigh of relief. It felt so good to be aboard FLUKE and have her riding high and free once again with the wind blowing in my face, delivering the ride she was built for. Our Ottawa River run would take us 97 miles from Ottawa to

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-14638214831625526812011-09-05T17:29:00.002-04:002011-09-05T17:35:22.095-04:00

August 9 – 11, 2011 Part 14.3 – Ottawa, city sights Well, we had been hoping for some nice rain for two weeks prior to our arrival in Ottawa, enough at least to be able to raise the level of the canal up a bit so we had some decent water under the keel. Instead, it rains when we get to the end of our road! We didn't let the rainy weather keep us boat bound, but a lot of the photos aren't

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-80250091416387156152011-09-04T17:30:00.003-04:002011-09-04T17:45:08.356-04:00

August 9 – 11, 2011 Part 14.2 – Ottawa, the museum tour The Capital Infocentre is the place to go to find out about museums and tours in the national capital region. The sheet printed for this summer lists 16 different possibilities. We chose to visit the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Canadian Museum of Civilization Situated on the Ottowa River, on the opposite side to Parliament Hill,

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-14713281064555652542011-09-03T11:48:00.002-04:002011-09-03T11:53:06.295-04:00

August 9 – 11, 2011 Part 14 – Ottawa, Parliament Hill Before you start your tour of Ottawa, it is worth taking the time to visit the Capital Infocentre, located right across the street from Parliament Hill. You can find all kinds of literature about the museums, special events, maps, tours (walking, biking, riding), reservation assistance, and people who can answer your tourist questions.

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-30528397026151885222011-09-02T19:47:00.003-04:002011-09-03T11:53:44.855-04:00

August 9 – 11, 2011 Part 14 – Ottawa, the canal neighborhood We left the Long Island lock dock at 8:00 a.m. We encountered a lot of shallow water, but didn't have any groundings. We locked through Black Rapids, Hogs Back, and Hartwells locks with ease since we had gotten such an early start and only running into a few other boats. Despite just 14 miles to go to reach Ottawa, it still took us

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-7751376553954788592011-09-01T19:47:00.003-04:002011-09-01T19:55:08.126-04:00

September 1, 2011 Since several people have indicated they want information about how we weathered the stormy weather from Hurricane Irene, I am departing from my regular blog sequence and posting this current update. FLUKE at town dock, north wall, before storm Here we are tied up at the town dock in Vergennes, VT, 7 miles up Otter Creek from Lake Champlain. We figured that we would have

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-64393764588815476882011-08-31T16:43:00.002-04:002011-08-31T16:57:42.442-04:00

August 7 – 8, 2011 Part 13 - Long Island After leaving Merrickville, we would have our biggest day of travel on the Rideau – 31.5 miles. Most of the locks that we would go through did not have mooring sites available, so we kept going until we really needed to stop. More about that later on. We locked through Clowes, Nicholsons, and Burritts Rapids. When we were at Burritts Rapids it looked

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-14172433592593850322011-08-30T17:32:00.002-04:002011-08-30T17:37:01.761-04:00

August 5 – 6, 2011 Part 12 – Merrickville Merrickville was named after William Merrick who arrived to the area in 1793. He recognized the enormous potential the falls in the area presented for industry and set up several milling operations. By the time the canal building began, 1826, Merrickville was a prosperous community. The citizens welcomed the idea of having the canal go through the

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-35717015970518087142011-08-29T18:20:00.002-04:002011-08-29T18:29:25.782-04:00

August 3, 2011 Part 10 – Smiths Falls, Where It Finally Happened It was only 2 miles to reach the first lock at Smiths Falls. I think we were all looking forward to arriving here. A lot of people had talked about it, and the town does the best marketing job of any community along the Rideau promoting itself with a lot of glossy advertising. Turned out for us, the advertising was a lot

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-1961591720150691642011-08-27T09:43:00.002-04:002011-08-27T09:56:52.221-04:00

August 2, 2011 Poonamalie Lock After we pulled up the anchor at Colonel By Island, we got back out in the main canalway with our sites set on traveling 15 miles to our next stop. On the way we decided to stop at a marina, Rideau Ferry, right next to the canal for a pump-out. This facility could easily handle FLUKE, and it was easy to get to the dock. Other than almost getting hit by a

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-20347292602407276522011-08-25T20:07:00.002-04:002011-08-25T20:13:45.103-04:00

July 31, 2011 Part 7: The Narrows Overview of the Narrows Lock Looking at the above photo, you can see why they call this lock The Narrows. Before the canal construction days, Big Rideau Lake and Upper Rideau Lake were all one lake. Colonel By figured out it would be easier to build a dam and a lock at this narrow portion of the lake which would raise the level of the Upper Rideau side

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-50864592287791264842011-08-24T15:43:00.003-04:002011-08-27T09:59:07.198-04:00

July 27 – 28, 2011 Part 5: Davis and Chaffey's Locks As soon as we left the Jones Falls dock, we entered a very narrow channel with tight turns; it was necessary to sound the horn so other boats would know to exercise caution and hold back or get ready to react to oncoming traffic. Fortunately, since our horn sounds like it belongs on a destroyer, other boaters usually take heed. The narrow

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-26759253143338414312011-08-22T19:46:00.002-04:002011-08-22T19:54:44.826-04:00

July 23 – 24, 2011 Part 3: Morton Bay Peeking in at Morton Bay The cruising guide's description of Morton Bay sounded just like the kind of place we try to seek out: beautiful, well-sheltered, scenic, with loons and ospreys. It is not too far off the main cruising route of the usual Rideau traffic path, so it is well worth the time to take to spend at least one night at anchor. There is

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-29504058923875451412011-08-15T21:41:00.002-04:002011-08-15T21:51:42.689-04:00

July 21, 2011 Part 1: Kingston Mills Lock I'm writing this on August 11 and have no idea when I will finally catch up. The reasons I am behind are: not having time to write out the blog (we are on the go, land or water, all the time), trying to think of a good way to organize the Rideau Canal trip, very limited internet access, and delay in getting my journal and travel research documents in

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-48386821362313871982011-08-08T19:20:00.002-04:002011-08-08T19:30:20.737-04:00

July 19 – 20, 2010 It sure was a contrast pulling into the congested area of Kingston compared to what we had experienced in the Thousand Islands areas of the St. Lawrence River. We passed through a huge breakwater that separates the inner harbor of Confederation Basin Marina from Lake Ontario and the mouth of the Cataraqui River. We could see a sign that said “Day Docks”, but we could not fit

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-52023960966333697372011-08-03T18:07:00.002-04:002011-08-03T18:14:29.666-04:00

July 15 – 18, 2011After we pulled up the anchor at Picton Island in the morning, we cruised about 5 miles over to Gananonque, Canada to clear customs. There is a government dock where you can tie up temporarily while you clear customs. It shares a wall with a fleet of Thousand Island tour boats, so there is a lot of activity on the waterfront and along the first street over (all the tourist

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-30985877213339967122011-07-26T17:37:00.003-04:002011-07-26T17:50:59.700-04:00

July 8 – 14, 2011There are more islands than this!After a wonderful day at the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, we decided we would go back to anchor at Picton Island where we had anchored before. Without a care on the river, we dropped the Delta, just like the previous time, in almost the same spot. We couldn't get it to set then, or several other times. We even motored over to a nearby island

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-3740061751526170962011-07-17T20:28:00.002-04:002011-07-17T20:40:11.765-04:00

July 7 – 8, 2011The essence of boatingFrom Cape Vincent we planned to travel northeast down the St. Lawrence River to the area of Clayton, NY, only about 16 miles. We were still hoping that we would receive news that the parts we were waiting for from Holland had arrived in the country (Maine) and could be shipped to us while we were still in the U.S. Our plan was to cross the international

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-12351424850219848532011-07-14T20:39:00.004-04:002011-07-15T06:55:37.256-04:00

July 4 – 6, 2011With the weather forecast we had in hand, we didn't think that the rougher waters we encountered leaving Oswego would persist, but they did for most of the 5 hours it took us to reach another protected harbor. As usual, under these conditions, Visitor threw up. At about the same time, a watermelon I had in a basket on an end table got thrown out and cracked open on the floor.

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-41520649349913938172011-07-14T15:51:00.007-04:002011-07-14T16:12:03.865-04:00

July 1 – 3, 2011The cruiser's line-upWe officially landed in Oswego after we locked through Lock 7 and tied up on the terminal wall between Locks 7 and 8. The opening photo shows FLUKE on the far left, and there are 2 more boats ahead of us that don't show up in the photo. When we were here in 2009 I took a photo from a similar angle, and FLUKE was the only boat on the whole wall.The name

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-85457012780914370012011-07-10T16:23:00.003-04:002011-07-10T17:00:52.455-04:00

June 26 – 30, 2011Our cruising adventure took a great swing, going from the country solitude of Lock 21 to the cheesy, hustle bustle, of the summer resort town of Sylvan Beach. It is a throwback to the 1950's, so if you are nostalgic for that era, this would be a good place to visit.You can swing with MarilynWhen we were here in 2009 the summer tourist season was already over. The lakeside

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-45015758688688660352011-07-03T17:07:00.001-04:002011-07-03T17:09:24.037-04:00

July 4, 2011All American DogFLUKE's crew can really seeAmerica is a great place to be.It is the only country near or farWhere even a dog can be a star!

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-9279990703997245892011-07-01T16:48:00.002-04:002011-07-01T17:03:30.254-04:00

June 21 – 25, 2011Brewery beautyAfter we left the dock at Herkimer we traveled another 18 miles to reach Lock 20 where we planned to spend 2 nights even though by most cruiser's standards it is in the middle of nowhere. We tied up on the south and west side of the lock. Lock 20 lifted us 16' higher to put us 420' above the Hudson River, the Erie Canal's highest level. Then, when you lock

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-47147612834976734252011-06-28T21:29:00.002-04:002011-06-28T21:34:17.008-04:00

June 19 – 20, 2011Valley town of Little FallsThe small town of Little Falls is nestled in the narrowest point in the Mohawk Valley. I think it is the most picturesque village we will pass on the canal. It is also noted for having the highest lock lift, 40'. Back in the early days, Little Falls was noted for being a cheese capital. Farmers from all around would bring in their huge rounds of

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-49076464586464445752011-06-27T21:56:00.004-04:002011-06-27T22:20:30.325-04:00

June 17 – 20, 2011Erie Canal summaryAs the title suggests, we are having just as good a time as when we cruised the Erie Canal in 2009. In some ways, it is more relaxing because this time we can try to do the things we weren't able to do back then for one reason or another.I saw the information in the opening photo on one of the sign boards next to a lock we stopped at. Most all of the locks

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-22362354688427438652011-06-23T19:12:00.003-04:002011-06-23T19:30:00.742-04:00

June 13 – 18, 2011See the planI saw this map on one of the information signs near the Waterford Harbor Visitors Center and thought it would be perfect to use to help explain the currently planned route of our voyage. We will take the Erie Canal west to the Oswego Canal which empties into Lake Ontario. That is the same route we took for our 2009 voyage. However, at that time it was too late in

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-46268144339019633162011-06-20T15:52:00.002-04:002011-06-20T16:07:07.791-04:00

June 9 – 12, 2011Flukesters at Base Camp AlphaRemember, readers, I told you in the last blog that this trip up the Hudson wouldn't be filled with a lot of historical details. I will be focusing on the “action” of our adventure and the sights we see as we cruise up the river. From the title, you should surmise that we didn't have the best weather to say the least. That means my photos aren't

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-84244615658595142252011-06-15T16:41:00.003-04:002011-06-15T16:50:40.336-04:00

June 9, 2011FLUKE sees the LadyWe rounded Sandy Hook in late afternoon of June 8. Since the weather forecast wasn't clear in describing what the actual wind direction was going to end up being, we decided we would spend the night in Great Kills Harbor where the wind direction wouldn't matter. There was a mooring generously made available through one of our boating organizations, and since we

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-41073488480741054532011-06-14T12:03:00.003-04:002011-06-14T12:10:59.702-04:00

June 8, 2011We have gone from Cape May to Sandy Hook, NJ in one LONG day before, but that was when we left from a marina in Cape May. We have never anchored in Cape May because we don't like the looks of where you have to anchor (we would get too crowded), so now we divide the run up the coast in the manner I will be describing.Morning and EveningThese two fishing boats were in Delaware Bay

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-54859317206884606222011-06-08T20:55:00.003-04:002011-06-09T17:17:00.314-04:00

June 6, 2010When you get up to the far end of Chesapeake Bay it becomes very narrow and the landscape changes dramatically. Whereas the lower parts of the Bay and its associated islands are lined with marsh lands, the upper part of the Bay where it enters into the C&D Canal is marked by high, tree-covered bluffs. The C&D Canal construction took advantage of how the natural, deeper waterways

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-66186796458337469172011-06-07T22:08:00.003-04:002011-06-09T17:23:00.779-04:00

June 4 – 5, 2011Chesapeake sailorsWe're finally on the move again, probably won't set foot on land for at least 6 days if everything goes as it should, more if we get hung up with weather. It would have been easy to stay longer in Great Bridge, but we had done all we really needed to do, and we were falling a bit behind in the cruising schedule. I feel really good that we're underway again. I

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-29113240370239128652011-06-05T21:06:00.002-04:002011-06-05T21:09:55.700-04:00

May 31 – June 3, 2011AMERICAN STAR at the Great BridgePart of the reason we stayed an extra day or two at Columbia was because of the holiday weekend. Since we wanted to be able to stay at the free lock dock in Great Bridge, VA, we thought if we arrived on the holiday weekend it would be too crowded. Plus, the holiday weekend would be bringing out local, sometimes crazy, boaters and we would

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-14757979957678761352011-06-02T15:39:00.002-04:002011-06-02T15:50:28.006-04:00

May 25 – 29, 2011Life along the ScuppernongThe Scuppernong River lies almost directly across Albemarle Sound from the Perquimans River. The little town of Columbia, NC is nestled along the banks of the Scuppernong 5 miles upriver from the Sound. The river was named after the Scuppernong grape. More about that later on.FLUKE at the Columbia town dockWe have never met anyone who has ever said

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-70847509086206850842011-05-29T15:32:00.002-04:002011-05-29T15:42:16.958-04:00

May 22 - 24, 2011Peeping into EdenSince it was Sunday morning, the S-bridge didn't open up before 8:00 a.m., so we had plenty of time to wake up and get ready to leave our lovely, peaceful swamp. By the time we rounded the bend and had the bridge in sight it was just before 8, so we radioed the bridge to request the first opening. The cheerful operator replied, in one of those friendly Carolina

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-4590259925405401662011-05-27T15:48:00.002-04:002011-05-27T15:53:37.609-04:00

May 20 – 22, 2011Note the bridge and turtleOur first detour off Albemarle Sound, on May 20, was 12 miles up the Perquimans River to the small town of Hertford. The Yeopim Indians named the river area, and the white translation means land of beautiful women. Ursa and FLUKE were going to the right place! The whole area could also be called the land of beautiful trees and waters.Right before you

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-71012386942366920302011-05-26T14:31:00.002-04:002011-05-26T14:42:23.083-04:00

May 18-19, 2011The Neuse River connects into Pamlico Sound. Pamlico Sound is connected to Albemarle Sound, our next destination, by the Pungo River, Alligator River-Pungo River Canal, and the Alligator River. Going through the rivers and canals is usually a leisurely cruise for the greatest part since the waters are protected by fragrant pine forests and golden marsh lands on either side.3

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-48696711588340462762011-05-23T17:19:00.003-04:002011-05-26T14:39:52.241-04:00

May 13 – 17, 2011A bear with good adviceWhen we last left you we were headed to the South River anchorage off the Neuse River in North Carolina. After getting the anchor down securely and getting buzzed by a couple of curious hummingbirds, we spent 3 nights there, just trying to catch up on some much-needed rest and getting FLUKE back in order. The weather forecast remained very windy with a

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-24886164232141753472011-05-22T19:22:00.003-04:002011-05-22T21:36:52.799-04:00

May 10-13, 2011A close pass in the inletThis was the small, inbound freighter we passed in Ft. Pierce inlet at 9:30 a.m. onMay 10, 2011 as we were heading out to sea. A trip ending for that crew and just beginning for the FLUKE crew. Right outside the inlet we rendezvoused with 6 other Krogens, ranging in size from 39 – 48' in length. We had agreed to travel in a group all the way to Beaufort,

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-32535170533042573842011-05-20T17:53:00.003-04:002011-05-20T18:03:06.409-04:00

May 2011You last heard from us when we pulled back into our home port of Vero Beach, FL right at the beginning of August after our 2010 Bahamas trip. With hurricane season in full swing we knew that we needed to get FLUKE out of the water ASAP before a hurricane was headed this way. If that was the case, every boater who had a boat in the water would be trying to get out too, and it would be

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-72903637346483082042010-08-23T16:17:00.009-04:002010-09-18T17:36:22.499-04:00

I collected some data from my log book and created a table with some numbers for our Bahamas trip on FLUKE in 2010.(The map showing where we went is below.)One big change from previous trips was the amount of generator running time due to the effectiveness of the solar panels. We ran the generator for 61 hours over 55 days. We used to average over three hours per day which would have been at

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-71326733698143437492010-08-19T18:04:00.002-04:002010-08-19T18:11:34.712-04:00

July 27 – 28, 2010Our Last SunsetWe arrived at Mangrove Cay in time to have dinner, get a few things in order for the crossing, and try to get to sleep early since we planned to get up at 0300 to make the crossing in hopes of getting back to Vero before sunset.The water was glassy calm since there was absolutely no wind. That's how I managed to get a decent picture of the sunset. Most of the

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-14560155959282950632010-08-17T15:01:00.002-04:002010-08-17T15:05:11.200-04:00

July 24 – 26, 2010Sandy Cay AnchorageYou will see that I've listed two places for the header this time. You should read on to find out why I did that, having never done so before. I wish it only listed the first one as it is one of the most beautiful places in the Abacos. I imagine the title also got the attention of most of the guys reading this!This is another one of those places with a

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-5360594095085565412010-08-15T14:37:00.002-04:002010-08-15T14:40:51.280-04:00

July 24 – 26, 2010Recycling ChoresNo, we didn't return here because we think it's such a fantastic recreational destination. When tropical storm Bonnie was headed toward the Bahamas we needed to figure out the safest place for us to “ride it out”. The Gulf Stream crossing conditions were too rough for us to try to hightail it back to Florida. Plus, we weren't ready to return, and we thought

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-18963422082140711612010-08-13T16:00:00.002-04:002010-08-13T16:04:50.138-04:00

July 16 – 20, 2010Sooty TernsThis is where we have ended up the last two years because it is as far west as we can be before we have to make the commitment to head back to Florida, and it is a good location for us to access the offshore reefs located near enough for us to get to with the dinghy. Most cruisers who come here only do so so that they can go fishing or diving. The anchorage has fair

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-75695536398526943522010-08-11T10:03:00.002-04:002010-08-11T10:12:18.583-04:00

July 14 – 15, 2010Safely Exploring With the DinghyI'm not going to be able to do a very good job conveying how really bad and scared we felt the two days after we left the Fish Cays, but I'll try to think of some adjectives as I write to give you an idea. The first thing that comes to mind is what I've told you before: Three Sea Stooges.For those of you who are reading this that aren't cruisers

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-28653838947335717942010-08-09T08:03:00.002-04:002010-08-09T08:08:05.455-04:00

Fish Cays: North side off of Lower CayJuly 10 - 12, 201030 Minute Limit!With light winds out of the west, we were able to drop the hook here, a place we hadn't anchored before because the winds are seldom favorable. We knew it would give us good access to the nearby, offshore reefs, even better than those off of Allans-Pensacola. No other boats ever dropped their hooks while we were anchored

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-23843493300824172702010-08-06T12:03:00.003-04:002010-08-06T12:09:33.600-04:00

Allans-Pensacola CayJuly 4 – 9, 2010Island Summer SchoolAfter we pulled up the anchor from our Green Turtle Cay anchorage, we moved northwest to one of our favorite spots, Allans-Pensacola Cay. APC is really another world compared to parts south, and it is the real reason we come to the Bahamas. We would have been here sooner if we hadn't had the problems with the refrigerator. While we always

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-67159939843896526172010-08-01T15:10:00.005-04:002010-08-03T14:13:53.940-04:00

Cocoa Bay Anchorage, Green Turtle CayJuly 2-3, 2010Festive ThanksWe had the anchor up by 0730 so that we could travel the 16 miles northward to Green Turtle Cay and get anchored again in time for the Stranded Naked Party which was scheduled to start at 1100. Our transit through the Whale Cay Passage went smoothly, and I radioed in the passage conditions to the Cruisers Net, broadcast each

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-23821826791963214782010-08-01T14:47:00.002-04:002010-08-01T14:56:26.120-04:00

Fishers Bay AnchorageJuly 1, 2010Island WelcomeIn the last posting I described the Baker's Bay area of Great Guana. Now that we moved 2 miles south, I want to talk about this area associated with the original settlement, and it's what we like best. See that inviting, quaint dock in the opening photo? That is more typical of what we have always thought of as this part of the island.In our

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-54312485936275360392010-06-30T10:51:00.003-04:002010-06-30T11:04:39.145-04:00

June 27-29, 2010The Treasure Chest Keeps GrowingActually a moderate breeze has helped stave off the oppressing heat that we had been having down in White Sound. We've moved farther north to a place called Baker's Bay, which occupies the northern end of Guana Cay. I've only had to spritz a couple of times. Wayne made some of his delicious English muffins, thus the title.Baker's Bay has had quite

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-54291274621697005202010-06-25T08:24:00.002-04:002010-06-25T08:37:03.337-04:00

June 19-24, 2010Seeing the LightI'm going to try to do this entry after spending the afternoon on a bar stool at Cracker P's, where Eddie ordered an additional special rum drink of the house, that I didn't need (he didn't need one either!). Our first toast was to “freedom” since we didn't have Captain Wayne around to give us the evil eye about drinking the rum punches. We don't get out on our

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-33079529390129006652010-06-23T16:56:00.002-04:002010-06-23T17:07:55.522-04:00

June 16-19, 2010Our Lynyard Cay AnchorageLynyard Cay marks the southernmost point in the Abacos that we will travel this year. It isn't known for much other than being across from Little Harbor, location of the most visited bar in this region, Pete's Pub. If there were waterway signage around here, like we see along the U.S. highways, a sign for Pete's would read “Last Chance to Get Wasted”.

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-15100809665054370432010-06-22T09:59:00.002-04:002010-06-22T10:09:42.677-04:00

June 12-15, 2010 Pretty in PinkJudging by the title you should wonder why we are still in this area at the dates posted. Well, we might have an addiction to freon, and we didn't want to get too far away from Donnie and his gas. After 5 days of reasonable cooling our hopes were dashed as the refer temp began to creep up. Two more days, and we decided to go find Donnie again and get another fix

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-27267202135495375702010-06-22T09:37:00.002-04:002010-06-22T09:47:46.867-04:00

Our State of AffairsJUNE 8-10, 2010 GREEN TURTLE AND MANJACK CAYSWell, we never did get to post like we had hoped. We're in the out islands of the Bahamas, where it is always today, and maybe never tomorrow.Going for a walk on Green Turtle in the early evening, we saw a sign on a house that said Donnie's Electrical, Plumbing, and Refrigeration. Sounded like just the guy we needed to diagnose

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-13244457282025806632010-06-18T18:40:00.002-04:002010-06-18T19:02:19.046-04:00

Welcome AboardJune 7, 2010 Green Turtle CayThis afternoon has been declared a “free” time for all aboard. That means that you can pretty much do whatever you want to do until someone else decides they need you to “help” them do something else. Then there is no freedom left, taken away in a moment's notice! How can any of us complain though, since here we are, living the exciting life of

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-80740908145051433622010-03-01T10:53:00.004-05:002010-03-01T11:10:05.332-05:00

This was the scene beside FLUKE this morning as the white pelicans went by looking for fish. The are true "snowbirds" and will be heading back north before long.

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-12348550059257164782009-11-07T18:11:00.006-05:002009-11-07T20:11:10.330-05:00

Here is the map showing all the places we anchored or tied up on the way back from Oswego, NY to Vero Beach, FL. September 18 to November 02, 2009. You can click on any of the placemarks to see when we were there and other notes. There are also lines that show the approximate course when we went offshore. You can also click on these, but will have to zoom in to see them.It is interesting to note

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-18447263988659967302009-11-04T15:35:00.007-05:002009-11-04T16:52:48.485-05:00

Here are some numbers for our travels on FLUKE in 2009. I think that I have figured out a way to make the tables look better in blogger.The fuel usage numbers include a lot of hours running the generator when we are at anchor to recharge the batteries. This means the MPG numbers are lower than they would be otherwise.The days at dock on the trip north includes all the free docks and the lock

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-85349505734875856202009-11-03T15:38:00.001-05:002009-11-03T15:47:50.098-05:00

October 27 – November 2, 2009The Savannah River is the dividing line between South Carolina and Georgia. The ICW crosses straight over it, and there is a big intersection there because the Savannah River is the main shipping channel used by ocean going vessels to go up to Savannah for trade purposes.As we approached that intersection we could hear radio traffic from an incoming freighter who was

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-10947221650071625832009-10-30T13:48:00.002-04:002009-10-30T13:56:39.693-04:00

Where The Incident OccurredOctober 21-26 2009We left the free dock at Great Bridge in time to make the 0700 bridge opening. Less than 100 yards through the bridge we pulled into the fuel dock at Atlantic Yacht Basin to take on fuel and water. We knew we needed to get the water hooked up right away because on the way north when we had stopped here to get fuel and water the water flowed so

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-17277546906259423852009-10-20T17:52:00.003-04:002009-10-20T18:08:20.437-04:00

October 13-20, 2009We had an uneventful trip through the C & D Canal. The same overcast, dreary weather stayed with us, but we had low enough winds not to have conditions made even worse (that would come later).One odd happening occurred after we had exited the canal. The Aberdeen Proving Ground lies just north of the west end of the canal. I've written before about going by there and seeing

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-75056763317835580602009-10-14T18:42:00.002-04:002009-10-14T18:49:58.568-04:00

October 9-12, 2009The weather continued to go downhill (hah) after we left the Bear Mountain area. Cold, windy, and dreary conditions followed us south down the Hudson. I was feeling sorry for the cruisers we had spoken with that would be heading into the New York harbor area, not just because they were sailors having to be out in the lousy weather, but because the city's waterfront just

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-85109482188394295562009-10-11T19:36:00.004-04:002009-10-11T19:45:00.045-04:00

We're On Top of the Nose!October 7-8, 2009The water in the anchorage area at the base of Bear Mountain where we wanted to drop the hook was calmer, but the wind was still really howling when it gusted down between the mountains. The next day was supposed to be clear and nice, so we decided to anchor south of the dock for the night and stay with our plan to hike up to the top of Anthony's Nose

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-41579378385695360652009-10-10T17:24:00.002-04:002009-10-10T17:31:50.571-04:00

Color on the HudsonOctober 5,6 2009We had one final hooray on the canal system. When we got to Lock 1 we had to wait for a northbound vessel to exit the lock. Imagine our surprise when the Governor Cleveland, our favorite tug, popped out of the lock. We ran out on our upper deck and waved at Captain Pete whom we could see in the tug's pilothouse. He called us on the radio and told us not to

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-44159873322180270782009-10-10T14:35:00.002-04:002009-10-10T14:44:24.421-04:00

October 2-4, 2009Thinking we had worn out our welcome in Waterford, and not wanting to get back to Florida yet, we decided we would go check out the Champlain Canal. FLUKE would be able to get through the first three locks just like we had for those on the Erie Canal. However, between Lock 3 and 4 there is a bridge that is just a bit too low for us to get under without making special

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-20674665199555401772009-10-04T19:44:00.002-04:002009-10-04T19:51:17.096-04:00

The Big Line UpOctober 3, 2009We ended up spending another 8 days in Waterford; we were too comfortable to get motivated to leave. Plus, there were some activities going on that we decided to wait around for anyway. The good news is that the canal police never showed up again to ticket the boats that had been there for more than 48 hours. I also decided to sign the registry again after a few

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-76060638617601991162009-09-30T11:19:00.005-04:002009-09-30T11:29:38.076-04:00

I have put a placemark at each place we stopped on our way from Vero Beach, FL to Oswego, NY, a distance of 1544 miles.Click on the link below the map for larger view where it is easier to pan and zoom. You can also click on any of the placemarks for more details.View FLUKE Northbound 2009 in a larger map

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-22487611265994429722009-09-26T10:32:00.002-04:002009-09-26T10:48:12.645-04:00

Canalside Dairy FarmSeptember 25, 2009Posting from Waterford, NYI hope you didn't think that just because we reached Lake Ontario our adventures were over, and you wouldn't be hearing from us again. Our return trip would include some other stops, and we would be able to see things we missed on the first pass by. We spent 19 days cruising from Waterford to Oswego, and it took us 5 days to travel

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-71608794131093662552009-09-23T17:02:00.002-04:002009-09-23T17:08:06.480-04:00

Sep 23, 2009We are back at Waterford Harbor 4 weeks after leaving. This is just a quick post to show you where FLUKE is on the web cam. A full post will follow before too long.You might even see Eddie washing the boat (or BS'ing with people walking by).FLUKE at Waterford Harbor Visitor Center

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-66076826703373169322009-09-18T19:06:00.002-04:002009-09-18T19:13:16.033-04:00

Glad To Be HereSeptember 18, 2009While we were all reluctant to leave Phoenix, we were also anxious to get to Oswego, where we would get to see Lake Ontario; none of us has seen any of the Great Lakes. There is really so much to see in this grand country of ours!Well, we didn't have a good send-off from Phoenix. We planned an early start and got up on time, despite some fog. We had decided to

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-65490708319390482842009-09-13T18:57:00.002-04:002009-09-13T19:03:23.956-04:00

September 13, 2009After leaving Sylvan Beach, we had an easy cruise across 20 mile long Lake Oneida. It felt good to be out in the open waters again. The lake is well marked, and has plenty of depth. It is easy to navigate around all the lake fishermen. Fishing must be good judging by how many people were out fishing, despite being quite windy!Brewerton is located right on the western shore

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-79887804889260011892009-09-10T17:43:00.002-04:002009-09-10T17:49:32.602-04:00

September 10, 2009We've Got Our Ducks All In A RowAfter leaving Rome we locked down the next two locks, 50' total. It sure is a lot easier going down: less turbulence, not getting pushed into the side wall, and just a gentle lowering. We have seen an increase in cruising traffic, mostly boats flying Canadian flags. They say they are headed south, eventually to Florida or the Bahamas. Several

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-17995885592331917852009-09-07T16:17:00.003-04:002009-09-07T16:22:52.024-04:00

September 7, 2009On Sept. 4, we left the dock at Herkimer after the fog lifted. It appeared we were going to be traveling in a part of the canal that was more ditch-like than river-like, with the NY Thruway noise close by, two negatives on my list. Plus, there was a lot of floating debris, sticks, logs, branches, another negative on my list. It was the first time we had seen much debris on the

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-81778287368133798422009-09-03T20:45:00.002-04:002009-09-03T21:01:30.807-04:00

September 3, 2009After leaving Canajoharie we traveled 17.7 miles and tied up on the east side of Lock 17 along the lock wall. There was a lot to see and do in this area, and we picked an excellent spot to be able to watch activities at Lock 17 and access the town of Little Falls.Exiting The Big OneLock 17 is unique to the NYS Canal system in that it has a vertical lift gate, one of two in North

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-8963886501742328962009-08-30T14:26:00.002-04:002009-08-30T14:35:38.504-04:00

August 30, 2009In The GorgeIn three days since the last post, we have traveled 37 miles and have gone up another 61' to bring us to 272'. While we didn't pass many other vessels on the river to get to where we are now, there are 4 other cruising boats docked with us now, and about the same number of eastbound boats have exited Lock 12 that I can see from our dock. The southern fall migration

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-67030986149106497682009-08-26T20:08:00.002-04:002009-08-26T20:35:46.735-04:00

August 26, 2009We started the day off with another first for the crew of FLUKE: We used the coin operated sewer pumpout at the Visitors Center. The pump sucked great, and we didn't have any sewer explosions or stinking drips. And, there wasn't any yelling. Maybe you were able to look at the web cam and see us sucking our sewer!Today we traveled for 6 ¼ hrs to go 23 ½ miles, pretty slow by even

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-34361359437989072562009-08-25T14:58:00.002-04:002009-08-25T15:20:08.484-04:00

Learning As We GoWell, Henry gave us a great cruise up the Hudson, but it was time to “branch” out our adventure and turn west up the Erie Canal. While it was only about 65 miles from Kingston to where we would leave the Hudson to head up into the Erie Canal, we had to divide the trip into 2 days to get FLUKE prepared for the Canal transit. FLUKE had been that way before with her previous owner

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-11908744635109226482009-08-18T21:41:00.003-04:002009-08-25T14:44:04.851-04:00

Since leaving the Bear Mountain area, the land surrounding the river has opened up more, and there are fewer dramatic mountains right next to the river. The exception, though, is Storm King Mountain, elevation 1350'. It juts right out to the western edge of the river. If you look closely you can see a notch where the scenic highway runs along the outer edge. In the distance we can see some of

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-84848488064470427702009-08-15T21:40:00.002-04:002009-08-15T21:52:43.599-04:00

August 14, 2009Permanently TrappedThe last couple of mornings have been foggy, but once the fog lifts, we've had nice blue skies with puffy white clouds. The temperature gets up in the 80s during the day, but cools off in the 60s at night, which is a welcomed relief from all the heat over the last couple of months. We can't see very far in the distance, east or west because of the high

<b>FLUKE - Carol, Wayne 'n Eddie</b>noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11666938.post-34993097615445428282009-08-13T19:31:00.002-04:002009-08-13T19:37:11.905-04:00

The sun never appeared today, August 13, 2009. We would have been depressed having to travel all the way through New York harbor in the gray haze visible in the photo if we hadn't already cruised through the harbor on a stellar day in years past. However, we had to wear long sleeves!As Lower Manhattan Appears in the MistWe still had to keep our eyes sharp (including the Helm Queen) with all the

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