Interesting thought

Light travels faster than sound. That is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

Home Sweet Home!!!

Arcadia arrived back in Ithaca on May 5th 2009. After 4812 and almost 10 months. We've been as far north as Machinaw Island Michigan and as the far south as La Belle Florida. Completing America's Great Loop was really cool. We had crossed our own wake in the Gulf, but making it back to Ithaca where we had started last year on July 19th 2008, turned out to be even more exciting.

We'll be here now for the summer, enjoying all that I love about Ithaca and being with my kids and granddaughters.

Who knows what will happen in the fall. As Bruce always says," that's too far away to worry about now".

May 5, 2009 Arriving Home

This is the inlet to Cayuga Lake from Ithaca and the Treman Marina. The two towers on the hill are dorms at Ithaca College.



This is Mud Lock or Lock 1 on the Cayuga Seneca Canal System. There are only four locks that get you from Cayuga Lake to Seneca Lake. We've gone over there a couple of times. This time we just kept heading south down Cayuga Lake to Treman Marina where Arcadia lives in the summer.

These are remains of the original canal system.

This is some of the debris that we need to watch out for in the canal. Luckily this was off to the side. Sometimes it collects either at the entrance to the lock chamber or as we are exiting the chamber. Not good for props!!!

A birds nest in a cozy spot. This is the top of the cable we wrap a line around to hold us when the lock lifts or drops.

The Erie Canal System will take us four days this season. The locks are open from 7am to 5 pm. That cuts down on travel time. It's running smoothly even though the new system is driving the lock tenders crazy. They need to write down the permit number of the boats using the system and enter it into a computer system. They also have to mow the lawn and maintain the locks. One lock tender wanted to know when they would have time to do the lock maintenance with the extra paper work. Yesterday at lock 19 the lock tender was mowing the lawn and didn't see or hear us on the hand held so we had to wait to lock through. We lost a lot of time because of that. The picture on the top left is a section of the old canal system next to lock 2 in Waterford NY. Tonight we are in Baldwinsville NY at Lock 24. One more lock to go and that puts us into Cayuga Lake tomorrow. We should be home by evening.

The dam next to lock 7 on the Mohawk River

The Erie Canal System

Today we locked through the Federal Lock in Troy NY. We thought this lock would be open before
May 1 st but were mistaken. The Erie Canal system opens for the season on May 1st. So we hurried up to wait 2 days for the lock to open. We found a nice anchorage 24 miles south of the lock and spent 2 nights there. It was nice to relax for awhile. We've made record time getting home this year. We left Florida a week later then past seasons and were 3 days further south in Florida. Our 400 miles in 3 days pushed us ahead. We also only had 2 days where the weather held us up.
Tonight we are in Waterford NY. Lock 2. These next 5 locks are called the "Flight of Five" because from lock 2 to lock 6 is only a mile and a half and takes 2 hours to get through. This is the gateway to the canal system. We actually made it here in time for the ceremonies opening the canal. There really wasn't much fan fare and we thought they would have cake to share but there wasn't.

The photo shows us just below lock 2 on the town dock. We'll be ready tomorrow at 7 am to continue on.

A Glorious Passage

After a glorious passage of 400 miles in three days we reached NYC. We left Deep Creek in the Dismal Swamp in VA on the 25th of April. Stopped in Norfolk for fuel and then went off shore into the Atlantic Ocean. On the 26th of April we stopped in at Cape May NJ for fuel, water and fresh fish from the Lobster House. These were three days of perfect sea conditions. The winds and the swells were from the south east and we rarely saw more then 15 knots and most of the time they were ten or less. Not good for sailing but I am a fair weather sailor and would rather motor then be nervous about winds that are too strong. We did have both head sail and main sail up for some time. This made up for the four miles of gale force winds in the Albemarle Sound that we had to deal with.
When going under the George Washington Bridge on the right is a little red lighthouse. It's the Jeffery's Hook Lighthouse in Washington Park . I've seen it a few times and thought it was so cute. I've since learned the story behind the lighthouse. There is a children's book where the lighthouse is encouraged by the bridge to continue to provide a beacon to the river, but in real life the bridge makes the lighthouse obsolete. In 1947 the lighthouse was deactivated but the children spoke up and kept it from being demolished. The book is written by Hildegard H Swift.

Our First Squall!!!

Believe it or not Bruce and I experienced our first squall. I would rate it second to the tornado we had experienced last season. Yesterday(4-21-09) we did 90 miles (the current was nice to us) so we would be in a good position to cross the Albermarle Sound in NC. This Sound can get very nasty if the winds are from the west. Of course we checked our weather for this morning and figured if we left at the crack of dawn, as usual, we would be able to get across the twelve miles of the sound before the wind picked up. The winds have been very calm in the morning and the forecast for the afternoon is when they were suppose to pick up. This was not to be!! About four miles into the trip Bruce said, "we are going to get hit with a storm", so we got the head sail down just in time. The winds picked up and the rain came down. We saw gusts to 42 miles an hour. I don't think we have ever seen that in our five years of traveling. Bruce wasn't sure he should tell me how high the winds had gotten, but I was glad to hear they were only 42 miles because I was thinking they were about a bazillion miles an hour. My kayak flipped over but is tied to the boat, but my paddle and a spare bumper that were in the kayak went overboard. The cover on the dinghy was blown partially off and the straps holding the dinghy secure, let lose and we lost one of those. We heard the coast guard annouce severe weather moving through with gusts to 30. Yeah right!! I wanted to call and inform him they were more like 40.
Our speed was only between one and two miles an hour and we had the Sound and twenty more miles to go to get to Elizabeth City NC. We decided to turn around and go into a marina where we had just fueled. There was a Canadian boat we had talked to and his wife was glad we came back. Sitting here secured at the dock we can hear the wind howling away and several other boats have come in. I think we made the right decision. Besides we have free WiFi and real showers. Sorry no pictures but I was too busy holding on to get the camera. Besides, how do you get a picture of gale force winds.