STUCK!!!!

 As luck would have it, there a a few malfunctions at some of the Locks. This will be our 3rd night in Newark, NY. It's pouring down rain today, in the low 40's and no where to go by boat. We are hoping things improve soon, We've got plenty to do for a couple more days, and there are restaurants, walking trails and grocery stores nearby. We are fine, but raring to go.

ADVENTURE CONTINUES WESTERN ERIE CANAL MAY26,2021

We left Winter Harbour to Lock 23. It was a gorgeous and relaxing day.

That evening we tied up to the lock wall at May's Point. Pastoral, rural setting with lots of area to walk Rusty.

May 27,2021 we continued west to lock 28B, when the lockmaster told us that the 2 locks ahead were temporarily closed. We spent the night tied up in Newark, NY...a delightful stop! Had all the amenties and FREE.

Yes, ice cream steps away from KNOTUGAL! Guess what we do every night ???

THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES

 Evidently, I haven't posted in a LONG time! I am going to start up again.

In June 2019, We left our boat at Atlantic Yacht Basin  in Norfolk to be stored until summer 2020. Starting July 2020, we left AYB to head North. We had an uneventful but great trip, stopping at:

Hampton Roads, VA

Deltaville, VA

Solomons, MD

Annapolis, MD

St.Michaels, MD

Rock Hall, MD

Chesapeake City, MD

Cape May, NJ

Mannessquan,NJ

NYC,NY

Croton on the Hudson, NYKingston,NY

New Baltimore. NY

Waterford, NY

Schnectady, NY

Utica,NY

Brewerton NY

This was the farthest we have traveled north so far. We had had a lot of apprehension for the Delaware Bay, going on the Atlantic around NJ and through NYC. Happy to say it all went perfectly and was a fabulous trip. We arrived at Winter Harbour Brewerton NY early August 2020. Having completed the Eastern portion of the Erie Canal, we left our boat in heated storage until May 2021. BTW, we had no problems with covid related issues.

BACK IN HOME PORT

Arrived back to Hilton Head May 19th. Our trip North was uneventful after Ft. Pierce, but we were always feeling a bit gun shy after what happened in Vero Beach. We have been gone 5 months and put 2500 miles on the boat. We are ready to be home for a while. We need a few adventure free weeks :-)

We will go come back to the boat in the Fall for a week or two, just to check on things and enjoy Hilton Head. 

18 DAYS ON THE HARD

Not the most fun thing to do, but hey, it's boating ! This is part of the adventure. We have heard many fellow boaters tell their tales of woe, and this was our turn. We returned to the boat on May 8. There was still more welding, powder coating , sandblasting and assembly to be done. We decided to rent a motel room for the few days ahead. We pretty much know Ft. Pierce very well by now and have eaten at many of the restaurants, including Chucks, On the Edge, Harbour Cove, Cobbs Landing and McDonalds. Finally, after a lot of chasing down parts for the contractor and orchestrating the repairs, we were able to be splashed yesterday, Friday. We stayed across the creek last night at Harbourtowne Marina. It was fantastic to be floating once again. Really liked this marina, too. 

THE THRILL OF BEING SPLASHED WAS BEING ABOARD KNOTUGAL WHILE IN THE SLING AS THE LIFT MOVED US TO THE WATER. SCARY !!!!!!!!!!!!

Today we finally left Ft. Pierce and had a great ride to Eau Gallie Yacht Basin. Everthing worked and nothing leaked.....a good day.....sigh of relief :-))

THE SAGA CONTINUES :-(((((

After several days living on the hard with no AC, we decided to take the damaged prop over to Bradenton (3 hours away) ourselves, hoping to get it done faster. They will try to fix the bent prop, but this will take a few days.  Fortunately, they had a new replacement prop that we were able to buy, and  we drove it back to Cracker Boy Boat Works the next day.

The  bright side of spending the night in Bradenton is that we stayed in a gorgeous Hampton Inn in the historic district. It was one of the nicest hotels we have ever stayed in. That includes 5 star diamond rated hotels. Because we are Hilton Honors members, they even upgraded us to a corner suite with a view. That evening we walked to O Bricks, a very pleasant bistro, and enjoyed a nice dinner.....a good reprieve from being on the hot boat in the boatyard.

OUR SPANKING NEW PROP

Upon returning to Ft. Pierce, the contractor working on the prop had us take another look at the running gear. Turns out we now have to not only replace the prop, but need to weld the rudder shoe, the rudder, the drive shaft and replace the dripless. Since I am the one writing this, I probably am not explaining this very well, but bottom line is that all of this will take much more time and $$$$$$.

The weather has been hitting the low 90's during the day and our holding tank is filling up. This means we need to find a place to stay during all the repairs. So....we jumped on a plane in Orlando and flew back to Texas yesterday ! We will enjoy the comforts of home for a few days .

We have had a couple of chuckles. Not only is the boat yard called Cracker Boy, but we traveled the Cracker Trail to cross Florida to Bradenton. I googled Cracker, and it is a derogatory word for white people.....HMMM....doesn't seem right to me that that word is still being widely used....just sayin'.

BOATS US SAVES THE DAY

It finally happened. We were happily cruising north on the ICW headed for our marina (Loggerhead Vero Beach). We had had a wonderful sunny day with little boat traffic. We entered the marina's entrance channel about 5PM all set for a relaxing evening onboard. As we were approaching the marina, a rowing team consisting of 3 boats crossed in front of us . We had to slow way down to avoid collision. The winds were very strong coming from the NW and pushed us out of the channel a bit. Unbeknownst to us, there was a submerged concrete day mark (belonging to the marina) which we hit. We were hard aground and heard some screeching noises. We called Boats US, and wonderful Eric arrived in about 45 minutes. He was a master at pulling us out and back to the ICW channel. We were unable to use the rudder, and it was determined that we would have to tow KNOTUGAL back to Ft. Pierce, a 3 and a half hour trip in the dark. We arrived at the Harbourtowne Marina about 10 PM. We are TOTALLY impressed with the very capable Eric!

ERIC THE RED....A  MASTER !!!!!!

WE WILL BE ON THE HARD FOR WHO KNOWS HOW LONG. WE ARE STAYING ONBOARD . EVERYTHING WORKS EXCEPT THE AC

A COUPLE OF THE BLADES ARE RUMPLED. IT TOOK 2 HOURS TO GET THE PROP OFF. THEY ARE SENDING IT OUT TO POUND OUT THE RUMPLES.