Cruise time! (Rain predicted)

Ms. Bettencourt is cruise ready. My friend Major and I will give the trailer a once-over this  morning, then we'll haul the boat this afternoon or tomorrow. It is raining now.

We plan to be on the road to Georgetown, SC., Monday morning. The forecast says it will be raining. We are not distressed. We have come to understand that one of us is a Rain Jonah and this cannot be helped. Eventually, we will be on the water bound for Bald Head Island near Southport, NC. (in the rain).

On the chart and GPS, the route looks like a long and boring slog up the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Major, who is an optimist, says we will probably see some interesting wildlife. I understand it is mating season for Painted Buntings and that the whole Painted Bunting Nation has flown in from Cuba to make merry in the marshes and brushy woodlands along the South Carolina coastline.


I hope we see some of these guys, plus the usual ospreys and, perhaps, some bald eagles.

Meanwhile, Bettelou, my yoga  instructor and fitness advisor at the Family Y, has learned that we will be away on a cruise all week. She most graciously devised a daily boat exercise routine to help keep us fit during the arduous voyage. (Perhaps someone told her that each leg of this trip begins and ends at a seafood restaurant).

Anyway, here's the routine, illustrated by Bettelou herself:

This workout utilizes a medicine ball or weights, and includes various rotations, chops, figure-8s, lunges, squats, jacknifes and twists.

I have some ankle weights I once used for leg extensions while watching television. They will be aboard for this cruise.

I am serious about this.






Major, however,  may find this to be un-nautical, unworthy, or worse.

On the other hand, we could agree that a workout will help pass the time while we slowly motor north-- in the rain.

Pondering tides and currents

One of the nice things my friend Major did before he left for the Lesser Antilles last week was to make marina reservations for our long-planned cruise to Southport, NC.

So, while Major and Linda are day-tripping on an Americas Cup vessel somewhere near Sint Maarten, I am at work calculating departure/arrival times for the various legs of the Southport trip.

That's when I realized Major's first marina reservation is about 60 miles away from our starting point. Ms. Bettencourt is a 6-knot boat (on a good day). Do the arithmetic: Georgetown, SC, to Myrtle Beach, our first destination, equals about 10 hours steaming time -- if tides and currents prove amenable.

Suddenly, predictive information about tides and currents becomes more important. If we don't time things right, we could be plodding up the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway interminably. We could run out of Doublestuff Oreo Cookies before we get to our first overnight stop. Major gets cranky when this happens. So do I.

Wikipedia

The tidal range in the Bay of Fundy can be as much as 17 meters. Tidal information is probably really important here.

Long dock lines must be a big help too.











The first time I really needed tide and current data was a winter in 1980something. I was planning a  springtime cruise from Morehead City, NC, to Savannah, GA. I found an order form and sent it with a check to some bureau in Washington. Eventually, a thick book of tide tables for various locations in my area of interest arrived in the mailbox.

In the last decade, the same data, in a more timely and more accessible format, have become available on the Internet. Most modern marine GPS units also provide the information, but I find that wringing it out of my Garmin unit, if  I am not physically in the area of interest, is a tedious and frustrating process.

So I went to Google on the PC, expecting to find a link to some government site that would provide tables to interpolate tides and currents from prime stations along the US East Coast. Perhaps there was a link to such a site, but I never got there. I was diverted by a citation for a cellphone app entitled, appropriately, "Tides and Currents." It is free, so what the heck? I hit download.

The result was amazing. First, I get a box that says something like "your Android devices can operate this app," quickly followed by advice that "Tides and Currents has been sent to your mobile device and your Nexus-7 tablet."

How did they even know I have a Nexus tablet? How could they find it, much less send it an app? I sprinted for the kitchen where both the cellphone and the Nexus tablet were last seen. It was true! The Tides and Currents apps were there -- on both devices.






Don't ask me how this got on my  tablet










And, not only is it magic, this app actually works. It's remarkably easy to use, intuitive, searchable and acceptably accurate.

So, now I know how tides and currents will effect that long first leg of our cruise to Southport: As best I can calculate from my new Tides and Currents app, not much. It's going to be a long, hard slog no matter what.

As a precaution, we'll load extra Oreos.

Could there be such a thing...

...as too much boat stuff?

Today, I planted the vegetable garden, cleaned out the fish pond, introduced four big new Comets to the water feature, listened to Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash and ran my Lab Gladstone a mile or so with the bicycle.

Ms. Bettencourt is sitting at her dock with a nice coat of pollen all over.

Life is good.

Maybe some boat stuff next week.

Demanding schedule: 1 trip ends; 3 more planned

Ms. Bettencourt made her first overnight cruise of the season this week. Our 12-year-old granddaughter and I went about 15 miles downstream to the New Savannah Bluff Lock and Dam. We debarked and had a closeup look at the 75-year-old structure. Back on the water, we found an anchorage and settled in for her first night on the River. Fried chicken, Oreo cookies and a few totally-truthful sea stories ended a very nice day.

The granddaughter seems to have had an enjoyable experience and the boat performed perfectly.






Later this month, my friend Major and I will load Ms. Bettencourt on her trailer for a road trip to Georgetown, SC. The plan is to launch there, then proceed up the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway to Southport, NC, with an intermediate overnight at Myrtle Beach, SC. We should be home by May 3, which will allow about a month for boat work and painting before the next trip.

My friend Paul will be joining me in the first week of June for that voyage. We will trailer to Welaka, FL, on the St. Johns River, then meander south up the (northward flowing) St. Johns. We'll stop at Hontoon Island for an overnight, then press on to the metropolis of Sanford on Lake Monroe.

After that, I'll be looking for buddy for a trip down the Savannah River to Savannah, and on to Beaufort, SC.

The cruiser's schedule is indeed demanding.

Tough work, but someone has to do it. (Smile).