Looper Rendezvous

The Rendezvous is a series of lectures and discussions about traveling on the loop. Today we had some excellent presentations on the TennTom Waterway, the panhandle of Florida, and crossing the Gulf. The longest open water crossing is from Carrabelle to Tarpon Springs, FL, 170 statute miles or about 20 hours at 8.5 mph our cruising speed, our only required overnight passage on the Loop.  One of the presenters provides weather musings and advice on the crossings that are published each day at 6:00 am. The preferred arrival time at Tarpon Springs is after 10:00 am, prior to that the rising sun creates a glare on the water that makes it difficult to see the crab pot buoys. Lots of excellent information by people that have made this crossing several times. This afternoon was a Looper Crawl, basically an open house for boats and participants. Fun to see what other boats have to offer, we also received a safety inspection from a US Coast Guard Auxiliary approved inspector. 

REFLECTIONS ON THE LOOP

We have been collecting the most memorable places, people and experiences of our Great Loop.  These are highlights of our year and the voyage of Reunion – we are happy to share them and we will always enjoy remembering.

QUOTES  WORTH  QUOTING

“Attitude is the difference between an ordeal and an adventure”

“If its broke, how much more can I break it” (do it yourselfer)

“Patience is not a virtue – it’s a necessity”

“When the plan fails, the adventure begins” - Al and Charli on Always 5 O’Clock

“Don't take the boat where the birds are walking on the water”

 “Boat unit  =  $1000” – Bob on Field Trip

“The difference between boating and yachting -When you go from working on your boat to paying someone else to work on your boat “

“Time for docktails  - It's five o'clock somewhere “

“Better to watch the docking show than being the show”

“Never approach a dock faster than you want to hit it”

“If everyone on the dock is standing around looking bored while you land, you are doing it right”

“9:00 pm is "looper midnight"

“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.  So throw off the bowlines.  Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.  (Mark Twain)

BEST OF REUNIONS VOYAGE

Best Marina on the entire loop – River Dunes at Oriental, NC

            Beautiful setting, every amenity, pool with cabanas, laundry, gym

            Individual showers, a clubhouse with white tablecloth dining upstairs

            And a great lounge and library downstairs.  A planned community of condo’s

            homes, even a chapel.  Shopping section being built.  First rate docks

            and a loaner vehicle available.  Plus its near a nice little town with a gallery 

            of local artists and some nice restaurants.  All at competitive rates.

Other best marinas – Heritage Harbor, Ottawa, IL; Green Turtle Bay, KY;  Grand Harbor, TN; Port Royal Landings, Beaufort SC; Spring Cove in Solomons, MD;  Montreal Yacht Club, Quebec;  Peterborough Marina, ON;  Port Orillia Marina, ON;  Straits State Harbor, Mackinaw City, MI;  Egg Harbor Marina, Door County WI;  Manitowoc City Marina, Manitowoc, WI

Unique marinas – Chipmans Point, Hudson River, a historic old marina;

            Logsdon Towhead, Beardstown IL; Wing Dam on the Ohio River

           

“No star marinas”

            Smithville and Pirates Cove on the TomBigbee

            Fairhope Eastern Shore Marina, AL

            Beaver Island marina – Lake Michigan

Memorable Fun times and Great dining experiences

            Grafton, Illinois – the pool party with Bill and Lori, and Al and Charlie

Nashville - Grand Ole Opry/Country music hall of fame

St. Petersburg FL.  Botanical garden at Christmas, hospitality and fun with

Al and Charlie; rooftop lounge with Alex and Andre,

Pool Time at Coral Lagoon in Marathon 

            Yacht Club Shrimp/crab boil at Green Turtle Bay

            Patty’s – town near Grand Harbor marina with the Flotilla

            The Hideaway Restaurant at Marathon, Keys

                        George and Mary, Bob and Martha, Carol and Bob

            River Dunes marina yacht club restaurant – Rich and Marcie

            Good times in Vermont – Al and Charlie

            Rawley’s resort dinner – Ontario

            Potlucks at Coral Lagoon/Boathouse – Marathon

            Favorite Lunch: Everglades Rod and Gun club, gator bites, Key lime pie

Favorite cities

            Fairhope, AL

            Sarasota, FL

            St. Augustine, FL

            St. Petersburg, FL

            Savannah, GA

            Charleston, SC

            Burlington, VT

            Montreal

            Ottawa

Favorite Sightseeing spots

            Statue of Liberty

            911 Memorial NYC

            Cumberland Island – wild horses

            Country Music Hall of Fame-Nashville

            Rocket and Space museum – Huntsville AL

            Chihuly Glass Museum – St. Pete’s

            Vermont touring

            History of Canada Museum-Ottawa

            Canadian Parliament

            Manitowoc Maritime Museum

            Rideau Canal and Trent Severn Locks

           

Wildlife

            Wild Horses – Cumberland Island

            Manatees – Coral Lagoon,Titusville, FL

            Alligators – Everglades

            Whale- off New Jersey

            Osprey- everywhere

            Dolphins

            Loons - Canada

           

Favorite Anchorages

            Three Rivers Lake, Alabama – foggy morning with 4 other boats

            Oleta State Park, Fort Lauderdale FL

            Liberty Landing NYC

            Kingsland Bay State Park, New York

            The Canadian lock walls

            Nicolet Bay, Door County

STATISTICS and EXPENSES

We traveled 5600 miles, and were gone 370 days.  144 days were travel days.

We (or the boat) spent 300 nights in Marinas and 70 nights at anchor or on a lock wall. This included several extended marina stays while we came home for 2 visits, stayed in Sarasota for 4 weeks, the Keys for 4 weeks and stayed at two Rendezvous for  6-10 days each + a ten day layover to get a new bimini top built.   We had anticipated spending a much higher percentage of our nights at anchor so our marina expenses did exceed our planned budget.

Fuel costs were somewhat less than we budgeted as our single engine trawler got about 2.7-3 miles per gallon on diesel fuel and only in Canada did we spend over $4 per gallon.

Reunion entering Racine Harbor

It's Official we crossed our wake

Exchanging Flags

Port Washington to Racine, WI

CROSSING OUR WAKE – Sept. 8, 2014

Three days in a row of great weather brought us home to Racine.  It was fun coming through an area where we recognized all the landmarks.  We took our time and even turned in at the Milwaukee Harbor to catch some pictures. 

Coming into the dock at Pugh’s marina in Racine, we were met by friends and family for a “welcome home” party.  They brought our Gold Looper flag, as well as champagne, balloons, roses, wine, and a big welcome sign.  It was much appreciated.

Tomorrow we will post some of our favorite stops and must see features for future loopers – and it will be fun to review everything for such a list.  For now we will start thinking up more fun things to do.  Finishing the Loop is a hard act to follow.

Leaving Port Washington

Whitefish Bay waterfront and bluff homes

Water tower and St. Mary's Hospital

Downtown Milwaukee, Calatrava Art Center Wings folded

Lake Express Car Ferry

Wind Point Lighthouse, Racine

Friends and family waiting on the pier

Manitowoc to Port Washington

Nice, calm cruising day with full sun, light winds and rather cool temperatures, high 60’s to low 70’s. We cruised past many of the spots in Wisconsin we have enjoyed, Kohler-Andrae and Harrington State Parks and Sheboygan into Port Washington. I remember Port Washington from my grade school days, occasionally on Sunday afternoon we would drive up 76^th Street to Hwy 57 and purchase smoked fish at Ewig Brothers, Co. The commercial fishing boats would be lined up at the pier and fishing nets were coiled on reels for inspection and repair. They smoked the fish right at the dock and sold it through a retail store on Wisconsin Avenue. The smoked fish I remember were called chubs, “Due to the dwindling food supply for native fish in Lake Michigan, we will no longer be carrying Smoked Chubs” according to their website. Things change!!

There are a couple of other things notable about Wisconsin and the western shore of Lake Michigan. Restaurants serve seafood- but its walleye pike and perch for the local specials instead of shrimp or lobster (both are very good).  Tonight we went to the little seafood place next to the marina and had another Wisconsin specialty; it’s called “Schaum Torte”.   In other places it is known as a Pavlova - sugar and egg whites whipped to a froth and then slow baked til it’s crusty on the outside and wonderful topped with ice cream and strawberries.  Almost as good as our mothers used to bake.

The Port Washington marina is very nice, with great laundry and shower facilities, a grill and picnic area and close to the main street of this charming town.  Their diesel prices are also very good.

We have one more travel day about 45 miles to our home port and we expect to arrive tomorrow, Monday afternoon, weather permitting. We will dock at slip 273 at Pugh’s Marina, we hope around 5:00 PM. We hope to celebrate our Loop completion with friends and family at the dock, any of you that read this blog are welcome to celebrate with us.  If you can’t join us in person please keep in touch as we will be looking for fun things to do on the land side of life.

Sheboygan Blue Harbor Resort

Port Washington Marina

The Loop

Sturgeon Bay to Manitowoc, WI

Lake Michigan was kind to us today – sunny, a nice breeze and waves only about 1 foot high so it was smooth sailing all the way to Manitowoc.  The QuoVadimus was just ahead of us and helped catch our lines when we came into the Manitowoc Marina.  This is one of my favorite Wisconsin towns.  Everything is within walking distance including some very interesting spots.

We took a walk to Sputnik Fest at the Rahr Art Museum lawn.  Over 50 years ago when the Russian space ship Sputnik broke up in space and fell to earth, a chunk of it landed in Manitowoc, and that has been enough reason to hold a festival every year.  It included free admission to the museum (got to see a replica of the chunk of Sputnik – the real chunk went back to Russia, even though they didn’t really want it.)   Then we enjoyed the costume contest and the “Miss Space Debris” pageant.  There were 4 serious contestants.  The winner was “Algae Luna” from a watery planet.  She even sang and danced for the talent competition – swaying like algae and singing like an alien.    You can’t make this stuff up people – you see really strange and unique things on the loop.

For dinner we came back to the marina where they were throwing a fish boil for customer appreciation day – it was delicious.  We ran into Loopers we had spent time with in the Florida Keys. They are Anita and Don from “Limelight.  Manitowoc is their home port and they finished the loop just a few days ago.  

To finish off the evening we walked to Beerentsen’s candy store and soda fountain, just because it is nearby and it is the coolest old -ashioned candy store ever.  Anywhere.  

Sturgeon Bay Channel 

Coast Guard Station at Sturgeon Bay Channel

Channel Lighthouse

Rawley Point Light, Point Beach State Forest

A tow leaving the Manitowoc Harbor

Yes it is for real Sputnikfest

Algae Luna, Miss Space Debris 2014

A local Alien

Carol flirting with the local aliens

Weather Day #2, Sturgeon Bay

It rained hard all night, according to NOAA some areas of northern Wisconsin received 5” of rain in the last 24 hours and flash flood warnings were issued. Lake Michigan was a bit rough this morning so we waited until 10:00 to make our decision to stay in port. Two fronts were still converging on the area one promised cooler temperatures and the other was a warm front. So we were unsure of the lake conditions and decided to stay. So far the weather looks good for the next couple of days. I did a couple of boat projects this morning, some recreational reading, and visited the Maritime Museum this afternoon. Sturgeon Bay has a long shipbuilding history dating back to the 1800’s with wood boats and was a boom town during the WWII. Four shipbuilding companies in Sturgeon Bay produced many different varieties of ships for the war effort and the work force grew to over 7,000 workers from less than a hundred. Daily busses brought workers from Green Bay, two large federally sponsored housing developments were built, and much of the local population was involved in the effort. I also toured the tug John Purves a 149 ft. ocean going tug. The tour guide had served on the boat for 22 years and completed his career as the Chief Engineer. The boat has been totally refurbished and now is part of the museum.

We expect the weather to be much better tomorrow and if so we will continue our cruise.

Tug John Purves, Roen Steamship Company

1928 Chris Craft displayed in a travel lift sling

Preserved 8 cylinder diesel engine 500 hp

SS Badger loading rail cars inside and automobiles on the upper deck

Weather Day in Sturgeon Bay

Rain, Rain Go Away; Come Again Another Day! Heavy weather in Minneapolis tracked across northern Wisconsin today and into the bay. This morning a couple hour thunderstorm, then a break in the clouds even a bit of sunshine and now raining again.  I was able to get a bike ride in this afternoon and Carol got a cut and color, just a bit of paper work this morning during the storm.

Palmar Johnson has been outfitting a hull made in Poland from composite material that is lighter than aluminum according to a local resident. The hull was brought to Sturgeon Bay on a freighter two summers ago for the workmen here to finish. Based on the activity and the sea trials I think it is close to completed. A very interesting design, I am sure we will see it in a James Bond movie soon.

Storm Cloud Front Passing over the marina

Sailboat next to us, good for lightning protection

Heading for the bay on Sea Trial

1/3 forward the hull changes shape, an unexpected shadow 

People Scale, this is a big boat

Polish hull outfitted in Sturgeon Bay, who new!

City Park with a pond, shipbuilding cranes in the background

Nicolet Bay to Harbor Club Marina, Sturgeon Bay, WI

Nicolet Bay to Sturgeon Bay

Left Nicolet Bay this morning and had a beautiful day moving south down Door County to the Sturgeon Bay canal.  On the way we heard QuoVadimus on the radio and recognized them as Loopers from the AGLCA daily forums.  So we got in touch and met them this evening for docktails.  Foster and Susan are from the Chesapeake area, and their home port is Bohemia Bay – where we had our bimini top replaced after the Memorial Day storm.  They have enjoyed Door County and are now heading south on Lake Michigan.

This afternoon we took a walk into Sturgeon Bay’s main street area and did some window-shopping and had lunch.  Some of the best sites in SB include Popelka-Trenchard glass studio on 2^nd Street.  They do exceptionally beautiful blown glass work and it’s worth a stop just to see it.  On Saturday mornings you can watch a demonstration.  There is also a nice large hardware store, a bookstore and a quilt shop on 3^rd Street.   The Door County maritime museum is just across the street from our marina.

Tonight while sitting on the sundeck, we watched a 95 foot gold and black yacht come up the river.  It was custom made by Palmer Johnson Yachtworks for a Russian family, according to the locals.  A sister ship left the dock a few weeks ago.  The Palmer Johnson yard is just up the canal from us and we have walked down to watch them work on the mega yachts that are world-class and world-famous.

We are at The Harbor Club, a Skipper Bud’s marina just on the west side of the Michigan Avenue bridge and on the south side of the river.  Very good floating docks, individual shower/bathrooms, laundry and a quick walk across the bridge to town – for $1.25 a night it is a gem. 

A new house on one of the Strawberry Islands

The Coast Guard Ship Mackinaw in Dry Dock

The 95 ft Palmar Johnson Custom Yacht

A tow passing through the canal

Door County Vacation

I have always associated Peninsula State Park in Door County with vacation and Nicolet Bay the center of that activity. So today was a vacation day, we got some fuel this morning before leaving Egg Harbor and cruised up to Nicolet Bay. The sky ahead was blue with a few light clouds, however the sky behind was grey and rain laden. We arrived in Nicolet Bay about 11:15, set the anchor and the first drops fell as we were setting the anchor harness. Radar showed that there was a line of showers that would pass through that should be followed by clear skies and that was exactly correct. After lunch and the shower passed we launched the dinghy and went ashore. The beach was mostly empty as we walked through and over to the campsites, along bluff road to the nature center and through the woods to the American Folklore Theater. I enjoy seeing what people use for camping gear some is quite makeshift while others bring Class A Motor Homes. I have been coming here since the 80’s and have always enjoyed the State Park. The park begins to close on Labor Day, the snack bar shuts down, but the camp store stays open until Columbus Day in October. We returned to the boat for a Wisconsin Supper of bratwurst and sauerkraut. 

Carol on stage in the spotlight, way cool!

The Folklore Theater

Just a few boats in the bay, the season is over but not the fun

Labor Day in Door County

True to predictions, today has been rainy and windy.  However, we did find the opportunity to visit Edgewood Galleries before Laura and Stacy had to leave for Madison.  Edgewood is probably the most $erious, professional gallery in the area.  They have a large wooded acreage that is their sculpture garden and a great indoor gallery as well.

A Racine friend, Kevin Pearson, has pieces of his raku pottery on display at Edgewood and almost all the artists are from Wisconsin or the Midwest.  It was such a pleasure to wander among all that beauty and talent.

15 ft tall aluminum sculpture

A horse made from scrap farm implements

Nice rocking horse

Cast marble on a marble base

Pottery too

A new level of garden art

Another sunset in Door County