Larry wrote:

Vic Smith wrote in
:

Yep, and if the cruise ship crew would let you lend a hand in fixing
things in exotic places, you'd have it all.

If I went on a cruise, would I HAVE to fix their electronics and
electrical problems....like I do cruising on sailboats?...(c;

If you watch the stories from anyone, not just Rosalie, notice how most
of the stories involve the marina, boat maintenance, navigation, etc.
with casual mention of restaurants/sightseeing/etc., which is the reality
of cruising on a boat....that docks.

If you are just sailing around in the ocean, there's not much to write
about.

No matter where you're going, the "view" from the boat is either a ditch
full of bouys in the middle of a non-descript swamp, a river with
mountains and cows on both sides and the occasional town, or the ocean

The first year we went down the ICW, we went 'outside' only when
strictly necessary (like to go around the Julia Tuttle bridge). After
that, we did more and more outside up and down the coast. After the
first time down, we always did Miami to Fort Pierce or v.v. outside.
The St. Mary's River to Charleston, and Charleston to Cape Fear. (We
always go into Charleston because our son lives near there, and ditto
Miami where one of our daughters lives)

which never varies the view until something just awful happens in a
storm. After you seen a few hundred hours of these places, I get awfully
bored of them.

It makes me sleepy.

I've never tried living like a hermit-on-the-hook, trapsing back and
forth to land begging for a little dockspace to leave a dink, which most
marinas don't want, so you can do a little sightseeing. That's gotta be
just awful boring after day 3. There's only so many times I could
replace toilet parts to keep me occupied.

The first year we went down the ICW, and a lot of the time in the
Bahamas we did the anchoring out thing. It is perfectly possible to
cruise for a LOT less money than we spend. But we pick what we want
to spend our money on. We can, but usually don't eat on board the
boat very often. We'd rather eat out.

But we are careful. That's why we planned to be in Crisfield on
Thursday and not Friday or the holiday (even before I knew there were
going to be the hard crab races and the carnival) - because it was
cheaper. And when we order in a restaurant, we often eat an appetizer
as the main entree because it is cheaper and the main entree often has
too much food for us to eat.

I always wonder about someone whos boat is packed with books. Books are
an escape from your natural surroundings, traveling to far off exotic
places where terrible things usually happen, if the author wants to stay
in business. It's ESCAPE. Is the guy with all the books trying to
escape the sheer boredom of being a hermit on a boat so much? I've
sailed with guys like that. They open their book and might as well be
walking across Mars, having escaped the boat we were sailing.

This kept me from buying my own boat. I like the occasional sail,
followed by long periods away from boats, entirely, that recharges the
thrill of fighting the sea. I'd hate it if I actually had to own one,
with all the expense and work. I'd hate it much worse if I were forced
to live on one, which is a LOT of really hard work, just hauling life up
and down the docks. I love to sail to X and back. But, when I get back
and have cleaned up the mess, I'm ready to abandon boating for a year,
the thrill being gone, the boredom having set in.

Why people spend half a year going to live in a ditch in Florida is even
a greater mystery. There's nothing in Florida to see from a boat unless
you love Real Estate!

Larry

That's why we don't do the ICW to Florida anymore. There's a lot to
see from the boat (crazy people pulling their children in a tube in
dense fog), but there's really not many places to actually sail.

On Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:36:18 +0000, Larry wrote:

Vic Smith wrote in
:

Yep, and if the cruise ship crew would let you lend a hand in fixing
things in exotic places, you'd have it all.



If I went on a cruise, would I HAVE to fix their electronics and
electrical problems....like I do cruising on sailboats?...(c;

If you watch the stories from anyone, not just Rosalie, notice how most
of the stories involve the marina, boat maintenance, navigation, etc.
with casual mention of restaurants/sightseeing/etc., which is the reality
of cruising on a boat....that docks.

No matter where you're going, the "view" from the boat is either a ditch
full of bouys in the middle of a non-descript swamp, a river with
mountains and cows on both sides and the occasional town, or the ocean
which never varies the view until something just awful happens in a
storm. After you seen a few hundred hours of these places, I get awfully
bored of them.

I've never tried living like a hermit-on-the-hook, trapsing back and
forth to land begging for a little dockspace to leave a dink, which most
marinas don't want, so you can do a little sightseeing. That's gotta be
just awful boring after day 3. There's only so many times I could
replace toilet parts to keep me occupied.

I always wonder about someone whos boat is packed with books. Books are
an escape from your natural surroundings, traveling to far off exotic
places where terrible things usually happen, if the author wants to stay
in business. It's ESCAPE. Is the guy with all the books trying to
escape the sheer boredom of being a hermit on a boat so much? I've
sailed with guys like that. They open their book and might as well be
walking across Mars, having escaped the boat we were sailing.

This kept me from buying my own boat. I like the occasional sail,
followed by long periods away from boats, entirely, that recharges the
thrill of fighting the sea. I'd hate it if I actually had to own one,
with all the expense and work. I'd hate it much worse if I were forced
to live on one, which is a LOT of really hard work, just hauling life up
and down the docks. I love to sail to X and back. But, when I get back
and have cleaned up the mess, I'm ready to abandon boating for a year,
the thrill being gone, the boredom having set in.

Why people spend half a year going to live in a ditch in Florida is even
a greater mystery. There's nothing in Florida to see from a boat unless
you love Real Estate!

First off, to allay any thought that I don't respect the people here
and what they do, I'll say that's not so.
I've learned here and in cruiser logs lots of useful info on boats and
places.
The most important thing I've learned is I'm not cut out to be a
cruiser, for many of the reason you've given.
Maybe I'm just too damned lazy, but it sure seems like too much work.
Really fun to read about though (-:
Of course actually doing it could change my mind, so I never say
never.

--Vic

Onancock dockage is $1.25/ft with $5 for 30 amp electric. Their
bathrooms are reasonably nice.

Sunday, September 2

No matter what I have done to the computer that got wet, it will not
boot and hangs. Before I left, I put the navigation software on this
computer, and last night I did a route to Reedville on it. It is a
very simple route.

I had tried and tried to call the Reedville Marina at the Crazy Crab
restaurant without any success. So I made a reservation at the
Fairport marina where they had a restaurant (but it wouldn't be open
when we were there), fuel and a pumpout. Since Point Lookout (our
home marina) had the fire at their fuel dock, we can't get fuel there,
and Bob isn't sure how well their pumpout works. I don't think there
is much in there, because I have consistently used the marina
bathrooms but he is worried about it.

When the tide is low, I can get off the boat with no problem - BUT
when it is high, even with a step stool, it is too far for me to be
comfortable. Because it hurts to step down, and I am always a little
dizzy from vertigo, I hold on like death to the large pilings to the
extent that I have scraped a bit of the skin off my left forearm.

I put this computer down on the nav table hooked to the GPS. Bob as
usual was chomping at the bit to be gone, so after I used the
bathroom, we pushed off a little before 8. We had the previous track
on the GPS, so we followed that out the river.

I had wanted to go close enough to the Tangier Light to get a picture,
but Bob didn't go close enough - I made the mistake of telling him not
to head directly for the light. We were closer coming down from
Crisfield.

I was also having a LOT of trouble with THIS computer. The cursor
just would not be controlled - it would get just to where I wanted to
click and before I could do it, the cursor would skate off somewhere
else so I would click somewhere I didn't want. I tried using the
touchpad and it was just as bad, and I turned everything on and off.
Also the charting program said that another program was using the GPS
port.

Finally I disconnected the GPS, and THAT was it - the computer behaved
perfectly after that - except that we didn't have the little moving
ship on the chart. By 11:50, we were over to the other side of the
Bay, and before 12:45 we were passing the Great Wicomico spider.

I had called Fairport and they said their pumpout wasn't working,
which ****ed Bob off because he said they made their profit on the
fuel and didn't want to do the pumpout. I tried Reedville all morning
(as soon as I had a signal) but their phone was busy. We came up
Cockrell Creek, and went to where I thought the marina was - they told
us just to go to the fuel dock, but there appeared to be someone else
there.

So we went around the corner to Reedville - and I saw someone leaving
the pier in front of the restaurant, so I called again and this time
they answered and said that the two boats we saw were just there for
lunch, and if we were ready to slide into their place when they left,
we could get fuel and a pumpout right there. We tied up to the dock
in front of the restaurant to wait. We had gone 29.9 nm from Onancock
in 5.4 hours

I called Fairport and told them we weren't coming, and after a certain
amount of back and forth, we DID get tied up and DID get fuel and DID
get a successful pumpout. (And there wasn't much there, just as I
thought). We ate the leftovers from our Shuckers dinner for a VERY
late lunch after we did all that - it was about 4 pm by that time. The
sign on the dock said that it was $1.00/ft, but Charlesy (the owner)
said dockage had gone up. He charged us $5 for electric, and fuel was
$2.80/gal which Bob said was high for home heating oil (that's all it
was) We got 25 gallons of fuel which is what we used in 6 days of
motoring or motor sailing. (That includes 2 days with our grandson in
July). The total bill was $126.70 of which some $70 was fuel.

This time we were tied starboard side to, so Bob could access the
vents. He said he got a lot of black stuff out of one of them, but he
thinks that was the vent for the propane locker.

I was talking to a lady who was sitting on the porch and she told me
that the Great Wicomico spider used to be a screwpile lighthouse which
was dismantled about 1963, and the little house at the end of a pier
down at the end of the creek was a replica of it.

The trawler in front of us (which didn't leave) has two couples on it
and one of them came to talk to us - as a parting shot, he said that
our boat was memorable or recognizable or something like that. Not
sure if he meant that it was gaudy, or if he meant it nicely to be a
compliment.

Bob was again very antsy - he said people were lining up for dinner,
not realizing that people were just sitting out on the porch waiting
for outside seating which we don't want. We have enough time outside
in the cockpit of the boat, and Bob generally doesn't like to eat
outside except for that. I wanted to wait until later since we had
such a late lunch. But it is easier to just go ahead and eat when he
wants to.

I had half of a cup of cream of lobster soup, which was pretty good,
although there were some lumps in it that weren't lobster and to a lot
of lobster. For dinner I had a crab melt ($19.95) which was lump crab
on an English muffin with cheese on top. It came with a salad and a
side. It was good. Bob had the single crab cake with two sides (the
side of the day was butterbeans which is one of his favorites) for
$14.95. This time he asked for it to be broiled. These were all from
the regular menu. We had dessert - I had a berry-apple cobbler, with
ice cream which tasted a little burnt I'm sorry to say, and I didn't
finish all of it. Bob had a fancy chocolate cake. Total with tip was
$52.99.

Monday September 3 -
Bob is concerned because he only has enough of his pills for one week,
and so we HAVE to get home today. So we push off about 7:45, and
motor slowly out. Bob says the sailboat ahead of us is one from our
marina. At first it looks as if they are going to shortcut the red 6
in the river, but they get back on course.

After we got to the mouth of the river, it again looks as if they are
going for the pound nets, but then they get back on course. Bob has
put the main up and then the jib. We see the ELVA C coming back up
the creek toward the Reedville Fisherman's Museum with a lot of people
on it. It's only about 8:15 am.

I hear a motor and look up and see a small plane. Maybe it is a
menhaden spotter? There are at least three menhaden ships out in the
bay (an later I see there are actually two planes). I watch a smaller
boat circle around the large boat, and then I see a froth on the
surface (from the school of menhaden) with the gulls diving on it.

I go down and pack things up preparing to get off the boat. We pass
Smith Point about 9:40. I hear the following on the radio

"About the incident at the red 8 on the Potomac - the DNR fireboat is
there, so your services won't be needed" Oh exciting! Where is the
red 8. I can't find one on the lower Potomac. They appear to start
renumbering at the Nice bridge (301). I guess that's where the red 8
is.

We see a lot of PWCs buzzing around in Smith Creek. We wonder where
they get their fuel with Pt. Lookout out of commission. We got into
the slip without incident - the guy from HAND MAIDEN (on the other
side of the dock) helps a little bit (He takes direction well and
doesn't try to take charge or lean on the stanchions or anything). Bob
gets all his 14 dock lines adjusted to his satisfaction, and gets two
carts. We get a late lunch at the A&W place - Bob is upset because a
hamburger is $2.29 when he can get the same thing for $1 at Mickey
D's. I think A&Ws is a bigger burger.

grandma Rosalie

S/V RosalieAnn, Leonardtown, MD
CSY 44 WO #156
http://home.mindspring.com/~gmbeasley/id1.html

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Vic Smith wrote in
:

Yep, and if the cruise ship crew would let you lend a
hand in fixing
things in exotic places, you'd have it all.



If I went on a cruise, would I HAVE to fix their
electronics and
electrical problems....like I do cruising on
sailboats?...(c;

If you watch the stories from anyone, not just Rosalie,
notice how most
of the stories involve the marina, boat maintenance,
navigation, etc.
with casual mention of restaurants/sightseeing/etc., which
is the reality
of cruising on a boat....that docks.

No matter where you're going, the "view" from the boat is
either a ditch
full of bouys in the middle of a non-descript swamp, a
river with
mountains and cows on both sides and the occasional town,
or the ocean
which never varies the view until something just awful
happens in a
storm. After you seen a few hundred hours of these
places, I get awfully
bored of them.

I've never tried living like a hermit-on-the-hook,
trapsing back and
forth to land begging for a little dockspace to leave a
dink, which most
marinas don't want, so you can do a little sightseeing.
That's gotta be
just awful boring after day 3. There's only so many times
I could
replace toilet parts to keep me occupied.

I always wonder about someone whos boat is packed with
books. Books are
an escape from your natural surroundings, traveling to far
off exotic
places where terrible things usually happen, if the author
wants to stay
in business. It's ESCAPE. Is the guy with all the books
trying to
escape the sheer boredom of being a hermit on a boat so
much? I've
sailed with guys like that. They open their book and
might as well be
walking across Mars, having escaped the boat we were
sailing.

This kept me from buying my own boat. I like the
occasional sail,
followed by long periods away from boats, entirely, that
recharges the
thrill of fighting the sea. I'd hate it if I actually had
to own one,
with all the expense and work. I'd hate it much worse if
I were forced
to live on one, which is a LOT of really hard work, just
hauling life up
and down the docks. I love to sail to X and back. But,
when I get back
and have cleaned up the mess, I'm ready to abandon boating
for a year,
the thrill being gone, the boredom having set in.

Why people spend half a year going to live in a ditch in
Florida is even
a greater mystery. There's nothing in Florida to see from
a boat unless
you love Real Estate!


Apparently, Larry doesn't 'get it'.

SBV

....
I was also having a LOT of trouble with THIS computer. The cursor
just would not be controlled - it would get just to where I wanted to
click and before I could do it, the cursor would skate off somewhere
else so I would click somewhere I didn't want. ...

Sounds like your computer thinks your GPS is a serial mouse. This is
a pretty common problem. If you go to the device manager and disable
the bogus mouse driver you should regain control of the pointer. It
is traditional to face Redmont, Washington and make a lewd gesture
when you do this, but that may not be required.

-- Tom.

Rosalie B. wrote in
:

Total with tip was
$52.99.


Had lunch at Eastern Buffet, my fav Chinese restaurant here....
(Cold Stuff)(Course One)
Waldorf salad
fresh slices of tangerine
cubes of fresh cantelope
fresh pineapple cubes, no sugar
3 slices really red tomatoes
crab salad

(Hot stuff)(Course Two)
Crab and Italian cheezes with creamed spinach
A brick of baked salmon topped with butter sauce
2 little cakes topped with crab/shrimp mush
3 blobs of stuffing, each with a shrimp baked in them for a handle.
2 helpings of the finest Coco Shrimp I ever tasted.
3 fried/breaded scallops smothered in Coco Shrimp sauce (see above)
2 Teriyaki chicken sticks
3 chicken-pineapple-chicken-pineapple shish kebabs
nice helping of Thai Chicken that should be eaten on the street

Desert stuff (Course Three)
one bourbon-laced homemade brownie
one white cake with chocolate creme layers topped with coffee sauce
one scoop vanilla ice cream laced with crushed Oreos
one scoop mint chocolate chip laced with chocolate chips
one fortune cookie that said I was going to come into lots of money soon
and told me how to say "Thank You" in mandarin Chinese, including how to
write it.

Sit down before reading the next line......
Buffet Lunch - $5.29
bottomless Ice tea - $1
goddamned sales tax - 60c
Total Lunch (per person) - $6.89 (until 4PM when they bring out the
expensive seafoods and the price goes up to $7.59/person.

If you go away hungry, it's YOUR FAULT....
At night, the dessert bar expands to include ALL YOU CAN EAT CHEEZECAKE!
No reservations required. Illegal Mexicans permitted if they're nice.
Dinner pricing and premium food all day Sunday 11AM-10PM.
The whole family works there. The cashier is 8. How many 8-year-olds do
YOU know who can run a register and make change, MANUALLY, with no
computer?

Larry
--
I'm still stuffed.....(c;
I still don't see how they make a profit. 6 woks going full blast in the
kitchen! There's 8-10 people just cooking food!

" wrote in
ups.com:

It
is traditional to face Redmont, Washington and make a lewd gesture
when you do this, but that may not be required.


If your laptop has a cam, it's not a good idea to provoke DOS. If it has a
mic in it, NEVER say Micro$oft or Bill Gates with a curse word!

It's your data....preserve it....(c;

Larry
--
Search youtube for "Depleted Uranium"
The ultimate dirty bomb......

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Rosalie B. wrote in
:



Larry
--
I'm still stuffed.....(c;
I still don't see how they make a profit. 6 woks going
full blast in the
kitchen! There's 8-10 people just cooking food!


that chicken that you ate, it used to meow.

SBV

On Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:36:18 +0000, Larry wrote:

Why people spend half a year going to live in a ditch in Florida is even
a greater mystery. There's nothing in Florida to see from a boat unless
you love Real Estate!

Yes, Florida is terrible, especially in winter when folks in South
Carolina are scraping ice from their windshields. Awful place.

Wayne.B wrote in
news
On Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:36:18 +0000, Larry wrote:

Why people spend half a year going to live in a ditch in Florida is
even
a greater mystery. There's nothing in Florida to see from a boat
unless
you love Real Estate!

Yes, Florida is terrible, especially in winter when folks in South
Carolina are scraping ice from their windshields. Awful place.


As usual, you missed the point. There's no place to SAIL and not much of
a place to BOAT in Florida. An old 8-wide trailer in one of those little
parks for $1500 and $200/month in rent is a much better way to stay in
Florida than to motor for weeks down a ditch just to stay there. A
little 12' fishing boat with a 9 hp outboard is more suitable to Florida
waterways....At least it won't go aground in the middle of the "lake" or
ICW.

Larry
--
Search youtube for "Depleted Uranium"
The ultimate dirty bomb......