|
|
        
|
Below is the Captain's Log dated August 13, 2000 through September 28, 2000. Dan, Christina, and their three cats, as well as Dan's brother, Jeff, and mother, Cindy, sailed the Sea Ranch from Sabula, IA, her home of more than 20 years, to Dan and Christina's new home in Pensacola, Florida. Originally, the trip was planned to take about 2 1/2 to 3 weeks. However, as you will read below, we had just a few problems along the way. In retrospect, it was probably to be expected. For most of her life, the Sea Ranch was used to make 2 mile jogs every weekend from her slip to the Schiro family's favorite island on the Mississippi River. Then we had the nerve to expect her to cover approximately 1,300 miles in 3 weeks. Sure, we counted on encountering a few problems along the way; Before the trip, we purchased a lot of extra parts and systems we thought we might need. However, just about every other part that we didn't have on hand went kaput. Thank goodness Jeff was helping us with the trip. Not only did he do a wonderful job as the primary pilot, he had extensive knowledge of the boats' systems, as he had also grown up on the boat. About 1 week into the trip, Christina was ordered by both the captain and the pilot to stop writing each days events into the Captains Log. Dan and Jeff were convinced that it was causing us bad luck. Therefore, a majority of this log was put together by recollections, digging through receipts, and looking back at our maps and guides. Day 1 Date: Sun, Aug 13, 2000 Time: 6: 55am Departure Port: Sabula, IA Departure Mile: 535 Mississippi. River Port O’Call: Muscatine, IA (Muscatine Municipal Dock) Arrival Mile: 455.5 Miss. River Arrival Time: 4: 30 pm Fuel Cost: $1.859/gal # of Gals: 168 Weather/Water: Warm, Sunny except for rain, clouds at Pool 13/Calm except for 2-3 ft chop on Pool 13 Notes: Our trip didn't start off on a good note. Left Sabula late because we thought marine radio was broken. An hour later, we discovered the buttons were just sticking because of the humidity! No delay’s at Lock 13, 14, 15. At Lock 16 we had 1 & 1/2 hr delay because of heavy barge traffic. Day 2 Date: Mon, Aug 14, 2000 T Time: 12:55 pm Departure Port: Musacatine, IA Departure Mile: 455.5 Mississippi River Port O’Call: Keokuk, IA (Keokuk Yacht Club) Arrival Mile: 366.9 Miss. River Arrival Time: 11:15 pm Fuel Cost: $1.59/gal # of Gals: 144.5 Weather/Water: Sunny & Hot/Calm Notes: Late start due to hydraulic line leak on Port transmission, which caused it to be 2 quarts low. Line between oil cooler & reverse gear replaced. During a 1 & 1/2 hr delay at Lock 18, another transmission leak of 2 quarts discovered, so the problem wasn't fixed after all. Also, bolt on top cover assembly was stripped. Bolt replaced, but captain wanted to stop at next marina to check on the transmission and to stop overnight. The next 2 marinas only had water depths of 2 ft! Running behind schedule and Keokuk Yacht Club closed their gas dock at 8 pm and we weren’t going to make it by then. Called Yacht Club to see if they would open their gas dock up at 6:30 am the next morning (scheduled to open at 2 pm!) Luckily they agreed.
Day 3 Date: Tue, Aug 15, 2000 Time: 9:00 am Departure Port: Keokuk Yacht Club Departure Mile: 366.9 Mississippi River Port O’Call: Louisiana, MO (Two Rivers Marina) Arrival Mile: 283.2 Miss. River Arrival Time: 5:30 pm Fuel Cost: $1.70/gal # of Gals: 136.5 Weather/Water: Hot/Calm Notes: Checking fluid levels revealed that port transmission still leaking. Called ahead to our next Port O'Call, Two Rivers Marina in Louisiana, MO, to order a top assembly gasket. Throughout the day, we had to add more transmission fluid. We arrived at Two Rivers Marina by 5:30 pm, but the gasket didn't arrive until 10:30 am the next day (Aug 16). Installed part and discovered the front gasket was also leaking! Ordered it and it arrived 11am the following day (Aug 17). Unable to install part, but we were able to stop the leak by tightening the bolts. Hope it holds!! Took the marina's courtesy van (had no a/c, the windows wouldn’t roll down, and it was hot!!) to find a gas station with more transmission fluid. It took four stations and getting lost repeatedly to find the right kind!. Two Rivers Marina had excellent facilities...large pool, hot tub, restaurant/bar, full service parts dept, well stocked ships store, and laundry facilities. Purchased a hand-held marine radio and large candle-power hand-held spotlight since the existing one was two dim for night travel. (Thank God Dan convinced me to spend the money and buy them, because they were literally life-savers later on in our trip! Keep reading...) Day 5 Date: Thurs, Aug 17, 2000 Time: 1:20 pm Departure Port: Louisiana, MO Departure Mile: 283.2 Miss. River Port O’Call: Alton, IL (Alton Marina)
Arrival Mile: 209.9 Miss River Arrival Time: 10:00 pm Fuel Cost: 1.85/gal # of Gals: 142 Weather: Notes: While underway, generator belt cracked. Front window
jammed open and unable to close it. Generator circulation pump leaking also.
Come nightfall, it is pitch dark outside, we can't see where we are going, and
our regular "head-lights" aren't cutting it. A big storm is
brewing, so the lighting bolts spreading across the sky provide the only light.
Dan breaks out the new super bright hand-held spotlight and goes to the bow of
the boat to find our next marker. We eventually see the lit-up city of Alton, IL
and arrive at the marina (after figuring out where the entrance into the marina
is!) and under our covered (thank goodness!) slip just Day 7 Date: Sat, Aug 19, 2000 Time: 5:00 am Departure Port: Alton, IL Departure Mile: 209.9 Miss. River Port O’Call: Cape Girardeau anchorage
Arrival Mile: 48.8 Miss. River Arrival Time: 6:15 pm Fuel Cost: $1.83/gal + $15 "after hours fee" # of Gals: 208 Notes: Port transmission still leaking. Port engine started overheating and miss-firing, so we shut it down and continued on with only one engine. Fueled up at Kidd City Fuel barge. While fueling up, Christina and Dan hiked into town (involving climbing over a 50 ft seawall and walking up and down in a hilly town. NOT FUN!) to purchase more transmission fluid. Cape Girardeau has no marinas, so we found a safe spot in the Little River Diversion Channel off of the Mississippi River to anchor out. Christina was paranoid the boat was not far enough out of the river channel, so she kept waking up throughout the night where she heard a barge horn or saw their search lights shining through the windows. Day 8 Date: Sun, Aug 20, 2000 Time: 10:35 am Departure Port: Cape Girardeau, MO Depart. Mile: 48.0 Mississippi River Port O’Call:Grand Rivers, KY (Green Turtle Bay Resort) Arrival Mile: 31.7 Cumberland River Arrival Time: 4:00 am Mon, Aug 21 Fuel Cost: 1.60/gal # of Gals: 171 Notes: At Cairo, IL, (Mile 0 Miss. River & Mile 981 Ohio River) we
took the Ohio River. What an adventure! We couldn’t find our planned Port O’Call,
Big "E" Marina at Mile 935 in the dark and could not reach them via
cell phone or marine radio. So we continued on for the next marina in Grand Rivers,
KY. Lost battery power 3 times. Port engine still out of commission. Ran on Starboard
only. Battery went dead while coming into Lock 52 on the Ohio. Got Day 11 Date: Wed, Aug 23, 2000 Time: 6:30 am Departure Port: Grand Rivers, KY Departure Mile: 31.7 Cumberland River Port O’Call: Decaturville, TN (Gumdale Marina/Mermaid Marina) Arrival Mile: 140 Tennessee R. Arrival Time: 7:30 pm Fuel Cost: 1.69/gal # of Gals: 140 Weather/Water: Choppy Notes: Stopped in Johnsonville, TN for fuel. Port engine started missing badly. Stopped at Cypress Bay Resort in Buchanan, TN at Mile 62.6 to check out the problem. Discovered the fuel filter full of sludge. Cleaned it out and it ran better, but still missing from time to time. Stopped at Pebble Isle Marina in New Johnsonville, TN at Mile 96 for fuel. Day 12 Date: Thurs, Aug 24, 2000 Time: 6.57 am Departure Port: Decaturville, TN Departure Mile: 140 Tennessee River Port O’Call: Iuka, MS (Aqua Yacht Harbor) Arrival Mile: 448.7 Tenn-Tom Arrival Time: 3:30 pm Fuel Cost: $1.85/gal # of Gals: 251 Notes: Stopped at Pickwick Landing Marina at 1:45 pm for fuel because we heard Aqua Yacht Harbor was very expensive. Day 13 Date: Fri, Aug 25, 2000 Time: 6:00am Departure Port: Iuka, MS Departure Mile: 448.7 Port O’Call: West Point, MS (Waverly Marina) Arrival Mile: 338.8 Tenn-Tom Arrival Time: 5:30pm Fuel Cost: 1.85/gal # of Gals: 280 Weather/Water: Hot and still/Smooth Notes: Starboard transmission started making knocking noise when we pulled into Waverly Marina. Unable to determine why. Transmission fluid was full. We had run the boat at 3200 RPM all day rather than our usual 2200-2500 RPM due to the length of the leg that we had to catch up. Folks at Waverly were very friendly. They took a polarod of the boat and hung it on a cork board full of pictures of all the other boats that had passed through for prosperities sake. Nice touch. They were even nice enough to drive us into town in their own car to pick up some supplies. We told them about the transmission and they told us that there were some good mechanics in the area that would be willing to come down and look at it if we needed them. Day 14 Date: Sat, Aug 26, 2000 Time: 6:00am Departure Port: West Point, MS Departure Mile: 338.8 Tenn-Tomm Port O’Call: Demopolis, AL (Demopolis Yacht Basin) Arrival Mile: 216.2 Tenn-Tomm Arrival Time: Sun, Aug 27, 2000 4:00pm Fuel Cost: 1.80/gal # of Gals: 150 Weather/Water: Notes: Pulled out of Waverly and tested Starboard transmission. Still knocking. While troubleshooting it, knocking stopped. We thought that we may have just picked up a fisherman's float around the shaft and that it had broke free. Continued on our way. Starboard transmission locked, killing Starboard engine around mile 320 Tenn-Tom. Stopped at Marina Cove at mile 307.4 because they advertised mechanics and divers "on call". In actuality, the mechanics on call were located in Demopolis, AL (several hours away), it was a holiday weekend so it would be Tuesday before they came out, and it sounded like they wouldn’t be able to take care of our transmission problems. So we borrowed the office attendants truck, who Dan will always refer to as Captain Pervert (He was sitting in the marina office wearing nothing but a pair of biker shorts eating grapes. Plus, he was completely unhelpful) and drove into town to see if there was anyone there to help us out. There was no one. After much thought, swearing, discussion, argument, debate, and voting, we decided (3 to 1) to take the risk and head to Demopolis, Al, 100 miles south. Running on one engine and dragging one wheel made it impossible to make Demopolis be night fall. So we found a nice secluded anchorage at mile 287.4 Tenn-Tom. We spent the night there and started out at 6:00am the next morning for Demopolis Yacht Basin. Came into port minutes before huge storm came in. Spent a week in Demopolis getting boat repaired and tracking down a new transmission. We rented a car and drove to Mississippi to pick up our new transmission (only 4 of this kind left in the US). Jeff had to get back to work (he had already extended his vacation time due to our delays) so we drove Jeff to Mobile, AL (a 3 hr drive) to catch his flight back to Chicago. While there, went to Dan’s workplace (of just one month) to tell them why he hasn't returned to work yet and why he can't return to work for at least another week.. We also drove to Pensacola to take care of some business and to pick up mail at our PO Box. The folks at Demopolis Yacht Basin were very friendly and helpful. They have a full service yard and knowledgeable mechanics. Day 21 Date: Sat, Sept 2, 2000 Time: 6:00am Departure Port: Demopolis, AL Departure Mile: 216.2 Port O’Call: Silas, AL (Bobby’s Fish Camp) Arrival Mile: 118.9 Tenn-Tom Arrival Time: 4:30pm Fuel Cost: 1.81/gal # of Gals: 163 Weather/Water: Hot and still/Water smooth. Notes: Strong sulfur smell alerts us that our marine battery exploded just before we pulled into port. Replaced battery with spare. Had dinner in onsite restaurant, but they were out of almost everything on the menu and it took them an hour to cook up our meal of grilled cheese & chicken fingers (the only thing left in this "seafood restaurant"). Bobby's is not a marina, but rather a fish camp with a floating fuel barge and room for ONE boat. No sooner did we tie our boat up to the fuel barge when another power boat came along wanting to stay for the night. We let them tie up to us, side to side. So whenever they wanted to get off there boat, they had to climb onto our boat, cross our back deck, and climb down to the fuel dock! Day 22 Date: Sun, Sept 3, 2000 Time: 6:00 am Departure Port: Silas, AL Departure Mile: 118.9 Tenn-Tom Port O’Call: Mobile, AL (Grand Mariner Marina) Arrival Mile: Mobile Bay/Dog River Arrival Time: 8:30pm Fuel Cost: Gals: Weather/Water: Hot, 10kt breeze. Light chop Notes: Port engine overheats as we navigate the bustling and
crowded
Mobile Ship Channel. Grand Mariner Marina is crowded because of Memorial Day
weekend, so basically we have to "parallel park" our 46 foot boat
into a 47 foot space on one engine! Spent next 20 days here. Had to get marine
survey done to change insurance companies. Hauled boat for survey and noticed
active cathodic unit was attacking hull, but that is another long, drawn out
affair. Took longer than expected to get the survey done because Tropical Storm
Helena was heading towards us, and I did not want to be in dry dock when it hit.
Luckily TS Helena headed toward Pensacola and fizzled out. We then had to wait
for the surveyor to complete his report and send it to us so we could submit it
to our insurance company. We then had to Day 43 Date: September 28, 2000 Time: 8:00AM Departure Port: Mobile, AL Departure Mile: Mobile Bay/Dog River Port O’Call: Pensacola, FL Arrival Mile: Intracoastal Waterway Mile 183 East Arrival Time: 1:00PM Fuel Cost: N/A Gals: N/A Weather/Water: Notes: First day with absolutely no problems!! Too bad it was the very last day of our voyage. After we pulled into our new home, we hopped the trolley to the Annual Seafood Festival in Downtown Pensacola! |
|
|
