Lady Chateau's Journey: Ft Lauderdale to Stillwater 4/19/15

4/17/15

Ah, Spring …

We've had a great Winter, and things are warming in Minnesota, so I guess it's time to pull the plug and head to beautiful, little Stillwater. We have our last charter of the season tonight. It's going to be another hot day here in Ft Lauderdale, so by charter time, the temps should be very, very nice.

Paul came in on Wednesday to lend his services and expertise, once again. He flew in on Air Tran and arrived at 8:00AM. Whew, that's a long (or short) night. Since he's been here, we've tackled a few last minute projects to get ready for our long journey. Today, we'll get a run first thing, tweak a couple mechanical items, do a little grocery shopping, wash the boat, and stand by for the caterers to bring the evening food.

4/18

That's it! It's all over (but the cleaning) for the 2014/2015 Ft Lauderdale charter season. It was a beautiful night for a charter. It started with a chance of rain, but turned out great. The group was nice, mostly Italian and Latino, and the caterers did an outstanding job. It was a late charter, but it certainly was a fine way to end the season. Then, a little cleaning and it was time to try the charter food. Before we did, we had to have just a little ceremony to mark the occasion. And, a big shout out to the person that really runs this operation. I can't thank Patti enough for what she does. Any captain would be blessed to have this girl as part of the team, and I'm a very, very lucky guy to be able to take orders from her!

4/19 … Just before 6:00AM found us off the dock and headed for the Atlantic Ocean. The forecast was for light southerly winds in the morning, and increasing during the day. Sure enough, they were right! We made it all the way to the Stuart inlet in 8 hours. Normally, that'd be about a 12 hour ride on the inside. So, we saved a bunch of time and made it to the St Lucie Lock before they closed at 5:00, went through, and tied off for the evening.

Here's the night before we left ...

Leaving Ft Lauderdale ...

… to another sunrise ...

Passing the breakers Resort at Palm Beach ...

Here's a dredge, lifting sand from the bottom to put it back on the beach. Every storm washes some of the beach sand into the ocean. Then, somebody gets a contract to put it back. Talk about job security ...

Pulling into St Lucie Lock ...

4/20 … Up and off. We couldn't wait to get going, this morning. Whew we tied to the dolphin pilings, after dinner, I shut off the generator for the night. It was SO HOT in the boat. The temps are about 90 degrees and it just doesn't cool off at night. We'll never do that again!

4/24 … We've had quite an interesting last few days aboard Lady Chateau. First, we stopped at Moorehaven in the mid-afternoon. When we tied up it was 92 degrees. Whew! We had a little plumbing leak that needed to be looked after and as always, that "little" leak turned into something else. Well, we fixed it and enjoyed a nice evening. Then, off early the next day to a little cooling rain and Paul keeping us clean …

There was a Notice to Mariners advisement that stated there'd be a lock closing for the Ortona Lock in the morning. Of course, I read every notice but that one, so we were stuck at that lock for 3 1/2 hours. But, we made it through and then into Ft Myers to stay at the City Docks. We went into town for a little dinner and a better walk, and then turned in early just after sunset …

Our thought was, the weather may cooperate for the next couple days. We hope …

Off the dock early …

… and past the local bait shack …

Paul keeping us on course …

Towards the Gulf of Mexico …

The weather looks great for the next couple days, so Apalachicola, here we come! Our course takes us past Tampa and the Skyway Bridge. Here we are, going past about 10 miles away …

Oh, oh … Now the bad part. Several years ago, we took on some bad fuel. Although we had the tanks "cleaned", it never was again perfect. We've had a few years of trouble free miles of boating, but we also never had rough conditions. Today, as we entered the Gulf of Mexico, we experienced some sloshing around of the file in the tanks. That stirred up the gunk, and then that goes into the file filters. If bad enough, that'll shut down the engines. As we approached sunset, the gauges showed that the gunk was something that could affect our future, so we made the decision to turn towards Clearwater and address the problem. At least we're close enough to get a tow if we need it …

4/23 … Yep, we made it. Now we need to tackle the problem. I must have called 10 companies to clean tanks, and only 2 answered the phone. That's quite frustrating!

We're at Clearwater City Marina. It's just a few hundred yards from the beach and there's lot's of "touristy" things to do. Paul and I are able to get out for a run in the morning. Then, we'll tackle a couple projects while we try to find help with the fuel cleaning. Here's a couple shots of our view …

Captain Stevens and Jamie stopped by in their little boat from their visit in St Pete ...

They stayed for aft deck beverages and a quick dinner in town ...

4/29 … We've muddled through on our own, but now the re-enforcements have arrived. Marcia flew in to Tampa and immediately started the cooking-dinner program. We gotta love it!

A few apps ...

We had to get our strength up to tackle the fuel cleaning issue. We have two tanks; a fore and an aft. Over the years, we've put inspection covers in the tops of the tanks. This will be our access to the fuel. First, we'll need to empty the contents of the bed, and find a place for it all…

There was a lot of stuff in there, but it's moved and then we pick up the bed...

Then, the carpet comes up to expose the tank. Paul is prepping the cover for gasket replacement ...

And a peek into the tank ...

5/1 … The process begins! After many days of research, talking to dozens of "experts", and having little direction to go, we're finally moving forward. The original plan was to offload all our fuel, clean the tanks, then filter the fuel while returning it to the tanks. I had thought that we had a vendor with a tank truck ready to help, but after agreeing to help, he bailed out on us. There's only one other truck in town, but they were busy for two weeks. Arrrgh! Now, our plan is to move as much fuel as possible to the aft tank, store the remaining fuel on barrels on the bow, and do the cleaning.

We've placed the barrels on the bow and moved about 300 gallons to them …

Run hoses to the tanks …

And started the process …

The concept that we're doing is fuel "polishing". In our situation, the tanks are almost forty years old, and there's more than just "polishing" to do. To start, it's more just hacking away at the mess. here's some of the big chunks that have been in there for a while and settled on the bottom …

A peek inside the forward tank …

5/5 Whew, this project's gonna kill us! Well, it's not that bad, but it surely takes some time. We started with the thought of doing the standard fuel polishing, so we cut an access hole to get into a section. After getting in there, we see that the one next to it and a little higher up is bad, too. So we cut an access into that one. Sure enough, now we see the adjacent one also needs attention. And so on, and so on. Pretty soon the deck looks like Swiss cheese …

16 holes later, we're finished cutting holes … all right! Then, we have to stick an arm in there and scoop out the gook. It's a bio-matter that's been in there for … well … maybe almost 40 years, now? It's a growing entity that needs moisture to survive and diesel fuel to eat. In our warm fuel tank that can get condensation, they really set up shop! So we scooped out the gook, and scooped and scooped. Then it was wiped with paper towels. Paul thinks we scooped almost two 5 gallon buckets of the stuff. The after view …

Everything that was on the floor of the aft stateroom needed to be moved out and placed in the salon …

Even after all this work and all this mess, we've STILL got a happy Crew!

5/8 The Captain had a VERY anxious night. I was thinking about all the extra things I should have done, but didn't. Is the fuel clean enough? Did we clean in all the little nooks and crannies? Who can say. Anyway, we've decided the weather looked great for a crossing, so lets get going after all this work!

We were up at 4:00AM and off the dock to a beautiful morning. The seas were calm and the sky was blue. And we're glad to be moving … finally!

Paul bonding with the dolphins ...

We all were worried about clogging the engine fuel filters with our used-to-be-dirty-fuel, but the flat Gulf certainly did us no harm. We arrived at Apalachicola at 12:30AM and got a little rest, then some fuel, and we're back on the road …

Sunrise …

Leaving with the Crew hard at it …

Now that we've made the crossing, Marcia feels like the "Queen of the World"!

We messed up Paul's wardrobe so much that he needed a new shirt … and a shower, too!

Lookin', feelin' good!

I had forgotten to throw in these pics of our daywhile crossing the Gulf. It was certainly a beautiful day!

The ride from Apalachilcola to Panama City is always so nice. It's kind of like northern Minnesota with the pine trees. There's nice big bays and also a narrow stretch, but it's good to be on the "other side" …

There's a pretty large shipyard in an out of the way place. They build offshore oil-rig vessels. They've been pretty busy the last few years ...

We travel past Pensacola and then into Alabama. Not before a nice evening at a dock and a pork tenderloin …

Early off the dock and on to Mobile ...

Mobile Bay is a very large bay. It's about 30 miles long and 5 miles wide. It's a busy port, and now we start to again see the tow traffic ...

We stay at Dog River Marina while in Mobile. The staff is so nice and they're just like old friends. We got in early enough to change oil, grab a run, do our grocery shopping, and have a nice, dinner across the river at Grand Mariner.

5/12 … Up and off the dock at 4:30AM. Today can be a very long day because of mileage, but also because of current coming at us on the Mobile River. So, we pass through downtown just as the day is breaking so we can see some of the commercial ships ...

Some of the new Navy ships under construction ...

And an oil rig ...

A couple weeks ago, the area had a bunch of rain. Because of that, the river rose to very high levels. That concerned us but it's been dry for about two weeks and the river came back down. Now, there's very little current (that's unusual) and almost no debris at all. The slow current means we get in a little quicker and earlier. We decided to splurge and stay at Bobby's Fish Camp. It's not really much, it's expensive, but it's the only game in town for 200 miles…

5/13 … Off early to a great sunrise ...

… and up to the Demopolis Lock. This is kind of a milestone of a spot. Above this lock, the current slows even more and the topography changes to be a lot more interesting …

We had another dinner out (we're splurging, again!) and off for another long day …

Part of the day we try to take care of business on a few chores. Here, we've stuck Marcia on the swim deck to clean some shelves ...

Today, the locks were kind to us and we made it in before sunset …

As always, a big deal for us is dinner at the end of 100 miles. Here, we're trying a great new crab recipe for some appetizers ...

Doesn't she look excited?

Now, we're excited!!

5/15 … Today, we have the most lockages of any day on our trip. There's a total of seven that we need to go through. We raise about 264 total feet and each lock usually takes about 15 to 20 minutes. But, sometimes we get the "Southern" factor that might add a little time. Some of the locks are as close as 5 miles from each other. If you get stuck behind a towboat, this process can be excruciatingly slow, so you'd like to get around them between the locks. Well, the good-ole southern boys that run the locks really have the throttle, and they ultimately control our overall speed. Today, we're sure that they were a little lax on the trigger and we were stuck behind the towboat, Cecil, all afternoon. This didn't make some of the crew very happy …

After a long wait, we made it to the last lock, the Jamie Whitten Lock. It's the largest lift on our trip of 84 feet. What an engineering marvel …

Looking up in the corner …

And, a happy Paul that we're soon done with this section and on to the next …

5/16 Today is an easy day. There's just one lock and 91 miles ahead of us. But, there's a little rain in the forecast, and that's okay because we've really not had much rain on our travels since Ft Lauderdale. Here's Paul monitoring the lockage at Pickwick Lock …

And some heavy rain ...

But, the rain was on and off and we had a pretty nice day. The rive here is wide and easy and has some beautiful scenery …

Because of the short mileage, we were able to dock quite early and do a couple projects and take a run (that felt great!). Here's the quaint, little Clifton Marina …

There's a short order restaurant right on the dock.We had some dinner and shared some fun with the locals ...

5/17 We have another easy day of short mileage, so we're off the dock in the daylight. (that's always a treat!) The Tennessee River is some of the nicest boating that we'll do on this trip. There's very little current, no debris, it's wide and deep, and not much traffic. It gives us a little break from the busier workload we previously had and what will be ahead of us. Here's a couple of the views of the morning…

The river bottom is very sandy and pebbly. There's dredges that scoop it up, haul it ashore, and use it commercially. Here's one …

And the Captain, trying to steer around it …

Our goal for the day is the town of New Johnsonville, and the marina, Pebble Isle. But first, we got to enjoy a train crossing a bridge …

Entering the harbor ...

Here's the office and the entrance to the restaurant.

We borrowed the courtesy car, did some shopping, and made our way in for the fried catfish dinner. Mm,mm, mmm … gotta love those fat calories! But, we're all happy!

And the view from our dock …

5/22 Whew, it's been a tough few days. First, we shoved off of Pebble Isle Marina towards an easy day. 96 miles and only one lock would be a piece of cake. Well, the miles were easy, but the lock had a different thought. We had to wait four and a half hours to get through. It wasn't so bad, though. A little lunch and tv passed the time. Here's the view …

The Corps has decided that another lock chamber is needed at Kentucky Lock. Our four hour wait time is pretty small compared to what some of the tows wait. So, construction was started about four years ago and they hope to finish in 2025. Talk about job security! This is the new construction as we're going in …

And finally leaving …

We stayed at Paducah for a short night, then on to the Ohio and Mississippi. Here's another lock construction project on the Ohio that'll be about thirty years for completion …

But, it's a beautiful day and we're hoping the Mighty Mississippi is not too bad. Well, it wasn't terrible … at least. The debris was minimal but the current is as strong as usual. But, we made it to our resting point for the evening. It's the much loved railroad bridge. It's quiet, scenic, and off the river. Nice …

The next day started nicely, but the further we went, the more the current increased. The last few hours were pretty slow over the bottom, and that meant that we found Hoppies Marina after dark. Trying to negotiate the debris with just a spotlight gets the caption a little nervous. But, we made it and it was nice to see Fern and Hoppie …

Hoppies is an icon of the area. It's been there for 50 years and it's the only stop for 250 miles. But, it looks like an oasis!

Thursday, we got off the dock anticipating some debris. Boy, were we underestimating! The River's going up and the current is flying and the debris is floating!!

When the water get high, the Corps doesn't really monitor the markers. In St Louis, they changed things with some new wing dams and chevrons. Those are piles of rock that are supped to help channel the water and current to the proper places. Well, we think they did some changes and didn't tell me. Man, we hit hard!! All I'll say is that we hit hard, messed up the interior of the boat, but came out just fine. I felt a closer inspection was needed but I'd prefer 75 degree water temps and more than 6 inch visibility. We pulled into Alton Marina mid-afternoon with enough daylight for a look. Going in expecting the worst …