Sunday, June 24, 2012

   My alarm clock, Sam, wakes me up at 5:30 AM for his breakfast. I go back to sleep for a little while longer. I do not have a very big day planned. Since the trip from here to Norfork is about 55 miles, which would be a long day. I figure why not do 25 miles today to the next anchorage and do the rest of the trip tomorrow. So I get up slowly. It is a beautiful day.  I have my breakfast. Turn on my navigation laptop, and my electronics, and start to pull in some of my anchor rode. If possible, if the wind is quite, I pull in most of my anchor rode except for the last 15 or 20 feet, whatever is necessary to keep me fixed for a short time, till I leave. I go to start my engine and it won't start. Great. I try a few more times. I switch to the other battery, then to both. No difference. At this point I use this trick that I have learned along the way. You can not hand crank my engine, because of the way it was designed. So what I do is I release the compressioin on all the cyclinders and then push the starter. Being that the starter is turning the engine against no resistance it can turn it pretty quickly, even when the battery voltage is low. Actually ,this is a lot easier then hand cranking. Now, as the engine is spinning you switch on the compression. I tried this twice and the engine started.
     I start off toward my next destination. Now, I hate to admit this, but while I am going along following the navigaton markers, I sometimes day dream. My imaginaton wonders. Well, I am going past this dock along the North River and I see a sign which says Captain George's Seafood Restaurant. It is a nice dock, but the restaurant seems to be out of business. I wonder if I could of tied up to it during the night. Maybe the next time through. I notice that the place has fuel pumps that seem to be in good condition. Then I look along the side and behind the restaurant and notice more dockage, with a power boat tied up. So I come out of my day dreaming and continue on my way. I see this square navigation marker and start to let it pass along my port side. In the very last second I realize that that is the wrong side, and I quickly turn the boat to go around it the correct way. Well there just happened to be an Osprey nesting on this marker. The Osprey swearing that I was going to run into the pole grabs it's little chick and takes off vertically about 10 to 15 feet in the air. A few moments later it returns the baby to the nest and, it seemed, begin to kiss it. Isn't nature wonderful.
    So I continue on my way, and eventually enter Black Water Creek. I go in around a bend and then anchor. In this way I will get protection on all sides from the wind. I am the only one anchored here. There are a lot of Jet Skies going into and out of this creek. I don't think that there is much to see futher in, and they only come here so that they can go fast around the bends. I also feel that they enjoy seeing my mast swing side to side as they go past my boat..
    At this time it is 7:30 PM and I have not seen, or heard, a jet ski since about 6 PM. I am sitting in my cockpit enjoying the breeze. The wet lands are a little different from what I see up north. They are a lot more lush and green. You can almost cut this stuff for hay and bale it.