Today was spent doing things on the boat. Rich cleaned out bilges and found a bicycle pump that had been hiding for several days. He also climbed on top of the boat to get a more accurate measure of our air draft (how high the boat is above the water line). We thought we knew, but we held our breath every time we went under a low bridge on the river because it looked like we were going to hit a few times. Fortunately our air draft is what we thought it was, so in the future we’ll know if we need to request bridges to be raised in order to safely pass through.
I made a big breakfast for us, took care of some correspondence, paid some bills, and did as little as possible for most of the day. The big excitement was seeing an Asian carp jump several times behind our boat and watching a seaplane go upriver to take off.
While eating a late breakfast we heard what sounded like a cross between a small plane and a boat. Looking out this window we saw a seaplane going upriver and then take off. I couldn’t get to my phone quickly enough to get a photo, but just imagine seeing a small plane on the water out there – pretty amazing!
There was a big rainstorm over night which really cooled things down. We sat on the back deck around 6 with a drink, wearing jackets, and I had a blanket over my lap and legs like a little old lady (no comments from the younger ones out there about how I AM a little old lady – I don’t feel like one so therefore I am not one.)
Another beautiful sunset!
I am with you on that but the cool weather is wonderful. Sounds like a great day.
When does your boat come out? We have reservations to stay at Faro Blanco Marina in Marathon FL for Dec 15-March 1, so if you want to get out of the cold IN weather then, let us know. We’re taking reservations for the forward cabin 😊
Cool in North Texas now too. Temp was 62 this morning so about time to break out the sweats!
You probably mentioned it before but what is your draft? What kind of water depths do you typically have?
Hope you have another quiet day or two before continuing the journey.
Our draft is supposed to be 3’10”, but we say it’s 4’ to be on the safe side. The water was really shallow around Grafton and Alton as well as a couple of marinas further north along the Illinois. There were a few marinas who would not take boats with drafts over 4’. Fortunately we were able to find marinas with enough depth. And then there was a channel off the Mississippi where we anchored in 25’ of water! The channel was only 85’ wide so we could only put out about 50’ of chain and rode, but it was incredibly calm all night long with no wind or current, so it wasn’t a problem.