Swing Set: Cruising Full Time
August 2012
08/30/12A Long Week On the HookOn Tuesday the 28th, after preparing as much as we felt we had to, soon to be Hurricane Isaac made his appearance here where we were in Alabama, but the most important thing for us was that Isaac was kind enough to make landfall two states away. The first wave produced some respectable wind, but it only lasted about 10 minutes. After that, we had rain off and on for three days, but only mild winds. We had two anchors out, and they both held very well. Sticking them in a few days early helped them settle to hold us adequately. The skies were ominous on Wednesday morning, and we were expecting more wind, but it never materialized. We just had more rain, and we stayed inside and read our books and played Scrabble and dominoes. Plus, we ate good...like always. Wednesday... |
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08/28/12Still Waiting on IsaacJust an update on our current situation: We've gotten lots of well meaning advice from many friends concerned about us with soon-to-be Hurricane Isaac breathing down our necks. The forecast for Isaac keeps getting better for us, and we are keeping a watch on each update from the National Weather Service and other weather applications that we have. The first advice, which was to "stay put," has been the best so far. Thank you Greg and Mike. We are in an open area (not too open), where the boat can swing in a circle, essential because the wind will be shifting direction as the storm passes. There are creeks in the area that would provide wind protection, but not only are they narrow, the trees would interfere with our wind generators. The most important thing is that... |
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08/26/12Waiting Out Hurricane Isaac On Coffeeville LakeIt looks like we're going to be here for a week or so. We started watching Tropical Storm Isaac as soon as we got the notice from NOAA via an email. This type of travel is a good reason to sign up and get the updates on storms. You can do this from the BoatUS website or straight from the NOAA website. There is no point in tempting fate by going further south. We are 116 miles north of Mobile Bay, and under current predictions should experience nothing greater than 30-MPH winds by next Thursday, August 30th, and to be safe all we have to do is stay put. Seems like a no brainer to us. From our "front porch," we can watch the river traffic go by, and we are well off of the channel with plenty of room to swing at one anchor, although we did deploy another bow... |
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08/23/12Demopolis Yacht BasinWe spent a whole day in the Cochrane Cut-Off. The river was calm in the anchorage there, and we only say two barges and one jon boat. The two annoying things were that the crickets and cicadas were in a vocal mood and serenaded us the whole time. I am a firm believer that if the insects would all get together with a plan, they could drive us all nuts. All they need is organization. There was also an airport nearby, and planes did stunt maneuvers all day. It would have been fun to watch, but we couldn't see any planes due to the trees and clouds, just heard the constant roar of their engines. Swing Set got a good bath, in and out, from Rosie, and my contribution to our floating society was a little Lexan bracket that I pop-riveted to the radar screen cover so I can... |
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08/20/12Upper Tenn-Tom WaterwayThe sun is just starting to make an appearance over the low tree line on what is promising to be another beautiful day. Our anchorage is 50 miles south of where we anchored in Bay Springs Lake on Saturday night. If you are heading north, our anchorage is the last one on the Tombigbee River before it turns into mostly canal, but more on our transit later. On Sunday morning, I installed our new Garmin GPSMap 640. It's in the picture slightly tilted above our older GPS unit. I had to cover the hole for the old chartplotter even if we bought a flush mount kit for the Garmin, and it costs $150, so we saved the money and installed it as a surface mount where the old unit was placed. The black Lexan trim matches the trim around our stereo remote. It's in the picture on... |
