2023 Cruising Season start

 June 18, 2023

Well, here we are in a new cruising season! Haven’t done any cruising, but we are getting lots of work done on the boat. We will be making a late start for traveling on the boat this year.

So far, we have spent quite a bit of time on the boat at Olverson’s Lodge Creek Marina, where we feel at home. We bought the boat here in 2017 and have returned quite a few times in the years since. This year, we stopped by on our way home from Key West. We lived in the camper while we (mostly Dan) accomplished some needed tasks.

We headed home with the camper in mid April. Gena wanted to spend some ‘normal’ time there before we started on what promised to be a crazy time. Gena’s two oldest grandchildren and one of Dan’s grandsons were graduating from high school – in three states over a period of a month! First up was Rylan, in Dahlonega, Georgia. This happened the Thursday before Memorial Day. We drove down in Gena’s car, stayed in a hotel for a few days. Laura, Rylan’s mom and Gena’s daughter, had divorced her husband several months before, so the dynamics of the visit were different (MUCH better, easier!). We enjoyed the visit, and left on Sunday of the holiday weekend to get back home.

Back home in Michigan, we went into full prep mode, since Gena had volunteered us to have a joint graduation party at our house the following Sunday! Declan, Travis and Lisa’s son, graduated on Saturday, June 3. Laura and her two sons, Rylan and Brody, came from Georgia for a jam packed few days. Laura grew up in Michigan and rarely gets to visit, so all her best friends and Michigan family were eager to see her and her sons.

The party, on Sunday, went off without a hitch. We had rented a tent, table, and chairs. Gena prepared a taco bar, Travis and Lisa brought the cake, finger sandwiches, beer, and ice. About 50 family and friends came. The party was to be an open house, from noon to 4:00 p.m. Most of the folks who came enjoyed seeing everyone, and stayed through the whole time. There was plenty of food and drink. There was a group of friends from church, family from all over southeast Michigan, my niece and her daughter from Massachusetts, and, of course, Laura’s friends. Gena had hired a young woman to handle the kitchen, replenishing, cleaning, and serving, which worked great. Laura and the boys had to leave the next morning. Gena and Dan had to hit the road on Tuesday, to head to Virginia.

flowering plants everywhere in our back yard!

time to make the garden look its best - LOTS of mulch!

mulch ready to be spread

lovely flowering almond from Dan's mom's house

the trio, Laura and her two son's, Brody (15) and Rylan (18)

cool sculpture depicting history of the town of Dahlonega, GA

The graduate and his mom and brother

Grandma Gena, Mr. Dan and Rylanb

I just enjoyed my yard's flowers - usually not home to see them!

Alium and a cool lawn sculpture

peonies!

Graduate #2, Declan, with his brother, Isaac, and Sister, Ella

Declan with proud mom and dad

time to party!

Dan and Gena with all five of her grandchildren!

cousins!  Kelly, Scott, Heather, Travis, and Laura

Laura and her boys in Michigan

First up, in Virginia, we had a few days at the boat to get some projects underway. We actually went on a very minor cruise to take the boat to Tiffany Yachts in Burgess, Va. for some scheduled work. We headed to Chesapeake, Virginia, where Dan’s grandson Jared graduated. We stayed in a cute Airbnb, and had some time with each of those grandsons before the graduation. Great visit.  We attended grandson Jared's graduation, did a little touristing.

Mom, Annie, Jared, Dad, Chuck, and Eric

Eric and Jared, brothers

Annie with her two boys, Jared and Eric

Jared with mom, Annie

Jared with Dan, Gena, and Grandma Dee

Jared with Gena and Dan

Jared, the happy graduate

scene from Olverson's Marina

Grandson, Eric, was moved to salute!

cool sculpture in downtown Norfolk

flora in Jamestown

monument in Jamestown

church in Jamestown

Park Ranger in Jamestown

view of the river from Jamestown

excavating site at the dig in Jamestown

period model of the farm in Jamestown

statue of John Smith, founder of Jamestown

scale model of the farm

lovely old treed area

"Dinghy Butler" installed

our dinghy on the Dinghy Butler

Then, done with all family events for a while, we were free to get back to the boat. Many of the tasks had been at least started, all had been scoped out. Fortunately, we were able to live on the boat for the remaining time at Tiffany.

Here’s what we had done:

1. The water tank, located under the bed, had been leaking for quite a while. We weren’t sure if it was the tank itself or the connections. Turns out it was the connector, which is probably easier to fix. Another issue was that the tank ‘senders’ have never worked. These tell us how much water is in the tank. Additionally, Mark, technician from Tiffany, fixed an issue that had plagued us from the beginning. Bayliner had ‘cheaped out’ and only installed one vent with a T connector for both tanks. All is now fixed and functioning properly!

2. We had bought and shipped to Tiffany a “Dinghy Butler”, a stainless steel structure with an electric motor. It was installed on our swim platform and holds the dinghy. This is a real life improvement – prior to this, the dinghy sat on top of the boat with a crane to lift it and put it in the water. It was really difficult to get it down and put it back. Consequently, we almost never used it. Now, with the push of a button, the dinghy goes into the water and back up very easily. Can’t wait to put it into use this summer!

3. One of our toilets was not working right. Mark, the same tech that fixed the plumbing with the water tanks, was able to make some simple adjustments to get it working again. Dan plans to rebuild the innards this winter, but, in the meantime, it will work fine.

So, while we are ‘chomping at the bit’ to get underway for our traveling this year, these fixes and enhancements will greatly enhance our boating life!

We have adjusted our plans for cruising for this year. With a couple of weeks less time, we will still have plenty of time to do a large portion of our long awaited Canadian exploration. Plus, we settled on a plan for putting the Kittiwake away for the winter. Rather than try to return her to a location where we can leave her in the water for the winter (MUCH cheaper), we will store her at Winter Harbor, a marina located on the Erie Canal. There, she’ll be in heated indoor storage. Next spring, once the Erie Canal opens and the expected debris is cleared, we will be close to where we want to start our journey for the 2024 cruising season.

Here’s our cruising plans for 2023. We will continue from here, up the Chesapeake Bay, down the Delaware Bay, up the east coast to New York City. Continuing through NY Harbor, past the Statue of Liberty, up the Hudson River for several days to Lake Champlain. From Lake Champlain, we’ll go to Ottawa and to Montreal, two cities that should be really fun and interesting to see. From there, we’ll go down the Rideau Canal, which other folks who have done this trip say that the Rideau was their favorite part of the entire Loop and Canada. The southern end of the Rideau is at Lake Ontario. Across Lake Ontario to the Oswego Canal, which takes us to the Erie Canal and to Kittiwake’s winter home.

So, there you have it. Once we can leave Tiffany Yachts (work is done, but looks like weather will keep us here at least one extra day), we’ll return to Olverson’s. There we will install some batteries that are waiting there, store the car, and FINALLY get going on our trip! Stay tuned for pictures and stories of our travels. I promise to do better than I did last year at posting pictures and narratives timely!