failte

New Blog Web Site

2007-06-14T16:36:00.000-06:00

Try this new web site. It has the latest updated blog posting. Hopefully it will be easier for me to use.

web.mac.com/failten46

Not much shaking

2007-06-07T10:58:00.000-06:00

Just a note to tell you all not much is going on here. We had a nice visit with Laura and Ray (Danny's daughter and son-in-law) last weekend. They drove up from Ft. Walton Beach, about 2 hours south of Mobile. We are planning to play some gold with Rick and Donna this weekend. They're some friends driving over from Jacksonville, Fl, about an 8 hour drive. So I guess we'll have to let them win....It's been quiet here; not much really much to do. We've had 2 smallish jobs done by the yard here, a paravane bracket modification and the packing gland repacked.
Our friends behind us are rapidly gaining on us. They are now in Lake Charles, LA but are taking a more cirtuitous course to Mobile. They've got a side trip planned to Grand Isle, about a 2 day delay, and a visit to Avery Island as well. They will just pass through Mobile enroute to the KY lake area. They plan to arrive mid July while we hope to be there July 1st.
I will be attending my families reunion in Maine July 21st weekend. I actually have an airline ticket but am hoping Danny will be able to join me, in which case we will drive there.

Green Turtle Bay
Ship Store
239 Jetty Dr.
Grand Rivers, KY 42045 (Just in case you need to send us money. (LOL, David))

This is Fun???

2007-05-28T14:11:00.001-06:00

Well, so much for non-stop fun. We're off the coast of Gulfport, MS in this incredibly large body of water that encompasses the ICW. Wthe wind is howling and the seas are rough like a bad day on Corpus Christi Bay. It's just about as deep too, 14.5 feet. It's overcast, raining intermittenltly, but warm. So when you close the windshield for the rain, it turns into a sauna up here in the flybridge. And.....Well, it wrote that yesterday just before typing on my phone made me seasick and I had to quit or vomit. After about 8 hours of sustained non-fun, the bay started to calm somewhat; we went from 4-5 foot rollers to 3-4 foot rollers. We actually saw some islands that seemed to break the wind, but the most unusual thing about the trees, they were just the main trunk part. Apparently, either Katrina or some storm ripped every appendage off of them and the island looked like a spit of sand with a bunch of toothpicks stuck into it. At the very top of each tree, there appeared to be some attempt at new growth. So a toothpick with a fuzzy top; strange site. Sad really.
We anchored last night behind Dauhpin Island, AL. The wind was still blowing 15-20kts. We just wanted some calmer water which we found in the lee of the island. After 4 attempts to anchor, we finally caught the bottom. We were both exhausted, the cat had been sick and Hailey decided that today was when she wanted to rejoin us in the flybridge. She had abandoned trying to climb the steep stairs and had been hanging out entirely downstairs. Of all days to decide to climb. So much water was breaking over the bow, even I had started using the rear ladder to avoid getting soaked with saltwater. We had a quick dinner of leftover spaghetti and even though we wanted to hit the sack at 8PM, we forced ourselves to stay up until 9.
We motored today to Dog River Marina, in Mobile Al. It was about a 5 hour day and true to Fletcher luck, a large rain/wind shower struck about 20 minutes from trying to dock. We wisely decided to hold out with 3-4 other smaller boats. The wind gusted to 45kts and the rain came down in sheets. But it passed in about 25 minutes and we got a wonderful fresh water rinse to wash away all the crusted on salt from yesterday.
We had great help at the dock and are parked in a slip for about 10 days. It doesn't sound like there is much within bike range but there is a courtesy Crown Vic available, just put gas in it. You can take it for 2 hours and we're up in 30 minutes for out turn. We need to check out the town and find out for ourselves what's available.
We'll keep you posted.

Thru the Locks to Rabbit Island

2007-05-26T12:24:00.001-06:00

This is the first time I am trying to update the blog from my phone so no telling what it looks like.
Well, the Harvey Lock, New Orleans and Industrial Lock are behind us now. And it was every bit as stressful as I had anticipated. The Harvey Lock wasn't to bad at all. We drove right up and basically got right in after a short milling around period to allow a westbound tug to exit. It was rather tight quarters manuevering btw some empty barges and we ultimately ended up resting against a wooden dockside. In the lock we used a midship line which we hooked to a small permanent bollard. There are 2 to choose from. Pick the upper if you can reach it since they are raising the water level, otherwise you'll have to move lt up midfilling. The lock dumps you out on the mighty Mississippi. Great sights and photo ops (I'll try to get those downloaded asap). The most obvious Katina evidence comes in the form of newly painted/under constrution ad-ons. We did see a number of partially sunken boats and in the downtown wharf area, some peeled back or missing roofs. There's a large dock area near the French Quarter that's collasped.
Now about that !@:&#;x+& Industrial Lock. It appeared we might get right in: we given instructions to drive right up but then entered about an hour long holding pattern just outside and to the right. Finally we went in behind 2 tows, but not before we grounded on what felt like some rocks. That's just the start. While trying to tie up to the port wall, the tow in front of us was still @ full power which spun us completely around. Mea while a dock attendant is waiting on the wall 20' above you waiting to drop you a line. After our perouette, we got alongside, and he dropped the lines (forget your own-you must use these). Tie 1 to the bow-now run like a rabbit and get the one dropped for the stern. You can't handle them both yourself, so the boss man has to leave the helm and handle the bow. They must not be tied off unless you want to be hanging on the wall like the exhibit you feel you are anyway. Now they lower the water so you must allow the lines to feed out. Really, it wasn't that bad???? Live and learn.
Well, with that behind us, we've got the beer on ice and should be anchoring in about an hour @ Rabrit Island.
And to think we could be at the Fletcher family reunion......

Lafitte, LA

2007-05-25T14:21:00.000-06:00

It's Friday, 5/25, around 3:30Pm and we anchored at Lafitte about 2 hours ago. We've already taken the dinghy into the Fleming Canal Store where it looks like you could buy just about anything you needed. We needed chips and beer. Diesel goes for $2.33 cash/$2.43 credit card, Chuck. It's just off the ICW to the right at MM15. There is a huge airboat/swamp boat business here for folks that are shuttled over from New Orleans, about $65./person to run through the bayou. We're planning to leave tomorrow AM early as we have a high stress day ahead of us. We have to go through the Harvey Locks which will entail actually tying up to a rising bollard on the west side of N.O. and a sinking bollard on the east side, something we've yet to accomplish. They say allow 4-5 hours for each lock but we hope that's the extreme, normal time is about 2 hours, but it is Memorial Day Weekend???
All the Fletcher clan will be gathered in Lexington, KY tomorrow for the annual family reunion/Buster birthday party. It'll be the first time we've missed in quite a few years and we're a bit homesick about that. But we hope to hook up with the family over the summer. Where we will be docked on Kentucky Lake is about 3 1/2 hours from Lexington, but between us having a car and some of them traveling to the lake, we hope to visit with them all.
We just found out Danny's daughter Laura is expected our 2nd granddaughter, to be born around Thanksgiving. That arrival will pretty much dictate our departure out of the lake area, as we hope to be near FWB for the birth. Our son in law, Ray, has promised to cook us Thanksgiving dinnner and we plan to take him up on it. I don't think they grow turkeys small enough to fit in my oven.
The rest of the group, again back to 2 other boats as a third recently dropped out, is due to leave Corpus Christi in one week. I can remember where they're at vividly. The last week before leaving the house was one I'd like to forget, but will forever be stamped on my mind as one of the most stressful times ever experienced. Hang in there guys, it's worth it. They will join us at Kentucky Lake where we'll be hiding out from what looks like a predicted active hurricane season. Hope the house will be all right.
You can post comment right on the blog, or e-mail us directly. We love hearing from everyone.

Houma, That's Louisiana David

2007-05-23T07:41:00.000-06:00

First the facts per Dan. We've traveled 540 miles @ 1600 rpm, used 200 gallons of gas, and have burned 2.6 miles per hour including generator usage. Not too bad for you landlubbers.
We've been in Houma now since Monday afternoon and will probably leave tomorrow morning (Thurs May 24). The Houma Marina is quite nice. The dock holds about 4-5 pleasure craft before the water gets to shallow. You're parked between two high rise bridges but the road noise is miminal. Plenty of electric, water and posts; it amazing what becomes important in our world. There's even a pump out station handy, again important.
We had to ride our bikes to West Marina Monday to purchase a new UHF radio for the flybridge. Ours had been acting up but we had hoped it was just a wiring issue but after weeks of messing with it, we had to go get a new one. Turns out that West Marine is relatively close (about 6 miles) but along some treacherous roads. In hindsight, we should have checked on public transportation. But it's installed now and seems to have resolved the problem. Other than that, we've been piddling around with some chores. We found a great burger restaurant with homemade onion rings which were wonderful, we dinghyed to an ICW bar called 1921 which is just newly opened and now we're off on the bikes to find some breakfast.
This is an interesting place to watch the barge traffic from. They pass about 100 feet off our stern just past the local dock, where kids have been swimming, and lots of people fish. I managed to rip my toenail off last night in my eagerness to check out the reeling in of a channel catfish. Nails, both finger and toe are not meant to be on boats or rather on any body parts on boats.
CONGRATULATIONS must go out to Ernie, who won the republican primary nomination for KY Governor. Looks like 4 more for him and Glenna if things continue as we expect.
There are some new pictures available. Use the photo link at the bottom and check out the crusing album. We're trying to take a few each place.

(Karen) Morgan City

2007-05-20T11:46:00.000-06:00

I'm going to try and update more often after that 10 pager I had to write yesterday. So, today we're in Morgan City. It's not really a marina-no shower, restroom, laundry facilities but they do have electric and a big old dock that used to be full of shrimping boats. I guess the shrimpers have mostly moved on, but the dock sure is unfriendly to us pleasure boaters. Great big posts of three, cabled together, on the outside of the dock edge. They're so far apart we were just able to rest up against one and put out a bunch of bumpers around the edge of that one post. Then we were able to tie a line off the bow and stern to hold us. I told Danny we needed about another 30' of boat and we'd have to work that into our cruising budget. Then there's a 20 foot retaining wall to look at. But if you go through the gates of this wall, you find yourself in the historic area of Morgan City. It's like two different worlds! Morgan City is a quaint old town; lots of old antebellum houses and small eateries. Everthing is within bike range; in fact we used our newly aquired bike trailer to shop at the grocery this morning.
We hooked up with our first "hookem uppers" (You know people you meet in one place, then meet up again with later). We first ran into Jim and Joyce at Avery Island, then again here. We went to dinner with them last night. An older couple who just sold their restaurant on the San Bernardo River and are cruising east with no definite plans in mind. They were full of knowledge having been cruising off and on for the past 25 years. They steered us to Rita Mae's Restaurant where we ate breakfast this morning. Great home cajun cooking. Great place to turn FIFTY!!!!!
We plan to leave here first thing in the morning, enroute to Houma dock. Then Lafitte dock, Rabbit anchorage, Daughphin Island anchorage, the Mobile dock where we hope arrrive May 31st, leave June 10th. Then up to KY lake with many stops enroute.
There's a possibility both of Danny's daughters will be coming to visit us in Mobile for a weekend. Danielle's husband is going on a 4 month TDY, so she's thinking of spending the summer in Ft. Walton Bch. with her Mom and sister. An we're planning to play a couple of rounds of golf there with some friends who are planning to drive over from Jacksonville.
This retirement lifestyle is OK......

In Louisiana

2007-05-19T09:13:00.000-06:00

Where did I leave off. Leaving Shell Island last Tuesday AM. Spent Tuesday PM up the Mermentau River (try saying that one). We didn't try to get off the boat even though we were relatively close to what look like a mowed park area. We've been triying to get Hailey used to doing her business on the boat, something she is not fond of doing, and we needed to reinforce so success she had from earlier in the day, so we sat tight. It was kind of spooky late at night when it got so dark you couldn't even see the shoreline. The next day "started" out beautifully. The ICW was like glass and there was hardly no barge traffic. It was gorgeous. Of course the weather turned on us as we were approaching the Leland Bowman Lock. We had to hold out waiting on a westbound barge to come through. It started pouring and a front was going through, strong winds and little visibility. It was so violent the westbound barge just laid in the lock waiting for it to pass which it did rather quickly. After about 30 minutes we went through with some rainfall. We were planning to dock for the night just outside the lock in Intercoastal City at Shell Morgan Landing. Luckily we called just prior to our arrival and was informed the boat from last night had stayed over which now meant we would not have the 50Amp shore power we needed as there is only room for 2 boats there and only one 50amp spot. The rain kicked up again so we thought we'ld play it smart and hang out in the ICW until it passed-about 1 hour. We headed in with dark skies and some lightning in the distant but no rain; not of course until we were pulling into the dock, then holy hell broke loose again. We had a nightmare of a time trying to get Failte over to the dock with opposing wind and pouring down rain. An elderly gentlemen in the other boat came to help??? but sometimes you wonder how they are managing their own boat with their lack of line handling skills. I think I've just about decided never to give some willing helper the most important line to handle again. It's such a releif when someone does come to offer their assistance but sometimes you just don't know what type of help you getting (don't I sound ungrateful). Well the night went from bad to worse when we found out we were unable to unplug our shore cable from the boat. It apparently had overheated God only knows when, and had melted the plastic fitting enough so that it was stuck in the outlet. That only took about 3 hours to free and of course everyone is in a great mood!!!! We ended up having to run the generator for power and ordering some replacement parts to be picked up at Morgan City. The most exciting part of the evening was when a 3 boat took what little remaing dockage there was in front of us. I have never seen such excellent boat handling in all my life. This captain was a working man in about a 30' foot steel hulled work boat. It was an extremely tight fit between our boat and another work boat parked along a diagonal wall. It was so impressive that I could barely watch. He came in at a fast speed about 3-5 inches from our hull. And left at 6Am the next morning just as impressively-which I made sure I was up to watch.
So as I ramble on if your're still reading: We left the next morning for Avery Island which we heard was a treat not to be missed and that's the truth. You have to wind your way back in here to a bayou paradise you think you're never going to reaIch in sometimes skinny water. For those following in our wake, turn right at the red 16MM, turn left just before you enter the barge canal and just keep following the main channel until you reach the grass oasis. The boat launch dock was rejected as to shallow, which is exasperated with about a 12-16 inch tide swing. We anchored off the bank of what turned out to be the "Jungle Garden" area. We used our stern anchor for the first time quite sucessfully. You need to be pretty tight up against the side of the channedl as there is quite alot of very courteous fishing boats in the area. These guys are coming in with 62 catfish, limited out on red fish and 180 pounds of shrimp: of course I couldn't catch anything on my pole. Avery Island is famous as the home of the Tabasco Factory and the 5th largest salt dome in the world. We toured the factory on our bikes which we took in the dinghy to shore for the first time. Turns out the $1 ticket only gets you on the island, not onto the shore of the Jungle Garden which we found out after about the 3rd time we had dinghyed directly abeam our boat to shore. We were politely told we needed to have purchased the $6.25 ticket to enter the garden and would we please walk to the entrance to purchase the ticket or get the dinghy and leave. Well Sheck, of course, we left. We used the Avery Island dock from then on for Hailey. Avery Island was so nice we stayed both Thurs and Fri evening. We are now underway to Morgan City where we will dock and pick up our shore power parts. Keep you fingers crossed that we can fix the problem. Now we're having a battery charger issue............As the tour continues so do the boating issues. Danny keep wants to know when we're having fun. His fun meter runs different than mine-I'm loving life. I've got dirt under my fingernails that won't some out and I'm turning brown...

As the ICW turns

2007-05-15T07:54:00.000-06:00

Annie finished the wood last Sunday, so we went ahead and departed Watergate Marina as planned on Danny's Birthday. Thanks to her generosity, we used her car almost everyday and luckily were able to get some much needed chores done. We spent Sunday night at Steve's Landing about 5 hours down the shipchannel into the ICW. It's located on Bolivar Island and we have now started on parts of the ICW we have never ventured onto before. Steve's is a great restaurant/marina with room for about 3 of our sized boats to park in the protected side area. Many more will fit in front of the restaurant but you would still be in the ICW so the barge traffic would rock you all night long. We celebrated Dan's 59th birthday with dinner at Steve's; catfish and steamed crabs. We left Monday morning around 7am and motored 8 hours; past High Island, past Port Arthur and spent the night at a nicely protected anchorage at Shell Island. We got up early today thinking it was about to rain and now we're underway; soon to cross into Louisiana, where we will spend another night on the hook. All is going well, beautiful weather, wide waterways with a moderate amount of barge traffic. So far we've only seen 2 other boats that appear to be cruising; both sailboats. Let us hear from you guys!!

We're Doing it Now

2007-05-07T18:41:00.000-06:00

Well, we're out of the house now, the renters are in place, and we're doing the cruising thing!! It was about 3 weeks of intense work, a bunch of retirement partying, visits from my sister and friends, but we did it. We just spent a week at Port A tying up loose ends, of which there were many. Many trips to the storage shed, trips to the house for the renters, an unexpected last minute termite situation (remedied) and lots of miles put on the Honda, which my brother took to Atlanta last Saturday. We left Port A Monday morning and spent the night at Matagorda Harbour. It was a pretty miserable first day out; winds gusting to 35 knots, rough bays and a sick cat. Today was better; only 15 knots of wind and a trip to Offuts Bayou. The water in the ICW was like thick mud until we passed Freeport. The trip across the Brazos River was memorable, lots of debris in the water and intense currents. But we're on the hook now near Galveston and plan to make a relatively short run (5 Hours) tomorrow to Clear Lake, where we will stay for about 6-7 days or until the wood is done. We've already arranged to borrow Annie's car while we're there to do some last minute shopping and pick up the life raft which is being serviced.
I hope to update the blog about once a week if able; we've had some trouble getting on line these last two nights, I think due to the remote areas. But I will try to keep you all up to date.
Thanks to everyone for all their help the last week. You guys have been great as usual. And thanks for all the well wishes we received from all of our ex fellow employees. The parties were perfect.
Keep in touch you all; the e-mail working great!! Call at 8pm.......

Phones

2007-04-09T19:14:00.000-06:00

We will quit using our home phone 4/21/07. After that we will be operating strictly with cell phones.
Danny 361-533-3373
Kris 361-739-4458

Retirement/Cruising News

2007-04-09T14:54:00.000-06:00

I don't know why my exsisting blog disappeared, but luckily I was able to reestablish the account with the same address: failten46.blogspot.com.
I only have 2 more days to work and Dan has until the 28th for his official retirement but pretty much has quit working already, as he has some unused leave available. We have started packing in earnest now. The boat is pretty close to ready, all the carpets are out getting cleaned. Now we have to start transferring stuff from the house to the boat.
We are changing our e-mail account again just because of cell phone delivery options.
failten46@gmail.com. Sorry about all the changes, this has been confusing for us too.