LNM: Coast Guard urges preparedness for remainder of 2024 Atlantic hurricane season
08/26/2024 01:00 PM EDT |
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Appreciation – Janice Anne Wheeler
I imagine this is what the plant has looked like since it moved here in 1921.
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A Forgotten People: Bohemian oyster shuckers on NC coast by David Cecelski
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NAV ALERT: LNM: AICW MM 1021.8 -1024.7 Temporary Deviations, 3 Bridges Affected by Mar-a-Lago Security Zone, W Palm Beach, FL – until Nov 30
See LNM: AICW MMs 1005-1014, Mar-a-Lago Security Zones, Aug 19-Nov 30, 2024, Palm Beach, FL
FLORIDA – AICW – WEST PALM BEACH – FLAGLER MEMORIAL BRIDGE: Temporary Deviation UPDATE: 8/20/2024
The U. S. Coast Guard has issued a temporary deviation to drawbridge operation regulation, 33 CFR §117.261(u) that governs the Flagler Memorial Bridge, across Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW), mile 1021.8, at West Palm Beach, Florida. Under this temporary deviation, the Flagler Memorial Bridge will operate as follows:
(1) The draw will open on the quarter and three-quarter hour, except that Monday through Friday (except Federal holidays) from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., the draw need only open on the quarter hour.
(2) When the security zone is enforced, the draw shall operate as follows: (i) Monday through Friday (except on Federal holidays)
(A) 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., the draw need only open on the quarter hour.
(B) 9:00 a.m. to 2:15 p.m., the draw need only open on the quarter and three-quarter hour.
(C) 2:15 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., the draw need only open on the quarter hour.
(D) 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 a.m., the draw need only open on the quarter and three-quarter hour.
(ii) Saturday, Sunday, and Federal holidays the draw need only open on the quarter and three-quarter hour.
This temporary deviation is effective from 8:00 p.m. on August 19, 2024, through 11:59 p.m. on November 30, 2024. This action is necessary to allow for continuity in drawbridge operations with adjacent drawbridges during federal rulemaking and during Coast Guard enforcement of the security zone.
For further information contact Coast Guard Sector Miami, FL, Waterways Management Division, (305) 535-4317, SectorMiamiWaterways@uscg.mil.Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Flagler Memorial Bridge
FLORIDA – AICW – WEST PALM BEACH – ROYAL PARK BRIDGE: Temporary Deviation UPDATE: 8/20/2024
The U. S. Coast Guard has issued a temporary deviation to drawbridge operation regulation, 33 CFR §117.261(v) that governs the Royal Park (SR 704)Bridge, across Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW), mile 1022.6, at West Palm Beach, Florida. Under this temporary deviation, the Royal Park Bridgewill operate as follows:
(1) The draw will open on the hour and half hour, except that Monday through Friday (except Federal holidays) from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and from4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., the draw need only open on the half-hour.
(2) When the security zone is enforced, the draw shall operate as follows:
(i) Monday through Friday (except on Federal holidays)
(A) 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., the draw need only open on the half-hour.
(B) 9:00 a.m. to 2:15 p.m., the draw need only open on the hour and half-hour.
(C) 2:15 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., the draw need only open on the half-hour.
(D) 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 a.m., the draw need only open on the hour and half-hour.
(ii) Saturday, Sunday, and Federal holidays the draw need only open on the hour and half hour.
This temporary deviation is effective from 8:00 p.m. on August 19, 2024, through 11:59 p.m. on November 30, 2024. This action is necessary to allow for continuity in drawbridge operations with adjacent drawbridges during federal rulemaking and during Coast Guard enforcement of the security zone.For further information contact Coast Guard Sector Miami, FL, Waterways Management Division, (305) 535-4317, SectorMiamiWaterways@uscg.mil. LNM: 50/23
Click Here To View the Eastern Florida Cruisers Net Bridge Directory Listing For Royal Park Bridge
Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Royal Park Bridge
FLORIDA – AICW – WEST PALM BEACH – SOUTHERN BLVD BRIDGE: Temporary Deviation UPDATE: 8/20/2024
The U. S. Coast Guard has issued a temporary deviation to drawbridge operation regulation, 33 CFR §117.261(w) that governs the Southern Boulevard(SR 700/80) Bridge, across the AICW, mile 1024.7, at West Palm Beach, Florida. Under this temporary deviation, the Southern Boulevard Bridge willoperate as follows:
(1) The draw will open on the quarter and three-quarter hour, except that Monday through Friday (except Federal holidays) from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00a.m. and from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., the draw need only open on the quarter hour.
(2) When the security zone is enforced, the draw may be closed without advance notice to permit uninterrupted transit of dignitaries across thebridge. Unless otherwise directed by the onscene designated representative, the draw will operate as follows:
(i) Monday through Friday (except on Federal holidays)
(A) 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., the draw need only open on the quarter hour.
(B) 9:00 a.m. to 2:15 p.m., the draw need only open on the quarter and three-quarter hour.
(C) 2:15 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., the draw need only open on the quarter hour.
(D) 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 a.m., the draw need only open on the quarter and three-quarter hour.
(ii) Saturday, Sunday, and Federal holidays the draw need only open on the quarter and three-quarter hour.
This temporary deviation is effective from 8:00 p.m. on August 19, 2024, through 11:59 p.m. on November 30, 2024. This action is necessary to allow for continuity in drawbridge operations with adjacent drawbridges during federal rulemaking and during Coast Guard enforcement of the security zone.For further information contact Coast Guard Sector Miami, FL, Waterways Management Division, (305)535-4317 SectorMiamiWaterways@uscg.mil.
LNM: 50/23Click Here To Open A Chart View Window Zoomed To the Location of Southern Blvd Bridge
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Change in Town Docking Regulations – Oriental, NC
Oriental is home to longtime CRUISERS NET SPONSOR, Oriental Marina and Inn, lying on the eastern banks of inner Oriental Harbor. Our thanks to Bob423 for this information.
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Click Here To Open A Chart View Window, Zoomed To the Location of Oriental Marina
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Meet the Man Doing The Great Loop on a $300 PWC
Jacob and his 1994 Polaris SLT 750 he bought for $300 during a pitstop at Hucks Marine
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NOAA Ocean Today Back-to-School Guide!
In one way of thinking, corals are part animal, vegetable, and mineral. How is that possible?
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Beaufort to extend dock operator’s lease, reset selection – Coastal Review
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CoastalReview.orgSee Beaufort residents blast dock operator selection process
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How Can You Not Want to Jump In? Janice Anne Wheeler
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LMS Back to School Newsletter 2024, Charleston, SC
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Is Tampa Bay in hot water? Fred Pickhardt
Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for moreAccording to a recent news article Tampa Bay is facing some serious environmental issues. A massive untreated wastewater spill during Hurricane Debby has added to existing concerns about the health of the area’s estuaries. The storm overwhelmed the sewage systems, leading to millions of gallons of raw and partially treated wastewater spilling into streets, canals, and natural waterways.
Two day Storm Rainfall Totals
Turning on the Heat
The article further highlights that sea surface temperatures in Tampa Bay and nearby estuaries are rising significantly faster than the global average. It reports that in July 2023, surface water temperatures in Manatee Bay hit a record-breaking 101.1 degrees Fahrenheit.
I decided to investigate the claims about the record high water temperature in Manatee Bay. The station reporting this temperature is part of a network of specialized observation sites in the Everglades, designed to monitor water depth and fresh water flow in shallow, mangrove-rich areas.
The shallow waters of the Everglades experience significant temperature fluctuations due to varying amounts of sunlight, cloud cover, wind, and rainfall. The unusually sunny and dry conditions, along with lighter winds in the spring and summer of 2023, contributed to higher temperatures at the Manatee Bay site. It’s important to note that data from the Everglades Depth Estimation Network (EDEN), which tracks water levels across the freshwater Everglades landscape, is not suitable for comparison with ocean buoy data.
EDEN Manatee Bay Station | U.S. Geological Survey
What’s going on here?
Between 1970 and 2020, the sea surface temperature (SST) of the Gulf of Mexico increased by about 1.0°C (1.8°F), which corresponds to a warming rate of 0.19°C (0.34°F) per decade or 0.019°C (0.034°F) per year. Initially, SST anomalies in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic tracked closely with the global SST trend. However, since around 1990, these anomalies have started to rise more rapidly. This time period also marks the beginning of the warm phase of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), which is likely contributing to the accelerated warming in both the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico.
Ref https://journals.ametsoc.org/
view/journals/clim/36/8/JCLI- D-22-0409.1.xml Rapid Ocean Warming in 2023
The article cites meteorologist Brian McNoldy from the University of Miami, who notes that the Gulf of Mexico’s temperatures “really went off the rails last spring, and they haven’t gotten back to the rails since then.” I concur that the 2023 water temperatures indeed were exceptionally high.
In my view, the unusual warming in the North Atlantic, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions, is largely attributable to a combination of factors. Firstly, the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) is in its warm phase, which raises baseline sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic. Secondly, the effects of an El Niño event and unusually weak trade winds have also played significant roles.
During 2023, sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the Tropical North Atlantic surged notably in the spring and summer. This warming can be attributed to the weakening and southward displacement of the Azores-Bermuda ridge as shown below in the June 2023 surface pressure anomaly chart. This ridge’s weakening diminished trade winds, leading to reduced upper-ocean mixing and evaporative cooling. Concurrently, there was less cloud cover and Saharan dust, fewer sulfate particles due to cleaner shipping fuels, and increased stratospheric water vapor from the Hunga-Tonga undersea eruption. These combined factors facilitated the rapid warming of the ocean surface.
June 2023 Surface Pressure Anomaly
Tampa Bay Sea Surface Temperatures
Have sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in Tampa Bay been rising significantly faster than global averages and even those in the Gulf of Mexico?
To address this, I examined the average SSTs for July and August, which are typically the warmest months in Tampa Bay, to determine if there is an accelerated warming trend. Using data from “seatemperature.info,” it is evident that SSTs in Tampa Bay for July and August 2023 were notably higher than in previous years, with data available from 2007 onward.
Note Purple dot denotes El Nino Year
Source: https://seatemperature.info/
july/tampa-bay-water- temperature.html A quick calculation indicates that the warming trend for Tampa Bay from 2007 to 2022 was approximately 0.07°F per year which is about twice the longer-term rate of 0.034°F per year (1970-2020). However, including the 2023 data, the trend rises to 0.10°F per year, representing an increase of about 43%. This suggests that the temperatures in July and August of 2023 were anomalously high, and incorporating this data might skew the long-term warming rate.
To better understand whether 2023 represents a one-time anomaly due to a rare combination of natural factors or signals a shift in the longer-term warming trend, it would be prudent to wait a few more years. This additional time will help clarify whether the observed increase is part of an ongoing trend related to climate change or an isolated event.
Fred Pickhardt
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USACE South Atlantic Division Commander Signs Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual Record of Decision
Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2024 11:46 AM
To: CESAJ-CC, PublicMail SAJ <PublicMail.CESAJ-CC@usace.army.mil>
Subject: [Non-DoD Source] USACE South Atlantic Division Commander Signs Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual Record of DecisionRelease No.: NR 24-054 For Release: August 13, 2024 Contact: Jacksonville District Public Affairs E-mail: publicmail.cesaj-cc@usace.army.mil FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
USACE South Atlantic Division Commander Signs Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual Record of Decision
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Brig. Gen. Daniel Hibner, Commander, South Atlantic Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, signed the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM) Record of Decision (ROD) on Monday, completing the final step in the approval process to allow Jacksonville District to implement LOSOM in place of Lake Okeechobee Regulation Schedule 2008 (LORS08) for the management of Lake Okeechobee.
“We appreciate all the hard work and dedication the Jacksonville District put into making this happen,” said Brig. Gen. Daniel Hibner. “This district set a high bar for others to follow navigating this process remarkably well and being led by an extremely talented team.”
The LOSOM represents a significant shift in operational philosophy to a system-wide benefits approach. Lake level management will be focused on making beneficial releases at times and in quantities that improve water supply availability and enhance fish and wildlife in the region. LOSOM also improves the ability of water managers to use system-wide analysis to adapt to real-time conditions to make informed decisions on lake releases. The plan also facilitates more robust, structured communication and collaboration between USACE and stakeholders, as operational decisions are made.
“Our Nation made a $1.8 Billion investment in the rehabilitation of Herbert Hoover Dike (HHD) to allow development of a new operating manual that balances the needs of the entire system, said Col. Brandon Bowman, Jacksonville District commander. “LOSOM was developed over five years in collaboration with more than 50 stakeholder groups, and the value of that time investment, the cooperation it took to develop the plan, and the trust that was built with stakeholders matches that significant monetary investment.”
“Historic. Collaborative. Important. We have worked for five years to get to the record of decision, and we are finally here,” said South Florida Water Management District Board Chairman Chauncey Goss. “I’m proud of the South Florida Water Management District staff who worked with the team at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to ensure the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM) was implemented in a manner that reduces harmful discharges into our estuaries, sends more water south to benefit the environment and meets the needs of our communities. I want to thank everyone who engaged in this process over the years, especially all of our stakeholders and members of the public who contributed to its development every step of the way.”
USACE first started the process of developing LOSOM to replace LORS08 in early 2019 with a series of 10 public scoping meetings around the state of Florida. Jacksonville District made extensive stakeholder coordination the backbone of LOSOM development, from National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) scoping in 2019, through the alternative development and evaluation phases in 2020 and 2021, and during the development of operating criteria, and review of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in 2022. This engagement ensured a variety of perspectives on balancing the project purposes were represented and informed the selection of the LOSOM plan.
“LOSOM is a testament to what we can accomplish when we work together and remain dedicated to open and transparent communication. This was a hallmark of the LOSOM planning process and will continue as we move into implementation of the operating plan”, said Tim Gysan, LOSOM Project Manager. “Our team appreciates the time each of our stakeholders spent with us expressing their goals and asking tough questions as we kicked off the planning back in 2019, bearing with us as we were forced into virtual meetings by COVID, and wading through more than 500,000 model runs of data through 4 iterations to finalize the LOSOM operating plan.”
In total, the five-year process included 10 scoping meetings that generated more than 22,000 comments, 23 full project delivery team meetings with dozens more sub-team and technical meetings, six educational webinars, two water management workshops, and multiple roadshows to meet with stakeholders in their communities.
The final EIS and Water Control Plan were released for public review on May 24, 2024, and the plan was sent to South Atlantic Division for approval on July 19, 2024. LOSOM takes effect as of August 12, 2024, and the Jacksonville District will continue to transparently communicate and collaborate with its partners and stakeholders as it works on implementation of the plan.
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Lost riverfront destination, Bayview Hotel nearly forgotten – Coastal Review
Guests at the Bayview Hotel flock to the sandy bank of the Pamlico River during the establishment’s heyday. Photo courtesy Historic Port of Washington Project Read more at Coastal Review, coastalreview.org.
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After 3,400-Mile Crossing from Africa, Boat Arrives Carrying 14 Human Skeletons
Cruisers Net publishes Loose Cannon articles with Captain Swanson’s permission in hopes mariners with salt water in their veins will subscribe.. $7 a month or $56 for the year and you may cancel at anytime.
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Today’s Coastal Review: Transition to La Niña may offer East Coast flooding relief
After a period of record flooding along the North Carolina coast, a recurring cooling trend in the Pacific is set to bring some relief here, according to a new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration outlook.
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Miami Beach Cracks the Anti-Cruiser Code – Peter Swanson
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When all else fails, try journalism.
Miami Beach Cracks the Anti-Cruiser Code
Can’t Just Kick ‘Em Out? Make It So They Can’t Get Food Instead
The City of Miami Beach tows away cruiser dinghies found in violation of dock restrictions. This is a YouTube screenshot from a WPLG Local10 television news broadcast. Municipalities convinced that liveaboard boats lead to derelict boats now have a foolproof solution to the problem—as long as they share the same moral code as Cruela de Ville and the City of Miami Beach.
August 2024 will mark the month Miami Beach found the formula for victory over what it calls “boat squatters.” This tony seaside community has had a long-running feud with cruisers that has gone through several phases, often turning on the latest change in Florida anchoring laws.
Late last year, the city’s latest hope of legislating local anchoring out of existence fell short. Senate Bill 192 would have limited anchoring within 200 yards of any part of Miami Beach between the MacArthur Causeway to the Julia Tuttle Causeway. In its amended form, it only banned anchoring between a strip of islands along the Venetian Causeway crossing Biscayne Bay.
If you aren’t familiar with the geography, no worries. One legislator said the amended bill affected about three percent of waters originally included, most notably not the part near downtown referred to as Sunset Harbour. The liveaboard community was relieved by the compromise, but not for long.
Starve ‘Em
Their nemesis, Miami Beach Commissioner David Suarez, had a clever plan. His idea was to deprive them of the ability to buy food. “Since we can’t control what happens on the water, we can certainly control how you get to land,” Suarez told Miami’s Local 10 News.
Once upon a time, cruisers in the vicinity of Sunset Lake and Venetian Causeway had three ways to get ashore to buy groceries and enjoy the amenities of downtown Miami Beach, which was just a 15 minute walk away. They could tie their dinghies to a canal-side dock by Publix supermarket, dock them at the Maurice Gibb boat ramp or lie alongside a canal bulkhead.
With Suarez as point man, the City Commission eliminated these options one by one, first by tearing out the Publix dock, then outlawing bulkhead tie-ups and finally severely restricting access to the Gibb ramp service dock.
Writing for the Miami Herald, Aaron Leibowitz said:
A new ordinance, which received final approval from the City Commission late last month and took effect August 3, declares that the boat ramp at Maurice Gibb Park in Sunset Harbour can only be used by city residents to “launch and retrieve noncommercial vessels”—not to dock boats, even temporarily, or pick up and drop off passengers.
Previously, motorized boats could dock at the ramp for 20 minutes. That time limit remains in place at a nearby floating dock for kayaks and paddleboards.
The law imposes steep penalties: $1,000 for a first offense, then $2,000 and $5,000 for a second and third offense, plus an option for criminal charges with up to 60 days in jail. The ordinance also calls for immediate towing of the offending boat, which can cost over $1,000 to retrieve from a private tow company.
Checkmate, boat squatters!
You can no longer buy groceries, walk the dog or grab a Cuban Sandwich at the Havana 57.
Mooring Field
Many Southern sailors have expressed hostility to mooring fields, even though land access and amenities (showers, holding-tank pump-outs and laundry facilities) are baked into the formula.
Miami Beach has a plan for just such a mooring field at Sunset Harbour and nearby, which will accomodate 147 boats, some portion of which will be for liveaboards. According to the Herald, there are typically about 100 liveaboard boats at anchor nowadays. The newspaper quoted some of the boat people as welcoming the idea of a mooring field, and why wouldn’t they at this point?
The city has set March 2026 as the target for opening the planned mooring field for business, as shown below:
In his crusade to run-off liveaboards—Suarez called it his No. 1 priority—the freshman commissioner made an environmental case against anchoring. He alleged (as one does) that everyone was pumping raw sewage into the bay and that their anchor chains were scraping seagrass off the bottom.
Loose Cannon rarely has reason to praise conventional media for coverage of boating issues, but there is an exception. On February 28, Miami’s WPLG Local10 television news—specifically journalist Louis Aguirre and producer Anastasia Pavlinskaya Brenman—aired an excellent story that used hard data to rebut both Suarez claims.
Hardly anyone was pumping overboard based on police inspections, and, according to experts, there was hardly any seagrass there in the first place—not for decades.
Which begs the question: Why not just wait until March 2026, and let the new mooring field take care of whatever it is that Miami Beach sees as the problem? According to Florida law, no one can anchor in a mooring field or close by. Surely the insurance requirement and monthly rent, which is likely to be pricey, will screen out boats likely to become derelict.
So, what is your motivation, David Suarez? Admit it, you and your fellow commissioners are just real-life Cruelas.
LOOSE CANNON covers hard news, technical issues and nautical history. Subscribe for free to support the work. If you’ve been reading for a while—and you like it—consider upgrading to paid.
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Some Things are Worth Saving – Janice Anne Wheeler
SOME THINGS ARE WORTH SAVING
The Most Impactful Words I Heard This Week Came From a Stranger. I’m So Glad He Said Them.
I had heard the distinctive crunch of car on gravel and estimated that the once-flashy-red now dull-rustish Mercedes parking on the lawn was around the same age I am, five and a half decades or so. The be-whiskered gentleman that climbed out of that vehicle must have been thirty years older.
He walked over purposefully and simply stood, stock still, gazing up at STEADFAST for long, long minutes. In my mind she isn’t all that pretty at this particular juncture, hauled out of her natural element for repairs, holes for projects begun here and there, original materials showing some age. She does make an impression regardless, I have to say that much. Our scaffold isn’t tall enough to reach the top rail or long enough to encompass her 56 feet. When he glanced at me I raised my eyebrows in a silent ‘Can I help you?’ but received no response. We are on the fringes of the Richardson Maritime Museum here in Cambridge, Maryland, but we aren’t part of it. We’re not ready for that, yet.
The 1925 Presidential Yacht SEQUOIA awaits extensive refit. She is most famous for hosting JFK’s final Birthday Party. We’re not part of the museum, not yet. Arms folded, he stepped closer and without preamble or introduction asked where she was built. Wheeler Shipyard in Brooklyn, we told him as we worked, and he raised his eyebrows in turn. For the first time, someone we met had local knowledge of the place, which he spewed with no further encouragement, slowly edging his way into our space, inspecting as he went, murmuring unasked and unanswered questions.
“Crazy old coot, that’s the fourth one this week,” my Sailor said to me. We smiled at each other. It is rewarding, and heartening, to have people understand THE WOODEN BOAT PHENOMENON instead of just thinking we were crazy. (Which we are, make no mistake.) I tried to properly convey that phenomenon. Read that here.
The gentleman meandered along on his own tour, stepping and then backing up, taking in the topside teak and rig. Unable to resist, I toddled after him, volunteering random answers to common questions. Each time, he put his hand up to his ear and indicated that he hadn’t heard, so each time I repeated myself, a little louder, not sure if he was actually interested in the facts that I was now spewing, un-encouraged. It reminded me of Waterman Johnny Kinnamon, in fact, his story is here. He told me once that if he always wanted to hear what folks were saying, he’d put his hearing aids in. But he doesn’t. He sits in church beside me and appears to listen attentively. At first I commented occasionally (to no avail) and he finally said to me, “I can’t hear any of this.” Now I sit quietly, too, appreciating the simplicity of not trying to make conversation. Johnny is 87 and chooses carefully who he spends his time and energy on.
“Who are you?” I inquired. “Who am I?” he repeated, laughing. “Who am I. Well, I’ve been around these places my whole life. I’ve seen people working on boats and fixing them and most of them weren’t worth fixing.” He shook his head at the world. “But this girl, she’s worth saving.” My appreciation of his words was so vast that I said nothing at all.
Unfortunately, we had somewhere to be when that stranger showed up; we were already hot and tired of trying to put the puzzle pieces of our quickly changed life together while making sure we had all the ones we needed. We definitely don’t. There was no plan to be where we are.
Our appointment was ticking closer. We made it to the bow, where three weeks ago we had discovered Mother Nature had endowed STEADFAST with an insidious rot not visible from the outside or the inside. We are still assessing, peeling back the layers. She’ll need rare, expensive materials and even rarer expertise, which we found in the local Shipwrights of Deadrise Maritime. These are the puzzle pieces I refer to. The elements to bring our home back to where she needs to be. We are in a new town, a new boatyard, living on land. It’s an uncomfortable place, depending on others when we are used to being both independent and fully mobile.
Peeling the layers. It seems to take just as long to disassemble as it does to build. We unexpectedly get to experience both…. I apologized and invited him to come back anytime. Since I (somehow) had not yet learned the lesson, had to repeat myself. “She’s worth it,” he called after me. “This is a special boat.” I stopped in my tracks, because that’s what we say, too, when we are trying to explain THE WOODEN BOAT PHENOMENON. “I hope I won’t be a pest. I’ll be back.” I smiled at him then, this stranger who had encouraged me more than he would ever know.
“Crazy old coot knows his boats.” I said as we got into the seen-better-days boatyard loaner car, and I smiled again. SOME THINGS AREN’T WORTH SAVING. And some things are.
SPARRING WITH MOTHER NATURE has become my favorite routine! Over the course of the week I consider what happened that can offer some commentary on life and the NATURE of it. This story just jumped out at me. If you are enjoying these, consider upgrading to a paid subscription just as you would a magazine that you have forever been skimming in the grocery story line and then you finally buy one! Or not. Either way is perfectly fine with me, honestly! I enjoy and read and respond to all comments so spew those thoughts!
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Medical Records When Cruising – the boatgalley
making boat life better since 2010
Links to Everything on The Boat Galley Events Where Are The Boat Galley Team Members?
Carolyn –West Palm Beach, FL | Nica — Vermont
Larry — Marathon, FL | Kimberly — MA | Julie — TexasPam is selling her 1990 Pacific Seacraft 34 — see listing
John is selling his 1967 Rawson 30 — see listingClick here for Medical Records When Cruising
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Indigenous tobacco from ancient seeds: History comes alive – Coastal Review
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