Back in Business!

November 24

Day after Thanksgiving my brother Jim and I rented a car one way and drove back to Whisky Business after the port shaft had been replaced. Shaft being the operative term here. Dave Shaw at Kentuckiana Yacht Services quoted me a price of $1500 + shipping for a new shaft. Boat yard I ordered it from charged me over $4,000 just for the shaft!!! When Debbie reads this, the only thing saving my bacon is it is bloody damn cold at this anchorage so I know I am safe here for now. She’ll never find me. Jake the dog is in a declining phase now so that is why my brother, able bodied sailor that he is, is my deck hand for now.

WB has this horn, I use the term loosely. Two horns actually with their own compressor and seperate 10 gallon air tank. The horns are just the other side of where he is… resting his eyes. Gave that sucker a long blast…he did not even stir… a bit.

We left Aqua Yacht Marina on Saturday after Thanksgiving and have been underway for 3 days now. The Tombigbee Waterway is not much more than a ditch in places. Breathless beauty in others. Check out these photo’s

The color is spectacular, right!

Yesterday, we went through 5 locks and 2 today. Here is a photo of a “bollard”. This device is located along the walls of a lock that a boat must tie off on. I cannot take credit for this, but the previous owner made this loop with a line and clear hose that loops over the bollard and ties off to the mid cleat on the boat.

This is how we look when tied up to the wall of a lock.

Look closely at the above photo. There is a device used by many a mariner but eschewed by many seasoned captains. In the bottom of the photo you see a fender (bumper) hanging from a line. Notice the device the line runs through after looping over the hand rail. One of my training captains who shall remain nameless, but many know who he is, gives me untold amounts of s@#t for using this instrument in lieu of simply tying a knot. I like it. Debbie likes it. So….

In this photo there is a plant which grows everywhere here. Water Hyacinth. It grows on the surface and the roots reach into the water. They are hell on boat water intake systems.

When we purchased WB we found the burgee in the photo below. The AGLCA is an organization that I have mentioned previously that is made up of similar minded people that are circumnavagating the eastern US. As you can see this burgee that has been on WB for 3 years now is pretty beat up. At Debbie’s urging, we purchased a new burgee at the Great Loop Rendezvous we attended in October.

Hung the new one today!

Gotta tell ya, it is pretty damn cold here. Tonite we are anchored out 60 miles north of Demopolis, Alabama and the forcast is 29 tonite with a high of 44 tomorrow. It is 37 now. Running the generator to keep the boat warm. WB is equiped with a cooling/heating system that, as long as the water is above 55 degrees, it will heat the boat. At this time (9pm) it is quite toasty. Soon as I am finished writing this I will shut the system down along with the generator. And proceed to freeze my…off.

The upside to the low temp is the beauty of the milky way in all it’s glory tonight. Simply outstanding!

Following are a few photo’s of our anchorage for the night. Hope you enjoy them.