First the ditch. All 45 miles of it. About 200 yards wide and stumps sticking out everywhere. The shallow water alarm only went off 2 or 3 times. Jeez, I hate when that happens. It started to rain and blow just as we entered the Alligator River and we were greeted with waves in the 4 to 6' size with some bigger. The lower helm windshield wiper sucks. My Morris Minor had better wipers plus you have to be 6' tall to see where it wipes BUT Chris brought out a beer case for me to stand on and I could at least see the waves splashing over the bow. Short is good but a case of beer will solve a lot of problems associated with the taller world.
People that we talk to say the Albermarle Sound can be a real bugger and that we might have to wait here for awhile but the forecast right now looks good for tomorrow. But then again, the Alligator River was supposed to be a bit better than the reality.
Belle is running well but the water temperature went up when we were pounding the waves. I did power back and things went to normal but it makes you think. By the way, we DID put on our suspender life jackets when things got big. So DAN, don't worry about us.
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| Picture doesn't tell the whole story |
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| Captain Kerm |
Chris practiced the radar stuff today when we were in the slime. I'm sure we don't want to get into a zero visibility situation like we had last week without at least one of us being competent with it. Yes, DAN I will continue to practice too. And, yes DAN, I will overcome my zillions of buttons phobia. But, I question, why in 2011 does someone have to have 14 or 16 buttons on a radar to see if a 3000 ton ship is going to smash into you. Why. No, not why. Can't somebody come up with an Apple ap that will do the same thing without the damn buttons.
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