A small boy heard the ocean roar,
"There are secrets on my distant shore
But beware my child the ship's bell's wail,
Wait not too long to start to sail."
So quickly come and go the years
And a young adult stands abeach - with fears.
"Come on, come on," the ocean cussed,
"Time passes on, oh sail you must."
Now it's business in middle-aged prime
And maybe tomorrow there'll be time,
Now is too soon - it's raining today.
Gone, all gone - years are eaten away.
An old man looks out, still feeling the lure
Yet he'll suffer the pain than go for the cure.
The hair is white, the step's with care.
So all too soon the secrets are buried
Along with him and regrets he carried
And it's not for loss of secrets he cried
But rather because he'd never tried.
While the above is a bit more eloquent than my usual prosaic mode of speech, I have never found a more perfect description of a cruiser's wanderlust. So with due diligence, we are preparing the CALYPSO for another long trip (our last being in 2006 when we traveled 2400 miles up and back from the headwaters of the Tennessee River). Just as it was in the Navy, the preparation phase is so time consuming and hectic that getting underway for the cruise is actually a relief.
This time, we plan a trip from our home port near Panama City across 150 miles of open water to the western coast of Florida and thence down the coast to Key West after which we will run 70 miles into the Gulf of Mexico to our turn-around point at Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas wherein lies Fort Jefferson National Monument. From Garden Key, we will run across 120 miles of open Gulf waters back to the peninsula of Florida at Naples from which point we will retrace our path homeward for a grand total of 1383 statute miles.
The fuel tanks have their full allotment of 660 gallons of diesel fuel, and the water tanks are freshened with 240 gallons of water. The lubricating oil in both main engines and the generator has been lab tested and found "acceptable for continued service." Main engine injection pumps and the transmissions have new oil. The generator has a newly rebuilt seawater cooling pump, and it and the main engines have new seawater pump impellers. So the mechanical aspects of a successful voyage should be covered.
A couple of new pieces of equipment will aid in providing added safety and comfort. We now have an Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver which allows our navigation computers to automatically plot other nearby vessels with AIS transmitters (required on vessels over 300 tons) on our chart. We will thus be warned of the approach of any large vessels during our travels. Because we will be anchoring in a number of areas of open water, we now are the proud owners of a Magma brand "flopper stopper," which is two stainless steel plates hinged to each other and suspended several feet under water while hanging from a nine-foot pole. This device will greatly dampen the rapid rolling action we sometimes get in exposed anchorages.
Now, if my doctor and I can get my blood pressure under control, and the weather websites will show us a predicted calm period for the Florida Big Bend, we will be off and running after the first week of March 2009.
"There are secrets on my distant shore
But beware my child the ship's bell's wail,
Wait not too long to start to sail."
So quickly come and go the years
And a young adult stands abeach - with fears.
"Come on, come on," the ocean cussed,
"Time passes on, oh sail you must."
Now it's business in middle-aged prime
And maybe tomorrow there'll be time,
Now is too soon - it's raining today.
Gone, all gone - years are eaten away.
An old man looks out, still feeling the lure
Yet he'll suffer the pain than go for the cure.
The hair is white, the step's with care.
So all too soon the secrets are buried
Along with him and regrets he carried
And it's not for loss of secrets he cried
But rather because he'd never tried.
While the above is a bit more eloquent than my usual prosaic mode of speech, I have never found a more perfect description of a cruiser's wanderlust. So with due diligence, we are preparing the CALYPSO for another long trip (our last being in 2006 when we traveled 2400 miles up and back from the headwaters of the Tennessee River). Just as it was in the Navy, the preparation phase is so time consuming and hectic that getting underway for the cruise is actually a relief.
This time, we plan a trip from our home port near Panama City across 150 miles of open water to the western coast of Florida and thence down the coast to Key West after which we will run 70 miles into the Gulf of Mexico to our turn-around point at Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas wherein lies Fort Jefferson National Monument. From Garden Key, we will run across 120 miles of open Gulf waters back to the peninsula of Florida at Naples from which point we will retrace our path homeward for a grand total of 1383 statute miles.
The fuel tanks have their full allotment of 660 gallons of diesel fuel, and the water tanks are freshened with 240 gallons of water. The lubricating oil in both main engines and the generator has been lab tested and found "acceptable for continued service." Main engine injection pumps and the transmissions have new oil. The generator has a newly rebuilt seawater cooling pump, and it and the main engines have new seawater pump impellers. So the mechanical aspects of a successful voyage should be covered.
A couple of new pieces of equipment will aid in providing added safety and comfort. We now have an Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver which allows our navigation computers to automatically plot other nearby vessels with AIS transmitters (required on vessels over 300 tons) on our chart. We will thus be warned of the approach of any large vessels during our travels. Because we will be anchoring in a number of areas of open water, we now are the proud owners of a Magma brand "flopper stopper," which is two stainless steel plates hinged to each other and suspended several feet under water while hanging from a nine-foot pole. This device will greatly dampen the rapid rolling action we sometimes get in exposed anchorages.
Now, if my doctor and I can get my blood pressure under control, and the weather websites will show us a predicted calm period for the Florida Big Bend, we will be off and running after the first week of March 2009.
