After a few weeks of detailed, meticulous planning, our adventure began with much anticipation and excitement. This was not going to be a trip of leisure, as we needed to get the Golden Eagle III, a 340 Sea Ray Sundancer to its new marina home on Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans in two weeks. The 2000-mile journey ahead of us seemed enormous, but day-by-day, as the miles grew longer from the departure point and shorter toward the destination, we settled into a routine that worked well for all of us. The 700-mile voyage for the first 5 days from Philadelphia to Charleston was familiar, as we had made this trip in the opposite direction four years earlier.
Today we stopped for a day in Charleston, SC for propeller repair, which provided a much-needed rest from our hectic dawn-to-dusk schedule. Rested and refreshed, the remainder of the journey would be in waterways that were new to us. The weather was balmy with lots of sunshine and temperatures in the 80’s. We were running ahead of hurricane Ida, however at times we felt a brush of her head winds and experienced bumpy waters with three-to-five foot seas. The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway with its “outer banks” provided shelter from the open Atlantic Ocean and made for a rather pleasant passage to Stuart, FL. Leaving Stuart, we traversed 5 locks and several bridges of the St. Lucie-Lake Okeechobee-Calooseahatchee Waterway before exiting at Ft. Myers on the west coast of Florida. We then headed north along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, through the Tampa Bay area, and on to Tarpon Springs, FL.
Since the tail winds of hurricane Ida were kicking up heavy seas we decided to stay in port for a half-day at Tarpon Springs. This gave us an opportunity to experience the lifestyle of natural sponge harvesting, as Tarpon Springs (according to the local residents) is the “sponge capital” of the world. At dawn the following day we left Tarpon Springs and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and entered the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Using the “Big Bend” route, we made a fuel stop at Steinhatchee (“Stein” rhymes with “bean”) and after 12 hours of five-to-eight foot seas, arrived in Carrabelle, FL at dusk. What a relief! From Carrabelle, we re-entered the protected waters of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway where calm waters prevailed for the remainder of the trip. As we passed by Pensacola, FL we caught the ending of an air show by the Navy Blue Angels.
The Alabama and Mississippi coasts passed by quickly, and suddenly we realized that Lake Pontchartrain was coming into view on our chartplotter and radar screens. After passing under the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, we could see in the distance the red-green markers of the channel leading to the narrow, shallow entrance to the Tchefuncta River and Marina Del Ray, the new home of the Golden Eagle III. It was “high five” time for all three captains!
We hope you enjoyed following our voyage as we shared our view of the magnificent scenery, abundant wildlife, grand mansions, luxurious megayachts, memorable people, and other interests along the way. Would I do it again? Most definitely. Would I do it tomorrow, not likely. I need a couple days to recuperate!
Parting words from Captain Will
After a few days of rest and a mad dash back into the familiar world of work, friends and family I had a chance to reflect on the journey of late. Philly to New Orleans will remain in my memories as a great adventure with good friends.
I was afforded this opportunity not only from the owner and friend Shirl Gilbert but also from my friend John Cannon who did so much of the initial planning and plotting. I want to thank deeply; God, my family, contractors, employees, customers and other friends, for without all of them it would not have been possible. I also want to thank so many of the people we met and did not meet for all they did even though most will never read this blog but may they feel the warmth of my thoughts. Some of the people are the people who prayed for us, gave us shelter, a place to dock the boat, car rides to and from destinations, harbormasters, dock line handlers, repair yards, people who gave us directions to places, the weather channel, other boaters, gas station attendants, the restaurant servers and cooks, “GM” the engine builder for the boat, and YES SHIRL “SEA RAY”. I want to say a special thanks to a man who’s name I do not know but one who allowed us to vary from the norm and stay at a marina that was closed as we were lost in the dark and he provided a dim light, shelter, sleep and a place to eat our make-shift dinner on the boat.
Please let me also thank Albert Gallatin, the former United States Secretary of the Treasury, who in 1808 published a report to the United States Senate and also Secretary of War John C. Calhoun who in 1819 posed an urgent need for an improved internal transportation system including waterways “The ICW or Intracoastal Waterway” and of course the Army Corps of Engineers who built it, as without them we would have been in the high seas of the Atlantic Ocean.
I also want to take this time to say “I HATE YOU” to Davy Jones’ Locker and may his saucer eyes, three rows of teeth, horns, tail, and blue smoke coming from his nostrils stay at the bottom of the sea and not claim another cell phone, gas cap, screw, or bar-b-que cover.
Parting words from Captain Shirl
To all who have followed this final entry on the Philly to New Orleans Blog Report, I too want to THANK YOU for staying with us and helping us bring meaning to our effort beyond just the transportation of the Eagle and a FUN vacation with two of my best friends. To write the Blog Report everyday, knowing many of our friends and acquaintances would be reading it and following our adventure was something we looked forward to each evening. We took special pains to jot down on paper our memories of things which happened each day, and at the end of most days, the three of us talked about the day, looked at the pictures, and helped the day’s Blog Report author gather his thoughts as to what the Blog Report would report on that day. This activity each day was therapeutic for all of us as we wound down from the day.
John did a great job of summarizing the trip; I want to add a few more lines about the two guys who accompanied me on this journey. Though we don't see each other often, and only sometimes talk on the phone, we are clearly connected by the water and the "Love of Boating". They are my Brothers, and I love them as if they REALLY were.
This is the second time I called on them to assist me in moving the Eagle. Four years ago, I ended a stint in Charleston, SC, and was about to join the Philadelphia, PA School District as Superintendent of the West Region Schools, and I did not want to again truck the Eagle (I had allowed my employer to truck the Eagle from Tacoma, WA to Charleston. In order to do so they needed to remove all the electronics and the entire fiberglass arch from the top of the vessel, and while they reinstalled it all upon arrival, the electronics didn't work correctly for almost a year, after having the boatyard work on them seven times. I didn't want to do that again !!!). Both John and Will are competent and knowledgeable boaters (much better than I) and not only did they agree to join me on the trip, but from the beginning right up until the end of the trip, they were teachers, building my capacity as a boater and helping me to understand the why's and wherefore's of boat handling, navigation, radio usage and jargon, repair and upkeep, and protocols and courtesies appropriate to being on the water. Having them on the water with me for 16 days was better than any safety and/or boating course I could have taken, and they provided me with more information about the Eagle, and boating in general, than I had learned in five or six boating courses over the seven years I have owned the Eagle. Don't get me wrong, I have boated for more than twelve years, and have become reasonably competent at it, but they are sooooooooo much better!! Their willingness to share their knowledge and expertise finds me a much better boater now than when we started.
There are no words with which I can express the thanks and appreciation I feel for their saying yes to my request that they join me again for a second journey out in the waters of the Americas to move the Golden Eagle III, yet again, to a new home. I could go on-and-on sharing all the specific assistance they gave me before, during, and after the 2000-mile trip, but suffice it to say I love these men, and appreciate all they are and ever will be. I thank GOD for their friendship, and will treasure their association for as long as I live.God Is Great, and Life Is Good !!! ALOHA !!
WOW !
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