Morton Bay to Westport

Morton Bay to Westport:  We found a nice secluded hideaway to anchor for the night in a place called Morton Bay.  The pictures we took there show the rock walls along the edges of the bay.  The water was as calm as if we were not even in the water at all – no rocking whatsoever.  It was blissfully quiet except for a loon which kept calling to its mate.  The sounds made me think of Native Americans calling to each other using bird whistles to communicate – you know you always see that in old movies.  As we watched off the back of the boat we saw the sky changing colors as the sun set.  The Captain was amazed that at 10:00 ET at night, the sky was looking as it does in New Jersey at dusk, so his disappearing sunset lasted a couple of hours longer than he expected.

Finally I was allowed a leisurely morning.  The captain was up at 7:00 but I just groaned and told him one word – “NO” and rolled over and went back to sleep until my alarm woke me at 8:30.  I have no idea what he did for that one and ½ hour and I do not care.  Our first lock today was at Jones Falls which was a series of 3.  It is exhausting work to lock through with our boat.  There were 4 vessels, including ours, that were locking through together. 

On one vessel the first mate / significant other sat on the bow casually tending her lines.  On the second one, a woman sat at the bow holding an umbrella over her head to keep the sun off while leisurely holding her lines.  On the third a woman in a bikini spent more time lying down improving her tan than doing anything with the boat except once in a while she would sit up move the lines up the wall a bit and then lie back down again.  And then there was me.  I had lines in one hand and a pole in the other wrestling with the vessel all the way up the wall. 

The captain says it is because our boat has a keel that the turbulent water pushes us harder.  At one point I told the captain that if we ever want to do a trip that required locking through with this vessel again that I will need to work our with weights for weeks in advance to prepare.  Meanwhile my arms are getting a good work out this trip.  Is that muscle I see in the area called biceps???

After getting through the locks at Jones Falls we were both hot.  We decided that we should pull up to a dock they have for visitors and walk up to the 60 foot dam that was built sometime in the 1800’s.  The workers called it the 7^th wonder of the world, and I read that when asked, one worker said he would prefer death to working on such an enterprise ever again.  Huge blocks were brought in by oxen and put in to place to form an arch lying on its side for strength.   The captain took a couple of pictures here but we didn’t stay long. 

When we got back to the boat, we decided that the lake looked too too inviting so we switched to swimsuits and jumped in.  It took a little while to decide to go in.  As I dangled my feet off the back of the boat numerous fish came to investigate the new attraction.  The longest one was no more than 4 inches but they were quite reluctant to leave no matter how much I splashed my feet around.  I guess my toes looked like lunch to them all.  The captain jumped in to make a big splash causing them to leave for about 20 seconds before they were back again.  We could only assume that boaters tend to feed them since they were almost tame.

I was too hot to care that I would be swimming with the fish, so I threw myself off the back of the boat to bask in the cool water – probably around 76 to 78 degrees in temp.  So refreshing!!  I had taken my hair down from its normal braid to be sure to get all of it good and wet, and at some point I just lay there in the water doing a back float with cool water all around – glorious!!  Normally when I go off the back of our boat, I am in salt water with waves that splash over me when I am floating so I must be on constant guard for an unexpected face full / mouthful of water.  With the fresh, calm water, I could just bask in delight.

After his quick dip, the captain was out of the water on the swim platform and decided that he needed to take a picture of what he referred to as “a rare event”.  In fact it is a very rare event to have me in the water and him on the boat; the norm is just the reverse.   I kept asking him why he didn’t get back in and he kept saying he was fine where he was and in fact he was now too cool due to the breeze.  Eventually I got out and immediately understood what he was referring to; I almost went back in the water to get warm again.

The temporary docks here are the craziest things in that they do not have cleats.  They have these L-shaped brackets with a hole to poke the line through to tie the boat up.  There is no way with our vessel, therefore, to grab one of these to secure the vessel without jumping off the boat, which quite literally I had to do today.  The boat was still about 5 feet from the dock and the captain says, “Oh, I thought you were on the platform already”.  Like, yes, of course, I sprouted wings and learned to fly overnight.  When he got it within 3 feet I decided that was close enough to jump for it. 

Our boat is almost 40 feet long (39 Length Over All) and the first 10 feet near the bow extended past a sign that said shallow beyond this point.  Indeed it was quite shallow but more than that it was “weed choked”, so I was very interested in getting a line into one of these brackets before the boat could drift forward.   I took the line at mid-ship and headed for a bracket.  I went to tie up and my hat first blew one way and then the other until I had to catch it for fear of losing it, so now I have the line in one hand and the hat in the other but I need two hands to tie up to this crazy bracket.  I ended up sticking the hat between my legs to hold onto it while I did my best to attach us to the bracket.  By the time I got this one stupid line hooked up the captain had the stern and bow lines attached and was watching my escapades with interest, so I handed him my hat and asked that he stow that somewhere where it wouldn’t blow away.  Whew!

The other major concern with these temporary-stop floating docks is that they are all wood with no form of protection for the boat to avoid scraping up against the fiberglass.  In addition to trying to deal with lines the fenders have to be raised and lowered constantly as every lock and floating dock has different criteria for where the fender (bumper) needs to be placed to stop rubbing.  Ours is a relatively large vessel that rides high above the water.  For the smaller vessels there is no issue as their fenders are never far from the water line of the boat.

I warmed up in a hurry when we came to the next lock, and quickly I was just as hot again as if I had never gone swimming even though I never took off the wet bathing suit.  I just put a light-weight shirt over the top to keep the sun from scorching my back.  We were told by one of the lock tenders that we had two choices for good places to stop in terms of towns.  The first was so small that all it had was a single grocery store and nothing else, so we opted to continue on until we got to Westport where there are various stores and places to walk about and see things. 

I have to lay claim to the camera when the captain comes back from roaming around and scoping out Westport.  I need it just long enough to get the pictures transferred to my computer so I can edit them and upload them.  Unfortunately, every time I get my hands on it and turn around, the captain has absconded with it again before I can take out the memory card and do my file copy.  There is free WiFi with excellent signal in Westport at the municipal dock where we are staying, so I’m hoping to get pictures uploaded tonight.

The captain checked us in for the night.  $1.25 per foot includes water, electric, shower, and toilets.  He said they required cash.  If you have read the Kingston blog entry, we know that we just managed to have some cash on hand so we were all set.  He came back with a map of the town and 3 keys on a key chain -- 1 for ladies, 1 for gents, and 1 for the garbage!  He said that is because the garbage is so valuable they need to lock it up so it doesn’t get stolen.

Shops close early in Westport.  By the time we arrived at the dock and got our lines set, it was 4:45 and every store in town closes by 5:00 except the grocery store that stays open until 6:00.  Restaurants (if they have more than one) apparently stay open late – 8:00.  Wow!  I don’t know what dinner plans are for tonight.  We decided to stroll around town in the evening as I had no desire to go shopping for anything. 

As I’m typing this I am still in my swimsuit from earlier and there is a lovely breeze blowing through the boat.  The captain wandered off after I told him to go away and stop making me feel like I needed to run around and go someplace too.   I now realize, however, that when he left he took all 3 keys with him including the key to the ladies room, so I guess I need to go in search of him at some point.  Right now  though the boat is opened up and would need to be closed up / locked up if we are both on shore.   I guess if I get desperate enough I can call his cell phone and ask him to return with the key.  Knowing him I expect he has found some friendly person(s) and will be gone “forever” chatting up the locals and other boaters he finds along his stroll.