Swimming in the River, 11-12-2014

Wednesday, 11-12-2014

The day dawned.  There was some sun.  We hoped to get underway about 7:30. We thought we could make some good time and reach our next anchorage about 4. An early day. No locks, no fog, no weather to hold us back.

About 7:15 we started to get ready to get underway. On went the engine, and Kathy started the morning cockpit set up.  All she heard from Tim was “Oh, Oh, this isn’t good.”  Well, and those of you who know Tim well know that there were a few other choice words emanating from the stern.

Apparently, sometime during the night, the stern anchor rode (anchor line) got wrapped around the rudder.  Try as we would, we could not free the rode. The only way to get it free was to dive under the boat, and unwrap it from the rudder. As Kathy was not volunteering, Tim changed into his swimsuit, got the goggles, tied himself to the boat and descended the swim ladder into the water.

Tim coming back aboard after his morning swim

 

By the way, it was 57 degrees, murky icky water…in alligator country. Kathy stayed at the ready with an eye out for alligators, and Tim was back onboard, having fixed the problem.  We turned on the propane heater, dried him off and warmed him up. We left the anchorage at 9:40.  All of a sudden, we knew we would be up against sunset again.

We decided we want a trawler.  A 32 foot Grand Banks.  Generator.  Cappuccino machine.  Room for two barcaloungers.  A real refrigerator.  Wide screen TV. Queen sized bed.

Other than our morning escapade, the day was uneventful.  More river, more barges.  We anchored in the Okatuppa Anchorage, at Mile Marker 123, short of our intended goal at mile 78.  But again, we were fighting sunset.  Tim set the anchors, and while not happy with the result, we had dinner, and fell into bed.