A few comments about Glouster VA and the Chesapeake

It is easy and kind of fun to compare wherever we are with our home water in Lake Erie. There are differences and similarities.

The water is the same color as Lake Erie, kind of brownish green, clearly some plant life in the bottom making the water murky.

Waves are very similar, square waves with short intervals. Storms come up pretty quickly and leave just as quickly. Storms are often over land and miss us on the water. We can see them but they don’t always come to us. The breeze is amazing.

The marina is bustling with action on the weekends and holidays and absolutely deserted on the weekdays, just like home. It is so quiet as I write this that I have to put on the radio or my iPod to have some noise at all. 

There are lots of differences.

Crab pots and oyster beds. We have fish nets on Lake Erie but they are infrequent and usually further out in the water. Crabpots and oyster beds are right in or just off the channel. They create quite an obstacle and a real mess if you run through them. Thank goodness we have knives on our shafts.

See all the sailboats?

The boats look different too. There are lots more sailboats and they are big too. In this marina at least half or more of the boats are sailboats. That is different.

They have these really neat oyster work boats that folks convert into pleasure boats. They are really gorgeous and can be quite expensives. These boats have flat beds with a pleasing sleek design. The prow is designed like a Lyman, probably because both bodies of water have such short square fast waves. These work boats cum party boats cut sleekly through the water with a dignified air.

This is a workboat outfitted as a pleasure boat

Another difference is the junk in the water.  In Lake Erie we watch strainers for grass. In the Chesapeake there is every God awful kind of crud you can imagine in the strainers – jelly fish, scum, plant material, and who knows what else. Kermit cleaned the strainer about 2 weeks ago before leaving Cavalier.

The same kind of boat outfitted for oysters

Yesterday he cleaned the strainer in an effort to improve air conditioning efficiency and it was almost solid with this crud. I wish I took a picture of the strainer. It was entirely black when Kermit pulled it out. It took him about 10 minutes to get all the crud out of the strainer. Suddenly the air conditioner is quieter. Go figure.

We have been having trouble with our heads for months now. We think the problem can be traced to the sea water we draw through the heads into the holding tank. All that crud and scum that ends up in the air conditioning strainer is moving through our toilets into our holding tanks. No wonder we are having trouble.

The toys are different too. Occasionally we see folks playing with remote control boats. This guy had a remote control airplane that had to be at least 5 feet wing span. So cool!!

Today Kermit is going to the dentist. While eating oatmeal (notoriously bad for your teeth I guess – that is why I don’t eat it!!) Kermit lost a tooth. I guess it was a rebuilt tooth or crown but it fell out. Michael found him a dentist in Virginia Beach who is opening early to accommodate Kermit  so off he went. Hopefully the damage won’t be painful to correct. Or too expensive (no insurance).

More later.