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The Bottom Line

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    H ere in the Crystal River area where we keep our boat, underwater fouling is minimal. This is due to the amount of fresh water we have. Our canal is "brackish" with not alot of salinity and the closer you are to King's Bay and the springs the salinity goes way down. Out to the Gulf and further south, hull bottom fouling becomes worse. Go to the Keys and the Bahamas and it is very aggressive.  Wintertime when the water is cold, the growth is minimal, but when the water warms it is alive with billions of tiny organisms ready to cling to something and start reproducing. Now that our boat is in Tampa Bay and the water temperature is moving into the 70's the growth is accelerating.  How do we combat this? The list of ways is endless but the basic method is to apply Anti-Fouling coatings. Bottom paint. There is a whole science and tons of info about anti-fouling coatings so I won't go into all of it but basically there are 2 types of paint. Hard & Ablative. Bot
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The "REAL" Journey Begins

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TRAVEL DAY 1 - Palmetto to Sarasota February 14, 2023 4.2 Hours/31.6 Miles     Today is "really" the day we start of the Great Loop, as opposed to the "Unofficial Start of the Great Loop" . We felt pretty confident that all the preparation and work would pay off . Well, feelings are one thing, realty is another.     We pulled out of our slip and headed for the fuel dock to top off the tanks with a few gallons of diesel and pump out the holding tank. Of course the predicted wind was not what we got, neither was the air temperature, still it was a decent day for a cruise. We're still in our home waters so we basically knew the way. Our destination was Sarasota and a free anchorage. We had planned to pick up an anchor ball at Marina Jack's but it was full. Free anchorages mean more money for food, snacks and drinks!     Beth had planned some routes on her Navionics and Aqua Maps apps and was ready to assume her roll as "navigator", Not sure why but th
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Erie Canal - Part 1

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  TRAVEL DAY 69 - Shady Harbor Marina to Waterford July 5, 2023 3.8 Hours/24.7 Miles     Sort of a rough start for this day. The night before, a microburst or something like it roared down the Hudson right at dark. The storm came in so quick and so violent it was unbelievable. In the aftermath, 1/2 of the docks (including the floating dock we were on) broke loose, twisted and pushed together. We were fortunate along with the other boats that we had no damage. Remarkably only a few suffered some scratches. The next morning our boat was trapped between the damaged docks. After the outer boats were moved, the marina staff disconnected and removed the finger dock blocking our way out so we could float our boat back. Once out into the river, we were on our way.  Erie Canal or Champlain Canal?     "Low bridge, everybody down, low bridge, we're coming to a town, and you'll always know your neighbor and you'll always know your pal, if you've ever navigated on the Erie Cana
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