Two themes of recent posts are friends and critters. In some cases, the critters are our friends, as in man's best friend. Dogs seem to be part of the crew on many cruising boats. Tundra, a Great Pyrenees, travels with Sandford on a 25' Ranger Tug. Sandford points out that the largest cruising dog on the Loop is on the smallest boat.
Dogs seem to like riding along the water and being on boats, no matter the size or type.
The Osprey are much in evidence on Virginia waterways. This once near-extinct species has rebounded since the outlawing of the pesticide DDT. It was nesting season which had the mothers on the nest and the dads standing guard or trying to distract possible predators by flying to another area. A pair of Osprey on Browns Creek.
Carter River
Yankee Point
Yankee Point
One of the challenges of cruising on a boat is keeping all the equipment operating. There are many systems on a boat. It is much like a floating city, having water systems, electrical generating systems, in addition to propulsion systems. A damper plate (a part that hooks the engine to the transmission, absorbing the shock of cylinders firing) began to fail. A stop in Deltaville, VA, proved fortuitous as a large marine diesel supplier was only 30 minutes away.
Visits to marinas and boat yards always provide a display of different boats, and boats differ greatly. Many are works of art and all give vision to someones idea of how to travel best on the water. Sea Quest was built to cruise the Pacific Northwest. Designed to handle those big waters, she is out of her element on the east coast since she has a 9' draft. Much of the waterways along the east coast do not provide near that depth of water.
Converting commercial and military boats to recreational uses produces some interesting cruising platforms. Someone has a big project in turning this steel tug into a trawler.
The boatyard also had a resident Osprey.
