Froggy Telegraph

Great Dismal Swamp Visitor's Center
36 39.41 N 076 21.36 W

We spent the afternoon and last night at our favorite anchorage on the whole East Coast.  It is a place we've been before, and which I've blogged about before.   I'm going to start calling it Pearly Anchorage because it is as nice as the Pearly Gates to Heaven must be.  I'm also going to start being selfish and not revealing its location.  A big part of the appeal is the total isolation.  If we were to go there sometime and find another boat anchored we would be very disappointed.

One feature of the Pearly Gates is the froggy telegraph.  Things start perfectly still.   Then one frog starts croaking.  Then a second frog joins in.  Within seconds, an entire frog clan of a dozen or more members in a small area are all croaking.  The sound is deafening.   It lasts for about two minutes before abruptly ceasing.   However, before it finishes, it triggers another bout of croaking from a rival frog clan down the river bank.  That triggers a third clan across the river, and a fourth further away and a fifth and so on.  We figure it carries the froggy message down the river, across the bay and down the Mississippit to the Gulf of Mexico.   What might the froggy message be?  Your guess is a good as mine.

Navigating a cruising boat needs diverse skills.  Everything from offshore techniques, to coastal navigation, channels, busy ports, meandering creeks.   Simplest of all though is vanishing point navigation such as on this canal.  See the picture that we took early this morning.  Just keep the bow pointed at the vanishing point and you're all set.