LOL, The Joke is on Us

St. Lucie River

27 10.85 N 080 15.86 W

Regular readers know how fond I am of claiming that out lives are governed by seasons, not be the calendar. Well, last night at the St. Lucie Lock park, we saw the vessel Annies Song anchored behind us. I recalled that last year, in the same place, we also saw Annies Song. Libby checked the log book.

Surprise, we are hitting the same locations on exactly the same dates as the year before. By checking the log books more, we see that pattern repeated. In fact, popular stops like Oriental, NC, we hit twice every year; 20 stops in 10 years. But our log book shows that more than 50% of the time, those visits are on exactly the same calendar date as the year before.

It seems that the truth is that we don't ignore the calendar at all. Instead, we have unwittingly developed a rather accurate sense of date that does not refer to the written calendar. Historians will say, "Duh. People have been doing that all through history. Especially sailors and farmers. In fact, the way calendars became refined and accurate was that sailors and farmers told the authoriities that their calendars were wrong. The joke is on us.

Re: this year's journey. It has been unbearably hot. Thunderstorms threaten every day. The other night I made a big error in judgement. We wanted to cross Lake Okeechobee, but we could not arrive on the eastern shore before the lock closed for the day. Rather than wait, I chose to go anyhow, and to anchor near the Port Mayaca Lock.

Crossing the lake was fine, but just before arrival a thunderstorm passed close. Winds from the strom whipped up waves in this shallow lake. By the time we anchored, the waves were 3 feet and growing towards 4. It was one of the most uncomforable nights we ever had on the boat. I even had to take seasickness pills, something I don't recall ever doing before. Fortunately, by midnight the lake settled back down so that we could get some sleep. My decision to go and not wait, violated my own Box Canyon Rule.

 

 

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