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Published: August 19th 2012
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The wind was up and the tide was flooding as we left Benicia. We would get a good push up the river. We passed under the Benicia and Antioch bridges. Along our route, we cruised by the security area of the Concord Naval Weapons Station. This is where the Port Chicago munitions explosion occurred in 1944. It was the most deadly homeland disaster to occur during WWII. The explosion instantly killed 320 military men and the seismic shock generated by the blast was felt all the way to Nevada. One of the changes that occurred as a result of the catastrophe was the racial integration of the military services.
The Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers split right by Antioch. We took the New York Cut to the San Joaquin. Since we have an inverter on board, all of our 110 volt appliances work while we are cruising. So I can cook, charge our computers, make ice and run our refrigerator. In a pinch, I can do a load of laundry if need be. We take turns driving the boat and navigating. We have a VHF radio on board so we can communicate with other boats and with the Coast Guard
ANTIOCH BRIDGE
Gateway to the Delta promo picture in an emergency. We also have radar which we use primarily when cruising in the fog. We don't feel like we are roughing it at all when cruising as we have all the comforts of home. For lunch we had burritos while cruising into Little Potato Slough.
As we got into the more narrow waterways, it was important to really pay attention to the navigation charts and the depth sounder. Many people run aground in the Delta and they usually have to wait for the tide to rise in order to float off the mud. We belong to Boat US which covers us for towing or mechanical assistance. It works like AAA car service. Even with this insurance, we don't want to sit on the mud for hours waiting for a tow boat to pull us off. Our boat's draft is 3.5 feet so we can navigate most of the skinny water.
We had reservations at Oxbow Marina for the night. We arrived at 1500hrs and immediately made use of their free bikes to ride to the swimming pool. It was over 100 degrees...just perfect for an afternoon chilling out at the pool.
We met a couple
CONCORD NAVAL WEAPONS STATION
Formerly known as Port Chicago. US Government photo. at the pool who live in Oregon but keep their boat in the Delta. They had recently completed the Great Loop which is a boating route from Florida up the east coast to Canada, through the Great Lakes to Chicago and down the Mississippi into the river system back to Florida. We have done the first part of the loop from Florida to the Chesapeake Bay. The surprising thing is the size of boat that Eric and Heather used to make this rather ambitious trip. Their C-Dory is only 26 feet long. It would be more like camping to me--especially on the "buggy" Intracoastal Waterway. Lots of interesting folks hang out on boats.
We took off the next morning cruising up the lovely Georgiana Slough. This part of the Delta is crisscrossed by swing bridges which need to be swung for us to pass through. As we approach a bridge we sound one long and one short blast on our horn to alert the bridge attendant that we want to come through. If that doesn't work we hail them on our VHF radio. We are fortunate that in these tough economic times California can still afford to operate these
DASHBOARD
Throttle, depth sounder, VHF radio, and radar. bridges.
At Walnut Grove we entered the Sacramento River to make the long run up to the State Capitol. We passed Freeport where we lived on this boat for a year in 1988. Our old marina looked a little the worse for wear. It is slow going on the river as there is a very strong current rushing down to the ocean. The 3 knot current cuts our speed down to about 4 knots. So we refer to this part of the trip as crawling up the ditch. We had reservations at the Sacramento Yacht Club to spend the night. We met Chuck, the Port Captain, who was most welcoming and gave us some tips on where to stay in the upcoming days. In the Delta most of the marinas are covered due to the hot weather. It is like pulling into a garage. But we had a nice evening on the river, barbequing and listening to the Giants on the radio. The next day we would be cruising into historic Old Town Sacramento for a few days of exploring and meeting up with long time friends.
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Stephanie
non-member comment
Bay Area Smiles
Ah, the boating life and my beloved Bay Area. Thanks for my evening smile. And Skipper Susan is my heroine!