A Good Day Boating??

I often hear people say that "A bad day boating is better than a good day working."  The same people like to opine "The best days in a boater's life are the day he buys and the day he sells a boat."  These and other pieces of nautical blather come from people who have never owned boats.

Thursday morning, June 29, 2006 is thus far not a "good day boating" on the Lower Susquehanna River in Perryville, Md.  The water is rising fast and it is too late (see pics below) for me to get my 32' Party Cruiser out of the water.   Twenty three out of fifty seven spill gates on Conowingo Dam are open allowing 460,00 cubic feet per second (no, that is not a typo!) to pass through the dam.  The emergency reporting service ((410-457-2525) says that several more gates will open throughout the day with the river expecting to crest tomorrow.





This is what my boat looks like on a good day on the Susquehanna... Before the monsoons started last week




Here is some of the junk that comes down the river as gates are opened, allowing debris backed up behind the dam to pass through. It clogs everything.






Another view of the jam at Waterwalk Marina. The floating dock and drum came down overnight.  In a few minutes (currently 10:00 AM), the water will start coming into the parking lot where I am now sitting in my camper. My guess is that I'll have to get out of here (and lose internet link) early this afternoon.




I can't risk lowering and starting my motor. Only a small portion of the junk in the river is floating. It is starting to smell..  If I were to foul the prop, my next stop would probably be around Norfolk, Va.  There are no rescue boats on the Chesapeake today.





Whole islands of debris are floating down the river. Most of water logged stuff is just below the surface





I took the detour around Port Deposit and took this pic of Conowingo Dam from Rt. 1   Usually, the biled up debris extends out into the lake for a few hundred yards from the dam.  At this point, almost all of it have passed through.  Of course, more will come down from the dam upstream tonight.




Here are the twenty three open gates.  I was standing in the same place in 1972 when Agnes came through. All fifty seven gates were open and the water was still
rising. The dynamite truck sat here  waiting for orders to blow the center section out in order to relieve pressure.  My guess is that by tomorrow
around thirty five gates will be open.





I felt bad for this beaver that swam out from under the dock while I was taking the pictures above. He was trying to make it to Garrett Island (in first pic above - about 300 yards) by swimming at a 45 degree angle against the current.  A few yards off the dock, the water was coming over his face. Becoming exhausted, he turned and went with the flow. He will be a very long way from here next time his feet touch land.