Amesbury, MA - After many delays caused by treacherous hurricanes the Burbines finally
shoved off on Thursday, September 23, 2004. During refueling in Newburyport it was
discovered that the carpeting had been forgotten. Many thanks to Gary, alias Big-Dog
Palatnick, for delivering to the Newburyport Town Dock.
The first night was spent in Cuttyhunk, MA, a quiet little island south of the Cape. It was
reported that there were hardly any cars on the island but there were ATV’s galore.
The Burbines were slowed temporarily on their way to New York on the second day
because of fog. They were able to make up the time later in the day and made it to City
Island in New York in time for dinner. It was a strange area. There were many boats but
no people on board any of them.
Saturday was by far the most eventful day of the trip to date. While cruising down the East
River through New York City the Burbines were trying to save time because they were
extremely low on fuel. While taking a shortcut around Roosevelt Island the Coast Guard
(with a mounted machine gun on their boat) stopped the Burbines with their siren blaring
and shouting over the bullhorn that the channel was a restricted area and therefore off
limits. As the Burbines slowed to replot their course and look for a fuel dock it was realized
that a large, wave-piercing catamaran ferry was headed dangerously close at extreme
speeds. This was only one of two boats to pass Matilda on the trip. By the time fuel was
actually found there were only nine gallons of fuel left in the 180 gallon tanks. Rough seas
along the entire New Jersey coast made Atlantic City a very welcome sight by the end of
the day.
Sunday was spent heading up the Delaware Bay, through the C&D Canal and into
Chesapeake Bay. The Burbines spent the week in Georgetown, MD on the Sassafras
River to recover.
Georgetown, MD - Ivan the Terrible, dock master at the Georgetown Yacht Basin Marina,
forced all five children in the marina to eliminate viscous spider’s webs from the lights,
outlets and spigots on the docks. The children were promised ice cream in return,
although one poor child got none. His distraught mother had to share her own chocolate
with him. The parents briefly discussed calling DSS or OSHA, but in the end it was
decided to just enjoy the peace and quiet instead.
Guy on Trash Can with Potty-mouth
Baltimore, MD - While touring Baltimore the Burbines encountered a foul-mouthed man
on a trash can swearing at unlucky pedestrians. It is suspected that the CD player he was
listening to was stolen. The man was spotted on the way back from an outing at the
Baltimore Aquarium.
Burbines Tour Baltimore
By Wyatt Burbine
Baltimore, MD - The Baltimore Aquarium was very neat because that was the first time I
went to an aquarium that I can remember. One shark mouth was so big that a four person
family could fit inside of it to cover the whole thing. The rainforest was neat but there was
one thing that was very hard to see because it was a sloth!
The next day we went to the Children’s Museum in Baltimore. In two parts of the Children's
Museum there was one about mummies - and we should have followed the guide around
the exhibit because it spooked us all and we ran out screaming. On one corner when we
were running out screaming XXXX screamed. And then my mom and me screamed and I
was holding onto her like heck. Another exhibit was a mystery that had to be solved. It
had holograms of mice.
Prehistoric Sharks Teeth Found
by Wyatt Burbine
Sharks Tooth Island, VA - We borrowed Bill’s boat. We lowered it into the water with a lift
and we went to Sharks Tooth Island, VA. On the way there Chuck, which is my friend Tory’
s dad, lost his hat in the water when it was wavy. When we picked it up water came
gushing in the front side of the boat.
We got to the beach and Chuck got out with the anchor and put it in the sand tightly. We
walked along the beach and found sharks teeth and played with other kids. We also found
saltwater alligator teeth, ray teeth and two oyster shells. We also found a spot that was
curved like a mountain on the beach that was pretty darn gosh nice.
The teeth were fossils from prehistoric sharks, rays and salt water alligators that were
being washed up by the currents.
Seems Like a Pattern: Coast Guard Boards Matilda
Potomac River, MD - While leaving Coles Point, VA we were cruising along and we saw
the reflection of blue lights in the canvas. It was the Coast Guard heading straight for us.
They told us they were performing safety inspections. As they boarded us Stephanie
noticed their hand guns and tensed. The Coast Guard routinely stops and inspects
vessels for PFD's (personal flotation devices - life jackets), fire extinguishers, trash and
discharge placards, flares and a horn. We passed with flying colors. By the time the
Coast Guard had finished the safety inspection it was late in the afternoon and we had to
put it “on the jingle” to get to Deltaville, VA before dark.
Reflections on Deltaville, VA
by Wyatt and Nathaniel
Deltaville has a beautiful landscape. Rocks along the shoreline. Dredging the bottom of
the harbor. Clay mud bottom. Enclosed harbor. Pilings for lots of docks. Lots of boats.
Sail and power, big and small.
It rains a lot here. It’s raining like it has for the past few days. Very foggy.
Isolated. Not many people, not much to do. Felt like you were confined in the boat.
Town was small and sweet. Like living on a boat - good feeling.
Lots of rednecks - people who work a lot.
A lot of boats.
Waves on the shoreline.
Waves rock the boat.
Take to the Skies!
by Nathaniel
Hampton, VA - While touring Hampton, VA we decided to visit the Virginia Air & Space
Center. The Virginia Air and Space Center is run by NASA and the Langley Air Force
Base. A lot of exhibits were donated by NASA and individuals. There are a lot of Air Force
planes such as: F-18, F-4E ‘Phantom II’, F-84, F-106 and F-104C. There were also private
planes such as Pitts, Piper Cub, Stearman and Kit Fox. There was even a real DC-9!
There were many flight simulators in the facility. The best one was in the DC-9. It had
rudders, different weather, retractable landing gear, reverse thrust and auto spoilers just
like a real DC-9. There was another one that had less controls but a large dome that you
sat inside for a screen.
There was an exhibit that you got to control a fan that made a small aircraft (like the size of
your hand) fly around in the air chamber. The Apollo 12 Command Module was in the
museum. It was egg-shaped and really small for a trip into orbit. You could see that the
heat shield had major burns from the reentry.
I would recommend this museum to anyone who is in this area.
Jamestown
by Wyatt
Jamestown, VA - The Native Americans lived in Jamestown. The English came in ships
and most of the English died. They died because of fighting with the Native Americans but
a lot of them died of starvation. They had no good food. They wanted to trade with the
Indians but they only wanted weapons. The English didn’t want to give them weapons
because they were going to invade them and kill them all.
The Native Americans wore leather clothes and they had leather houses with posts and
lots of rope to support the house. And they had hard floors that were rock and not very
comfortable beds. But they did have warm clothes. Skunk, raccoon and possum are all
Native American words. They used their fur and bear fur to keep them warm.
The English houses were wood. They had a big fort around all the houses.
The blacksmith at Jamestown Virginia was building andirons for fire places. There were
two fireplaces to use to make the metal hot. It made the metal very hot like 1,000
degrees. They cooled it off with warm water after they had shaped it.
There was Native American canoe-making. They start with a log and then they put a fire
on top of the log and fan it to keep it going. Then they had seashells to scrape all of the
soot off of the log. Then you could have three kinds of canoes: one could not rot for 15
years, and the second could last about 5 years and the first one could last only one year.
It depended on what kind of wood they used and how long it took to make it. The longest
lasting canoes were Cypresses.
We also saw roosters and chickens, a guy with a gun and sword, ships, and a musket
demonstration.
Off to Manteo
by Nathaniel
Manteo, NC - After leaving Portsmouth our next destination was Manteo NORTH
CAROLINA! Manteo is on Roanoke Island which is famous for an English Settlement
mystery of a colony’s disappearance. Four years after the settlers were dropped off, the
English returned to find that there were no people or bodies. Our time spent there was
very short because of bad weather headed towards the area. At a restaurant we had the
best food on the entire trip.
Fort Pierce
by: Nathaniel
Fort Pierce, FL - While on our trip south we stopped in Fort Pierce City Marina. Fort
Pierce and many other places in southern Florida were hit by hurricanes this year. The
Marina took a lot of damage including that they lost over 200 slips. The day we left one of
the restaurants finally opened when it was supposed to open 3 or 4 days ago. While at the
marina we saw Nelson, Diane and Travis Buswell. At there house we raced r/c cars on a
track made with permanent marker, played with there dog Pooch, saw an alligator and
gigantic fire ant nests.
Walt Disney World
by: Nathaniel
Walt Disney World, FL - After Christmas my cousins, aunts, uncle and grandparents met
us at Disney World. The first day we were there we went to the Magic Kingdom. There we
went to splash mountain, thunder mountain and space mountain. The second day we went
to Magic Kingdom again and did the Pirates of the Caribbean, the buzz lightyear ride and
the teacups. Then we went back to the contemporary resort hotel and went in the pool,
after dinner we went on a fireworks cruise and by the time that was over all of us were tired
so we went straight to bed. The next day we went to Animal Kingdom and went on a safari,
a roller coaster that spins a lot and Dinosaur. On the last day we went to MGM studios and
did the Tower of Terror and the Rockin' Roller Coaster.
see larger photos of the sharks
teeth and other stuff we found!
