09-09-09

After weeks of anticipation, transversing through the Asian Carp Fish barrier was a bit of a let down...a very efficient crew of 3 aboard a tug boat named the Buster White towed us through the 1.5 mile stretch...it was pretty uneventful. We tied off to their vessel, disconnected all our batteries (necessary as the current charges the water at 2 volts per square inch) and remained on their tug during the 15 minute process--You'd think they'd have served lunch for the $500 bucks they charged! Geez!

For those of you who have not been following along I will give a brief summary of the Carp dilemma: To combat the migration of this invasive species the Illinois waterways and Lake Michigan joined forces with the Corps of Engineers and installed a barrier back in 2002 consisting of cables running along the bottom of the canal which disperses electrical charges which can destroy a boat's electronics (thus the disconnecting of batteries etc), but will hopefully deters the fish from migrating up into the Great Lakes...Supposedly this only effects wooden or fiberglass hulls. We were told that approximately 40 to 50 miles down the river we will encounter 15 to 25 lb. carp flying through the air, some can actually land on the deck...trust me, if that happens, I will post photos!

Sorry for the boring blog post, but I was certain many of you would be just dying to know all about this! Oh well, at least I can say that for all my life I will always remember exactly what I was doing on 09-09-09...