Month: August 2019

We awoke in the morning in our sanctuary of a bay, protected from almost all sides from any weather. Our plan was to continue north, to St. Mary’s River and possibly Sault Ste. Marie. We had looked at charts, and it was a good 30 miles or so to get there. We did not see any marinas before that, or anchorages for that fact, but figured there had to be somewhere to stop.

I gathered Frank for a trip in to shore, and passed by the only other anchored boat that we had passed coming in yesterday. I noticed there was someone on board, and he was watching us cruise by. His dog was also keeping an eye on us. Once Franks duties were done, we loaded up to return back. I took a route close to the boat, and asked the guy if he was from around here? he responded “yes”, and we got to talking about where we were headed. He asked if we had the paper charts, or only GPS? We do have some paper charts for areas, but not this particular area we were headed to. He said he’d be right over to our boat with a paper chart to show me.

Captain Ron (real name!- those that know me, know I love the movie “Captain Ron”- you should watch it…) came over on his dinghy with his chart and dog. We invited him aboard and he asked if his dog was allowed too? Of course! The dogs name was Bentley, but he has 2 dogs with the same name- #1 and #2, so he calls this dog “2 dog”. He proceeded to show me areas where we could possibly anchor, some sites we will pass, and a small island which has a historical museum from the old shipping days with a day dock if we wanted to stop there. We had some more chit chat about boats, and areas to check out. We finally were able to end the visit, as we had to get on our way and start this trip! It was about 10:30am when we finally departed.

Since we were inside the harbor, the weather didn’t seem too bad. We had looked at the weather and knew the wind was higher today, but we’re in a river, so how bad could it be? The wind was at 8 knots, and forecast to at least double that. We had about 30 miles to go, but now with options for somewhere to anchor.

Wow, were we wrong to leave in that. The river is miles wide, so there is no protection from anything. We had to negotiate the many little islands to get around the bend to St. Mary’s River. So far, so good. As we came around the bend, the wind and currents were working against us, so we were only making about 5.8 knots, even though I had bumped the throttle to higher RPM’s. The wind continued to pick up.

At this point, were were about an hour and half into the trip. We were approaching the area Captain Ron had told us about anchoring in. This did not look like a good option, as it was exposed all around, so it offered no protection, and I didn’t want to test our anchoring in this wind! A little further up was the day dock he had mentioned- I made a course for that area. At this point the wind had climbed to 11 knots. Again the waves weren’t too terrible, as we were heading right into them, so it was bumpy, but not too much rocking from side to side. As we neared the day dock, it becomes interesting as we have no idea of local knowledge- is it deep enough? Are there any obstructions? Anything I should be aware of? At this point the wind has built to 14 knots and climbing…

Land Ho! I see the dock and we are going in there! It was a tight squeeze through a small patch of land and a wall, but I could see up ahead where there were cleats for tying off a boat. “Prepare to dock” I called out to Lauren, “we’re going in there and tying up!” Lauren: “In there!?” me: “Yes!”

This was our best option at this point. We approached as carefully as we could, but kept getting blown around by the wind. Lauren was all set to tie up on port side, and we made our approach…as I got the front end in close enough, the back end was getting blown off…Lauren could get a line around, but we were no match to the wind, pushing a 20 ton boat away from the dock. At this point we were sideways in the middle of land and dock, getting pushed back out from where we came from. “which way are you going?” called Lauren. “Any way I can” was my reply! I was just trying to maintain control until I was clear of the land, so we could turn around and try again. Try we did.

I made 3 attempts to land us, but just couldn’t get both ends on the dock at once. On our 4th attempt, three guys came out of nowhere and were waiting for us to approach. With their help, we were able to get lines around the fore and aft, then man handled it a little closer with each pull, until we could get a mid ship line around. WHEW!

Once secure to the dock, the one guy introduced himself as the island care taker. He lives on the island for a month to care for the property and collect park fees from visitors. They have a rotation of people that do this throughout the summer. He informed us it is a “safe harbor” designation, and if we wanted to stay the night, it would be $22. This was a no-brainer- we were staying no matter what!

The wind kept howling, and increased a bit more, and we watched the waves on the river increase to a point I’m sure you could surf on them. We later heard the wind got up to 30 mph, which I do believe. We didn’t want to chance a line coming loose or chafing through, so vigilance was needed. We took Frank for a stroll after a few hours of sitting on the boat, watching and making sure all was secure. We toured a part of the grounds, found out black bears live on the island (we saw a sign- not a bear!), and made our deposit for the overnight stay. We re-named the island ‘bird poop and feather island’ as this is what covered almost all of the grounds outside the boat.

We made dinner a little later, and researched our next stop, and the weather! We will be heading to ‘The Soo’ tomorrow and the weather looks great, especially in the morning when we like to get going. We went to bed after I did another check of the lines and felt secure knowing we had 8 lines holding us tight. Tomorrow should be better…

The storm overnight came around 3am. It was loud, lightening and thunder, and lots and lots of rain. We slept well, secured to a dock with power and water, not worried about it.

We awoke to a forecast of higher winds, and rain possible. Check out for the dock was later than usual- 1pm. This gave us time to discuss what we wanted to do today- stay/pay for another night? Go to Drummond Island for the fuel filter and stay there? Find an anchorage? options, options.

We kept an eye on the clouds, and it seemed like rain was done. We only had the wind to be concerned about. Drummond Island isn’t that far, so we decided to take the jump. We departed about 12:15pm with an 8 knot wind. It took us an hour to go 6.4 miles. The wind was increasing, and the waves were getting a little bigger, but was manageable. We arrived at Drummond Island Yacht Haven around 1:15pm, asked for a pump out (emptying our bathroom waste) and I inquired about the filter I was looking for. I was in luck! They had it, but not the same microns- this one is finer filter, so it will do, but I’ll probably have to replace it sooner. So I bought two. I also was chatting with the desk person, and she told me they rent cars for $12 to go into town or shop. I have learned I need to tell this information to Lauren before we leave. I wasn’t thinking clearly. While I was taking care of boat business, Lauren walked around the grounds, as they have cottages for rent, and other amenities available to people for their vacations or summertime fun. The desk clerk also told me about another island close by people like to anchor at. This sounded good to me!

Once we were done, or I should say: once I was done, I prepared to leave. I started the boat engine and the dock hands came to help cast off. I was checking to make sure all was good and couldn’t find Lauren! She was not on the boat, she was walking around! Holy crap- could you imagine if I was pulling out/left and realized she wasn’t on board!? I would never live that down!

Now that we were all accounted for, we departed toward Harbor Island, which is a couple of miles north of Drummond Island. The area is dotted with small island and more rocky areas, so it was very important we follow the markers to navigate. The winds had picked up to 13 knots, and it was a very brisk trip. Again the waves were either coming head on or a following sea, so neither was abnormally uncomfortable, but it was clear we were only one of a few boats out that day.

As we came into Harbor Island, it was like a different world; the island is horseshoe shaped, so it blocks the wind and waves from almost every direction. There was a boat anchored just inside the opening in the deepest part, so we continued on to another more secluded area, We dropped anchor,and was debating whether we liked this spot. The wind was coming from the north, and we were on the south side of the island. This meant there was a little wind, and we were in very shallow area. We were not comfortable with this set up. We pulled anchor and moved closer to the north side, where the trees were blocking almost all of the wind. We were still in a shallow area, but felt more comfortable here. The depth finder was showing between 4.8 feet and 5.5 feet, but with no wind, we were just kind of drifting in a small area with no worries of a big blow pushing us to land. The great part about changing locations is the process Lauren and I have for anchoring: she controls the anchor and steers the boat from the upper helm, while I attend to the anchor and rode on the bow. This makes for great teamwork, and we have this down to a good process with no yelling at each other. This may have taken us a couple of tries to figure out, but that’s part of the adventure!

So now we’re tucked into a nice calm harbor, and we can hear the wind howling through the trees but not causing a ripple in the flat water. Our own paradise! We had lunch, and decided to go to land to explore. The whole Island is a nature preserve, so no houses, roads or anything man made. There was only one spot we could see to land the dinghy, and we went past the other boat that was anchored. I saw no movement or anybody as we went past. We took Frank for a walk and let him explore. We came back to the landing spot, and Frank was chasing sticks we were tossing. He went in the water after it! Now, he will go into the water up to his knees, maybe his belly, then he will turn and jump out. This time he actually went deep enough he had to swim! He wasn’t thrilled about it, but he did it! Progress! He may learn to swim after all. He did have his life jacket on, so that probably helped.

We returned to Klondike, and just relaxed the rest of the evening. We made dinner and drank some wine. We did our nightly plan of where to head next and looking at the forecast. Forecast not great- windy again, Could we make it to Sault Ste. Marie tomorrow? its about 40 miles; We’ve done that. It could be a long day, so maybe we’d better leave early? Whats the forecast again? Maybe we could stop somewhere along the way…Maybe we’ll have to! This will be an experience we will remember!

Since we’ve made the reservation for Mackinac Island, This means we have some time to kill. Where to go? We detoured to De Tour, MI. to hang out with the ‘yoopers’- Upper Peninsula residents. De Tour has a population of 321.

We figured we could go to Lake Superior, see Sault (Soo) Ste. Marie and the locks, and then turn around and come back to Mackinac. In order for us to do this from Presque Isle, it will take us about 40 miles across Lake Huron. 44.6 miles to be exact. Average speed of 6.9 knots in 6:30 hours. Across ‘shipwreck alley’. Good times.

The trip across was somewhat strange; we had a great forecast of little wind, and it was 58 degrees when we departed, due to warm to the mid 70’s as the day went on. As mentioned before, the weather the last few days have been cold, with intermittent rain. Good sleeping weather with blankets and cats curled up on the bed, but not so great for traveling with the wind blowing and chilling us. We do move to downstairs and drive from the lower helm sometimes, but I prefer the upper helm as I can see better. There has been quite a bit of freighter traffic, as well as pleasure craft zipping around. I stay in the marked channels for a few reasons: one is guaranteed depth, and the other is so others know what route I am on. It’s easier to tell if a boat is following a course than just willy-nilly zig zagging about, confusing everyone.

Back to the strange part: We left to flat calm seas, and all was well. As we progressed out toward the middle, I noticed what looked like dark clouds in the distance…this turned out to be a thick fog. I started getting marine updates from the Coast Guard warning boaters about it. At this point, we were many miles into the middle of the lake, and there was no turning around- besides, the seas were still calm and flat, thus the great speed. It was a little disconcerting knowing there could be something in front of us and we had no idea. We could see maybe 50 feet ahead at times, and that is all. I was monitoring where we were, and we stayed clear of shipping lanes to be safe. I had the radar on, radios on, horn ready, and Lauren and I were just looking around, listening for anything that might sound like an engine. There would be times it looked like it was clearing, we’d get some visibility, then it would just swallow us up again. This went on the whole time until we got to De Tour Harbor. We did have to cross shipping lanes as we got closer and were extra vigilant at that point! The lake stayed flat the whole trip, but the wind was picking as we neared our destination.

We pulled into the marina after the usual radio contact. We needed some fuel, so we went to the gas dock and made the arrangements for the dock. We needed a little help pulling in as it was windy and the dock was tight. After Franks’ antics, he is now kept tied up on a short leash, or put in the cabin anytime we come close to a dock or land. We put some fuel in the tanks, but didn’t fill it as prices were higher here than we’ve seen elsewhere. I put even amounts in both tanks. We received our dock assignment, and motored on over to it, with help again from the dock hands. Thank you to them! (where is Laura when we need her?) As we were putting final touches on securing Klondike, we started to notice Looper burgees flying from a few boats! we were now with other loopers!

First things first though, I needed to find a store where I could get a spare fuel filter replacement; after all I had read about bringing spares for everything, this one slipped by me. The gauge was reading ‘time to replace’ so I asked around- there was nothing in De Tour that would have anything I need boat wise- there is an island across the bay that might have it, but it is a ferry ride away. Or we could take our boat. Or there is a marine store several town/ miles away, but not bike-able. Seeing as we’re at dock, I’ll just have to wait for tomorrow and we can cruise over there for what we need. Hopefully they have it! I called them, but no answer, I left a message- no return call.

Now it was time for me to start meeting Loopers! I walked down the dock and noticed a gold AGLCA burgee flying on a boat- gold color is given when you complete The Loop, white flags are in progress. I saw the gentleman sitting on his flybridge, so I walked up the dock and introduced myself, inquiring about his trip. He invited me aboard, and we started chatting and exchanging some information. He actually did the trip twice, but many years ago- mid 90’s?. In the mean time, another gentleman came by asking about the burgee; he was invited on as well, and we all sat around chatting. I had mentioned my quest for the replacement filter, and the local confirmed there was nothing in town except across at Drummond Island. Roger (the other traveling looper) said he might have one…I declined the offer and we kept talking. Eventually I had to get back to Lauren and the animal crew, so I excused myself and returned home. I was giving Lauren the run down, and Roger and his wife came over to our boat. They had just arrived 20 minutes before us and were working toward Mackinac tomorrow. He was doing the same as me, wandering around talking to people with AGLCA flags. He brought a filter over as well, but it was the wrong size. I have to say this: Loopers definitely are a group that will look out for each other (actually boaters in general, usually).

I had some other maintenance issues to attend to, such as checking fluid levels, topping off, and basic boat stuff I attend to. I inspect the engine, bilge, generator, steering fluid(!) etc. after every trip to make sure I am aware of whats going on, any new drips or leaks, strange smells, whatever needs to be taken care of, or addressed.

Maintenance done, Lauren and I got on the bikes to explore town. There are at least 4 churches for this tiny town of 321 . We passed a couple of small restaurants/taverns, a small grocery store, and all of the houses had garages bigger than the house! We decided to stop at the tavern, and realized when we walked in it is a local bar, with only a few fried items to choose from. This wouldn’t be bad, as we were wanting a good local fish fry of some sort. We were not going to get that here! We had a beer, and continued on to the other restaurant. Here we were told to take a table, and the server came over after a short wait. She apologized and explained they were short staffed as there was no one there at 6pm so they sent everyone home. there were 5 tables seated- nothing overwhelming in my opinion, but that’s just me. She was pleasant enough, and we’re used to Jamaica time, so no worries, mon! We did not have a fish fry option, so we ordered a fish sandwich and fried shrimp. It is nice to eat out sometime! While we were eating, another table had the check and had given the server cash- she came back and apologized for the delay, but “the cook is in charge of the till, and she’s busy right now, your change will be out shortly”. This made us crack up!

The weather forecast for the night was thunderstorms and cold, so we buttoned up everything on the boat, and then took Frank for a long walk. He found a cat, and they had a stare down, until I got a hold of his leash to get him away before he got beat up! He also found his first frog, and jumped every time he would try to smell it, it would jump!

With full bellies, and everything secure, we retired for the evening. waiting to see what the storm would bring and not exactly sure where we will be headed to tomorrow, other than finding that darn fuel filter!

Presque Isle is only a couple stops shy of all the way north of Michigan. NOT to be confused with ‘False Presque Isle’, which is actually listed on our charts. Why call it False Presque Isle, and not just pick another name? I guess we’ll never know.

The town is actually only 20 miles north of Thunder Bay, but remember Alpena is 10 miles inside of Thunder Bay. We left at 8am, and the trip took us 5.5 hours with a 1:45pm arrival. we traveled 35.1 nm @ 7.1 knots.

The weather was a 5 knot wind NW, which made for a nice ride. We had looked at a chart for anchorages, but only saw the State Park. The forecast lately has been cold, mid 50’s at night, rain showers intermittently in the evenings, so not summer like.

We arrived and called on the VHF, and were assigned a slip. This is the second day in a row we’ve paid for a dock. We also had to do some laundry and with the weather it seemed like a good idea. (here I am, airing dirty laundry!)

The area was beautiful, with a focus on the lighthouses there, as it is still a part of the marine sanctuary of shipwrecks- the area of wrecks and amount of them is boggling! There were nice trails to ride on, and Frank ran alongside me for about a mile to the lighthouse on the tip of the isle. He had a great workout that day! He also has become a little more willing to go further into the water. I may have left out he also tried to jump to a dock while we were docking, and didn’t make it. Splash! In the water! Life jacket on, so not too bad, but he wasn’t too happy about it! Neither was Lauren, and he is kept on a short leash now when we pull in. He knows the throttle, and when I slow down, he immediately knows we are close to land. Then he gets excited, and will bark as we’re trying to do our docking maneuvers. Oh well- he’ll calm down eventually, right?

Presque Isle has one restaurant by the marina, which was closed for renovations. This bummed out a few people that had stopped here for the night. There were quite a few boats arriving after us and we chatted with a few people, asking about next stops, destinations, etc…

The evening was delightful, and we made dinner and had an early night as we had decided to make a side trip. The usual next stop is Rogers City or Hammond Bay, depending on how far you want to travel. We made a reservation for Mackinac Island for next Wed. and Thurs (8/14,8/15) so we actually have to slow down!

Where will this take us? Follow along to find out!

I’m now going to start each entry with trip specifics, then go on to story telling.

Harrisville to Alpena, 4:22 hours, 26.7nm, 7.0 kn avg speed, 9:13am to 1:35pm The lake was flat to begin, and stayed that way for almost the whole trip. I had anticipated a more lively trip, but was not disappointed in the smooth ride and speed we averaged at the same throttle I’ve been using- @1600 RPM.

From the above stats, you can see we slept in a little bit, probably due to the awakening in the middle of the night before. We usually depart about 8am-ish for an average trip. If we know we have a longer trip, we will start an hour earlier. This gives us time to arrive, figure out anchorage/dock, and still time to explore while daylight. The mosquitoes and flying bugs are ridiculous around here!

Alpena was the chosen next stop, and it was known as one of the ‘big cities’. “It is by far the largest city in the sparsely populated Northeast Michigan (lower peninsula) area”. We had looked into it and saw they didn’t really have an anchorage. This is where the high waters have come to our benefit: we can go where it is normally 3 feet, as the water is at least 2 feet higher now. We decided to pay for a dock due to the lack of anchorage and the expected weather.

Back to Alpena: it is located deep in Thunder Bay, which actually adds almost 10 miles out to Lake Huron to round the corner to keep going north. Thunder Bay is also known for its shipwrecks, which they have created a marine sanctuary and underwater preserve. There are a lot of shipwrecks you can dive too, if you scuba. There are also plenty to snorkel to and some still visible above water. That’s how close to land they get before being destroyed against the many rocky shores they have around here. This is why we follow the charts entering and leaving harbors.

We approached the harbor and were directed to a slip. We found the correct dock and was assisted by some dock hands. Once we were secure, I went about tidying up bumpers, re-checking the lines, and hooking into shore power. This is one nice amenity of paying for a dock- unlimited power to run and charge everything we want and unlimited water. Some have nice restrooms and showers, too, so we don’t have to clean and dry our shower after use. It’s amazing what we can do with less of, when we understand the bigger picture. I soon found myself trying to figure out why some things were working, and others weren’t. I checked and re-checked connections, switches, breakers. Hmmm… I could’t find anything obvious, but some lights were working, and appliances weren’t. I started the generator to see if I had power with that- I did. So this means the power at the dock we were in didn’t work properly. This also means we have to move to another slip for power. Move we did.

Once moved and hooked to our unlimited resource, we were watching the storm clouds move toward us. Forecast of rain and cold for the evening tonight. Sounds like a good time for a bike ride! We hopped on the bikes and headed for the marine sanctuary museum to look around and wait out the rain. It had started to rain when we arrived to the museum. The museum was cool, detailing the shipwrecks and preservation of sites. There were movies on rotation to watch, as well as the museum space itself. Nothing like learning the history of ship wrecks when we’re living on a boat and traveling through this minefield of rocks, shoals and sunken ships!

When we had finally scared ourselves enough, we followed a biking trail around town, through downtown, and back to the boat to check on Frank, and made sure all was well. Everything was good, so we decided to go for another ride back to downtown for some wine and/or cocktails. We stopped at a small winery tasting room and shared a flight. The rain had started again so we nursed that a little. In the same complex was a restaurant/bar which had good reviews. They had a bar separate from the restaurant (separate store-fronts completely). We chose the bar, and ended up ordering dinner there. Fresh Palate was the name- if you’re ever in Alpena, check it out!

After dinner we went back to the boat to walk Frank and catch the end of the Cleveland Indians game. We can stream the game anywhere we have cell service. This isn’t everywhere (good excuse for falling behind on this blog). I was coming down the dock, and a family was walking up- “Do you own Klondike by chance?” I replied “yes?” with who knows what going through my head…”We looked at her about 6 years ago for sale here in Michigan, we passed but she is beautiful”. This started the chatting for about 20 minutes, meeting Mr. and Mrs. Cummins and their children on the dock. We finally had to say good-byes as the rain was coming again, but what a cool happenstance meeting! They sent me pictures of when they looked at her, and there looked to be no canvas at that point, but the insides were about the same. If you’re reading this Cummins Family- It was a pleasure to meet you!

Our nightly ritual is to plan our next destination and course for the next day. Our next destination will be Presque Isle, Michigan which we are planning about 35 miles or so. This will make for a bit longer day, so we’ll see what time we leave tomorrow.

Ciao For Now!

This day started with light winds, and forecast for moderate winds. What I have learned to pay attention to, is the direction of which the waves are coming (or going). We had some time when we were taking them on the beam, then had to turn into them, then angled off to take them more on the front quarter.

Now, I am saying we did get bounced around, but it wasn’t the same as the other bashing. We told the story about leaving Pelee Island, and this it was not. We were ready for this. However, we did have to go against the waves, so this made for more up and downs. The waves were coming from the quarter ship, so it was not straight up and down; more of an up and down splash, until every 3rd or 4th set, which would be larger, and sometimes from more on the beam, which would rock the boat side to side. I started singing along to the Bob Marley playing on the speaker: “Please, don’t rock my boat!”

We were heading about 32 miles today, we left around 8:18am, and arrived in Harrisville around 1:05pm. This trip took us 4.47 hours, and we traveled an average of 6.7 knots. we went 32.1 nautical miles. How do we know the exact specifics? We signed up for an app called Nebo.

Nebo is a boat logging app that “makes it easy to record and share your boating memories and experiences. You can share your boat log with family and friends, members of your club, or with the larger community via social media.”

As long as we remember to start the trip, it tracks us, and all of our trip details. The Man is now tracking us more closely with our consent! But, it beats having to do math, set timers, and figure this all out! Plus it is something you can track us with too! Feel free to look it up and text us, and we will tell you how to follow our location on the app..

Now back to the actual events of the day: After arriving to the marina/ anchorage, we contacted them via radio as is the norm. Apparently they do not answer the telephones, but will respond when you call them on the VHF. We make first contact on channel 16, then they reply with the channel they want you to switch to for conversation. This is so we do not use the emergency channel (ch.16) for idle chit chat.

We made contact and they were friendly, directing us to the anchorage, which was not a very large area. it is between the buoys for the docks, and the buoys for the park boat launch ramp. Maybe 75 feet wide. No problem, we’ll just anchor here and explore on the dinghy.

We dropped anchor and ensured it had set, and all was well. We had lunch, then I took Frank in the dinghy for a land break, and then over to the marina for more information. I was hesitant to take the dinghy in the first place, as the Coast Guard had pulled into a marina dock right behind us, and our Ohio registration numbers are peeling off of the dinghy already! The sun and water are not good for peel and stick stickers. Frank and I wandered up to the office and was chatting with the harbor master, who was also talking to the Coast Guard. We were told about the area (nothing), and where we could park the dinghy if we wanted to come ashore at the marina. As I was getting back in the small boat, the Coast Guard told me to “make sure you have a life jacket in there with you.” I told her I have 2 in here, and lights, and horn to make sure I was legal and safe. She was pleased to here that. No mention of the peeling stickers…Whew! She then was walking toward another boat, asking him if he’d been inspected recently…

The area we were in had absolutely nothing around. It was a park with a boat launch ramp, park space around it, and a road that ran through to who knows where. From Wikipedia: Harrisville is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Alcona County.^[6] The population was 493 at the 2010 census, making Harrisville the sixth-smallest city by population in the state of Michigan. 493 people! Hyde Park has more employees than that!

That pretty much sums up the day/night there. A couple of trips in to land for a walk around the park, and back to the boat for dinner. Aside from a few boats coming and going to the ramp, there was no one else around. We retired early and I caught up on the blog -just kidding!

We did retire early, and the night was quiet, except for a mysterious scraping sound we heard around 4am. More like Lauren shook me awake! -asking if I heard that? I did hear a scraping sound briefly…I jumped up and ran upstairs to look around- my first fear was we had dragged anchor into land. That was not the case as I scanned the area with my flashlight- we were in the same place, the buoys were where I remembered, and nothing seemed amiss. Hmmm… I smoked a cigarette and walked around the boat for a short while making sure nothing was amiss and no pirates. Everything was in place.

We never did find out what the sound was, and I speculate it was the dinghy towing harness rubbing along the bottom of the boat? No harm, no foul.

The daylight was coming soon, so we went back to bed for a couple of hours, looking forward to tomorrows travels.

Wow! I’m catching up on where we are! Don’t get fooled- I’ll have day’s where I don’t catch up, because…

So at this point we’re realizing we have to plan a bit ahead, and Mackinac Island is a definite must-do. Lauren has already expressed how we will not be taking a ferry to the island, when we are here on our boat! So this brings us to our current location; notice we spent 2 days here…we made a reservation at Mackinac for 8/14 and 8/15. We would be there sooner, but there were no reservations available before that, and weekends were sold out since spring time! I guess we have to slow down!

Our original destination after leaving Harbor Beach was Port Austin. That was about 30 miles or so, and it was around the ‘mitten’ then a bit south.

We had looked at our next few ports, and saw that after Port Austin, we had to cross the Saginaw Bay and head north again toward East Tawas. According to one of our guide books, there was another stop south west down the mitten before heading back north. Lauren was questioning why we would go south? The next town was further south: Caseville.

As we left Harbor Beach, the water was as flat as could be. Hardly any wind, and smooth, flat waters ahead of us. I was cruising at the usual RPM’s, and bumped it just one notch higher- 1700 put us at 7-7.2 knots- we were flying to our standard! As we continued on staying well off shore, clear of any shallow water and rocks, it was clear we were making great time.

Lauren came up and suggested going straight to East Tawas, instead of Port Austin? At this speed, we’d make it there with only adding a few (3) hours, and we wouldn’t go south to get north! I was sold immediately, as I watched the nautical miles increase. This took us across the middle of the bay, which has depths of over 140 feet. The depths actually help keep the water smooth, as opposed to Lake Erie which can get choppy and bigger, close together waves due to the shallowness.

We were cruising along at up to 7.5 knots! This was when the waves would align with our course and give us a ‘push’ forward.

All was well, except the nagging feeling I had as we were moving along- the steering didn’t feel right…I could tell something was up, as I was turning the wheel, and it didn’t seem to respond as usual. I have seen this before: upon launch this spring, I had literally no steering. I made it to dock by some miracle, and my father, Jack and I took some time to find and fix the problem. A little power steering fluid and a new, custom made fitting (thank you, Menyharts Plumbing!) and all was well.

I Left Lauren at the helm and went to the rudder room. I found out my suspicions were correct. There was a leak of power steering fluid on the clean towel I had left under the steering arm from last time. I could see the drip of fluid, but was happy to see the custom piece was not the culprit. I suspect there was a build up of pressure when I tried to over-steer when the boat was on auto pilot. I have back up fluid for this situation and was prepared for this. I powered down, put her in neutral, and filled the power steering reservoir. I also used a ‘leak stopper’ formula, so we’ll see how that works out.

We continued on toward our destination now that the steering was fixed. Again making almost 7.5 knots on a smooth, flat bay!

We neared East Tawas and the charts are again showing lots of ship wrecks and rock/obstructions. Even with the high water, I don’t want to take a chance! So we maneuvered to the channel markers, and came into the harbor. Saginaw Bay had started to pick up a bit in wind and small waves as we entered, but the harbor was mostly flat. We headed toward the area listed as a good anchorage and soon found ourselves in 4 feet of water, at least a 100 yards from shore! Holy smoke! If the water was normal level, we’d be on dry land!

We found a spot away from the couple of boats already anchored, and secured the ship. The other boats left a soon as we were secure. As we were doing so, Lauren yelled out “Franks in the dinghy!”. Now, at this point when I hear Lauren yell and Franks name, I immediately think he fell/jumped in the water! As I was processing what she said, I looked back and down , to see Frank sitting in the dinghy…whew! He’s not in the water…but how did he get in there??! When we come into a harbor, I will either pull the dinghy close to the stern (rear) or along side, so I have more control and know where it is…HOW DID HE GET IN THERE?? This will be a mystery for me and I don’t think I really want to know.

So we dropped anchor, and basically jumped off to take Frank into shore. Apparently he needs to go! I would usually sit and make sure the boat is secured and not dragging for at least 30 minutes before I would even think about leaving it, but this was a special circumstance- HOW DID HE GET IN THERE?!

We took him to shore and I was chatted up by someone at the marina. Nice fellow, told us about the state harbor and town across the bay, and helped us push off to return to Klondike.

We decided to stay here another day and explored the town this afternoon. They have free ‘day docks’ which you can stay at until late evening. We took the bikes around and went to a Walmart for some supplies. Frank has learned to run alongside the bike for an exercise bout. This gets him to grass quicker, so he’s down with it. The water is so clear you can see bottom, and we went for a nice swim in the morning too, and are now anchored back on the protected side of the harbor.

Our next stop is Harrisville, MI., which is another ‘Harbor of refuge’, which looks like it has plenty of space to anchor, and is listed as a stop along the route. We may fuel up as I hear the prices are good there, but we’ll have to see what tomorrow brings!

Keep on keeping on!

We woke up and left Lexington after feeding the cats their can of food and walking Frank. We pulled out of the dock about 8am, and out the harbor to turn port (left) and continue up the ‘mitten’ of Michigan. Our destination was Harbor Beach which is about 35 miles north. Remember at our trawler speed, this is about a 6 hour ride. There are certainly worse ways to spend an afternoon….(cough:work!)

We have all gotten used to the drone of the Detroit diesel humming away. The cats just sleep on the couch opposite of each other, and Frank curls up in his bed on the upper level. He has beds on each level, just so he can hang out with us. He prefers the flybridge when we’re traveling as that’s where I stay, and he doesn’t like to be left alone (especially with the cats!)

The trip north was uneventful, kind of how we like it! The wind was minimal, and the waves coming from the quarter front, which makes for a nice ride.

We approached the entrance to the large harbor, and had to be careful as the were charted ship wrecks and rocks all over the place. Better to be careful and steer well clear of them, than risk cutting a corner, trying to get in a little quicker. The harbor has two sides, with a giant factory in the middle which looks like a large ship may use, but I wasn’t sure and wanted to stay clear of that path.

An interesting fact about Michigan: they have “harbors of refuge”. A harbor of refuge provides an area where boaters may seek refuge from inclement weather. Some are just natural inlets and only provides a spot to moor until weather conditions improve.

The area we were in was actually designated as such, but we weren’t there because of bad weather- we were there because it was a 35 mile/ 6 hour trip and we don’t want to travel much more than that. And it has free anchorage available which is a plus in our book.

We first cruised by the only marina on the one (north) side, which we had no intention of staying at. This is where I found myself struggling to spin the boat around to get back out. It took patience and a little luck to get out of there. As we cleared the marina, I noticed the thrust was not as it should be; uh oh! I know we were in super shallow water and I could see the underwater growth coming up; did something get wrapped around the prop?! I tested the throttle and found it wasn’t right and felt a little vibration- something’s definitely not right! Ok- let’s just keep moving towards where we want, at idle and short bursts of forward gear and then I’ll figure it out? We found a spot to anchor clear of the factory, and dropped anchor in a spot where we could see a beach, some moored boats to the other side, and no one else around. This would be perfect! The wind was dying down and we were pretty much alone, except for a couple of boats that buzzed by to pay us compliments of Klondike.

It looked like there was a day camp on shore which was giving boat and sail lessons to some younger people. They stayed clear of us, and we weren’t that close to them.

Back to the issue at hand: why was the propeller not spinning? That has to be it… I now know the only option at hand: dive in and inspect. I changed into swim trunks and prepared for my task at hand. Needed: knife…goggles….? That should do it, right? Lauren helped prepare me by tying the knife to a cord so I wouldn’t lose it if o dropped it (thanks, Kevin!) and I jumped in!

The propeller was wrapped thick with ‘weeds’ from the shallow area we were in. This was definitely why I had no thrust. I cut it all away, and spun the prop with my hand, which spin freely. Now we’re talking! I kinda feel like Mcgyver, but I know this was easy and probably not the last time I’ll have to improvise. Let me keep the thought though!

At this point Frank was itching to get to shore, so Laren and I took him for a ride in. As we were heading there, we both realized neither of us had shoes on, I forgot my cigarettes, and the beach was a ‘no boat’ area. Damn. So we pulled up just to the other side of the beach, which was someone’s property and I walked frank around the tall grass there. We then retreated back to the boat, to hang out for the rest of the evening and enjoy dinner and a sunset. We run the generator about 30 mins a night to cook and charge batteries/electronics, then revel in the silence and serenity of the water/ harbor.

This ends our day at Harbor Beach; tomorrow’s destination at this point is Port Austin, Michigan. Will we get there? To be continued…

Once we retrieved Frank and got out of the bridge at St. Clair river, we had good weather ahead of us. We continued north toward Lake Huron with temps in the low 80 and a north wind. The river had a few bends as we came to the end, and I was noticing our speed was slowing down. Now we were only doing barely 5 knots, so I pushed the throttle a little more.

As we approached the mouth of the river, speed kept dropping and the water was getting rough. Hmmm, maybe it’s just the currents and other nautical stuff making this happen? We pressed on with us getting down to 2.8 knots at 3/4 power! That is something I hope to never have to experience again!

Once we cleared the river and came out on Lake Huron, we had to bear left and follow the coast for several miles until we got to the marina we had chosen. There aren’t a lot of marinas up the coastline around here to just pull in to. You really do have to plan the weather and be prepared because if you get stuck, you can’t just pull in anywhere. We have also noticed the shoreline is dotted with rocks, obstructions and very shallow areas as shown on the charts. Best to stay a mile or two from shore so you don’t bump into something or run aground.

Now the wind was coming right on our nose, and the waves were now larger since we were out of the protected river. This is starting to feel like the uncomfortable ride from Pelee Island to Detroit River. And it was. We had a couple of hours bashing into waves and a few times I was getting water up on the flybridge! The bow of the boat kept taking on water up over the anchors and I was hands on the wheel the whole time! I knew Lauren had prepared for this, so I was confident everything was stowed properly. It was not a ‘fun’ trip. We do not want to travel in that windy/wavy weather again if we don’t have to!

Once we found the marina, we pulled in with intentions of anchoring. It was clear this was not going to be a good option as the breakwall was small, and the space between where we could anchor and the docks was not very large. We did try to anchor, but we were dragging across the marina immediately, so we picked up the anchor and asked for a slip. They directed us and we tied up for the day.

Once we were secured, there was plenty of cleaning up to do. Even though we try to minimize the tossing around of items, stuff always gets loose and slides around. The cat litter needs tended to, pans put back in place, basic regrouping of our home.

I walked up to the harbor master hut to check in and noticed a boat with Rocky River as the home port! As I was coming back I stopped and asked him if he was from there? Turns out there was a flotilla of about 9 boats from CYC in Rocky River doing a 2 week tour of North Channel and going back opposite from where we came. Small world!

Lexington is another cool small town, which we explored on the bikes. We stopped at an A&W for a float and to see the cars at the car show in their parking lot. They had car hops and staff for tables, and they carried the coin dispensers on their waist! BUT they had small iPads to take orders! A mix of old and new, but it was fun. We then continued around town, wanting to go to a winery/brewery that we saw. Guess what? Closed mon-wed! Once we explored for about an hour or so, we returned to Klondike and prepared dinner. We use this time also to find out next port and research areas, anchorages and marinas. The evening was nice and the stars were amazing. The further north we’ve come, I’ve noticed the night sky is magical. Not a lot of light pollution around either.

I updated the blog a bit, walker Frank, and retired to bed looking forward to our next destination.

Is everyone tired of hearing about the mundane boat stuff we’re doing yet?

The morning was again uneventful, just fighting a current north, which is making the trips a bit longer than usual and probably more fuel than usual as well.

The trip to St. Clair from St.Clair Shores goes up from Lake St. Clair to the St. Clair River, which will take us to Lake Huron. Lake St. Clair is also known for its bashes called Jobby-Nooner, where hundreds of boats raft and anchor in very shallow shoal areas and you can actually walk around out in the lake.

Our trip north took us through Harsens Island, which is apparently an ‘R’ rated island to party on. there are lots of houses and condo’s along the shore. They are having a rough year, as the high water has taken the water up to land and is actually covering some yards and parking areas. There are NO WAKE signs all up the island, as it is devastating to them when a boat comes through and pushes more water in the form of waves onto their properties. We took the slower scenic route through and up past the island, as opposed to the commercial shipping lane, because we have no where to be and we can! The opposite side of the channel is Canadian land, and it is mostly wetlands and very little structures.

We eventually joined the shipping channel and continued North. We were being followed by a freighter, but were nearing our destination. Around 3:50pm we arrived at St. Clair River, which has a draw bridge to enter. This bridge opens on the 1/2 hour and hour. So we just made it perfect for the 4pm opening. This was a 7 hour trip today to go around 35 miles.

We entered the river and found a municipal dock that has free 5 hour docking. Since we got there later, we debated whether we could stay the night there. I took a dinghy ride over to a marina close by and chatted with someone there at the gas dock. He said it should be fine or he could take us at his marina. We decided to roll the dice and stay where we were.

We took the bikes out and rode around looking at the town; we have come across some small towns on the way and this was the same. Small downtown area with the only interesting brewery closed mon-wed, so we continued on and came back to Klondike. Lauren took her bike for ice, and ended up in East China! I wondered why it took so long! She really has a picture of the town East China, Michigan. I will learn how to post pictures next…

We decided the next morning would be early as we had a lot of ground to cover for the next destination. Good plan. We got up around 615am and prepared to depart. We pulled off the dock at 650am for the 7am opening. I approached and radioed to the bridge tender…- no answer? I tried again and someone came on and told me the bridge doesn’t open until 8am. DOH!

So we pulled to a dock right in front of the bridge and loosely tied up to wait. I walked to to Tim Horton’s on the corner and got coffee and donuts. Frank got treats form the staff there, and to my coffee I added Baileys, and was just doing some research on the route when a guy who was fishing came over and said: “your dog just jumped off and ran that way!”

WHAT! I scrambled off and went running in the direction he pointed. There wasn’t really anywhere else he could be going as it is water in most directions. I came around to the parking lot of a park and there he was, sniffing around. I secured him walked him back to the boat where Lauren was waiting on the dock. He knew he was bad, but he thought he could get away! Sucker!

We finished our coffee and donuts, and waited just a little while longer for the 8am bridge opening. I politely radioed in to let him know we were waiting and he told me it would be 4 minutes…OK. OK, we waited and as soon as it went up we headed for Lexington, MI., Lake Huron, and another day on the water.