Month: August 2019

We departed Grosse Pointe a bit later than usual (9am- sleeping in!) because we knew we were only going a short distance. The trip to the next marina was only about 10-12 miles, so it would only take us a couple of hours.

We pulled out of the slip without any issues considering how tight the marina was situated. Before leaving I stopped by Bill’s boat in the morning with a bottle of wine to thank him for the hospitality. We would have been screwed if he hadn’t come along!

The trip up the Lake was uneventful, although I was still working against the current of the lake. Moving Northward will continue to be a slow move until we get to Lake Huron.

Our destination was St. Clair Shores; home of the “Nautical Mile”, where there is everything to do with boats, plus some.

We made our destination and had pre-arranged a reservation for a slip. This is the first dock we’ve had to pay for. We prefer to anchor out, not only because it’s free, but also the tranquility and ambiance of a non crowded anchorage is hard to beat. Plus we don’t have to worry about the dog and cats jumping off, running free, away from the boat! At least at anchor I know they won’t jump…at least not yet!

We reached our destination around 11:15am and contacted the harbor master. She directed us to check in at the gas dock. We checked in and were directed to a slip down and around the fairway. No issues finding it and tying up.

Since we have the bikes, we’ve used them a few times, especially (only, so far- I will have to figure out how to dinghy them in) when at a dock. It is easy enough to lift them up and down so we can get a ride around town and explore. Today was a hot one! mid 80’s and sunny. Remember we don’t have A/C unless running the generator or plugged in to shore power. Since we were at a dock, I did plug in and turn on the A/C for the animals while we were out exploring. Of course we found a local brewery (Baffin) which we had a flight sampler and a pint, while enjoying the their air conditioning! We continued to a grocery store and stocked some items for dinner and lunch.

We returned to the boat about 20 minutes before a rain shower hit, and were securely inside watching TV while it rained (nice to have power). We ended up going to a local restaurant (Brownies!) for some drinks and appetizers. Apparently restaurants in Michigan like to be closed Monday-Wednesday. There have been several places we’ve looked into going, but they are all closed these days.

We finished the night walking Frank and retiring to the bed, getting ready to travel a little further North tomorrow to St. Clair.

After a restful evening, we pulled anchor at an early hour and headed up the Detroit River. We are now running against the current, so the normal travel speed of @7 knots is now down to 5ish…same RPM’s, just slower (and more fuel) due to the high water currents.

Where we were heading took us through Detroit, and our target marina was around St. Clair Shores. Well, since we are moving slower it will take a bit longer. We were also researching reciprocal marinas in the area we were going to. I made a few phone calls and left messages and emails. We kept waiting to hear if anyone would respond.

Finally a marina in Grosse Pointe said they would have space for us, but needed to check with the Commodore. So we continued on toward the marina where we had made the contact. In the mean time, we were looking through the I-LYA website for other reciprocal marinas that may be in better locations or closer to where we actually wanted to be. Oh yeah- there was also broadcasts from the Coast Guard about squall warnings and such…we’ll just have to watch out for this… We found a listing for a ‘steel boat club’ and thought that may be cool- I could hang with ‘my people’ (steel boats!), but as we approached the marina (and no answers on phone or email) we realized it was called ‘steel’ because it was next to and in between steel and other factories. Location=poor.

We continued on toward downtown Detroit (Grosse Pointe is north of D.) and came upon some rain. We slowed down, contemplating whether to turn back and go to the ‘steel’ marina and checked the weather and the sky. It seemed the rain cloud was now in front of us, and we had a couple hours until the next rain came. the sky was dark in spots, but just a bit cloudy in others. The Coast Guard kept repeating their warnings, but it was for the lake, not the river, right? Carry on!

Downtown Detroit and Windsor was a cool sight- interesting as in we don’t see new town all of the time in our normal cruising around Cleveland, and rolling through both sides is neat. Plenty of special event tents set up throughout the waterfronts, boats and tour boats/ charters cruising about, people along the boardwalks. Nice.

We came out of Detroit and headed toward the marina- this is when I called them to confirm our arrival. No answer, of course. Ok- just get there and we’ll figure it out. That seems to be our M.O. at this point, as we’ve never even left Cleveland/ Lorain area codes (except Vermilion?) much less had to plan our trip days out…

We arrive to the marina and are preparing to pull in- bring the dinghy up close to Klondike so it is not dragging 15-20 feet behind like we normally travel. Lauren prepares the lines and bumpers. I was told in an earlier conversation the entrance is tricky- again due to high water submerging the break wall and pilings. We pull in and have no idea where we are supposed to be going. The place isn’t that large, but the sky’s are darker, wind has picked up, and currents are pushing us. I’m doing my best to keep us pointed in a direction, and not toward other boats. We don’t have much room and we both eye a dock that has a lot of goose poop on it. A LOT. This is a sign to me either 1. no one is docking here, or 2. no one should be docking here?

We pull into the slip, and Lauren secures the boat. She is awesome at lassoing pilings and pulling us in, tying off, and securing midships lines to keep control and ensuring fenders are in place. As we are making final hitches, a boat comes by entering the harbor, and a gentleman yells out: “Are you Loopers?” He is practically jumping from a moving boat as it goes by… “Yes!” was our reply (he must have seen the burgee?). “Tell them you’re a friend of Bill! I’ll be right over after we tie up!”

In the mean time, I receive another call from the marina we have just entered: “We don’t have reciprocal with your club, and we can’t help you. You need to plan further ahead. Sorry.”

What?! We just got here! FML….now what will we do? Weather is looking bad, we’re now on Lake St. Clair, so not as protected as the river…

OMG! we have to check back in to the USA too! UGH! We had signed up the CBP ROAM app which is a great tool to remotely check in and out if traveling to Canada via boat. Check in completed quickly and legally!

Now back to the dock situation: Bill comes over and introduces himself and is awesome! He welcomes us with open arms, and we are now guests of the Sailing Club! Bill offers transportation if needed, gives a complete rundown of the area including movies being shown in the rec center; and has already cleared with the ‘harbor master’ /security our presence and dock. He introduces us to his wife and we all chat for a bit. Our neighbor in the dock next to us has a trawler too! Mike is also quite hospitable, even giving me a gallon of oil that I was going to go to a store for. I offered to pay and he asked me to pay it forward- that we will!

And who do I see coming up the dock? The guy who had just told me I couldn’t stay here! how do I know? hmmm… you can figure that out on your own! As he approaches, Bill takes over and tell him ‘we’re all set!’. Turns out the Commodore isn’t too keen on being open to other travelers, but Bill set him straight!

The docks had no power or water where we were. Bill offered a dock next to him that did have it, but I didn’t really want to move the boat into a tighter situation with the wind blowing as it was, so we stayed where we were. Dinner was delightful and we hung out o the mid deck watching boats and freighters roll by, causing waves to come over their break wall and gently rock the boats. This high water is no joke around here, and I will tell you more about it on the next post.

Cheers!

We had discussed leaving Pelee Island early in the morning; this has become our routine now, sort of… We have found early traveling is better due to lighter winds/ waves and less traffic on the water. There is something special to being up with a sunrise, especially when it’s not from being up all night! The temperature is more bearable as well, than high afternoon heat. It gets hot when your traveling, sitting under a canvas, baking in an ‘oven’ with open windows, and a fan which we take turns unplugging to charge phones until its too hot then I plug the fan back in.

We woke early, and I was pretty gung-ho about going! this was only our 3rd day traveling and I felt we needed to put some distance under our keel. I rushed around and got prepared as Lauren and animals were just getting up. Dinghy prepared for pulling? check! Lines readied? check! bikes secured? check! FIRE IT UP!

I turned the key to the Detroit Diesel and Klondike roared to life. All is well! Lauren had asked what she could do, and I was trying to be proactive, so I said “don’t worry- I got it.”

And away we went! I had to maneuver around to turn us toward our destination (Detroit River) and as soon as we passed the ferry terminal, I pushed the throttle to the 1600 RPM which usually puts us around 6.8-7 knots. We were only doing 5.8 or so, and then I begin to notice the wind has been steady blowing from the northwest, which was making the waves roll at us. not just little waves, but larger, uncomfortable types of waves. Now don’t get me wrong; this was not a life or death situation, and the waves were probably under 4 feet and wind around 12-15mph, but the direction from which they came, and the direction which we were going, was not a good mix. White caps were coming off the tops and as they say every third or so wave was larger than the rest.

I was trying to figure out what was going on, as it was early, I am not fully awake even though I thought I was, and I am now in medium-ish uncomfortable waves. Whatever- keep going! So I turned NW and headed for Detroit River. I soon realized that direction was not great- the boat was pitching and rolling, I could see everything in the flybridge (where I like to pilot from) moving and falling, being basically tossed around. Hmmm….”Lauren must be downstairs trying to hold on” was my thought… Until she came up and was quite upset with me. I had turned more North, trying to avoid the rolling of the boat, which took us off course (which can add hours in our boat) and that only made Klondike slam up and down, getting a literal free fall off of some waves.

“Why were you in a rush? We (Lauren and animals) weren’t ready! Everything is tossed about! What the F!- why are you heading this way!? Me-“Ummm…I don’t know? Trying to stop the rolling? Tacking?”

Well, we did make it to Crystal Bay, after hours of wavy traveling, which made for a long trip. Then I had to backtrack to get into Detroit River due to the shallowness shown on charts- so much for tacking. This did add another hour to the trip in the waves but we made it.

Crystal Bay is a bay where the Detroit River is split into two sides. It is also is home to “Hidden Lake”- it is a small lake, obviously ‘hidden’ off to the side of the bay and a very shallow channel to it- Google Earth it to see what I mean.

Once we found Crystal Bay, we slowly moved in as again the charts are showing 1 to 3 foot depth; However due to the high waters this year, there was nothing under 6 feet that I saw. I’ve been told almost everything is almost 5 feet higher than charted. Ahead of us were about 30 or so boats, all at anchor or rafted off each other. There was a cool trawler we anchored near, toward the outside of the groups. We stayed there for a while, enjoying having made it without killing each other or breaking anything. Then we realized (or thought) our anchor may be dragging! We seemed to be closer to the trawler, and the owner(?) kept coming back and looking at us and then going back to his chair. This made us decide to pull anchor and re-anchor further away. We found a nice spot out of the way and continued to watch more boats arrive and raft (we saw 9 across at one time) and catch a swim in the blue water. I counted well over 50 boats at one point, then I took Frank in to land for a needed potty break, and we explored Hidden Lake in our dinghy. Eventually another boat came and anchored somewhat close to us, but far enough away to not be too bothered by them. We had a few people dinghy over to look at Klondike and some small talk. The wind stayed steady all evening, but the water stayed flat.

We ended the evening with dinner and wine, feeling another sense of accomplishment that we were now anchored in a cool bay, had completed a journey across Lake Erie, and were heading toward new horizons.

Cheers! and stay tuned for the next update!

Lauren and Jason