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…