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!