Category: Uncategorized

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.

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

WOW!!

Now, since i just learned how to make the blog active, i have some catching up to do…here is a run down of day 2…Day 3 will be an adventure you’ll want to hear, so that will be the next post after we leave here and get to the next port…

Here we are in Grosse Pointe, Ichigan (no M, as we are Ohio State fans), sitting at a marina after 3 days of anchoring out. BUT, this marina does not have water or power, so its kind of like anchoring out, but not having to worry if an anchor is not holding. We’ve already experienced this, but not on an “oh shit” level…just felt we were too close to another boat, and as we sat there and watched, it seemed like we were getting closer to the other boat. So we just pulled up anchor and moved further away and went through the whole anchoring process over- No Worries, Mon!

Let me digress to the last few days: We left Cleveland and headed for Kelly’s Island. We arrived at Kelly’s around 4:30 in the afternoon. We had looked at anchorages and circled the island to scope out which one looked best. We decided on the north side State Park. There were several boats anchored (mostly sailboats) and we picked a location far away from everyone else. It was a delightful evening, drinking fine Champagne from our 1st mate Laura, settling into an evening feeling accomplishment and marveling at how well the cats had adjusted. They are super chill and just want to hang out, sleep and explore the boat with short walks around the deck. Lauren prepared a shrimp dinner, and all was right with our world! We slept well with calm seas, hardly any wind/waves and a feeling of serenity.

Day 2:

We departed Kelly’s Island, and having discussed our next port, we had decided to head farther north to Pelee Island. Neither of us had been there, and it has always been somewhere we had thought about going to, but never had the opportunity to get there. So we headed north with a somewhat flat lake and following seas (the waves coming from behind pushing you, rather than thumping into them or taking them from the side, which rolls your boat). This was also our first venture into foreign waters, where we will have to check in with customs and do the proper paperwork(?). Turns out there is no paperwork, just a phone call in to their Canadian homeland security, answer some questions, and they give you a confirmation number.

We docked in Pelee at West Dock, which is where the ferry terminal is, and happens to have a border patrol post there too. We found a spot to tie up to a wall for free, and was given the ok to stay there for the night. There was no water or power, but it was nice and tucked in from the open water, so not too much rocking and felt secure and safe. The best thing about the location was the winery just around the corner, and the local restaurants/bars close by. We did explore the winery and got to ride our bikes around the island for a bit, but it was too hot to ride the whole island so we returned to Klondike. There was a border patrol agent wandering around the dock where we were and he did come to visit…he checked our confirmation number to ensure we had cleared customs, then we chatted a bit and he told us about a bay just inside the Detroit River called Crystal Bay, which also has a ‘hidden lake’. Nice guy and good info for us. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing, watching a sunset and having dinner and ‘docktails’. We discussed our next port of call, and decided to head to Crystal Bay where our customs friend had mentioned.