Our Shake Down Cruise

We didn't make it over to PIB last weekend due to weather, so the forecast started out looking better for this weekend. Doug took half day off & we arrived @ the boat. Hmmm seems windier (is that a word?) than the forecast called for. Doug washed the boat & I stored more "stuff", amazing how it fits every week. I think I am going to hit my limit soon thou. We checked the forecast; east winds 15-20, waves 2-4 & subsiding in the evening & Sunday's forecast looks good. We know Day Dreams can handle 2-4's easy especially with our new stabilizers from last year.  Garry & Jacque stopped by to say goodbye, they were heading to the "hills" to spend the weekend with the grand kids & have a fun visit. So we left the dock, yahoo! On our way out we saw French Kiss is in the water @ her dock, looking pretty & we welcomed Linda home. We left the marina & the water looked like chocolate milk from the muddy Maumee-one thing I won't miss. It actually looked more like a milkshake because of the big waves. We were heading right into them, which is called "taking them on the nose" as Doug said. The waves were more like 3-5's, but now we are committed. After all this is a shake down cruise so we want to make sure everything works & is secure, what better way.  The water did clear as much as Lake Erie can & we didn't see any algae yet, but it did not calm down. We took a couple of 6 footers & lots of water over the bow. The weather data actually said we were in 28 mph winds with 32 mph gusts.  Day Dreams just chugged along & would set us down so easily instead of pounding. I remember pounding in the Sea Ray-man sometimes I thought my back would break. We were warm, dry, safe & secure in our pilot house. Doug did have to make a trip up to the bridge while under way; we are using our 2 coolers as dock boxes (recycling) and one of them loosened up a bit. 

We arrived @ PIB & there was only 1 sailboat on the mooring balls. We picked one & tied up. It was wavy in the bay, due to the high east winds. We did rock some all night, rocked us to sleep. The wind did not subside all night or on Saturday. We stayed on board & ate leftovers Friday nite & then Saturday we went on the island. Water taxis were running & a few more boats showed up as the day progressed. It was cool enough that we ran the furnace for awhile each evening when we put the generator on. We walked around the island to see what was new. The Dairy Queen is being remodeled & is now part of The Keys, which was new last year. I don't know what it will be when it is finished. They've added a mechanical bull to the outside terrace @ the smokehouse. We were entertained watching some drunk bachorlettes try to ride it. They are building a new mini hotel next to Tony's. Mojito bay was jumping. We visited the Whalen Studio & found a new artist who does pictures using aluminum. Steve Harlan-very impressive. The Round House has a new exterior paint job: patriotic. We ate upstairs @ The Boardwalk, so Doug could get the lobster bisque because this will be our only trip this summer to the bay. We found out that Boardwalk has wifi & nice showers available to those using the mooring balls; How many years have we been doing this? Here I always thought I knew all the ins & outs, I'm slipping. We ran into the Middle Bass ladies @ Tippers. We were all there to watch the horse race on the big screen. I bought a horse pick for $10.00, guess who came in last? Carrie Schneider, our neighbor on MBI, told us we could use her dock anytime we wanted to since the Sonny boat doesn't dock there anymore, very sweet of her & we probably will take her up on it next Sunday. Also found out that Tippers has awesome frozen Brandi Alexander's, just as good as The Pump on Kelly's Island. 

The winds finally changed directions late Saturday night & it calmed down in the bay. We had a beautiful ride home on Sunday: dead calm, warm even hot & hazy. Hardly any boats out. This was a bridge day. Our handheld mike didn't work, it may not be compatible with the new VHF radio Doug bought for the pilot house. Doug has to research that. Really enjoyed our ride home. Meanwhile @ the dock, Kevin & Andy put Current Affair in the water: they are going to sublet our dock while we are gone. Hopefully for them the boat will sell. Jim worked on Abigail, she's still in dry storage @ the beach.