Lake Huron, Day 6, June 7th

The state park @ Port Austin

After our bike ride last night, we met back up on Waterford for a late cocktail party (not my fault, this time) and a comfort food dinner. Jacque is a great cook, I’m continuing to learn from all my talented friends.  She made mango salsa, that was delicious.  It was cold & windy, so we had oven food again tonight, Jacque made a chicken, rice & artichoke casserole.  Who needs those expensive restaurants, when we have a master chef aboard.  During dinner, the wind died down some, the sky cleared and the sun came out.  So after dinner, we took a walk around the marina, waiting for the pretty sunset.  We need to read our camera book a little more, in order to improve our sunset pictures.  

sunset over Port Austin

Left @ 9:00 AM, air temp 50 degrees & water temp is 52. It's cloudy with waves 2-3, winds 8-9 knots out of the north.  We touched bottom-OMG, heading out of the Port Austin harbor. Doug assures me that everything is OK, but I made him check everything.  Low water depths give us an extra challenge, that I can do without. :-(

The water continues to look more blue the deeper it gets, just beautiful.  We started out with 2-3 foot waves hitting our right bow, not a problem because we have those wonderfully expensive stabilizers that were worth every penny. Waterford is in the lead this trip, continuing to take turns for that.  We continue to travel north, today crossing Saginaw Bay.  This entire trip we won’t be out of sight of land much but today for a short time we could not see land.  On our usual trips to Georgian Bay/North Channel, we are hours without seeing land.  

We landed in Harrisville Harbor @ 3:00 PM.  Wow, did we get great service; 4 dock hands who knew what they were doing.  Lake Huron continued to lay down, after we were docked the wind died down & the sun came out & the clouds cleared.  We settled in & then took a walk to town. We met a nice couple, Vicky, Chris & Hannah docked near us in a Hatteras, who had traveled Lake Superior last summer.  We got together for cocktail hour & picked their brains about where to go & what not to miss.

what a beautiful view

The Marina office, the only place with wifi

Traveled 39 miles today, from port Austin to Harrisville, cumulative 218 miles.

Our duck went for a swim

 Thanks for reading!!

Love & miss you

Lake Huron, Day 4 & 5, Wednesday & Thursday, June 5 & 6, 2013,

Left Port Sanalac @ 7:00 AM, back to the crazy early mornings.  Air temp 55, water temp 55, winds 8 knots northeast waves less than 2. It's not getting warmer yet. One of the many electronic purchases Doug made this winter @ the Miami boat show was an AIS (automated identification system) module. All freighters & most bigger yachts are registered with this system. It is useful because we can see where the freighters are & they can see us, also their speed & course. Usually we can also pull up the name of the vessel, length & destination. While cruising this morning, we see this huge yacht going southbound (we are northbound, for those of us who are directionally dysfunctional). We put the binoculars on her & she is beautiful, but too far away to get a good pic. Doug was able to pull her info up on his screen through the AIS system. She is 213 feet long (we are 40 ft) brand new, built in Wisconsin @ the Palmer Johnson boat yard, heading to New Fundland (eastern Canada)  going 16 knots, twice our speed. She will be crossing Lake Erie so watch for her. 

It's a bit overcast & cool today, so we stay in the pilothouse.  I went back to bed after helping leave the dock.  Later, after a rousing short stint of jazzercise where I was the instructor and Doug the class, we started a game of Scrabble.  We do not use a timer so these games usually last the whole day while cruising. Our ride was very comfortable.  

Harbor Beach Lighthouse

Pointe Aux Barques Lighthouse

Port Austin Reef Lighthouse

We arrived in Port Austin about 2:45 PM.  We traveled 52 miles today for a cum of 179, not very far away from home, but it sure feels like it. Our friend Lisa's parents, live here, but they happen to be in Toledo visiting her at the moment.  We were greeted by 3 green, dock hands.  They've only assisted one other boat into the docks so far this year.  Garry gave them a lesson on cleat tying, which they desperately needed.  Last summer, they were closed in order to install new floating  docks, but they only completed the 30 foot run, so we were located in the old docks which are fixed and were installed years ago when the water was 4 feet higher.  I have to sit on my butt and jump in the boat when getting on.  The bridge is only 1 foot above the dock.  The marina has enough water depth and a good protected seawall. The office/shower building is brand new & nicely built. They have a FREE washer & dryer available to us. There is a nice park adjacent to the harbor. Somebody has some money & it looks like it's the State of Michigan, which seems odd. Next year they are installing new floating docks where we are docked, so they will have nice longer docks with 50 amp power instead of 30.  We couldn't run our furnace, so we got the portable electric heaters out for the night. 

We went for a walk into "Town" where there is not even one traffic light, just a 4 all stop sign corner. Some vacant stores, but a really nice Hardware store, even better than Port Sanalac.  Of course, Garry & Doug had to stop in & luckily there was a cute gift shop upstairs where Jacque & I could wander. There are a few restaurants & an ice cream place.  

Wifi has been an issue already @ these marina's, so that's why I may not be posting regularly .  Two days ago, I thought I published but the Wifi must have timed out before it finished & I lost that days pictures in the blog (drat!).  Here, we do not even have a phone signal, our phones say "No Service". But I do have a slow wifi signal that comes & goes.  It is taking forever to upload my pictures to the blog. 

In visitors center, replica of Lighthouse

We hosted cocktails & dinner; too cold & windy to grill out, so we used the oven. We looked through a Great Lakes lighthouse photo book which we have & got all excited about all the beautiful places we will be touring & what great photo ops we are going to have.

A shout out to our nephew; 
Happy Birthday Joshua, 
Hope this is a great day & year for you!  
Love, Aunt Jan & Uncle Duck (notice what word I left out, haha) 

The coffee shop/laundromat

We woke to overcast skies, wind & cold. Decided this would be our first stay-put weather day.  There is a nice coffee shop/laundromat walking distance, so we can work on our blogs & get our laundry done.  Jacque is also keeping a blog, so if you want to really be a blog junkie, you can follow Waterford @ Waterfordadventures.blogspot.com, I know their address is easier.  If you bookmark the blog address, you will never have to write it again, though.  If you want to look @ the pictures closer, just click on them.

After lunch, we decided we needed some exercise, so we got our foldable bikes out & took off to find the nearby State Park.  It has a great campground, right on Lake Huron, some lake front sites.  Ten miles later, we are home & ready for cocktails.  Hope we aren't sore tomorrow, it's been awhile since any of us have been on a bike.

Thanks for joining us.  We love reading your comments.

Adventure Day 3, Tuesday June 4, 2013

Left St Claire dock @ 8:20 to make 8:30 bridge. Air temp 55 degrees, water 52, winds 8 knots out of the north. Sunny, clear & brisk. No waves, we are still in the river, very calm. Water is pretty blue as soon as we get back under the St Claire bridge.

Port Huron Lighthouse & Coast Guard Station

Going under the Blue Water bridge where St Claire river meets Lake Huron, there is an interesting phenomenon; an eddy, instead of slowing down in the current right before the bridge we entered a type of whirlpool & we acually sped up to 7.5 knots from 5 and then in 100 yards we were down to 3 knots, without touching the throttle. The bridge connects USA @ Port Huron, Michigan to Sarnia, Canada. There is a Canadian casino here, Cheryl. 

Once under the Blue Water bridge, we are now cruising in Lake Huron. The waves are 1-3 feet coming straight at us (on our nose) so that makes for a little bumpy ride. But the wind subsided as we traveled & the lake calmed nicely. Today we had time for naps, reading & games (I hate to say it, but the games are on my iPad). I played Deal or No Deal for the first time, it's just like the former TV game. 

We pulled into Port Sanalac Harbor around 3:00 PM. One things about being early in the season, we are getting our pick of the primo docks. We pulled straight in, no tricky turning or shallow water. Three young, friendly dock hands helped us in to the long wide dock. Easy peasy as Jacque would say. We  tied up securely & decided we needed some exercise.  Doug has been doing a lot of dancing in the pilot house so I guess that counts for some movement. Sure can tell he's not working, haha. 

Can you find the duck?

We've visited this harbor before, so we knew there was a one blinking traffic town within walking distance, so we headed out with our walking shoes on. Air temp was 65 degrees, warmer than on the water of course. Lilacs were in bloom everywhere, that makes them about a month behind us. Doug & Garry found a hardware store & believe it or not, they found something we needed.  We also stopped into the local IGA, a lot smaller than what we are used to. Just bought some fresh produce. Found the Port Sanalac Lighthouse, which is For Sale if anyone is interested. The lighthouse was built in 1886. It's not right right on the water.

We enjoyed our cocktails up on Day Dreams bridge, even though Doug had to don his muck lucks.  It was a bit chilly, but we had a great view of a beautiful calm Lake Huron. The guys grilled out & we dined inside on Waterford, while watching the Voice on Garry's TV, thanks to his Direct TV subscription   

Doug & I played travel Yahtzee & I won-yahoo.  We traveled 40 miles today which brings our total miles traveled to127 miles. 

Thanks for checking on us. 

Day 2 of our new adventure, Monday June 3, 2013

Left the Jefferson Beach Dock @10:00 AM, retirement time is already setting in. We never have left this late before! Air temp 60 degrees, water temp 64, winds 7 knots, north, northwest. Blue skies & sun.  It's really clear out, we can see for miles. Still not warm enough to drive from the bridge, because we are spoiled rotten.  Years ago, we would be up there, a bit cold, wearing warm clothes & sucking it up, but now it's difficult to get us out of our warm, comfy pilot house. We have a short leg today, cause we can-no rush, remember we don't have to do 15 hour days like we usually do every summer on our vacation to get where we are going.  BUT, I've noticed I'm not getting as much done while under way either. We usually play a long arduous game of scrabble & we haven't gotten the game out yet. We didn't even nap today!

Waterford & Day Dreams are taking turns leading the way. Today is our turn. Lake St Claire had a slight chop, then once we entered St Claire River, the water was dead calm, it was like glass as they say and sooo pretty blue. Riding up this river, we are still between the 2 countries. The border is in the river, so we are continuously weaving between the USA & Canada. I have to remember to use "aa" every once in awhile. There are lots of pretty houses along both shores. There weren't many boats out at all, but it is Monday, I guess most unlucky people are at work! 

We have to go under a bascule bridge to get to our next port. This type of bridge splits in the middle & both sides tilt up, it's a similar type of bridge that is in Port Clinton. There is a bridge tender on duty during the day. He only opens on the half hour, because he has to stop traffic on a busy street. We lucked out & arrived 5 minutes early @ 3:25 PM. Perfect timing, it helps to have GPS that tells us we were going to arrive @ that time, otherwise we would have slowed down (you know we couldn't have sped up, lol) to time it for the 4:00. 

We docked @ St Claire Boat Harbor. It is the Municipal Marina. We've stayed here before, they have great floating docks & nice facilities.  Not many boats in the water here. There was enough water this time, depth finder showed 1.7 feet @ one spot right in front of the dock, but the rest was deeper. Two nice dock gals helped us in. Day Dreams & Waterford were able to dock next to each other, since we were the only boats on the whole run. Hope business picks up for them. The free city wifi actually worked @ this marina, unlike @ Jefferson Beach. We had cocktails a tad late because I was finishing our blog & I was scolded & told I need to get my work completed before 5:00. We walked to a popular local tavern Murphy's for half off great pizza. 

Can you find the duck?

During our Bon Voyage party, some of the guests came up with an idea that we should have our own gnome that we carry & is included in our pictures depicting each new stop along the way. We chose one of the rubber duckies, that we have been using as props for years @ golf outings & swim parties. 

Jeri is the proud owner of these rubber duckies, so she graciously allowed one to accompany us on our journey. Doug just shook his head when I told him about this but soon he was entertaining himself coming up with ideas for the duck. 

Today we traveled 32 miles, piece of cake & our cumulative miles 87.  Thanks for checking in on us.

Bon Voyage in style

Last weekend @ CC&P's cottage on MBI, we met some of Cheryl's new friends: Mo & Em. We can see why Cheryl has adopted them; they are sweet & fun. They are celebrities too, working for one of the local TV news stations. When Mo saw our boat & heard our plans for the summer she wanted to report our story. We eventually agreed to let her interview us because we respect & trust her. Mo did not disappoint us, she aired a nice piece about our upcoming adventure. This is the link to our video interview. It will only be available for a couple of weeks. It was aired on WTOL, Toledo Fox News, May 29. 

http://www.toledonewsnow.com/story/22453123/local-couple-spends-4-months-on-superior?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=8939421

To review: I'm (jan) retired, Doug is on a four month unpaid leave, our boat's name is Day Dreams. We will be traveling with Garry, who was retired & now does consulting from the boat & Jacque who just started her 4 month leave of absence on Friday, their boat is a sister ship to ours & her name is Waterford. So we both are traveling in Kadey Krogen 39 Trawlers. Our dinghy covers are different color so you don't confuse us; we have the navy canvas & Waterford has tan.

We moved to the boat on Thursday; after weeks of having lists of items to take care of, it felt really weird to be all done and ready to go. There is not an empty spot on the boat, oh wait, yes there is; Doug's engine room has some floor space left, but he refuses to let me put any of my "stuff" in his engine room. Doug had a few chores to complete on the boat, but he still had time to nap. Of course he had to make one last trip to West Marine. They are going to miss he & Garry. 

To see us off, our wonderful friends planned a fun Bon Voyage party right @ our Marina. Party planners were: Jeri, Patty & Cheryl along with their muscle: Jerry, Ray & Craig.  We have the best friends anyone could ever imagine. We had a tent with sides for rain or shine and even a great DJ; Preston (Patty & Ray's son) and Paul (Cheryl & Craig's son), Jessie & Kendall as his assistants, they played all of "our" favorite party music (oldies but goodies). Luckily they  refused to play The Edmund Fitzgerald song, but Gilligan's Island had some air time.  If you ever need a great DJ, Preston is available for hire, he has all the cool electronics. We were presented with a bed sheet with many of our dear friends pictures emblazoned on it. There was alot of talk about everyones positions on the sheet according to who would be lying where-hmmmm. Will we use it as a top sheet or bottom one? We'll never tell! There was tons of food, really good food. There was dancing, singing & even a conga line with noise makers. It's a dangerous thing to give the girls a microphone. Over 50 friends attended to wish us calm seas & a safe voyage. We're sorry to have missed those that were unable to attend. Thank you for a great time & more wonderful memories.  

The best friends a gal can have

We will miss you, You will miss us!

 

DJ Preston & assistants

Our wonderful cooks

Some of Doug's great family

Jan. Paul Douglas & Doug

After all the good-bye hugs & kisses mixed with a few tears (i know, we're only going for the summer), the next morning we left the dock @ 8:00 AM. Air temp was 65 degrees, water temp 67, winds  blowing 22 knots out of the southwest. Experienced our first mayfly sighting this morning. We're leaving at the right time, sure won't miss those smelly, crackly bugs. Waterford lead the way out of the Marina. We had a nice ride, we stayed in the pilot house,even though it warmed up to 71 degrees outside. 

Detroit Harbor Light

Niagara on the Detroit River

Niagara in front of Renaissance Center

Windsor Caesar's Casino

Jefferson Beach Marina

 We arrived @ Jefferson Beach Marina around 4:30, stopping @ the fuel dock.  We traveled 55 nautical miles, averaging 6.5 knots speed, slower than normal because we were against the current. You all can bike faster than that. We tied up in two of their transient docks & already got a taste of the low water issue. Doug was maneuvering into the well slowly when the boat stopped suddenly on its own because the front of the keel hit mud. No problems, no damage but we weren't even all the way into the dock. So that's where we stayed, our tail end hanging out a bit from the end of the dock!  By then it was 5:00, cocktail hour. Garry & Jacque joined us & we toasted to our first day of our adventure. We walked up to the Marina's restaurant; the Tin Fish, nice big place, even has a night club & a great outdoor patio. Enjoyed a good dinner and a early night to bed maybe due to too much partying the night before. 

Thanks for following us. ⚓

Sent from Jan's iPad

Memorial weekend 2013

Started out the Holiday weekend by heading to Indianapolis to spend a few days with Jan's family. Wendi, our niece has a beautiful resort like home with her great husband Tadd & adorable daughter Samantha. The rest of the gang showed up as the weekend progressed. It was great seeing Jan's brother Bob, his wife Karen, our nephews Bob & Caroline, Tim, Eric & Monica, all with their wonderful fun loving kids. A good time was had by all; a bit of swimming, trampoline jumping, frisbee (champs fav), corn hole, wiffle ball, wine tree planting, some eating & of course alot of drinking. We enjoyed a camp fire with delicious smores with some sitting around that pit till 4:00 AM.

The wine tree, waiting to be filled

Wendi surprised us with a Bon Voyage cake, gosh was it good. We met Josh's girlfriend Melissa who is a real sweetlie.  Owen worked real hard mixing concrete for the wine tree that Bob & Caroline had commissioned by a sculptor  for Wendi. They only need to drink 42 more bottles of wine to complete it. For now they will decorate  it with beer bottles, knowing they can complete that by the end of the holiday. Lillian continues to amaze with her gymnastic moves & her double joints. Sam has mastered all kinds of flips on the tramp, so she will do fantastic in her new adventures with diving.  Both Sam & Lillian were helping Kaiden, Zachary & even Abigail learn new tricks on the trampoline. Bob & Karen sure are proud to have such a great family. Thank you Wendi for being the best hostess ever.

We left Wendi's, headed home, loaded the car & drove to the boat. Left
the dock on Sunday morn @ 9:00 AM; air temp was 56 & water temp 63.  The lake was calm & the sun was shining. We arrived @ MBI @ 1:00 PM, docking in Sonny's dock. Carrie had told us we could use the dock anytime because the SonnyS is now owned by Boardwalk @ the bay so it doesn't dock there anymore. That is sooooo nice of her! Thank you Carrie!! Carrie's dock is a stones throw away from Wendt's (formerly Wendt/Martin) cottage.  We had never docked there before, so Craig was kind enough to go out & depth it for us; 6 foot all along, we're in good shape because we draw 4.6 ft. There was a super welcoming committee to greet us @ the dock, of course, they all showed up after we were tied up. Craig was on the deck, not the dock waiting for us! Hugs all around & we were introduced to Em & Mo, who were visiting Cheryl,Craig & Paul. We gave a quick tour then made all a drink & we relaxed & visited in the sun on the bridge. Cheryl, Paul & Em weren't too thrilled to see what the sun & spring brings out on the docks: was it a frog or snake that made Cheryl scream? Jess had to head back to the mainland for a family picnic so Paul took her to the ferry.

The rest of us went to the cottage & sat on the deck & played the game "Things".  Paul came back, Em & Mo had to leave and we continued to play. On Saturday, Em was the victor, today Paul was the champion. We all enjoyed the pocket hose demo too.  What a fun game!  We laughed, we ate & we even had arts & crafts. Doug & Jan presented Jeri with her photo book that Jan created, as an early Birthday present & going away gift (remember no more tears). We're ready to go dancing with you, Sally anytime! Jerry O really tried to find the source of the noisy garbage disposal in the cottage, but to no avail. So what IS down there Cheryl? We all headed out early on Monday due to the rain & cooler weather & maybe a tad of a hangover.  Thanks everyone for a fantastic Holiday weekend! We will miss you all!!

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.