Detroit MI to Port Huron MI

Ginny said my post yesterday was a little dry so I vowed to be more better today.  Guess what, it rained all day so not only am I wet so is everything on the boat.  We left Detroit at 7 AM and got to Port Huron at about 12:30.  We were doing really well on the 10 MPH speed so we could save fuel until I took over and some how the throttles advanced themselves to 18 MPH.  Of course when we got to the river where our marina was the wind was blowing pretty good and we had to wait for two bridges so it was time for Ginny to drive again.  Needless to say it was not a good picture day as you can see.  Ginny wanted to do some laundry and the marina said they had a free washer and dryer in the shed behind the office.  Ginny came back to the boat with a load of wet laundry.  Apparently the dryer was broken so we had to hang all of the cloths inside the boat to dry.  The River Street Marina is very close to downtown Port Huron which is great except all of the stores close at 5 and the only thing open is the homeless shelter and some bars that looked a little rough.  We are off to Lexington MI tomorrow which is only about 20 miles so it should be an easy day.

 First freighter we have seen

 Another freighter

 Our dock at the marina

 Guess where we stayed

 Ginny said not to post this picture but why start listening now

 The free washer and dryer (well the washer was anyhow)

The Black River looking towards the Saint Clair River

We found the cloths dryer

Day Two

Today we traveled from Put-In-Bay in the western end of Lake Erie to the Detroit Yacht Club.  We crossed Lake Erie and the entire Detroit River, a total of 60 miles in 6 hours.  The weather was cloudy and hazy but the water was calm.  Ginny piloted the whole way and she was a little tired by the end.  As you can see from one of the pictures below, I am the navigator.  The Detroit Yacht Club takes up 11 acres and was built in the early 20's.  They have about 700 members and many large boats dock there.  The weather is supposed to get bad tonight so we will see if we stay another day or move on to Port Huron which is at the southern end of Lake Huron.

 Perry's Monument at Put-In-Bay as we were leaving

 Craig the navigator extraordinaire

 The outer marker for the Detroit River

 The Detroit River Lighthouse

 The Ambassador bridge which connects Detroit to Canada

 Part of downtown Detroit and the bridge we had to go under

 The Detroit Yacht Club

A DYC member's boat that helped us get reservations at the club.

His last name is Batt so his boat is the Batt Cave

Day One is in the Books

We have finally left, I never thought it would happen.  I have been dreaming about this day ever since I read "Honey Let's Get a Boat" about 5 years ago.  We got up, went to breakfast.  Breakfast was compliments of Lisa who is the best.  We went to the grocery for a few last items and then back to the marina.  Ginny hung the flag and the neighbors came out to see us off.  One of the neighbors has done the loop twice.  We got so many great tips from them.  Bill, Karen, Bill and Susie gave us a very nice card and a bottle of local wine.  We went to another marina and filled up with fuel ($4.22 per gallon for Diesel) and then were off to our first stop at Put-In-Bay Ohio (a grand total of 20 miles).  When we docked there was another gift.  Gary and Julie got us  a very nice cheese plate that we wasted no time eating.  It was very hot and we have been to PIB many times so we just stayed on the boat and enjoyed the scenery.  We made the route to Detroit on the chart plotter and then then went into the air conditioning.  We are going to turn in early and get an early start tomorrow.

 Ginny and the Flag

 Craig and the Flag

 Lisa, Terri and Annie at Ala Carte

The best coffee and breakfast in the world

 Boat neighbors seeing us off

Bill was blowing a conch shell from one of his loops

 Needs no comment

 Coming into Put-In-Bay

 Cheese tray from Gary and Julie

 Card and wine from our boat neighbors

 Doug, thanks for the phone call and I found your next boat

 PIB has some very nice attractions

 The Crews Nest Club  at PIB

 They have their own lighthouse.

Actually this is the dock masters shop

PIB has a great mooring area

Tomorrow is the Day

This is our last day in our home port and we are anxious to get going even though we are only going 15 miles the first day. It seems like we have been saying goodbye for months now but it is nice to have so many friends to say goodbye to. Everybody has been so nice and they all say they will follow the blog so I better do a good job. Some friends from Columbus came up Yesterday and we spent the day outside in the sun and maybe drinking a few beers too. There was a beach party at the marina last night so we got to see all of our boater friends for the last time. Today we said goodbye to our dock partners for the last 9 years and some other good friends. We went to breakfast at our favorite place. Our son came up for the weekend so we got to say goodbye to our "Baby Boy".

Friends from High School

I have no idea what they are looking at

More electronic toys to play with

Saying goodbye

Doug and Janet from the boat "Argument"

Dianna and Earl at our Favorite Breakfast Place

Eva and Micah

Dave, Michelle, Julie and Gary

I Will Miss the Morning "Therapy With Bob" Sessions

Bob is the one on the Right

Boat Toys

I have been working on getting the boat ready since we launched in May. There were several things that I wanted to add. Some were necessary such as a second fixed VHF and others were a luxury such as satellite TV. The original chartplotter does not have inputs for AIS or video so I decided to use a laptop with Coastal Explorer charting software that would also accept AIS.

Satellite TV and a new over the air antenna

Laptop with Coastal Expolorer and AIS. If you look close at the bottom center of the scree there is an orange mark. That is a commercial boat that is broadcasting AIS

A new 2,800VA inverter

Of course we need a place to put the wine.

We are always looking for storage and we got this idea from our boat neighbors.

Bon Voyage Party

Well we had our final Bon Voyage party at our old marina and it was fantastic. We got to see all of our boating friends and got some wonderful gifts. We are counting down the days. Our daughter and her husband are visiting this week and next week our son will come to say goodbye.

The gifts were a surprise

My sister was kind enough to plan and host the party

Nice Cake

Great chicken and ribs prepared by Ernest

My sister even got a great banner for us

Moved on the boat and things are a mess

It was a very busy day.  We have been living with friends in Columbus and today was the day we moved out and moved on the boat full time.  We packed up the car with all of the clothes and stuff and drove to Port Clinton on Lake Erie.  As excited as we were to get settled we not only had to unload the car but we also had to move to a new dock.  Everything is in the boat but it will take days to get it all organized and put away.  As you can see from the pictures we have a ways to go.

Salon



Aft Bedroom

Forward Bedroom