Easy Day on the Water

Today was a very easy day on the water. We only traveled about 20 miles from Presque Isle to Rogers City. The weather was supposed to get bad so we wanted to get in early. We were docked by 10:00. The dock masters at the last two stops have complimented Ginny on her docking ability which is great and of course I am proud of her - but what about my navigational skills? Rogers City is a little bigger that most of the previous cities so there is much more to do close to the marina. If you have followed the blog you know I broke the kitchen faucet so today I set out to get it replaced. The marina had a courtesy car that took me to an ACE hardware twice to get the parts. Ginny did laundry while I worked on the faucet. The Internet signal is not very good and the satellite TV is getting a very low signal which makes it hard to watch my soaps but I will survive. A 47' Sabre docked next to us and we met Oliver and Bill. Oliver and his wife are from Port Washington, Wisconsin and they did the loop in 2008 so we got some good advise from him. Oliver and Bill were taking the boat to New Jersey to sell. We are more than likely going to be here tomorrow due to the weather. I added a gadget to the blog today that I have been working on for the last several days. I hope you notice the google earth picture to the right which is the GPS tracks since day one. Everyday before I leave I start a new track and when we dock I stop the track. The chart plotter software lets me convert the track to a Google Earth KML file. I then have to upload the KML file to a web site and then run a script to translate that into embedded HTML code that I can copy to the blog. Let me know what you think because it does take time and you know how busy I am. We have been gone 8 days, traveled 330 miles, put 35 hours on the engines and have averaged 9.5 miles per hour.

Sunrise leaving Presque Isle

Old Lighthouse

New Lighthouse

Broken faucet

New Faucet with two trips to the store

Harbor sign

Courtesy Car

Nothing better than a Crown Vic

Limestone Quarry next to the marina

No Other Loopers Yet and a Wet Ride

We wanted to go about 55 miles today from Harrisville to Presque Isle.  We left a little later than usual, around 8:00 because the weather was supposed to get better as the day went on.  The forecast said 1-3 foot waves but I think they were more like 4's.  This could have been a turn around day but the sun was out and we felt OK but the waves were coming over the bow and keeping the windows wet.  We kind of got into the pace after about an hour or two and said if it got worse we would go to Alpena.  At first and for most of the trip the waves were on our bow which was wet but manageable but then we needed to turn west which put the waves on the starboard bow which made the boat waddle like a pig.  We got to Presque Isle about 1:00 and as has been the norm there were very few boats in the harbor.  We did pass two tall ships and 1 freighter but other than that there were not many boats out.  When we were in Port Austin we met a couple on a Grand Banks from the Saginaw Bay and the captain showed me his charts with his notes on them and he said there were fishing nets out from Middle Island we were going to pass today.  Since we knew they were there we were on the lookout and sure enough there were a ton of them.  We got around them OK but the waves were high and the buoys were short so we could have very easily ran over them.  Thank you Stuart.  Thursday is supposed to be bad weather so wherever we are tomorrow we will probably be until at least Friday.  We are planning on running a short 20 miles to Rogers City because I think it has more to do - like go to the hardware store and replace the kitchen faucet that Craig broke (See yesterdays post).

 Wet Windows

 Waves Coming Over the Bow

 Unknown Name Tall Ship

The Nina

 Presque Isle Marina

 Nice Marina

Old Lighthouse

 New Lighthouse

Ginny Coming Back From Bike Ride to New Lighthouse

Harrisville Michigan

Today we went about 45 miles from Port Austin to Harrisville.  The weather was supposed to be worse in the afternoon so we got up early and crossed Saginaw Bay.  We got to Harrisville about 11:00.  This is the first Michigan marina that we did not make reservations for because it costs $8 to make a reservation and none of the marinas have been crowed, in fact there are very few boats.  The dock attendants say that they are very seldom crowded except during the Chicago to Mackinaw race.  We got fuel and a pump out.  I didn't realize a pump out costs $10 or I would have waited.  This is our second fill up and we are getting much closer to 1 MPG than we did the first time.  We ran a little faster today, around 11.5 MPH.  There is an historic lighthouse and school house about 3 miles away.  Of course I was not going to walk that far so we asked about a courtesy car.  They said they have one but they would drive us and then we could call for a pick up when ready.  That sounded good until we called and they said they were busy and would get to us when they had a chance.  Not really sure what they were doing because there were 3 attendants and only one boat came in but what do I know.  The lighthouse was nice.  There was a gentlemen there in a tent on a ham radio talking to who knows.  We ate dinner at the local good place.  We had steaks and there were pretty good but maybe a little pricey.  Ginny has not been able to find very good red wine and these kind of places but she continues to try.  We are going to Presque Isle tomorrow which is about 50 miles away.  We have not met any loopers yet but we are looking for the flag.

 Harrisville Harbor Entrance

 The obligatory signage

 Dog Walk by the Marina

 The courtesy car

 Ginny said it was my turn for a picture

 School House from the 1800's

 Ham Radio Operator

 This is for Craig and Aaron

 Lighthouse on Sturgeon Point

 This is the kitchen faucet.  Do you see anything missing

Dinner

Real or Memorex?

First Port That We have Not Been To Before

Today is the first day that we have not traveled since we started.  I know it has only been 5 days but it seems longer.  Port Austin is a very nice small city and they had a farmers market today with over 150 vendors.  We got some things that we just could not live without (pecan rolls and scarfs for our grand dogs).  The holding tank sensor has not been working so I worked on it.  I had ordered a new one so I put that in today.  In the end I ended up with two sensors that don't work.  We took the dingy out for the first time.  I wanted to go to the beach but there were rocks and not much sand so we bagged it and drank beer.  Some stitching on one of the front window panels came loose so I decided I could sew it.  I eventually got it done but I kept wrapping the thread around a support and had to thread the needle again.  Maybe the beer had something to do with that.  We met the boat neighbors and had cocktails and dinner with them.  They were from Bay City Michigan and had some good stories.  We are going to Harrisville tomorrow which is about 45 miles across Saginaw Bay.

 Farmers Market

 Two holding tank sensors that don't work

 Where we had dinner last night

 A wedding on the beach

 Stitching the front panel

I took wood shop in high school

Lexington Michigan to Port Austin

We left Lexington today at 7:00 A.M. and decided to run about 75 miles to Port Austin. I had originally thought that we would go to Harbor Beach but we heard from multiple sources that Harbor Beach was not worth a stop. The weather was perfect and the the lake was dead calm the entire way. We went about 10.5 miles per hour and I have to tell you that going that slow is really boring. I know the blow boaters and the trawlers don't feel sorry for me but I don't care, it sucks. I realize it is the journey and not the destination but believe me I can see just as much going 20MPH as I can at 10. After about 5 hours I told Ginny we were going to go faster but then I checked the stock market and decided to stay slooooow. Port Austin is a nice little town and it suits me because the walk to town is short and the hill is not steep like at Lexington. When we came back from dinner the entire law enforcement operations in Port Austin were coming to the docks with sirens blaring. It turns out that a man was walking his dog on the break wall and the dog jumped in so the man followed. The man forgot that dogs can swim but some humans can't and apparently he was one of those. Anyway he was rescued and so was his dog so all was well. We are going to stay here tomorrow and then travel on Sunday depending on the weather.

Port Sanilac Light House

Just to show you that we really are saving the planet.

A lot of empty water

Harbor Springs Light House

Port Austin Light

Dinner at a local Italian Place

I had Ribs

The local Rescue Trucks

Look closely at the red truck, looks pretty old to me

The jumper being brought in on a jet ski

Man and his best friend

Nice town

Lexington Michigan

Today was as dry as yesterday was wet.  It was very pleasant weather, the humidity was low and temperature was in the 70's.  We fueled up and pumped out this morning and I am a little disappointed in our fuel consumption.  We have been traveling at a slower than normal speed but I am only getting about .88 miles to the gallon.  I had hoped we would be at least 1 mile per gallon.  We have only traveled 155 miles and only one fuel stop so maybe it will get better as we go.  We have put 18 hours on the engines.  We left a little later today because we did not have far to go and the weather was supposed to get better as the day went on.  Maybe we should have left earlier because as soon as we got into Lake Huron the border patrol stopped us and checked our papers.  We were also stopped yesterday and checked. Oh well they were nice and they took pictures of my boat so I took pictures of theirs.  The day at Lexington was very enjoyable and we didn't do much.  We are planning on going to Port Austin tomorrow which is about 70 miles because the weather is supposed to be good with calm seas.  For those of you that like to talk about Michigan as if it were a hand we are headed to the thumb.

 Leaving Port Huron

 Maybe the boat was not big enough to include the word Port

 The Blue Water Bridge between the U.S. and Canada

 Men at work

 Entering the port of Lexington

 Just so you don't forget where we are

The dock masters office