Starting to relax

What an amazing week it has been so far.  As mentioned previously, we were in Port Huron on Monday night.  Getting to River Street Marina required passage through two draw bridges.  I've never used the marine radio before so it was a new experience to call the bridges and request passage on the first afternoon.  Since then, I've gotten better and proper radio protocol this week and I am doing my best to use it as we call into each marina for a slip assignment each day.  Proper radio usage will become more important later in the trip when we enter locks and approach other draw bridges on the journey.

On the way out on Tuesday morning, I took pictures of both the 7th Street and Military Street bridges as they raised for us.  Once through the two draw bridges, almost immediately we passed under the Blue Water Bridge to Canada and then out into Lake Huron.

7th Street Bridge

Military Street Bridge

Blue Water Bridge

The rest of the day up to Harbor Beach went very, very smoothly until we got to the actual marina.  We had been warned that Harbor Beach was silted in and that the State of Michigan had no funds to keep the marina dredged.  Well we got in and out but at one point on the way into the marina, we had a soft grounding on the bow of the boat in about 3' of water.  We need 5'.  After stalling the port side engine three times in the silt, on the forth attempt, Bert thrust us immediately into reverse and got us unstuck.  Whew!!!!  Once free, we filled with diesel and then they put us way out at the end of the dock and the light from the CITGO fuel sign was our "moon" for the evening as we sat at the table for dinner around 9:30 pm.  As you can see we were bigger than the fuel building.  The marina is practically deserted due to the water level and we were happy to move on Wednesday morning away from Harbor Beach.

Overnight Dock at Harbor Beach

On Tuesday on the way to Harbor Beach, I started practicing some of my navigation skills plotting course, marking time and distance.  I also started practicing using the hand bearing compass to identify navigation aids on land.  Happily, the skills I learned in Power Squadron are coming in handy and my calculations are working as expected.  I am the redundant back-up system to the high tech electronics on board with my paper charts, plotting tools, pencil, paper and calculator.  These new skills came in handy on Wednesday.

Wednesday we crossed Saginaw Bay.  We had been told to cross early, but we didn't get a very early start. The course we had chosen was a straight shot to Harrisville, but about an hour in we decided the waves that were coming from the port side were really rocking and rolling us too badly.  I used my paper chart and estimated our location in Saginaw Bay and we changed course for a more direct route to land and then followed the shoreline up to Harrisville.  I was glad I had been plotting so carefully on paper as it made the on the fly adjustment easy and we came back to land 19 miles later pretty much exactly where I wanted us to be.  This adjustment added an hour to our travel but helped us to take the waves more into the bow, but we still spent about 3 hours total rocking and rolling like crazy.  Bert and I both decided we needed seats with harnesses.  We hung on to our seats the entire trip and just watched everything go askew onto the floor.  Both CJ and Turner (the cats) got sick, a candle got broken, the shoe rack tipped over, both refrigerators flew open and their contents rolled around everywhere.  What a mess.  Fortunately, once we turned and started following the shoreline we had trailing seas and the ride was once again smooth so I could clean everything up pretty much before we arrive at Harrisville for the night.  Getting more latches for things that dont' have latches is on the list for this weekend in Mackinaw City.

Once we arrived in Harrisville, I put on my tennis shoes and went for a 4 mile run and Bert came with me on the bike.  It was nice to get off the boat for a bit.  The outboard motor for the dingy had not been mounted to Bert's satisfaction before we left and it had been tossed around on the trip so we decided to take the time to mount the outboard mount in Harrisville.  This required disassembling the bed and headboard so Bert could climb in under the swim platform to put the nuts on the back side of the bolts while I was on the swim platform tightening the bolts.  Picture below of the finished project.

Outboard Motor Mount attached on the swim platform

Today was a calm ride up to Presque Isle and we arrived right around 2:00.  This is the first day that feels a bit like vacation as I sit on the aft deck updating the blog.  It is calm and peaceful and just beautiful here.  The water is very clear.  There are a few other "loopers" here, one with a gold burgee indicating they have completed the full loop already.  Tonight we got a nice dinner out in Presque Isle with Jean and Linda, which are Dutch's wife and sister.  It was very generous and we appreciated it greatly.  Tomorrow we press onto Mackinaw City if the wind stays calm.  We are again aiming for an early start so we can arrive in Mackinaw mid afternoon.  Once in Mackinaw City, we will stay the weekend until Monday morning.