First Stop: Put-In-Bay or bust
14 August 2008 | Toledo Beach Marina, LaSalle Michigan to Put-In-Bay, South Bass Island (41o39�N x 082o49�W)
Partly Sunny N to NE winds 10-15 knots; Sunrise 6:40am/Sunset 8:45pm 3rd Quarter Moon
This morning was a little bit better organized. Coffee was on as soon as I got out of bed - last sunrise at Toledo Beach Marina, and we were up and out after finishing stowing the odd items and collecting our lines from the dock.
Our speed/distance meter on the instrument panel doesn't seem to be working. It continuously read 0.0 the entire way, but the depth and wind meters were working fine. Hmmmm.... We used the chart plotter to determine our speed and distance. Today we didn't get to sail but motored the entire way (nothing like traveling into the wind on a sailboat). Pretty uneventful traveling day 112o to W. Sister Island (a game refuge) ~18 miles, the change course to 128o for 8-10 miles to avoid the firing range (navigation is restricted in that general area if firing exercises are going on), then 97o to go between Rattle Snake and Green Islands and in to Put-In-Bay. So we figured about 35 miles at 5 knots & we'd get in in about 7 hours. We ended up doing fairly well since we motored the entire way - ave. speed 6.17, trip time 5:20.42 and distance traveled 32.87 miles.
It was kinda cool coming in here - you can see Perry's monument on the island way before you actually see the island. Perry's Victory & International Peace Memorial is a 352 ft Pink Granite monument that you can see for 20 miles away. It also has a light at the top that can be used as a guiding beacon at dark. It's quite an impressive structure and they let you climb to the top of it. We opted out of the climb this trip (I did this on a previous fieldtrip here) and decided to go for pizza and beer at the brewery here. The amber brew was a hit with me but Wayne thought there was to much hops and we both loved the pizza - they have a sauce with a lot of basil and something else that was wonderful.
Moorings here (we're on C6) are $30 a night during the week, Fri & Sat $40 and on special nights and particular moorings, closer in the price is $50 for a mooring. Call channel 10 and a water taxi comes and fetches you so you can spend money on the island and support the local economy (did I mention they have a terrific beer and pizza place? LOL) most of the tourists rent golf carts to tour the island and we saw a lot of bicyclists too. Nice island, but to be avoided unless you're really into partying and crowds on the weekends.
Almost forgot - we saw the Good Year Blimp coming over the island as we were approaching. We decided that it was heading for the Nascar race back home this weekend in Brooklyn when that place becomes the 3rd largest city in Michigan for the weekend (glad we're not there this weekend).