08/27/2010, Harbor Beach, MI
We decided to make up a couple of days by doing an over night passage. We left DeTour Village yesterday morning and arrived at Harbor Beach, MI at around 8:30 this morning. We motored the entire way, 23 hours. This helped to make up 3 days. Until around 2:30 this morning we had the wind at the stern so we were surfing going around 7.5 mps then changed and had waves at our bow going about 4.5 mph until we arrived here this morning. Bill did the 8:00 pm to 1:30 am watch, I did the 1:30 am to 5:30 am watch , then both of us for the last couple of hours. Neither one of us got much sleep so we are a little warn out today. First thing after getting settled in was go have breakfast. We had our usual breakfasts - huge portions at half the price we usually pay. The marina has courtesy bikes so we biked into town to look around after letting the breakfast settle.
We thought we were going to ground coming into the harbor - depth gauge reading 3.5 feet (we draw 5) but turned out there was plenty of depth just all the tall weeds in the water causing the discrepancy. Nice marina with helpful staff.
The sailboat next to us had to call BoatU.S. to come from Sanilac (around 35 miles away) to tow him - he got one of his lines wrapped around his prop and bent the shaft. First thing I did was check our towing coverage to verify I had it changed to Unlimited coverage. Luckily the times we have been grounded we were able to either kedge off ourselves or another helpful boater has come to our aide so we haven't needed to pay for towing (knock on wood). With all the rivers and canals coming up with our luck it will probably be a good thing that I had the insurance changed.
|
Comments [0]
08/25/2010, DeTour Village Harbor
We are currently in DeTour Village Harbor, waiting for the next weather window. It looks like we may be here until Thursday or Friday. We had a great trip coming from Sault Ste. Marie. We were a little nervous when the first tanker passed but after the 5th one it was almost routine, well not quite. Lots of good pics.
DeTour Village is a very nice little town, with 3 pubs/restaurants, a grocery store and a couple of little gift shops all within easy walking distance to the marina. Marina staff is very helpful (unlike George Kemp Marina) and marina is well maintained.
|
08/23/2010, Sault Ste. Marie, MI
We are at the George Kemp Municipal Marina in Sault Ste. Marie. We went through the MacArthur lock at around 2:00 today. Must have been a slow day today, did not pass a single tanker from White Fish Point to the locks. We locked-thru behind a Soo Lock Tour boat. Did get banged around a little initially, the lock line handlers were slow to throw us a stern line and the bow banged into the lock wall. Luckily, no real damage just a couple of scrapes on the bow pulpit. Oh well, we gave the people on the tour boat a chance for some good pics. Walked into town and had dinner at a Mexican/American Bar/Restaurant, feeling a little ill at the moment!
|
08/21/2010, Grand Marais, MI
Bill just added a picture gallery - located on the right hand side of the page.
|
08/20/2010, Grand Marais, MI
Well, we had one good weather day. Made it to Grand Marais, MI yesterday and here we sit. We might make it out of here on Sunday. Rain off and on all day and high winds all day. The boat is getting pushed against the dock wall and we are not happy campers. My son has decided to jump ship - he called his Dad and asked him to drive here from Marquette tomorrow to get him, I would too if I was him! Looks like what was supposed to be 4 days from Marquette to Sault Ste. Marie is turning into a minimum of 10 days.
Grand Marais is a nice little resort town with a small grocery store and 2 bars. It does, however, have the world famous Pickle Barrel House museum. That was our excitement for the day. It actually was a cute little house apparently built for William Donahey who wrote 'Teenie Weenie' comic strip from 1914 to the 1970's. It looks just like two huge pickle barrels.
We did discover today while doing some research on the internet concerning the Soo Locks that the Canadian lock is closed and will not reopen until next year. According to both our cruising guidebooks the Canadian lock is the preferred lock for recreational boats since the American side is primarily for commercial traffic. Looks like we will be playing boat-tag with the big boys!
That's all the news from exciting Grand Marais.
|
Pam and Dan
08/16/2010, MURRAY BAY, GRAND ISLAND, MUNISING, MI
We are sitting in Murray Bay waiting for the wind to die down. Arrived Saturday August 14th and have been unable to leave due to the high winds and seas. High meaning, Lake Superior winds gusting up to 40 knots and waves to 17 feet!! Luckily we are not out there and are safely tucked in this little bay with great protection and good holding (so far, cross our fingers). We have both cell phone and wifi connections which makes it a little less boring while we sit and wait. It looks like we could be here another 2-3 days.
My son, Chris, is with us. He just purchased a new iphone so he is playing with that downloading a bunch of free applications. We ran our Honda generator for the first time yesterday to charge the battery bank. Works great and is not too noisy. Even if it was, we would be the only ones to hear it since we are alone in this anchorage. When we arrived on Saturday both Chris and Bill went for a swim. Water temp was 72 which is warm for Lake Superior.
We are anchored near a wreck - believe it is about a 120 foot schooner. Yesterday there was 3 glass bottom boat tours that showed up to see it along with a dive boat. Believe it will be too windy today for anyone to show up.
Looks like it will be a movie day, staying below out of the wind as much as possible.
|
