Day 65 - Mon 1 Aug 2016
Docked – Sturgeon Bay, WI

[photo: one of the interesting decorations in the C dock grill area]

Once the wakes settled down in the late evening, we had a restful night. We awoke very early (Diane was up before me) and then slipped the mooring at 0650 to head S to Sturgeon Bay. The water was flat calm and it was a boring, yet enjoyable, ride. It was easy to read a page of my book, look up to check our surroundings, and repeat.

Midway through the 3 hour run, we defrosted the fridge and freezer, which was one less thing to do once we arrived. We took our assigned slip at the Harbor Club Marina with 3 feet to spare between us and the other boat in our well (the space between two finger piers that is room for two boats). There were no dockhands to help, but the boater in the adjacent slip was happy to assist.

Diane did not get a good start to her experience here when she checked in and found out all the washing machines were inoperative. She was doing this unusual duty of checking in because within 10 minutes of arrival, I was getting the gear ready to change the oil and filters in both engines. It should be done when the oil is fairly hot so that it flows better. It took a little over an hour to accomplish that with the A/C blasting to keep me comfortable while working on the hot engines.

After that, Diane did her cleaning of the interior while I attacked the mess the bugs had made on the exterior over the past several days. Scrubbing the boat took more than an hour and then we got showers and called the local taxi service for a ride to the grocery store. There was a mix-up about the pickup location, but a phone call got that straightened out.

We found everything we needed and at very fair prices. We bought a bit more protein than usual and had trouble deciding what to cook and eat first. We finally decided to have grilled medium-rare tuna steaks, with the pork tenderloin saved for another meal and a pork stir-fry. You can see why we don’t eat out much.

Once all the new provisions were stowed, it was mid-afternoon and we got our stuff together to walk up to the adjacent condominium/resort pool. We only knew about it because some nice boaters a few slips away told us about it. It was a nice pool and probably at 82F, which is a delightful temperature for me and actually adequate for Diane for short durations. Naturally, I found several people to converse with and had some delightful reminiscences about life on the NJ shore in my youth.

It was only 1730 local (CDT) time, but we were still on EDT and we were getting hungry, so we walked back and I got the supper prepped. While I was stepping onto the dock with the meat to grill, the nice boater neighbor, John, came over and offered us a large portion of smoked trout since they were leaving the boat and it would not keep for the week. We gratefully accepted and had a long chat with him. Diane tasted it later and said it was very good.

Each dock has its own little community spot with several gas grills, a sun covering, interesting decorations, and picnic tables. With it being a Mon, I had the place all to myself as I grilled first the pork tenderloins for later use and then the tuna steaks for tonight. Back at Diva Di, Diane had the rest of the stuff warmed and ready to go and we enjoyed a delicious meal. The tuna steak was wonderful, cost $8 and we only ate half of it – such a deal!

With dinner done, Diane was content to read and I walked back up to the pool with a beverage and my book. There were several families with young, energetic kids still there, but within 20 minutes I was the only one there. It pays to eat early and take advantage when everyone else is getting ready for supper. I enjoyed that for a while until the sun got too low in the sky to read and then headed back to Diva Di.

Diane was already asleep, and I read until bedtime. Tomorrow, we have several boat chores left to do and we’ll see what else we decide we can fit in.