Holland to East Chicago!
07 September 2016 | Hammond Indiana
Joanne
Where does the time go? We have been very busy since Holland so I'll try to catch up!
We couldn't secure dock space and anchor areas weren't obvious so we decided to go for it. We were up at 2:30 am and off the dock at 3:05 am. The seas were calm and winds light. We motored the entire day with occasional boosts from the main and head sail. The approach to the Chicago area is amazing. For quite a while we couldn't see any land and we weren't really expecting to see any when all of a sudden the outline of the Chicago waterfront appeared! We were over 36 miles away when we saw it. Quite impressive. David went down for a nap when I saw a "boat" on the horizon. At first it appeared to be a sailboat then another part popped up on the horizon. A quick scan on the chart plotter confirmed on AIS that it was a ship approaching at a speed of 13 knots. It would cross our path in about 15 minutes and appeared to be crossing a little too close for comfort. David's nap was OVER!We made a few alterations and passed without incident.
We arrived at Hammond Marina in Indiana approximately 18:10. 90.8 miles.The marina is huge holding 918 boats. There are showers along the docks with private washroom/showers, laundry facilities, picnic tables. The marina is gated with keycard access and an obvious security presence. Superstore Walmart is walking distance. We happened to arrive on boater appreciation night and were promptly invited! BBQ and live band "Say Yes" They were motown and really good note for note.
September 4th Sails and furling removed and stored.
September 5th final prep for tomorrows mast unstepping.
September 6th We are right on schedule and left early to go over to the Calumet River. As if it isn't unnerving enough entering the river for the first time, a ship came out on our approach! We met up with Folly From Midland Ontario and they called the bridges to advise we were coming. Everything went smoothly with a minor delay for a few trains crossing the bridge.
We met our first tow as we were about to go under the last bridge. It was small and there were no issues.
We arrived at Skyway yacht works ready to unstep and within 1 hour had our mast on a trolley.
Once the mast and boom were wrapped and labelled we headed back to Hammond for the night. We are officially a powerboat!
September 7th We installed the temporary mast anchor light and VHF antenna. The weather remains hot in the mid 30's. We finished off the day changing all the fuel filters, racor and an oil change.
I will try to post pictures tomorrow.