Hurray, We are on Our Way Again, Surona lives!

All of the work was finalized on Friday (yesterday) They finally ended up bringing in a 70 Ton crane to lift the boat. By about 4:00 pm the boat was fixed. New shaft, the rudder back on, the propeller back on and the motor re-alligned. She runs like a dream. The spare prop is a little smaller than the old damaged one so we can't go quite so fast. We will need a new one when we get to Pickwick.

We started to put everything back together only to find that the one board that is the access to the engine compartment through the cockpit and the screen for the companionway were missing. They were sitting on the dock while the work was being done and they must have blown off . Peter looked and looked and had almost given up. After breakfast this morning we thought we would take a look along some of the other docks and there they both were together, floating just off the shore. We sure were happy to see them. It just seemed like one more challenge before we could get underway.

We are now at Cuba Landing Marina. Only about 20 miles from Pebble Isle. Would have liked to gone further but the next marina was 4 hours away and it was too close for comfort for the remaining daylight hours. Everything has to be planned for sufficient daylight hours. There are so few. You have to wait for the fog to burn off and quite often that is 9:00 o'clock. That only leaves about 9 hours of running time and at 5 to 6 knots that only gives you 30 to 50 miles of travel each day. The marinas are not always conveniently located at those intervals. We are getting spoiled by marinas that supply our little heater with power. The thought of waking up to freezing temperatures makes us look for electricity at every stop now. No longer do we wish to brave anchorages as winter approaches. Cheryl is getting too old for this.

We have about eighty five miles to go till we get to Pickwick Lake where we have to see about getting a new prop and having the bottom painted with special paint that comes off when barnacles attach themselves to it. we will also try to store the boat here for a couple of months till we return in January. We would have liked to have gone farther south but our insurance won't cover us until after tornado season so we would have to wait till the 15th and commitments at home are making us return so now is as good a time as any. We hope to see our friends from "Yesterdays Dream" here before we return.

It is nice to get back on the road again. Two weeks is a long time to watch the seasons get ahead of us.

That is it for today.

Pete and Cheryl reporting from the sailing vessel "Surona".

Pebble Isle Marina, The Saga Continues

Here we sit. Waiting.

The new shaft is expected to arrive mid week - Wednesday.

Randy the marina manager has suggested that he get his friend with a crane to come and lift the boat so that it is easier to work on. That is scheduled to happen on Friday. Looks like we have another 4 days or more.

This morning Steve and Linda called to say that Chattanooga is everything that everyone has said about a wonderful destination. They want to share it with us and have suggested that we get a rental car and join them for part of their trip back. Apparently the 60 miles or so close to Chattanooga is outstanding.

The partially formulated plan is that we will rent a car and drive to Scottsboro Alabama. They will rent a car and join us there. We can leave our car at Scottsboro. Return with them to their boat in Chattanooga. Enjoy the trip for a couple of days with them back to Scottsboro. We can then return to our boat.

Wow, what Great friends.

We'll see if we can put this together and make it happen.

We're BAAAACK, Pebble Isle Marina

We took a week and went home for Lorna's 87th birthday and Peter's 60th and it was our 40th Wedding Anniversary. We had the family in for dinner and had a great time together. Everyone brought something so it was a huge organized pot luck dinner.

Visited with friends, Brian and Carolyn Handy and Harry and Donna Schepers on the Saturday night before the family dinner. It was great to see everyone again, even if the time was too short.

We got back to the boat on Wednesday. Had a terrific drive with all of the fall colors so vibrant. We took a short side trip down the Land between the Lakes (Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake) We wished we had more time to take in some of the attractions.

When we returned to the marina - they said they were unable to get the boat out of the water. They tried for 3 hours, but they needed another 6 inches of water. They waited for our return to make some decisions of how to proceed.

Peter asked them to check the starter. It seemed to take a long time to turn over. It is OK.

As they couldn't pull the boat out, we then needed a diver to come and do the work. It is a process of elimination. We have a spare Gori prop so we wanted to change the prop to see if the problem was the prop or a bent shaft. (We did hit a deadhead on the Mississippi) (You just can't miss all of the debris, all of the time) It took 4 guys for this process. The diver and his assistant, and the mechanic and his assistant. 4 guys for one full day. This took a full day to replace the prop. When we tested it, we found that the shaft definitely was bent. So now the propeller has to come off and they determined that the rudder must come off so the shaft can come out. Peter worked for another hour or so after all of the workers left to get the rudder unhooked so it could come off the next morning.

One of the local boaters had arranged for some fresh Maine lobsters to be shipped in for a feast. I think they are all feeling so bad for us that they invited us to join them. Whatever the motivation, we did not turn down a lobster dinner. What a bonus. Fresh lobster dinner. The first of the trip.

It is now the next day. The same 4 guys show up again. The shaft came out fairly easily. We took it to a machine shop that said we needed a new one. Being as this is Friday we probably won't get another one till Monday at the earliest.

Everyone is so good here. They treat us really good and are so helpful. They are really sorry that it is taking so long to get this done. It would have been quicker if we could have had the boat pulled out, but that can't happen. So you do what you have to do to get the job done. The bill for this must be adding up quite quickly. Kaching, Kaching. Randy, the marina manager, has just told Peter that we should probably make a claim with our insurance as he expects that this will be around $2,000.

The good thing is we are eliminating a number of things, and hopefully the shaft will fit when it comes.

We are only about 2 days travel from the 35th parallel where we have to stay for insurance purposes as we are not covered below this area. Whether we spend some time here or at the Pickwick Dam/Grand Harbour area makes no difference to us. Peter was suggesting that perhaps we take some time and go to Nashville or we could just take it easy on the boat and get caught up on our reading. Decisions, Decisions. Perhaps we should go to Memphis and tour Elvis' home.

Another hardship is that each morning they make fresh cinnamon buns and coffee for the boaters. I have great resolve in the middle of the night not to have a sticky bun, BUT come the morning when Peter asks if we should go for our sticky buns......all my resolve disappears and I find myself walking up to the marina building for my morning treat.

Green Turtle Bay Marina

We finally made it to Green Turtle Bay Marina.

We have been off line for awhile and have finally got hooked back up with our Verizon. I don't think they can make it any more difficult. Then finally you get to talk to someone in the US and it is done instantly. Not that I think Ma Bell would have been any better.

We left Hoppie's Marina ...... and might I say that is using the term marina very generously. It is 3 barges hooked together and tied off to the shore. Hoppies wife Fern sits all the boaters down in the evening and tells them the challenges as we proceed down the Mississippi. Beware "diving" red buoys. The currents can be so strong that the red buoys are pulled down and then they will suddenly rise to the surface. Bends with weir dams that increase the turbulence as you proceed around the corner and warnings of specific areas to be sure not to meet any tow traffic as there isn't enough room. She also tells of the best anchorages along the way.... as there are no marina's. 5 days with no shower and water so dirty you wouldn't consider swimming in it. There is a reason the Mississippi is called "the big muddy"

When you are not calling tows/barges to avoid them, watching out for the turbulence, diving red buoys, you need to be watching for debris in the water. Some debris is small, and others are entire tree trunks floating along. We were trying to call to the other boats to warn them at one time and Peter finally said to much debris to warn them about. Numerous deadheads all around. Every captain for himself or herself.

When there is a lot of rain the Mississippi rises and brings a lot of crap down with it. Now the good side to this is that the current was 5 to 6 knots so we were travelling at about 10knots + on average with spurts of 11 and then one day we hit 12.2. Surona has not gone that fast ever. And this isn't some sailors story either..... we have pictures.

Now we have to catch you up on where we have been. We continued down the Mississippi to Kaskaskia Lock. Free docking here. Tied up for the night on the lock wall. It was very quiet and peaceful. I think only one barge went thru during our entire stay.

The next day was about a 60 mile day and we stayed at Little Diversion Channel. The current is so strong that it is a real challenge to get into the channel. And to make it a little more challenging there is a fishing boat almost mid channel that we have to try to avoid hitting. We pulled right off the river into this picturesque and very quiet and still channel. It was nice to be anchored out of the current and away from the barge/tow traffic. We have been seeing barges with 30, 35, and the largest one had 42 barges in its fleet. These boys push a lot of water.... and you do not want to be close to their wake. We counted 14 rollers in the wake of one of the barge boats. What a sight, and a true experience. Barge captains are really courteous for the most part. One day when I was calling a barge for directions on how h e wanted us to meet him..... he very curtly informed me "he was not a barge, he was a tow". Well EXCUSE ME. They all look the same to me.

Then they anchor these fleets of barges out in the channel also, so it is very difficult to know if they are moving or anchored. One afternoon I was calling for directions; only to hear this growly voice tell me he thought I was talking to some anchored barges as he had looked up and down the river and couldn't see anything coming. It was good of him to let me know, but how embarrassing. Oh Well.

Fern from Hoppies had suggested we anchor at mile 7.7 on the Mississippi at Boston Bar under the I-57 bridge. This would have left us still subject to all of the wake from the barge traffic all night and the current. We decided to push on through and get into the Ohio River. When we were entering the Ohio the first thing you notice is the difference in the color of the water. It is very noticeably much cleaner and in fact it is like there is a line in the water.... it goes from really muddy (the Mississippi) to not so bad (the Ohio) The next thing you notice is your speed has dropped significantly. Now you average about 5 +knots. Now we are going upstream into a modest 1 knot current (thankfully). 17 miles up the Ohio the last lockmaster told us we could tie to some cells at the new Olmsted Dam. The dam is still currently under construction and will not be completed to 2013. Another very peaceful night.

We continued up the Ohio and anchored at the Cumberland Island Towhead which is where the Ohio and Cumberland River join. This was a very long day. When we got to Dam 53 we were told by the lockmaster that he had 44 barges on his schedule and he would try to work us in. We had to wait over 4 hours for our turn. By the time we got thru it was touch 'n go whether we had time to make the anchorage. We made it just in time. By the time we were anchored and grabbed a bottle of wine and got settled on the bridge of Yesterday's Dream .....it was dark. 6:30 to 7:00 pm it is dark. The sun has set completely.

The Cumberland River is more what I thought the trip was going to be like. A bright sunny day, temperature about 85 degrees, a lazy meandering river, and best of all no BARGES!!!! We are totally enjoying the Cumberland. Only one lock today. Yeah! And we only had to wait about 40 minutes. Not bad at all. Barkley Lock and Dam. We were locked up 57 feet. This is the highest lift we have had so far. There is a higher one coming up on the Tennessee River.

And now we are at Green Turtle Bay Marina. A true marina. 420 slips. And there is an order or priority as you enter after anchoring out for so long.... pump out, fuel, and fresh water... "and where did you say the showers are???"

It is more like a resort. Restaurants, Spa, SHOWERS, and laundry facilities, condos. We will probably stay here for 3 nights. They have a courtesy van and we have been to town, which is Paduca, two times already. The marina is close to a small town..... Grand Rivers, but the next large shopping area is Paduca.

We have fresh groceries, and the laundry is almost done. Three loads today. The last load can wait till tomorrow.

We went to the local theatre tonight to hear "storytellers" Two different storytellers; and their style was very different from each other. Very entertaining. Steve and Linda invited us back to their boat for Apple Crisp and Ice Cream. A great way to end the day.

It's 12:30 am and I really need to get some sleep as tomorrow will come very quickly.

"St Louis" french word for tidal waves behind barges

Steve and Linda have to hook up with his niece for a while so we head for Hoppe's Marina twenty miles south of St. Louis. We were made to wait while the lockmaster lowered an empty lock to pick up a tourist paddle wheeler, bring it up and when he let us in what does he put in behind us? Only The "Mary Ann". A cutsy name for a couple of million tons of barge that never really seems to stop inching forward even after they tie it off with a huge line. The line makes stretching noises while I tell Cheryl "If that line doesn't hold this thing off jump into the recess that holds the floating bollard. I don't want to be aboard while they crush my boat". If the line had snapped we were directly in it's path. Maybe they do this all the time but it was a little unnerving. We got out of that lock and headed down a Canal called Line of Stones that bypassed a long area of rapids. I'll bet we could have made it in a trawler! At the end of this canal another lock before we get back in the Mississippi. This time I tried it on the wrong entrance and was told to keep the huge wall to my starboard so I turned around and hurried to the correct entrance. Maybe this was the one where they put the barge in behind us. It doesn't matter. It was spooky.

We got out of that lock and started into the mainstream of the St Louis section of the Mississippi. Here I was running point meeting a barge that seemed to be barreling upstream quickly. I didn't know that the other two boats behind me had spread out a bit instead of following in line. Sometimes we have to dodge the odd log or branch so they get spread out. Cheryl called the barge captain to ask instructions on how we were going to meet him. He got a little pissy and told her he was a tow captain, not a barge captain and that if these three boats would follow in line it would be easier to pass. We were taking up a good chunk of the river. I started to head to my starboard to pass him on the opposite side when he said I didn't have to do that but I was already on my way cutting across in front of him. From behind it looked like I might be a little late with this decision. Timing is everything. I got across ok but he was really pouring the coal to this raft going upstream in five knots of current. I encountered my first mega wake. I was fairly close to him. So far this trip I hadn't found one like this. Maybe he was in a rush, maybe he was teaching me a lesson. He was putting out about a four foot wake of not gentle bow ripples but thrashing turbulence similar to Niagra Falls (seems like). There were not the usual four or five waves to cross but what seemed like a quarter mile of short hammering hydraulics like you get at the bottom of a chute when you are whitewater rafting. There was no danger but it got a little hectic and I gained a lot of respect for these big guys. The next one I met seemed bigger. I think he had around forty barges and a huge tow pushing them. I gave him a lot more room and I didn't try to cut across his wake. I just avoided him. This worked better but still wild. I wondered why people were in such a rush to get off this stretch of the trip. Now it is crystal clear.

Cheryl was calling ahead to a barge asking for directions on which side to pass. Only to be told by another barge captain on the shore that he thought she was talking to anchored barges. He couldn't see anything coming around us. Slightly embarrassing. Better safe and embarrassed than sorry and in trouble.

We spent a day tied up to some old barges that act as a marina south of St. Louis. They have quite a history dating back to 1932. The lady here gives little lessons on where it is safe to anchor to avoid the big barges. How to stay to the inside of the curves because the barges take up so much room as they come up and down the river day and night. The river here is maybe a quarter of a mile wide and is flowing at five knots. Just a huge amount of water. With 150 miles of Mississippi ahead of us before we turn up the Ohio we feel we too would like to get out of the way of these big monsters as soon as possible.

We had a sinfull breakfast (sticky buns with pecans and syrup as well as egg casserole) and went looking for boat parts for Surona. I'd like to get a spare water pump impeller. They had nothing in stock but we got a new hand held vhf so I can talk directly to the Tow captains. Jim bought two big white bumpers which he and Linda had to carry around all day as we did the tourist thing in St. Louis. We went up the Great Arch and ate at the old train station which was the largest in the US when it was moved. I am back on Surona playing with my new VHS radio about to turn in.

Grafton...Indian word for "River goes faster than my truck"

Just got things working with Verison again! Here we are in Grafton. No problems. Great weather. As we were leaving our anchorage in Havana I noticed a railway that looked more like a roller coaster. It ran downhill for a couple of hundred yards and suddenly turned up towards the sky and stopped. Wow, must have been early attempts at space exploration. Just as we were passing it a rail car came shooting out of a building accelerating towards the ramp. It raced up the ramp and slowed to a stop. It then began a reverse direction, rolled back, I presume having switched to a parallel track and stopped back up beside the building it had emerged from. Great way to quickly get rid of empty cars while the next one is setting up for unloading.

Thirty five miles later Selah and Surona anchored out behind Bar Island. We jumped into the dinghies and headed for Beardstown for an early dinner. Linda, from Selah couldn't resist the opportunity to get a little fishing in. One of those ugly Ninja carp jumped right into her dinghy! Like any good wife she blamed Jim and told him to get rid of it. We took pictures and after bleeding in the dingy for a while the fish went back into the thin mud they call the Illinois River. Meanwhile Steve in Yesterdays dream was trying his hand at anchoring from an upstream approach. Having tried this earlier in Ottawa I can attest to the loss of self esteem you endure while you try to attach lines and the river pulls you around, making you look like a circus clown. As Jim waited for a bridge to open he backed up on his tow line for the dingy and sliced it. Cheryl got ahold of it with a pike pole and we towed it to the anchorage. We enjoyed pie and Ice cream on Yesterday's Dream before heading back to our boats. We told Linda "No More Fishing!

The next day we travelled about sixty four miles. A long day but the "Illinois Riverdock" was worth it. Good people, great food, aligator, Walleye, Brisket, Pork Steak, and Chicken and dumplings. I forgot to mention the Homemade Bumbleberry pie.

Next, twenty miles to Grafton where we meet up with the Mississippi River which seems to be twice the size of the Illonois and flowing at twice the speed we had become accustomed to. You could smell the fish sweating! Or that may be me, It's been a couple of days since my last shower.

Looks like rain. Maybe I'll get that shower I need.

Peoria to Havana

We got away from the dock around eight or a little later. We had to get to the lock fairly soon. The lock master said get here ASAP and we will see what we can do for you. We could see that a barge was being locked down and we were told we were next so we thought it would be a good idea if we tied up to a barge that was parked close by. First it was Selah, then us, then some strangers and then some more strangers. Then along came one of the shuttle barges and told us to untie. They said since 9\11 they had strict laws against tying up to these barges. The man took me aside and apologized. He said he knew that no sailboaters would ever cause any problems but that trawlers...well you just can never tell.

Jim didn't tie his boat to the ropes this time and the whole day was pretty uneventfull. We sailed down to Havanna where Steve and Linda served a meal fit for a king. Linda Murray didn't fall at all today. Cheryl spent a lot of time fighting with Verizon since they cut her phone off. They may cut off the Phone stick also so there may be no more Blogs for a while til we get this straightened out. Thanks to the Lorties for the notes on the charts! We were able to anchor in a spot they had indicated just North of Havanna since the Marina there was down to about three and a half feet at the entrance. Another friend called and reported to us that the Mississippi was up thirteen feet running at six knots with tons of garbage and trees floating down. We are hoping that this will subside in a couple of days since we will be there in about a week and we don't want to have to wait too long till it is safer. The clock is ticking and I keep humming "Water turns cold and gets to freezin, before you even know it the old girls easin away from her birth, around the point and out of our view. That and "When it's Springtime in Alaska its forty below. Buenos Nochas!

The computer says we have no belts for you!

The little dock at Henry Island was definitely at the right place at the right time. We needed a little time out of the rain and a nice place to eat after a little stress of towing Surona down the river. The Bar/Restaurant had a unique collection of Bras hanging in the rafters. It must have been a hot day when all the women decided to take them off and throw them up there! As we left Linda became enthralled by the sight of a barge coming down the River in the dark with his bright searchlight on. She was so taken with the sight she stepped into the air on part of the sidewalk, did a slow spin, bouncing off the handrail and fell on the rocks below us. She says she wasn't hurt. I gave her a 6.5 for artistic creativity but only a 6 for execution. I feel she could have done the whole thing faster and cleaner!

I took Surona's water pump off. It didn't take long since the belt that drives it was lying in shreds on the bottom of the engine department. There were no parts available in Henry on a Sunday. Cheryl had caught a cold so she just wanted to nap after breakfast. After church Linda (hereafter referred to as Crazylegs Murray) tripped over a piece of sidewalk and went down again. I couldn't see any improvement in her routine. She is OK!

We left Surona tied on to the side of Selah because she rode well there. Jim says she was about as hard to pull as his dingy. We were on our way down this muddy, fish infested river (they are still jumping like idiots all around us). Our next stop was Cillicouthy. Here we wern't sure how deep the water was at the town dock. We will probably never know since we went to ground fifty feet away. Surona stopped and Selah took a sudden turn to the right. We continued the turn, powered up a bit and drove back out into the channel. The next time Selah grounded out first. We all stopped. Selah went up a bit but she backed off and we drove back out into the channel. We spied an old twisted wharf a little downstream. It looked like something big used to tie up here so we inched our way in and disturbed a couple of fishermen by parking right in front of them. People love to hear our story of heading down stream to Alabama! One of the fishermen offered to take us up to a local Automotive store that was open on Sunday to see if they had a belt for Surona. One man at the counter checked through his computer and several large catalogues only to announce that they didn't have a nineteen inch belt. The other man walked to the back and came back with a nineteen and a twenty inch belt. I bought them both. What a relief! An hour and a half later Surona was gushing water out the back again. I had topped up the oil in the motor and the transmission, cleaned out the water strainer, tightened up the fanbelt, we had pushed off from the old pilings and separated from the command module. We were once more blasting our way southward at 6.5 knots with fish leaping around us.

Almost like stepping back in time we came upon an entrance to what seemed like a graveyard for Paddle Wheelers. It was at the entrance to our next overnight dockage. It seems that for some reason these old veterans were parked here and forgotten, only to slowly fade away along with the millions of stories I'm sure they harbor. The one at the entrance had been an old gambling boat and was still stately. I'm sure she was something to see in her youth.

We pulled out in the morning and rambled on down I think for ten or twelve miles to the town of Preoria, world headquarters for Caterpillar. They tell us that it is well over a hundred miles till we can buy more diesel fuel. I bought a new can and filled up Surona and the cans. Jim bought new batteries for Selah. I could tell Linda was so proud to have new batteries. On the way down the river today I saw the first true signs of intelligent life... a sailboat. The fish keep jumping! The fishermen here have devised a way of setting nets and circling the fish, getting them all excited and I guess they swim into the nets and are captured. Someone told us that they get about 25 cents each for them and they are ground up for cat food and dog food. At least someone has found some use for them! There are millions of them. They are ugly.

Holy jumpin Carp

The sky was blue,without a cloud around 8o'clock in the morning when we called the lockmaster at Starved Rock Lock. He said hold off for an hour before leaving Ottawa and since he was about an hour down stream that meant it would be around ten before we could get locked down. We went for a little walkabout in downtown Ottawa. We grabbed some breakfast and got back down to the ROTARY dock in time to set sail. Nothing of note happened. We went through the lock unscathed except for Jim who temporarily tied the line they heave to you to hold you close to the lock wall to his boat. As the water level went down Jim's boat took on an unhealthy lean. He had to leap forward and unsheath his trusty sailor's knife slicing the unwanted appendage. I think he should send some money to the Army Corps of Engineers to buy a new rope.

After leaving the lock I stepped it up a bit to get around a barge. I must have stepped it up a little too much or something plugged my water intake because the sound of my exhaust took on a much different sound. No water was circulating through the motor! My alarm sounded and I shut her off. There we were,dead in the water in the middle of the Illinois River at three o'clock in the rain. I had to call on my life support team "Selah" who turned back and hooked on to me and started to tow me down the river. After a little jerking around we finally agreed on how to do this without me running into them. We did this for only a few moments and the Ninja carp we had heard about started jumping all around the boat. Quite a spectacle, I never thought that I would see this actually happen. I guess the boat frightens them and they start jumping in all directions as you pass over a school. This went on for a while but we couldn't get them to jump at the same time as Cheryl snapped a picture so you will have to take my word for it.

Yesterday's Dream overheard about our dilemma and called to see how they could help. Everything seemed to be under control. Steve and Linda went ahead to Henry's Harbour Marina to make arrangements for our arrival. They called back to say they had a number of hands on the dock to help.

Thanks for all of the people that make up the Surona support team.

As we got closer to this next marina I tied on beside Jim and he brought me right in to the dock just like he had been doing it all his life. So here we are, Selah tied to the dock with me hitching a ride, rafted, waiting to see if we can get some parts tomorrow. For some reason just a few random remarks pertaining to "trawler trash" some time in my distant past has prompted these people to take multiple pictures of my unfortunate dillema. They seem to be enjoying this and something tells me I will be reminded of this for some time. What turns people mean like that?

Muddy River (seems to be getting cleaner)

Our troop has temporarily grown to seven. It consists of one flashy sailboat, five trawlers and one wild man in a sport fishing boat who really rattled us in the lock yesterday. He came screaming in forcing all the other boats to bounce and almost bang into each other. We all dropped him from our Christmas card list!

A barge got into trouble and had to be disassembled in the lock ahead so we had to wait for a while before starting out. We were a little late getting unhooked when another barge coming downstream got ahead of us and we had to pass him. We had to follow him for a ways. They warn us not to follow too closely because the tugs churn up a lot of trash off of the river floor. It becomes more difficult when you have to stick to him to get under the bridges before they close and try to get around and pass him. I took up the rear guard and we three tardy souls passed him on his port side. Shortly thereafter we came around a corner with another tug pushing a bunch of barges. The other boats passed him on starboard and I thought that was a good idea until he came towards me faster than I had anticipated and the space between him and me and a parked barge began getting narrower and narrower. He called to tell me that I should have taken his starboard side to pass on because there was more room there but now that I had committed to my move I should hold my course. I'll bet he is still sweating just thinking about the damage my 12,000 pound fiberglass sailboat might have done to his mega ton barge! Let that be a lesson to him! Maybe next time he will plan things just a little better.

The wind still seems to find us, even on the river. We forged forward in at least thirty knot winds, mostly right on the nose. for about seven hours and "Yesterdays Dream" who was lead boat in our group (now back down to three) arranged accommodations in a surprisingly modern facility right on the river. I don't think that they have much of a future since they don't have a single sailboat here....unless you count the flashy one tied up at the gas dock with a Whisker pole for a mast. I think the owner was holding back a salute when he caught my lines...sort of like those people on "Cracker Bay" who wanted me to come aboard but were too shy to approach me. But enough about me! We cooked steaks on a picnic table, drank some wine told some stories (sometimes I think Cheryl talks a bit too much) and we tucked in. Man it is getting dark here before eight o'clock and it is still about eighty five degrees. That is supposed to whip back to seventy for tomorrows high. Cheryl is getting her long red underware out. nite nite

Oh by the way we have gone through four locks totaling 3', 40', 35' and 20' give or take. I think my ears just popped!

So long Chicago (It's been five days)

I can't get enough of this town. We went to see Billy Elliot last night. We spent all day and part of the previous one in the Museum of Science and Industry. We think we finally have the street car system figured out. The smells coming out of the restaurants leave you drooling like a fool. The "Bears" are coming to play soon and they say the town goes crazy with tailgate parties. Our marina is a stonesthrow from Soldiers Field. No wonder this is Frank Sinatra's kind of town!

If we don't leave soon we may never pry ourselves away so at eight o'clock this morning we pumped out the boat and headed down the Illinois River, through our first lock and under at least five hundred bridges. Surona took point and guided the trawlers through thru the congestion of the Chicago, Illinois and Des Plaines rivers. Around 3:30, after weaving our way through between hundreds of full and empty barges being pushed up and down through the most stinking water known to man we tied up in Jolliett about forty miles south west of Chicago. Linda from "Selah" fed us her down home version of Shrimp and Grits the way (almost) those folks from Edisto Island in South Carolina make them.

Few people who haven't seen this would believe that such huge amounts of goods get pushed and pulled up and down this river daily. It keeps you on your toes to avoid conflict with them or the bottom or the walls in the locks or some of the idiots on the River.

We see a few fish jumping but we can't tell if they are Ninja Carp or the regular three toed four eyed catfish that evolve in these waters. We have passed through the Electric fences that are supposed to stop the carp from gaining access to the great lakes. So the pressure is off. We have passed the only thing that would have stopped us for any length of time. They are going to close the canal on Oct 1 for some improvements to the fish fences.

We really miss the clean water of the great lakes.

Chicago Fireworks

I forgot to tell you about the fireworks last night. Apparently they do fireworks every Wednesday and Saturday night. We were walking back from dinner aboard Trusty III and watched the most amazing fireworks. They went on and on for about 15 minutes. When we started watching we thought by the amount that it must have been the grand finale. But no - they put on a great fireworks display. A lot of them we had never seen before. And fireworks over water is something to see.

And me without my camera.

"Chicago is Our Kind of Town"

What a City! This will be one of the largest cities we will see and visit on our trip.

The 11 to 12 mile trip from Crowley's on the Calumet River to Chicago was good under a bright sun. The 7 foot waves from the previous afternoon and evening had calmed down to 5 to 6 foot rollers that were well spaced out. Up one side and surf down the other. Rock and roll. Now we know what it will be like on the ocean. We now know what it is like to be a trawler. They are teasing us that we are "trawler wannnabe's" The boat certainly does move differently without the mast and sails.

We have tied up in Burnham Harbor Trusty III is here also. What a harbor this is - it has about 1600 slips. Boats of every shape and size. It is close to the public transit system and you can ride for $14. for 3 days. We have paid to stay here for 3 nights and plan to take in as much of the tourist activities as possible.

Security is great .... each finger dock has its own locked gate with its own security code and another security code for the washrooms. We all are on a different finger dock. That means 4 different codes in all. The security is sooooo good that we are lucky to remember our own 2 codes.

Friday night in Chicago, Claude and Yvette co-ordinated. They took us to the the top of the Hancock Building for drinks. Terrific view of the city from 96 floors high.

Then we were off to dinner at a restaurant called Shaws' that is famous for its seafood. We wanted to celebrate Jim and Linda's 48 Wedding Anniversary (September 15th). This restaurant was outstanding. Everything that comes out of that kitchen is extraordinary. We were glutens and still couldn't finish everything. Linda confessed she was a "food snob" and this was exactly the kind of restaurant that she really enjoyed. We thought the Bistro in White Lake had been the best restaurant we had on the trip but Shaw's beat it hands down.

Saturday in Chicago. After the rain storm came through and while the skies still look threatening; we put on our Tilley hats, don our jackets and umbrella in hand make our way to the transit shelter. Over to Navy Pier to do the Architecture Tour aboard a boat. A guided tour of the buildings along the Chicgao River (main) and portions of the North Chicago and South Chicago. Chicago got a second chance to re-invent itself after the great fire in 1871. I can't remember the names of any of the architects but a few buildings really are memorable. Two buildings they nicknamed the "corn cobs" are tall cylindrical buildings where you can dock your boat below, park your car on one of the next 16 levels of the building and then live in one of the condos that climb into the sky. The buildings are quite self contained with stores and shops of every kind within.

Chicago is a railway town. All railroads have come into Chicago at one time or another. Buildings and railroad co-exist peacefully. If you need more rails and a building is in the way; they take the building down. If the rails are in the way of the building.... they just build overtop of the rails and voila - another skyscraper.

Back to the Navy Pier terminal .... filled with food places and tourist type shops for hats, tshirts. Chicago is well known for its stained glass artists and there is an exhibition of some of the artworks. Very well done. As you proceed along this terminal there is a historical timeline which outlines what happened in Chicago of note in given years. i.e. 1871 - the great fire which destroyed most of Chicago, something like 10,000 people were homeless, within the next 5 years over 70% of the children died, not too long after that another 10,000 people died of diptheria due to the contaminated water; they dredged the Chicago River to give them access to the Great Lakes and in doing this they dug it so deep that they changed the direction so that the Chicago River started to flow to St. Louis and into the Mississippi and finally into the Gulf of Mexico.

Chicago Here We Come

We left St. Joseph about 9:00 am Winds to be 10 - 15 and waves 1-3. Should be a great day.

A bit of a following sea, which made it a sloppy sail, but we were able to get our sail out and made really good time. Sometimes we were doing 7.4 or 7.8 surfing down the waves.

Midpoint of our crossing Peter noticed that 2 screws on the rudder post were up about 1 inch. He screwed them back down. So glad that he noticed. I have thought of a number of things that could go wrong - transmission failure, or motor problems - but never thought about losing the rudder. That would be awful. So glad to avert that disaster.

The skyline of Chicago as it rises out of the mist is something to behold. Took a lot of pictures but not sure they will do the sight any justice.

We had to go under 2 bridges on the approach to Crowley's Yacht Yard. A new experience. You call the street name of the bridge and very respectfully ask "for a lift at your convenience" Within a few minutes up goes the bridge. Then protocol seems to be to "thank the bridge" on passing.

Crowley's is on the east side of Chicago; a very industrial area - not pretty at all. Very close to a major railway track system. Trains every 15 minutes. The night security man suggested that we not go walking in the evening or some local residents would relieve us of our money. There is 24 hour security here.

The traffic on the Calumet River is most interesting to watch. We saw 2 big tugs escorting a huge 1000' Great Lakes freighter "Canadian Enterprise" under the bridges. Quite impressive.

Peter and Jim had all of the sails off the boat and folded while we prepared dinner. We wanted them off before the rain that was expected this evening.

Today is Jim and Linda's 48th wedding anniversary. Yvette and Claude from Trusty III skyped us and suggested that we all have dinner at a seafood restaurant they heard about. They too are in Chicago at Burnham Marina. We were all a little surprised that we had ended up here at the same time.

Tomorrow we will have the mast removed and ready for shipping by truck.

Benton Harbour/St Joseph

We are starting to come under some pressure to get a move on. We are scheduled at "Crowleys Yacht yard" for Thursday. We have one supposedly good day before the weather turns wild again with high winds and hail coming from South Dakota. We have 140 miles to go averaging 6.5 knots per hour with the wind helping sometimes. We are being told that we have to get through some Electrocution fences on the Illonois River before October first and we would like to knock around Chicago as "tourists" for a couple of days.

We hastily get packed up, run the five miles down White lake to the big water and at eight o'clock we pull down the goggles, throw the scarf around our necks, put the hammer down and watch this baby start to roll. Six point eight miles per hour with a slight east wind. Eat your heart out NASCAR fans!

The easy run would be New Haven, around seventy miles but the weather was right and we were not sure how long it would hold so we asked out friends on "Selah" to run ahead ( there are some good things relating to trawlers) and arrange a tie up for the night for us in Benton Harbor. They kicked it up a notch and got in an hour before dark. They arranged a dock for us and had steaks hot as we fumbled our way in in the quickly fading light. We were very fortunate to meet Jim and Linda Murray. They have made this trip a pleasure for us. They still talk funny. Sometimes you just have to adjust EH!

Benton harbor looks really interesting. We should get back here someday.

White Lake - Day 2

The outlook was for 3 to 5 foot waves with winds 15 - 20 knots, building to 30 knots in the afternoon. We could have probably left early in the morning and got in somewhere ahead of the heavy winds but it was marginal conditions. It was a nice day here so we decided to stay.

Spent the morning cleaning the boat and then went to the grocery store to re-provision. I love it that you can buy your wine at the grocery store.

The municipal marine that we are tied up at is closed for the season. You just come in and tie up. Still have access to the hydro, water and power. Virtually all of the slips are empty. There are 3 other boats in the entire marina. The season has come to an end. An empty marina by September 13th is like rolling up the sidewalks. I think they are trying to tell us something.

There are 13 mute swans that leisurely swim around the harbor. What a serene picture.

The fishing boats outnumber the swans tho'. They are catching coho salmon that are trying to swim up the river. When we came in last night, we had to sail a very erratic course to miss all of the fishing boats. One young girl caught a fish as we were passing. Peter thought it was about 5 pounds. A good sized fish. They really take their fishing seriously here. Out on Lake Michigan we would see boats with 2 people in the boat, and they would have up to 10 + fishing rods and down riggers on the boat.

We are about 100 miles from Chicago, where we have made arrangements to have the mast taken off the boat on Thursday weather permitting. The mast will then be trucked to Mobile Alabama. Once this is done we can relax a little. We hope to spend a few days in Chicago. It apparently is quite the city. The canal runs right down the center of the city.

While Lake Michigan has been very pretty and we have enjoyed all of the marinas along the way; it is time to get off this lake.

Arrived White Lake

Got away from Ludington and made our way to White Lake. Winds 15 to 20 just like weatherman said, and the winds came around from the NW to SW and a little more south than the weatherman said. It was a bright sunny day with most waves 3 feet and then the occassional 4 footer at least. All in all a good day of sailing. Arrived White Lake probably about 7:00pm. By the time we got tied up and settled we walked to town for something to eat. Linda said she hadn't got anything out of the freezer. This is our standing joke for "We're going to eat out" We walked left out of the marina and couldn't find anywhere so we came back and went right. By the time we found and got to the place for dinner it was already closed. We settled for pizza, wings and cheese bread. We ate aboard Selah. It all tasted soooo good.

Yesterday when we were in Ludington we went to Walmart and bought a heater for the boat and I bought another outfit of warm clothes and some socks for both Peter and I. Who would have thought it would be getting this cold in September.

Travel days are so tiring. It is getting late, time to tuck in for the night.

Till next time.

Leland to Manistee? - No Ludington

Everyone was up early and by 6:45 am had all the lines untied and it was an orderly exodus from Leland. 6 boats in all left with us. All were anxious to get some miles behind them. The original destination was for Manistee. It was such a great day that we decided to push on to Ludington; about an 82 mile excursion. The temperature is cool. Bright sunny skies, winds around 10 knots and most importantly wave heights about 1 foot. We're smoking. We should arrive Ludington between 6 and 7:00 pm tonight.

Mid day I counted 21 boats in our local vicinity. Boats were moving everywhere.

Our "trawler trash" friends are out of sight now; and have been for awhile. They call back to us from time to time to check and see how we are doing. They have already made reservations for us at the Ludington Municpal Marina for the night. Saturday looks like it could be a rain day with possible tstorms.

I hope Ludington has a nail place. It has been almost a month and I have been roughing it. Time to get some overdue maintenance. Peter would call this high maintenance.... oh contrar it is a necessity....at least from my perspective. I wonder what column this goes under in the budget?

Leland for Another Day

All of these marinas have terrific villages very close. Leland is no different. It was a fishing village and the small buildings along the entrance of the river have been maintained and converted into small shops. Cheese, meats, wines, gift shops, etc. And then you can walk out of the marina and up to the street. As soon as you are out of the parking lot there are more small shops. The grocery store is in the first block, with restaurants across the street. The Post Office is only about 2 blocks away. Everything is so convenient.

And now that we are in the US; you can buy beer, wine, and liquors at the grocery store. We had to break down and finally buy a bottle of wine; the inventory was getting low. Not exhausted, but low.

The winds are coming down quite nicely. Peter wanted me to be sure to say that "the winds have calmed down so that only small animals are flying around now."

At noon the winds were down to about 10 to 15 knots which is good, but the wave heights reported by a sailboater who had gone out earlier in the day said they experienced 4 to 6 footers. Our next stretch is about 44 miles or 6 to 8 hours of travel. Tomorrow looks like a really good day for travelling. Frankfort here we come, and if things are looking good who knows we could get to Manistee.

Just made a big pot of soup and Linda is going to make salad and biscuits. She even asked for us to bring over one of our games. Sequence for tonight.

When Pete went to pay for our slip for tonight; they said it was no charge. What a surprise.

As much as we like Leland - and they have treated us so good - it is time to move along.

Last night they took down the gale force winds flag; the small craft warning flag just came down now. If the forecasts hold we can be on our way tomorrow.

There have been so many boats weathered in here and we all have been getting together between 4 to 6 for cocktails at a social room in the marina building. One boat has been here for 11 days.

Till tomorrow.

Leland in the wind

The wind just never stops! At one point we checked the wind measurement device on the boat. It touched 41.1 knots. Rain was intermittent and the waves just keep pounding the breakwall. We are pleased to be tied up but the time passes slowly. The cold wind makes outside walks uncomfortable. This is more like November weather! The couple we met earlier have tied up their boat and gone back to New Jersey to look after business. They will return soon. The weather is supposed to improve tomorrow. I get a better understanding of people who say "nice place, I spent a week there one day.

Some guy almost became a stastistic when he came in, in a twenty-five foot boat being tossed around like a leaf. His kid was on the deck with no life jacket. He was on the swim platform steering a trolling motor after his out drive packed it in.

Anyway...lets see what tomorrow brings!

Northport to Leland

The call of nature woke me at 4am. The wind was down to nothing. I puttered around for a while until I thought everyone would want to be awake. I might have been a little early. I went around and knocked on windows so I could point out how the wind had gone down. By this time a breeze was coming up. Since it takes me a little longer to travel I decided to head out in the dark. After a little frantic position questioning we got straightened out and moving. The wind had climbed to 12 knots and the waves were up a bit but I couldn't see them so it wasn't bad. We turned north to get out of the bay as the sun was just starting to peak through. The wind had increased and the waves were up to around three to four coming from behind. We put up the sail and we scooted up the bay partly surfing and motor sailing in an attempt to get the trip to Leland in before noon or 1 o'clock when the wind was to pick up to gale force (over 38 knots per hour). Well the wind had come up to around 20 knots and when we made turn to go south to Leland it was coming right on the nose with ten miles to go at around 5 knots per hour sometimes dropping back to 2 knots when we caught a big wave that almost stopped us dead. It seemed scary for a while until we realized that we weren't going to sink, it didn't make sense to go back and we didn't really have anything else to do for the morning. We made the trip unscathed and lunged our way into this port at around noon. We were followed shortly by our friends in Selah. They had had their refrigerator perform an unscheduled clean out all over the floor and all the cargo on their rear deck was sliding in all different directions. It was nice to get in out of that and when the wind went up more in the afternoon and intermittent periods of sunshine, cloud and rain, sometimes driving, occurred it was nice to be tied up and watching from the docks. This place has just been updated to the tune of 3.5 million. Nice place! $41 for dockage. One small point of trivia; There are more pleasure craft in the state of Michigan than in any other state in the US

Sunday in Norhtport

It's twenty to eleven. We just put away the "Sequence" game. The "Trawler Trash" went back to their boats. We are going to go for it early in the morning and try to get to Leland. It is thirty miles down the coast. We have to sail out this bay for ten miles and then back south again for about twenty miles or so. It is in this twenty miles where the weather may get mean again. We will be alright if we can get back in to port before one o'clock but they are calling for gale force winds around then. There are a bunch of people there wanting to get out and get going south so the grand change will take place if the weather holds. We will see what tomorrow brings.

We attended church this morning. Our friend Jim says we should continue to "top up" the spiritual side of things. I'm not throwing away my life jacket just yet. It doesn't hurt to cover a few more bases.

Saturday in Northport

Well, let me see what we did today. We woke up tired. The wind blew so hard through the night I'm sure all the livestock here has blown out to sea. This is a protected port and a great little village but it is too windy here! All night long the boat is being tilted up on its side like we are sailing but no sails are up! It is just the wind blowing against the mast. We have the boat tied up on all four corners away from the docks to stop the fenders from wearing out. We think that things are starting to quiet down a bit like at home. Just then a mean low dark black cloud comes over, it rains like a hurricane and the wind picks up. I don't like to complain but even the fish are tired of the rain. For something to do we walked uptown (600 feet) to catch a bus to a neighbouring bay for a look around. The bus doesn't run today. We do some shopping and come back to the boat. We read some more, played some board games with our good neighbors and tucked in with the wind blowing and the rain coming down. I think we will go to church tomorrow. Maybe the rain will quit.

Northport MI Friday

Northport is a nice little place with a solid dock where we happily stayed tied up for yet another day while the wind howls. We read some, slept some, ate some. Everyone wants to get a move on but when you stop and listen to the wind howling you get over it!

Holiday in Northport Michigan

The weather forecast is the worst we've seen yet. When these weather people start talking in terms of 14 ft waves we go around the boat and tighten up the lines and decide what to do today that doesn't include boating. Warnings are going out for boaters to get off the water. We haven't heard of this previously. 45kt winds in the forecast make us eager for a bus ride into Traverse City for a look around. At this rate we should see Chicago by Christmas. At least we are all safe. So far one of the trawlers (Trusty 111) went on ahead somewhere but the three of us (Selah and Yesterday's Dream) will wait here till things clear up.

Wednesday's trip Charlevoix to Northport

We woke up with a decision to make. They say they want us out of this beautiful dockage before the long Weekend. The weather today isn't wonderful but it gets worse tomorrow! This means we had better get our tails moving. We found a great place where the locals have breakfast so we start with the most important thing...filling our bellies. After a double serving of what JUDIE'S calls "HAM SCRAM" I could feel the Cholesterol building up in my veins. We said "So Long" to Judy and went for a quick walk in the rain to seek out some more of these mysterious "Mushroom houses". We found a couple and headed back to the boat. We had missed the ten o'clock bridge opening so we had to put in time for the next one. We headed out into what we thought would be 15 kt winds and one to two foot sea. It turned out to be a bit wilder than that so we changed out destination from Leland (35 mi) to Northport 25 miles. Not exactly where we wanted to go but another great place that has been here since the dawn of time and it looks like we will be here for a day or two. Gale warnings and thunderstorms for the next couple of days. I think we are better off than those folks in northern Florida!

Wednesday/\

Lake Charlevoix

This place is like something out of a fairy tail. Massive boats! You can't even find Surona amongst these boats! Parking my boat is like driving between the office buildings in downtown Toronto. Nothing but white fiberglass on each side. The big one on the end of the dock has bumpers the size of a big dingy. I'm pretty sure I saw someone inside waiving me in but they didn't come out on deck so I guess they were too shy.

The weather is really hot! Nice breeze but we could handle some air conditioning on this boat. We got some great pictures of some incredible "fairy tale hobbit like homes"...flowers everywhere, of course the lady of the house obviously takes her gardening seriously, not just leaving it for her husband to do.

We are still waiting for the next day we can stick Surona's nose out into Lake Michigan. Whoever said that the prevailing winds here come out of the southwest wasn't kidding! Those five footers just keep on pounding the shoreline.

Have to go, it's happy hour on the air conditioned trawler. Remember Peter walk slowly, don't look too eager!

Petrosky to Lake Charlevoix

I would say "on the road again"; however it would be inaccurate - we're on the water again.

Another bright sunny day and a great day to be on the water. Arrived Charlevoix about 3:30pm. We made it in time for the bridge so we did not have to wait, powered right thru. We were able to get dock space beside Selah and Trusty III.

The docks here are much lower; more like our docks; however they still have these posts along them which make it more of a challenge to get docked. Because the docks were lower we invited everyone to join us for cocktails on our boat. Peter took them out for a sail on Lake Charlevoix. Very light winds made for a very pleasant sail.

Returned to our dock. Met another couple who are traveling on a 36 foot Catalina I think they said. Also met up again with Steve and Linda from Yesterdays Dream and will join them for breakfast tomorrow.

Peter says " Mercy sakes alive, it looks like we've got us convoy!"

Till tomorrow.

Mackinaw City to Petrosky

Up at 6:00 am and on our way. What a beautiful morning. We first got some wonderful pictures of the Mackinaw Bridge with the night lights till shining. Once under and passed the bridge we got another photo of the bridge against a beautiful sunrise.

We made good time on the first leg of the trip about 6.5 k for the first 2 hours plus, then it was time to turn south down Lake Michigan through Greys Reef Passage the wind had built up a bit and the forecasted 2 foot waves had somehow grown to 4 feet with the odd one even higher. these were coming straight on the bow and really slowed us down to about 4 k for at least an hour. Once we were able to turn down to the east shore of the mainland our speed picked up by a full knot. Before too long we were just in big rollers. And what a terrific day. Full sunshine. And we got to see the sandy shore of eastern Lake Michigan that everyone has told us about. Mile after mile of sandy beaches. We even had all of the sails up on the approach to Petrosky and enjoyed some peace and quiet without the diesel noise.

We got into Petrosky shortly after 3:00. Peter had some boat maintenance to do and once that was complete we took a walked up to the main street. On our return we met up with Jim and Linda from Selah who were wanting to eat out and asked us to join them. We had the best pizza I have ever tasted. It could have been that we were all very very tired, hot and hungry. It really doesn't matter..... to sit in an air conditioned restaurant and eat pizza was delightful.

Returned and showered,. At 8:30 pm it is still very hot and not a breath of air.

Well we will see what tomorrow will bring.

Mackinaw City Still Still

This is Saturday August 28th. Well we are still here for another day. Can't complain the marina facility is beautiful, outstanding washrooms, and we are at the base if the main street. We have terrific neighbours - Selah and Trusty III.

Still having trouble getting my communications working the way I would like. Got hooked up onto skype so we can telephone home whenever we want. The telephone we to the other day can now go back to Walmart. I can receive calls and text from Canada but cannot call or text to Canada. Thats no good. Skype will work much better.

I still am struggling with getting my emails on the computer. A little more work there.

We were introduced to "pasties". Basically it is a meat and vegetable pie base wrapped in a flaky pastry. We had these for a very late lunch. On returning to the boat Trusty III invited us for a pot luck dinner on their boat with Selah. We couldn't possibly eat another meal so soon; but said we would join them for cocktails. Shortly after 9:00 pm we were ever so kindly asked to leave because we have a very early start tomorrow. This is going to be the day that we leave Mackinaw City to make the long trek to Harbour Springs. The weather stations are giving us good reports; this is the day we have been waiting for. We hope to be up and leaving by 6 :00 am About a 50 mile trip and will be a very long day - close to 10 hours. This will still be shorter than our day from Hope Island to Killarney.

Will get tucked in for the night to be ready and rested.

Till tomorrow.

Mackinaw City Still

Well we had another layover day in Mackinaw City. Hope we can get out of here soon before they start to charge us property taxes. You can look at 3 or 4 different marine weather sites for northern Lake Michigan and get a different report from each one. Frustrating. The talk now is to choose which site you like the forecast best from and go with it.

Apparently in this region the winds change about the middle of August and stay for quite awhile. There will be days that are better than others. Peter is thinking that perhaps Sunday has the best outlook.

Selah and Trusty III are here with us and another looper boat joined this afternoon.

We had happy hour on Selah and looked at the confusing computer weather forecasts.

Peter regrets not having me with him this afternoon. He had to carry two cans of diesel fuel all by himself for about a quarter of a mile. His only consolation was that this is Corvette weekend in Mackinaw City so he had to stop every so often and put the fuel cans down as he looked at another Corvette.

400 bucks worth of technology later

So you may have noticed a lapse in publishing. No we do not have writers block. This marina is supposed to have wifi but when we went to send nothing happened. We thought we would need to get on the Verizon platform at some time, might as well bite the bullet and do it now. Down the road to Cheboygan, the nearest (20 miles) Walmart where we got reunited with the digital universe. Cheryl breathed a sigh of relief like a sailor after passing a medical when she was once again in touch with her life line.

We are docked between two big trawlers, one from Montreal (french) and one from South Carolina (american). At our first communal Happy hour I was able to make fun of the Americans by doing a little Cable guy jokes but I had to come home before I could get into my French Catholic slander. Oh well there is always tomorrow.

Mackinaw City

Wednesday. Lay over day in Mackinaw. The next leg of our journey is about 60 miles to Lake Charlevoux. We are told by skipper Bob to wait for a light air day. Today calls for winds up between 20 to 25.

We went to the local IGA for needed groceries.

The main street is very much a tourist port. Ice cream, fudge, and sweat shirts. One sweat shirt said "If you mess with me, you mess with the whole trailer park" A sign on a store window said,"If we are closed, just push your money under the door."

The main street is unique. It is extremely wide. It has parking on the sides and also in the middle.

Good day to do the laundry and some boat cleaning.

The forecast looks like tomorrow may be a layover day also.

Drummond Island to Mackinack (Mackinaw) City

I went for a walk on Drummond Island before we left. I would have liked to spent some time in their museum but it didn,t open til 1pm. However I did find a plaque honouring the memory of an old woman who was the first woman inhabitant here in the early 1800,s. Her husband died and she self schooled her 11 children with the same values she had carried with her from her CANADIAN background.

Nothing too exciting happened today. I felt I should run into something just to have something to report! We left Drummond Island down through Detour Channel, hung a right at the light and headed over toward Mackinack City where we hoped to stay while some bad weather passed. Around 5pm we needed an Ice Cream fix so we stopped off at Mackinack Island. This place never ceases to amaze me...after an Ice Cream cone, some low cal fudge and the smell of fresh horseshit on our shoes we were back on the boat, heading for Mackinack City five miles away.

Mackinack Marina employees directed us to tie up at dock 56 right nest to some other Loopers we had met near Macrea Lake with Brian and Carolyn a couple of weeks prior. Small world.

The wind is starting to howl. I will check the ropes and crawl in the sack with old dead eye and see what tomorrow brings.

Blind river to Drummond Island

The weatherman still says this heavy overcast is sunshine. I hate to see what partly cloudy or mild diahrrea means to him.

He also says we will get 15k winds out of the east. These will propel us westerly at a comfortable five or six knots toward Drummond Island. If we leave at around 10am we should cover the forty plus miles in six or seven hours landing us on Drummond around five to clear customs. Great plan. We slowly pulled out from the dock with classic dexterity that would make any sailor envious. With a smug slam of the gearshift and a resounding surge forward we lunged from the protection of the breakwall smack into some unknown underwater obstruction. Maybe it was dense acumulation of partly cloudy. It certainly stopped us in our tracks. Cheryl as always trying to get in on the drama smashed her head into the companionway raising a considerable bruise above her left eye. Thats my story and... The wind did not come up so we motored for forty plus miles and arrived at Drummond Island around five. Just in time for the huge cloud bank to roll away to the south and the sun to come streaming thru.

The customs people let Cheryl bring too much cigarettes and booze into the US out of pitty.It is becoming obvious that she has been abused.

Blind River

Woke, showered and had breakfast at the cafe at the Marina with Steve and Linda from Yesterdays Dream. How civilized.

Cast off for our new destination - Blind River. We had a cloudy overcast sky, but the sun was to peak thru. Winds N NE 15K. Great winds for us to sail. We did some more dredging on our way out - again between the first and second red marks. Same dredging area as on the way in. Took us about 15 minutes to get clear.

We sailed the Whalesback Channel from Spanish to Blind River. Water, Rocks, and Trees. Scenery that the North Channel is renowned for. A great day for sailing - the only thing that was missing was the sunshine.

Enroute we were passed by Attii, another GBSR competitor. They are travelling with Tom's Treat also from the GBSR; destined for Blind River.

After arriving we walked into town and found what maybe our last Tim Horton's for awhile.

Spanish Marina, North Channel

This blogging is a responsibility. Miss a day and then the email comes in. Where are you.

Some anchorages don't have coverage for the mobile stick.

After Covered Portage we went back into Killarney to pump out and get fuel and water. Were successful with the fuel and pump out, but got busy talking to friends Bob and Carol Booth off of Crackerjack and completely forgot about the water. We have raced against Crackerjack in the GBSR for many, many years. They are always great competition and a lot of fun. They had spent time in the North Channel and were waiting to go back home. Sadly they said they had participated in their last regatta. But then they said that last year too.

Had to go for the famous fish and chips and ice cream cone. The Killarney tradition.

Left Killarney to overnight at Heywood Island. A beautiful anchorage and great nights sleep.

Then we were off for Little Current to catch the 10:0 am bridge opening. They do not leave the bridge open for 15 minutes if you are not sitting right in front of them. We were approaching and could have made it if they waited the 15 minutes. But it was not to be. Waited for the 11:00 am opening.

We were off for the North Channel. Where to go. We decided on Croker Island as a protected anchorage from the expected SE winds and a thunderstorm overnight. There were 23 boats in the anchorage. It was quite congested in the area we wanted to be so we anchored out a bit.

Well at midnight the storm woke us from a sound sleep as it moved through. Winds were from the north. What the ..... Croker is a great anchorage for all wind directions except the north.

The storm passed very quickly and by 12:30 it was only rain.

From here on we are sailing in virgin territory to us. All of the new navigational systems Peter worked so hard on are making sailing life a breeze. We are delighted with the chart plotter; it displays where everything is relative to the boat. So much easier than reading charts and hoping that you are where you think you are or sometimes hope you are.

Peter has often talked about Spanish and wanting to go there. So off we go. It is an overcast day with chances of rain and a thunderstorm overnight. A marina tie up and shower will be most appreciated. The channel to Spanish is buoyed and is quite shallow. Sand bottom. We helped them dredge a bit on the way in. Got stuck on some of the sand bottom; but skipper Pete and his mighty diesel pushed thru'. A really nice marina, with good docks, and yes those promised showers.

Day 4 - What a Great Day!!!

We laid over for 2 days waiting for a good weather day. The weather was to change around midnight with the winds decreasing from 20 to 10. Got up at 1:30 am. I made coffee while Peter got his toys aligned and setup. We needed to take advantage of the window of opportunity that the weatherman said was at hand.

We had till noon to get to Wingfield Basin.

After 2 hours of preparation the radar was on and we set out in the dark. It seems like the waves were just as high as the previous day but we could not see them so we proceeded. What we originally thought was some kind of beacon light on Hope Island, was flares over the western shore somewhere. We were entertained by the flares for the first 2 hours of our trip.

I let down my guard for a mere half hour and got some sleep, and woke to find our new destination was Heywood Island in the Killarney/Manitoulin area. A mere 77 miles more. We should get there by 5 or 6 pm. Peter has always talked about an overnight trip to Killarney for fish and chips.

What a romp. The weatherman said the wave height would be 1 meter or less. Someone should get the weatherman a new measuring tape. One of those 1 meter waves splashed over the cockpit. It was a great day. The sun was shining, and we were sailing up the center of Georgian Bay on our way to Killarney. It doesn't get any better than this. We couldn't have chose a better day if we had planned this for a lifetime. Waves and wind on the beam and then falling to the back corner of the boat. 5 hours in; auto was doing a mighty fine job - only 1/3 of a mile off, course. Technology is wonderful.

As we approached Manitoulin, but still 3 hours out, the waves and wind began to change and come more forward of beam and the wind was picking up 25 plus. The rail was in the water more often, and the ride was not as comfortable. My skipper agreed to furl some of the sail and approach closer to Manitoulin. He is trying to keep the cook happy. He will have to spend a lot of time with me and it is more fun when I am not terrified.

On a wild chance we radioed for friends George and Dorothy on Lucretia. They had spent the summer in the North Channel. We didn't expect a response. To our surprise, they were sailing on the south side of Badgely Island within sight and planning to spend the night with friends at Covered Portage. We joined them. Harold and Sue Darch on Vision; Rod and Marcy Miller on Windmiller; Quintessence all from the Midland Bay Sailing Club.

Arrived about 6:30pm Visited, had dinner and now time to tuck in for the night.

Day 3, Tuesday

Sure hope this is not a sign of things to come. This morning left Methodist Bay and attempted to cross to Wingfield Basin. High winds and high seas turned us back to Hope Island. 10 hours of pounding and stress didn't seem like a good way to start our vacation. Peter is talking about trying a night crossing if the winds die down. Otherwise there is always tomorrow.

Day Two

Only twenty miles out and already we are waiting for better weather. We will spend the day here at Methodist Bay bouncing around on the anchor listening to the weather reports trying to master all this technology I installed. So far I have a great map of the weather systems resident in Ohio....great. We are watching many other brave souls fighting the elements out on the open bay. With 40 or so miles to go to Cabot Head I think we can pick a better day.

Keep your bumpers dry.

Pete

Getting Away

What a send off!!! Thanks to Brian and Carolyn for hosting. Everyone enjoyed great snacks and multiple drinks. Thanks to all for coming out to wish us well and give us a terrific send off. As it came time to be off; Carolyn read an Irish poem and Brian read a poem he created and then we all had a champagne toast. We were escorted out Midland Bay. Brian said that was so we didn't change our minds.

Hope no one was stopped by the police on their way home.

We sailed to Methodist Bay near Awenda Park and stayed for the first night. We had a swim to cool down, in fact it was a two swim night.

We are still trying to find a home in the boat for everything that we brought. I think it is going to take awhile to get everything organized. We seem to have time to do it now.

Good night. Till the next blog.

Only 4 More Sleeps

We are down to the short strokes now. Everything is coming together unexpectedly well.
The plan is to leave shortly after Noon on Sunday August 15th.
Excited and sad at the same time. Looking forward to the experience and sad to think we will be away from everyone for such a long time.
Now all we need to do is get the boat provisioned. Decide on what clothes we will need.
Still making arrangements with a trucking company to truck the mast from Chicago to Mobile. Hopefully this will be finalized today.
Today is planned to be the last day in our offices. Will use Thursday Friday and Saturday to get the boat settled.
WOW! This is really going to happen. It no longer is a dream, a wish, or something that we will get around to. Soon we will be able to stroke this one off our Bucket List.

Starting up

Lots of hard work into updating Surona for her Southern Voyage. New Chartplotter, Navigational Aids, Radar and new Stainless on the Stern with seats incorporated.