Month: August 2019

We left Frankfort on Thursday and stopped at the state harbor in Ludington for the evening. Ludington was similar to the other state harbors we have stayed at with clean facilities and friendly people. I took advantage of the laundry facilities since it was convenient. Most state harbors have laundry but there are a few where you need to walk into town and that just makes the process more time-consuming.

We met a few looper boats and some future loopers so conversation centered on where people have visited, what to expect when traveling, likes/dislikes, etc. One piece of advice that we give (that we received a few years ago from loopers) is that you can have a plan but don’t have a schedule.

The next morning we took off, with Paddy Wagon, for Muskegon. They had a confirmed reservation while we were still waiting to hear from Dockwa whether we were confirmed. It is frustrating to have to wait up to 24 hours for this confirmation since we often don’t want to project too far in advance where we will be next because of the weather. The winds on Lake Michigan have had an impact on traveling schedules. As it turned out, we were not confirmed so needed to scramble on the phone to secure a spot. Eventually, we were able to do so but that meant we would be staying at two different marinas that were not in walking distance. Since we were only planning to stay for the evening, it was fine.

After Muskegon we were planning on going to Saugatuck and had tentative reservations at a marina that was recommended by Justified. However, the marina would not make a final confirmation and kept saying they would call later – the next day, then later in the afternoon. They were not happy that we only planned to spend one night and wanted commitment for at least two or three. Since we wanted to make time to get to the southern portion of Lake Michigan, we weren’t really interested in doing this because we would lose more time and we already lost time based on earlier repairs and ongoing weather. Ultimately, the marina decided that they did not have a slip for either of us so once again there were a flurry of phone calls as we traveled south. We had no luck with space at any of the marinas in Saugatuck so decided to only travel to Holland since we had a few possibilities in Holland but needed to wait for confirmation.

The first confirmation we received was from a yacht club so we accepted the slips since we didn’t want to be scrambling later as we traveled since it was the weekend. Of course, about 1/2 hour later, we had another option but turned it down since we thought we were fine. When we arrived at the lake, it was windy with lots of day boats running around. We called the yacht club on the radio as advised but no one answered. The same thing happened with the telephone – no answer. Although we had a slip number, there are no visible numbers on the slips and obviously no dock hands to assist. Peter yelled to a guy riding around in his dink if he knew where the slips were and he offered to find the slip for us – it was on the outside with no protection from the conditions. The slip was tight and we barely fit between the finger and the piling – we actually got stuck leaving the next morning. Fortunately, there were a few members on the dock who grabbed a line to assist. When Paddy Wagon arrived they didn’t fit into their assigned slip either so the members advised where they could tie up. This is the first yacht club that we visited where there were issues. While the grounds, buildings, and pool were lovely, the docks and service seriously need major improvements. When contacted the next day about a snag in processing my credit card, I mentioned that we did not enjoy our stay and explained what had happened. The comment was that no one has every complained before and they don’t understand why it happened. About 1/2 hour later, I received another call from the yacht club that they apologize for the situation and we would not be charged for the night. They added that it would not happen again and they would welcome us back. Even if we were in Lake Michigan again, we would not stay there.

There was one positive thing about staying in Holland. We were able to reconnect with Lucky Me who we traveled with the first few weeks before they went to the Oswego locks and we were stuck with repairs. They were in Holland for a few days to meet friends and also visit the Tiara factory. They had rented a car so picked us up (they were at the marina next to the yacht club) and we drove into town for drinks. Holland has a number of breweries so we went to Hops Tap Room and then a wine tasting at Cherry Republic. It was fun to spend time with friends.

We were happy to leave Holland on Sunday and continued on our journey to West Basin Marina in St. Joseph. Previous loopers have advised that this is a very protected site and we were looking forward to a peaceful, calm evening. Coming into the harbor was a bit windy but once we turned into the marina, it was calm. We met the Harbor Hosts in the marina and they happen to have the sister boat, Molly, 36’ Albin, of loopers on Selah Way. In fact, they are now planning to leave in October on their loop voyage. There are a few other loopers here in the marina so that meant Docktails!

The town of St. Joseph is a bit far to walk to stores besides eateries so we planned to get an Uber or Lyft. However, the Habor Host offered a ride to the supermarket the next day since it was windy and it looked as though we would be spending another evening. Although I do not really enjoy food shopping, I do appreciate the opportunity to go to a real store when possible to fill in on needed provisions.

It is now Wednesday, and we are still in St. Joseph and it looks like it will be another day or two before we can leave. The wind has not died down on the lake for even a very small window to get to the next stop. One of the nicknames that locals have for Lake Michigan is the washing machine and now we know why.

We were planning on Michigan City and then to Hammond to meet up with Bahama Voyager. Since it is been a few days that we have not been able to travel, we are hoping the weather will permit us to make one long travel day directly to Hammond.

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We stayed in Mackinaw City another day. Although Peter wasn’t all that interested in sightseeing, we have been told by many that you cannot miss seeing Mackinac Island – the jewel of the Great Lakes. We took a high-speed ferry across to the island since we didn’t think it made sense to move the boat to the marina on the island since we heard so much about the ferry traffic and the intense rocking in the slips.

The island takes you back in time as there are no vehicles allowed on the island and you travel by horse, horse drawn carriage, bicycles or walking. It is considered an ideal vacation spot and only has about 500 permanent residents. The island is known for their world famous fudge, historic Fort Mackinac and unique shopping. It is also the site of the historic Grand Hotel. We explored the island aboard a horse drawn carriage. There were three different carriages of varying sizes for different portions of the tour. The tour covered the island’s main attractions – Surrey Hills Museum, Fort Mackinac and Arch Rock. Of course, we also saw the Grand Hotel and the hotel’s stables. The tour started within the streets of the city so we were given a history lesson by entertaining drivers. We ended our tour at the Grand Hotel, walked around the grounds and finished by dining at the hotel’s famous lunch buffet. An expensive day but fun and interesting.

The next morning we left and traveled through the Straits of Mackinac and made our entrance into Lake Michigan. Lake Michigan is approximately 392 miles long so it will be an interesting journey along the sandy, eastern coast of the lake. Our target is to reach the southern portion of the lake by the end of August so that we can enter the locks in Chicago before they are closed temporarily for recreational boats.

Our first stop on the lake was in Petoskey. A buddy boat, Selah Way, was already there and when we arrived, we saw Avalon, a 42′ Kady Krogen, who we hadn’t seen since we started the loop in early June. In fact, they were the first loopers we met on our first night. They traveled through the Oswego Locks and the Canadian route that we were unable to do because of our mechanical difficulties and the loss of time, so we were happy to see them again. By the end of the evening there were a few more loopers and by the next day we had eight boats. Of course, this called for an evening of docktails especially since we all needed to stay put because of weather. Since the weather was not the best, we moved into the boaters lounge and rearranged some furniture so that we could enjoy the time by not being blown away. Fun was had by all and of course, we put the furniture back where it belonged.

The weather cleared and the wind slowed down so we were finally able to move to our next destination – Leland. We only planned to stay a day as Peter felt the need to make up time. Leland was a cute little town, known for its fishing heritage – Fishtown – and the assortment of fishing shanties now used as commercial shops. I also think it has the bluest, near Caribbean blue, water that we have seen so far. It was interesting to see the color of Lake Michigan’s water but then a few feet of this Caribbean blue water near the coast. By the time we arrived in Leland, the marina was all Caribbean blue. I have been continually amazed by the varying shades of blue waters on this journey.

Next stop: Frankfort, a municipal marina right on the edge of town. The weather prediction was for high winds so we stayed two evenings. We traveled with Paddy Wagon and later in the day, Avalon, joined us as well for their short trip to Charlevoix. I was able to visit the local library, a visit we seem to make in most of the towns we visit. We like to look at their paperback and sometimes hard cover books that are for sale. I was surprised to find that the library in Frankfort did not have any books available for sale. The local grocery store was only a few blocks away so I was also able to pick up a few things. We went out to eat to a local establishment called Dinghy’s recommended by the harbor staff. Truthfully, the staff mentioned most of the restaurants in town as having good food (mostly comfort/pub food) but we couldn’t resist Dinghy’s because of its name. We made the right choice – we all had different meals and they were all enjoyed.

On our walk back to the marina, we passed a store that had silk screen T-shirts. A large selection outside on racks and plain shirts with available decals to customize your choice. A few shirts were purchased here that night. I haven’t seen a shop like this in a long time since there was at least one in every mall when our children were young.

Tomorrow we leave Frankfort and head to Ludington, again for one night.

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Thursday finally arrived and the boat was hauled for repairs at 8:30am. Peter stayed back at the marina to be available to the mechanics (and Kodey) while I went shopping for provisions.

We met another looper at the state harbor next door and we went to a local community theater to see a play that evening –The Savannah Sipping Society at the Barn Theatre. A fun time was had by all.

The boat repair was an all day process that continued until the afternoon into the next day. At this point, it is easier just to copy the marina statement as to our problem:

ENGINE AND SHAFT OUT OF ALIGNMENT; ENGINE MOUNT BOLTS WERE MISSING THE LOCK NUT THAT HOLDS THE MAIN ENGINE MOUNT BOLT TO THE MOUNT CAUSING IT TO MOVE FORWARD AND BACK AND UP AND DOWN WHICH DIDN’T ALLOW ENGINE TO STAY ALIGNED CORRECTLY WHICH DAMAGED THE COUPLING, KEYWAY, END OF SHAFT, AND CAUSED THE PSS SHAFT SEAL TO LEAK BADLY. REMOVED PROP AND HAD TO ENLARGE HOLE IN RUDDER TO REMOVE DRIVE SHAFT. PSM HAD TO RAISE THE FRONT OF THE ENGINE ONE INCH TO GET THE ENGINE AND SHAFT ALIGNMENT CORRECT, THE RUNNING GEAR HAD TO BE REPLACED AND THE PROP HAD TO BE BALANCED TO CORRECT ALL OF THESE ISSUES

After two trial runs – one each day, we are happy to say that the boat appears to be fixed. Since this was the sixth mechanic, we are hoping that all is good and this is a permanent fix. We decided to go out for dinner to celebrate but Peter was unable to walk to the recommended restaurant since he either pulled a muscle or has a pinched nerve so we settled for the restaurant at the marina. Our plan was to leave early Saturday morning and head to Port Austin at the top of the thumb.

Saturday arrived with good weather and nominal winds, at least at the beginning of our journey. Peter is still having difficulty walking but there is nothing that would keep him from leaving Port Sanilac and running the boat. We arrived in Port Austin with no problems – a bit windy at times but still doable. He ran the boat at varying speeds to continue to test outcomes – all good! We would like to catch up to a few people we had been traveling with earlier on the trip and they are at varying days ahead of us. It is doubtful that we will catch up until sometime next week but that is assuming the weather/winds cooperate. While Port Austin looks like an interesting town to stay another day, Peter is not only anxious to leave and is not really capable of walking around town anyway. Next stop will be cutting across the mouth of Saginaw Bay to Harrisville, MI. This will be the first time that we will be totally out of sight of land.

Sunday we went to Harrisville and were joined by new loopers who began their loop last week from Port Sanilac state harbor. They are first time boaters and took lessons to prepare for the trip. Peter met them in Port Sanilac and I met them in Port Austin. While their boat is faster than ours, at this point we are just more motivated to keep moving so we will see them on and off on the journey. After Harrisville, we were planning to go to Presque Isle on Monday but then continued on to Rogers City. They needed to stop in Alpena to pick up some items they ordered and then have reservations in Mackinac Island for the weekend. We will probably see them again after we are both on the east coast of Lake Michigan.

We planned to travel on Monday since the winds did not look like they were going to cooperate on Tuesday so wanted to make the most of the water before we got stuck. We decided to stay another night in Rogers City and I took advantage of the time to locate an urgent care type facility for Peter to see a doctor. If the weather continued to be nice, he would want to keep traveling and eventually, he wouldn’t be able to walk at all. We were able to make an appointment for Tuesday morning. The marina had a courtesy vehicle so we were able to get a ride since we have found that Uber does not seem to exist in this part of Michigan and Lyft is spotty. Turns out that his sciatic nerve is pinched – they gave him a shot and steroids and pain medication. Wednesday, he was better already – still not great but moving much easier. So, of course we traveled and arrived at Mackinaw City. We have traveled over 200 miles since we left on Saturday without issue. On our next stop, we will be in Lake Michigan.

Most of the marinas we have stayed in have been operated by the state of Michigan. They have very reasonable rates but services vary from site to site. Many have laundry (some free), all are pet friendly, some have fuel and courtesy cars, and most seem to be within walking distance to small towns. It appears that on the east coast of Lake Michigan there is a state harbor every 20-30 miles so we will need to plan since there will now be many loopers traveling this route to get to Chicago by early September before the locks are closed for repair.

Since I have commented on the color of the water compared to the Hudson River, I have posted a few photos from when we docked today – it’s amazing to be able to see below the water right in your slip! Another thing that we found unusual – not a common occurrence in NY – is docking bow first. Everybody seems to do it, but not us!

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Week Nine has us in a slip in Port Sanilac Marina. We already know that we will be here a week. The reconditioning of our shaft will not be ready until next Wednesday.

The town is only a few blocks away so the first thing we did on Thursday was to take a walk into town and go to the library. Peter had finished reading his book and we figured this would be a big reading week. We have not come across any library that does not have a small section of books for sale. Unfortunately, there was nothing there for him to read so I searched my ebook files and identified a number of non-fiction and some fiction that he would read. In addiion to the library, we found a dollar store and picked up a few things. Most of the towns we have visited have some dollar store (even though everything is not $1 like the Dollar Tree) and have been a good source of some staples such as milk, bread, eggs and some boxed or canned goods. Some stores are better than others but here in Michigan we tend to find Dollar General closest to the marinas. We decided not to walk in the other direction to check out the grocery store until the next day. We needed to plan our days so that we had something to do.

Friday morning we were advised the the prop/shaft repair changed – the prop could still be rebalanced but the shaft could not be reconditioned so we needed a new shaft – target day is still next Wednesday.

We walked in the other direction on Friday and went to the supermarket (the local IGA) to provision. Store was better than some but still not a full-fledged supermarket.

Friday and Saturday were spent reading and listening to the music from the Blues Festival. On Sunday, the local museum was having a Civil War reenactment and a number of tents with Civil War memorabilia. Since Peter is a history lover, I suggested he go to the event. While he did this, I ventured into town to do laundry.

In the afternoon, we met future loopers. They currently have a 30′ sailboat that is for sale and want to purchase a Mainship. Their plan is to leave next year since he will be joining his wife in retirement in February. They were interested in our journey so far and when they were leaving, she offered to take me to a real supermarket to provision before we left. She felt that she would be paying it forward. After consideration, I agreed that this would be a good idea since I don’t know what awaits me at the next few stops. The plan was to go shopping on Thursday when I needed to be off the boat because of the repairs.

Peter spent Monday cleaning the boat just to do something different. Port Sanilac is a nice town but too small to occupy time for a week+. On Tuesday, one of our buddy boats, Selah Way, came to the Port Sanilac Municipal Marina. They had a number of family events that sidetracked their trip but they are now ready to move forward. We were advised that they were told that they must go to Blue Water for their thin crust pizza – the place is known for it. So it looked like that took care of our dinner plans. Must say, the pizza was good.

Wednesday finally arrived and our parts were delivered. However, only the shaft and prop arrived as the box with the coupler, etc. was not put on the van. Fortunately, one of the employees was at a meeting near the shop and would stop by to pick it up on his way home otherwise, we would have been delayed even another day. We are anxiously awaiting Thursday – repair day!

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Thursday morning we left early as planned. Our travel up the St. Clair River was uneventful. Weather was good and the ride was pleasant. Kodey appreciated the trip to catch up on his napping. When we approached the bridge – in a permanent up position – we saw that the entire transient dock at Port Huron Yacht Club was empty. Our plan worked and we secured our lines and tied up close so that there would be space for others who arrived throughout the day.

Port Huron is a busy place. Lots of boats and lots of sail boats returning from the Port Huron to Mackinac Island race. The river is narrow at the opening and we experienced much rocking. It appears that people do not understand the meaning of NO WAKE. Our plan was to only spend one night in town and then head up to Lake Huron, second of our Great Lakes.

We read, and were advised about the strong current entering Lake Huron and the need to hug the Canadian side of the channel. All this is true! We are a slow boat, especially with our mechanical problems but fighting the current to enter the lake, our speed actually dropped to 1.8 knots. We were happy to get out of the funnel and enter the lake. Lake Erie looked large but it doesn’t compare the vastness of Lake Huron.

Destination was not much of question this time. We had thought about Port Salinac but it turned out that this was their Festival weekend and that meant no slip availability. Lexington looked like a cute town but it was only 20 miles away and we wanted to travel further. That meant we would have a longer day but would arrive at Harbor Beach in the afternoon. Water was good so it was no problem. Harbor Beach is undergoing renovations so the marina had some very nice new slips but they didn’t have power or water. We opted for the older slips with the rickety, narrow fingers since power and water is nice to have. In addition to the rickety fingers, the main dock to land had wide spaces between most of the boards. This created a difficult walk for Kodey since his paws were the perfect size to get caught between two boards. Walking down the dock, gingerly, took more time than usual. To offset these inconveniences, the staff were friendly and there was a courtesy car to get us into town.

Since we were headed to Jerry’s Marina in East Tawas on July 31st, we wanted to make sure that they were prepared to accept our packages – the part from PYI and two additional packages from Target and Amazon that I had ordered. Called on Thursday and left a message – no return phone call. Peter called again on Friday and wanted to speak with the mechanic who had left a message. He was unable to speak with him but was advised by their staff that they were too busy to look at our boat and that their policy is to not make appointments but to look at the boat two weeks after you arrive at the marina. Major issue – why did they create a work order two weeks earlier and tell us the 31st but not that we would need to wait an additional two weeks to actually have any work done?

Harbor Beach is a place to stay and does not have any mechanical services. However, there is a local mechanic who works on many boats there and Peter spoke to him on Saturday. He came to the marina, reviewed the issues we were having, the other “repairs” we had and diagnosed that the shaft was bent. He tested the shaft and said it was bent and would need to reconditioned. Of course, that meant that the boat needed to be hauled – he thought a friend of his had a trailer that could pull the boat but the boat was too heavy. He advised that if we continued to travel looking for a mechanic, we risked losing our prop.

By Sunday, we were struggling to locate a marina in the area that could manage the haul out and do the work or allow the mechanic from Harbor Beach to do the work if they were too busy. Peter finally spoke with the service manager at Port Salinac Marina and he advised that they would be able to help. Since we were concerned about losing the prop, we agreed that a tow would make sense. The weather was projected to be windy on Monday so we would probably not be towed until Tuesday. While they had the equipment and mechanics to help us, it meant going 27 miles back south. Not what we wanted to do but we want the boat fixed permanently this time. We cannot continue to travel and risk having additional problems.

Our buddy boat, Bahama Voyager, left Harbor Beach on Sunday for Port Austin. They graciously stated that they would pick up our packages at Jerry’s Marina since they would not be doing the work. After a stop in Port Austin, they planned to stay at the state marina in East Tawas for a day or two and would be close by. Loopers are great!

On Monday, we received the tracking number from PYI once we confirmed that the package had not arrived. It was too late to redirect the package but we were able to have them hold it at the UPS facility and we hoped that we would be able to resend it once they got it.

Monday was too windy so it was arranged that we would be towed on Tuesday when the wind was better. With all this going on, there was another festival in Port Sanilac the following weekend – the 6th annual Blues Festival on Friday and Saturday, and that meant no slips if we needed to stay beyond Friday morning. The plan was to be towed and then hauled. We were told we could not stay on the boat and there are limited places nearby with rooms – none are marked pet-friendly. I called the motel closest to the marina and told them our situation. They were very nice and agreed to take a chance on our “low-maintenance, non-shedding” dog. The only thing was that if the boat was not fixed, we would still have to leave on Friday morning as all rooms had been booked since last year for the festival. He advised that this would be the same at all the local places. Not the best option, but it bought us a few days. All this juggling proved unnecessary since they decided not to haul us until they looked at the leaking and made some adjustments. After they made adjustments, there was a trial run and while there was no leaking, there were a few other things that need to be looked at – the bent shaft, etc. and that would be done on Wednesday. He suggested we stay in the state marina next door and they will work on finding a slip for us until the boat was operable. The gracious motel owner understood and allowed us to cancel our reservation without any payment even though it was close to 5 pm – the differences you see in small towns.

Wednesday arrived and the mechanic ran a number of tests on the boat. The final diagnosis was that the leaky shaft seal was never the main problem but it was the bent shaft and that meant hauling the boat so that the shaft could be reconditioned. Since pieces of the engine had been deconstructed, their barge towed us to their travel lift to be hauled. Once hauled, they needed to work on removing the shaft so that it could be given to the company they use for reconditioning. Removing the shaft proved not an easy task. They needed to work on the stainless steel rudder and enlarge the hole to remove the shaft. As I am a novice, I inquired why it was so difficult to remove and if so, how could the installer get the shaft in the boat in the first place. An unanswered question.

Finally, they were able to remove the shaft, prop and coupler just in time to give it to the company van for pickup. This reconditioning will probably take a week so we will be staying in Port Sanilac awaiting repairs. They were able to find a slip for us and put an old shaft into the boat so we would stay afloat. Staying on your own boat, even when it is not moving, definitely beats staying in a motel. Really didn’t want to move clothes, eat all meals out, and worry about Kodey. The weekend would have been problematic anyway since there were no rooms available in town. I guess I should also mention that there is no place to rent a car here.

Our parts were taken to the shop in Algonac with a return next Wednesday. We are staying on the boat and will need to find some things in this small town to occupy our time. At least we will be entertained Friday and Saturday as the Blues Festival is in the park next door so we just need to stay on the boat and we will be able to hear everything.

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We left Cleveland and the weather looked good. Some wind so there were a few options of where to stop depending on the wind/waves the rest of the day. Two possibilities were Lorain and Vermilion. The preference was for Vermilion since we would be able to cross more of Lake Erie. One problem we have been facing is the availability of docks – that are not under water. The wind/waves cooperated so we continued to travel. Bahama Voyager made some phone calls and was able to secure spots for us in Vermilion but at different marinas. Their beam is 17.5′ so that presents issues for a number of marinas – either they don’t have slips wide enough or it means using two slips to accommodate the boat. As it turned out, the spot they secured for themselves was partially underwater so that meant no power for the night. Vermilion has many small marinas in this harbor, up until the fixed bridge. The bridge has a low clearance of 10′ and it was right before this bridge that Bahama Voyager secured a place to tie up for the night.

We met up a little later in town to have dinner and stroll through the Vermilion 3rd Thursday festivities. The town sponsors musical performances on the 3rd Thursday of the month. There were 24 different musical performances – in the park, open-air gazebos, local restaurants, and street corners. The music was varied and we enjoyed strolling along with the crowd to listen to a wide range of genres and talent. It was great to see a town so vibrant with loads of people enjoying the activities and boosting the local economy.

While Vermilion was a cute town, it didn’t have enough of a draw for us to stay another day especially considering the accommodations. We dabbled with traveling to Sandusky, Port Clinton, Toledo Beach or heading north (over open water) to Put-In-Bay. So much depended on the wind, once again. Since we were also trying to locate a mechanic and thought our best option was on the Detroit River, we decided that we would start hugging the shore to test the waters first and if all was fine, we would head north to Put-In-Bay.

Conditions weren’t optimal but they were doable. We headed across Lake Erie to Put-In-Bay. Slips were not readily available and we were not interested in going to South Bass Island and have to raft to four other boats. Sent a few emails, made a number of calls but by mid-day still no luck. Tried to contact the Ohio municipal dock on Middle Bass Island but their phone was busy consistently since 9 am when they opened. At a certain point, I contacted their non-emergency number and was advised that there were phone issues and was given an email address. Never received a response but we all decided that if there had been phone issues for a number of days, that also meant that others could not get through so we would go and hail them on the radio once we were close enough. That worked and we were able to get slips for two nights. If that hadn’t worked, we always had the option of a mooring ball on South Bass Island.

Middle Bass Island was a clean, quiet marina and practically half empty. We decided to take the ferry over to South Bass the next day since that is the “tourist” island and the “party place”. There is a boardwalk, many restaurants and bars, lots of the typical tourist attractions. We rented a golf cart and toured around the entire island. One of the stops we made was to visit Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial that commemorates the Battle of Lake Erie that took place near Ohio’s South Bass Island. We  went up to the observation deck and the viewed the sights and enjoyed watching part of a reenactment of one of Perry’s sea battles. Although we had fun on the island, we were very happy that we opted to stay on Middle Bass.

After spending two nights on Middle Bass Island it was time to head for the Detroit River and hopefully find a mechanic for a permanent fix to our leaky seal. The water was high on the river as we tried to locate a place to stay. I was impressed with the color of the water, especially when compared to our home water, the Hudson River. Seeing the water color as we travel highlights nature’s vast differences.

Once again, lots of phone calls, few available spaces for our size boats. One marina indicated that there were two slips at the end of the dock, with electric but no one would be there when we arrived – he would be there later in the day. We stopped for fuel and someone advised that they believed that the marina we were heading to had docks under water. It was only a few miles away and sure enough, the dock for “us” was under water and that meant not only no services but pretty impossible to get Kodey off the boat for a walk. I called the contact and left a message that we were passing on the slips but thanked him for at least returning my call. We pushed on and that meant a longer day but we felt it best to find a place to tie up. We were fortunate to find room at the Milliken State Park & Harbor just outside the city of Detroit. An additional bonus once we checked in was the availability of free laundry that was open 24 hours onsite.

The next day was spent touring and making phone calls to mechanics. Even with the help of Harbor Hosts, we were having a tough time. Mechanics were booked for three-four weeks before even looking at our boat. There was one possibility of only a week but that was before he could even look at it. It’s one thing to have to wait to have the work completed but another to wait to even have them look especially if you were not in a place where you want to stay.

The next strategy was to look further into the future and find a mechanic further north, probably on Lake Huron where we could schedule an appointment in advance for two weeks out and not lose time and make progress, even slow, towards the next leg of the journey.

We located a marina in East Tawas on Lake Huron and made an appointment to meet with a mechanic on July 31. In addition, contact was made with the manufacturer of the shaft/seal to ship a replacement seal directly to the marina.

After we left Detroit, we traveled across Lake St. Clair and then up the St. Clair River to the St. Clair Boat Harbor, a marina recommended by a boater in Detroit. The place was nice, close to town, and had a courtesy van to transport us within the city limits. We took advantage of this to have dinner in a local restaurant in the pouring rain and then again, the next day to go to a supermarket for provisions. This was the first real shopping trip since Fairport, NY. The town was very active as they were preparing for their annual boat race on the weekend. Slips were at a premium for this event so we were scheduled to leave on Thursday for our next stop, Port Huron. We were advised that slips could be difficult to obtain in Port Huron as there were many sailboats returning from the Port Huron to Mackinac Island race. The Port Huron Yacht Club has a few transient slips on a first-come basis so we decided to leave even earlier than usual to secure a spot.

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