6/30/23 - Port Sanilac to Port Huron

 

Exiting Lake Huron onto The St Clair River
Blue Water Bridge center
Sarnia, Ontario Canada 🇨🇦 on left
Port Huron, Michigan USA 🇺🇸 on right
Both respectively flying their own and the other nations flag 
☮️ 

Another milestone in our Loop was accomplished today as we completed our travels on Lake Huron.  Two Great Lakes down and most likely only one other (Lake Erie) to go for us…at least this time around!

After sleeping in a bit this morning and preparing ourselves a big breakfast of omelets, bacon and toast we got busy on the internet and phones with an investigative search for  where Happy Destiny will call home for the remainder of the season and winter once we complete our travels for this leg of our voyage.   Erik had THOUGHT we had a slip lined up as well as winter storage at Catawba Landing Marina on Catawba  Island.   This was based on phone conversations with the marinas owner several months ago where he had assured us that he would have availability; turns out not so much 😠  Upon calling a couple of days ago and after a couple shaky communications it turns out that they do NOT have a large enough slip available nor room for us to store over the winter.   We pulled out the spreadsheet we had made while shopping around months ago and began contacting other facilities.   Pretty much all marinas in the Catawba Island area are now full and couldn’t accommodate us.  Many phone calls later we do now have a couple of options available to us.  Pier 53 Marina, also on Catawba Island, can accommodate us but is a little pricier than we had planned and were hoping for.   Anchor Point Marina in Curtice OH (further west….closer to Toledo) was another that we had considered some months ago and will likely be our choice.  They have very competitive pricing and nice facilities (pool, nice bath house, etc) but are about 25 minutes further from home and also in an area with not as much to do close by.   We will be making our final decision in the next couple of days.   

We departed Port Sanilac at 11:15 am and enjoyed nice, smooth lake conditions for almost the entirety of our 35 mile cruise.   What was not so nice or enjoyable was the thick smoky haze that our bow had to penetrate and our eyes had to attempt to peer through.  At times we had well less than 1/2 mile visibility but yet a sunny brightness that was very annoying to look into.  

Smoky, low visibility made radar our best friend
This was really the first time we’ve cruised NEEDING to use radar
Nice to have it when it’s needed!
Take your damned smoke back Canada….eh! 😂 

For the last several miles on Lake Huron as we approached the entrance to the St Clair River the smoke did dissipate considerably which made life much better for navigating a very busy area.  The waterway directly inside the mouth of the River was congested with lots of boats of all sizes zooming around in many directions.  The large wakes made for a wash basin effect ruining our smooth run we had been having up to that point.   Additionally there was a quite strong current for the first mile or so going up the river; internet said +/- 5mph.   We had the throttle just a touch above idle speed to maintain steerage and we were still traveling at about 14mph as the current pushed us along through the topsy tervy, congested water.  

More boats coming at us at the same time than we’d seen in a long time

Considering upgrading our dinghy!
Yep….that’s 900 hp on that puppy 

Just a couple miles down the St Clair River we turned off onto The Black River where we headed up it a couple of miles to a marina we had secured a slip at, Bridge Harbor Marina.   It is named appropriately given that in the 2 mile or so trip up it we encountered 3 bridges that were to low for us to navigate under.  Fortunately our timing was pretty good as we only had to wait at the first one for about 7 minutes (it raises only twice an hour on the hour and half hour).  After the first lift bridge the second one was only a hundred yards or so downriver and was listed in Navionics as lifting on the quarter hour but as we approached and prepared to wait it opened….nice!   The third and final one opened as soon as the second one closed.   We arrived and got tied up in our slip at 2:35pm.  The sun was now out in force heating the air up to what for the first time in our trip felt like true summer.   We plugged into shore power and stared up both AC units simultaneously for the first time this year.   Riva went to shore with us to check in and do her business and we then changed into our suits to head up to the nice refreshing pool where we spent a couple of hours relaxing.  

This marina is a little rough around the edges out on the docks
BUT…
has a really nice clubhouse and pool

From other side looking out at docks 
Can you find Renee?

The remainder of the evening was spent relaxing, having some leftovers for dinner and doing some dock walking and talking to people in the marina.  This is definitely a much more blue collar type marina with one member even self proclaiming it to be a redkneck yacht club 😂 

We know nothing about those! 
😝 
A fellow Marinette

 

6/29 Port Austin to Port Sanilac

This morning instead of taking Riva to shore on the dinghy we pulled the weeds….I mean the anchor!?!? And headed in to the gas dock.  We could walk Riva while waiting for the dock attendant to arrive and fill us up.  As mentioned previously, we anchored in some serious weeds and it was a chore for Erik to get the anchor in, pulling off chunks of weed as he brought it up.  Once the anchor was up there was still a huge ball of weeds wrapped around it.  We decided it might be easier to clean it off once tied to the dock.  A little after 8 we had walked Riva, cleared the anchor, vacuumed bugs….again, and fueled up.  This time the other gas tank took more 🤦🏻‍♀️.

We headed out towards Harbor Beach.  The water started out fairly smooth with just a small amount of chop.  About an hour into the trip, and after a little research on Harbor Beach, we decided to skip it and go on to Port Sanilac.  The water did not stay as smooth and although it wasn’t terrible, it was not a comfortable ride today!  Lumpy, bumpy, and roly poly! We made it into Port Sanilac a little after 2pm.

Harbor Beach Lighthouse seen along the cruise today
At least by Renee 
Erik was napping down below 

We walked down the street to see the house we had stayed in when we came for a family vacation. 

Scheiderer family vacation was in this AirBnB about 8 years ago….fond memories

Then we walked into town and down to the Sanilac County Historical Village and Museum.  The museum was a “mansion” that belonged to one of the first practicing doctors in the area and had stayed in his family until donated to the historical society.  The house remains decorated with many original family artifacts as well as other donated time period items.  There is an area dedicated to military service of men and women from the area.  There was also a room of shipwreck artifacts, paintings, and information.  Outside of the house were many buildings that had been moved to the property to keep for the sake of history.  A few log cabins, and old school house complete with desks and chalkboard (we peeked in the windows).  Also a general store, dairy museum, and a few old houses.  The village buildings were not open today; looked like they opened them to visitors at times.  Next to the museum was a barn/theater.  Someone had converted a barn into a playhouse.  If we stay another day we will likely come back to see “The Prisoner of Second Avenue”.  On our way back we passed Elizabeth and Larry as they had pulled into the marina about 4pm.

Just a swinging

Riva leading the way to the old historic Victorian museum home

Neat venue for the community theatre

We headed back to the boat to let Riva rest before we headed to dinner.  Realizing we had skipped lunch we were starving!  Still having a craving for pizza and wings, the local pizza place/bar had good recommendations.  The Blue Water Sports Bar & Grill did not disappoint.  The supreme pizza had lots of toppings and a really good crust.  The garlic Parmesan wings were also delicious!  With full bellies we once again headed back to the boat to rest our feet.  Showers, coffee and some catching up on the blog finished out our evening. 

6/28/23 - East Tawas to Port Austin anchorage

The weather and lake conditions came together and cooperated with each other today to allow for a nice travel day for us.  On awakening and after our usual caffeine fixes we prepared a breakfast of farm fresh eggs, peppered bacon and hash browns.  The boat sitting in the marina slip for the past couple of days had accumulated a healthy covering of mayflies so along with our usual departure preparations we spent some extra time spraying down the hull and also vacuuming up the carpets and undersides of canvas.  The trip planned for today would have us cruising further offshore than we have been typically as we would cross over the wide mouth of Saginaw Bay and land on the tip of the Michigan thumb in Port Austin.  The 30 mile cruise was uneventful, if not a bit irritating to navigate.  Departing at 10am the waves were smallish (1 foot or less) but were rolling and coming at us directly on the port side beam the entire time.  These conditions make for continual steering in order to remain on course….little to the left….little to the right….repeat.   This has Erik thinking a nice upgrade for the future would be autopilot!  We pulled into the small harbor inside of the break walls at Port Austin at 2pm and decided we would anchor out for the day/night.   The anchor was dropped in about 9 feet of water but with a dense amount of weeds that came up to just below the surface of the water.  It will likely be interesting and not fun when we pull the anchor tomorrow morning.   We upgraded our rode to have 40 feet of chain last year, but, our windlass only accepts rope.  This means that the last 40 feet of pulling in the rode is done manually/by hand.   Tune in for a report on Erik’s back condition tomorrow!

Riva MAY have even gotten a small taste of Detroit Grand Slam 
That Erik ACCIDENTALLY dropped….or put in a small bowl 😝 

Soon after getting settled in and ensuring that we were solidly anchored we had a bite for lunch and then dropped the dinghy to head ashore.   Port Austin has a nice marina and a couple of nice parks but is a small town encompassing only about one square mile.  The main drag through town had only a few shops, a hardware store, a couple of restaurants and an IGA.   The shops they do have are nice and we saw some neat local art decor.  We spent a couple of hours walking through and just outside of town; we enjoy looking at the homes that are off the beaten path to get a feel for what the real town is about, not just the touristy waterfront.   As with most of these small towns it is interesting to see some of the large, old homes.  The big surprise was that Port Austin does have an ice cream parlor!! 😂.   The Blue Moon ranked pretty high for us in their selections.  We both were sold by their “flavor of the week”, Detroit Grand Slam, which was described as a rich caramel coffee espresso base and a sea salt caramel swirl mixed with coffee espresso chocolate flakes….ummmm yes please!  The flavor was good but what made their ice cream was that it was particularly creamy and rich.  It didn’t say so but we are guessing this selection was on their low-fat, healthy menu.  

Many beautiful old homes

Photo reminder of slab wood project when we get home

After motoring back to the boat the late afternoon and early evening was spent lounging and relaxing before we made dinner.   Nice live dinner music was provided by a live band performing at Pam’s Cafe and Beer Garden onshore.  

R&R 
Getting a little afternoon
R&R

With rested bodies and satisfied tummys a second dinghy trip ashore was in order.  This time we took the dinghy a short ways (quarter mile or so) up the small river/creek that fed into the harbor.   There was a couple rather decrepit looking small docks that we tied onto at the cafe and spent a while hanging out with Riva, listening to the music and looking at houses in the area before we headed back out to enjoy a quiet sunset over Lake Huron.   

                                         Music to entertain during dinner and potty time for Riva 

Still had some smoky haze today 

Sunset Timelapse. Toward the end a fishing boat that had gone out earlier to enjoy sunset with family had commented how good our dinner grilling on the back of the boat smelled wafting across the harbor stopped by and chatted for a few minutes.  Boaters are friendly folk!

6/26 & 6/27 East Tawas - weather layover days ⛈️☔️

 Monday found us sitting at the dock with the rain and wind pushing us to the dreaded boat chores. Renee got into some deep cleaning as we didn’t take time for that stuff when we got here. Bathrooms cleaned, walls wiped down, bedding washed, floors vacuumed, and then to oiling the teak 😳.  While Renee cleaned Erik climbed into the engine compartment to try to trace down the fuel issue.  Both engines appear to be mostly drawing from the same tank 🫤. 

It’s not all relaxing….

Found a vacuum hose off going between carb and fuel pump off while searching around   

Suspect fuel filters

Removed stone filters and soaked in penetrating oil and starting fluid to clean them

We’ll see 🤷 

 The valves all appear to be in the open position so he began by checking out the fuel filters.  One appeared to have come apart and both were nasty!!! He set off to the auto parts store to replace a vacuum hose that had come off, then to the hardware store for a washer to put the fuel filter back together.  Once the vacuum hose was back on and fuel filters cleaned and back in, we fired up the engines, both appeared to be running fine, so we will have to burn some gas and see if it’s coming out of both tanks.   We are pretty good at burning gas (if you have been following us you know that 😂🤣).  Renee thought maybe that was the reason the generator kept dying, not getting fuel, so we fired the generator up and it actually stayed running for a little bit.  It actually died under air conditioner load so still not running right 😖.  Erik took a little nap after putting the saloon floor back together, and Renee finished up by cleaning the grill.

We went to Mango’s for dinner with Elizabeth and Larry (on QE II ).  After a wonderful visit and dinner we walked to the park to catch the community band finishing up a free concert.  Back to the boat for a movie and bed!

                                                               Seniors rocking the park! 😝 

Tuesday we awoke again to drizzly rain, wind, and the smoke from the Canadian fires had moved in.  A very lazy morning included blueberry pancakes and peppered bacon, a Netflix movie, looking at weather and next stops, then an AA meeting at noon.  On the way home from the meeting we stopped into a little store that specializes in healthy dog treats and got Riva a frisbee.  

She loves her new frisbee

The remainder of the afternoon was spent watching another movie and doing some banking, then a delicious dinner of smoked pork chops and baked beans. Yes a boring day on the boat, but those are needed sometimes!  We are well rested for tomorrows adventures.

6/25/23 - East Tawas anchorage to East Tawas State Dock - Less Sun…More Rainbow

 

An evening rainbow 
Had to be bumped up in the blog order to become the pic of the day
Ironically, a Facebook memory from 5 years ago popped up this evening of a beautiful rainbow we had experienced on the Tennessee River on our travels

5 years ago to the day near Florence Alabama 
This treat was soon after a MUCH more stressful day of boating through some nasty storms
See….we’ve learned when to stay put
Or at least Renee has 😂 

We awoke to spend a tranquil few hours sitting on the aft deck enjoying the solitude of anchoring out.  Erik threw a line in the water with a piece of bacon on it; after all EVERYONE (even fish) likes bacon right?  It turns out that apparently Michigan fish are vegetarian.  Not even a nibble to get the heart going was obtained.   Looks like leftover meatloaf would be on the menu this evening! 

We sat and watched the gentleman in a beautiful, large sailboat anchored out in the bay with us go through an almost hour process of securing his dinghy to the boat after bringing his dog to shore.   He first used a winch/pulley system to lift the outboard gas motor off the dinghy and onto a mount bracket on the back of the boat.  Then he hooked the dinghy to a separate davit/lift system and got it lifted and secured.   Watching his process it made us grateful for our very simple dinghy that is quick and easy to launch and re secure.   If we had to go through all of that every time we wanted to use Trudge we are certain that we would be using it much less frequently.   K.I.S.S (keep it simple stupid) is what came to our minds 😝 

Quiet morning on the hook

Pic from night before of moon above sailboat anchored near us
Gorgeous boat
Complicated dinghy/davit system

After consuming a pot of coffee while talking over upcoming days plans, making a couple calls to marinas and taking Riva ashore for morning business we pulled anchor at about 9:15am to make our long voyage for the day of a whooping 2.5 miles over to East Tawas State Dock.  With the weather forecast still showing rain moving in by early afternoon and lake conditions deteriorating for the next several days we were preparing to settle into a slip and slow our roll for a while.  

Before the rains started in the later afternoon we took the opportunity to ride to Walmart to get a few grocery items and small propane tanks for the grill.  We also stopped through a Do It Best Hardware to pick up some butane refill cartridges for the Thermacell insect repellent device we use.   After lunch we took Riva for a walk through town while stopping in at several of the many shops that are typical to most of these lakeside towns.  East Tawas has a nice selection of them as well as several decent looking restaurant options.  The marina is conveniently located just steps away from the main drag; directly across the street is a pizza shop and ice cream parlor.  We did our homework for later by stopping in to both the parlor adjacent the marina as well as the other local shop to scout out the best flavors for later enjoyment! 

Biggest and busiest store on the East Tawas main drag

Our big purchase at Ben Franklin
We’d been looking for a bath rug small enough to fit outside our master shower

By the time we returned to the boat, about 4pm, the humidity had risen making it as sweaty and sticky as we’ve been thus far on this years adventures making us happy that we’d fired up the A/C earlier for the first time since the trip began.   The remainder of the afternoon and early evening was spent relaxing while enjoying a movie on Netflix and dining on leftover meatloaf/mashed potatoes.   Another nice thing we discovered at this marina is FREE LAUNDRY (very unusual!) so we did take advantage of that by doing a couple of loads.

As the rains moved in, but during a brief break, we made the game time decision to venture back out on foot to make a bee line over to a local church that was .3 miles away to attend an AA meeting.  We met some more nice folks there and a gracious couple gave us a ride back to the Marina sins during the meeting the rain had picked back up.  

Relaxing aboard with a movie
Wondering who the handsome fella is sitting next to Erik in the matching yellow shirt is?!?
😝 

6/24/23 Alpena to Tawas beach - Diving for shipwrecks

Erik got out of the dinghy to snorkel the shipwreck 
‘John F Warner’
A two mast schooner built in 1855
And sunk October 13th 1890 

But couldn’t get away without sunrise pics also

Sunrises, coffee, and walks with Riva.  We headed out fairly early up towards the farmers market and Rite Aid.  Didn’t really need anything at the farmers market unless they had some good coffee.  However, it was right by Rite Aid and we needed some Pataday allergy eye drops. 👁️  We ended up with some homemade apple blueberry dog treats for Riva and some delicious blueberry lemon cookies for us.  We really need to avoid sweets for a while 😳.

We got back to the boat and headed out into the bay in Trudge to see if we could see some shipwrecks.  It was a beautiful morning for a ride in the dinghy!  When we finally saw what looked like part of a ship under the water, Erik put his snorkeling gear on and went diving to see.  Erik could see a big mast that appeared to about 60 feet long.  Over to the side a large section of the hull could be seen largely buried in sand.  

Preparing to dive

Down under

Somehow he managed to pull himself up enough to flip over the side of the dinghy to get back in WITHOUT flipping it over 😂🤣😂🤣.  We motored back into the marina and began the process of getting ready to shove off. 

Heading back to harbor

We filled the water tank and topped off the gas (we seem to have an issue with both engines suddenly pulling gas from the one tank 😖).  Then headed out on pretty smooth waters.

Tawas Point Lighthouse

We were still deciding if we were going to go 30ish miles to Harrisville, or 65ish miles to East Tawas.  There is a chance that as rain moves in Sunday the lake could get yucky 🤢.  We decided to go the whole way and anchor out just outside of East Tawas, and it ended up being a fabulous choice ❤️.  Left Alpena about noon and got anchored about 5:15pm, 65 miles today.  Coming around the point just before our anchorage, the water wasREALLY shallow pretty far out.  We saw many smaller pontoons and run abouts with people beside them in knee deep water.  Erik wasted no time going for a swim.  The weather was hot and the water was not freezing! Riva had to join him!

Riva considering the plunge

And in she went

Farm fresh brats were delish
Even the Save A Lot corn was fresh!

As the evening passed many boats headed in leaving us with only few other boats around.  We took the dinghy in to walk Riva and had to get out and walk Trudge in as far as we could.  There is only a few small marinas, some cabins, and a yacht club up the road.  The road seems pretty busy though with a state park and beach on the opposite side of the peninsula we are behind.  

Back at the boat we had coffee, blueberry lemon cookies, and a sunset 🌅 

Seen in a yard as we walked Riva on shore 😂 

Back to the boat we go

Goodnight

6/23/23. Presque Isle (pronounced PRESK ĒL) to Alpena

 

Yep….another one

Mornings at anchor are so peaceful! Erik of course got up for sunrise pictures while the girls slept.  Renee had a cup of coffee while Erik and Riva headed to shore to take care of business. 

Morning shore trip

Passing a large ship
Many of them on this coast

Thunder Bay Lighthouse

We got underway about 8:30am.  Stopped to check oil and transmission fluid as we still seem to have a transmission leak 😖. But otherwise a beautiful day with perfect temperatures and smooth water.  A little after noon we pulled into Alpena Marina.  As we were pulling into “Thunder Bay” we were reading about all of the shipwrecks in the area.  Erik is determined to snorkel and see some that are in shallow water (Renee has NO plans to be in the water yet!).  We dropped the dinghy and headed out to see if we could see a few that are right outside of the marina.  Unfortunately the wind had picked up a little and there was a decent chop on the water now.  We decided to turn around and go out in the morning when it was calmer.

We had cold meatloaf sandwiches for lunch, YUM! Then headed into town to check out the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center.  This was largely information and exhibits about the many shipwrecks in Thunder Bay and also throughout the Great Lakes.  This was a really well put together collection of information, artifacts, and displays and it was free!

Fully scale model of a shipwreck you could walk through 

Very nicely done displays with cool scale models and information on some of the more famous wrecks

Map of all identified wrecks in Thunder Bay Area
Renee considering which one she wants to dive at 😜

We returned to shower and walk Riva before heading into town for a meeting.  Met several wonderful local folks and decided to get Riva and take her to dinner with us at a recommended food truck in town.  There was a guy playing guitar and singing for entertainment while we ate.  The food truck that made the “bowls” was closing as they were out of beef so we ordered from the other place,  We shared an Italian melt and BBQ quesadilla.  Several places in town had live music tonight.  

After dinner we headed to the dog park to wear Riva out.  Unfortunately, there were no dogs there for her to play with.  She was happy to run around and sniff for a while.   Finally a friend showed up, Bella, a slightly overweight golden retriever.  Bella was not interested in playing, but Riva entertained herself running circles around her.  Worn out we headed back to the boat for Rivas dinner and some relaxation.

Cool dimensional mural in town

                                                                        If I Had a Boat