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!
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| 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.
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| Many beautiful old homes |
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| 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.
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| 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!
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