Day 12: 260 miles: 25 hours (94 miles in 10 hrs today)
OB got the break she needed. By Tuesday morning, the wind had shifted to the ESE and the waves had decreased overnight to 1 to 2 feet. I got up at 4AM and Todd was up shortly after that. I finished my blog on Pt. Sanilac while I drank my 'wake-up' cup of coffee. Todd got his course computers set up and ready to roll. We both got dressed, got Charlie out to 'walk', brought in the power and water lines and cast off from the dock by 7:30AM. This is the best we've done yet for getting underway! Yay Team Russell!
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| Gray Skies, gray seas, ... happy Captain ;-) Bet you thought I was going to say something else, eh? |
Mid-morning we saw two freighters on the horizon. They both disappeared and we were alone again. By noon a little pleasure boat traffic picked up for about an hour. A trawler passed us going north followed by three cruisers running south. None of them were traveling together and they were a good distance apart, so they were feeling the same singleness we were.
As we passed Harbor Beach, MI, we made the decision to adjust our course and head for Harrisville, MI instead of East Tawas, MI. The weather reports sound like another front is coming through tomorrow. We didn't want to be caught in Saginaw Bay with another 3 or 4 day layover. The adjusted course would only added 7 miles and an hour more to today's trip. We saved 30 miles over all with our course change...and possibly two days travel.
This is virgin territory for us. We've heard so many ghost stories about crossing Saginaw Bay. The tip of the 'thumb' of Michigan disappeared from view. All we could see was steel gray water and gray overcast sky. Pretty boring. The 1 to 2 foot waves remained and pushed us off of our starboard stern quarters. The lulling back and forth motion of the boat made both Todd and I sleepy. So to combat the sleepiness, I decided to get a jump on our next blog entry. Todd just moved back and forth between the upper station and the course computers on the lower station, calculating this and that. One of his calculations told him we saved $167 with our course change.
We did have a point where our inverter began complaining and brought about a lot of activity. It charges Todd's course computer (and mine when it is plugged in) and powers the router for our internet connection. The internet would be no loss but the course computer is our backup for our Raymarine system. The inverter has been hooked up to our generator battery. Todd looked at the meter and that battery had gone flat. We couldn't even get the generator started with it. So Todd changed the inverter connection from the generator battery to one of the engine batteries. Walla, we're all up and running again! Happiness reigns in the pilothouse.
Todd settled back in his captain's seat and I in my pilothouse seat. Suddenly a little bird that looked a lot like a house wren appear out of no where on our port windshield wiper. He was obviously looking for bugs or spiders. He hopped from one wiper to the other for a few minutes, then out to the forward railing and flew off into no where and I really mean no where. Here we are with no land in sight and 115 feet of water below us and a bird drops in for a visit? While Todd was moving about in the cabin and I was standing watch, a couple of Monarch Butterflies dropped by for a visit too. So wildlife likes investigating OB and entertaining the crew.
Currently we have 202 feet of water below us. Since most of our boating has been on Lake Erie, we're more used to anything between three feet (in our channel between Johnson's Island and Bay Point) and 30 to 40 feet (around the islands). We found a little deeper water in the Eastern reaches of Lake Erie but nothing like we are in now.
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| Finally, The sun shone and the clouds broke just before we were coming into Harrisville, MI. |
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| Yet this was just off to our starboard side...but it kept right on tracking toward the East. YAY! |
As I close this entry, we are now in the Harrisville Municipal Dock. It's small, quiet and nice with low to the water floating docks. Finally we have wide docks that are easy for Charlie to walk down. He's doing really well on the narrow docks now too. And walks across the opening between the boat door and the dock with out panicking. He may become a boat dog after all!
We have met two more Looper boats (Sea Estate on their second Loop and N II Wishin on their first Loop). They are Looping together. We also met a couple that knew we were coming. I had met some very good friends of theirs at Put in Bay.
We may end up with another weather layover during the next two days. Another front is supposed to come through tonight and bring 4 to 6 foot waves from the the north.
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| Our home for the next day or so. |
Oh yes, and Charlie...well, he seems to be adapting to his new home life well.
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