Port #15: Home of the Braves...I Mean Brewers!

Great Loop II Date: 8/23/2014

Day #23 {Saturday): 77 miles (910 total miles)

Locks: 0 (2 total locks)

Port #15:  Milwaukee, WI

I was up again at 4:45AM to get Charlie and myself ready for an early start.  Todd was up shortly thereafter.  We left Manitowoc Marina at 7:30AM in grey, overcast skies with light fog.  We had no problem with dead recogning however it’s always nice to know we have good back up with our electronics.

Manitowoc Harbor Light as we left Manitowoc.

Looking south as we left Manitowoc.

Nothing to see but the horizon.

The one nice thing about fog is the seas are usually very calm and quiet.  We had some rollers on our forward port quarter beam but nothing bothersome.  We had to door in the pilothouse open with a nice breeze coming through and Charlie had picked out his happy spot for the morning.

Charlie was sound asleep with his nose out the pilothouse door.

By noon the fog was thickening and by 3PM we couldn’t see our hand in front of our face…so to speak.  I quit working on the blog and pictures that would be going into it.  Todd and I both we posted at watch.  We could see two tugs and a sailboat on our AIS.  We began sounding our horn every 1 ½ to 2 minutes to alert anyone that didn’t have radar that we were in the area.  When we got the sailboat within ½ mile, Todd radioed him to let him know our position and progress.  We could see him move to the starboard side on the radar (as well as AIS) and out of our path.  I went up on the bridge but couldn’t see him even at a quarter mile.  He sounded his air horn and I could hear him falling behind us.

The tug Captain obviously saw us on radar and talked to the other tug Captain about the two crazy sail boaters out in this mess.  He didn’t know we weren’t a sailboat…surprise, surprise!

What we saw....

...what our radar and GPS mapping program saw.  All that orange on the radar was land, the dots behind us (left and right) were the tug and the sailboat, the red X in the middle of the screen was our current position and the red X in the white box was our target for the Autopilot.  On the left is the map...the little black boat is OB.  It was clear to see the entrance to the harbor, the marina and the dock on the map, not so much with the naked eye.

Coming into the breakwall and the marina was another intense effort for us.  Todd and I put on our headsets, I stepped outside the door.  He told me which side the wall would appear on first.  I’d respond when I could see it.  He’d tell me when he could see it.  Then we went about looking for the next wall.  We both were very thankful for the detail on our charting system.  Indeed it did show us exactly where we expected to be as we entered the marina.  Todd called into the marina office on the VHF radio.  They knew how frustrated we were as we tried to make out the fuel dock however they were of little help.  Finally I spotted an attendant on the fuel dock, the wind had picked up and it had started to rain and we literally blew into the dock.  It scared the attendant.  There was no harm, no foul and all was well with the world once again.

By the time we had taken on fuel, pumped out and checked in, the rain had rinsed out the fog (so to speak), the wind stopped and we progressed to our dock with little fanfare.

A fellow we had met in Key West by way of another good friend of ours lives in Milwaukee.  Hap’s dock was on the same dock we were assigned to.  He came down with his two dogs (Dory and Shamu) and a Yorkie he was dogsitting (Cooper).  Hap was the host of hosts to us.  He took us through downtown Milwaukee that evening on his boat, gave us a grand river tour and took us to a great pub for dinner.  We got back to the marina just before another rainstorm hit.  The rain on the bow lulled us to sleep.

Hap and Cooper

Dory trying to figure out Charlie.

McKinley Marina in the sunset.

OB at her dock.

The Milwaukee skyline from the shipping channel.

The Art Museum...

...those 'wings' are made of separate veins that close into each of the angled windows.  We didn't see them closed until the last evening and it was too far away for me to get a good picture.  It looks like a white teepee when the veins are down.

The shipping channel markers.  We couldn't see those when we came in, however we came in an opening closer to the marina.  There are actually three openings into one huge bay that is formed by the breakwall.

Our Lake Erie friends will remember the Dennis Sullivan.  It participated in the Battle of Lake Erie September 2013.  It was constructed and resides in Milwaukee.

The home of the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Ale House

Sunday, Hap took us to West Marine and another marine store in a failed attempt to find a replacement Inverter for our dying 400 Watt inverter that powers our computers underway.  We went back to the marina and walked over to the best vintage car show we’ve ever attended.  There were cars from the very early 1900s right up to the latest 2014 Corvette Stingray.  The cars were grouped by age and class into display circles.  We had so much fun spending the afternoon looking at these beautiful cars.

Hap came back to the marina with his sister and brother in law (Cindy and Gary) and two friends (Pam and Jay).  We showed them through the boat and had fun telling them about our adventures.  Afterward, Hap took Gary, Cindy, Todd and me to another great little brew pub (The Horny Goat…referring to the goats horns!) on the river for dinner.  Jay and Pam met us there.  We all had a fantastic time telling stories, discovering how small our world really is and laughing the evening away.

Our evening at the Horny Goat.

Milwaukee was a great stop and Hap was a most wonderful ombudsman for his city.  I got a note from my traveling nurse girlfriend, Nancy, that we had just missed her by three weeks.  Her next assignment is in Milwaukee.  She’s been assigned to a hospital in Wisconsin before (I can’t remember if it was Green Bay or Milwaukee).  I certainly understand why she’s coming back.  The folks in Wisconsin and especially Milwaukee are so genuinely nice.  It was a pleasure to be with everyone of them.