Port #5: Ride 'Em Cowboy (And Girl)...

Great Loop II Date: 8/7/2014

Day #8 (Thursday):  95 miles (293 total miles)

Port #5:  Harrisville Municipal Harbor

OB’s crew arose early to get underway for a long day on the water.  Our plans have changed daily.  We want to add new experiences to our adventure.

Although Port Austin and Tawas Harbor (all in Michigan) would have been new ports to us, we have always wanted to let OB touch Lake Superior before our long distant cruising days close.  We also need to travel as far as we can when the weather permits, especially since we are traveling at slower speeds.  So Todd plotted a course to Harrisville, MI repeating the same long travel day we had 4 years ago during Loop #1.

We left Port Sanilac under a beautiful sunrise and 1 foot seas.  By the time we were approaching the Saginaw Bay area, we were taking 3 foot rollers on the nose.  Were it Lake Erie, everything in the boat would be on the floor, including us.  Lake Huron is much deeper so riding them is more like a slow motion bucking bull ride.  Although not a bad ride, it does get a bit tiring.

Many times during this trip (including today) we are not in sight of land.  Even with the bouncing, each member of the crew has to take time at the helm and find things to do.  I often work on our blog, although today we were out of range for both our phones and our MiFi.  Todd moves between the upper and lower stations, drinks coffee and plans course directions.  Charlie finds the best spot to ride out the boat movement and sleeps.

We saw one lone sailor today.  Four power boaters did pass us southbound but I didn't get their picture.

Looking west...

...looking north...

...looking east...

...looking south...

...Charlie looking at his eyelids.  This was his spot today...the lowest spot in the boat!

I wanted to try my new inverter in the galley with my crockpot.  Before we left port, I assembled beef stew in the crockpot and plugged it in.  I was so happy it all worked well and we had a fine dinner aboard when we arrived in Harrisville.

Here's the crockpot set up...the red arrow is pointing to the 1000W Inverter.  I keep the crockpot in the sink so it doesn't migrate to the floor if seas get bumpy.

We relaxed on the bridge before dinner, walked Charlie a few times, watched a little TV after dinner and turned in early.  Today was a 10 hour travel day and we were tired.