Port #2: Revisiting Old Places...

Great Loop II Date: 8/4/2014

Day #5 (Monday): 108.4 total miles (73.9 miles)

Port #2: Keans Marina, Detroit, MI

Monday morning we were up before sunrise and on our way to Anchors Away Marina to meet Clay.  Clay started working on the generator around 8:30AM.  By 10:30AM he had the hose changed, the sea grass out of the intake and a new impeller in place.  With fingers crossed, we headed north across Lake Erie for the Detroit River.

Lake Erie was kind to us during this crossing.  She was flat and smooth.  By the time we got to Detroit, we were met by rain and thunderstorms.  We docked at Keans Detroit Yacht Harbor before 7PM, had a nice dinner on board and relaxed the evening away.

Sunrise over the Benson Ford Wheelhouse on South Bass Island

This was intended to be a Bed&Breakfast.  It ended up a private residence.

The sailboat racer that road Saturday's storm out on our port side at Put In Bay.  He's pretty fast!

The Detroit Light marking the entrance to the Detroit River.

Our first freighter...

...they look small until they pass you!

Another downbound freighter.

Same freighter!

Smaller boat traffic.

The Ambassador Bridge from Detroit to Windsor, ON, CA

Detroit skyline on a cloudy, rainy day.

Detroit's Riverboat

Windsor off to our starboard side.

Colorful Caesar's Palace in Windsor.

The storm that seemed to build in intensity behind us.

Port #1: It's a Regatta Kind of Day....

Great Loop II Date: 7/31/2014

Day #1 (Thursday): 20 total miles (20 miles)

Port #1: Put In Bay, South Bass Island, Ohio

Todd bought a new Magma Grill Wednesday afternoon and intended to install it on the bar in our bridge while I went for my last groceries.  When I came back the grill was in the box and Clay was set up to come Thursday morning.  The bolts were set such that the bar refrigerator would need to be removed.  Once the bolts were in, the heads had to be sawed off to accommodate the drip pan.  Preparing for this trip has sure had its moments!

Our plan was to go to Put In Bay again to make sure all the updated systems were in working order.  We arrived during the beginning of the annual PIB ILYA Sailboat Regatta.

Leaving Bay Point Marina

Passing the ongoing housing development at Bay Point (View from Lake Erie)

Captain maintaining his station

Sailboats racing Thursday afternoon

None of the moorings were marked for the sailboats and we had our pick.  We grabbed I-2 which put us nearest the WiFi offered by Boardwalk Harbor.  We don’t have our old WiFi set up this time (an antenna attached to a signal booster/router and our old Verison 3G card).  We will use WiFi offered by marinas and our own Verison 4G MiFi when necessary.

Perry's Monument

Sunset in the Boardwalk Mooring Field

Cantankerus going for another load of fuel for the island

OB on her mooring

Each morning the call for the races occurred between 7AM and 8AM.  The cluster of sailboats taking up all the dockage at the City Docks and a few slips at the marinas would scamper to attention and march to sites outside of the Bay to race.  Saturday morning, we awoke to thunder and dark skies to the south and west.  The sailors all scampered out to the race call…even amidst the impending electrical storm. About halfway through the race, during the storm’s full fury, the sailors came back in.  Some were able to dock successfully, while others had to ride out the storm keeping their bows to the weather and their engines running high enough to stay in one spot.

The approaching storm Saturday morning

Sailboat racer riding out the storm

All our systems seemed to be working well until our generator overheated and shut down.  Trouble shooting pointed to two possibilities: sea grass could be clogging the sea strainer intake or the hose could be degenerating.  Todd cleaned the strainer to find very little grass.  Sunday morning he dove below the boat and found some grass clogging the exterior of the intake.  Even after clearing that, the water still did not flow into the strainer or into the generator.  Todd contacted Rory, the manager of our maintenance team.  He told us to take the boat out, put it on plane and open the sea strainer canister.  That should work to suck out any clog in the line.  We tried that maneuver with no change.  Rory scheduled Clay to meet us at Anchors Away on Monday morning to diagnose and rectify the problem.

Sunday night was a beautiful evening.  Even with our ongoing setbacks, it was a good time to take a spot up on the bridge, enjoy a pizza from Cameo and a beer.  We watched all of the day boaters and late checkout weekenders leave the Bay one by one.  It made us thankful the work life is behind us and adventure we create is ahead.

Great Loop II Date: 3 Days and Counting !!!

Day #-3 (Monday): 0 total miles (0 miles)

Port #0: Marblehead, Ohio

Some things just don’t change.  Prepping for the Loop is one.  Just as before, the beginning of the prep was slow and steady.  These last ten days have brought it to a roaring crescendo.  Woven in and around the prepping has been some wonderful moments spent will good friends over some great food and drink. 

OB (short for Ocean Breeze) has gone from organized to completely disorganized to darn near new again.  All her life blood has been changed (oil and filters, transmission fluids and filters, fuel filters, antifreeze exchange, and new fuel filters as well as a fill up with $1000 of diesel).  Our 7 year old Dometic refrigerator was changed out for a new Norcold.  Two days later our stove died and a new Princess electric with cooktop installed.  We had a new 1000 Watt inverter installed in a cabinet in my galley so I can use my crockpot underway.  It will also operate our TV and coffeepot.  Our port valance in the salon needed replacing.  The new valance will be installed tomorrow.  We always save the carpet cleaning to just before departure and that will occur tomorrow, as well.  Currently, our maintenance man (Clay from Mike’s Dockside) is calking everything in the upper station and bridge that looks like it might leak into our lower living quarters.  Our generator just received a face lift and the new panels were put in place today complete with new sound proofing.  Genny will never go unnoticed when she’s running but she sure looks a heck of a lot better!

Valance out for refurb...searching and finding the illusive leaks!

OB's repaired valance back in place!

New Norcold refrigerator...dead stove removed.

New Princess stove....

...with a cooktop

Generator panels removed, new insulation added and new paint.

Clay caulking OBs areas for water leaks.

Todd and I have been busy with trip planning, watching all of the problem zones in the early part of the Cal-Sag and Illinois Rivers and estimating destinations with calendar dates.  The current weather fronts are bringing to mind the possibilities of weather days.

We’ve enjoyed some great food and conversation with our long time friends here at Bay Point as well as Rory and Laurel Peram (Mike’s Dockside) and our friends in Findlay.  Food and libation is a way of life here at Bay Point combined with a lot of laughter and good times.  With their help I have successfully started my onboard herb garden.

Rory and Laurel at their home away from home...Mike's Dockside.

This is what was smoking away at home!

Rory has one big smoker...and that Boston Butt was AMAZING.

The Broken Oar Bar...at Rory and Laurel's home.

Lunch with our wonderful neighbors from Findlay.

Gotta love our wait-staff at Bay Point!

My new herb garden.

We have some new blog followers from docks throughout Bay Point, as well as Cape Coral and Findlay.  I will make an honest effort not to let any of you down.

A New Season With New Goals...

Ocean Breeze hit the water for the 2014 season on May 22nd.  We had just returned from Cape Coral four days earlier.  In that time, we had met with a contractor to assess repairs that would need to be made on our home in Findlay, we met with our realtor to discuss the two offers on our home, and I listed all our furniture on Craigslist.  We took the four days over Memorial Day to catch our breath on Ocean Breeze and get her ready for us to move aboard in the weeks ahead.

Who knew our furniture would be gone by the end of the next week?

Sleeping on a blow up bed

Eating on a card table borrowed from our neighbors

Using our patio set in the Great Room

Who knew we'd close on the sale of our house 10 days later?  Who knew we'd be heading back to Cape Coral with the Corvette and the SRX hauling a UHaul trailer less than two weeks after closing?

Familiar places with friends in the Cape helped ease the stress.

A few nights sitting on our dock in the Cape helped too.

AND who knew Ocean Breeze would have us back aboard with a few possessions from our 44 years of marriage less than a week later?

Todd still keeps up with daily life on the computer.

This is my galley (kitchen)

 When we came aboard from the Cape, I had stowed 8 bags of groceries and kitchen stuff from home in that space.  I couldn't get through there!

We could get to our bed in the Master Stateroom

 We were able to sleep in our bed when we got back, however we had to step over two suitcases and three duffle bags.

This is usually a couch but transforms to a closet

 I had hung so much on this travel rod in our rush to leave for the Cape, I feared I'd see it on the floor when I got back.  Oh yeah, for those who remember our last Loop, there's Charlies bed.

The wash has to be done

 Thank God I have a washing machine!

Charlie always finds his place

 He's so much happier.  He was a nervous wreck for a while.

This is the Guest Stateroom

 Anyone who has stayed in our Guest Stateroom knows what it's supposed to look like.  We are listing a bit to port these days.  I think we will be taking some more stuff to the storage locker.

We do have facilities

 This is our Master Head.  We were able to access it, however....

Yes, it's a two bathroom boat

....my head (which is the Guest head), was stacked with three bags of towels and linens.

It took me the first week to compress everything into the stowage I used during the last Loop.  What didn't make it into stowage was organized into the guest stateroom.  I did manage to take three more bags of stuff to Good Will.

Next up is the laundry list that went to our crew that maintains everything mechanical on Ocean Breeze.  That work will start this coming week.  So in the meantime, we enjoyed the 4th of July holiday at our home port...Bay Point.

One of may beaches at Bay Point.  This one is closest to Ocean Breeze.

 We sipped a few cold ones on the deck near the beach.

This is our channel leading to Lake Erie.

 That's Lake Erie out there.  Unfortunately we're too tall to go under the bridge we were standing on when I took this picture.  We have to go through the Sandusky Bay to get to Lake Erie.

Looking west toward Ocean Breeze.

This was taken from the same bridge but looking west toward 1/3 of the marina.  We go to the Tiki Hut by the swimming pool (left side of the picture above) for a cool one once in a while too.

The pool...the Tiki Hut is hidden behind the bathrooms on the right.

Ocean Breeze is below the arrow on the right side of the picture.

We had a nice breather this weekend.  Tomorrow we continue to prepare for the trip ahead.  Our current date for departure is July 31st.  Stay tuned...

*For those of you new to the blog, you can click on each picture to get a better view.  To come back to the blog without losing your place, click the white X in the upper right corner.