Last summer we (Dan) spent a LOT of time working on the boat. There were so many projects that needed doing. We had spent our budget bringing the boat home and spent the contingency on repairs and upgrades. But that is another post entirely.
We did mange to get in a few nice weekends last year (2016) . We did a spring weekend in St Clair with marina friends. We had a nice shakedown cruise and enjoyed a cool; but nice weekend. We played some cornhole, had a tasty potluck and enjoyed the trip up river. The boat ran beautifully.
Mid July we took a three day weekend trip to Port Huron. My Aunt Fran was in town from Texas and we took her and my Mom, Annette, up for the annual sand sculpture contest at the Fort Gratiot lighthouse. We had a really nice weekend. River Street Marina on the Black Creek is always such a nice place to stay. They are very helpful and the marina is close to everything downtown.
Our last weekend trip of the summer was Lexington. We were there the first weekend in August for the annual craft show. Our friends Jerry and Sandi drove up and spent the day with us on Saturday. Sandi and I learned a new recipe for white sangria that weekend at the Windjammer Restaurant. We always love Lexington. It has a really nice downtown and a great swimming beach. The boat ran great.
Now that we've recovered financially from our one month Atlantic boat trip; it's time to get back on the water exploring. Our trip this summer is two and a half weeks. We are on our way to Frankfort, Michigan. Our plan is to press hard for the first three days and then take two weeks to come home. We hope to spend a couple days each in several ports.
Wednesday, July 19 was our first day off work. The original plan was to work on Wednesday and leave after work. We had planned to fuel up and overnight in Port Huron and get an early start the next day. Well, I called PH to confirm that we could just tie up for the night. No go. I didn't realize that weekend was the Port Huron to Mackinac sailboat race. No room at the inn! Boats start coming into town on Monday and the race is Saturday.
So, change of plans. We'll work a half day Wednesday and go as far as Lexington for our first stop. On Tuesday Dan decided he was going to need the whole day off to be ready to go at a decent time the next day. So, what could I do? I HAD to take The whole day off too. LOL. So we had a busy morning on Wednesday finishing up our packing at home and making sure we cross referenced all of our lists and had EVERYTHING we needed. Dan swears every time we go on a trip that the boat is never going to leave the dock. What does a case of beer weigh? Is the waterline really lower?
We got to the boat about 10:30. I got everything stowed away and Dan started washing down the exterior. I vacuumed and dusted down below and then headed up to the bridge to do the same.
We stand above the crowd on our row at our home marina, Island Cove.
Bugs like to commit suicide on our boat. By the hundreds. The joke around our marina is that we all belong to the bug of the week club. It starts in the spring with the little black moths, then transitions to mayflies commonly known as fish flies. Then we move on to the little translucent green eyed bugs, and now it's the little white moths. I think flies will be the next to show up; the kind that bite.
And all season long we deal with spiders. The long legged kind, the ones with fat gray and white striped bodies and the chunky black ones just to name a few. We go spider hunting every night at dusk and take quite a toll on the little buggers; but if we aren't vigilant every weekend they will take over. Generally they don't bother us. It's not pleasant to walk through a web; but you deal with it. The bigger issue is that they poop all over your boat. Inky purple and black spots that are hard to get off. And they breed prolifically!
So, anyway, each return to the boat involves the vacuum cleaner and a damp rag to wipe up bugs. While Dan worked on the exterior; I did the interior. Dan went to go get our dinghy from its storage and got it loaded on to the back of the boat.
Finally by 2:30 we were ready to get going. We shot across Lake St Clair to the North Channel to head North up the St Clair River.
We were both pretty warm and ready to sit down by that point. Crazy haired woman.
At the beginning of the North Channel it is a NO Wake zone for about two miles. I went below while it was calm and made us some sandwiches. By the time we were ready to get back up on plane I was back in my seat on the bridge. I was starving by that point and that sandwich was awesome!
Our trip up the river was uneventful.
We saw a few of these big guys along the way.
We stopped in Port Huron for fuel.
When I called about dockage I'd asked about the cost of diesel. $2.68 a gallon. When I realized we couldn't stay there I called Lexington and asked about dockage. Oh, and how much is diesel? $3.54 a gallon. Yikes, I guess we'll top off in PH.
You could already feel the party atmosphere there.
Look at this cute little pontoon boat....
This guy was docked on the river just in front of the fuel dock. He had a very large sailboat rafted off his side. I speculated that they were together.
We took on 280 gallons of fuel; which Dan said added about 2,000 pounds to our weight. We were now seriously butt heavy and our swim platform was in the water. We talked about maybe not completely filling up completely after this for short runs. Presque Isle to Frankfort was going to be a full tank day; but most of our ports are close enough to give some breathing room on weight.
We got back out on the water and were very quickly running under the Bluewater bridge and out into Lake Huron.
Lexington is less than an hour from there. Lake Huron was a bit knobby. Some big swells and it was white capping a bit. Luckily it was a short ride.
We were in Lexington by 6:30. We tied up, ran our power and washed down the back of the boat. We get a station wagon affect from diesel exhaust on the transom and swim platform. It leaves kind of an oily black residue. Usually it isn't too bad; but it does need to be washed down.
We both had an adult beverage and I put dinner together. I know how tiring a day on the water can be; so I had made a good sized meatloaf that morning and I just needed to warm it up and make some pasta roni and dinner was on the table. By the time we wrapped up; it was ten and bed time.
You can click on any picture to see it larger.
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