Good Friends

As I previously mentioned, arriving in Port Huron on Saturday could be a problem if I wanted dock space, due to the Port Huron to Mackinac Island sail boat race.  But I had talked to Geo and he said weather forecasts were favorable for an anchorage out in front of his house right on Lake Huron, so off I went.  I could already see freighters in the channel as I left the marina at St Clair Shores for the nearly 10 mile northeast trip to the St Clair river.  The river is 40 miles long and will take me to Port Huron and then Lake Huron.  Geo had told me of the strong current and I immediately felt it as my speed dropped from over 9 mph on Lake St Clair to under 8 in the river.  I had entered the river just behind a big freighter and within just a few miles another one was in view behind me.  I scanned ahead on the gps to see if there were any upcoming wider spots in the river for when this behemoth caught me. 

He made the pass and I left my auto pilot on as it didn't appear that his wake was all that big.  I guess size doesn't matter, in this case, because Tranquility was pushed all over the place as the wake rushed by.  You can get an idea of the amount of water that is being displaced in this picture.

In addition to the many freighters in the river, the Coast Guard boats were also on the move.

The St Clair river is just a small segment of the longest international border in the world.  There are many small towns on both sides and you can literally be waving to your neighbor on the other side who is in a different country.  Of course if you want to go visit, you have to clear customs.

As I approached Port Huron the current got even stronger.  I was barely maintaining 6 mph as I navigated ahead of one freighter and behind another while dodging numerous pleasure boats going in both directions.  The big sail boat race had just gotten underway and as I cleared the bridge between Port Huron and Sarnia, Ontario I could see the colorful sails in the distance.  From here it was just 5 miles along the western shore to George and Nancy's.  About a mile out Geo called and said he had me in sight and would guide me in with his jet ski.  Soon after I was anchored on a sand bar just slightly deeper than my 3.5 foot draft and just a few hundred feet from the beach in front of their home.

Its the one with all of the water toys on the beach.

Soon after anchoring, I was on the porch enjoying cocktail hour and then a very nice dinner Nancy had prepared.  George has been my boating buddy since 2001 and more recently my cruising mentor.  I'm fairly certain that I could not have embarked on this adventure without Geo's encouragement, tutelage, and of course all the work he's done and continues to do on my boat.  Denise and I just met Nancy a year and half ago and those two immediately hit it off.  I'm not sure what all they talked about, but the fact that Denise endurred 1500 miles on the boat might have ties to those conversations.

I stayed on the boat on Saturday night, but at 4:30 AM Sunday I was awake as the boat was bouncing all over the place.  Even though the winds remained light, waves came rolling in from the northeast.  That allowed for an early start to a busy day of work on the boat.  Again, Geo was ready to tackle a few of the issues I've accumlated so far.  As the rocking and rolling continued throughout the day, I was offered a room for the night.  I didn't hesitate and took them up on the offer and for the first time since June 13th, I slept on land.  Monday was off to see the guys who had made a new piece for the bimini that was lost back on the Erie Canal in a storm.  We also took the bent piece, which they straigtened.

When we got back to the house, Nancy was already expressing concern about the security of Tranquility anchored a few hundred yards out.  "The seas were angry that day, my friend."  Because I was anchored on a sandbar, the waves were breaking right at the boat.  I made the comment that it would not likely just break free, but drag for awhile.  Geo then suggested that the anchor line could split.  Ok, I didn't think of that and all of a sudden there was urgency in getting Tranquility underway before the line broke and she crashed on the beach.

The jet ski was our taxi to and from the boat, so first Geo delivered some provisions, including my phone in a water tight bag, which he tied to the swim platform, then he was back for me.  Its hard to explain, but getting on the back of a jet ski in the water is not as easy as you might think.  I tried, but I tipped it over.  So, thinking fast, I opted for hanging on to the back as Geo drove.  It was like being in a high powered jacuzi with only one jet focused right on your chest.  That was the easy part.  I got to the swim platform and was quickly aboard.  We had decided that it would take the two of us to bring up the anchor and get underway, so Geo came back around and tied the jet ski to the swim platform and he too was soon aboard.

Long story short, in the process of getting the anchor up, the line holding the jet ski ended up in the port prop and the jet ski broke loose.  I apparently had left the auto pilot on when I had anchored, so manuvering the boat to get the anchor up in angry seas was not easy for Geo.  Soon the jet ski was upside down and being washed towards the beach.  We got the anchor up far enough to get underway and Geo grabbed a throwable floating cushion and jumped off the back of the boat.  I was away, but the anchor had not been secured and was flopping around and hitting the bow of the boat.  I kept going until I thought I was in deep enough water and then turned back towards shore to put the breaking waves on the stern.  This softened the ride long enough to secure the anchor, I then turned back around and headed north towards Port Sanilac.  I kept looking back to see how Geo and the jet ski were doing and while I eventually lost sight it was not before it looked as though both were near the beach.

During all of this I lost my cell phone service, so couldn't check on Geo and the jet ski's fate.  As I neared Port Sanilac, I got cell service again and then a call from Geo.  He was fine, but the jet ski, not so much.  Later he drove up to Port Sanilac and we re-assembled the bimini and then rowed the dingy over to Geo's sailboat, which is anchored in the harbor there.  By the time I had reached Port Sanilac, the seas had calmed.  Looking back, I suppose we could think we could have waited for calmer seas, but I keep thinking about the possibility of the anchor line breaking and what that might have resulted in. 

I was off again the next day and was targeting Harrisville, MI as my destination.  Harrisville might have been a stretch goal and became even more so when the seas started getting angry again.  I tuned in NOAA weather and heard that seas in Saginaw Bay, which I would need to cross, were now forecasted at 5 feet.  No thanks.  I located a new target, Harbor Beach, MI.

Michigan is a great boating state.  All along its shores, which include Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair, Lake Huron, Lake Superior and Lake Michigan there are "harbors of refuge" every 20 to 30 miles.  This includes a state run marina, which is very reasonably priced and is usually located very near a town with services a boater may need.  I pulled into Harbor Beach and tried to drop the anchor, but the wind was blowing strong and after two tries and no suitable "bites" I opted for the dock and tied up for the night. 

It was now Wednesday and with a good forecast, I was off to Harrisville, MI.   Shortly after leaving harbor I brought the engines up to the typical 2000 RPMs, but when I did, I quickly noticed a significant vibration from the port engine.  After a couple of tests, I decided it must be because of the "dinged" prop, which happened back in Cleveland.  I didn't want to investigate at this time, so I found an RPM that didn't cause vibration (1400) and continued on to Harrisville, a destination of 60 some miles, 30 of which were across the mouth of Saginaw Bay.  I only bring this up because it became the only part of the trip, so far, that I was without the sight of land. While this only lasted a little over an hour, I think its worth mentioning.

Here are four pictures, looking north, west, south and east.  Note, there aren't even any other boats out there with me, except the distant freighter to the east.  Not very exciting, but documentation of the event.

 You will have to enlarge this last one to see the freighter.

I anchored in the harbor at Harrisville and donned a swim mask to investigate the port prop.  I tied a cresent wrench to my wrist, thinking I would attempt to straighten any significant bends.  I knew from the depth sounder that I was in shallow water, but when I "jumped" in I was in water just about my waist, maybe a liitle too shallow.  Nonetheless, I dove under and immediately saw what might be the cause of the vibration.  I also saw that the props were in the mud, so before anything else I got back aboard, restarted the engines and moved forward several feet to deeper water.

This time when I dove under I had my utility knife, because what I saw earlier was the rest of the line that had been tied to the jet ski and another foreign "ball" of line that was severly tangled in the prop.  Maybe I picked it up in Harrisville.  A few dives and I had all of it cut free.  When I got out of the Harrisville harbor this morning and got up to speed I was happy to find normal engine operating conditions again.  It wasn't perfect though, because fog had moved in and the further I went, the denser it became.

I was hearing radio chatter among some sail boaters who were obviously nearby and kept a concentrated eye on the edge of the fog, maybe a quarter of a mile out.  Over the course of the next 2 to 3 hours, 7 sailboats and 2 powerboats emerged from the fog.  I only had to manuver for one of them, but after awhile I started seeing sailboats where ever a wave broke ahead of me.  Luckily, none of these were real.

Surprisingly, the fog stuck around until well into the afternoon and it wasn't until I rounded the northeast point of lower Michigan that I started to see the forecasted partly cloudy skies.  From the turn, I had a couple of choices for marinas or one choice for an anchorage before I ran out of daylight.   

I had decided that I would need fuel before crossing Lake Michigan in a few days so I made a few phone calls to up ahead marinas and determined that Rogers City, MI was the lowest priced for the next few hundred miles.  There's no anchorage here, but I still came in for fuel and paid for another over night dock.  And thats where I am, Rogers City, MI.  Very near to no man's land. 

On a curious note, on the north side of this narrow part of Lake Huron is Upper Michigan.  Just east of that is Canada, but what I find curious is how this border was determined.  Since near Buffalo, the international border was approximately the middle of, first, Lake Erie, then the Detroit River, then Lake St Clair and the St Clair River, then about halfway across Lake Huron, except up here.  To the north, across Lake Huron, is the UP of Michigan  I will have to Google this and find out how the US ended up with this piece of land on the north side of Lake Huron.

Here's a trivia question, name the US states that have a border with Canada and which one is longest?