A Break in the Action

After Algoma, WI it was just 40 miles to Manitowoc, WI where I had made a marina and a rental car reservation.  It was already time for George to depart back to Michigan.   We had a good time and really good weather, especially for the big lake crossing several days ago.  And as typical of a George visit, a few projects were completed.

On the cruise from Algoma we passed two nuclear power plants, but couldn't figure out why there were no cooling towers.  The first one is the Kewaunee Power Station in Carlton, WI.

 The second is only 5 miles further south and is the Point Beach Nuclear Plant.

I have since found out that both of these plants are "pressurized water reactors", so I'm guessing this design eliminates the traditional cooling tower.

Just after our arrival at the Manitowoc Municipal marina, the Badger arrived from Luddington, MI.  The Badger is the car and passenger ferry that runs a couple of times daily between Manitowoc, WI and Luddington, MI.  It has been running since 1953 and is the last coal fired passenger vessel operating in the Great Lakes.  Originally, it carried rail cars, passenger cars and people, but now only passenger cars and people.   I was most impressed with the docking of this 410 foot ship.  Upon entering the harbour, it had to be turned 90 degress and was then backed in to the dock.

I used the rental car to take George to the Milwaukee airport and then continued down to Kenosha, WI where I met my brother Ron.  Ron left his car at a marina in Kenosha and then came back to Manitowoc with me for a two day boat trip back down to Kenosha.  We got back to Manitowoc in the early afternoon and had considered boating a few miles south, but the winds had picked up, so we stuck around one more night.  Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera with me when we ran a few errands and returned the rental car.  I could have gotten pictures from the Manitowoc Crane company.  There is a large lot next to the manufacturing facility where new cranes are set up and tested.  There was one there that could only be desribed as huge.  Another good picture would have been of the three Budweiser beer bottles painted on the side of three large silos on the waterfront.  These are at the Anheuser-Busch plant that processes barley into malt.

Seas were a little rocky when Ron and I set out for Port Washington.  Northwest winds caused the waves to hit us a little on the starboard, but mostly on the stern.  This provided a pretty good push and we topped out at over 12 MPH, but it was kind of bumpy and after awhile, Ron had to lay down to stave off sea sickness.  Along the way we passed Kohler, WI and had a distant view of Whistling Sraits, which is a golfing complex that includes two courses along the Lake Michigan shore.  This picture is of the Straits course, which has hosted a few PGA events.

I had planned a stop in Port Washington along time ago when I had read that fuel there was usually much cheaper than most places.  While filling up they told me they strive to have the lowest priced fuel on Lake Michigan.   By filling up there, I figured I could avoid buying fuel in Illinois, where they charge road taxes on marine fuel.  Just to be sure, I called a couple of marinas on the Illinois River, away from metropolitan Chicago and found prices about $1 a gallon more than Port Washington.

We also found another great meat market in Port Washinton.  Bernie's, which has been around for 75 years and specializes in Polish and Russian styled homemade sausages.  We sampled some and bought a few.

After one night in Port Washington, we were off to Kenosha.  Because we had to stay off shore of a point near Racine, WI, we passed the harbour at Milwauke nearly 8 miles offshore.

The ride for the day started out a little rocky but then improved for awhile when the wind shifted from the west to the southwest, but by the time we were nearing Kenosha, the waves were building again.  Luckily, Ron had gotten his sea legs a little and was able to stay upright for the whole trip.

I had chosen Kenosha as a place to stop for awhile, primarily because of its location, not too far from home, but also because of the rate they gave me for an extended stay.  I was surprised by the amenities that came with the rate.  Nice showers and laundry right at the dock, a pool and adjacent to a nice park.  Denise, Jenni and grandkids, Ellie and Ryan came over today from home and will spend the weekend with me on the boat.  Day one was a lot of fun.

We grilled a couple of the choices from Bernies too.

At the end of the weekend, I will return home for about 2 and a half weeks.  I haven't been there for two months, so its time to check things out, plus my family reunion is during this time.  I probably will not post during the absence, so if you are a regular follower, look for something again in early September.

Packers Win the Superbowl!

The objective of the next couple of days was to do some site seeing in Green Bay (the bay, not the city), so we took a leisurly cruise south from Wasington Island and stayed pretty close to the western edge of the Door County peninsula.  Denise and I had land cruised the area a few years ago, but I don't think I got the perspective of how sharp the drops were to the water.

Zooming in found even more interesting features.

We took a look, but didn't stop at Ellison Bay, Sister Bay and Ephraim, WI.  In the middle of the bay was Chambers Island, the largest of the Green Bay islands.   Apparently it is privately owned, but the only development on the island is a retreat house of the Catholic Church.  We cruised around it and as we did on the western side we dipped back across the border of Wisconsin and Michigan.  By going just a couple of miles WEST we found ourselves back in the eastern time zone.  It was like boing back to the future.  As we came around the south side of the island we came across this commercial fishing boat.

On the south side of the island we headed back to the east to Fish Creek, WI.  It looked like a nice spot, so I called the municipal marina and found out we could dock for free for two hours, if we could find a spot.  The only spot looked like it could be tight, but with Geo's encouragement I was able to ease in without hitting either the boat in front or the one behind.

Parrallel parking a boat is actually easier than parrallel parking a car.

At the dock we asked about a good spot for lunch and found we could get a golf cart pickup and ride to a nearby restaurant.  Lunch was good and we were able to get a quick tour of the town on the way to and from the restaurant.  Door County is a popular vacation spot in the summer, but there are only two lane roads, no stop lights and consequently bad traffic.

After lunch we continued south in the bay and started looking through the cruising guide for a possible anchorage.  So, is the Green Bay green?  It appeared to be and maybe it shows a little in this picture.

We anchored in Little Sturgeon Bay and got an early start for the 37 mile trip down the rest of the bay to the city of Green Bay.  I had called my friends Sally and Steve, who live just south of Green Bay in Appleton, WI and we we planned a get together.  I had found an inexpensive marina just south of downtown on the Fox River.  Sally and Steve came by with their daughter Carly and we cooked out on the back deck.

It was good to see more friends and we had a great time.  They even gave us a ride to our Saturday night entertainment.

It was family night at Lambeau Field.  While warmups went on I got to see complete highlights of the 2010 season, which of course ended with a Superbowl championship.

The whole event was for charity, but unfortuately was cut short by a thunderstorm that brought heavy rain, lightening and the possibility of hail.  We had to leave our seats.  After more than an hour, the severe part of the storm had passed and the fireworks went on in the rain.

As a big Packer fan, it was a lot of fun, even though it was cut short.  Geo, from Michigan, however, had decided early that he wasn't going to make it 4 hours watching Packer hoopla, so he departed early to head back to the boat.  He advised me later by phone that about the only way back was via a taxi.

The $25 a night marina was pretty nice and had two popular restaurants right in front.  But it was Saturday night and the party atmosphere at the restaurants went on until bar closing time, which was probably 2 AM.  I didn't look at the clock when the music finally stopped.

Despite that we were off at just after 6 AM.  We were going to Algoma, WI, maybe 20 miles east of Green Bay by car, but 67 by water as we had to go back north in the bay to the ship's channel at Sturgeon Bay.  On the west end of the entrance to the Ship's channel is this lighthouse.

On the east end of the channel was this lighthouse.

In between was the town of Sturgeon Bay, which was once the shipbuilding capital of the Great Lakes and there still is a large facility for maintenance and other work on the freighters that ply the Great Lakes waters. 

Once back in the "big" lake we had less than 15 miles to Algoma, WI, where we found another $25 a night marina and parked for the night.

Island Hopping

The weather forecast held true overnight and winds were brisk on Wednesday.  We were on the leeward side of the island, so didn't really see if the seas were the 6 to 8 footers forecasted, but figured with the winds, it was rough, so we stayed at St James City on Beaver Island.  This is the second St James City of the trip.  Denise and I were anchored the second night out, back in April, at St James City on Pine Island, Florida.

The harbour looked like a good anchorage, so the plan was to leave the marina around mid day and then anchor in the harbour in anticipation of a departure at the "butt crack", a favorite time for George.  However, before leaving, Geo rented a Geo for a half day island tour.

At 55 square miles, Beaver Island is the largest island in the Beaver Island archepeligo.  Only about 300 people live full time on the island, but there are many, many more summer residents and visitors that stay in summer homes, condos and the few resorts.  Most arrive via a daily ferry running from Charlevoix, MI, about 30 miles away, but unlike Mackinac Island, this one is a car ferry.  There are also two airports that handle small planes.  We don't think there is much crime here because the jail hasn't been used for years.

 

Outside of the St James City business district, the island is pretty rural and there are only a few miles of paved roads.  Most of the rest, while unpaved, were quite scenic..

At the southern end of the island is the Beaver Head light house that is open for self guided tours.

Only 49 steps to the top.

The light is gone, but when it operated it stood 103 feet above the water and was visible for 18 miles to the south.

After the island tour we re-located from the municipal marina to the bay and anchored.  There was one more work project planned.  That was to repair a seat backing that had rotted.  We had already repaired one of these back in Port Huron, so we applied some learnings on how to best reach the back of the bolts.  Geo inserted himself into the seat compartment.

We were'nt exactly sure if getting out would be as easy as getting in, but it turned out ok and no extrication equipment was required.  The repair job also turned out good.

We were all set for our early departure, but had differing wind and wave forecasts from NOAA on line and the radio forecast.  We expected leftover rollers from the day before that would diminish as the day progressed.

I was awakened by the sound of the generator starting, which is necessary to make coffee.  One good thing about getting up at the "butt crack" on clear days is, you get to see the sun coming up.

I can't think of too many other good things about this time of day.

The first 12 miles of our trip was down the east side of the island, so we expected smooth seas.  We also expected them to be smooth when we turned west at the bottom of the island for another 6 miles.  Then we expected the leftover rollers from the previous days northwest winds.  To our surprise, they were'nt there.  Instead, we had nearly perfectly flat seas for the remaining 73 miles to Washington Island, WI.  I had heard other people that had loop experience say that Lake Michigan was the roughest part of the entire trip.  My own experience from when I worked in Holland, MI, was that the lake could be pretty rough more often than not.  It was a nice surprise.

Some of the other islands in this archipeligo are North and South Fox Islands.  This is South Fox.

Before we lost sight of these islands, another pair further south came into view.  North and South Manitou Islands, off the western Michigan shore.  And before we lost sight of those, we saw Rock Island, in Wisconsin off the northern tip of Washington Island.  So another surprise was that we crossed the entire lake without ever losing sight of land somewhere. 

There are two anchorages off Washington Island and we had chosen the one on the south side.  We were not afraid of the name given this narrow channel  that separates the tip of Door County and the island.  Porte Des Morts Passage or the other name, Death's Door.  Over the years, this passage has taken its share of ships down.  The bluff on the northwestern tip of the Door peninsula is called Deathdoor Bluff.  It was not a problem for us, maybe greatly aided by the extreme calm seas.  We wound our way into the narrow channel to the anchorage and found what looked to be a nice quiet spot.  That is until two couples from two boats anchored nearby got together.  We could easily hear one of the ladies, who talked excessively and loudly and thought everything was hilarious.  We were'nt sure if she had been over served or what, but this went on until after dark.  Finally, the one couple went back to their own boat and it actually got quiet. 

The day started with a picture of the sun coming up and ended with a picture of it going down.  It doesn't get much better

Broken Butt

I forgot to write about an event the other day that is quite a story, maybe one you've read about.  While in Harbor Beach the other night I was relaxing on the back deck and noticed a rather large airplane circling out over the lake, not too far from the marina.  I figured something was up, but it got dark and I let it go.  As I was leaving the next morning, I could see the large plane circling again and could now see that it was a Coast Guard C-130.  It wasn't much longer when an anouncement came over the radio that there was a small plane missing since the night before and the last known location was 29 miles east of Bad Axe, MI.  I checked my map and quickly realized I was about 29 miles east of Bad Axe, MI.  Typical of these kinds of Coast Guard announcements, mariners were being advised to be on the lookout for any signs of the missing plane.  I scanned the waters with my binoculars on and off for awhile, but didn't see anything.  An hour or so after the announcement, a boater came on the radio calling the Harbor Beach Marina and said he had the missing pilot aboard.  Over the next several minutes there was lots of radio traffic between the boat, the marina and the Coast Guard.  Eventually, the man was safely ashore at Harbor Beach.  Amazingly he survived in the water, apparently with no life jacket, for 17 hours.  

In Rogers City there was a boat with Dekalb, IL (an hour from home) as its port of call, so I went over and talked to the owner who is a retired Northern Illinois University professor who grew up in Rogers City and now spends his summers here.  He told me alot about the area and that many residents are  predominantly of Polish and German decent. I fit right in, he said that if I needed any provisions there were two meat markets in town that specialized in their own sausages, hams and many other unique homemade items.  I hopped on one of the marina bikes and went to both stores and even though I didn't really need much, I found several items at both to add to the stock that is now on board.  One store boasted of being in its fourth generation and the other that it had been in business for 98 years.  By the time I departed Rogers City it was past noon.

I wasn't in a big hurry because it was only Thursday and only about 50 miles to Mackinaw City, where I had marina reservations for Saturday through Monday.   Denise was flying to Traverse City, MI and renting a car to drive to Mackinaw City on Saturday.  So I had plenty of time to get there.  NOAA was calling for 1 foot or less seas.

Those are not 1 foot seas, easily 2's and 3's and even though straight on the bow it was a little bumpy.  I stopped at Hammond Bay, about 30 miles from Mackinaw City, to anchor, but when I pulled into the harbor and dropped the anchor I could not get a good "bite" in the strong west winds, so after four attempts, I decided to keep going and eventually called Mackinaw City to extend my reservaton one more day.  Denise was not arriving until late afternoon, so I changed the oil in one engine and cleaned up the boat.  It had been a month since she had been on the boat and even though I try to keep it tidy, it needed a good cleaning before she arrived.

On Sunday, Denise and I took the ferry to Mackinac Island.  You probably know that there are no cars allowed on Mackinac Island, so people mostly bring or rent bikes or walk the island.  Since between Denise and I we might have one good knee, these options were not going to work for us.  Instead, we opted for another popular means of seeing the island.

It was only an hour ride and mostly the horses walked, but every once in awhile, on their own accord, they would go into a trot.  Denise did not shift her weight to the stirups when this happened and instead bounced up and down in the saddle.  At the end of the day she said she was sure she had broken her butt.  Despite this though, we both enjoyed the ride on both the paved and unpaved trails.  It was hard to get good pictures though because we were always being bouncing around.  Nonetheless we tried.

After lunch, we took another horse powered ride and saw more of the island.

On this ride we saw many of the old private summer homes in one part of the island. 

The views of the Straights of Mackinac from some of these homes is stunning.

The most famous place to stay on the island is the Grand Hotel.  Probably the most expensive too.

And there are others that also appear to be very nice.

Even though there are no cars it doesn't mean there can't be a traffic jam.

As you might expect, there are a lot of stores for soveniers, ice cream and of course fudge.  I don't know why Mackinac Island fudge is so famous, as far as I know there are no unique ingredients that can only be found here, but it seems to be the one thing you must get when you visit, so we did.  We also had ice cream after dinner, but we did not get any soveniers, even though Denise strongly considered a T-shirt.

We caught the 9 PM ferry back to Macinaw City, leaving from the east side of the island.  When came around to the south side we were treated to a great sunset as we headed across.

This is really beautiful country and the water can be many variations of blue and it is very very clear.

Denise left after breakfast on Monday and I changed the oil in the other engine while waiting for my friend George to arrive to become my crew for the big Lake Michigan crossing.  The weather forecast for Tuesday was not sounding great, but after a short discussion, we decided to go.  Our destination of St James City on Beaver Island was only 43 miles, but there was rain, t-storms and strong winds being forecasted, with seas building as the day progressed.  So we left early, logic being that we'd get there before it got too bad.

First thing after leaving the marina was the Mackinac Bridge.

It wasn't long though and the skies ahead started getting dark.

This turned out to be the last picture of the day, because soon after, it started raining, then the wind picked up, then it got pretty bumpy.  We made the harbor before 1 PM and either the island was blocking the wind or it had died down, because the afternoon turned out to be pretty calm.  George had brought along a new anchor light I had ordered and had shipped to him and a new invertor and both were installed well before dinner.  I'm really looking forward to the new invertor, because its big enough to power the coffee pot and now there won't be a need to start the generator, when at anchor, to make coffee.  With George aboard, that means more sleep for me, because in the past I was awakened when the generator started, usually an hour or more before my usual time to get up.

We've checked the forecast and will recheck in the morning, but the anticipation is that we will be staying another day in St James City because seas are forecasted to be 6 to 8 feet tomorrow.  I suspect my next post will be from Wisconsin.  Seas are supposed to be improving by Thursday.