DOLPHINS!!!!

Dolphins are at once ephemeral and loyal, elusive yet constant. They are quicksilver and full of mirth. They are childlike yet knowing. From the moment we had our first dolphin sighting at the mouth of Chesapeake bay in Norfolk, VA, they have been delighting us and comforting us at just the right times.

Into the Frying Pan

And there we were…..

I had just awakened from being off watch with the boat obviously riding on serious water.

Chesapeake Bay Highlights

Annapolis

So anyway, we dropped Don off, and there we were, suddenly alone together to continue our journey through Chesapeake Bay.

Good Crew

We knew leaving NYC to head out into the Atlantic and down to Cape May at the mouth of the Delaware Bay was a place that we would have elevated senses (aka stress) because we would be encountering currents, tides,  fish havens, commercial vessels, crab pots, lobster pots, and other unknowns.  All this is not what we have been used to sailing on Lake Michigan the last ten plus years.  Our good friend Donald Rome offered to help Pam and me out when we thought we would want an extra hand.  We knew this was a good place to take him up on that offer. 

The Hudson River - Part Three - Into New York City

 From West Point we continued down the lush banks of the Hudson flanked now by the Catskill mountains to our destination of Croton-on-the-Hudson, NY where we met up with up Ricky and Nancy, two of my more seafaring and adventurous relatives, that  live a only a few hours away by car, and wanted to meet "Grace".

The Hudson River - Part Two - West Point Military Academy

While moseying down the Hudson just to the starboard of green buoy 34 we came upon a building that had "Beat Air Force" emblazened on its roof.

The Hudson River - Part One - Stepping the Mast

Stepping the Mast

After a few days of rest, relaxation and catch up in Waterford,  we went through Federal Lock 1 and on down the Hudson River.

Congregating in Waterford, NY

Waterford, NY is the harbor town adjacent to Lock Two on the Erie canal. As such, it is a perfect congregating point for all the intrepid boaters just coming off or venturing on the Erie Canal.

The Canals Part Two: Erie

The Canal

The Erie canal system is  321 miles long, contains 34 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of 565 ft.   We bought a ten day lock pass as we wanted to slow down and enjoy the beauty of the canal and the towns along the way. We were able to hop on at Lock E23 just south of Phoenix, NY.

The Canals Part One: Oswego

Jeff is pretty pleased with his expert cradle construction. The true test has yet to come!

Getting There

So here we sit in a coffee shop in Phoenix, NY, a small town just on the other side of Lock 1, the last southbound lock, on the Oswego Canal. We’re here for the same reason every cruiser in every port on the planet is… wifi, air-conditioning and coffee.

We started out from Little Sodus Bay yesterday, Jeff’s heart in his throat as we motored our last two hour Lake Ontario leg to Oswego, NY.

Turning a Sail Boat into a Motor Boat

We pulled into Little Sodus Bay after a great sail across Lake Ontario leaving the last Presqu’ille behind us arriving earlier than expected because of the favorable winds.  I had picked out Little Sodus Bay as our destination in part because there is a marina there that will step masts for sailboats intending to transit through the Oswego and Erie Canals.  Fair Point Marina had excellent reviews on line and we found out that this place is one of the best marinas on all the Great Lakes.

The Journey from Toronto to Presqu'ile Bay (AGAIN?!!!)

We had a beautiful downwind run all the way from Toronto to Port Whitby, using our asymmetrical spinnaker. The winds were low, 5-8 knots. We’ve come to realize how efficiently the spinnaker works in these light winds. Incredulously, oftentimes we were flying very close to the same speed as the wind.

Toronto

We spent the last four days in Toronto staying at the National Yacht Club which was wonderful.  This stop gave us a chance to rest plus we had great restaurants, movie theaters, chandlery, and grocery stores galore.  In part we came to Toronto because we envisioned that it would be similar to Chicago on the lake and we were not disappointed. 

Why We Named Our Boat Grace

Grace

Naming a boat can be a difficult decision.  No matter where you sail the name is painted on the stern or side for all to see.  So if you do something silly, or ‘not so smart’ everyone that sees you know who it is.  It is almost like having your name tattooed on your forehead.

Lake Erie to Lake Ontario via the Welland Canal

If you want to get into Lake Ontario from Lake Erie by boat, you have two options, a very quick trip over Niagra Falls or a much slower venture through the Welland Canal lock system. As the Niagra Falls option doesn’t have the highest success rate, we chose the Welland Canal…

LAKE ERIE, the Great De-Sensitizer

Lake Erie is a rather tempestuous body of water. Probably because of her long fetch and relatively shallow waters, at the least provocation she works herself up into a complete frenzy.

P.S. I love France, the language and its people but…

Apparently the French explorers were not feeling very creative during the period where they named yet another harbor area Presque Isle (“Almost an Island” in French). Maybe they were just getting really tired of discovering and naming new lands.

SO WHAT’S FUN?

For the past several months Jeff and I have been debating the question, “what is the definition of the word fun”?  I realized that I rarely use the “F” word whereas Jeff uses it quite often…

This is Fun

We woke early at the Edgewater Yacht Club in Cleveland to make it to our next stop which was to be Ashtabula, OH.  The winds were forecast to be strong, but well within our limits coming from the SW at 14 – 18 knots gusting to 26.  Waves were forecast to be 2 – 4 and then increase to 4 – 6 feet.  We would be going downwind with the waves coming from behind us so I did not anticipate for the ride to be uncomfortable.  

IS IT THE DELLS OR MACKINAC ISLAND - WTFR WE?!!!

Well folks we made it to Ohio! We had a glorious sail (cool, consistent wind and NO BITING FLIES), all the way from Toledo Beach to Put-In-Bay. There are several islands grouped together in Western Lake Erie, South Bass Island, the home of Put-In-Bay, being one of them.  While sailing there I realized all our energy was being produced by Mother Nature, the wind was our fuel and the sun our power.  Pretty pretty good!

We made it to Lake Erie and Replaced Batteries

We made it to Lake Erie!

We left Grosse Point and headed on down the Detroit River.  This took us past Detroit where the GM building sits on the shores of the river in downtown Detroit.

"HONEYDEW LAKE" TO "HONEYDO CITY"

As we entered Lake St Clair the first thing I noticed was how pale green the water was. I have never seen a body of water this color. It was the shade of honeydew melon…maybe an average depth of 11 feet had a lil’ something to do with it, or maybe it was the angle of the sun at this particular time of day...  As you can imagine, all commercial vessels and larger pleasure craft stay well within marked channels which reach a depth of 21 feet, oh my!

The hard steel grey of this cargo vessel is in such sharp contrast to the soft green of the lake.

GOODBYE LAKE HURON, HELLO ST CLAIR RIVER

Today we bid Lake Huron a fond adieu. We left Port Sanilac just after dawn

to begin our last 60 nm leg out of Lake Huron, into the St Clair River and finally Lake St Clair.   The wind was calm as we motored from Port Sanilac to the southern end of the lake.  We used this time to bone up on the “Rules of the Road” which are the navigation rules for both U.S. inland and international waters in anticipation of the increase in commercial and recreational traffic on the river which is considered a “narrow channel”.

HARRISVILLE ANCHORING FIASCO

Picture a quiet little New England-esque marina with ducks galore in the harbor and hills and trees near shore… 

Now picture “Grace” gliding into the harbor, hell-bent on anchoring, and breaking up the peaceful afternoon reverie that the local boaters enjoy.

Forget everything I said about starting to get really comfortable with anchoring in my last post!

PRESQUE ISLE (ALMOST AN ISLAND in French)

We sailed about 35 miles from Hammond Bay to Presque Isle. It is also a state park run facility that caters to transient boaters. It has one restaurant, one country store, free biking and a couple of old lighthouses, one since automated. We climbed both and enjoyed the spectacular views.

HAMMOND BAY MARINA, IN 3 DIVERGENT PARTS

PART 1 - A NICE PEACEFUL SAIL

And here we are peacefully sailing southeast in a 7-10 knot breeze, under blue skies and flat seas. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!  

The moment where I gleefully realize that I am halfway through book five of "Game of Thrones" - HURRAY!!!

OUR NORTHERNMOST POINT

Yesterday’s journey took us through Gray’s reef, the Straits of Mackinac (I think that sounds so romantic), under the very impressive Mackinac bridge and Into Lake Huron. We have reached our Northern most point. YES!!!!

HIGH GEAR

For the last few days we’ve been in high gear, sailing all day and just making brief stops for the night at South Manitou and Beaver Islands. Why were we hurrying?

DETAILS GOING UP THE MAST

A couple of people wanted to hear more about our spinnaker incident, so I’ll give my version of the story.

And as Captain Al knows, all sailing stories should always start with the words:  And there we were….

SPINNAKER RESPUN!

During our stay in Frankfort, at Jacobson's Marina, Jeff climbed the mast and untangled the spinnaker halyard. Using this device called a “Top Climber”, Jeff straps himself in and self-propels up the mast.

SPINNAKER UNSPUN

We are motoring (no wind againL) from White Lake, MI to Frankfort. Suddenly we catch a gust of downwind air and Jeff eagerly crawls into our “garage” aka aft cabin and lugs out our asymmetrical spinnaker, big smile on his face.  This is our break, finally some wind!  So Jeff sets all the lines and I’m raising the spinnaker halyard when WHOOPS

Automatic Identification System

Pam and I are enroute from South Haven to White Lake Michigan.  This is a 59 nm leg.  Our plan is to come in to White Lake and anchor for the night.  Along the western shore of Michigan several lakes have had natural channels deepened or manmade channels dug to provide access from the big Lake Michigan to smaller lakes along the shore.  This makes for great places to duck in to if the weather turns bad, or provides scenic places for cruisers to harbor in.  We are making White Lake a one night stop over and then heading to Frankfort, Michigan to spend a few days. 

ANCHORING AT WHITE LAKE, MI July 6-7

We had a glorious nine hour journey from South Haven to White Lake, MI, even though we motored the entire way as there was zero wind. The weather was in the high 70's with no humidity and very few flies (that's major... flies are the bane of every sailor's existence). We anchored at White Lake in the NW corner at Indian Bay. Very peaceful, idyllic location...

However, let's backtrack a moment or three to the anchoring part.

SOUTH HAVEN July 3-6

We went to South Haven with the Columbia Yacht Club Cruising Club, primarily to bid a fond adieu to our fellow cruisers from Chicago and to mark the first leg of our journey. We all stayed at the South Haven Municipal Marina. My hubby and I rated it five stars. While it doesn’t have a pump-out or fuel dock, it does have very clean showers, a laundry facility, picnic tables, grills, indoor clubhouse and a reasonable transient fee of $1.25/ft. The port of South Haven has all the necessary ingredients to make it the quintessential mid-American port town. The small yet strong, tight knit local community, had a July 4th parade and fireworks display that was so wholesome that I thought I somehow fell into a Norman Rockwell painting.

NIGHT SAIL July 2-3

We sailed through a very dark night and thick fog the next morning. The moon and starlight were hidden behind a thick blanket of clouds from above, and our destination port was hidden behind an even thicker blanket of clouds over the lake.  We just installed an AIS transceiver, (Automated Information System) and believe me, it quickly became a close friend.

DAY ONE

Today is Day One of our long awaited, planned and debated adventure! We literally will be sailing into the unknown….