There’s always a flurry of last minute activity before departure. We had to change the oil, install a new alternator and then go up the mast to change our anchor light. Unfortunately I lost the wire for the anchor light in the mast so we made the decision to improvise a light when we do anchor as getting the wire out would entail taking the mask down, a very time consuming and lengthy task.
We left on Friday morning around 9:30 on a Northeast wind. We are still having some engine issues, the temperature sensor alarm keeps going off at low temperatures, so we have to live with that while we travel. A little bit of rain moved through in the morning, but by the time we departed, there were scattered clouds with sunshine poking through to keep us warm. After the drastic heat of the last few weeks, the temperature was only in the mid 60s so we were actually somewhat bundled!.
Eventually the clouds gave way to sunshine. The wind held and we arrived at the mouth of the Detroit River around 3:00. I had to quit working for a while as the wind and the waves were against each other and it was very unpleasant downstairs. Then the dreaded endless travel loop began. 4 knots, 4 miles to our waypoint – 1 hour of travel left. Then about a half hour later we would look at the plotter and it would be 3 miles to our waypoint and we were doing three miles an hour. Then 2 miles and 2 mph, it seemed like we never were going to get there. We finally turned the motor on and took the sails down and motored the last miles into our anchorage, delicately weaving a path through the convoluted channels on the west side of the shipping lane.
We dropped anchor around 5:30pm and enjoyed a glorious evening. Melanie whipped up a delicious dinner and we enjoy enjoyed eating while admiring the beautiful view. After catching up on some of our morning shows after a light dinner, we turned in for the night. We woke up early the next morning and were shocked to see about 500 pounds of seaweed wrapped around our anchor line! This normally happens when we anchor at this spot but it usually takes me about 5 minutes, 10 at the most to clear the line. This morning it was probably 4 ft thick, even climbing up out of the water!
It took me an hour and 20 minutes to clean it off, by which time I was bathed in sweat. Exhausted. We hauled up the anchor and motored out into the Detroit River to head north. It was a glorious sunny day without a breath of wind. We motored out into the channel, stopping about halfway and reversing in the current to make sure that any weeds caught around our rudder and keel did not travel with us up river, slowing us down. Melanie went below and made breakfast and coffee while I drove.
It was a busy morning. There were quite a few tankers coming down the river and as the morning progressed, recreation boats, jet skis and others began to flood the river. The water was a dark turquoise green color, unlike Lake Erie which is usually a dull brown. We made our way up to the new bridge to Canada, passed under and then through the factory area of Detroit and into the main downtown area across from Windsor, Canada.
The wind came up a little bit so we unfurled the jib so it could help push us along a little faster. The current is about 3 miles an hour and we can only do six at best, so every ounce of help we can get from the wind just gets us there sooner. It’s about 60 miles of Motoring to get up the river, so it was going to be a long slow slog.
Around 2:00 p.m. we entered Lake St CLair. The wind freshened slightly and we were able to put up two sails to help us make speedier progress. Storms were forecasted for Detroit and we wanted to get north of them as far as we could. Our plan was to go through the night and try to reach Port Huron at the entrance of Lake Huron in the morning. I worked while we crossed Lake St Clair to make up for the time I missed on Friday due to me feeling a little queasy. When we exited the north side of the lake, we passed through a narrow channel of beautiful homes at the entrance to the St Clair River. Melanie went below to work on some food for us as we prepared for a long night up the river.
Our beautiful sunny day had turned into a cloudy somewhat chilly day. Temps were in the low 70s but there was a cold, wet wind blowing off the water. We exited the lake passing by numerous boats anchored in the shallows with both children and adults swimming and playing in the water. We passed by summer homes filled with people enjoying the weekend. We turned into the main channel and headed up north towards Port Huron.
The sun gradually faded as the skies clouded over, storms were on the way. As it got darker, we moved past beautiful homes and serene views all the while hoping that the stormy weather would not reach us. We did get lucky, the storms petered out after sunset and we were left with overcast, gloomy skies but no rain.
The lights in the homes and factories came on and guided us up the river. Melanie made us each a cup of regular coffee to help keep us awake. We enjoyed the calm waters after all the crazy traffic went home for the night. There were storms in the area and the Coast Guard came on the radio numerous times warning about squalls on Lake Erie, Lake St Clair and Lake Huron. We were lucky though, we got doused with a few minutes of hard rain and then nothing. Around 3:00 a.m. we pulled safely into a dock at Port Huron yacht club, tied up and then collapsed into bed exhausted.
The sun woke us up around 8:00 a.m. and we spent the day exploring the small town. We paid for our dock and then took a walk and found an ice cream shop with “Michigan Pothole” – a dark chocolate ice cream LOADED with chocolate truffles – its our favorite ice cream to eat while in Michigan. We proceeded to devour a serving as a celebration of our arrival at Lake Huron. We walked around, did a small amount of grocery shopping and then headed back to the boat for a late breakfast.
Afterwards we walked around downtown and ended up near the drawbridge crossing the river. There was a large, beautiful sailboat tied up so we crossed the bridge and went down to talk to the people that owned it. They proudly invited us on board for a tour. Gorgeous! Apparently the boat had made more than one trip to the Arctic circle! They were refitting it as new owners and preparing to explore the Great lakes. We continued our walk and found a very interesting restaurant called The Raven. The menu had many allusions to Edgar Allan Poe and the restaurant itself, both inside and out appeared to be original wood and decorations, very old.
We enjoyed a delicious salad on the sidewalk outside and then walked back to the boat to prep for the evening. Showers were early and we were in bed to make up for our lost sleep the day before. Monday I spent working so not much was done. After I finished for the day we took another walk just to give the dog some exercise and for us to stretch our legs. We turned in early in preparation for our departure the next day.
We were up by 7:00 a.m. the next morning and after filling our tanks, we cast off dock lines and headed towards the river and Lake Huron. We hugged the banks where the current was less powerful and slowly made our way up beyond the bridge into the lake. It took us an hour and a half to go one mile. Old boats have small engines and ours is no exception. We entered Lake Huron where it was calm and there was not a breath of wind. This meant a long day of motoring but at least we knew we would make fairly decent progress. We dodged fisherman scattered around the entrance of the river, trying to catch their best while dodging the tankers and commercial shipping that used the area.
It was a beautiful morning but chilly! Temperatures were only in the upper 40s. By 8:30 it was in the low 50s. Our next stop was Harbor Beach, some 50 nautical miles beyond the entrance of the St Clair river. There was a very gentle breeze from the Northeast, enough for us to unroll the 2 front sails while still motoring so that we could gain a little speed. With the engine and help from the sails, we were able to make about five knots which meant an arrival time somewhere around 6:00 p.m., plenty of daylight to find and drop anchor.
We made good progress throughout the day. The lake was calm and the winds were very swirly, blowing for a while then disappearing, blowing, fading, but eventually they materialized from the East and gave us enough help to get our speeds up to almost 6 knots. That kept us on schedule. The lake was very quiet, we saw a few passing boats but other than the odd ship, almost no recreational sailing or power boats. Very different from Lake Erie where it’s always busy every day.
We continued to make good progress throughout the day. The wind gradually filled in and stayed steady so we were able to make consistent speeds over six knots, arriving in Harbor Beach around 5:30 in the afternoon. We rolled up our sails, dropped anchor and relaxed for the evening.
Melanie made a light dinner for us and we relaxed watching the sun slowly set. Orange Skies changed the waters to a peach color and seagulls swarmed in the water, squawking raucously. The sun slowly sank and the wind faded until there were no waves on the water. Just cats paws.
We turned in for the night and woke the next morning to a gentle breeze from the southwest. Weather forecasters were wrong again. There were four other sailboats anchored in the harbor for the night, one had already left. We pulled up anchor, raised the mainsail and headed out into open water, followed closely by another boat that had spent the night in the harbor. We motor sailed for a while, making between 6 and 7 knots and eventually turned off the motor because the wind piped up enough to keep us moving over 5. We rounded the thumb of Michigan near Port Austin and there the wind died; we were bobbing around making between two and three miles an hour. Reluctantly we switched the motor on and began to motor sail again.
We had made good time during the morning and by noon only had about 20 miles to go to get to our next destination, Tawas. As with all wind, it faded. And the flies arrived. Melanie turned on the autopilot and spent the next few hours mercilessly slaughtering flies that were attempting to bite her and the dog. The wind fizzled until the water was smooth and glassy, no ripples. We motored on while trying to keep ourselves from being eaten by flies. Bug spray did not work, they bit regardless. I was fortunately down below most of the time, except when Melanie was making lunch.
We arrived at Tawas, dropped anchor in the harbor and after sitting on the boat for a while to make sure the anchor was properly set, we lowered the dinghy and headed into shore. We picked up a few things at the grocery store, got ourselves some Michigan Pothole and people watched for a short while before heading back to the boat to bed. The wind was quite frisky and during the night our anchor alarm went off which got me all fired up. It was a false alarm, however it was hard for me to get back to sleep.
We were up early and welcomed by a MYRIAD of mayflies. It took me a while to clean everything off so we could get underway. We raised the anchor and motored about 2 miles South to round the buoy at the point of Tawas to head towards Harrisville. It was windy and once around the buoy, we were able to turn off the engine and sail pretty much all the way, making pretty decent time. The wind strengthened during the day and the waves got larger but we were headed down the waves so they pushed us along nicely. About an hour outside of Harrisville, weather alarms started coming across the radio warning of thunderstorms. We were able to motor into the harbor, drop anchor and get below just before the storms hit.
They were brief and within an hour everything had cleared up and the wind was gone. We lowered our dinghy and motored in to shore and walked into town for a glass of wine and a basket of french fries, just celebrated being ashore. We walked back to the marina and headed back to the boat where we watched a beautiful pink, then orange sky as the sun slowly sank below the horizon bringing on night. There’s about a 75 to 100 ft high hill on shore immediately next to the harbor, it blocks and deflects all westerly winds so the harbor itself is very very calm. Once aboard, it was hard to even tell that we were at anchor, it felt like we were tied up to the dock.
We fell into bed exhausted, woke up the next day to glorious sunshine. I spent the day working while Melanie washed the boat, cleaning up from the murderous fly killing rampage a few days prior. After work, we headed into shore and met some interesting characters while enjoying a glass of wine before walking home and going to bed. We were woken in the morning to Windsor throwing up on the bed. It was early so we got up, ate, made some coffee and caught up on the news.
There was a farmer’s market at the marina and so we decided to head into shore. When we looked outside, there was nothing to see – we were socked in the thickest fog bank I have ever seen! We were only 40 or 50 yards from the docks and couldn’t see them at all, very disorienting. It slowly thinned out enough for us to see where we had to go, so we hopped in the dinghy and got to shore quickly before it closed in again. We took a walk into town to buy some coffee for the boat and to have a morning cup at the coffee shop. Then we came back to the marina where the farmer’s market was in progress and proceeded to stock up on all our fruits and veggies. We always try to buy a little from each vendor to support their efforts; there were only 9 or 10 vendors so we were able to pick up quite a bit of yummy stuff.
