Rescue 51!

The wave forecast was showing big waves in Green Bay until noon, so we lazed around in the morning reading. Wave Pointe was an absolutely awesome place to wait-out bad weather, but after 4 days we were ready to leave. Pretty much right at noon we left the harbour and set out. The ride was pretty sporty, but nothing like the last time we tried to escape. We were rocking, but not taking any spray over the bow, and we were not being thrown around.

About half of the trip we had to run with waves on the beam, and so we rolled pretty good. We were able to zig-zag enough to keep it to a minimum, but could not avoid big rolls when we had to turn. Our cabinets were secure, as we had used the velcro strips, but you could hear things rolling around inside. We will have to be careful opening these later.

Two of our drawers have broken catches, and both of these flew open in the rolling. Will have to fix the latches or rig some kind of hold-down for future passages.

Until I can repair them we need to jury-rig some kind of bungie system to hold them closed.

We pulled into the Quarterdeck marina at Sturgeon bay in mid-afternoon, and had to wait out in the channel to get tied up. There are two bridges here that have to open for large boats, and this creates bursts of traffic when they open. Several boats were heading to the same marina, so we each had to wait our turn to enter their harbour.

Passed this boat on our way into Sturgeon Bay that reminded me of Thunderbird 2. The boat is called Majestic Star, and was once a casino cruiser. It is now in dry dock, and is tied up in some kind of ownership dispute.

Big tugboat in another drydock. 

First impression upon seeing this tug boat was that it was Theodore Tugboat or a character from Thomas the tank engine and Friends.

Coast Guard boat coming into the harbour.

We went to an Irish pub for dinner, and each enjoyed something different on their patio, then back to the boats to get ready for the next day, which would be a long run to Sheboygan. Our weather window to travel was only two days before the next winds, so we decided to make full use of it and put some distance behind us before our next weather hide-out. That night I spent some time planning our route, and setting up waypoints on the chartplotter. We also took some time to secure cabinets and get things squared away in the cabin.

Fishing is reel popular around these parts. 

Next morning we were up at 5, ate breakfast and got the boat ready to run. We left the dock shortly after 6 and got underway. The first few km's were done at no wake speed, but when we came to the shipping channel where we had planned to speed up, we saw a thick fog bank ahead of us. 

The fog was pouring off of a narrow spit of land at the entrance to the shipping channel, and completely obscured everything beyond it.

A boat was heading towards us and hailed us on VHF asking if we were heading out onto the lake. We replied that we were, and the other boat asked us if we would contact them on the radio once we got into the ship channel to let them know what the visibility was like. 

Chrissy on Miss K got this picture of iFloat entering the fog. There was a Ranger Tug following us, and another boat behind Miss K.

As we approached the fog bank, I fired up the radar and turned on the nav lights, then we made a securité call, and sounded the horn as we entered. When in fog you are supposed to give an audible signal every 2 minutes, however we emerged from the fog bank only a minute or so later. Although the fog was really thick, it only extended for about 300 feet. I radioed the other boat to tell them the channel had good visibility after the fog bank, and we continued on.

Coast Guard station at the end of the shipping channel. They had two big rescue boats tied up here, both of them really big RIBs.

Lighthouse at the entrance to the shipping channel. Note the walkway on the left. They must get some massive waves here to have to use a three storey high elevated walkway to get to the lighthouse.

Here you can see the full elevated walkway from the shore to the lighthouse. Going out there in a storm must be lots of fun.

Another view of the walkway.

The ride south on lake Michigan was really smooth, almost like glass. We passed lots of fishing boats along the way, even though we were 7 km out into the lake. Then, just after we passed Manitowoc, Miss K called us on the VHF. Their engine was stopped and they could not restart it. We turned around and went back to them, and waited while Steve tried to restart the motor. No joy, it would not crank. After spending about an hour trying to get it running, they called Boat US to see about getting a tow, but there were no tow-boats in the area. Next they tried Manitowoc marina, but they did not have a tow boat, so finally they tried the Coast Guard, who would put out a distress call on their behalf, but would not get them unless they failed three times to find someone to help.

Dead in the water 8 km from land, and 11 km from nearest port.

Steve then got on the radio and asked us if we would tow them. We have never towed such a big boat before, but were willing to help them out. We rafted onto them so that we could rig a towing bridal, and set off towards Manitowoc, 11 km away. The ride took over 2 hours, but we got them set on the wall of the harbour near the maritime museum. We then went to the nearby marina to get fuel, before returning to the harbour wall to spend the night with our friends. 

Towing the Miss K.

Our Nebo track, or should I say backtrack.

Entering into the harbour past the breakwater.

The channel wall is not designed for small boats to tie to, but luckily we had just bought some fender balls. We see lots of loopers with them, and several loopers have suggested we get some. When we were in Mackinaw City I made measurements of the ones Miss K had, and when we were stuck in Petoskey we found that size in the local West Marine, so we bought 2. They were perfect for the mooring we had, and we got all set up for the evening then went for dinner.

We've got big balls.

Moored beside a submarine. How cool is that!

On the 8th Street bridge. You can see iFloat and Miss K in the background by the submarine.

Stern of the Cobia.

Every single town we have visited has had a really nice waterfront. Lots of parks, fountains, places to sit.

One thing I notice about these towns is that they all look like they were built in the 1920's - which of course they were, but many buildings have not been updated since then. Each town is centred on the harbour, which is always industrial, and each place is centred on one or two large bulk facilities. Here they have grain elevators, and it seems they are a wholesale supplier of various types of grain. Although the construction is old - kind of a yellow brick style, everything is really clean and well maintained. We have been struck by this in each place we have stopped on this side of the lake. Everything is really well taken care of, and people here have been very friendly, we get lots of questions as soon as people see the Canadian flag on our boat.

The next day we were stuck in port while the mechanic went over Miss K's engine. He arrived around 8:00, and worked on it all day. Louise and Chrissy went shopping at a big second-hand store, while Steve and I made a run to a convenience store. Louise, Chrissy and I went out for pizza lunch - Steve had to stay behind with the boat. The day seemed like a kind of holding pattern waiting to see when the mechanic would trace down the problem.

We watched the Badger come in and dock. This is a passenger and car ferry that has been going back and forth between Manitowoc and Ludington Michigan since 1953. The boat definitely looked old-school, and it is! It is the last coal-powered ferry on the great lakes. Really impressive watching them bring it in, spin it around and slide into the berth.

Here is the Badger on final approach. Burning coal since 1953.

Once inside the breakwater she spun around and eased back into her slip.

Eevee ventured outside and hung out on the back deck for a while.

The mechanic working on Miss K managed to get the engine started around 16:00. At that point both boats moved to slips in the harbour. Much more comfortable, although I think we brought along a whole new batch of big-ass-mutant spiders that we picked up on the harbour wall.

The next day the mechanic was at it again, so Steve and I cycled to get groceries. Along the way, we also picked up a temporary starter switch to allow Steve to start his boat until the proper part arrives. The mechanic traced the problem to a solenoid on the engine. Took a long time, as finding it required some old-school troubleshooting and the mechanic was new-school (computer codes). Steve ordered the part, which may take some time to arrive, so in the meantime this temporary start switch allows him to use the boat.

We passed an outdoor cafe and this lady had brought her bearded dragon with her. It had a harness and everything. Chillin by the river.

Really like how the town designed their bike racks.

This one looked like a muskie.

The four of us went out for lunch at an Irish pub, then I had a conference call for my textbook in the afternoon, so went back to our boat to get it taken care of. In the meantime, Steve got the over-ride switch installed so that Miss K would be ready to roll. The next day we had a weather window, so wanted to put some distance under the keel towards Chicago.

Classy ride parked in the marina lot.

Couple of vagrants outside the Irish pub.

Next morning we had another wait for weather to blow past, so we left the dock around 8:30. The ride to Port Washington started out smooth but eventually became rolley and bumpy. We heard a pan-pan on the VHF, the Coast Guard put out a notice that there was a small unmanned dingy about 5 nm offshore from Ludington, and they were asking mariners to keep a lookout for any people in the water. Yikes! A Little later we heard a securite call about a rescue boat towing a disabled vessel into Port Washington. 

Louise used the passage time to peel a bunch of carrots we picked up in Manitowoc.

By the time we got to Port Washington the waves were getting bigger, so it was nice to pull into port. We got tied up on a linear dock nose-to-tail with Miss K. Funny to watch another boat come in after us. Miss K and iFloat tied close together to maximize space for others, but the guy after us just planted himself in the middle of the dock. Shades of the Rideau grey line.

Louise made soup with the carrots she peeled along the way.

The customer is always right.

We went to an absolutely fantastic restaurant called the Steerage Dining Salon. It is located in a basement, and was really well run and the food was absolutely amazing. Chrissy ordered their pork chop, that was so big it looked like a steak. It was served with cherries and spaetzle. The rest of us had their shrimp pasta special that was also really special. Really great experience.

Back on the boat, a check of the weather forecast showed a narrow weather window the next day followed by some rough waves the following day. Accordingly, we made plans to leave early in the morning to get to Racine before the bigger waves hit. The plan was to leave sometime between 5:00 and 6:00 in the morning. We set our alarms and turned in. 

The next morning, I got up at 4:30 and went upstairs to make coffee. Once the machine was running, I turned around and was surprised to see an incredible show. It was still totally dark, but the parking lot beside the launch ramp was lit up with pickup trucks and trailers. They had 6 launch ramps, and all 6 were being used by fishermen to launch their boats. One after the other they launched and headed out onto the lake. These guys knew what they were doing, each one backing right in, launching the boat, then parking the truck and trailer in the lot. These fishing boats were on the large side, 20+ feet, and it seemed like the lineup to launch was endless.

As the smaller boats made their exodus, all of a sudden right at 5:00 the big charter boats started to leave. We were parked on the wall in the entrance to the charter harbour. One after another the big charter boats passed us on their way out to the lake. There was a steady stream, one each minute or so going past us towards the breakwater entrance. I went up to the flybridge to switch on some of the systems in preparation for our departure, and saw the fleet heading out. It looked like a highway, a straight line of nav lights leading out into the lake. In the distance you could see the lights of the fishing fleet spread all along the shore for kilometres. Normally, getting up super early is not much fun, but today was totally worth it.

View from the bridge as we head out.

By this time Steve had Miss K ready to go, so I asked him when he wanted to leave. He said "after the parade". Once the last of the big charter boats passed, we untied and set out ourselves. The passage to Racine was pretty easy, along the way we watched the sunrise over the fleet, and made it to Racine around 11:30.

The fleet on radar. The dots in the centre-left are fishing boats we passed to our port side as we headed south. The line on the right is the shore. Each circle represents a distance of 0.5 nautical miles.

Sunrise over the fleet.

Chrisie took this one of the sunrise.

Boat name of the day: Dirty Hooker

Weathered in on the west side of lake Michigan

Our first morning on the west side was spent cleaning the boat. It had been a while since we washed the outside of the boat, and she was getting a little nasty. Louise and I broke out the vacuum and started on the salon and cabins. 

These photos were taken on the same day. Sunrise and fog within about 30 minutes of each other, in the middle is the view when we were having breakfast.

You learn about lots of things when you get into serious boating, types of rope, navigation, the care and feeding of marine toilets etc. But one thing I never thought I would learn about was arthropod poop. There are two types we have become familiar with. The first is bee poop, or yellow rain, which we first learned about at Newboro lock station and have also encountered several times at Black rapids lock station. The other kind is spider poo.

Spider poo is this nasty sticky black goo that hardens to form a solid blob that is really hard to get off of surfaces. You have to soak it, and then apply liberal amounts of elbow grease to get it off. There are special cleaners for it, but we just use dish soap, and our Royobi power tools. 

The black splotches are made by spiders. This stuff is gooey and sticky and then hardens and becomes difficult to remove.

We started by using the vacuum to get rid of as many spiders and webs as possible. Then we broke out the power scrubber and pressure washer and went down both side decks and the transom area. Spiders do not like soapy water, and the combo of the pressure washer and scrubber was pretty effective at getting rid of both the poop and the spiders that made it. We spent some extra time on the windows, as the black stains were really bad on some of them. Took all morning, but we got the lower decks and salon done.

The marina had free bicycles you could use, so Chrisie and Louise went shopping while Steve and Bill went through the museum and lighthouse beside the marina. 

Patent medicine from the old apothecary store in Escanaba. Always effective! totally safe!

Bum-chica-wa-wa

Still for home use only. Note the repaired axe slashes on the side.

After finishing the museum, the boys took two bikes to meet the girls at Stonehouse restaurant for dinner. 

Takes you back in time.

The place did not take reservations and was packed. Luckily the girls got there early and got us on the list. Really creative meals. We each had something different.

After dinner we did some grocery shopping and cycled back to the boat, where several boat crews got together for docktails. We met a gold looper, and also visited with Mike and Amy, two local boaters who were visiting from Wave Pointe, a marina more to the south. We sat around chatting until it got dark then turned in for the night when the bugs started to come out.

The next day we were up at the usual time, but had planned to take it easy and leave the dock around 8. 

Soooooo, after spending hours cleaning spider poop off the boat and getting rid of every spider we could find, this is what we saw through our front window first thing in the morning.

Buh-bye.

Both boats set out, with a bit of fog visible far out on the lake. Luckily we did not encounter any fog along our route, and had a smooth cruise to our next destination, Menominee Michigan. This trip we experienced time travel, as the port we left was in the eastern time zone, while our destination was in the central time zone. We had planned on a 6 hour cruise, which would put us at our destination at around 14:00, but we arrived at 13:00 after going through the dimensional warp.

What were they thinking?

We got set at the wall in the marina, then activated the ROAM app to check-in with customs. The app says "pending" until an officer processes your request. The app was pending all day and all night. Louise got in touch with some other Canadian loopers who told her the app does not work in some locations. Great. They gave her some links to an interactive map with contacts for the app.

While we were on the boat screwing around with the ROAM app, lots of locals stopped by to look at the boat. The red colour really stands out from other boats, and we get lots of comments on it. This time however, most of the comments were about our Canadian flag. Apparently they do not get a lot of Canadians here.

Les Boys hanging out.

When we were in Escanaba we picked up some fruit fly traps. The last few days we had been dealing with a bit of an infestation. We recycle all our cans and bottles, and it turns out that our recycling container had become a fruit fly breeding ground. So we emptied our recycling and hosed out the container, then set up a trap nearby to deal with the horde.

After going for dinner at this small bar near the harbour, we checked out the boater's lounge. Wow! This place was huge. They had lots of different rooms, a full kitchen and coffee bar, big TV. Since the weather was forecast to be bad the following day, we decided it will be better to hang out there than on the boat.

This boat won the sailboat races they had our first night here. The "torpedo" at the front is an extra boom that extends to hold a spinnaker. The extra area of the sail provides more thrust for the boat. This boat beat all the others by a wide margin.

Next day was forecast to be rainy and grey all day long, but the morning started out sunny and really windy. The waves were from the south, and they were getting into the harbour creating gentle swells. Every boat was rocking, which would continue for the rest of the day. Louise went shopping with Chrisie while I did some small boat repairs and engine maintenance. Around 13:00 the rain clouds appeared, so we went to the marina boaters lounge to hang out. Louise and Chrisie baked Louise's blueberry pie, and we all had pie and ice cream, then each of us did our own thing, watching videos or reading.

The boater's lounge is in the old waterworks building. Apparently the building was to be torn down by the city, but the marina volunteered to use it, and restored it to made it into an absolutely fabulous boater's lounge. Above you can see ONE of the lounge areas, this one has a fish tank.

They have a coffee and breakfast bar. Cappuccino machine, hot chocolate, juice, buns, rolls, help yourself.

Cappuccino in the lounge.

Are you old enough to recognize this?

One of the bathrooms. Has a full bath, shower, and even a TV and DVD player. Everything is immaculate.

Old barometer. You predict the weather by the position of the liquid in the tube. Plaque said it was from 1620.

Ice cream and blueberry pie, it doesn't get any better.

That evening we went to the Spirit House. This is an old funeral home that has been converted into a distillery. Each week they host trivia nights, and tonight was the night. We named our team Lucky Penny, and had a great time answering trivia. Out of 12 teams, we came in 5th. Heading back to the boat, we passed a coffee shop that advertised breakfast, and since we had not eaten dinner, just munchies at the trivia night, we decided to treat ourselves to breakfast the next morning.

Lucky Penny trivia team

Our score sheet from trivia night.

The coffee shop the next morning served all kinds of different coffee styles, and we enjoyed our breakfast on the front porch. Louise got a cappuccino with butterscotch. The place made omelettes that were were really good, and the four of us had a great breakfast before getting the boats ready to get underway.

Louise got the gourmet coffee. 

Triple mushroom omelette.

The crossing to Wave Pointe marina was pretty smooth. Miss K had to take evasive action when they came upon a fish trap. The marker buoys are hard to see, and so you don't get a lot of warning when you approach one. Once you see one buoy, you have to quickly search for the others, so you know which way to steer to avoid the nets. When Miss K spotted the second buoy it was right in front of them so they had to do a crazy-Ivan turn to avoid it. We passed a few more traps later in the morning, but these were far enough away that we could avoid them without any extreme manoeuvring. 

We were amazed to see the water was absolutely covered in algea to the point it that the water was green, even 10 km out in the bay. I guess this is why they call it Green Bay. Steve saw lots of fish on his fish-finder. No wonder they set fish-traps out here.

We pulled into Wave Pointe marina and got settled in. What a beautiful resort! We had another ROAM app hiccup, the app would not recognize our location and so Louise had to call Chicago CPB. They noted our info and approved us. Apparently we will run into similar situations all down the inland rivers. Fun.

What an awesome place to be trapped in. Several boaters stopped by to check out iFloat and Miss K. They were all interested to hear about the loop, and where we have travelled.

Louise and I went swimming in the pool, while Chrisie, and later Louise, did laundry. Later in the afternoon we all went to the bar for $2 draft during happy hour, and listened to Joseph, the bartender, tell jokes. He and Steve went back and forth in a "battle of the jokes", and both of them were really good at telling funny stories. Back on the boat, we made burgers for supper and, as is our habit, checked the weather forecast. Things were not looking good for the next few days. Strong north winds were coming in that would shut down small boat travel on the lake for several days. We had a narrow window to get to Sturgeon Bay the next morning, and so planned to scoot there before the lake got rough.

Next morning the forecast had changed slightly, and our window was now pretty narrow, but we decided to give it a shot anyways, since we were only looking at about a 90 minute trip. We got underway, but it was not looking good as we started rolling almost immediately after leaving the harbour, even though we were still in the protected part of the bay. In fact I had to throttle back as Louise was having trouble moving around the deck to police up the lines. 

As we turned the corner and came out of the bay we got slammed by 2 to 3 foot waves on the nose.Every once in a while there was a 4 footer. Ooops, this was not supposed to arrive for another 3 hours! We pressed on, but when we made the next turn the ride became waaay too rough, and so we decided to abort and go back to Wave Pointe. As we were returning to the the bay we passed a couple of bass fishing boats heading out. One of them pulled a "wheelie" going over a wave, whereupon both of them turned around and headed back into the bay. We got tied up to the same slips we had just left, to hunker down for the weather.

Steve decided to do some work on his engine, which had been "slobbering" a bit - excess fuel in the exhaust at idle causing some smoking. He checked his impeller and found some damaged vanes, so had to replace it. He has a Yanmar engine which requires a lot of messing around to change the impeller - you have to remove the alternator and then the whole water pump to get at the impeller. Why can't engine-makers design marine engines so that service items like oil filters, impellers and such are accessible? Changing the impeller did not resolve his issue, so the next day he planned to check some more things.

The resort was having its annual pot luck dinner that day and this year it was Italian themed. We were invited by Mike and Amy to join the feast, and so went up around noon. For $15 each we had all-you-can-eat food and all-you-can-drink beer, wine and beverages. They also had a band that played all afternoon. It rained on and off, but we stuck it out on the patio, and Louise and Chrisie even danced in the rain. Seven hours later we returned to the boats, and all of us immediately turned in. What an awesome day! We met lots of really nice people, and spent the afternoon laughing and enjoying the music. We sure picked the right time and place to weather out the storm.

Out on the patio with the band. It rained on and off all afternoon, but we stuck it out under the table umbrellas.

Part of the lunch spread.

One of the dessert tables.

Both crews with our hosts Mike and Amy.

The next morning when we got up the wind was howling, and the burgee flag at the front of the boat was flapping like crazy. We took our time having coffee in the morning, then Louise went for a walk while I took a nap. Steve was working on his engine, so Chrisie also went walking and met up with Louise in the boaters lounge. Turned out there was still free beer available, so they each sipped some to finish out the morning. Yes, the morning… The afternoon was pretty quiet except there were two families with small kids who took over the hot tub and boater's lounge, so we mostly hung out on the boats and got some small chores done. The families let their kids jump on the furniture and take the cushions off, then made a huge mess in the hot tub area. Nice. The Coast Guard put out a small craft warning all day, and the weather forecast was bad for the following day, so we were here a bit longer. 

The twins on the dock. Lots of people have been commenting on our boats. They don't get a lot of loopers here, and because the boats are so similar we have had a steady stream of visitors. 

We are kind of by ourselves on the dock, which adds to the effect.

The following day was a repeat of the last. Louise and Chrisie hung out in the boater's lounge and pool, and even had more leftover free beer, while Steve changed his engine filters and I cleaned our bilges. The weather was showing a window for us to get to Sturgeon Bay the following morning, so the plan is to go in the morning. This has been a great place to be pinned, but time to move on.

From time-to-time we have hit our heads on the microwave cabinet, so I installed a rubber pad on the corner to ease the pain. I used some headliner adhesive, so had to mask the area before spraying it on. The application worked, but was not my greatest repair. You only get one shot to adhere, and if you miss, it is there forever. I missed, so will have to do some MacGyver work to camo it.

That night the wind shifted and got stronger. It was really humming when we went to bed. Although it eased out in the morning, it was still too rough to move until this afternoon, so our plan was to leave around lunch time.

Boat name of the Day: The Jolly Wanker