Month: October 2023

I’m tied up at Crowley’s for the next few weeks. Tentative departure date to head down the Illinois Waterway is Nov 12. Between now and then I’m helping out as a rigger through the fall rush, then taking a trip home for a few days.

I’ll take some pics. They put a few hundred sailboats inside for the winter, and they all need their rigs unstepped. Many arrive fully rigged and we take the sails off, etc. Masts are stored in our rigging shop. It’s quite an operation.

I’m still not quite sure where I’m headed from here. The basic plan is to travel for a month or so, then leave the boat for a month or so, then resume cruising. I’ve been thinking of going to Little Rock, or possibly Louisiana. I’d like to go down the Mississippi. But the Tennessee River is a good alternative as well. No rush to finalize.

I always enjoy seeing a bunch of boats up close. The Morris 36 still catches my eye. Here are pics of a couple.

I got into Chicago Wednesday evening, and have been anchored here since.

The trip down was lovely.  As planned I spent two nights in Escanaba, and had a long walk around town on my lay day.

Saturday had NW winds, and I went down the coast to Menomonee where I stopped for late lunch, then further south to anchor here.  I thought I could get into the river, but it was too shallow.

The next day I cruised across to Sturgeon Bay, and went ashore for a couple of hours to visit the museum and grab lunch.  From there I went out the canal and south to Algoma, where i stayed on the wall and had a nice dinner out.

Monday I cruised down to Sheboygan and stayed on a wall in the river.  Another solo looper was staying at the yacht club for a few weeks, and I almost booked a slip there.

The weather had been nice – following breezes and mostly sunny – and we had two more days before a nasty system came through with strong east winds. I was tempted to keep going. The deciding factor came Tuesday morning when a non-urgent specialist appointment in Toronto for Nov 6 was bumped back a couple of months. I had planned to travel from Chicago for that. Without that constraint I’m now free to head downriver earlier.

So I left Sheboygan Tuesday, spent the night anchored inside the breakwater south of South Shore Yacht Club in Milwaukee, and came down here Wednesday. Lovely travel on the lake.

I’m anchored in the municipal harbour. The weather is finally breaking, with south winds expected to go west then NW over the next day or so and bring cooler temperatures. My plan is to head south to Marinette on Saturday. Looks like there is lots to do ashore here tomorrow.

All is good aboard. Dinner out last night was great, blackened whitefish and veggies. The autopilot is working well, and it’s great to have one again. It makes travel like this fun and easy.

I’m anchored here, close to a restaurant where I’ll visit via dinghy a little later. I like it around here.

Yesterday I had a pleasant cruise around to Fayette, a neat ghost town that’s now a state park. Beautiful natural harbor was host to an iron smelter in the 19th century.

It blew pretty hard from the south last night, so I stayed there and cruised down here today.

It’s still warm – I’ve been living in a pair of shorts for several days – but that’s going to change. Expected north winds and cooler temps in a few days. My plan is to stay here tonight, then head over to Escanaba and the Little Bay de Noc tomorrow.

I’ve been anchored inside the breakwater since arriving yesterday afternoon, and have been ashore several times. I like it here.

The weather continues to be freakishly nice. It’s going to cool off this weekend, but for now I’m enjoying it. I had dinner yesterday at an old Big Boy resaurant and lunch today at a nice sandwich shop with a dinghy dock, then got some groceries.

Tomorrow I’m off for Garden.

I’m writing this post as Manistique MI is in sight.

Yesterday was a pleasant trip from Drummond over to De Tour for a lunch out, then over to anchor here close to Mackinac Island. The highlight was noodling through the islands to get in to Cedarville. I came in the eastern entrance and out the west.

Today I was underway in the dark at 0700 to do the 70NM straight across the upper section of Lake Michigan. It was dark and rainy until about 30 minutes ago, and is now brilliantly sunny.

I’ll stay here for a couple of days I think. Will watch the weather, but I think a small front is coming through mid week and then north winds, which will be fine.