Mackinaw City

We have made it home to Mackinaw City!

Here is the first picture of us on our new boat in Mackinaw City.

Here are a few pictures of the trip on Saturday.  Still working on how to post pictures to the blog.










We got an early start from Grand Maris on Saturday just as the sun was coming up.







We had flat water all the way to the Soo.  It became more cloudy but warmed up once we got into Whitefish Bay.

We got to the locks and had to wait around an hour for an up bound salty.

The locking itself went off without a hitch.  

We spent the night in George Kemp Marina with a huge rain storm overnight.We got another early start, a bit later than the day before and headed down the ST. Mary's River.  We piloted from the lower station due to a light rain where we could see better using the wipers.  We kept it around 8 knots and found the engine noise in the cabin not bad at all.  At one point the fog moved in and had  to move topside to use the Radar.  The fog  didn't last too long but we stayed up top for the rest of the trip.  As we passed Detour Village the fog rolled back in and we had about .5 mile visibility as we rounded Detour Light.  We had a 2 to 3 foot following sea and by the time we hit St. Martin Light the visibility was down to less than a quarter mile.  The seas increased to 3 to 4 foot and we bounced around a bit up on the bridge.  There were some bad storms which went north of us and we just go into their fringe.

Fog was on and off all the way to Mackinaw City, some times we could see 4 or 5 miles then it would be down to less than a mile.  The seas calmed down a bit as we passed through Round Island Passage on our way to Mackinaw City.

When we got to the marina no one answered our call.   Dave the Harbormaster was just heading home and noticed we were coming in and gave us a hand in getting into our new slip. The slip is 17 feet wide and we are 14 feet so not an awful lot of room on either side.  We packed up all of our personal items and headed to the cottage.

All in all our shake down cruise back to Mackinaw City went well.  We encountered a variety of sea conditions, uncovered a few issues with the boat needing attention and learned a lot on how the boat is put together.  We also got a feel on how she reacts in different sea conditions and we are beginning to learn how best to handle her.

Tomorrow we will merge the rest of the items we bought as well as the remainder of items from Sea Jay with what we have on board.  Then all we have to do is figure out where to put everything as well as where to put all we will need for the Loop trip.   Then it's on to adding a few outlets, the Stereo for the fly bridge, contacting the sign guy to change the hailing port and the canvas guy about replacing some if not all of the isinglass. Our goal is to be done by Friday, we will see.

Grand Marais, MI

Third night on the boat. Thursday morning we did some grocery shopping and even though it was very gray, the water was flat so we decided to head to Grand Marais. We left around 11 am and it took us almost 7 hours to travel 70 miles. The trip went well, very easy with the auto pilot. We eve cleaned all cushions, etc. on the bridge while underway. Had no problem getting into Grand Marais, we are the first boat to spend the night here this year.

I wanted to test my jump starter so before bed last night I switched to one battery, shut off the battery charger and AC power to the refrigerator. In the morning the head and fresh water pumps were still working but I couldn't start either the main engine or the generator. The generator currently does not have it's own battery. I tried my jump starter and it would start the generator but not the main engine. When I swathed to the other battery I couldn't start either one. So we turned on the battery charger and went for a walk. When we came back still nothing, which was very perplexing. In trying to figure out which battery was number one and which was number two, I found out that 3 of the battery terminals were loose and that was the problem. We were lucky we didn't have any problems on the madien voyage. Guess that's why your first few times ou are the shakedown cruise. Once I got everything tightened up the engine started on the battery that was off all night and started on the other battery after a short time with the battery charger on.

By this time it was after noon plus the fog had been rolling in and out all morning, so we decided to spend a second night here. While Mary was cleaning the outside of the boat I cleaned all the below deck bilges and also did some serious poking around and now have a much better understanding of how things are wired, etc. I even found a spot to install a dedicated generator battery. Once I was done in the bilges, I helped clean the boat and went through the deck box and storage compartments. We are slowly figuring out where we want to store what.

We unfolded the bikes and took them out for the first time and found very nice little restaurant which was had an old dining car as it's front. The food was very good everything was homemade. The Soo is 90 miles away with no place to stop. The weather forecast is for more patchy fog tomorrow, hopefully it won't be too bad and we can continue with our trip.

John

Marquette, MI

Well, we really did it, we now have possession of Passport. When we met with everyone for the sea trial, Ben Miller, the surveyor said he felt he needed to break something to justify him being there. The sea trial went off with out a hitch and I even brought the boat back into the slip and didn't anything. Mary and I went to the Secretary of state to complete the paper work and their computers were down. We then came back to the boat and unloaded all of our stuff and integrated it with what was on board, which took quite a while. The weather looks good for Thursday so our new plan is to go grocery shopping early am and then start the trip home.
John

We Did It

We now own the boat, almost!   The preliminary survey last weekend went well, no items of concern.  We drove up to Marquette and went through the boat with a fine tooth comb on Wednesday and today we dropped off the check with the broker.  We still need to have a sea trial / systems test which will happen on May 18th when we take possession. The current owner is very meticulous and organized so we feel there will not be any problems. After the sea trial and all the paper work is completed we will spend Thursday to get all of our equipment on board and familiarize ourselves with the boat. Our plan is to depart for Mack City on Friday morning, weather permitting, as Mary has reminded me numerous times. Dave, the present owner said we can make it back in two days, we plan to take it easy and are allowing three or four.

Tentative Trip Schedule

Here is our updated schedule with dates listed of when we hope to be in specific areas or towns.   Obviously all this could change due to weather, etc.

August

Leave Mackinaw City third week.

Still need to decide which side of Lake Michigan to take south.

September

Arrive in Chicago, September 2nd and leave on the 7th.  Cruise the Illinois river system to the Mississippi and arrive in Alton, IL September 15th.  Cruise through St. Louis to Kimmswick, MO on the 16th, this is the last marina for 228 miles.  Continue on the Mississippi to the Ohio river. 

October

Ohio river to Kentucky Lake.
Side trip to Nashville on Cumberland river.

November

Tennessee river to Tombigbee waterway.

Arrive Mobile, AL around Thanksgiving.

December

Florida panhandle in early part of month.

West coast of Florida mid part of month.

Home for 2 – 3 weeks around the holiday’s.

January

Cruise from the west coast  to the Keys.

Arrive in Key Largo January 24th.

February

Leave Key Largo February 23rd, arrive in Miami the 24th.

Move to Fort Lauderdale February 26th to wait for the right weather to cross over to the Bahamas.

March

Spend the month exploring the Bahamas.

April
Back from the Bahamas the first week.  Head north on the ICW (Inter Coastal Waterway) through Florida, Georgia and the Carolina’s.

May

Finish the ICW at Norfolk, VA and move into the Chesapeake with possible side trip to Washington, DC.  Continue north in the Chesapeake past Baltimore and into Delaware Bay. 

June

From Delaware Bay up the New Jersey coast up to NYC and the Hudson River.

Continue following the Hudson River to the Erie Canal and into Lake Ontario.

July
Possible trip up the Rideau Canal and Ottawa River.

Take the Trent Severn waterway to Georgian Bay and the North Channel.

Return to Mackinaw City.