Day 16 - Back across Lake Michigan
I didn’t sleep as well last night. Captain would also relay he didn’t either. We had alarms set for the first time in weeks and had a long day ahead of us and neither one of us has been liking work lately! This season has been odd as we normally have a month or more of short weekends to shake out our skills and get back into things before we set off. Since we splashed down and took off on our adventure right away neither one of us has really felt like true seamen but more like relaxing tourists. The anxiety for both of us was made aware from the lack of sleep. I truly believe that always having a respect of nature is necessary and every time we set out to expose ourselves, I worry. The weather forecast was good, however on Tuesday it was supposed to be horrid and it was amazingly pleasant so I feared the good weather forecast was wrong and we would encounter big water.
The alarm went off at 6:30 and we slowly got out of bed. From the time we got out of bed it was immediate go time. I started to prepare the fenders and lines to dock and then Captain and I weighed anchor. I was able to pull it pretty far this time and Captain came up for the last 20 feet of chain. Oh, the last 20 feet of chain was all weeds and I had to again get in the dinghy to take off the insane ball of weeds and seabed. It smells so bad.
We had no issues getting a pump out and water. I took a few moments to wash down the deck and by 7:30 we said goodbye to Beaver Island, for now. The visibility was amazing today and because we had taken a slightly more north route to our next destination we had the upper peninsula of Michigan in view the entire time. I made breakfast underway with calm seas. About 8:30 we had enough wind to sail! For about ½ hour! It was nice to have the engines off for a short time at least. Captain had taken off our jacklines to paint the deck this winter and we haven’t been able to find them. The jacklines run on both sides of the ship and are a safety line we clip into when working up deck, especially in big water. With this in mind we have also been very cautious of not wanting to be sailing to aggressively until we can get our new ones in a week. Thankfully today the water was calm enough not to worry for the raise.
The rest of the day was very chill. The air was warmer then our last crossing a little over a week ago but you can still feel the cold air that is being cooled as it is pushed across the water. I read my book while Kona kept me warm. Or I kept Kona’s anxiety down while I read. It is hard to tell who was using who more. Our diesel stove, which is our only method of heating food and is also our cabin heater has been acting up. So far, we can trouble shoot it. We found it should be serviced every 1000 hours. We started doing the math and after 8 years, we very well might be near that many! Hopefully it will last through the season otherwise we may have to grab our camp stove and be very creative for the rest of the summer.
As we came into the waters of Green Bay and turned north to Big Bay de Noc the seas immediately changed. I had expected a good northernly blow but not until 8pm. It was only 5pm. We quickly brought down all sails before the seas got to be too much. With white caps now forming and sea spray overhead I headed down to the pilot house while captain looked like a mascot for a box of fish sticks.
The Escarpment rises along the east coast of Big Bay de Noc in such grand scale. There are caves weathered into the cliffs that send my childhood imagination of exploring into overdrive. One huge section of the escarpment had fallen many years ago. You can see the entire 100 foot gap where the wall recedes and huge boulders at the bottom. It was many years ago. I can tell because there are huge trees growing out of the remnants.
We pasted one of our favorite places, Fayette. Looking back into the harbor, we could see the large iron smelting house all refurbished and looking grand on shore. We will be here later, I promise!
We passed snake island which is just an over exposed shoal that doesn’t have snakes but birds. Where those rocks or birds? I couldn’t tell as they all blended together.
Just a few nautical miles up from Fayette was our destination. A new place! South River Bay. On the map it looks like an inverted bird’s beak…to me a kiwi beak. As we entered the bay and pulled back the engines Kona stuck her nose out of the cockpit for the first time all day as she could smell land! South River Bay has a nice large sand bottom that tucks up behind some land as a river comes and empties behind it on the opposite end. The depths tucked up in there were good so we went to check it out. After getting in there we didn’t like the look of the beach landings for Kona so we decide to drop the hook over by the beach. This would also offer slightly better northerly protection which was predicted. Because the escarpment is here, when we went to maneuver the U-turn Captain had the boat 50 feet off shore!!! I have never been that close to shore in Ciara that wasn’t at a dock! How cool. The picture doesn’t do that feeling justice.
We set the anchor with no issue and took Kona to shore. We headed to the sandy beach only to find our dinghy suck in ½ foot of water with about 50 feet yet to go. We found a better landing spot for us, however the shore there was very rocky and no fun. Kona did her business and we headed back to Ciara. The weather was turning. The barometer was dropping.
As we were heating up dinner (just spicy hot ramen tonight, nothing fancy but tastes so good after a long cold day at sea) it was time for Taps. Our friend Steve, who has the boat Charlie Kate, is one of our very first sailing friends. His slip at our marina was next to ours for our first years. We continue to be friends on Facebook and he works at the place we winter store Ciara. He had told us his grandfather, his dad and himself loved this spot. There are bald eagles nesting here. Lots of non-mallard ducks and just peace. I can see why. I played in their honor tonight. We sent the video to Steve, he was greatly touched.
The evening turned to early morning as we saw the clock turn over to midnight. We had settled in to good music by the lights of the oil lanterns. The winds are hollowing. We will set an anchor monitor but I suspect we won’t move an inch and sleep justly.
