Day 22 - Time to check out our own marina
Kona enjoyed her last walk at Fayette this morning. I accidently threw her Frisbee in a bad section of water and had to run back to the boat to get the boat hook all while her cries and howls filled the anchorage and bounced off the escarpment rock. At least she is smart enough not to jump into water she can’t get out of. At least we had the entire park to ourselves and weren’t bothering anyone.
A very calm morning again with the water like glass as we set off from the dock at 7:30am. Today the fog is so thick that the glass water melts into the horizon and as we motored along there was an eerie calmness.
Today’s trip is six hours. I spent the first hour writing my log and the next two going over spreadsheets and making lists of what we need to get done in the next three days. With that done I enjoyed some deck time with captain over our last bag of homemade beef jerky and some Kefir. I snuck down to the V-berth for that coveted nap for about an hour. While enjoying the peace down below I could feel the wind had picked up, or should I say, we got some wind. I popped my head up to the Captain and asked if we should sail! We rolled out the jib and turned off the engine. We made good time for, you guessed it, half an hour and then the iron genny was back on and sails furled as the wind was gone as fast it came.
I took my first picture of the day as we came to the channel for our home marina. We came in at a snail’s pace as there are reports of two sailboats that stuck it in the mud here just last week. We hugged the south of the channel and were in no issues. The amazing staff here at the Marina was actually waiting for us at the fuel dock as requested. Our old marina had gotten to the point where the deck hands wouldn’t even answer the radio. Captain docked the boat like a boss and we got fuel and a pump out before we headed down to our slip. Captain was happy to report that we are getting about .8 gallons/hour. We were gone for 3 weeks and only used 30 gallons of diesel with us having to motor most of the time as well as using all that fuel for cooking and heating our cabin. Not too shabby.
No issues docking at our new slip. This has to be the most generous marina in terms of space for maneuverability. We have so much space Captain is almost considering attempting to back in one day… ha! That would be an incredible feat if that happened.
It was pretty early in the day yet. The only real goal we had were those glorious showers. It was warm and the sun was just poking through. Our boat neighbor (Brad, whom we officially meet later) was chilling out shirtless so I thought “If he can hang out shirtless, I can put on my bikini and clean the hull!” Captain had no issues with this plan and he gladly supervised me from on deck while I cleaned all the black bottom paint dust from this winter off her hull. She looks so much better now.
We hulled the dingy up with the main halyard and gave Kona’s boat a good washing as well. As I was putting the anchor rode away and had my head down Captain came up and turned my speaker down to start talking to people who were standing 5 feet away on land at the end of our anchor. It was the Coast Guard! I was oblivious! They had just come by to say hi. They had come in and we had waved and said hi as they passed on their boat but now, they wanted to chat. They found it hilarious that our location on our stern after the name is McFarland, WI. Unaware that locations on boats is where the people are from, not where the boat is kept. Thankfully they weren’t in the mood to give us a complementary, unasked for, safety check that would have taken a few hours. We called it day and found those much-needed showers. Maybe they could smell us and decided they didn’t want to board either. Hahaha.
The shower was glorious. I did two washes and still feel like I could use more. Captain then took me out to dinner here at the Halfway; the only place. We sat next to our new boat neighbor Brad and his wife Brooke. Nice folks. They live up here and have decided to live at the marina all summer and commute to work from here. Good for them! Best summer cottage ever!
After two slices of amazing pizza and two Bloody’s I was full. If anyone likes Bloody’s they do make them very good there. Apparently, I like two drinks. Bloody’s and G&T. Occasionally wine or a margarita. I need more variety.
As mentioned, a few times, the water levels in Lake Michigan this year are down. The dock in Fayette was floating so docking felt pretty normal. Here at our new marina the docks are fixed and therefore the deck of our boat is now about 4 feet below the dock. We have a ladder and it is not an issue. For us. For Kona it is a really big deal. The cockpit and walk area are impeded with the wood that makes the back of the bench in the cockpit. Normally she does this quick jump hop to get on. Very impressive and takes a lot of coordination. That trick is nearly impossible for her at this angle and she can’t (thankfully won’t even try) do it. We pulled out her life jacket which we haven’t fitted to her since she was a year and it fit well! It has handles and is meant for lifting dogs. We put it on her and I pulled out her high value treats. Captain and I spent a few minutes with her making the same commands and high reward voices (think cute voices saying “Reeeeeady? Oooone, twoooo, THREEEEEEE!) and then gently picking her up like superman and gliding her up and over the obstacles. She quickly learned this was a much better option and now stands at the ready for liftoff.
We are now officially back on boat time, Wisconsin time, and 8:30pm just felt much later. We have a lot of chores to do tomorrow so we headed to bed before the sun for the first time.
