Day 23 - 1st turn around weekend
Going to bed so early made it very easy for me to get up this morning pretty early. I felt pretty proud of getting Kona off the boat all by myself with her super vest on. Kona likes the new Marina. We are so close to the grass and play areas. I was careful not to throw the frisbee anywhere near the water because yesterday Captain and I saw a huge snapping turtle in the water. Not suppose to ever swim in a marina anyhow, but that is a bunch of Nope-topus! I estimate “Jimmy” to be over three feet, and his head was big enough that he would surely take off multiple digits should you cross paths.
Captain and I had all these grand plans of things to do while underway. All the items that fell under “chores” somehow got to be very hard when at anchor. Those chores just feel easier when at the dock. Probably because you have access to unlimited power, trash cans and all the things that make life easier. The chores today were long but we got them done and were on our way home by noon. We did all our laundry; I defrosted the freezer and reloaded it. Cleaned out the ice box and organized and cleaned Ciara. I also did the most dreaded chore of tightening our packing. Thankfully I took my time getting down in there and was able to retrace how to get out without freaking out. I greatly look forward to not hearing the bilge go off every hour. She had a constant drip when I went down and was down to one drip every 30 seconds when the task was complete.
On our way home we stopped in Menominee, Michigan to drop off items on Belefonte that were left on Ciara three weeks ago. We parked the van near the nice taco/sandwich/ice cream shop and got some subs for lunch to go. We walked over the marina and dropped off said items and then enjoyed lunch under the shade of a large tree overlooking the marina. Belefonte sits in a sea of sailboats. The Menominee marina is well situated for sailors and you can tell by the ratio of sailboats to powerboats here. We have wanted to be here for quite some time they just don’t have a slip for our size boat. In the end we are so happy we moved to Cedar River, as it was a better fit for our sailing schedule and the staff and facilities are still top notch!
We drove home through a variety of super cell rain storms. Moving along at a break neck speed (anything over 6mph is pretty fast now) we marveled at the stark difference between the last three weeks and now. The steam rising from the roads mixed with the spray from the tires and gray skies were eerie welcome back to land. I was happy to get home late afternoon and continued at breakneck speed to get through a list of tasks for our turn around weekend. I am very happy with the tasks at hand, coffee to be had and another hot shower. Captain made an amazing dinner for us as well invited Morrigan to join as a thank you for her help with Cory while we were away.
I will resume my log with cliff note important items if needed when we return to Ciara on Sunday. I have really taken to this practice and appreciate you all taking the time to read and enjoy when I have the bandwidth to post.
