To our home port and the end of another summer adventure
It was hard to get up to an alarm this morning after our lovely week here in Frankfort. Captain and I took Kona to shore just shy of 7am. We have filled up a loyalty card at the local coffee shop this week between the three of us so we cashed that in and got a free coffee for one of us and two more for the rest. Captain and I got Cory up and readied Ciara for a calm day back home. The dinghy was cleared out, the hatches down and a quick tidy up were all that was needed. We have learned after many years at this anchorage that regardless of how nice it is on the hook the waters can go from zero to hero as soon as you leave the large breakwaters that protect Betsie Lake. We have taken to making sure everything is battened down regardless before we leave. We figure, if it is calm, it is always easy to re-open rather than find yourself in 3–4-foot seas and trying to take them down while getting tossed and splashed.
We left the safety of Frankfort around 7:45am, a lone gentleman doing Tai-Chi on the lighthouse break wall bid us farewell as we rounded to the north and through the sea of fisherman. Oh my. We have mentioned the fisherman a lot this week and could see/hear/feel them moving out of Betsie Lake nearly 24/7 and seeing them dot the entire horizon from shore. Being amongst that many boats of all different sizes 1-2 miles off shore felt strange. Normally it’s you and maybe an occasional boat, we were among hundreds for a good while before they tapered out as we ventured towards the center of Lake Michigan.
The day was pretty uneventful. We had some light wind and were able to motor sail most of the way. We lost sight of land and internet for about 5 hours as we made a new (to us) path across the lake. I took the wheel for over an hour while Captain enjoyed his time next to me. As much as I loved the glass motor day at the wheel, it was nice to have consistent wind on the sails and the feedback at the wheel. Using clouds instead of land for navigation reference points kept me in a straight line.
We entered Death’s Door around 2:45pm. The car ferry from Door County to Washington Island left just as we were coming and yielded to us a we had the right away. Off all the years we have sailed these waters that was our first time going all the way through the passage without stopping at Washington Island. Today was calm so the seas were calm making the infamous crossing non-stressful. It was our 21st crossing of the Great Lake of Michigan. Cory’s 18th!
As we came into the waters of Green Bay the wind picked up nicely to a broad reach and we mostly sailed with a little motor assist all the way back to our home marina of Cedar River. We arrived around 5:30pm local time (yay for time zone change). Cory and I readied Ciara for docking, something we haven’t done in almost two weeks and the first time we have had to dock without dock hands this summer as the staff had already gone home for the day. Cory set the bow lines, I set the fenders and prepared the spring line with the boat hook to catch the cleat as we came in. This was also the first time we have every self-docked at our new marina ever. I was nervous, I always get nervous going into marinas. It’s a good habit. Thankfully this marina is very protected with no current, has wide fairways and we have an overly generous slip leaving lots of room for us and less stress of hitting someone’s very expensive boat. The winds were down and that always helps. We glided into our quiet marina in an anti-climatic finish to our summer. There was a sailboat full of visitors a few slips down that waved to us with their jaws dropped as they watched this beauty of a ship come in.
Docking went well. Captain brought the boat in at a pretty steep angle to help me grab the cleat. The maneuver went well but it ended up putting a lot of pressure on our forwardmost fender and stanchion. I hooked the cleat with perfection and as I was disembarking Ciara to go catch lines now that we were secure, we heard a loud bang. I didn’t see anything and thought maybe something fell or maybe part of the dock got hit harder then expected. As I finished tying the stern lines Cory communicated that the loud sound was actually our toe rail and stanchion that had snapped off at that forward fender when it took too much pressure from the docking. It was a bit disappointing to injure Ciara at the last moment but no one was hurt and Captain has extra toe rail material. Guess that adds to our fall/winter to-do list.
I hadn’t even finished securing the stern line when the visitors from a few slips down were already on our dock and asking questions about our boat. I had my head down and had no idea that had even caught Cory’s bow line and asked them to hold on a moment until we got the boat secured. We really love chatting with folks; I do wish more people understood to kindly wait until the boat is secure before diving into 20 questions and happy hour. We chatted for awhile and laughed internally when they kept asking us how long we were staying and telling them this was actually our home port and that car with all the cob webs that has been here all summer is ours.
Since we were back home with no rush to leave and drive home, we did basic docking things like setting up shore power and flemishing our lines and then went out to dinner at The Halfway for Thirsty Thursday. Captain had their jam burger on his mind since the deep waters of Lake Michigan. I had to admit I was happy to have their chicken tenders motivate me as well. We walked over to our car and were happy to see all the tires full and she started right up. Kona came with us and rolled in the grass and did her business. She hoped in the car and I swear she was smiling with the A/C on her face for the short trip back to our slip.
We rolled into the Half way to see the regular crowd. It is neat feeling to walk into the one gig in town and feel like everyone knows your name. “You guys are back!” “How was your trip??” “I’ve been worried about you guys, I could never do a trip like that.” And so on! We caught up with everyone and had a lovely evening. I was a little land sick and tired from a long day and maybe not as fun as I usually am. We came back to Ciara around 9pm. Captain and I took Kona for a nice off leash walk and decided to have a fire as our marina provides a fire pit and free wood and it was a lovely night. Cory joined us and Captain regaled stories of his youth and we marveled at the fact that somehow, he was still alive.
Cory left us at midnight and took Kona girl with him. Captain went back with them just to grab some late-night snacks and I rebuilt the fire into a roaring log house setting. Kona had taken the liberty of taking logs from the pile one by one and chewing on them and depositing them all around the picnic area. I cleaned those up after her and added them to the furnace.
Captain and I stayed at the fire until 2am. We have decided to stay here in Cedar River all day tomorrow to give us time to clean up Ciara and pack what we can to go home. Have a relaxing sleep in both Friday and Saturday and head home Saturday before the real-world hits like a ton of bricks. We spent the time staring into the fire and gazing at the stars. Reflecting on the summer and our lives. I love this man so much; I still sometimes pinch myself.
And so, we end another summer aboard Ciara. Is this the last time we will go out this year? Hard to say. There will be the moving of Ciara to Sturgeon Bay at the very least and a few trips up here to do some chores and logistics of unpacking. Maybe we can find a long weekend and good weather to go out for a short bit. I leave this summer with similar feelings of years past. That the days onboard go incredibly fast. That Ciara truly feels like a home to us. We met so many new friends that have added to our adventures and caught up with old friends that have enriched our lives for many years. We had injuries. We bonded as a family and missed the family that stayed behind. We had successes and failures with freeze-dried foods. We made some amazing drone videos that I hope to turn into something to show over the winter. I made a lot of silly short videos but grew tired of the extra work mid-summer and focused more on the moment rather than having to create and produce content for the sake of content. I still wrote over 140 pages of blog in word (over 82,000 words). I come home refreshed with goals for the winter that I fear I won’t be able to achieve outside the bubble of the ship, but I am going to try. I have grown extremely weary of social media and endless mindless internet surfing and feel I suffer greatly with some sort of addiction that I hope to yield and re-direct into something much larger and meaningful. This time on Ciara is a gift and I am so glad to share that gift with everyone who takes the time to read this blog on a daily basis. It means a lot to me that you are here. Thank you for coming along and I hope to be updating you all with new things over the next many months. Until then my friends; May you have favorable winds and following seas. May you adjust your sails to the winds of change and always remember, that the best ships are friendships.
