Annie's 2021 Summer Cruises

We had a nice night last night. There was a cool breeze blowing through the cabin. Kerry even got a blanket out in the early morning hours. I forgot to put my Fitbit on after my shower last night so I don't have a sleep score, but I think it would be good.  I made my coffee as usual, but sat on the front of the boat in the shade in a nice breeze and read all the newspapers I brought from home. It was very pleasant.  Kerry got up about 10:30. I made her tea and blueberry pancakes for breakfast. She cleaned up while I emailed an invitation for our Fifty + One Anniversary Celebration to each of the invitees. We sent everyone a separate invitation to make it feel more personal.  It was really hot in the anchorage. The water was still and cool. The waterline had scum and seaweed growing all over it, especially the side away from the dock in Vermilion that gets the sun all day. So, what was a captain to do? Since I have never had crew that would wash the waterline, I put on a l...

With the prospect of a beautiful warm weekend ahead of us we decided to spend two days at anchor in East Harbor. Our plans changed when Anne invited us to join her family in attending the Asian Light Festival at the Cleveland Zoo on Friday night. We met at their house for dinner and got to the zoo about 7:30. We both drove so we could go to VYC after the show, and on to East Harbor on Saturday. The Light Festival was very enjoyable. We did not know what to expect, but it was impressive. The displays were first class, numerous, and it seems like they had a display for each animal group, and other displays that were just pretty. Many but not all of the live zoo animals were still "up" to be viewed. We all had a great time.  We had coffee, donuts and tea with our friends at the club before we left Saturday morning. Kerry was even up at 8:30 and went grocery shopping. I want to cook her a blueberry pancake breakfast tomorrow and we needed the fixings for that.  The familiar trip ...

Last night we all agreed to meet for coffee and cappuccinos at 7:30. I was all ready with plates out and a new bag of cream filled cookies open. Well, Marianna apparently thought we were meeting at 8:00, and Kerry was feeling sick, so Peter and I had the final cappuccino bar of the cruise. We had run out of little white powered donuts the day before so we ate the cookies. We decided we would leave after our "skipper's meeting". We did enjoy our stay at MBIYC. We did not do any exploring of the island so we will probably go back again with a more ambitious agenda. The  yacht club house is fairly new, modern and very clean. The docks are wide and very nice. We left about 8:20 for the 25.6 mile trip to VYC. We motored leisurely at 7.9 knots so it took us 3 hours and 15 minutes. For the trip, we covered 266.2 miles. We pumped out the head and filled with diesel once back at VYC. I did an extra good rinse of the holding tank because I had to open the floats in the holding tank...

It was very quiet at 5:45 when I woke up weather wise. Very overcast. Shortly after arising I got a text from Peter saying they thought the weather was OK to go. I agreed, and we decided to depart at 7:00. they left first, we followed 10 minutes later. We passed them before we hit the Ambassador Bridge. The trip down the river to Lake Erie was 18 miles and took 1 hour and 50 minutes, averaging 10.1 knots @1600 rpm. Lake Erie was nice at first, then started to change. The 1/2' waves turned into 2' from abaft the beam, giving us an occasional good roll. I went from 1600 rpm, to 1800 and finally to 2000 when we decided we wanted off the lake as quickly as possible. It was like motoring through a washing machine. By the time we reached the islands, the lake was very docile. The overall trip was 47.2 miles at an average speed of 9.4 knots, with an 11.6 max speed. It took us 5 hours. On the way our chairs came loose so we moved them to the deck on the back. We moved our little table ...

Peter arrived promptly at 7:45 for his cappuccino. I opened the new box from Amazon in front of him so he could smell that just opened fresh K-cup aroma of 42 new cappuccinos. He said they were as good as the last batch. This time we had whipped cream to enhance his drinking experience. It was just a one drink morning as he was anxious to get underway.  We left at 8:45, a few minutes after Brillig. We passed them rather quickly, but Peter had Brillig steaming and we only beat them into Milliken by 45 minutes. The trip was 32.8 miles, and took us 3 hours and 45 minutes at an average speed of 8.8 knots. We hit 15.2 one time as I ran Annie fast for awhile to clear carbon out of the engine.  The trip was fine except for very annoying power boat wakes. One time 2 huge boats with big wakes passed within 20 yards of us. It rocked Annie so hard that a 2 1/2 gallon plastic water container fell out of our cabinet and splattered all over the floor along with all the water. Kerry made me ...

Peter is becoming a very reliable cruising partner. Promptly at 8:00 there was a tap on the deck to see if the cappuccino bar was open. It was. And it was a double day for Peter so all of the old K-cups are gone. Tomorrow he will get one from my new, fresh batch. I took a picture of Peter in front of our newly repaired shade and posted it on yesterday's blog. Somehow we started looking at my Trent Severn Lift Lock videos on You Tube, and the ones I made of the Pipers in Kincardine. It was fun. You can find them on the Don Albanese Channel on YT. The Orros decided to pass on garage sailing so Kerry and I set out at 10:00 alone. Our first stop was a visit at Isobel, the Tartan 37' owned by our friends Alice and Kevin Miller. They came is yesterday too. The ride over to their boat made me feel very uncomfortable because of the horrendous golf cart we passed. I'll have to see if the marina has a "safe room" for me.  Then it was off garage sailing. The first one was al...

No rain last night, so no hatch leaks! And rain is gone from today's and tomorrow's forecast. The scorching heat is gone too. Finally. Turns out it was still pretty hot and humid today.  Peter and a cappuccino on Annie and one for the road as we started getting ready to depart before 9:00 AM. I called the bridge tender and scheduled a 9:15 lift. The Military Bridge opened for us ahead of schedule eliminating a possible 15 minute wait for us. We both stopped at Desmond's Marine for a pumpout - a bargain at $10. Marianna sipped Peter's cappuccino and said she liked it better than the Almond Joy latte he had at the Raven.  The trip to Algonac was as pleasant as it could be, with the exception of lots of motor boat waves rocking Annie as we traveled. It was 24.8 miles, at an average speed of 9.0 knots (with the current) and took us 2 hours and 45 minutes. We've done 160.2 miles so far. We arrived about 45 minutes before Brillig. I filled the water tanks and we took show...

Well, the big unhappy new from last night was that our damn hatch leaked again. I was sure I had it fixed. Oh, well. We'll have to deal with it for 1 1/2 more months, then I will have Parker replace it. It's been a pain in the butt for too long. I have one more thing to try, which is to remove the tape on the lens/frame seam, glue it and then re-tape it. Will it work? Nothing has so far.  Peter came over at 8:00 for his cappuccino. We planned today's itinerary of the Raven for breakfast at 10:00 AM, the Port Huron Museum, the Ice Museum, the Huron Light Ship and the Fort Gratiot Light House, plus a dingy ride down the river. Wow. Can we do it all? We left about 10:15 for the Raven, which is on time for this group. We had a great breakfast again, fully loaded oatmeal and two lemon blueberry scones. So good. Peter had his big Almond Joy Latte again.  The Raven Restaurant is very near the Port Huron Museum so that was our next stop. The museum is in an old library building and...

Peter came over for his cappuccino today as usual. I had a couple of white powered donuts waiting for him. We visited for awhile and decided that we could use this time before breakfast at 10:00 to explore. So we climbed on our bikes and took off. First we went to the welcome center where a 5 cent trolley tour departs. We planned to take the 12:00 PM tour. Our next stop was Desmond Marine where we shopped the marine store and chatted with the sales person who shared a lot of local knowledge with us. The Maritime Marine Center was next followed by a short ride down the river walk. Eventually we ended up at the Raven Restaurant where we checked out the menu and breakfast hours. We were back at the boats by 10:00 to get the mates.  Breakfast at the Raven was great. It is such a cool place with an ambiance like an old English library and reading room. They feature little statues that list the seven deadly sins. We loved our breakfasts and may go back again. Marianna bought Peter a...