7-22-16 Time to head back to the States
Waking up about 6 am Saturday morning after getting up every two hours to chamois up the water that leaked in found no wind blowing. The water was like glass and I was very glad I tossed out the stern anchor before we went to sleep. Our boat likes to wonder around in the night when the wind gets too light to hold us back tight on the anchor line. All to often that means the anchor line gets wrapped around the keel and someone, usually, always, me, has to go swimming to get it free.
The sky was clear and the sun was just starting to peak up over the stone mountains to our northeast. We wanted to get an early start back so we could get across the Mc Bean Channel before the wind and waves kicked up incase their winds forecast was not totally accurate. Seeing how our leak was worse when we were beating into waves and the whole trip back would probably be into the wind I just thought it was prudent to get back before the wind god woke up.
We pulled in the anchors and motored out of from behind our rock wind block and out into the main body of Oak Bay as we headed southwest. The water was as smooth as we had seen it since arriving a week ago. We saw a lot of boats anchored on the north side of Hotham island as it provided a good wind and wave block the day before.
We continued to motor southwest till we got to the exit of Oak Bay. Once we cleared the exit we turned west and headed across the McBean Channel to Little Detroit. The wind had yet to start blowing and the Mc Bean was super smooth as well.
As we motored along at about 5 mph, hull speed, we discussed our options for the remainder of our honeymoon. With the leak we really did not want to try to sail on Lake Charlevoix like we originally planned to so we decided to just try to get a hotel room and take in the town from ashore. I tried every site I could find but there were no rooms to be had in Charlevoix due to the Venetian festival going on. After a brief discussion we decided to try and return to Empire and spend a couple more days at the Cottonwood Inn and just play around there. I went on line and saw they had open rooms but was unable to get through on the phone. I reserved the room online and left instructions for them to call me or text me to let me know they got the reservation.
By now we were coming up on Little Detroit
Time for Cindy to make her "Securita. Securtia, Securita" radio call. I really wanted her to use her sexy voice as it always makes me weak in the knees when she uses that voice. It was still early and not any traffic so ahead we went.
It is not extremely narrow but you want to make sure you are right in the middle as it gets shallow quickly on the sides. About half way through a small power boat came streaking around the northeast corner and passed us going west bound just off our port side. So much for making radio calls LOL. I doubt he had a radio and if he did he would have never heard it anyway with the outboard screaming in his ear.
We turned north after exiting Little Detroit and made our way back to Spanish. We noticed that no matter which way we turned the wind turned with us and was on our nose the whole way back. So much for sailing. We just motored the whole way back.
After pulling our leaky little boat out we headed back to the parking lot to drop the mast and prep her for a 1000 mile ride back home. There were several other boats in the lot stepping their mast in preparation for sailing the North channel and few who were pulling out like us. Guess who came pulling in the lot after us, yup, Deja Vu! We had a good chuckle over how fitting that boat name was to our week as it seemed like in regards to the leak we kept feeling like we had been there before.
We talked with the other sailors and shared our adventure with them. One said "so your the ones" as he had seen the post on the Trailer sailors Facebook page about our struggles. Sadly we had to admit that was us.
While Cindy was down at the marina taking a shower the Admiral from Deja Vu came over to return the lighter I had given them before we left the week before. She asked if we were able to get the boat fixed and how our week had been. I gave her the condensed version of our week. She was very nice and told me that we will have many more sails and that most will be better but some may be worse. She said she could tell I married an angel and that she knew we would have many happy years together based off how we survived the week we just had. I told her we made the best of it and at least had got to sail to Fox Island. She said it had been a very windy week and they only made it as far as Hotham Island. she said it was either too windy or no wind. We must have missed that no wind day. Come to think of it that was the day our boat hung in the boat lift all day.
Soon we were ready to head west to the boarder. Even though the week went nothing like I had planned we still had a lot of fun. We met some really nice peeps and got to see some very beautiful scenery. The best part was that I got to spend almost every minute of every day with my Bestie and that was awesome!
We stopped at a hotel restaurant on the lake near Blind River and got lunch. The setting was very nice and it would be a neat place to sail to from the Drummond Island area and have lunch. You could anchor out and dinghy into their beach. After lunch we continued onto the border and back to the states.
As we crossed the international bridge at Sault St Marie there was quite the backup to get into Canada but no line to get in the US. That seemed odd. We pulled up in line as the truck in front of us pulled out. I just pulled up to the booth as I did not see anything that said stay put. Brace, our border crossing agent, informed me that will motion us to come up when they are ready. I started to apologize and he said not to worry. I gave him our passports when he swiped through a bard code reader. Then he looked out his booth and back at our boat. I thought here it comes, a boat search. He then asked me if we launched out of Spanish. That kind of threw me as I was not expecting that question. I said yes. He then informed us that he was taking his sailboat to the North Channel in a few weeks and was going to launch out of Blind River. He wanted to know if he should go on to Spanish. we spent the next tens minutes talking boats, sailing, and the North Channel with him. Turns out he just bought a Catalina 25 which is what we are thinking about getting if we can sell our boat. He gave us our passports back and told us to have a safe trip home and to come back again. We thanked him and continued on.
Pulling out of the customs area I was about half mad again. Cindy asked me what was wrong to which I replied "I spent 5 hours and 20 bucks getting all this paperwork ready, I drew a diagrams of the boat and labeled it where everything was stored, and no one asked to see it!!!" Cindy replied laughing "Let it go". So lesson learned, Border crossings with a boat are not a big deal...
We pulled into Charlevoix MI about 6 PM and luckily found a parking place big enough for the boat and truck. We were not sure if were supposed to park there but we fit so that was all I was worried about. We headed downtown and strolled along the streets checking out the shops. I was able to find a new shirt at the Momentum store to replace the one I set on fire as we all set around the fire at Empire the night after we got married. One spark pops our of the fire and what are the chances it lands on me and melts a hole through my new shirt? 100% if you are me! We worked our way north and across the draw bridge that crosses the channel from Lake Michigan to Round Lake. Both of us were getting a little thirsty so we stopped in the bar on the north side of the bridge and were luckily able to grab a couple seat the bar as the place was hopping. While we were there the draw bridge opened to allow a sailboat through.
I snapped a pic from inside. You get the idea, bridge opens up, boat goes through, bridge closes back down. I know we had something tasty to eat there but for the life of me I forget what it was. We had a cheeseburger and it was fixed in a peculiar way. Crap, Cindy's memory issues are wearing off on me. In my defense we ate almost every meal out for 2 weeks. After a while they all sort of blend together. Ok, this is driving me nuts. Standby, let me see if I can find the menu on line. Found it! It was the Weathervane restaurant in Charlevoix and it was the bacon jam burger with pepper jack cheese on a pretzel bun. I do remember that it was delicious!
Stuffed to the gills one more time, that really seemed to be the theme for this trip, we stumbled back to the truck in a food stupor hoping it had not been towed. It was still there and so was the boat. I was kinda hoping someone would steal it at this point but no such luck. The parking lot had really filled up and I was a bit concerned I might have some issue getting it out of the parking slot it was in as there was not much room. I looked around there was a SUV off our right side that I thought if I could use a anchor point if needed. My thought was if I did not have room to get the trailer around into the lane between the rows of cars I could hook my heavy duty ratchet strap to the SUV and the boat trailer and drag the boat out to get enough clearance. Cindy seemed a bit concerned at my plan but luckily there was just enough room for the trailer to clear the car beside us. Off to Empire!
We arrived in Empire just about dark. We parked the boat and dropped the trailer at the Cottonwood Inn before heading off to the beach in hopes of catching the sunset. Too many clouds for that and there where bugs everywhere as there was hardly a breeze. Scrap the beach and off to Joe's Friendly Tavern for a beverage, cause God knows we needed more calories LOL!!!
We had a nice chat with the lady tending bar and once she found out we were the couple who had gotten married a week before she was all excited to talk with us about how it all went. Very friendly place, hence the name. We finally headed back to the inn to get some sleep in a real bed that I did not have to get up in the middle of the night to mop up water around.
As we laid in bed we talked about having to go back to the real world. We were both dreading that dearly. I know for myself I could spend every minute of every day with Cindy although I am sure she would probably need a break from me time to time. We still had a few days left before we had to go home and we vowed to make the most of them as we drifted off to sleep wrapped up in each others arms...
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