DOWN THE EAST SIDE

We had a nice peaceful night at the gas dock at Rogers City. We took our time leaving and were on the water by 10 AM on Wednesday, June 13th. In stark contrast to the day before, the winds were less than 5 and the lake looked like glass. I guess the forecasters got it right for a change. The only problem is, we would probably wind up motoring all day. We wanted to get as far south as possible so that we could be in St. Claire, Michigan on Lake St. Claire by Friday, June 15th. We thought we might be able to get all the way to Port Huron, but we knew it would be a long day and probably most of the night. Going around the "Mitten" and headed for the "Thumb" of Michigan was interesting but very little to see. It was shallow for quite a ways out so we couldn't go right along the shore, but we did see a lot of lighthouses and islands along the way. Motoring makes the day very boring. We had to make a choice of continuing on into the night and possibly arriving at Port Huron about 1 or 2 AM or stopping somewhere in between and getting an early start the next day. We decided to stop at Harrisville with the idea of getting up at 3 AM on Thursday and proceeding on to Port Huron. Harrisville was a very quiet little marina, with very few boats and some fairly rickety docks. It was about two thirds of the way down the "mitten" of Michigan. In many harbors in Michigan, you have the option of renting a slip at a very reasonable price or anchoring. We love to anchor, but, in order to get to shore you have to launch your dingy, put the motor on and then get it back on the boat when you are ready to leave. Taking a slip is simpler. We settled in our slip and went to bed early with the alarms set for 3 AM. I was up at 2:20 and decided to just stay up. By 3:45, we had our coffee, cast the lines and were out on Lake Huron. Wow! What a beautiful morning! There was a crescent moon and virtually every star and constellation was clearly visible, including the milky way. Every night sail I have ever had reminds me of how beautiful it is once you get away from land and lights. Over the years, we have seen thousands of sunsets, but the sunrise over Lake Huron was amazing. It started hours before with hues of red painting the sky as the sun began reflecting off the clouds. Sunsets signal the end of the day in a beautiful and awe inspiring show, but this sunrise showed the power and beauty of nature as it lit up the Eastern skyline for hours before it finally peeked it's brilliant light above the horizon. Amazing that it happens every morning and we rarely get to see it, especially over the water. We had a good day on the water and made good time. We had to motor at first but later on, we put out the genoa and motor sailed. We got across Saginaw Bay to the "thumb" and finally hoisted the mainsail and began sailing. It slowed us down a bit, but it was so great to have the quiet and relaxing feeling of the wind moving our 11 ton boat across the water. Of course, the wind never co-operates the way it is supposed to. It was very close on our nose, so we could not sail directly to where we wanted to go. As we got across the bay we still had to tack to the East to get us around the "thumb" and headed towards the St. Claire River entrance. While we were traveling, we were charting our next planned course. It seems that Port Huron would require us to go up a river and wait for two or maybe three bridges to open before we could get to a marina. This seemed like a waste of time, so we decided to stop at Lexington, which was the last stop before entering the St. Claire River. Unfortunately, they had some shoaling and could not accomodate our 5'7" draft. We decided to take the next port North, which was Port Sanilac that is about two thirds of the way down the "thumb". Once we got past the thumb, the wind was directly on our nose so we dropped all the sail and started motoring again. There were at least nine freighters on my AIS at all times, but I happened to see a sail boat up ahead of us. As we closed on it, I realized it was going the same direction as we were and we eventually passed it by. We made it into Port Sanilac and got fuel, pumped out and grabbed a slip for the night. Later on, the boat we had passed by came in and grabbed a slip right next to us. They had just left Bay City and were planning an extended cruising voyage too. We wound up showing off our boats and going to dinner together, with the main topic of conversation being sailing and cruising. A beautiful evening. We left Friday Morning around nine and headed for the St. Claire River. There was a parade of freighters before and after entering the river. Denise snapped lots of pictures down the river before we finally got into Lake St. Claire. We made a bee line for Jefferson Beach Marina and got a slip next to our friends in the beautiful ketch Monarch. Jefferson Beach Marina is a huge marina with hundreds of go-fast and large motor yachts. There were lots of bikinis and drunk boaters in loud boats. We really appreciate those quiet anchorages with nobody else around. Denise's brother is going to let us use his vehicle to get back home and we will leave our boat here, next to our friends and with Denise's family close by until we get back. P.S. We are having trouble loaded pictures. I will add them as soon as we get it figured out. You can also subscribe to our blog and, I believe, you will get notifications when we post a new blog.