Home for a week then back to the boat

August 26th
Fairport Ohio.
We are back on the boat after a week home getting appointment filled . First we need to say thank you to our friends Bill and Kathy and Sue. With out these great friends we would have not made it to and from the boat getting home and then back. It was a busy week at home as we got to see our youngest daughter and our grandson. His birthday was in the first part of August and mom and dad got him a 50 cc Honda dirt bike. It was so funny to watch this lil guy ride this thing as he is growing up so fast. While home we tried to see as much family as we could as each day and cram what we could into each day. One of the things Jeannie wanted to get done was to pull our flowers out for the winter as she loves working outside. Well in the process of doing all the yard work we wanted to get done she got into the poison ivy and has it quite bad. I can see us stopping again to see it looked at. The other thing that we had to do was to return Buster back to the marina but he did not quite get back to his original owner. But we are sure he will make it back to Lenny. While at Jefferson Beach Sunday we met Gary and Jacque on Waterford. They came in to the slip next to us with water coming into the boat and they had no idea where. Well to make a long story short it was a small cap on his water muffler that was causing the issue. We had planned on traveling with them Monday morning but he still had some trouble so we took off as they helped us out of our slip. People like them has made this trip so wonderful so far. When we left Jefferson Beach Marina we headed down the Detroit River which was rather interesting.
We got to see some of the new river front and then some of the old as well. It is kind of nice traveling rather slow as we can see so much.
As we went under the Ambassador Bridge we noticed 2 guys painting way up above us. We got a friendly wave as we went under them. Once into Lake Erie we headed for Put-in-Bay Ohio. We were told there are 3 places to visit. One is Vegas. 2 is New Orleans and then Put-in-Bay. Well being on a weekday there was not a lot going on and rather dead. But we did manage to go to the worlds longest bar.

We were told they can hold 4000 people. Yes 4000. Jeannie and I looked at each other and thought god we would love to see this when it is hoping on a weekend in prime time. So we stayed on a mooring ball for 2 nights and you can calla water taxi which comes right out and picks you up from your boat. They come right up along your side and you step from one boat to the next. Now I could only envision what this would be like after quite a few drinks on shore. Speaking of drinks, we sat and watched this dingy with a few couples in it doing things to get free drinks and beads.
But it was the guys that were doing it. Ah I am sure alcohol was a factor .After leaving Put-in-Bay we headed for Fairport Ohio which was our longest day yet. Just over 71 miles. It was kind of a non event day but as the day grew so did the weather as a small storm went south of us as we watched it build. That night where we anchored the wind picked up and so did the waves as it was quite a rolly during the night as neither of us go much sleep. One thing to note that there are not many places to anchor or get into as a lot of Eastern Lake Erie is mainly commercial ports. So we have decided to lay over a day as it is to ruff to go out.
Aug 27th
While stopped in Erie Pen. for the night we had thought that Alfred Hitchcock movie the birds was being remade and we were part of the movie. While setting out in the cockpit we noticed how many swallows were flying around the anchorage we were in. Not thinking to look up until I went below and noticed a weird sound


coming from the mast. I thought WTF was going on and went out side to look, Wholy batman Jeannie come quick, We were being attacked!!! But after keying the mike on the ssb that got rid of a few and a few bangs on the mast a few times and they finally left.

We are in the US!

Presque Isle was a nice place to shower, do a little bit of laundry, and go to the store that sells a little bit of everything! We enjoyed some ice cream also. Sunday the 8th we left and anchored in the harbor for the night. It was beautiful. The water was the clearest we had ever witnessed! Oh yes on Sunday,the 8th we were able to check in to customs. The very nice man came to our boat that morning and asked a few questions,looked at our pass ports and left! Less than 10 minutes! I have to also mention that our grand son's birthday was8/8/10 also, turning 6 years old! The stops we made along the way were: Harrisville, where we fueled up and anchored in the harbor. We then went on to Harbor Beach, again anchoring in the harbor. We stayed only 1 night as we were right next to a power plant and it was very very LOUD. The next stop was Lexington, which was a very nice, but very shallow harbor! We swam the 1st day and it was so warm! The 2nd day they relayed to us that they did not like us there in the harbor. Randy said we will move, but then the marina employee said the harbormaster said we were fine! After 2 days there we proceeded to St Clair River and went under the Blue Water bridge.
The scenery was great! Homes on the river that were obviously in the millions! It was so good to see real scenery for a change instead of miles of open water. We ended up anchoring in a small little cove, on Lake St Clair. We had 15kts of east wind all night, and I don't think Randy and I slept much at all, as the anchor alarm kept going off.
Okay, now we are here slipped in Jefferson Beach Marina for the next 8 days. This place is huge!! They even have valet parking! Randy and I walked a few miles to a marine store, then on their recommendation we had lunch at Waves and watched the Tigers play. We have close friends, Bill & Cathi who are picking us up on Sunday and taking us home! Randy and I have had a really cool time on this part of our venture. We had a long talk about whether I want to continue on or not. I really do want to do all that we had planned. I am so close to our youngest daughter and her son, that it caught up to me on the trip. I was not always able to get a phone signal, and if we did it was roaming. ($$) Not very many WiFi connections either. So I now know that I must think more positively, and realize they are okay without me always being there to reach out and touch! Our daughter is pregnant and now I hand my job over to her mother in law, also named Jeannie. She is in good, loving hands. When i look back over the last 7 weeks, I do believe I have accomplished some things I never knew I could do! Oh but I did have to color my hair 1 time and Randy helped me. Now the next step when we get home are haircuts!! I don't even think I will wear make up the week we are home! So until we start out again on the 23rd, we will post again. Thanks for following S/V Mutual Fun.

Good Bye North Channel

July 30th
We decided to go back over to Gore Bay and stay for 2 nights there with Inua. While setting setting on the boat sharing a finger with Inua, Right smack over on the finger bow to bow from Inua in comes Dave and Jan on Laurel. The other side of my family I have always heard about but never met.(not really family) We could not believe it as fate must have been. It was nice to finally meet up with them as we had dinner at the Rocky Raccoon Café on the 2nd night we were there. It was a place you did not want to be in a hurry for but all the meals were great.

July 31st
A diamond in the ruff.
I think Jeannie and I found a true deal up in Claperton Island. A little piece of real estate that is a true hideaway. It comes complete


with a main lodge, outdoor seating on a beautiful deck over looking the bay. You can hear the loons calling and watch the beautiful sunrises. Also it comes with 2 beautiful cabins which are furnish to boot. Sorry Girls mom and Dad are spending your inheritance. You can come and get away and truly forget all your troubles here. It is truly amazing what one can find up in this neck of the woods. Buster even liked it so well that he went swimming. Ah but we need a bigger life jacket for him as he has gained weight from just lounging around.

Aug 1st
After a night over at Claperton Island scouting out real estate we moved back over to Croaker Island as it was one of Canada’s holidays. The first time we were here there were only 4 boats in the harbor which is big. But this time roughly 14 were in here. But we had our own little piece of the island. It was the only place that had a sandy beach and a private outhouse. Yea I did use it even. Had to. This was our last night being with Inua and Laurel as we were headed east to start moving on out of the north channel. So to top the night off we had to have a bonfire on the beach with dogs and all the trimmings. It was one of the better nights we have had up here weather wise so it made the night fantastic.


Leaving Croaker we headed over to Little Current just for a short stop to do laundry and top of fuel and water. The public marina is a government run marina and if you do not stay the night you do not pay. So we stayed for 4 hours tied up to the wall right downtown. The swing bridge operates on the hour only so we had planed on catching the 4 pm bridge but as we came back from getting a few items at the laundry and the LCBO store. It was dang close to 3 pm that I had noticed the boats lining up. So we made a made dash to the boat and threw the lines on and shoved off. We were the last boat to cross.Wow! We high fived each other as we headed to Haywood Island for 2 nights. We had planed on going up to Baie Fine but a front came and it rained and was foggy for the next 2 days. So that was home. Looking at the charts the east end of the North Channel has so much to see that it would take a few more weeks. So we decided that next time that is where we will go.

Aug 4th
Listening to the Canada weather (noaa) they were predicting strong winds coming later in the night. Our plan was to get closer to Lake Huron and set it out for a few days as it looked like Saturday we would cross back over to the States. So we took off from Haywood Island at 7 am and headed for Club Island. Which is out in the Georgian Bay all by it self. The anchorage is as we had talked to a coupe that had been there and told us that there is room for only a couple of boats. So might you know as we are headed in that direction off in the distance we could see a few other sailboats headed that same way. So course a change we did. As we looked at the charts and Fitzwilliam Island had a much bigger harbor with a small bend in it so I figured we could tuck in there. Well the name of the harbor is called Rattle Snake harbor. We found out that the island has the highest population of rattle snakes in Canada. So Jeannie wanted to be reassured they would not swim out to the boat. Naturally I told her some story about they could not swim. As we got to it we got looking things over and it was rather roley but long behold we spotted a big barge that was run up to shore. So sure we tucked in behind that and all was well. Till about 4 hours later a 27 Catalina came in and plopped about 100 feet from us and was trying to use the same idea we had. I wanted to say something but I did not as it was rather ruff and they were older then we were and we were all safe at least.

Aug 5th
Ah well the winds had subside some but were to pick back up later in the morning so we hightailed it out of Rattle Snake harbor with no snakes aboard and headed to South Bay in which we plan on leaving from to cross back over to Michigan. Not knowing it but South Bay has a ferry that comes from Tobermory 3 times a day. Heck when we first spotted it we had thought it was a cruise ship.
South Bay is rather large and has a few places to duck into as we did and rode out the wind but not with out seeing 29.7 kts. As we got there we just stayed put and read and slept and some cleaning and of course boat projects. The following day we decided to take the dingy and go back to where the ferry comes in and watch it and see what we could as we noticed there were a few shops. It is also nice to get out and walk around as it was our 4th day with out going a shore. Where we found a place to come ashore there was a couple setting at a picnic table and naturally I struck up a conversation with them. They were waiting to take the ferry back to Tobermory as they had been up here camping for 2 weeks. It was close to their home but have never been here to camp as we all know. It seems like the best thing is close to home instead of traveling 1000 of miles. So we wanted to see the ferry come in and where we had stopped to view it was right by their car and camper you might know. So we got to know more about each other as we waited and then watched as they drove onto the ferry.

Aug7th
We finally arrived back in Michigan. But NOAA was not to accurate once again with their forecast. The night be for we left I went onto their web site and looked up the wind patterns and speed for today and it was showing 5 to 10 kts when we left and as we got closer to Michigan it went down to 5 kts. Wrong~~! We started out OK but as the day went on it did drop to around 10 kts but about 20 miles from Michigan someone turned on the wind and wave machine. The top wind we had was 23.7kts and the waves, All I can say is Jeannie had her nose buried deep in her book the whole time but the good thing is we flew, top speed for us was 9.8 as the waves were abeam (sideways)to us. I know I am one tired puppy as I had to hand steer the last 20 miles so early to bed tonight.