In memory of our friend Sue . . .you will be missed .. .
Manistee to Charlevoix
August 23, 2010
The sound of the waves fills my ears as the boat gently bobs up and down while the full moon shines upon us. What could be more perfect? Today is the first day of our retirement. We greeted each other this morning with the exclamation, “We are retired!” We paused for a moment realizing we don’t have to go to work on the first day of school; then laughed and went back to sleep.
We are tied to a mooring in Charlevoix, Michigan. Let me fill you in on the last few days.
Thursday August 19th, we left Manistee and motored to Frankfort. The wind was from the north and the waves pounded us for over 6 hours. It was a two Dramamine day for Francie. We arrived in the late afternoon. We were lucky because the several people we talked to said they had been trapped for the past 3 days in the marina because of high winds.
Laundry chronicles: Laundry closed, new owner is retired and closes doors at 5:00, we arrived at 6:00!
The next morning we were going to go to Leland, a 35 mile journey. We left early in the morning. Even though the sky looked ominous, we didn’t look at the weather radar; rather we made our decisions based on the forecast from the night before.
We should have realized that something might be amiss when we saw the entire group of fisherman making a beeline for the shore. We hadn’t had our morning jolt of caffeine and missed the blatant clue in front of us. The sky was dark, but our weather radar was not working. The waves were not high and we were sailing. How bad could it be? We took a good look at the sky and decided to put two reefs in the main (make the sail shorter). With a reefed main and a full jib we were flying. The storm was all around us, the weather radar was fixed, and the 50 mile an hour winds that appeared on the screen missed us.
We were going so fast that we decided to go the additional 40 miles to Charlevoix. We made the 5:00 bridge opening in record time after traveling 75 miles. It was nice to be in port.
Laundry chronicles: The Charlevoix Marina is a beautiful facility and has great laundry facilities which we remembered from last year. Yes, we did laundry before going to bed.
The next morning Mike called Martha (a teacher he worked with at Morton) who has a cottage up here. She and her husband Pete arrived an hour later with lots of ideas on what we could do. One of the first things they told us was that they had a mooring ball in front of their cottage and we could use it if we wanted to move. We left with Pete and put the boat on the mooring after dropping our bikes off on their dock.
After lunch we were given a tour of Charlevoix. There are stone houses called “mushroom homes” designed by Earl Young. We had seen several last year, but Martha and Pete showed us many more. We also got a history of and viewed many of the “clubs”, a group of people who start an association that buys property and people build their homes on the property. The association owns all of the land and the homeowner owns the house. Some of the homes are breathe taking in their design and grandeur.
Martha’s home/cottage was bought by her grandparents and has been in the family for generations. It was fascinating listening to her talk about her childhood, the cottage and the club. The club is a close knit community. It reminded me of a small town where people knew each others family for decades.
Martha and Pete invited us to spend the night at the cottage and have dinner with them. We are still acclimating ourselves to our new home so we declined the bed but eagerly accepted the invitation to dinner of fresh salmon on the grill. We used the dingy to get out to the boat after a delightful day and evening.
The next morning we were sitting at the table looking at Lake Charlevoix and having a wonderful breakfast before going on a twenty-six mile bike ride. Did I mention that Martha and Pete water ski and swim almost every morning? We were a little afraid that we would slow them down on the ride but we managed to keep up. We rode to Bay Harbor and back. To say Bay Harbor is affluent is an understatement. The homes, boats and condo’s were spectacular. Pete managed to give us a tour on the bikes even though it is a gated community.
The problem with biking somewhere is that you have to ride back. At one point Francie commented that we were into interval training. We ride our bikes 24 miles and then not do anything for a month. We arrived back to the starting point a little sore but no worse for the wear.
Martha and Pete had plans for the evening and invited us along. We went to dinner with their friends at a new restaurant they were trying. The four of them went to the county fair and Francie and I drove Pete and Martha’s SUV back to the cottage. We needed to get prepared for the next leg of our journey.
Monday morning we left the mooring at 7 am. Martha and Pete caught up to us in the ski boat to say goodbye. We were planning to make the 8 AM draw bridge. If we have learned anything during our time owning the boat, it is never make plans that can’t be changed.
Each morning I checked the propeller shaft to see if it was leaking. I have tightened it several times in the past month. We had it repacked last summer. We have had a little water going into our bilge and have spent the last several weeks trying to locate the source. It is not serious, just annoying. Sometimes the area under the propeller shaft was dry other times it had moisture. It is supposed to drip a little. This morning it was leaking and not just a little bit. We changed course and went to Irish Marine. It was déjà vu turning the boat toward Irish Marine for repairs! This happened last year, but then it was an electrical problem.
I hate to admit this but much to our chagrin, we now suspect that our precious Anam Cara is a boat yard junkie. It needs a boat yard fix and manages to break itself near its favorite repair facilities.
There were two possible scenarios. One they could repack the stuffing box on the propeller shaft and we would be on our way. The second scenario – the shaft and or the stuffing box would need to be replaced. Yes, you guessed it. Mike worked with the mechanic for an hour and it couldn’t be fixed. The shaft needed to be removed to make sure it was not bent and the bearing needs to be checked. Since it is going to be out of the water, we are having a dripless seal put in to replace the old stuffing box.
When we found out we would be staying for a few days waiting for parts, we called Martha and Pete to see if we could use their mooring rather than stay in the boatyard. Pete not only told us we could use the mooring, but we could stay in the cottage and use his Harley for transportation. They have been amazingly generous. We used the mooring ball for the night.
Despite our setback we used the time catching up on projects. It also gave us time to look at the charts of our future destinations. This is the nature of the way we chose to travel. The extra time allowed us to work on the journal.
We have learned to be flexible – really we have begrudgingly learned – no - are learning to be flexible. What ever!! Goodnight.
August 25, 2010
Today was a bit of an unusual day. We are still in Charlevoix and it looks like we will be here for a few more days. We arrived this morning in the boatyard to have the new parts put on. Well one of the parts didn’t fit. Also the propeller shaft had some pitting from electrolysis. It could be ok or it could shear off at some point. It seemed that the best thing to do was to stay another two days and get the job done right. The weather was not conducive to leaving so it is no great loss to have the repairs done at this time.
The people here have been very good to us. Mike assisted Dave, the mechanic so that he could soak up some knowledge for future use! We are a little concerned about the whole time issue, but having the shaft replaced gives us one less thing to worry about.
We washed the outside of the boat while it was in the sling; then climbed the ladder and ate lunch on the boat while it was in the sling. They decided to put the boat back in the water and leave the sling around us. They put the old shaft back in to keep the boat floating.
We hope to leave for Mackinac Saturday morning, after the new shaft is installed and the engine is aligned. Hope springs eternal, and not leaking water!
The sound of the waves fills my ears as the boat gently bobs up and down while the full moon shines upon us. What could be more perfect? Today is the first day of our retirement. We greeted each other this morning with the exclamation, “We are retired!” We paused for a moment realizing we don’t have to go to work on the first day of school; then laughed and went back to sleep.
We are tied to a mooring in Charlevoix, Michigan. Let me fill you in on the last few days.
Thursday August 19th, we left Manistee and motored to Frankfort. The wind was from the north and the waves pounded us for over 6 hours. It was a two Dramamine day for Francie. We arrived in the late afternoon. We were lucky because the several people we talked to said they had been trapped for the past 3 days in the marina because of high winds.
Laundry chronicles: Laundry closed, new owner is retired and closes doors at 5:00, we arrived at 6:00!
The next morning we were going to go to Leland, a 35 mile journey. We left early in the morning. Even though the sky looked ominous, we didn’t look at the weather radar; rather we made our decisions based on the forecast from the night before.
We should have realized that something might be amiss when we saw the entire group of fisherman making a beeline for the shore. We hadn’t had our morning jolt of caffeine and missed the blatant clue in front of us. The sky was dark, but our weather radar was not working. The waves were not high and we were sailing. How bad could it be? We took a good look at the sky and decided to put two reefs in the main (make the sail shorter). With a reefed main and a full jib we were flying. The storm was all around us, the weather radar was fixed, and the 50 mile an hour winds that appeared on the screen missed us.
We were going so fast that we decided to go the additional 40 miles to Charlevoix. We made the 5:00 bridge opening in record time after traveling 75 miles. It was nice to be in port.
Laundry chronicles: The Charlevoix Marina is a beautiful facility and has great laundry facilities which we remembered from last year. Yes, we did laundry before going to bed.
The next morning Mike called Martha (a teacher he worked with at Morton) who has a cottage up here. She and her husband Pete arrived an hour later with lots of ideas on what we could do. One of the first things they told us was that they had a mooring ball in front of their cottage and we could use it if we wanted to move. We left with Pete and put the boat on the mooring after dropping our bikes off on their dock.
After lunch we were given a tour of Charlevoix. There are stone houses called “mushroom homes” designed by Earl Young. We had seen several last year, but Martha and Pete showed us many more. We also got a history of and viewed many of the “clubs”, a group of people who start an association that buys property and people build their homes on the property. The association owns all of the land and the homeowner owns the house. Some of the homes are breathe taking in their design and grandeur.
Martha’s home/cottage was bought by her grandparents and has been in the family for generations. It was fascinating listening to her talk about her childhood, the cottage and the club. The club is a close knit community. It reminded me of a small town where people knew each others family for decades.
Martha and Pete invited us to spend the night at the cottage and have dinner with them. We are still acclimating ourselves to our new home so we declined the bed but eagerly accepted the invitation to dinner of fresh salmon on the grill. We used the dingy to get out to the boat after a delightful day and evening.
The next morning we were sitting at the table looking at Lake Charlevoix and having a wonderful breakfast before going on a twenty-six mile bike ride. Did I mention that Martha and Pete water ski and swim almost every morning? We were a little afraid that we would slow them down on the ride but we managed to keep up. We rode to Bay Harbor and back. To say Bay Harbor is affluent is an understatement. The homes, boats and condo’s were spectacular. Pete managed to give us a tour on the bikes even though it is a gated community.
The problem with biking somewhere is that you have to ride back. At one point Francie commented that we were into interval training. We ride our bikes 24 miles and then not do anything for a month. We arrived back to the starting point a little sore but no worse for the wear.
Martha and Pete had plans for the evening and invited us along. We went to dinner with their friends at a new restaurant they were trying. The four of them went to the county fair and Francie and I drove Pete and Martha’s SUV back to the cottage. We needed to get prepared for the next leg of our journey.
Monday morning we left the mooring at 7 am. Martha and Pete caught up to us in the ski boat to say goodbye. We were planning to make the 8 AM draw bridge. If we have learned anything during our time owning the boat, it is never make plans that can’t be changed.
Each morning I checked the propeller shaft to see if it was leaking. I have tightened it several times in the past month. We had it repacked last summer. We have had a little water going into our bilge and have spent the last several weeks trying to locate the source. It is not serious, just annoying. Sometimes the area under the propeller shaft was dry other times it had moisture. It is supposed to drip a little. This morning it was leaking and not just a little bit. We changed course and went to Irish Marine. It was déjà vu turning the boat toward Irish Marine for repairs! This happened last year, but then it was an electrical problem.
I hate to admit this but much to our chagrin, we now suspect that our precious Anam Cara is a boat yard junkie. It needs a boat yard fix and manages to break itself near its favorite repair facilities.
There were two possible scenarios. One they could repack the stuffing box on the propeller shaft and we would be on our way. The second scenario – the shaft and or the stuffing box would need to be replaced. Yes, you guessed it. Mike worked with the mechanic for an hour and it couldn’t be fixed. The shaft needed to be removed to make sure it was not bent and the bearing needs to be checked. Since it is going to be out of the water, we are having a dripless seal put in to replace the old stuffing box.
When we found out we would be staying for a few days waiting for parts, we called Martha and Pete to see if we could use their mooring rather than stay in the boatyard. Pete not only told us we could use the mooring, but we could stay in the cottage and use his Harley for transportation. They have been amazingly generous. We used the mooring ball for the night.
Despite our setback we used the time catching up on projects. It also gave us time to look at the charts of our future destinations. This is the nature of the way we chose to travel. The extra time allowed us to work on the journal.
We have learned to be flexible – really we have begrudgingly learned – no - are learning to be flexible. What ever!! Goodnight.
August 25, 2010
Today was a bit of an unusual day. We are still in Charlevoix and it looks like we will be here for a few more days. We arrived this morning in the boatyard to have the new parts put on. Well one of the parts didn’t fit. Also the propeller shaft had some pitting from electrolysis. It could be ok or it could shear off at some point. It seemed that the best thing to do was to stay another two days and get the job done right. The weather was not conducive to leaving so it is no great loss to have the repairs done at this time.
The people here have been very good to us. Mike assisted Dave, the mechanic so that he could soak up some knowledge for future use! We are a little concerned about the whole time issue, but having the shaft replaced gives us one less thing to worry about.
We washed the outside of the boat while it was in the sling; then climbed the ladder and ate lunch on the boat while it was in the sling. They decided to put the boat back in the water and leave the sling around us. They put the old shaft back in to keep the boat floating.
We hope to leave for Mackinac Saturday morning, after the new shaft is installed and the engine is aligned. Hope springs eternal, and not leaking water!