Tugboat Annie's 2023 Return to the North Channel

It was bright, sunny and breezy this morning. Very pretty actually. It must have been rough on the lake based upon the breeze in the harbor. I posted the blog and then did a little Amazon shopping. I ordered a new Yeti Rambler Tumbler for Kerry which will be here Monday. Annie got a new American flag as I noticed a tear in our current one. And Kerry also got new foam ear pads for our Ultralite headsets that let us communicate while anchoring. It's like a whole new world being back - want something, got something!  I noticed some bird poop on Annie this morning. We have pretty much been without that this entire trip. One bird even made a shot through the open back door to hit my varnished step. What a shot! Well, this will get me ready for Vermilion where the birds are tireless.  Today is Anne and Nate's 17 Anniversary. We are proud of the life they have made for themselves. They are fabulous parents and we have three great grandkids. Now we just need a granddog or two! At 10:30

I had a nice start to my morning today. Instead of getting a snarky text from Big Jim he sent a picture of Kerry at a party at his house. Thanks Big Jim! We had planned to leave at 6:00 AM this morning. But it was to dark to safely remove the power cord and dock lines. Peter came walking down the dock with a flashlight and accepted my offer for a cappuccino. We were able to pull out at 6:15. I was very happy that we were headed for MBIYC instead of Milliken State Park in Detroit - good idea Peter! Voyager pulling out at 6:15 AM The wind was calm in Algonac so it was easy to disembark. I didn't even check the weather until we were underway. Once I did, the weather seemed perfect for our plans. Today is a great day for travel. We plan to stay at Middle Bass tomorrow when it appears windy on Lake Erie. We plan to go go VYC on Sunday and it looks like a great travel day again. Can things really work out this well? We'll know soon. Kerry toasted pita bread for me before she took her

The first order of business was to check for spider webs on Annie that were linked to the dock posts or Shirean. I saw none which was very pleasing. Then it was time for coffee and posting the blog. After that I checked all my favorite marine weather apps, and saw that the weather for travel tomorrow still looks good.  I received a helpful reminder from Big Jim that I will soon be nearing the spot in Lake Erie where on the upbound trip I mistook a "big ass white bird" for a buoy. I'll have to be on full alert tomorrow to avoid a repeat of that problem! Kerry and I had a lovely morning together. It started with a pot of tea for her at 9:00 AM. She was up! At 10:00 we took off on our bikes. We toured Russell Island which has some very big and expensive homes that we pass when pulling into Algonac Harbor Club. We chatted with several residents who did not seem to mind tourists from Ohio biking through.  Then we went to the Antique consignment store. We like that store and in

The day started with a temptation by Peter. Annie's burgundy fenders that we carry on our bow are sun damaged. Peter has occasionally suggested that I should replace them. Well, this morning he pointed out that a boat had pulled in with 4 identical fenders that were new. He wondered if I switched them  how long it would take the captain to realize the old switch a roo had been pulled on him. The funny thing is that I had had the same thought. Fear not, Annie left Port Huron with her old but loved fenders. We both went to the fuel dock at 8:00 for diesel fuel and pumpouts. Thank goodness the price of fuel was way less that the $7 plus of last year as we both took on 100 gallons. The pumpout was free which is very unusual. We were able to make the 8:45 bridge because the harbormaster came and helped the dock girl with our service. I even had time to make a cappuccino to go for Peter. (Same small, narrow cup w/o chocolate sprinkles - sadly!) Later Peter returned my cup full of candy a

I was happy to see a bright sunny day when I popped up from the V-berth. Two cloudy days with rain are more than enough. I enjoyed my coffee, posted the blog, then walked to a nearby mailbox to mail an anniversary card to Anne and Nate - 16 years. Peter passed on cappuccino today in order to do some chores. Back on Annie, I ordered a cable to hook my phone to our television. Amazon will deliver it tomorrow to the Algonac Harbor Club. The River Street Marina where we dock in Port Huron Port Huron has a very nice movie house called the Sperry Movie House. There are many movies playing. Who knew - not us. It's very close to the marina so we walked there for the 11:30 showing of the Sound of Freedom. It's about child trafficking and is based on a true story. It ended with pictures of some of the actual events depicted in the movie so obviously a lot of it is true. Some parts make you wonder how they could possibly be true. But it was a nice way to spend 2 hours. The theatre has big

Peter and I had a good Skipper's Meeting this morning, planning out the remaining days of our cruise. Marianna has booked Algonac for Wednesday and Thursday, with an option to stay on Friday if need be. Weather looks good now for Friday travel on Lake Erie. If that holds we will go to Middle Bass Island, assuming we can get in. If not, we could go to PIB, or all the way back to VYC. There is also a place to anchor right off the Amhertsburg Channel near Lake Erie if we needed to avoid travel on Erie and had no other place to stay. Lots of options. We all walked to the Raven and timed our arrival arrive before 11:00 so we could order breakfast. I watched a squirrel working the "feeding stations" while waiting for the group to assemble. The Military Street bridge was stuck partly open when we left the restaurant. That certainly stopped boat traffic. Hopefully it will be working fine by Wednesday when we need to get under it.  We took an hour long trolley ride of the city. It

It was a nice quiet night in Port Huron. I went to bed early and got a good sleep score of 83. Much better than the night's before 69. It makes a big difference when I know I don't need to get up early to travel. The only issue was some mildly loud music coming from nearby boats. Closing a port hole and using a fan for white noise eliminated the problem for me. I have grown to accept that staying in a marina on a Saturday night usually means sharing the facilities with people who come to party.  The Seventh Street Bridge opens twice an hour. Peter visited for his cappuccino and little white powered donuts about 8:30. Then he and Marianna headed to the Raven for breakfast. Kerry promised she would cook breakfast for me so we did not join them. Light rain started about 9:30. I tried to watch television, again without success. I do need to address this in the off season. When Kerry got up she gave me a choice of bacon and eggs, which I would have to cook, or BLT's that she wou

Today was a long day at sea, 13 hours. I think my only trip longer was when I helped bring Voyager back from Port Dalhousie which was lengthened by a Coast Guard boarding. Nothing like that happened today, although I did have to "tack" to keep clear of a racing sailboat neat Port Sanilac. It was good to arrive at Port Huron. You can barely see Voyager leaving Harrisville in this early morning picture. We were hoping for a couple of hours of nice flat seas. But when Peter and I talked on the dock we could hear the surf hitting the breakwall, so we knew flat seas were just a wish. The seas were not terrible, about 1.3 feet, But they were on the beam so our trawlers did their customary rolling, but it was tolerable. The big question was should we stop at Harbor Beach today or go all the wall to Port Huron. We agreed to decide once we got to Harbor Beach.  Seeing a sunrise at sea is a rare event for us. I had made coffee and tea for us before we left the harbor. Thanks to Mariann

Both Peter and I felt we should get to Port Huron before the big winds of Monday and Tuesday arrive. How to do it was the question. Saturday is a great travel day, Sunday is forecast to be better than today. We discussed options of going all the way to Port Huron from here, 13 hours, and the merits of stopping at Harbor Beach, Lexington, or some other place. Obviously the further south we go the first day, the shorter distance on the second day. We finally decided to leave here at 6:00 on Saturday and head for Harbor Beach. If it turns out that Sunday will not be a good travel day, we could bypass Harbor Beach and go further to Port Sanilac or Lexington, leaving us less distance on Sunday, or go all the way to Port Huron.  When the wind picked up it was brisk from the North as expected. It put a surge in the harbor here, the first movement we have experienced. I was glad we decided not to travel today. The surge did seem to bother Kerry. She did not feel well when she got up so she wen