Tugboat Annie's 2023 Return to the North Channel

Our plan was to leave at 6:00. I was wide awake before 5:00, so I laid in bed for awhile and listened to NPR. I made a pot of tea for Kerry and a coffee for me when I got up. Kerry's left wrist was swollen and hurting, so she just stayed in bed while I got us ready for departure and left the dock.  The bridge operators here are great - very courteous to boaters. We were through both bridges by 6:15. Here is a shot of Voyageur gong under the Military Street Bridge, and a picture of the Blue Water Bridge as Annie gets ready to pass under it. There is a very strong, swirling current going under the Blue Water Bridge. Peter suggested staying in the middle of the river so that we don't get swirled into an obstruction. It made sense to me. As we motored up the river I noticed that the Chi-Cheemaun ferry was still in the Sarnia shipyard. When I go under this bridge, I always have the thought in my mind that I am towing a ribbon in my wake. When I return the ribbons cross and the circu

After I posted the blog and had coffee I rode to the marina office to see if my Amazon package had arrived yesterday. It had not. When (if?) it arrives, they will keep it here for me to pick up on our way back. I saw Peter on the way back and he accepted my offer of a cappuccino and a powdered white donut. We fooled around with the television for awhile, and then it suddenly came to life as Peter was going through the channels one by one. A auto channel search found 6 channels. Peter's advice is to not turn it off. Later, only 1 of the 6 would work, so maybe it is just atmospheric gremlins messing with me. The picture is great when it works. Fingers crossed. Maybe today will be a good technology day. The weather looks good for travel today and very nice for tomorrow. We have decided to stay here today so we will travel tomorrow for sure. We will have one night in Bayfield, then move on to Kincardine to arrive on Friday, the day before Canada Day. Bayfield is 50 miles from here, abo

I took coffee and cappuccinos over to Voyager to meet up with 1/2 of a cinnamon muffin from the Raven.  It was a very enjoyable combination. In fact, this was Peter's first two cappuccino morning. I had pretty much decided to go to Walmart today with the mates. Peter was still undecided. His plans included breakfast at the Raven and a haircut after that. Walmart is scheduled for noon.  I decided that I was going to try and track down my missing Amazon package today. My plan was to visit the marina first, then head to the Post Office with my tracking number. It has Kerry's tea K-Cups and my electronic bug zappers in it.  The morning weather check indicated we should have no rain today, although only a high of 67. (Actually it rained on and off all day) Travel on Lake Huron would not be good today. It could possibly work tomorrow, but looks nice and safe on Thursday. We paid for only one more night today to leave the possibility of travel tomorrow open. What a frustrating morning

Quite a morning of decision making. Peter came over for his cappuccino and said we have some decisions to make. He was talking about the decision as to when to travel to Bayfield. I had already looked at the weather and thought that our plan to leave early tomorrow might not work. The narrow window of light wind was in the wee hours of the morning, before we could realistically leave, and 20+ knots followed. Environment Canada has issued a high wind warning, which I always take seriously. The following picture shows how it looked to Marianna on the outside looking in.  So, after much discussion and review of weather apps and forecasts we decided that if we did not leave this morning we may not be able to travel until Thursday. We reluctantly decided to leave today. Then Marianna came over and the discussion became where would we rather be weathered in - Bayfield or Port Huron? She felt confident she could juggle the reservations in Bayfield and Kincardin as we wanted. In the end, we de

It was a pretty morning in Port Huron. After updating the blog and making coffee I decided to fill my water tank. I did not expect to be challenged doing that. There was almost no water coming out of my RV water filter connected to the hose. At first I thought low water pressure was the issue, but after trial and error I discovered that the filter was almost totally restricting the water flow. I had only used it one time before and it worked perfectly then. So, into the trash went the cheap money saving brand, and Amazon is delivering my usual brand to me by 3:00 PM today. And I used to think all you needed to cruise was a roll of duct tape. Now I know you need Amazon and Costco too. Peter and I had our coffee and cappuccinos on Annie complete with little white powdered donuts from Voyager. We need to watch the weather closely for a good window to cross Lake Huron. Lots of strong NW winds causing waves to build at times to 5-7 feet because of the long fetch. The weather seems pretty un

It rained for a long time last night, and started again about 4:30 when it rained really hard. At 7:00 it was over and the skies were clearing. It looked good for Kerry's garage sailing trip. But would she get up? She did, about 8:30. I had to coax her with a nice warm pot of tea.  While waiting for her to rise, I wiped down our windows and took a walk around to look at some of the Chris-Craft boats. While I was looking at the 45' 1977 restored boat in front of me, some man came up and said he liked Annie better. He was a slow boat, trawler man he said. My kind of guy! I snapped a few pictures on my tour. I could have taken many more. Lots to see. We took off at 9:00 looking for garage sails. We only found two, but that was enough for Kerry to get some new plates. We had the bikes packed up and on Annie by 10:30. Peter came by and we took a walk around looking at all the great Chris-Craft boats. The oldest was of 1917 vintage.  Many people stopped to admire Annie and were most

It started to rain about 5:30 this morning as predicted by the Weather Channel. It was nice laying there listening to the rain splash on the hull. When I got up and checked the weather forecast I was happy to see that the rain is predicted to end late morning.  It looks like we will be able to go downtown as we had hoped.  When my air pressure sensor valve broke Mark at Parker said I should seal the opening off so nothing could get sucked in. While Peter and I thought using screen to seal it would be best, I received a reply yesterday that plastic would be better, as normally no air is sucked through that sensor. So, I'll seal it with plastic today, and will have a nice piece of screen available for the next emergency.  Two random thoughts - What would a cruising sailor do without Amazon? I'm having Rooibos tea K-Cups for Kerry and 2 electronic bug zappers delivered to Riverstreet Marina in Port Huron. They will be there Monday. Second, Big Jim has been harassing me for not kno

Not a good sleep night last night. I was awake a lot it seemed. I had to get up twice to walk off a cramp in my leg. Perhaps too much dinner and partying on Voyager last night? Fitbit only gave me a 65 sleep score. Definitely too much partying for Kerry as she was pretty sick last night. Peter gave me a new little plastic solo cup last night. I keep one in my bilge to catch water that drips out of the water heater pressure relief valve when the engine runs. I found the cracked servisignal while emptying my little cup. The cup I had been using has several cracks in it, so I am all set now. Except, that is, for finding a piece of screen for my air filter.   Peter and I had our Captain's Meeting over coffee, cappuccinos and little white donuts. When it was time to leave my autopilot would not come on. It was dead. All the other instruments worked fine. Try as I may, I could not get any life out of it. So I decided to leave on time for Algonac and deal with it there. I hoped it would b

Our last night at East harbor was again very pleasant. I slept well although I was afraid I would not because of anxiety about the trip today possibly being a little rough. I was up at 5:00. I made coffee and tea for us and we started pulling the anchor at 5:20. It was full of mud and seaweed so it took about 15 minutes until we were cleaned up and secured for travel. Once in the Lake, the waves were tolerable, about 2-3 feet I think. Every once in a while we would get one much bigger that sent Annie rocking and would elicit a “whoa” from the crew. I made a second cup of coffee in the calm lee of South Bass Island as we passed the lighthouse on the point. Kerry made a PBJ sandwich for me before she buried herself under a blanket. Here is a link to a short 15 second video of Annie rocking on Lake Erie.  Rocking on Lake Erie I called Peter and it seemed like he was 5 miles ahead of Annie due to his starting position on Middle Bass Island. For some reason his AIS has trouble picking

Last night was lovely for sleeping. Very quiet except for the sound of waves hitting the shore, but we had a nice cool breeze coming through the hatches. I got an 82 sleep score on Fitbit, which is good for me. It was kind of strange though. We were pointed East but yet had little 4" ripples coming at Annie from the Southwest. I did not understand that. Sometime during the night I checked that our solar anchor light was working and found it shining brightly. I use it because it draws fewer bugs (read mayflies) than Annie's bright LED anchor light. I woke up at 5:30 and noticed that it was light out. Good to know for when we set early departure times. I finally got up at 6;00 to check the weather to decide if we should travel today or tomorrow. It appeared to me that both days seemed about the same, neither ideal. Winds appear to be about 15 knots both days from the ENE, so waves about 3' probably, indicating some rolling the crew won't like.  I spoke with Peter and Mar

Well, Annie completed her first voyage of the trip today, a 22 mile, 3 hour cruise to East Harbor. Overall speed was 7.8 knots, but actually 8.2 on the lake. A no wake zone through the channel and anchoring cuts the average speed down.  We left at 9:00 and started to get white caps at 10:00 and bigger waves by 10:30. Medium rolling sent the Princess down to the V-berth for a nice nap.  The day began with coffee with Jim and Julian, a nice tradition on our last day at home. We had great help at the gas dock and a nice send off from the Commodore and mates. Diesel was under $4 this year while over $7 last year. It's exciting to leave, but always sparks an initial sadness as we realize we will not see our family and friends for several weeks. Big Jim (our Florida friend) had promised to deliver a breakfast to us before departure, but as tradition dictates, he did not show (again)! Annie has three new flags for the trip and feels really good about herself as a result. She has a new VYC