Wednesday, June 21, 2003 Milliken State Park in Detroit

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 up Annie, even though Marine Traffic always seems to report her position. His AIS is not transmitting at the moment so I can’t keep electronic track of Voyager.

It was 36 miles to the Detroit River where Annie caught up with Voyager. Milliken was another 19 miles. So for the day, we traveled 55 miles in 6 hours and 48 minutes. Our overall speed was 8.1 knots but I think we averaged around 9.5 while on the lake. Total miles so far are 77. I always take a side channel up the river because it is rather picturesque.

Peter went up the main channel but we met up again when I was back on the river. We passed the construction site of the new bridge going from Detroit to Windsor. They are making progress.

During the voyage I went to the cabin to heat a cup of tea. When I returned I saw us heading directly for a white buoy that I had not noticed before. It turned out to be a very large white (big ass) bird with black wing tips. Google says it could have been a snow goose, but I am not sure there are any in Lake Erie. Trumpeter Swan? 

Milliken is a nice marina and a good stop over point. The docks are great, the restrooms need love. But the laundry is free and Kerry loves the machines. Security is good and there are guards on duty. The wifi does not connect to the internet. It is a (big) gated community, that has a lovely swan family in residence. There is a concert tonight at the large Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre right nest to the marina. We'll have good seats to hear.

I found a little black piece of a plastic cap under the engine when we got in. Some internet searches make me think it is part of a servisignal, which is an indicator that is supposed to let you know that your air filter is dirty.  I found a place of the back of the engine air filter that looks like the remaining part of the device. So, two questions – 1, why did it break, and 2, do I need to try and get another one during this cruise? I emailed Mark at Parker to see what he advises. The engine ran fine on this trip to Milliken.

I did solve one mystery on the way over, to my embarrassment. From time to time I have had trouble with my GPS heading and my actual heading being different, sometimes up to 20 degrees. This has bothered me and it can make it confusing to know which way I am really going, especially in fog while using radar. Once while navigating with radar, the GPS line showed me going left of the waypoint and the heading predictor line showed me going right of it. Confusing! Well, today I wondered if the headsets we have (marriage savers), and their batteries, could be causing the problem as they are stored near the autopilot compass. I moved them and the problem is now resolved! Why did I not think of that before?

I got the following response from Mark about my servisignal. He says that it’s a cheap vacuum indicator (pass/fail) that goes on the engine intake air filter assembly, designed to indicate when the filter needs cleaning.  It is an option and not needed.  Boat air filters rarely get so dirty that the indicator shows they need cleaning.  He suggests that I block it off, just to keep debris from going through it which would be bypassing the filter. I will do that. I thought of using a plastic bag to seal it off, but Peter's suggestion of using screen material seems better. Filter cleaning is the first item on this winter's worklist. 

Dinner was on Voyager, our first of this cruise. Their boat is beautiful and so well laid out for entertaining. Gonna be fun cruising with the Orros this year. 

We decided we would meet for coffee and cappuccinos on Annie tomorrow at 7:00 and shove off at 7:30. It's about 32 miles upriver to Algonac. We are only in Algonac for 2 nights, so want to arrive as soon as we can. The forecast is for light 5-10 East winds. This is a huge relief as Lake St. Clair can get really choppy. Last year Kerry was really sick on this leg.