Harbor hopping on the great lakes: july 2024

Day 3 of 30

July 14, 2024: We woke up to a beautiful view of the sunrise. At 7:03 a.m., it was obvious a few boats had already left. I thought we were the early birds but that was definitely not the case! As I looked around the dock, I was surprised at how much activity there was already. We sat, enjoying our coffee and watching several sailboats leave the harbor. I wish I could ask each one of them where they're going...I'm so curious!!!

By 10:30, the radar showed that the rain was moving away from the area we are traveling towards. For the next 2.5 hours, we followed along the line of weather and experienced a few sprinkles but nothing serious. They were slow moving clouds and just as predicted, clear blue skies were right behind them. There is a significant size reef that we navigate around before making a sharp left turn towards the Port Austin State Harbor. This turn has been stressful for me in our past visits here but today the lake is calm and it's a pleasant experience all the way up to the gas dock. 

Since we waited for the weather to pass, we are arriving about two hours later than we had planned. Our friends, Mike & Mary are driving their car to spend the night with us. ​They are the only ones who have a named "bedroom" on our boat because they have traveled with us in past years. We expected to have enough time to fuel up and get settled into our boat slip before they arrived but that wasn't the case. Our time at the gas dock took much longer than we planned.

There were two young dockhands who were working together to help us. After they finished fueling and pumping out, I heard a slight "plunk" in the water. I asked, "What was that?" The two dockhands looked nervously at each other and said, "it was the cap for your holding tank." The one who dropped it said he would get it with a net and if that didn't work, he would dive for it which I quickly said, "I don't want you diving in to get it."

Larry realized this was going to take some time so he took our dinghy over to our assigned boat slip and said he would walk back to get me and the boat. Soon, the harbor master arrived. I didn't want to hover while they figured things out so I went down in the cabin for a few minutes, giving them some privacy. Then I hear the second dock hand yelling out, "Now what are you going to do?!" I came back up and looked in the direction of where he yelled and noticed the harbor master and dockhand drifting out into the bay on a motorized deck they were standing on. Apparently, their plan was to bring this dock around to where he dropped the cap. Being closer to the water's surface, they thought they would have better success using the net. After he untied the floating dock and pushed themselves off, they realized they had no fuel. He jumped into the water to try to pull them back to the dock but it was too late so he went back on and the two of them sat down in defeat. 

By this time, Larry was walking towards us when the second dock hand asked if Larry could go back to get the dinghy and deliver fuel to his co-workers who were half way across the bay by now. Just as everyone was returning to the fuel dock, I heard another "plunk." This time, it was the second dock hand's radio! WHAT is going on here?! They were like a bumbling trifecta! I wanted to yell "STOP MOVING!" but I restrained myself. :-)  After several unsuccessful attempts with the net, it was clear we needed to hire a professional diver. Mike and Mary arrived around the same time as the diver. About an hour and $150 later, the diver successfully recovered our cap and their radio. Whew! Replacing this cap wouldn't have been easy, especially while traveling. I thought we might be staying in a hotel for the night and heading home in the morning but it all worked out. 

We went to Pak's Backyard for dinner, taking in the views from our table, and enjoying the live music. Then we spent the evening on the boat, laughing and catching up with Mike & Mary while witnessing the most spectacular sunset; my favorite reason for being here. I must've stepped off our boat to walk to the end of the dock 20 times to take "just one more" picture. Breathtaking!