Originally posted at www.svsweetescape.com
We left Pentwater on Saturday morning after topping off our fuel and having our holding tank pumped out. We found the winds on Lake Michigan holding in the 18 to 25 knot range with gusts over 30. Luckily they were blowing from the southwest which resulted in a six foot following sea and a wild but much more comfortable ride than if we were beating in the opposite direction.
With the winds on our stern we motored to Portage Lake where we intended to stay in an anchorage at the east end of the lake near the town. We use Active Captain, a great free cruising guide that integrates with ourPolar View chartplotting software that we run on our Mac and use for voyage planning and as a backup chartplotter if our Raymarine e7 were ever to fail.
Active Captain showed an anchorage at the east end of Portage Lake but when we got there we found the approach depth to be too shallow and in fact we briefly stuck Sweet Escape’s five foot keel in the mud before Judy was able to back her off and get floating again.
What to do? There were no other noted anchorages on this lake and the thought of doing another 17 miles north to Frankfort and arriving there after dark held no appeal for either one of us. On the way in we had noticed several sailboats on mooring balls along the north shoreline of the lake at about the middle. I had noted that one of these boats appeared to be a Hunter 41 and we felt that if that boat could get in there, we probably could too. So we went over by these boats and dropped the hook in about 7 feet of water.
After securing the boat and snubbing the anchor we noticed that we had anchored in front of what appeared to be some smallish type homes or summer cottages that had several docks in front of them. We also noticed that our presence had drawn the attention of some locals on shore. We watched these folks looking at us and then two men walk to the dock and get in a small fishing boat and head our way. Okay, here we go.
As the two approached we pointedly ignored them until they pulled up directly next the boat and we could ignore them no longer. Expecting hostility and a “you can’t anchor here” message we got neither. The two came out to welcome us to Portage and to let us know that if we wanted to come ashore we were free to use their dock to land our dinghy. How nice. After 33 years in law enforcement Brian’s faith in mankind is being restored on a daily basis.
Actually, we had no need or desire to go to shore. The winds were increasing and the clouds had moved in. Storms were predicted for the area but all we saw was wind. Lots of it, with gusts well over 30 knots that lasted most of the night, according to our wind gauge. This was a good first test for our Manson Supreme anchor and it held all night with no problem.
The next morning after the winds had died down we weighed anchor. This is a fun procedure that has Judy at the helm and Brian giving piloting directions while hanging over the bow rail with a boat hook. The reason for this is because of the size and weight of the Manson, it tends to hang up on the bow roller where the chain and shackle are attached and the windlass then can’t get it past this point. Therefore Brian to “help” the anchor up onto the roller with a boathook.
On this particular day we brought up the anchor and half the lake bottom with it. Because of the high winds the night before we had lengthened our scope and had about 100 feet of chain out. Under normal conditions we could have gotten by with 50. The chain and the anchor itself were totally covered with weeds. In fact, when the anchor came up you could not even see it because it was covered in weeds. It looked like a very large and healthy hanging potted plant. Brian used a sailing knife and the boat hook to rid the anchor, chain and the bow roller with as much of the plant material and mud as he could.
We left Portage and with the wind once again howling at our backs we cruised up to Frankfort. On the way out the waves were so large in the channel that we actually hit bottom in the middle of the entrance channel while in the trough of one of these waves.
Once at Franfort we anchored in Lake Betsie in front of the downtown area in another very shallow anchorage. When the boat was secure and we were sure that we weren't dragging, we rowed to shore in our dinghy and tied up to a pier where some other dinghies were tied. In order to get up on the pier you have to climb a ladder. We walked downtown and ate good pulled pork sandwiches for dinner at a restaurant called The dinghy Inn.
The Olympics have been on and we have been spending a lot of our time at night watching them when we can get an NBC station.
On Monday morning we decided to change our diesel engine fuel filters. We have two fuel filters, a large Racor canister type primary filter and a secondary on engine filter. If these filters get plugged while underway bad things can happen like engine shutdown so it is a good idea to keep your fuel system clean.
The Racor requires an oil filter wrench to remove it from it’s fitting. We have two on board that we used on our old boat. Unfortunately we found that neither of these was large enough accommodate this larger Racor filter and thus we could not remove the filter to change it. One of the filter wrenches that we have is an open ended hook type. We were able to rig this with seizing wire to make it just large enough to remove the Racor. We add a larger oil filter wrench to our list of things to buy.
With the Racor off we then needed to remove the bowl that attaches to the bottom of the filter. This bowl is metal and screws onto the bottom of the filter. We could not get the bottom to separate from the filter. No matter how we tried or what we did we could not get enough leverage to remove the metal bowl from the bottom. We needed a vise which we do not have onboard. So, we both get in the dinghy and Brian rows to shore where we walk into a large marine contracting shop. There, the guy in charge takes pity on us and puts the filter in a vise and then (with more effort than should be necessary) the bowl finally comes off. Back to the dinghy and then row back out to Sweet Escape where we put everything back together and bleed the system before starting the engine. The engine starts immediately but then shuts down just as fast. We close the engine thru hull to try to avoid hydro-locking the engine as we crank it. We try again and the engine starts right up and keeps running. Reopen the engine seacock. Success!
Once we are sure that the motor is getting uninterrupted fuel, we pull up the anchor and again a garden of weeds. We need to have a machete to cut off all these weeds. Once the anchor comes up and while Brian is again hanging over the bow rail trying to cut weeds off our ground tackle we notice that the Coast Guard has showed up and is motoring around in cricles. Oh great, now we’re going to get stopped and inspected by a couple of bored coasties. Just as Brian is getting the anchor secured on the bow, the Coast Guard grows impatient and stops a motor yacht that had just passed us. Awesome!, lets get out of here now!
We motor out of Lake Betsie and round Point Betsie, headed for South Manitou Island where we arrived four hours later. South Manitou Island is part of Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore and is thus heavily wooded and uninhabited. There is a cresent shaped bay on the eastern side of the island that provides protection from west winds and waves.
Upon arrival we found a gauntlet of fish traps in our path requiring evasive action to avoid them. You want to avoid fish traps and nets because the lines and nets can wrap your propeller. Even though we have line cutters on our propeller shaft for this purpose, if you end up cutting one of these things you have negatively impacted someone’s livelihood, so it is best to avoid them wherever possible.
This bay has an anchoring shelf where water depths are in the 15 to 25 foot range very close to shore. Everywhere else it is extremely deep and not suitable for anchoring so it is necessary to find a spot somewhere on this shelf. The problem this day is that there are seven other boats in the anchorage and upon arrival we had trouble finding a spot. This is complicated by the fact that there are 25 to 30 knot winds blowing and Judy is having trouble keeping the bow of the boat pointed into the wind. In the middle of this, the windlass jams and Brian has to take it apart and get it unjammed while Judy cruises in circles out in the bay. We finally are able to get the anchor down and set and are probably 50 feet off the beach.
The winds howl all night and the six to eight foot waves from the lake find their way into the bay making for a very uncomfortable night. Early the next morning we weighed anchor and head for Charlevoix where we will spend two nights at the Municipal Marina there. To find out more about Charlevoix you will have to wait for the next installment of the Adventures of the Good Ship Sweet Escape.
We have created an album of photos from this time period on our albums page.
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