Originally posted at www.svsweetescape.com
On Saturday morning following two exciting days waiting out weather at anchor in Presque Isle Bay, we pulled up to the fuel dock at Presque Isle Marina and took on 26 gallons of diesel, filled our water tanks and pumped out our waste tank. After that, we headed back out onto Lake Huron and pointed Sweet Escape south.
We have been able to sail very little so far. It seems that the wind is either on the nose or on the stern or so light as to make it not worth putting our sails up. So we have motored quite a bit. We generally motor at about 2500 RPM which pushes us along at about 6.5 knots. The good news here is that Sweet Escape “sips” diesel, using just 1.34 gallons of fuel per hour at this speed.
We cruised to Harrisville with the wind on the port quarter and three to five foot waves, where we docked the boat at the Harrisville Harbor of Refuge. Judy’s sister Carla and family would drive 250 miles out of their way while returning home from a vacation to meet us there. See more about this unbelievably generous effort in a separate post.
While at Harrisville we walked the two blocks to Mr. Ed’s IGA which is apparently the center of the universe in Harrisville Michigan because there is little else. There, we stocked up on groceries and the all important Diet Coke.
Sunday morning we headed south again, this time across Saginaw Bay to Harbor Beach where we would anchor in a large, very weedy man made bay next to a coal fired power plant. Not the most picturesque anchorage but it served our purpose nicely. Monday morning we weighed anchor and headed for the Blue Water Bridge at the entrance to the St. Claire River.
The St. Claire River is the northernmost conduit for southbound vessels making the transit from Lake Huron to Lake Erie. The other two components of which include Lake St. Claire and the Detroit River running along the east side of the City of Detroit. This river system separates the United States and Canada with the US on the west bank and Ontario on the east. It is one of the busiest sections of the Great Lakes and is full of commercial shipping both north and southbound.
This section of our cruise is one of the reasons we chose to install AIS (Automated Identification System) on Sweet Escape. Similar to a transponder on an aircraft, AIS broadcasts and receives vessel information, navigational data such as position, speed and course over ground and displays this data graphically on our chart plotter. Likewise it broadcasts our own data to other ships in the area. All commercial vessels are required to have AIS and more and more private vessels are installing it. We also have radar but it is much less precise and much less reliable. AIS allows us to see and be seen, especially at night and during periods of low visibility.
We entered the St. Claire River and passed under the Blue Water Bridge. The northern part of this river is notorious for a four knot northbound current. This current when opposed by north winds can set up steep waves and make your transit of the river miserable. Luckily, we had winds on the nose and no such problems this day. It was fun - we watched a small northbound sailboat motor by us going faster than that boat has probably ever traveled on it’s own.
Our destination for the night was Port Huron and a small marina where we would tie to a wall on the Black River just west of the St. Claire. We ate dinner ashore at the Quay Street Brewery which is located on the river across from where Sweet Escape was tied which provided the added bonus of giving as a nice view of our floating home while we ate.
Tuesday morning we headed back out to the St. Claire River and turned right. We transited the river south into Lake St. Claire, a large very shallow lake that connects the St. Claire River to the Detroit River. There is a dredged shipping channel that runs through the middle of the lake and Sweet Escape had no intention of straying from this well marked, deep water channel. Lake St. Claire, because it is so shallow, is known to become quite nasty very quickly around storms and high winds.
As we transited the lake south we observed clouds building to our west. These clouds continued to build and grow dark. We then began hearing Coast Guard warnings for vessels on Lake St. Claire to seek safe harbor immediately. At this point we were probably halfway across the lake and decided to keep going as it looked clearer to the south than it did to the north. Besides, it’s tough to do anything “immediately” when your top speed is eight miles per hour.
We continued southbound and entered the Detroit River. We were bound for Milliken State Harbor in downtown Detroit, a couple miles down river. At this point it started raining and blowing with occasional thunder and lightning. “Milliken State Harbor, Milliken State Harbor from the Sailing Vessel Sweet Escape”. We attempt to call on the VHF radio as we approach the marina entrance for a slip assignment, docking instructions and to request docking assistance. No response. We call again, still no response. We try calling them via cellphone and get an answering machine. Did we mention that we are in the middle of a thunderstorm?
We’re out of options. The weather is getting worse and we need to get to safe harbor. Into the marina we go with no slip assignment, no directions or help. Our intention is to take the first unoccupied slip and hope that there is enough water to support Sweet Escape’s five foot draft. We find a slip in between two other large boats and get lined up and into the slip but the wind blows us off before we can get a dock line on a shoreside cleat. Back out, get turned around and try again. On attempt two Judy is able to get a line around a piling and we are able to get the boat restrained in spite of the wind and rain. At this point a dockhand shows up to help. Great, thanks.
We go into the marina office and Brian asks the woman working there if they heard us trying to call on the VHF. The woman says that she had the radio turned down and couldn’t hear. By the way, welcome to Motown.
In a city with - shall we say, a crime problem, Milliken State Harbor is a newish State of Michigan run marina located in the midst of downtown. It is separated from the city by large iron gates and a moat that runs around it. At night, there are security guards posted outside the gate. Needless to say the crew of Sweet Escape stayed put for the evening. Judy did do some laundry however and crossed paths with some of the local wildlife in the form of a large rat on her way to the wash machine.
We will post photos from this time period on our albums page as soon as we find Internet access suitable for uploading larger image files.
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