Archives

Yorktown & Fredericksburg

9/5/18 – ????: The past couple weeks have been challenging. Hurricane Florence stopped us dead in our tracks and changed our plans for making the final journey to New Bern. For how long, we don’t know. But during the week while her path was still unknown, we got a chance to visit Yorktown. And after her path was known and we evacuated to Fredericksburg, we spent several days exploring that town, too. There’s a lot of history in these two towns, dating all the way back to the foundations of our country.
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Solomons Island

8/29/18 – 9/2/18: We made reservations at Solomons Island for the entire Labor Day weekend, thinking that it would probably be difficult to find dockage over the last long weekend of the summer. We had heard a few good things about the place, but didn’t know what to expect. It turned out that we really didn’t like it much.
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Cambridge

8/26/18 – 8/28/18: After Oxford, we went to Cambridge. The biggest draw for Cambridge is that it’s where the Underground Railroad was born. Harriet Tubman, whose name is almost synonomous with the network, was also born nearby. There was a museum in Cambridge dedicated to her life and her legacy.
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Oxford

8/25/18: We couldn’t check in to the marina until noon, so we had a nice morning sitting at anchor in Trippe Creek. We were looking forward to a shower and to explore Oxford. We had half a day, which should be enough given the town’s size. But the gods deemed we shouldn’t have half a day, so they threw a little wrench in our plans.
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Pasadena

8/16/18 – 8/18/18: Still Pond lived up to it’s name. When we awoke the next morning, the water was completely flat. We probably didn’t move more than 10 or 20 feet all night. It was a great night for anchoring. Our next stop was in Pasadena (Maryland, not California), a suburb of Baltimore. It was about 25 miles southwest of where we were, and we hoped to sail most of the day. But, as was the norm for our entire journey so far, no sailing was to be had this day!
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Georgetown

8/10/18 – 8/14/18: We left Chesapeake City, happy that yesterday was behind us. All those hard things we’d heard about – New York Harbor, the New Jersey Coast, the Delaware Bay – were now all behind us. We were really looking forward to a little “down time” in the Chesapeake Bay. And we would be there in only a couple hours!
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Chesapeake City

8/9/18: We planned our departure from Cape May on a day with a perfect weather prediction for the crossing. The forecast said 5 knot winds and 2 foot seas. The only downfall was the tide. It was an ebb tide (outgoing) for most of the day, which was going to cause a 2 knot current against us. This was going to lengthen our crossing by a couple hours. Still, it was looking to be a nice, relaxing, but long, day to cross the Delaware Bay. Do you think, for once, they could get the weather forecast right? Nope!
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Cape May

8/5/18 – 8/8/18: The weather finally gave us a little window of opportunity for our sail down to Cape May. This would be our last day on the Atlantic Ocean, and our final stop in New Jersey. We had heard a lot of good things about Cape May, so we opted to stay a couple days to explore.
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Atlantic City

7/30/18 – 8/4/18: Even before we started sailing to Barnegat, we knew another multi-day weather system was only days away. We could make it to Atlantic City or Cape May before the next system hit, but we would be stuck there until the system passed. We contemplated bypassing Atlantic City altogether and just hopping down to Cape May, but since we hadn’t been to either place, we opted to stop at Atlantic City first.
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Barnegat, NJ

7/29/18: After a week of gale warnings, small craft advisories, and severe thunderstorms, we finally got a break in the weather. It was only a couple days, but we decided to take advantage of it. We had to decide where our next stop would be, and our options were limited. New Jersey is not a great place for sailboats, especially deeper draft vessels like ours, which limited us even further. Our ultimate destination for this leg of the journey was Cape May, which would put New Jersey behind us, and the Delaware Bay ahead of us. But getting there was going to be dicey, as our weather window was small, and wasn’t the best to begin with.
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Trapped on Staten Island

7/27/18: It’s been a week since we lasted posted anything. Our decision to wait out some bad weather turned out to be a good one, but what a wait it’s been! We are at the same marina on Staten Island, trapped by a series of low pressure systems that’s wreaked havoc all along the east coast. Hopefully, our luck will change soon.
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Staten Island

7/12/18 – 7/28/18: We were one step away from heading offshore down the coast of New Jersey. There aren’t many places (for our boat) to “duck in” along that coast if the weather turned nasty, so we needed a place to wait for a good 2-3 day weather window. Our choices were the Sandy Hook, NJ area, or the south side of Staten Island. Most of the marinas in the area were too shallow for our draft,so our options were limited. We chose Nichols Great Kills Park Marina on Staten Island as it had the depth, was only an hour to the New Jersey coast, and was also the least expensive at only $2 per foot. Little did we know we would spend a little more time there than we first anticipated.
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New York City

7/11/18: We left Haverstraw feeling a little bit anxious. Today was the day we would sail into New York City and we’d been told horror stories from many people about the intense boat traffic and the huge wakes coming at you from all directions. Plus, New York City is just plain BIG, which created a little apprehension on its own. The marina we chose was right across the Hudson River from lower Manhattan and was quite costly – over $200 per night for our length of boat. Needless to say, we decided to spend only one night there. We left Haverstraw early in the morning, hoping to arrive with enough daylight left to visit something during our short stay.
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Haverstraw

7/10/18: We left Poughkeepsie early in the morning, saddened to see another set of friends go by, knowing that we may never see them again. It seemed like an ending to a story that started last fall, and now the final chapter has been written. But we know that our story is still being written, so we said our goodbyes, turned our bow south, and sailed onward.
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Poughkeepsie

7/9/18: We woke Monday morning with mixed feelings about leaving Kingston. We had some sadness because we really enjoyed our stay at Rondout Yacht Basin. And Kingston grew on us with each passing day – we were sad to leave it behind. We were anxious at the unknowns ahead: tides, currents, the ocean, and unknown marinas and places. But we were happy and excited, too. Happy because we were finally on our way after weeks of delay, and excited for the upcoming experiences we knew were coming our way.
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Kingston (still)…

7/3/18: Wow! It’s hard to believe it’s been over a month since our last post! Geographically, nothing has changed: we are still in Kingston, sitting in the same marina, berthed in the same slip. We’ve had a busy month working on various projects and visiting with friends, marina staff, and dock-neighbors. But our time here is quickly wrapping up – we plan to leave early next week to continue our adventure down the east coast to New Bern, NC.
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Return to Kingston

5/17/18 – ? : Sometime towards the end of April, we talked to the marina in Kingston to see when they planned to launch Shanti. Their reply was “We’ve been launching since early April. We’ve been waiting for a call from you to schedule your launch!”. Wow, really? We were used to the “Lake Superior” schedule, with launches starting in May and hopes that all boats were in by Memorial Day! So with the news we just heard, we did the fast scramble to get everything packed, say our goodbyes, and make the two (plus) day drive back to New York.
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Charlotte, NC

3/23/18 – 3/25/18: We left New Bern feeling good about our decision to bring Shanti there, but now it was time to return home. It was getting close to the expected birth of our grandchild, and we also had to get prepared for the continuation of our sailing journey. But before we left North Carolina, we stopped by Charlotte to spend a weekend with Kate’s brother and family.
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The search for a new marina

3/2/18 – 3/22/18: After the shower, our thoughts turned again to the upcoming sailing season. Our boat was “on the hard” in Kingston, NY, and we had decided to finish our originally planned journey. We would backtrack on the Erie Canal to the Oswego Canal, which would take us to Lake Ontario. From there, we would resume our journey out the St. Lawrence Seaway to Maine. We would then follow the east coast south and find a new home for Shanti. The only problem with the plan was we didn’t know where to take her! So, off we went on one last road trip to find a new marina.
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Rockford, IL

2/24/18: Even before we left Pensacola Beach, they were forecasting a huge storm in the Midwest. It was about 3 or 4 days out when we left, and we hoped to make it back to Minnesota before it hit. We were throwing a baby shower in Rockford for Samantha and Brad the following weekend, and we offered to drive Kate’s parents and aunt to the shower. So, we left Pensacola Beach with a little sadness (we were leaving sunshine and beach for a snowstorm??), but also with some excitement, too. We knew we were going to be grandparents, but we didn’t know if they were having a girl or boy. They planned to announce that at the shower.
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Pensacola Beach, FL

2/13/18 – 2/15/18: Samantha and Brad’s baby shower was coming up, and we wanted to get back to Minnesota to get Kate’s parents, as well as all the party supplies we had there. But we still had a few days before we had to make the trip back. We really didn’t have anything planned after New Orleans, so as we were talking about ideas, Kate says, “I think we should go and sit on a beach for a couple days”. Good idea! We looked at the map and decided to spend our last couple days at Pensacola Beach in Florida.
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Memphis, TN

2/9/18: After stopping in St. Louis to see the Arch, we looked ahead for another place to stop. Our route to New Orleans too us right through Memphis, and what’s in Memphis? Graceland! OK, off to see the place “The King” was always most happy: his home.
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St. Louis, MO

2/7/18: After we returned to Minnesota from Arizona, we planned on making a trip to New Orleans. Neither of us had been there, but we had heard a lot of good things about the city, so off we went! We also wanted to take our time and see some things along the way, and the first place we decided to visit was the famous Gateway Arch in St. Louis.
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Sierra Vista, AZ

1/23/18 – 1/27/18: We arrived in Sierra Vista about noon and planned to spend several days visiting with Pat’s dad and Lin, his wife. We had been there a couple times before, but our last was about three years ago, so our visit was long past overdue. Each time we come, they take us to new and different places, and this time was no exception.
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Roswell, NM

1/22/18: Since returning from New York, one of the first places we wanted to visit was Sierra Vista, AZ. Pat’s dad and his wife, Lin, have lived there for the past 15 years or so. We hadn’t seen Pat’s dad in about a year, and hadn’t seen Lin in almost three. It was well past due for a visit. We finally had a window of opportunity at the end of January, and took advantage of it. As we were looking at the map and route we were taking, we saw that Roswell, NM, was right on the way. We definitely had to stop there!
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Austin, MN

1/16/18 – 1/18/18: While we were on the Erie Canal, one of the people we travelled with (Brian) talked about how much he loved Spam (the Hormel meat product, not the junk mail variety). Kate mentioned that there was a Spam museum near Rochester, MN, and we joked about visiting it while we were in Minnesota. While we were in Scandia, we kept talking about going there, and after things settled down a little, we said “Why not?”. So, we packed our bags and made the trip to Austin, MN, home of the Spam museum!
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Bethel, NY

9/13/17: We decided to start our “road trip” in Kingston. We saw on the map that Woodstock was close by, so we decided to visit the location where the famous 1969 music festival was held. Contrary to popular belief, however, the weekend festival was not held in Woodstock, but 60 miles away in Bethel, NY. But it was still (somewhat) on our way back to the Midwest, so we decided to go to Bethel to see it.
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Kingston

9/8/17 – 9/12/17: After saying good-bye to our friends and turning up the Rondout Creek, the 56 foot bridge in Kingston was our last obstacle before reaching Rondout Yacht Basin. This is where our sailing season ends and Shanti will be hauled out and stored for the winter.
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Catskill

9/4/17 – 9/7/17: The weather broke just enough for us to make the trip to Catskill, where sailboats that have transited the Erie Canal go to put their mast back up. We left Waterford around 7AM for the 7 hour trip down the Hudson River. This would be our first experience with tides and tidal currents.
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Waterford

8/31/17 – 9/3/17: Today will be our last day travelling the Erie Canal. We will be in Waterford this afternoon, which is the eastern most town along the canal. We cannot believe how fast this journey has gone; it seems only yesterday that we left Buffalo, but it was almost 3 weeks ago!
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Canajoharie

8/28/17: On this part of the canal, due to the sparsity of suitable places to dock, we have two choices for moving from place to place. We can either do 9-10 hour days with many miles and many locks, or we can do 4-5 hour days with less miles and fewer locks. We have so far chosen the latter. With that in mind, we chose Canajoharie for our next stop, 20 miles and 3 locks down the canal.
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Little Falls

8/26/17 – 8/27/17: We had been travelling every day for several days and we felt we needed a break. We had heard Little Falls was a nice place to stop, so we planned on spending two nights there. We were met with a pleasant surprise on our way there and another when we arrived.
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Brewerton

8/24/17: Everyone who transits the Erie Canal, especially sailboats carrying masts on rickety cradles, stops at one of two places depending on which direction they are travelling. For eastbound travellers, it’s Brewerton, and for westbound travellers it’s Sylvan Beach. The reason? Oneida Lake.
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Baldwinsville

8/23/17: Baldwinsville was the next stop on our canal journey. It was 49 miles from Lyons, but was the only option we had with plenty of depth at the wall to tie to. We also had 2 locks that day, plus a lake crossing, so it was going to be a long day
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Lyons

8/21/17 – 8/22/17: There were severe storms forecasted for the day after we left Newark, but we wanted to make a little forward progress. We had everything options: Baldwinsville, a 50 mile journey; Clyde, about 10 miles away, or Lyons, only 5 miles from Newark. Our first choice was Clyde, but they only had dockage for 2 boats, and we were concerned that once we got there, there would be no space. We opted for Lyons, and it turns out, we made a very good choice.
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Newark

8/20/17: Fairport was a nice stop on the canal and we enjoyed our time here very much. However, we were eager to make up some ground, but we were also anxious about the engine dying. So we picked a town that was about 20 miles down the canal: Newark.
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Fairport

8/17/17-8/20/17: The next town down the canal that we chose to stop at was Fairport. The trip there was probably the worst day we’ve had so far since leaving on May 21st (even worse than the 8 foot wave day back in Tobermory).
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Middleport

8/15/17: After a quick trip to Walgreens in the morning, we were ready to head out. We left the wall where we tied up at about 9AM, and Middleport was 30 miles away. We should be there about 3PM. Did we make it by 3? No! Why not? What else – more rain!
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Buffalo, NY

7/20/17: We have arrived at Buffalo, NY. Since our change of plans, this now marks the official end of our Lake Erie crossing. Over the next few days, we will partially decommissioning the boat and getting her ready for transiting the Erie Canal. Next week we will be heading home for a short visit. If all goes well, we will be back here in early to middle August to head into the unknown.
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Port Dover

7/11/17 – 7/12/17: We had a big day ahead of us, and had to decide between anchoring off of Long Point, or going to the Port Dover Harbor Marina. Long Point was a 50 mile run, and Port Dover was 75. It all depended on the wind.
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Port Stanley

7/8/17 – 7/10/17: After 2 days in Erieau with high wind warning and severe thunderstorms, we saw a small weather window to make a break for Port Stanley. It was 10 to 20 knot winds the entire way, with the highest winds closest to Port Stanley. We arrived at the marina and were delighted by the charm and eclectic quaintness it had.
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Erieau

7/6/17 – 7/7/17: Our next stop across Lake Erie was at Erieau (pronounced ear-ee-oh, rhymes with Cheerio). It didn’t look like much on the chart, however we had heard really good things about it from people along the way. From the moment we tied up, we understood why everyone felt that way.
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Leamington

7/5/17: Our leg from Windsor to Leamington was uneventful. We passed a couple lakers, saw a bunch more fisher-people, some power boats, and a couple sailboats. We really don’t have much to say about Leamington because of our short stay, but the marina itself is worth mentioning, and we went to our first Canadian Tire store!
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Windsor

7/4/17: We got an early start on our 60 mile trip to Windsor. Today was July 4th, and we thought the boat traffic on the St. Clair and the Detroit Rivers, as well as on Lake St. Clair, would be extremely busy. To our surprise we only passed two lakers, and instead of intense boat traffic, we played ‘dodge the fishing boats’.
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Sarnia

7/3/17: It was a beautiful day to make the trip from Grand Bend to Sarnia. We left early in the morning, and winds were light, so we motored the entire way. We had heard that the marina we were going to catered to large motor boats, but we chose it because of it’s ease in maneuvering. Or so we thought…
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Grand Bend

7/2/17: We made the decision to stop at Grand Bend rather than go straight from Goderich to Sarnia. Storms were predicted in the afternoon, and we didn’t want to chance being on the open lake due to how quickly it can get rough. Stopping at Grand Bend also broke the trip in half, saving about 20 miles to Sarnia. When we first arrived at Grand Bend, the first thing we thought was “What a freakin’ zoo!!”
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Goderich

6/28/17 – 7/1/17: Our next stop on the agenda was Bayfield. Bad storms and high winds were predicted (again) for the next few days, and Canada Day was the forthcoming Saturday. This year marked 150 years since Canada united all of the provinces into a single confederation, so this year was a special celebration for Canada. We called Bayfiled for a transient slip, but because of the upcoming holiday, none were available. We called Grand Bend, a little further south, but they were also booked solid. We found dockage in Goderich, 30 miles north of Bayfield, and decided to stop there for a few days before proceeding to Sarnia.
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Kincardine

6/26/17 – 6/27/17: Because of the constant inclement weather so far in our trip, we’ve been spending many more days hunkered down in marinas than we’ve intended. Needless to say, we were eager to make a little more forward progress. Our next stop was Kincardine, about 25 miles south. We saw a small break in the weather early one morning, and made a break for it. When we arrived at Kincardine, we were happily surprised at the quaint town.
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Port Elgin

6/24/17 – 6/25/17: We were eager to get to Port Elgin, as we had already spent 3 nights in Tobermory riding out bad weather and were ready to move on. We checked the weather for the next day, and saw that it would be sunny but a bit cool, winds in the morning around 10-15 knots diminishing in the afternoon (and further south) to 5-10 knots, and waves predicted to be 2-3 feet. It seemed liked favorable conditions for our 55 mile journey. We left Tobermory, and do you think the wind and waves were as they predicted? We will give you one guess.
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Tobermory

6/21/17 – 6/23/17: We left Baie Fine early in the morning, as we had about 53 miles to sail. We took one last look at the hills and cliffs of Baie Fine, and wished we had more time to spend here. The wind was steady at 15 knots, and the waves were between 3 and 6 feet the entire trip. It took 31 days, but we finally made it to Tobermory.
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Killarney

6/17/17 – 6/18/17: We motored the 3 miles from Covered Portage Cove to Killarney. Killarney is a very (very) small town located along the channel between the Ontario mainland and George Island. Just before we entered the channel, a sea plane landed in front of us, and we followed it into town!
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Thessalon

We left Milford Haven, dragging a cloud of mosquitoes behind us. The day started sunny, warm, and calm, but we knew there was some rain on the way. Thessalon was about 15 miles away (2.5 hours), and we thought for sure we’d beat the rain. We were wrong.
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Sault Ste. Marie

6/5/17 – 6/8/17: The morning we left Whitefish Point, we had more dense fog. We waited for a while to see if the fog would lift, but by 8:30AM it was still “pea soup”, so we decided to leave, as we had about a 6 hour day ahead, including our first set of locks. We would be in the shipping lanes about 1/2 the day, and we then realized a second great investment we made: RADAR!
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Grand Marais

6/3/17: We wanted to get to Grand Marais before 3PM as there were storms forecasted. It was about a 6.5 hour journey, so we got up around 5:30AM. The forecast for the morning called for winds of less than 10 knots and waves calm to 1 foot. We learned that even NOAA can be just as wrong as the TV meteorologists.
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Munising

6/1/17 – 6/2/17: We left Marquette on a beautiful sunny Thursday. The forecast called for 20% rain. We thought, “finally a day without rain”. That thought lasted about 10 minutes, as we hit every 20% rain area between Marquette and Munising. And, true to form, as we rounded the last corner before the marina, behold, the sun! As we looked at the town from the bay, we weren’t sure what to expect.
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Marquette

5/30/17 – 5/31/17: e left Big Bay at about 8AM and had about 25 miles to Marquette. When we woke up, the sun was shining, and we thought it would be a good day. As we left the harbor, we ran aground on a small sand bar. Ok, maybe the day won’t be as sunny as we first thought.
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Houghton / Hancock

5/26/17 – 5/28/17: We motored down the 8 mile canal to Houghton / Hancock. We planned to stay here 2 nights, as we both really wanted a meal out, and also had a few chores and projects to do. The marina was on the other side of the lift bridge, and according to everything we had read, the bridge opened “on demand”. This turned out to be not the case.
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Ontonagon

5/24/17: We left Black River Harbor around 7:15AM. The fog was just lifting, and by the time we got to the lake, it was clear enough to not use radar. The wind was blowing NE at a measly 2 knots, right from the direction we were heading. We wouldn’t be able to sail, so we pointed the bow towards Ontonagon, and just kept motoring.
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Bayfield, WI

Roys Point Marina, where we kept Shanti, is 2 miles north of Bayfield, WI. It’s a tiny town, population 487, but is a well-known tourist destination. During our 5 years sailing The Apostle Islands, we spent a lot of time there and came to love it’s unique charm. Since it caters to tourists, there’s lots of little gift shops, several bed & breakfasts, and many great restaurants. And if you’re into boating or sailing, there’s 12 marinas within 20 miles, three of which are right in town at the waterfront.
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