Day 2-258 across Traverse Bay and north to Harrisville, MI

We left Port Austin at 7:30 am and headed north to cross Saginaw Bay and head along the western shore to Harrisville, MI. Saginaw Bay is about 25 miles wide at its mouth where we crossed. We started out with a gentle southwest breeze of about 8 mph with waves less than 1 foot. The wind and the waves were on the port aft quarter so they gave us a slight lift in speed with no discomfort. As we approached the other side of the bay, the wind abruptly switched to the north. Initially it was very light, but it eventually grew to the 5 to 8 mph range. We knew that there was an approaching cold front with northerly winds so this must have been the very leading edge. About the same time small patches of very light fog started to appear up ahead. We could see the fog because the coast along the north side of the bay was just becoming visible, and our views of the coast in the distance  came and went behind the fog. We knew that the cold front had strong winds and a line of storms along its leading edge, but we also knew that the front should not reach our destination before we did. It may sound strange, but the presence of the fog was a little comforting since strong winds and fog generally do not mix. We turned on the radar, which in combination with the chart plotter and the AIS gave us a great "view" of our surroundings. It was about our second experience in (real) fog on the Loop, and the first time that we were approaching a harbor in fog. We could see the small fishing boats on the radar even if we did not see them visually. As I said, the fog was patchy and light so our visibility ranged from about a quarter of a mile and up. It was "cool" and very comforting to see the breakwaters and harbor on both the chartplotter and the radar overlay. Then, BINGO, the breakwater popped out of the fog several hundred yards ahead. We knew that was how it should work, but to actually go through the whole exercise was a wonderful experience (and comforting for the future).

We docked at the Harrisville Municipal Harbor at about 1:00 pm. We had eaten lunch on the boat so after setting all of the lines in anticipation of a storm, we went to the office to check in for two nights. As you may have gathered, we were pretty busy, especially during the second half of the trip, so today was not a good picture day. Here is a view of the marina taken from the office and looking back (east) at the marina. You can just see the harbor break wall in the background above the line of boats.
    After settling into our routine, I lay down in the master stateroom for a nap at 2:30 pm. A few minutes later I heard a long series of booms and rumbling from thunder, and I fell asleep thinking that I would definitely be rocked to sleep. Sure enough, when I woke up, the boat was rockin' and rollin' and the temperature was at least 10F degrees cooler. When I got up about 3:30 pm, I checked the National Weather Service and found the following bulletin:

from National Weather Service:
at 3:21 pm
A line of severe thunderstorms from Oscoda to New Tawas has been indicated on radar. Winds of 25 knots with gusts exceeding 50 knots, possible water spouts and golf ball sized hail.

We had passed these two ports on the Lake Michigan shore just north of Saginaw Bay.

We did go out for dinner in the little town, and we found a nice restaurant. The photo at the left is a view of the marina from the road above. You can see the flags down in the marina standing straight out, but the flag in the foreground is in the wind shadow of all of the big trees.

     It was a two block walk to the downtown and another 2 blocks to the restaurant. The houses that we passed were older but not historic looking. The one thing that was immediately obvious was that all of the houses were in excellent condition. I hate to disappoint you, but I had an Asian Chicken Salad (nuts, dried cranberries, mandarin oranges, etc.). The sidewalks had all been recently replaced with this interesting wave pattern in the new concrete.




After dinner, it was time to go back to the boat and "hunker down" for the night. The winds are predicted to be 20 to 30 mph over night and die down to 15 to 20 mph tomorrow.

 We were treated to a nice sunset a the end of a day full of weather changes (picture at left). At least the Admiral will be comfortably rocked all night long...