Day 74-75 Shall we stay or shall we go? Aug 19th -20th

Wow, decisions, decisions. The early bird sail boaters left at the crack of dawn again this morning hoping for some gentle breezes and flat seas. Both sailboats had charted some pretty long courses for the day.

After coffee, it appears that The Mainship is leaving and Voyager is going to wait for a storm to pass. We say our good-byes to Dave and Leslie as they back out to head to Tawas.  They have a daughter leaving for her honeymoon this weekend and they want to see her before she goes.

After turning the channel markers, we watch as they turn around and come back to the dock. They had hit bottom yesterday at the entrance of Harrisville, however, were not too concerned that it was really bad. However, upon reflection, his description of the sound was " a dentist drilling out a tooth with the drill setting on low".

I think we were all just so happy to be there yesterday in one piece that he decided to wait until today to check it, while hoping it "was not too bad". A diver is now on the way to the boat and we are keeping our fingers crossed for them. We've all been there :(  in some form or another.

After  photographing the incoming small storms it's time for Voyager to depart. They too are going for a long course across Saginaw Bay. They are quickly on their way.  I hope we run into them on Lake Erie sometime. They are within an hour of our YC. Fun people.

I had stated earlier that we would be staying put, however Captain Ron has residual effects from sitting in Presque Isle for 4 days, so he announces we are leaving for Tawas, he can't sit still. He's not anxious to get stuck again so soon and I am with him on that. Looking at the weather forecasts suggests that we'll have better chances of making Port Austin on time to meet my Mom and Dad if we move. Port Sanilac is likely already out of reach to meet them there as originally planned. Ron is also anxious to hook up with friends from  WCC who have a boat atTawas YC.

The Captain and I felt badly leaving Dave and Leslie to fend for themselves, however, they are in good hands and pretty close to home. It's likely someone will be coming to get them after we see the photo of  their prop. Uuuuugh, can you say ouch!

Light winds and waves less than 1' as we leave the dock. Both storms have passed and Ron sets a course to Tawas. We arrive around 3:30PM at the gas dock just in time for the wind to shift and slam us into the boards. Felt like some hockey player just came out of nowhere and checked  us against the wall. No harm done, just bad timing. The wind continues to blow and makes it difficult to get off the fuel dock and proceed to our slip. With the help of the dock hands, we follow The captain's orders and all works out well. Dinner on board of grilled pork loin and leftover pasta.

Oh my,  Patti's up at the crack of 11AM Friday. The Tylenol PM did not take effect as quickly as I  needed  the night before. So, I am up and at 'em and Ron's getting tomato soup and grilled cheese going for lunch. I make it my breakfast. It was quite yummy.

After studying the map of town, we head to the meat market and find most everything we need there. It's a small grocery too. Riding back to the boat, we decide to take the bikes to Walmart for some drugstore type items we needed. It was a good reason to do some extra bike riding. After all the exercise in Presque Isle, I was wanting to keep it up.

A friend and former co-worker of Ron, along with her husband have emailed that they are heading our way and will call when they get on the road. By 7PM, we decide to go to eat without them, which worked out well. Mary and Gary had eaten on their drive up from Chelsea. They order beverages and we catch up while Ron and I finish dinner. We had a nice walk back to the boat and visited for awhile more. They soon took off to stay with a family member instead of on their boat at the YC. Ron and I enjoyed their company and we sat up for awhile after they left. Nice evening.