MV WILD GOOSE II: Time to cross The Saginaw Bay

We layed in an extra day in Tawas as the weather did not cooperate with the weather forecasters.
As the day goes on I think the captain is wishing he had gone ahead, however I like that he sides with caution. Not much to do but get some reading in due to the limited Internet and our abundant use of our Verizon 4G...we are almost maxed out for the month...this blog eats a ton of data :)
Wednesday the 20th of August...WOW, time is starting to wiz by and we notice more trees starting to change color.
Early rise by Ron and I so that the boat can get washed of bugs and the heavy dew before departing at 8AM on an adventure to Port Austin. Seas have subsided and we encounter only a bit of rolling in the early stages of the trip along with the almost ever present fog this time of year.

Weather seems to be the same everyday now with the sun busting through the fog and clouds at about the same time as our bellies are calling for lunch feeding.
The crossing is rather easy and of course there is nothing much to see because land is too far off in the distance. The colors of the water are trying to stay steel blue until the sun dodges behind another bunch of clouds.
Port Austin fuel center is "manned" by two young ladies who helps us top off fuel and pump the heads. They are quite nice and like most of the dock personnel, are likely headed back to college next week. We easily help ourselves to our dock assignment as they are not very full. The news has not yet been widely spread about their new docks, great electrical and water hook ups.The newly designed parking lot and "out" buildings seem under utilized as well. I suspect that these docks will fill up over the coming years. The dock area we decide on is close to shore and has just opened in the past 60 days. Just up on the other side of the office is a park with beach and an open gazebo with many picnic tables...very good set up for a rendezvous, outdoor reception or family reunion.

Exploring on bikes we pass some old buildings that no doubt had more exciting tenants when they were built. One in particular is an old school gym that some in town are wanting to tear down and re-use the beautiful bricks to build something new. Of course the locals who went to school there have other ideas. With no electrical or plumbing, it now sits empty and useless. I have not checked out the town history, but have discovered the original town was SW of it's current location. We've been told there was a huge fire that burned the original town to the ground.

No day would be complete without a trip to the beach...we went to three different areas of town for beach access and found that they all were very different. One was home to the seagulls, one to the geese and the last one looked to be used as a launch area for kayaks.

The shoreline is riddled with large boulders which keeps the wave runners and tubers out past the harbor entrance. The geography therefore is best explored by kayaks and paddle boards...both of which you can rent just up the creek. Ron and I took the dinghy up the creek past the rentals and maybe another quarter mile before we had to turn around due to the shallow water and high concentration of seaweed.