Day 79 -80

Egg Harbor - Menominee, MI

• Start 7:15 AM
• End 11:00 AM
• Underway 2:00 Hours
• Distance 14 miles
• Total Miles on Trip 1550
• Av Speed 7 knots
• Weather Clear Sunny 60 Degrees winds WNW 4 Knots

Oh Sh!t I screwed up. We pulled off the dock at 7:15AM, to head for Menominee, MI. As soon as I was clear of the dock, I knew there was a problem. When I put the starboard engine in forward, there was a weird noise and feel. As soon as I felt it, I knew I had a line wrapped around the prop. Angel confirmed that the line to hoist the dinghy in the cradle was under the boat. I was able to maneuver out into the harbor and anchor. Last night when we were dealing with the wind and waves, I pulled the dinghy up, but had planned to use it again. When it got worse and we went to the dock I had forgot about it. In the morning when I put the straps on to secure the dinghy, the line was already in the water and I never saw it. I carry a mask on the boat but no scuba gear. I had to free dive to remove the line. Luckily the water was crystal clear and warm. I took me 45 minutes and what seemed like 1000 dives under the boat, but I was able to remove all of the line. A small delay, and no damage other than to the line itself. Lesson learn, no matter how bad the weather is, take your time and double check everything.

Menominee City Marina is another great marina. The staff was very helpful, the docks were great and they had the nicest boater's lounge that I have ever seen. We were also treated to a car show in the park adjacent to the marina.

The very first things I had to do was to get a line to replace the one I cut off my prop. Bill the dockmaster was able to find a marina that had the line in stock and that was open. The marina was in Marinette Wisconsin, while we were in Michigan. Time to hop on our bikes, ride a whole 3 miles to Wisconsin to get the line I needed. I found it ironic that we started the morning in Wisconsin, took a 14 mile boat ride to Michigan, only to ride our bikes back to Wisconsin.

After getting the line, we were exploring Marinette, and I saw a navy ship tied to the dock and had to go check it out. It turns out that Marinette is home to Marinette Marine, which builds navy and coast guard ships. They are current building navy litorral shipsWhile we could not get very close it was fun to see.

Sunday Steve and Jane (Sabbatical) joined us, and we spent the day exploring town before docktails to end the day.

Monday we are heading to Green Bay.