Day 134-135. 2nd year. October 4-5 On to Calumet River and Marine Services. Miles 12. Total miles 4092

We left Hammond waving good-bye to slip mates and friends who are in the flotilla with us. Heading out past the breakwall and traveling west to the entrance of the Calumet River, we said goodbye to Lake Michigan.

And we entered the Calumet River under the first Railroad bridge.

The Calumet River goes south past depots where barges are unloaded to train cars. This heavily industrial area of warehouses and piles of rock, sand, dirt and scrap metal is also filled with barges, cranes, earth movers and conveyer belts.

We past bridge after bridge after bridge on our 9 mile journey on the river, some railroad, some vehicle bridges. In fact we went under 11 bridges in 30 minutes.

After going under all those bridges, we came to Thomas S O’Brien Lock which is 1000 feet long and dropped us 3-4 feet, along with 6 others pleasure boats. This lock controls the flow of the Calumet River into Lake Michigan and keeps the rising water from the lake from impacting the river.

Two miles further we pulled into Marines Services and took a slip for the next two nights.

Once we got connected to electric and water, then had lunch, Bill tackled changing the oil on the two engines and generator. It’s a messy job, but someone has to do it! We are doing the job here as they have a disposal area for used oil. Not always easy to get used oil disposed of.

Met several other Loopers here who are in the flotilla ahead of us. They will tackle the the infamous three locks that delayed our trip down the Illinois River tomorrow and leave space here at the marina for our flotilla group so we can tackle the locks on Friday.

This marina is interesting, mostly a working boat yard set in between the railroad tracks and an old landfill/dump. A real exotic place!!

Bill celebrated completing the oil change by using the marina loaner Jeep and went to dinner at Taco Bell.

Day 135 Lay day in Marine Services

Woke to a rainy day which continued off and on throughout the day. Bill changed the oil filters and added clean oil to the engine and generator and did some engine room clean up. Here is Bill knee deep in oil containers after adding 9 + gallons of oil to the engines and generator.

Also had an O Ring delivered which we hope will fix the slow oil leak. That's a fix for another day.

I had less exciting things to do like pay bills and finish cleaning the main cabin. Had to get all the chores done as the rest of our flotilla arrives at the marina right after lunch. Which means we will be deckhands catching lines for about ten boats. Should keep us busy for a bit! Luckily the rain had slowed down so we didn’t get too wet.

After herding all the boats into their slips, we dispersed and let everyone settle in, but will reconvene at docktails to discuss our trip together down the Calumet to the Illinois River, going through the three locks which were under repair for the past 4 months.

June 4-5. Day 63-64. On to Cape May New Jersey. 53.4nm. Total 1534 miles.

Left Delaware City at 5:35am to be able to take advantage of the strong currents going with us while traversing Delaware River and Delaware Bay. The Delaware River goes south about 15 miles and flows into the Delaware Bay. As we travel south, New Jersey is to the east and Delaware is to our west. We are traveling just outside the shipping channel and are really moving at 10.9 knots. That is three knots faster than we normally travel, as the outgoing tides are pushing us along. Nice to have Mother Nature helps us save on fuel. The Delaware River is about 8 miles wide so there is plenty of room for the freighters and the pleasure boats. So far, we have not encountered any commercial traffic, but there is a large freighter behind us that will eventually pass us as they travel at 14 knots. The Delaware Bay proper varies from 23-29 miles wide and 26 miles long. There are five lighthouses on the Delaware marking the shipping channel. We went by Ship J...

Reflections on the Bahamas

Reflections on the Bahamas Over the past 10 weeks, we have traveled through Abaco, Eleuthera and Exuma Islands and enjoyed the hospitality of the Bahamian people. We have learned all about the islands, its unique geography - limestone, caves, blue holes and chalk cliffs; and colorful history-pirates and rum running, salt ponds and cotton plantations, boat building and wrecking/salvage. Traveling over 1300 miles through narrow cuts and wide bays to vast depths of ocean, we negotiated the islands and found safe harbors, calm coves for anchoring, bays filled with moorings and marinas large and small. This trip required us to pay close attention to the weather, the tides and currents as we traveled between and through the islands. The Bahamian people are warm and friendly, willing to give us rides, advice and directions, as well as some secret recipes!! We enjoyed hiking trails, walking the beaches, snorkeling the coral rocks and reefs, discovering ruins and ol...

Day 98. 2nd year. August 27. On to Manistee. Miles 25 Total miles. 3910.

We weighed anchor on a sunny 50 degree morning. So we put on our sweatshirts and drove from below as we left Frankfort. Going through Frankfort’s channel and breakwater we encountered a few intrepid fisherman and further along as we cleared the breakwater there must have been over a hundred fishing boats. Almost like playing bumper cars, but with boats. Had to negotiate a path between them as the fishing boats were all trolling fishing lines behind them. We were still seeing fishermen 4 miles south of Frankfort. These guys sure take their fishing tournaments seriously! The shoreline that we pass heading south are still sand dunes bluffs some as tall as 200 feet. As we travel, we pass the small town of Arcadia and Portage Lake, each situated on an inland lake which is connected to Lake Michigan by a dredged channel. Interesting to note that the dredged channels were originally small rivers connecting the inland lakes to Lake Michigan. As we passe...

Crustacean Travels

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