The trip from Saugatuck to St Joe was relatively easy. We
left early in the morning and arrived in St Joe around mid-day.
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| MV His Idea leaving Saugatuck the day before |
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| MV My Therapy leaving Saugatuck |
Sidenote: We like to leave early in the mornings, especially
if we have big waters to cross. The wind tends to pick up as the day gets
warmer and it just whips the waves up as well. So in getting away early, we
usually arrive at our destination before major waves and winds have time to build.
St Joe
In St Joe Gary went shopping at the Boaters Outlet store,
something he had been looking forward to since we were here last year! I went
to stock up on beer (priorities?)
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| Tied to the wall in St Joe we were joined by this monster Laker. |
Since the wall in St Joe was very rocky from the rollers
coming off the lake, we decided to go and anchor further up the river. We were
later joined by MV My Therapy and Gary’s new BFF Mike.
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| Gary's new BFF :) |
Poor Gary, he misses the company of a man to discuss things
like engines, motors, boats , bikes, and general stuff like that. In Mike he
has found a new companion in all things manly.
The next morning MV My Therapy joined us in our
crossing to Chicago.
Sidenote: Thank you to my friend Jim (MV Wild Goose) who phoned
me and helped me with the weather forecast. It was perfect weather for
crossing. Also thank you to Bob and Catheryn who took time on their daughter’s
wedding day and gave me a weather forecast when we were back in Charlevoix, all
the way from Seattle!! I had no internet access and no way to check the weather
forecast.
Anyhow, like I said, the weather couldn't be better for the
crossing to Chicago. The seas were smooth smooth smooth!
Chicago
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| Chicago's impressive skyline... |
When we arrived we tried to anchor in the “playpen” area in
the harbour but we were turned away by the coastguard. There was an airshow
practice taking place, right over the anchorage, so we were not allowed to
anchor there. We when politely asked him if there was somewhere else we could anchor
he told us that if we came any closer he would issue us a citation for $2500!!!
We were floored!!! They shooed us out and told us that we had to go outside the
break wall. When we got outside the break wall we were told by another patrol boat
we were not allowed to anchor there either. They suggested we call the Chicago
marine police, who in turn told us we could anchor south of the lock, so we
did. Unfortunately it was so bad out there, a pot of water we were boiling for
pasta, fell of the stove, the boat was rocking so much!!
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| Navy Pier |
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| Downtown Chicago |
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| Navy Pier |
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| Navy Pier |
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| Airshow practice - Gary says they are second ww planes, he thinks they are P47 Thunderbolts. |
With nowhere else to go we just had to go through the lock and
continue on the Sanitary Canal towards Joliet. BUT before we could do that, Gary
had to take the radar and antennas down for us to make is under the down-town
bridges. We went into a marina and anchored in an area that was protected. We
asked for 5 minutes to get the work done and we would be on our way. The young
man at the marina was very understanding and told us to take our time.
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| Buckingham Fountain |
Now, we had both gotten up at 4:30 in the morning to cross Lake
Michigan, and it was now around 2pm. We were both stressed and tired but what
can you do? We started heading onward to Joliet. A 50 mile trip that would
take us another 7 hours!!! I checked Active Captain but there were no
anchorages between Chicago and Joliet for us to stop.
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| The first of many low bridges on the Sanitary Canal - Chicago |
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After waiting for quite a while for the water to be turned off, we closed the boat up and went under
it , just as we were on the other side they turned it off!!!!!!! |
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| Bridges galore! |
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| Trains ,cars and boats... |
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| All along the waterfront are nice little places to sit and eat or just enjoy the scenery. |
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| These bridge watch gates remind me of something out of the middle ages..... |
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| It was a nice sunny day so there were plenty of tourist sightseeing boats on the canal |
As we passed the junction with the South Chicago River we spotted
an area that looked ok for a night and we dropped the anchor. It turned out to
be a great anchorage but we forgot something about the Sanitary waterway……it
stinks!!! Man, o man, it smells like a sewer!! And it is dirty!!!! It is
filthy!! And it Stinks!!!
After a good night’s sleep we headed on to Joliet. Past many
barges and smelly industrial areas and refineries we finally made it to Joliet
at around 2pm.
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| We woke up to the voices of these young men getting ready to go for a row....yes, on the stinky bubbling water! |
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| The Sanitary meets the Calumet |
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| At the top of a crane, a great place for a nest. |
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| Barges getting loaded - this would be a barge carrying hazardous goods, chemicals or gas or fuel. |
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| This barge is getting loaded with grain or wheat ( non hazardous) |
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| The Sanitary canal is not without beauty |
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| Sanitary Canal - Built to keep the dirty water from flowing into Lake Michigan. |
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| On the wall in Joliet - free tie-off and free power. |
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| Joliet- A big tow passing through. |
PS just as we were on our way we heard on the radio that the "playpen" was open again for boaters. We wish that coast guard person would have told us that and saved us a whole lot of trouble. But it seems all his was interested in was to write us a ticket. ( This time I did blog in anger)
To be continued………………..
