Port Washington to Manitowoc

Departed in calm seas with haze and a little fog about 7:00 am, our passengers wanted to be in Sheboygan by 11:00. Great cruising day, not to hot and remained a bit overcast until late afternoon. We saw the badger ferry depart Manitowoc as we arrived about 3:00 pm. There was a water ski show in the river as we arrived and we saw multiple pyramids on skies. The maritime museum was celebrating with live music, food and beverages, we were told it was the first of the annual celebrations. We went to our favorite candy store I had a Door County Cherry Ice Cream cone and Carol a dish of black raspberry. Dinner on the boat of pork steaks on the grill.

Casey, Amy, Lauren and Ben

Our guests depart on the Sheboygan Dock

The Sheboygan River Front

The Badger departs Manitowoc

Racine to Port Washington

We traveled today with some friends from church. Casey and Amy McIntosh and their children Lauren and Ben and a friend Matt. Good trip sunny in the morning and a bit threatening in the afternoon but the weather held off and currently appears stalled in Iowa. We stopped for fuel in Milwaukee and the crew had ice cream at the marina and saw some fish being cleaned. We went to dinner at a restaurant next to the marina with a live Irish folk band called Reilly, fun evening. 

Leaving Racine, Pugh Marina

Lunch on the Sun Deck

Casey teaches Lauren and Ben how to drive the boat

The Guys on the fore deck

Final Preparations in Racine

Today we took a Jamie and Bob Rauth, Audry and Rachel and a German Foreign Exchange family Mike, Christine, Annika and Amalie for a boat ride to Kenosha and back to Racine. The water was very calm and the sun shone the entire trip we had a fine time with lunch from Teunta’s of Kenosha.

A few additions to Reunion this winter, we installed 4 solar panels capable of producing 400 watts of power. We also installed a TV antenna (the flat thing) and a Wi-Fi antenna. The Wi-Fi antenna amplifies the signal from the marina hot spot and creates a wireless network for the entire boat. Getting ready to begin our cruise to door county.

4 New Solar Panels

Wi-Fi Antenna Right, TV Antenna Left

Back Aboard Reunion

We moved back aboard Reunion today. We have sold our house, plan to spend July and August on Lake Michigan and begin traveling to Florida about Labor Day. Lots of land based activities over the next couple of weeks as we transition back to the boat life. So we will begin posting on this blog as we have events worth reporting. 

Looper Rendezvous

The Rendezvous is a series of lectures and discussions about traveling on the loop. Today we had some excellent presentations on the TennTom Waterway, the panhandle of Florida, and crossing the Gulf. The longest open water crossing is from Carrabelle to Tarpon Springs, FL, 170 statute miles or about 20 hours at 8.5 mph our cruising speed, our only required overnight passage on the Loop.  One of the presenters provides weather musings and advice on the crossings that are published each day at 6:00 am. The preferred arrival time at Tarpon Springs is after 10:00 am, prior to that the rising sun creates a glare on the water that makes it difficult to see the crab pot buoys. Lots of excellent information by people that have made this crossing several times. This afternoon was a Looper Crawl, basically an open house for boats and participants. Fun to see what other boats have to offer, we also received a safety inspection from a US Coast Guard Auxiliary approved inspector. 

REFLECTIONS ON THE LOOP

We have been collecting the most memorable places, people and experiences of our Great Loop.  These are highlights of our year and the voyage of Reunion – we are happy to share them and we will always enjoy remembering.

QUOTES  WORTH  QUOTING

“Attitude is the difference between an ordeal and an adventure”

“If its broke, how much more can I break it” (do it yourselfer)

“Patience is not a virtue – it’s a necessity”

“When the plan fails, the adventure begins” - Al and Charli on Always 5 O’Clock

“Don't take the boat where the birds are walking on the water”

 “Boat unit  =  $1000” – Bob on Field Trip

“The difference between boating and yachting -When you go from working on your boat to paying someone else to work on your boat “

“Time for docktails  - It's five o'clock somewhere “

“Better to watch the docking show than being the show”

“Never approach a dock faster than you want to hit it”

“If everyone on the dock is standing around looking bored while you land, you are doing it right”

“9:00 pm is "looper midnight"

“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.  So throw off the bowlines.  Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.  (Mark Twain)

BEST OF REUNIONS VOYAGE

Best Marina on the entire loop – River Dunes at Oriental, NC

            Beautiful setting, every amenity, pool with cabanas, laundry, gym

            Individual showers, a clubhouse with white tablecloth dining upstairs

            And a great lounge and library downstairs.  A planned community of condo’s

            homes, even a chapel.  Shopping section being built.  First rate docks

            and a loaner vehicle available.  Plus its near a nice little town with a gallery 

            of local artists and some nice restaurants.  All at competitive rates.

Other best marinas – Heritage Harbor, Ottawa, IL; Green Turtle Bay, KY;  Grand Harbor, TN; Port Royal Landings, Beaufort SC; Spring Cove in Solomons, MD;  Montreal Yacht Club, Quebec;  Peterborough Marina, ON;  Port Orillia Marina, ON;  Straits State Harbor, Mackinaw City, MI;  Egg Harbor Marina, Door County WI;  Manitowoc City Marina, Manitowoc, WI

Unique marinas – Chipmans Point, Hudson River, a historic old marina;

            Logsdon Towhead, Beardstown IL; Wing Dam on the Ohio River

           

“No star marinas”

            Smithville and Pirates Cove on the TomBigbee

            Fairhope Eastern Shore Marina, AL

            Beaver Island marina – Lake Michigan

Memorable Fun times and Great dining experiences

            Grafton, Illinois – the pool party with Bill and Lori, and Al and Charlie

Nashville - Grand Ole Opry/Country music hall of fame

St. Petersburg FL.  Botanical garden at Christmas, hospitality and fun with

Al and Charlie; rooftop lounge with Alex and Andre,

Pool Time at Coral Lagoon in Marathon 

            Yacht Club Shrimp/crab boil at Green Turtle Bay

            Patty’s – town near Grand Harbor marina with the Flotilla

            The Hideaway Restaurant at Marathon, Keys

                        George and Mary, Bob and Martha, Carol and Bob

            River Dunes marina yacht club restaurant – Rich and Marcie

            Good times in Vermont – Al and Charlie

            Rawley’s resort dinner – Ontario

            Potlucks at Coral Lagoon/Boathouse – Marathon

            Favorite Lunch: Everglades Rod and Gun club, gator bites, Key lime pie

Favorite cities

            Fairhope, AL

            Sarasota, FL

            St. Augustine, FL

            St. Petersburg, FL

            Savannah, GA

            Charleston, SC

            Burlington, VT

            Montreal

            Ottawa

Favorite Sightseeing spots

            Statue of Liberty

            911 Memorial NYC

            Cumberland Island – wild horses

            Country Music Hall of Fame-Nashville

            Rocket and Space museum – Huntsville AL

            Chihuly Glass Museum – St. Pete’s

            Vermont touring

            History of Canada Museum-Ottawa

            Canadian Parliament

            Manitowoc Maritime Museum

            Rideau Canal and Trent Severn Locks

           

Wildlife

            Wild Horses – Cumberland Island

            Manatees – Coral Lagoon,Titusville, FL

            Alligators – Everglades

            Whale- off New Jersey

            Osprey- everywhere

            Dolphins

            Loons - Canada

           

Favorite Anchorages

            Three Rivers Lake, Alabama – foggy morning with 4 other boats

            Oleta State Park, Fort Lauderdale FL

            Liberty Landing NYC

            Kingsland Bay State Park, New York

            The Canadian lock walls

            Nicolet Bay, Door County

STATISTICS and EXPENSES

We traveled 5600 miles, and were gone 370 days.  144 days were travel days.

We (or the boat) spent 300 nights in Marinas and 70 nights at anchor or on a lock wall. This included several extended marina stays while we came home for 2 visits, stayed in Sarasota for 4 weeks, the Keys for 4 weeks and stayed at two Rendezvous for  6-10 days each + a ten day layover to get a new bimini top built.   We had anticipated spending a much higher percentage of our nights at anchor so our marina expenses did exceed our planned budget.

Fuel costs were somewhat less than we budgeted as our single engine trawler got about 2.7-3 miles per gallon on diesel fuel and only in Canada did we spend over $4 per gallon.

Reunion entering Racine Harbor

It's Official we crossed our wake

Exchanging Flags

Port Washington to Racine, WI

CROSSING OUR WAKE – Sept. 8, 2014

Three days in a row of great weather brought us home to Racine.  It was fun coming through an area where we recognized all the landmarks.  We took our time and even turned in at the Milwaukee Harbor to catch some pictures. 

Coming into the dock at Pugh’s marina in Racine, we were met by friends and family for a “welcome home” party.  They brought our Gold Looper flag, as well as champagne, balloons, roses, wine, and a big welcome sign.  It was much appreciated.

Tomorrow we will post some of our favorite stops and must see features for future loopers – and it will be fun to review everything for such a list.  For now we will start thinking up more fun things to do.  Finishing the Loop is a hard act to follow.

Leaving Port Washington

Whitefish Bay waterfront and bluff homes

Water tower and St. Mary's Hospital

Downtown Milwaukee, Calatrava Art Center Wings folded

Lake Express Car Ferry

Wind Point Lighthouse, Racine

Friends and family waiting on the pier