So down in the bilge I went with socket set and crescent wrench in hand. I was able to get to most of the bolts and get a few turns on them, but there was one I could not tighten without a small, properly sized wrench. I checked the water pump after the first hour underway and it was down to a very small and slow drip. I feel my efforts were well worth it and the leak was significantly less than the previous day. It was much easier to work on the engine when it was cool and not being bounced around by the waves.
We got off the dock this morning right at sunrise. We had the Charlevoix bridge open and we were out onto Lake Michigan once again. I have had some real luck with the wind and waves. It was like glass out on the lake again today. Barely a ripple.
We ran up to the Mackinaw Bridge and then started down Lake Huron around 9:45am. We were trying to put as many miles as we could under the keel with the good weather. The weather and seas cooperated with us until about 2:00pm when we got close to some thunderstorms. The seas picked up and we had some good 3 to 5 foot seas with occasional 6+ thrown in. Fortunately, that only lasted about 2 hours. The boat took the waves very well and provided us a very dry ride given the conditions. We were able run all the way down to Port Sanilac. We did 266 miles today in 11 hours.
But the real hero of the day was Vanessa. Vanessa is the dockmaster at Port Sanilac Harbor Marina. She was kind enough to wait for us to arrive at just after 6:00pm tonight. The marina normally closes at 5:00pm, but Vanessa was very kind to stay open for us and help us put 500 gallons of diesel on board before she finished for the day. Thank you Vanessa! So she is my hero for today.
Allowing us to get fueled up tonight will help us again in the morning as we run down through Detroit and onto Lake Erie. The boat is running great and all systems are good. We continue to keep our fingers crossed for more good weather.
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