Once in a Blue Moon: Friday, August 30: Crossing Lake Michigan to the Windy City

Date: August 30, 2013

Day on the Cruise: 137

From: West Basin Marina, St Joseph, MI

To: DuSable Marina, Downtown Chicago, IL

Statute Miles: 60.8 SM

Time: 6.5 Hrs

Cumulative Miles: 3,329.1 SM

On Board: Susan, Chuck, Maggie, Trooper, Peanut

We are in Chicago, IL tonight.

In Chicago, IL

Back in the Central Time Zone! Another milestone! Yee Haw! And...... we are almost, but not quite, off of Lake Michigan.

Today was the first time that we have run in the dark. Wake up call was at 4:30.....Ugh! We used the searchlight on the boat to light up the dock so that we could see to get Maggie on and off the boat. We also used the searchlight to be able to untie the dock lines and get the shore power cables aboard. It went smoothly enough.

We followed several slower - yea you guessed it - fishing boats out of the inlet between the break walls. These magnanimous yachtsmen of such sea skills and knowledge of the "rules of the road" predictably had no running lights turned on so it was very hard to see them in the pre-dawn light. I wanted to put my searchlight on them as I came up behind the boats, but somehow I restrained myself and managed to just keep my hands on the wheel and steer the boat. Don't want to scare those fish, do we!

In any event, as soon as we were clear of the break wall, I engaged the autopilot and sat back for the long trip across Lake Michigan. The waters were smooth enough starting out, so I ran at the same mid range speed that we ran yesterday to conserve fuel.

I had set up two routes over to Chicago in case I needed to avoid heavier seas. The preferred route took me on a straight line from St Joseph to the entrance to the harbor in Chicago's lakefront. Very simple. One waypoint! The alternate route took me Southwest to near New Buffalo, MI, then West to near Indiana Harbor, then on up to Chicago. This is the route that the forecast said was less than 1' waves. The straight across route gave us 2' waves near the middle of the Lake.

We were out of sight of all land after we were 15 miles into the Lake. We got into 2' seas as predicted about 18 miles into the trip as the wind picked up from the South- Southwest. Because we were going into the seas, "Blue Moon" handled them well, and while the ride was bumpy, it was not intolerable. At 9:50 we were halfway across the Lake, and the wind began to be less of a problem. The seas gradually flattened and at 11:30, we were 3/4 of the way across the Lake and it was much smoother.

In previous posts I have talked about the uncanny ability to meet and pass boats very closely way out in a large body of water. It happened again today. Out of sight of land, I saw a sailboat on the horizon. I was traveling Southwest. He was traveling Southeast. Yep. We passed within a quarter of a mile of each other. No other boats in sight! How does that happen? Time, distance, course, speed, wind and wave action, etc. all influence these things.

Hmmm. Here comes a sailboat

Getting closer

Just the two of us out in the middle of Lake Michigan. Beep Beep!

Just beyond this point. Chicago started to come into view through the very thick haze that was in front of us. I had expected to be able to see the City maybe 40 miles out, and certainly 30 miles out because of the tall buildings. It was so hazy that we really did not see the City until we were less than 15 miles out! Very disappointing, for sure. Our phones and iPad also changed over to Central Daylight Time when we were about 3/4 of the way across. We had gained an hour!

Can you see it through the haze?

A Little Clearer

The autopilot took us right to the harbor entrance. I had not touched the wheel in 60 miles. Amazing! We entered an outer break wall, then the inner break wall and motored to the marina - DuSable Marina. Even on a Friday, there was a lot of boat traffic, specially sailboats under sail.

This is one of the biggest marinas in which we have stayed. It has mostly big sailboats that are moored here permanently. We had our slip assignment given to us when we made reservations earlier in the week, so when we got into the marina, Susan checked with them by phone and we found our slip. Again, tie up was on our own just like last night. No problems this time, as we have floating docks that Susan negotiated with ease and got us tied off. We are sooooo glad to get across Lake Michigan, and while we are technically still in the Lake here in Chicago, we know we don't have to go OUT IN IT again beyond the break wall.

The aforementioned thunderstorms did materialize later this afternoon, and we got ugly skies and rain. This evening, we managed to get off the boat, and we walked to the Navy Pier on the waterfront just North of us and across the Chicago River.

The Google Maps do not tell you that there is an underground infrastructure of roads and parking garages and other various structures just to the West of the shoreline. We walked West under the famous Lakeshore Drive and quickly found that we were underground. The main streets going North and South in this area are underground with a city built on top of them! A little disconcerting especially with all the crime you hear about in Chicago.

We found a main drag, Columbus Ave, and got out of the Underground when we got to the Chicago River. Still more walking Northbound, then more walking East, and we were at the Navy Pier, which is a huge entertainment and restaurant complex built out into Lake Michigan on an old pier. We ducked into Harry Carey's Restaurant as rain began to fall again, and ate dinner. After eating, skies were still threatening, so we hopped a cab back to DuSable. The Chicago skyline right above the marina is amazing at night!