Lakes find us in the Northern part of the country. From Sandusky, Ohio on Lake Erie, we travel north through Lake Huron and end up scooting between the Michigan shoreline and the Canadian shoreline. Leaving Lake Huron we end up in Lake Michigan and travel all along the west coast of Michigan with its endless Sand Dunes. If weather permits, you can travel over to the Wisconsin coastline and travel south to Chicago, Illinois before leaving the lakes and entering the river system. The preparation for traveling the lakes entails multiple research of various apps. First we check our phones for 2 different apps: Boat US and the Windy App. Then we check the Samsung Galaxy Tablet for: The Great Lakes Portal and Predict Winds. From these 4 sources we can learn about: Wave Height, Wind Direction, Wind Speed, Weather, distances between waves and the potential for weather changes during the day. We take the information discerned from these 4 sources, and then discuss this with other Loopers to figure out and debate what we should do the next day or two. One debate might be that the waves are going to be 4 feet and the period between the waves is 8 seconds apart, (or 2 times the wave height) then Loopers might say, “let’s do it”. But if the waves are 4 feet and the period between waves is less than every 4 seconds, that’s a definite “NO GO”! Basically the wave height and the interval between waves is the determining factor. If the wind is going to pick up as the day progresses – NOPE! If the wind is on our stern, then it might be okay to go. But if we are going to be hit broad side all day, NOPE! Then you double check it the morning that you are intending to leave and make another decision. There’s an half-hearted joke where the wife says, “I don’t know about your half of the boat, but my half of the boat isn’t going.” And so we end up staying in towns and exploring longer. We have had multiple weather delays along the western Michigan shoreline and we have made the decision to stay and be safe. After all, it’s called Pleasure Boating/PB, right?! So we would make the best of it and explore and help out the local economy in towns like: Charlevoix – 5 days. Leland – 2 days. Frankfort – 5 days. Pentwater – 4 days. Grand Haven – 6 days.
Then we encounter the river system. We check the weather for thunder and lightning and if that’s not a serious threat – off we go! And off we did. We entered the Illinois River in Chicago and traveled 7 out of 8 days! What?! We whined about being stuck and not being able to travel on the lakes when wind, wind direction, waves, and weather were an issue. Nope! On the river we go! But oh – are we exhausted! What? it looks so calm and you certainly don’t have to deal with the wave height. But – it’s totally different and truly physically and mentally challenging. The first thing we encountered were the Locks. That’s totally new and a little unnerving until we did the first couple of ones. Ok – Check! Got that. Oh wait – truly wait 2 to 3 hours to go through the lock. Commercial traffic will always have preference over us Pleasure Boaters. So you either find a place to anchor or you idle the engine and try to not let the current effect you or run into another boater. And be sure to stay out of the path of the Barges and Tows. What? Yes, you need to constantly monitor the traffic for Barges and Tows and some of them are quite wide and long. We have what’s called an AIS – Automatic Identification System which allows you to see the river traffic that you might encounter. You click on the AIS and it provides helpful information; i.e. the name of the ship, what speed they are traveling, what direction they are traveling/towards you or in the same direction. Then as you get closer, you need to contact the ship on the VHF Radio and ask permission to pass them. Then they tell you to pass on the 1 or the 2. Ok – learned something new again. Pass them on the 1 means to go to the right of them. Pass them on the 2 means to pass to their left. So we slowly inch along and manage to pass them. Did I mention how important staying exactly in the channel is so as not to go aground? The typical depths varied from each lake: Lake Michigan – 279 feet, Lake Huron – 195 feet, and Lake Erie 62 feet. As you can discern from this information, the lakes were so deep that we never worried about going aground unless we were entering into marinas. But the rivers are definitely low this year due to lack of rain. So now we need to factor this in when paying attention for tows and barges and especially when passing them.
