The Great Great

Our sunrise this Monday morning.  We didn't truly appreciate the size of this Great Lake until actually moving on it.  Lake Michigan is the world's fifth largest lake overall (the world's largest fresh-water lake by surface area) and at its deepest, it measures more than 900 feet (our depth finder stopped reading at 723 feet deep...it reverted to our draft depth of 3.9'!).  

Linda & Winn of MV "Time Takes Two"

On Saturday afternoon, in the midst of a fierce game of “Kings Cribbage,” we heard a knock on our boat and received an “after-dinner glass of wine” invitation from our next dock Looper-boat neighbors. It was after 10:30 pm before we left Winn and Linda—a  delightful, newly-retired couple from Boston (in the midst of closing on a condo in what will be their new home in South Carolina) who are new on the Loop in their new-to-them boat, “Time Takes Two.” We looked forward to joining Winn and Linda for Sunday lunch and afternoon football (“You MUST root for the Patriot’s,” Linda warned), and now look forward to seeing these new friends again along the Loop.

We arrived in Sheboygan, WI (population:  50,000; the woods and water invite outdoor enthusiasts to visit here) just after sunset last Friday evening.  Despite the darkness, the calm water made for easy docking and the mild temperature inspired us to walk to the nearby downtown area for a late dinner.  At a busy, noisy, locally-owned Italian restaurant, we experienced a wood-fired pizza that was the closest we’ve had to authentic Italian since we ate in an outdoor pizzeria along a narrow street between Rome’s Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon!

This morning, our alarms went off at 6 am.  Mike looked outside:  Dark and clear….No Fog!  Wind was westerly at 15 mph (the top of our comfort threshold), but cruising along the shoreline  provides protection; the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) near-shore (0-5 miles) forecast indicated 1 to 2-foot waves.  Velsignet left Sheboygan Center Marina C26 dock at 6:38 am (after our muffler spit out ANOTHER dead muskrat!  How gross!) to begin today’s cruise to Racine, WI.

The sun went down at 7 pm last Friday night and Velsignet was still 4-5 miles from Sheboygan's marina.  The extra half-hour to get there would give us just enough light to maneuver our way into a dock slip...but not without concern. 
Even with the ability to get an overview of a marina using a program called "NeBO," each approach into a marina, as well as its layout, is unfamiliar territory.

Leaving Sheboygan, we cruised out about 1.5 miles from shore to avoid commercial fishing nets and
passed by this power plant.