Chinto Goes to the Apostles - Sept 2023

Slept in again! By 9:00, Tom made a lovely breakfast (steak and egg scramble), and since then we have been doing very little.   Heater is on. Writing, reading, and listening to music. By 1:00 we walked up to Manypenny Bistro (formerly the Egg Toss) for a late lunch, followed by successful supporting a few local stores.  Those of you with September birthdays, you have something coming to you soon with love from Bayfield.   The clouds departed reluctantly by 2:30, dropping a few heavy raindrops that didn't cover the ground.  The southern wind picked up and now it's all sun.  A few sailboats are out, but not like yesterday.  Yesterday was a gorgeous reminder of summer.  Today is a brisk look toward fall and turning leaves.   The game plan for the Chinto's return to Superior is for Mike to arrive tomorrow afternoon and to sail back with Tom on Sunday and Monday.  I will drive Mike's Yukon to Superior, swap it out for my car, and he...

We slept in! The heater was definitely welcome. We ate our breakfast in the cockpit and gave the table an inaugural use (by us at least). After breakfast we decided that Apostle Island Marina (AIM) should be the new home for the Chinto, so we inquired at the marina office about a slip for next year.  And then it got interesting. After December 31, the marina will no longer be managed by Bill Peterson. So no reservation can be made. Understandably the staff, who were going to be out of work come the first of the year, didn't have great things to say about the change.  Being resourceful people, we went to City Hall, learned that Bill is retiring, and that they're looking for a new marine service provider. It doesn't sound great for those who currently have slips at AIM, but it might be perfect for us. So we chatted with Billie, the city clerk, and put in a slip reservation for 2024. Let's keep our fingers crossed! Back at the dock, we topped off the air in the dinghy, Tom...

  Leaving just before sunset at 6 a.m. was amazing. The fog, the twilight, the massive grain docks growing out of the water. The harbor was calm which led us to believe we'd have a smooth low wave day as NOAA predicted. Coming through the Superior exit was a little choppy. But it always is choppy there, we told ourselves. We weren't wrong. But it just didn't get better. The energy built up in the waters from yesterday's wind hasn't subsided. It fostered and manifested itself in waves with no outlet, no direction. The result was cross-direction waves at a constant 2' height, frequently going to 3, and occasionally going to 4.  Low level clouds soon covered the lake and created a 14 knot wind.  This made it colder. At best guess it was 41° when we left. This means it felt like 32°. So, cold + choppy.  On a personal note, I got little sleep, making matters worse. That said, we dressed really warm...warm gloves, hats, many layers ending up with rain pants and jacket...

This was a slow, but perfect start to some vacation time. We slept in, boiled water to put in our new YETI RAMBLER COOLER OF AMAZINGNESS. Behold the Yeti. It will bring us joy tomorrow as we head out pre-dawn allowing us to have boiling hot water for tea and oatmeal while we're underway.  Rain fell on and off all morning making nice background sounds for our tea and breakfast. Morning naps happened, and the rain turned to mist.  I checked the weather constantly. This is the wind today vs. tomorrow. See the legend at the top of each image. At some point today's small craft advisory noted the possibility of 7' waves. Tomorrow will be good. The waves are forecast to subside tonight to a manageable 1-2 ft.  We headed out before noon after Tom topped off our water and made sandwiches.  Our game plan was to check out nature-y things before seeing Equalizer 3 in Duluth at 3:15.   Stop 1: Amincon Falls. We had never been and it was cute!  Sort of mini-Wisconsin Del...

I drove into a very empty Barker's Island Marina parking lot at 7:30. Tom met me to help bring my bags to the boat. He had arrived a couple hours earlier. We quickly decided to forego sandwiches in favor of checking out the waves in Duluth. We'd been vacilating over departure days. Ideally we'd embark on Tuesday, but the forecast of increasing winds out of the east has turned into a small craft advisory. Wednesday seemed like a good choice, but the harbor seemed so calm. Driving to Duluth to see the lake forest hand would help us make a decision.  Canal Park was comfortably crowded for a post-Labor Day Monday night. With heavy clouds ready to open up, we hustled to see the wave action in the big lake. It did not disappoint! Waves were crashing on the breakwater and occasionally over the canal wall as the American Century went outbound under the lift bridge. Though it didn't phase the freighter, the sloshy waves in the canal would certainly toss around a 30' sailboat...