Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Sailing Trip Log

The Sanctuary
June 16th – 19th 2008
Apostle Islands Lake Superior

June 16th
Arrival into Bayfield was pleasant with sunny skies and beautiful weather. Some of us toured the shops in Bayfield while awaiting approval to check into the Sanctuary. We were finally allowed onto the 49’ beauty at about 5:30 where we completed the inventory checklist and familiarized ourselves with our little home on the lake. I want to note that this trip was Sanctuary’s and our 1st time sailing.
We had dinner and drinks at a cute little restaurant called Maggie’s. The restaurants décor was quite unique. The outside was one of the brightest pinks I have ever seen and the inside was full of flamingos in every shape, size and form. We returned to the Sanctuary at nine or so and sat around chatting while waiting for the last couple to arrive. They had a late start to their trip and finally arrived just after eleven. We visited for a short time then went to bed.
June 17th (Mostly sunny with good winds to sail)
7:00a.m. we woke up to get ready to depart. The goal was to depart at about 9:30 however, there were a few kinks to be worked out first. We realized when we were loading the boat that the refrigerator was not cooling and the captain’s room bathroom was not working properly.
10:30a.m. was departure from Port Superior Harbor. Captain Jim of Port Superior marina took us out of the pier, checked the sails, took pictures and left us to sail. Five minutes into our trip Captain Phil announced it was “Miller Time”. I thought that was the first sign to a good trip.
11:00a.m. Captain Phil & Todd started to teach Joe the basics of sailing. I’m pretty sure he’s gonna be hooked.
12:00p.m. The winds got heavy for a short period and Ae-nan was thrown from her seat. She decided to stay there for a while.
1:30p.m. we arrived at Raspberry Island. We set the anchor and took the dingy to the island where we took a ½ mile hike to the Raspberry Island lighthouse. Tim Williamson gave us a wonderful tour of the head lighthouse keeper’s home and the tower.
After returning to the boat Todd & Phil decided to show everyone up and jump into to the frigid Superior waters. I am pretty sure Phil regretted that move as soon as he hit the water.
We had a 5 star dinner thanks to Chef Phil and Ae-nan. They made a spicy kielbasa ravioli soup for an appetizer and bulgogi with rice as the main course. WOW! We also had mojitos then went around the tip of Raspberry Island to watch the sun set. We couldn’t have asked for better weather today and the sun set was absolutely stunning.
Phil twisted our arms into watching “Waking Ned Devine” and we went to bed. I do have to note that I really liked the movie and am glad I watched it. (Thank you Phil)

June 18th Sunny skis with brief breezes
9:30a.m. we departed from Raspberry Island.
10:30a.m. We decided at this point that it would be best to use the motor or we were guaranteed to get to the next destination by 2020.
Noonish we arrived at the west side Devils Island where we monkeyed around on the dingy viewing it’s stunning caves. It was surrealistic to see nature at its best.
1:30p.m. At this point the bugs caught up with us and made it almost impossible to talk to anyone. I think some of the crew ate their fair share. It’s protein right?
2:00p.m. we left Devils Island by motor
3:00p.m. We are sailing once again however, the crew did several tacks to get any sort of wind. We did make it up to 4knots for a while.
7:05p.m. Most of the crew is pretty liquored up. We had lots of fun conversation including the teaching of “You can do it put your ass into it” by Ice Cube to Ae-nan. Thanks to Jeff for bringing his very diverse I-pod we had one heck of a laugh. After our conversation about just about everything imaginable we had Sam’s Club chicken wings of which Ae-nan decided to make her way even though it wasn’t her turn to cook. On this trip everyone learned that Ae-nan is the “Queen” of the kitchen and no matter what you thought you were doing in it she is in control.
8:25p.m. We have arrived at Stockton Island. We throw down the anchor and enjoy the evening.
Sometime later we notice that we have lost Jeff to the Rum & Cokes and he decides to sing to the crew. Chewbacca must be very influential in his life. The crew did their part in making sure Jeff didn’t fall overboard and called it a night.
June 19th Sunny skies with no wind
8:00a.m. we woke to eat breakfast and head out on the dingy looking for the shipwreck in Julian Bay off Stockton Island. The wreck was an old schooner named “Noquebay”. (No Jeff though)
Sometime later we leave Julian Bay heading towards the marina. Captain Phil & Todd decide to try doing a wing-on-wing maneuver to get some wind and failed since there was just no wind. Well I guess they didn’t completely fail – we would have made it back in approximately 28 hours.
12:30p.m. At this point Phil taught me all about the GPS since she was too afraid to do the whole sailing thing. (Brief appearance by Jeff)
2:15 We have arrived at LaPort on Madeline Island. We were going to go tour the island however, we ho-hummed around to long to go so we headed back to the marina.
3:30p.m. Jeff has decided to try to join us today but feels pretty rough.
4:00p.m. we are back on dry land at the Port Superior marina. We did a bug scrub down of The Sanctuary and said our “goodbyes”.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” –Mark Twain

As you can see it was a wonderful vacation away from our kids. I will post more pictures when I get them.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

It's official - Our kids are getting older which only means Joe and I are doing the same. Hannah turned 8 last Wednesday and just loved her new room. We let her see it a day early because that is how we do most holidays around here. She loves it! I might love it more then her but, that's because I know how much work went into completing it. We stimulated the economy by getting her new dressers and a nightstand because her new room doesn't have a closet. Which is fine at this age because all their cloths are so little. In a couple years we will rethink the furniture situation. We also have some shelves that will go up behind her bed for all her little collectibles and such. Joe has officially wiped his hands clean of this project and is off to his garage again.
-BEFORE-

- AFTER-


(It's hard to get a good after picture with her room now having a door)

Then on Friday I did what any other loving parent would do...I let Hannah invite all her little friends over for her birthday celebration. There were 14 girls total with 7 spending the night. OH MY GOSH! Everything went wonderful except for the sleeping part. I last checked on them at 12:30 and only 2 of 8 were asleep. I thought a movie would knock them all out after playing outside all afternoon but, of course I was miserably wrong. They just don't stop! By the time I got to sleep Owen decided to wake up for his once nightly feeding then I dozed off again only to hear the girls playing "don't let the balloon touch the ground". This was at 7:00 A.M.! I knew they could be early risers but, I assumed that would only be if they went to sleep early. HA! Oh well they all had fun and Hannah said she had a great birthday and that's all that matters to me.