Lake Michigan (Green Bay) Fury!

Last night I paid my dues! For all the perfect days we've had, ya gotta pay the piper at some point. I've never had a night like that. A super-strong wind and huge swells battered Breaking Away against the dock wall in Fish Creek on the Green Bay side of the Door Peninsula in Wisconsin, where we were tied up. I had to constantly position the fenders to keep us from smashing to bits against the wooden posts sticking out from the dock. I stayed at it until 4:30 am, when I repositioned our ropes, which eased the banging enough to allow the fenders to keep their positions, which in turn allowed me to finally go to bed despite the continued violent action.

This is a photo of where it all took place. I had called ahead for a slip in the harbor, but they were full and said I could tie to the outer dock wall. It was getting windy, and I wanted SOME protection vs anchoring out, and at that point the wind was coming from the west and I would have been protected.

I snapped this picture in the late afternoon yesterday before a storm came over and dumped rain and strong winds from the NW. The winds were bad, but not as bad as during the night. And, the funny thing was, when the storm passed over, it was totally calm and the sun came out. Rick and I went to a tavern for dinner and to watch the Dodgers play the local team, the Milwaukee Brewers (Dodgers won!). By the time we walked back to the boat at 10:30, the wind had resumed and now was coming in from the North, smack dab into us. Our only exposed side was to the North, and the swells were coming in from exactly that direction.

I added fenders to the ones already out. I tied them around the wooden posts, but as the rocking got wilder, the fenders kept getting knocked to the sides and then the boat would hit the posts - HARD and up and down. I kept having to move from one post to the next keeping the fenders in place. I continued at this for about three hours, and was thinking I would do it all night long. I didn't hear from Rick, who was sleeping upstairs in the flybridge, so I assumed he was asleep and I figured one of us ought to get some sleep. I found out this morning he couldn't sleep with all the banging around, but he didn't know I was outside working.

About 4:15 I saw that our mid-line ("spring" line) was chafing against the metal dock and might fail eventually, so I decided to retie it and to add a second spring line. That improved the rocking action considerably since the swells were now allowed to push the boat away from the dock slightly. I noticed right away that the fenders now were not being jostled the way they had been, and they stayed in place when the boat banged into them. I studied the new situation for 15 minutes and the fenders stayed in place the entire time, so I decided to hit the hay. I fell asleep, but also awoke a few times and checked the fenders and they continued to stay in position. Whew!

This morning, the winds were still ferocious and predicted to continue with the possibility of new storms from the N. Luckily, a boat left its slip and they allowed me to take it. We're now on the back side of the pier in a protected slip, tied to both sides and not touching the dock at all. Three kind people helped me shove off when I departed, which was a trick in itself since the wind wanted to push me right back against the dock.

I later took a nap, assisted other boaters coming or going, and now am updating my blog! We may have to stay here another day to wait out the winds. For the entire 240 miles down to Chicago, we'll have to watch the weather and harbor-hop. No more anchoring out for a long time. These Great Lakes didn't get their ominous reputations for nothing!

My last blog entry was from Beaver Island, just a half day into Lake Michigan from Mackinac Straights. We were also waiting out bad weather there. Well, the next morning, the forecast was for some heavy seas, but they would be right at us and diminishing to almost nothing in the afternoon. Therefore, we departed early, heading SW directly across open water of the Great Lake, destined for Washington Island in Wisconsin, 70 miles away (just a few miles this side of the Door Peninsula, which juts out into the lake from Green Bay).

All went according to plan across the lake until about 2 pm. Instead of diminishing, the seas got bigger AND the swells switched to hitting us broadside ("abeam") from the NW. I finally could no longer continue SW and had to turn 90 degrees to NW, straight into the growing swells. It was bad for about 2 hours, although not nearly as bad as it had been several days earlier in our Lake Huron Fury ride to Mackinac Island.

Our new NW heading took us back to Michigan, but silver linings abound for us if we only look for them! One of our books mentioned Fayette State Park, and it looked like it had a well protected cove as long as the single dock had availability. After 11 hours of non-stop cruising, we arrived at the cove after passing spectacular limestone cliffs such as the ones in this picture.

Sure enough, there were only two other boats at the park dock, and it was totally protected from the incoming winds and swell (see next photo at how tucked-in we were). What a relief to be done after 11 hours! After a beer, some phone calls, a shower, and dinner (Rick BBQed chicken on our grill), we began our exploration of the state park grounds.

Notice the old buildings in this and the next picture. This was a VERY interesting place! From 1867 to 1891, it was a bustling town (Fayette) centered around a huge "pig iron" factory. When the factory closed in 1891, just about everyone left except the hotel remained until 1950 as a tourist attraction for those wanting to see the "ghost town". In 1959 the state turned it into a preserved museum, with excellent exhibits showing how the people lived and how they made the pig iron.

The next morning we took a long hike, and this view from across the bay, atop the limestone cliffs, was sure pretty! You can see Breaking Away down at the dock, in front of another trawler.

Pig iron was an intermediate product used in steel making. The raw iron ore was shipped by train from upper MI, barged across on the water to Fayette's docks (which used to line the entire bay), and then melted with the nearby limestone in huge furnaces. This process separated out impurities and concentrated the iron into blocks. To fire the furnaces, they had to convert local hardwoods into charcoal in their huge kilns. The iron blocks were then shipped to Detroit and other factories to make steel.

Most of the original buildings/homes/stores/hotel/theater/bank were preserved and/or rebuilt, furnished, and explained with signs and exhibits. It was totally interesting, and in a beautiful setting to boot. We were SOOO glad the previous day's weather caused us to go there.

After Rick's big Sunday brunch he made, we set out on a perfect day on the lake to reach our original destination at Washington Island in Wisconsin (passing to Central time zone). We tied up at a marina in Little Detroit Harbor, and set out on our bikes to see everything the island had to offer. The first place we arrived was Nelsen's Bitters Bar. Totally famous place as it turns out! Tom Nelsen in 1899 invented a "tonic" to cure stomach ailments, but sold this 90-proof booze from his bar. When Prohibition hit in 1919, he convinced the Feds that his was a pharmaceutical, so he got his pharmacy license and was approved to continue to operate his bar selling this booze. Wisconsin now says his is the longest continuously operating bar (selling alcohol) in the state.

This picture shows the bar maid and Rick getting ready for his "cure".

The fun part is that they've made drinking the bitters tonic into a phenomenon, and Rick didn't want to pass up the opportunity. You drink the shot, and then sign their official book, and receive a personalized membership card in the Bitters Club. Over 10,000 belong to this exclusive fraternity of drinkers!

After he downed the bitters and became a club member, we had our sandwich lunches and our beers, and continued on our bike ride to the north end of the island. No, Rick did not swerve all over the road. It was only a shot, probably as much alcohol as if he'd had his usual second beer. No biggie!

Our biking road took us to a beach that was famous for its being all stones and zero sand. See in the picture? The Great Lakes water temps have been warm (72), so we took swims to cool off. It was pretty difficult to walk on those stones, lemme tell ya. On the ride back, we also saw an old Norwegian church from 1895; turns out that all of the Door Peninsula was settled by Scandinavians and is still predominately so.

We left Washington Island late in the afternoon seeking an anchorage. The best was on the south side of the peninsula even though our plan was to harbor-hop down the northern side. So, we went about 90 minutes SW to Rawley's Bay and anchored in a still cove all by ourselves. When it's still, you can hear people's conversations a long ways away at their homes, and they can probably hear us too. You can also watch the moon rise and reflect off the lake to the east.

Unfortunately, a wind did come up during the night, and it was from the exposed south. That would not have been so bad except the incoming swells were from the east, meaning they hit us broadside since the bow was facing into the south wind. Man, our peaceful anchorage was soon a pain in the rear. By morning, after rocking side to side all night, we headed over to the now-protected north side of the peninsula, arriving in the village of Ellison Bay early, and tied to the town dock for the day and night.

We spent most of that day (Monday) riding our bikes all over the top of the beautiful, wooded, and uncrowded peninsula. In the village to the north was a maritime museum which we toured. After a yummy lunch with a spectacular view, we biked to a state park and Rick went in the water. This was the tip of the peninsula, so we had passed it on the water both going and coming earlier.

For my biking friends out there, don't tell, but we rode our bikes on a hiking trail for a few miles in the state park! Skinny road tires are NOT meant for trails, but we survived....slowly. Hey, ANYONE can ride a road bike on roads, but WE rode trails!

After we returned to the boat, I took a ride on to the village to the south and arranged to have my second battery replaced the next morning. That advice I'd gotten in Ontario that I needed only one new battery was wrong. I needed both, and this one had gone completely kaput.

Then came a highlight of the trip -- the Fish Boil. It has been a traditional dinner experience in Door County for 100 yrs, invented by Scandinavian fishermen to feed their flocks. The restaurant only 60 yards from our boat had been one of the earliest to popularize it for "regular" folks and tourists, back in 1935.

The "chef" starts by boiling a huge cauldron of water over a wood-burning fire. Into it they add butter and salt, then later, locally grown new potatoes. A bit later in go the onions. Finally, with 10 minutes left, he adds the fresh Lake Michigan Whitefish.

This picture shows the "chef" watching carefully for the critical point in the process -- the "boil over".

The fish oils boil over and the fat flash-burns into a flame ball!! An instant or two later, they pour water on the fire and steam shoots high into the sky. They learned to make it a dramatic tourist attraction by tossing some diesel fuel into the fire at the very moment the fat boils over, so that the flare-up is totally cool to see. What would be a normal flame-up is a HUGE flame-up, and he yells out "boil over" right as he tosses in the diesel fuel!

Almost immediately they lift the strainer food pot from the cauldron and the "chef" calls out, "Dinner!" We paying customers then go fetch our feast. It truly was yummy. The fish was cooked perfectly. I must not forget to mention that part of the traditional Fish Boil dinner is cherry pie, of course from locally grown cherries.

Yesterday we departed Ellison Bay, stopped in Sisters Bay to get the new battery, and moved on here to Fish Creek, a crowded touristy town. (We passed right over the town of Ephraim because we read it was dry!) But here in Fish Creek it's nice! Lots of flowers, doo-dad shops like this one in the picture, parks, candy shops, restaurants with Fish Boils, and a marina with a dock wall exposed to killer North swells. We'll now see how many lay-over days we will have as we make our way down to Chicago. I'll breathe a sigh of relief when we are finally done with the Great Lakes, even though we've certainly had wonderful adventures here.