Boat Project Weekend

Uh oh... what is Ben up to now? Is this how the boat is going to look all weekend?

Well it's "Boat Project Weekend" here on Seapickle II. Honestly I couldn't tell you all of what Ben has in store for upgrades this season, but the current project is installing arch lights. We've already been working on Seapickle a lot this year, so hopefully we'll be finishing up with the "work" part of the season soon! :-)

In the meantime, I will try to update with blog with some other things we've been working on this spring. We apologize for our absence on the blog lately! It's been a pretty crazy/busy year so far.

Check back soon for some boat project & upgrade details!

-Dana

Happy First Day of Spring!

These photos were taken last Friday at Boaters' Beach. It was a relatively warm almost 50 degrees, especially compared to today, the official first day of Spring! There was a dense fog over the lake, as you can see in the video below, but we still saw at least one fishing boat out. If you listen closely to the video, you can hear the sound of the waves breaking on shore... ahhhhh I missed that sound.

It'll probably still be another month at least until Seapickle II returns to the lake, but hopefully we'll have a few more hikes to Boater's Beach before then. And we'll remember next time not to take the "long route" which added about an extra hour to our hike!

View from the bottom of the sand dune, looking toward the lake

Dana and her favorite hiking stick of the day

Caught Ben looking wistfully at the frozen lake

Great News for Northwest Indiana Boaters!

copied from http://www.nwitimes.com

Army Corps commits $5.2M for Great Lakes repairs

Associated Press

NEW BUFFALO, Mich. (AP) — A top official of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says her agency will spend $5.2 million in Hurricane Sandy relief funds to repair 10 Great Lakes harbors, including three in Northwest Indiana.
U.S. Sen. Carl Levin says the assistant Army secretary for public works told him Wednesday that the money will cover work at Indiana's Burns Waterway, Burns Waterway Small Boat and Michigan City harbors.
Waukegan harbor in Illinois and six harbors in Michigan — New Buffalo, Holland, Muskegon, Saugatuck, South Haven and St. Joseph -- will also receive funds.
Levin says Jo-Ellen Darcy told him the work is part of $19 million in hurricane recovery funds being used for work on the Great Lakes.
Congress in January approved emergency Hurricane Sandy relief funds. Levin says the Great Lakes sustained millions in storm damage.

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/laporte/michigan-city/army-corps-commits-m-for-great-lakes-repairs/article_25e87e13-dd98-5e50-bc52-d1b209d33ede.html

This is great news for those of us (probably all of us) southern Lake Michigan boaters who have been worried about getting our boats to the lake this spring! Bring on boating season!

Yearning for Adventure

Croker Island in the North Channel, Ontario, Canada

Really missing the summer and our boating/traveling adventures lately. Maybe it's the snow/ice/sleet/rain mix we've been getting here in Northwest Indiana all day. Maybe it's just that summer just seems so close... or maybe I just need to find an adventurous winter hobby! Any ideas?

Planning our 2013 Trip!

Door County is famous for it's gorgeous sunsets!

We have spent this off season trying to decide what the coming 2013 boating season would hold for us. Lately we've been considering putting our adventures on hold and selling our beloved Seapickle, after all we are just a couple of working stiffs and this economy just doesn't seem to be getting better. For now we plan to hang on for at least one more season before seeing what other adventures life has in store for us.

There are so many places we want to see but we can only choose one for our big trip. Initially we planned on giving the North Channel a second chance since our first trip there was derailed by a break down for 4 days, and a rough night spend on the rocks after dragging anchor. After much thought we decided it was time to return to Door County Wisconsin. Ben's family visited Door County every summer for their family vacation and we spent a week there when we were dating. We can't wait to experience it by boat.

Although we did visit Sturgeon Bay while avoiding a storm in our 2010 trip  the weather was so bad we weren't able to explore the area. This time we will be trailering instead of cruising the 225 miles north from our home port. This will give us the extra days we will need to cross the famous Port Des Morts  channel, otherwise know as Death's Door, as we head north to the Garden Peninsula of Michigan for a few nights of anchoring under the stars. This small passage is a watery grave for the many ships who have run aground here trying to pass between Green Bay and Lake Michigan.

www.doorcounty.com

Some other stops will include Egg Harbor, Fish Creek, Ephraim, and Sister Bay! Although we will mostly be staying in marinas we are hoping to spend a night or two in picturesque Nicolet Bay or Horseshoe Island a long the way. As always we will post many pictures and share our trip with you! We hope if this is our last big adventure that's it's a good one :-) (dana's note - what?!? this is NOT our last big adventure!)

Preparing for Winter

Pulling the boat out one last time for 2012

Well we've come to the end of another wonderful season with Seapickle II, and normally this starts the most depressing time in a boater's life....winter :-( Part of the reason we bought the trailer was to open up our storage options and more specifically so we could store the boat in heated storage instead of the outdoor storage we have used in past years. Once we had plenty of space cleared out in the warehouse we still had one major obsticle to overcome, the top of the boats arch was 4-6 inches taller than the opening of the garage door. We spent the last month cleaning and clearing space all while assuming the boat would fit so I was determined to find a way to squeeze under that door! Our only option would be to remove the boats arch.

One of the 6 bolts holding the arch on

After removing a few panels in the cockpit we were able to easily access the 6 bolts that hold the arch to the hull of the boat. We were unsure how heavy the arch was so we asked Ben's dad Bill to be there to hold the arch while Ben removed the bolts. Once all 6 bolts were removed we were shocked at how light this arch really was.

Dana posing with the dropped arch.

We set our V birth fill-in cushion on the helm and rested the arch on it without any problems and now the boat cleared the door with ease!

Bill standing by Seapickle II in her new winter home

Dana showing that there is plenty of room for those winter projects!

Once under the door we had plenty of ceiling height inside the building so we raised the arch back up, after all we don't want that big arch getting in the way of our mid winter cocktail parties we're planning ;-)

Stay tuned for some winter projects!

Monroe Reservoir, Bloomington Indiana

September 12-14, 2012:  As the season is winding down we are finding fewer and fewer days to enjoy our home waters of Lake Michigan. This time of year the north winds are more prevalent making for cool weather and choppy water...what a great time to head south! We have often talked about visiting Monroe Reservoir in Bloomington, Indiana and it looks like this weekend will be a perfect opportunity to check out one of the largest inland lakes in our area.

Racing the sunset to Monroe Reservoir

Loading Seapickle II for a late launch

We got a much later start to our 3 1/2 hour drive than we originally planned, and wouldn't be arriving at the Paynetown Recreation Area launch ramp until dark. Normally, we wouldn't even consider boating on a lake for the first time in the dark. But since we knew what cove we wanted to anchor in, and since it was only a few miles from the launch, we figured we could take it slow and be fine.

Dana excited to try a new lake

The launch ramp at Paynetown was a really nice, wide concrete ramp that was well lit. Also, a nice feature was the courtesy docks just south of the ramp. Once in the water we took a 3 mile cruise at idle speed to a secluded cove our friends Joe and Miranda recommended to us based on their many years of experience boating on Monroe. We found the cove with no problems and slowly backed in and dropped our anchor in the middle of the small cove!

We sat in the back of the boat for a while just listening to the sounds of nature coming from the thick woods that surrounded us. There were two owls communicating with each other, and it sounded like one of them was at the back of our cove!  Tired from our drive, we decided to get to bed and planned on an early start to our exploration of the lake.

Just as we were shutting of the last light, we heard the hair raising sounds of something very large trying to claw it's way into the back of the boat!! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?? I grabbed a flashlight, flung the cockpit door open only to hear a giant splash, and I mean giant splash, behind the boat. I nervously shined my flashlight all around just trying to catch a glimpse of whatever was messing with us. Was it a Sasquach? An irritated local? I never saw a thing. After a while I gave up my search and hoped whatever it was wasn't going to bother us again.

Steam rising at dawn

A beaver swimming across the front of our boat

In the morning once it was light out, I quickly checked the swim platform for any giant foot prints or claw marks...none were found at that time.  Ready to get a start to the day we fired up the propane Coleman coffee maker and started to make our breakfast. We really liked this cove with the exception of the weird noises last night, but still planned to move on to see other parts of the lake.

Making coffee

The Back of the Cove

A Beaver Den

We pulled up anchor and headed out to see how different this 11,000 acre reservoir looked in the daylight. With the help of our map and gps, we found it very easy to navigate with very few hazards to avoid. Cruising around we kept a sharp lookout for a good cove to stay in for the night. The lake was now filling up with boats so we figured we would pick a cove facing the west for a sunset, and come back to it later once the day boaters started clearing out.

Party Cove

The Dam

Feeling too lazy to prepare lunch, we decided to try out the resturaunt at Four Winds Resort and Marina. We pulled into a courtesy dock and walked up to the hill to the Windjammer restaurant. We really enjoyed the food and atmosphere. They even had a good selection of micro brew beers!

Courtesy and Fuel dock

The Windjammer

Ben doing the Robot?? Nope, just an awkward photo

After we ate, we decided to see if any of the coves we picked had cleared out. We cruised back towards the dam since we saw a few in the Sugar Creek area. Our first choice still had a big houseboat in it, but the nice cove next to it had almost completely cleared out except for one ski boat. The cove was large enough though, so we pulled in towards the back and set our anchor.

Our cove for night 2

As we settled into the cove, we were disappointed to see that the sky had become mostly cloudy, since we were hoping for a good sunset tonight. As we relaxed with cocktails and played a few games of Phase 10, the clouds suddenly broke and gave us an incredible sunset!

Too cloudy for a Sunset?

We looked up from our game of Phase 10 and the sky was on fire!

The next morning brought clear blue skies and warmer weather. We made coffee and breakfast on the back of the boat, and then spent the the majority of the day swimming, floating on our rafts and walking the shore looking for fossils.

Looking out from our cove in the morning (we slept in past sunrise)

Seapickle hanging out in crinoid cove

Ben hanging out on his raft

Alligator? Dana?

Dana hunting for fossils

When we got to shore for the first time, we were AMAZED at the amount and size of the crinoids, geodes and other fossils embedded in rocks. While we have found many crinoid stem pieces on the shore of Lake Michigan, we had never seen any quite like these! We can't wait to go back and check them out again.

Giant Crinoids and other fossils

While swimming back to the boat, Ben decided to take a look under the swim platform to see if there were any traces of the (animal?) that was on our boat Friday night. Once he saw the pattern of the teeth marks and the peeled-up plastic on the outdrive, he knew that cute little beaver we saw in the first cove must have been the culprit!

Damage done by beaver

It was getting late in the day Sunday, and we had a 3 1/2 drive home ahead of us, so we finally gave in and left our cozy "crinoid cove" to begin the journey home. Unfortunately, many other boats had the same idea at the same time, so the docks and ramp were pretty busy with boats being put on trailers. We waited our turn and actually did a really good job of getting the boat on the trailer quickly and right the first time! (we're getting better at this)

One last look

We had a scenic and relaxing drive home, filled with conversation about the next trips we would take!

Driving Home