CHICAGO, IL USA
Well I dropped the ball on this blog, I'm sorry! Lets just start off from where we left off shall we?
After the dune buggy rides in Pentwater I had the boat running and ready to leave the docks. We took off for Grand Haven and hoped that we would be able to find a spot on the wall. It was another beautiful day and the seas were fairly calm. Once outside of Grand Haven we got word that there was still some room on the wall so we tried our hand at fishing.....absolutely no luck at all. Salt water fishing is a bit friendlier to cruising because we troll at 7 knots or so. This way we can still make a little way. Freshwater fishing is different. We have to troll at about 2 knots, which means we aren't going anywhere while we fish. After about an hour we heard that the wall was in fact filling up so we decided to get in to port. Its always fun to dock on the wall (or completely annoying) in Grand Haven because everyone walking down the "boardwalk" wants to help grab the lines for this 90 foot boat. That night was fun in Grand Haven but it would be short lived as the following morning we left for Saugatuck....evil Saugatuck.
Venetian festival was going on in Saugatuck and it was packed. The river was jammed with small boats, big boats, dinghies, and kayaks. It was happy hour and I was on highest alert as I maneuvered up the river. Our slip was still occupied when we showed up but the boat was in the process of pulling out. As I was sitting in the middle of the river doing my best to stay in one spot and stay out of the way a Michigan Conservation Officer came up behind us. It was a busy river, there were boats everywhere so I ignored him. No sooner an officer showed himself on the fly bridge, asking for the captain. The spark of anger began. Not only did an officer board the vessel I was in command of without asking permission, but he had his nice big black soled boots on as well. They are lucky I didn't put the boat in reverse because I would have backed right in to there boat. He demanded that I show him the ships papers and our registration numbers and I advised him that we are a documented vessel with the U.S.C.G. and need not display numbers. He asked me again and I simply stated that I would not continue any conversation until I deemed the vessel in a safe location. I told him that I would be more than happy to turn over command of the vessel to him while I retrieved the ships documents and that anything that happened while under his command was his responsibility. Well being that these two officers could barely handle their 20 foot fishing boat he respectfully declined my offer. He said that we could wait until we got the boat in to the slip. A few seconds went by, I turned around to him and asked that he disembark this vessel while we dock. At this point I think I had him on his heels to say the least, as he scurried down to the aft swim platform and called on his fellow officer quickly. Once at the dock he asked for my license and ships papers. I presented him both. He stated "I don't know what this is, I need your drivers license."
"Sir that is a United States Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Credential."
"Well I'm not sure what it is, drivers license please."
"We aren't in a car sir, I don't believe a police officer would ask for my pilots license if I were driving a car."
....The guy was an idiot and to make a long story a bit shorter there were no tickets given to me or the vessel. Just a good way to get Captain Eric all fired up for a few hours thats all.
Saugatuck was....well what you would expect Saugatuck to be....crazy. It was a good three nights of fun and I even got to play some golf with my girlfriends parents which was very nice. My girlfriend came home for the weekend (She is from Saugatuck) and it was nice to see her as well.
Tuesday morning came all to fast and the summer trip came to an end as I cleared the pier of the Kalamazoo River and put the bow on Chicago. Some eight hours later the skyline appeared in a hazy fog and just as soon as it began, it was over. The owner greeted us at the dock and before I knew it the boat was empty again.
The following day the owners daughter brought in four cleaning ladies and they did a number on the inside of the boat. For eight hours they cleaned, scrubbed, organized, polished, and the boat looked the best it has ever looked. I can not say thank you enough to the owners daughter for pitching in and bringing in that service, what a life saver!
The last two weeks have been slow, and small projects here and there get completed, but for the most part the boat is in great shape. The Air and Water Show is this weekend and Chicago as I anticipate guests for the weekend. The Jets have been flying over the last few days practicing and it is always amazing to me that anyone would ever want to put up a fight against us. Why would you ever try and defeat that? The summer will be drawing to a close all too quickly, but I plan to keep the blog up and running for awhile anyways as a trip to Europe is penciled in for late October. I am debating keeping a separate blog or just continuing this one. If I do start another one I will be sure to post the link on here for everyone to see! Until then, I am sorry I have not been posting but will try and do a better job in the future!
Bonita Out
