Thursday, July 19, 2012. Belle Maer Harbor.

We left Lexington in the morning in overcast and drizzly weather. After traveling an hour and a half south, we reached the buoys at the entrance to the St. Clair River and passed under the Blue Water Bridge by Port Huron. In the upper St. Clair River a rainstorm hit us. We slowed down a bit, but otherwise the wind and rain didn't effect us too much (love the pilothouse!), and the visibility wasn't bad. A bass fishing tournament was being held on the river, and the fisherman were out in their open bass boats in the rain. They really earned their prize money today!

St. Clair River (epa.gov)

By the time we reached Anchor Bay the weather had cleared some and we were soon back in our slip at Belle Maer, home sweet home!

Belle Maer Harbor (thefishinghome.com)

 In retrospect, this trip for me was a great experience. Cruising like this has always been a dream of mine. Early in our marriage I assumed it would not be possible because of K's seasickness issues. However, several years ago we took an overnight trip on Lake Michigan with friends Bob and Mary on their boat. We both enjoyed the trip and K did not have any seasickness. This led to our getting into boating and eventually buying our current boat.

We enjoyed visiting a lot of different harbors, and we stopped in different towns on the way down the coast of Michigan than we did on the way north. We really enjoyed cruising with a "buddy boat", and we were fortunate to benefit from Kelly and Deb's experience. We learned about our boat's capabilities and I was impressed with her design and quality. K felt comfortable and secure most of the time onboard. We gained experience in handling the boat and in anchoring overnight. K and I enjoyed each others company while traveling in the enclosed space of our boat for 3 weeks! We look forward to doing more cruising and visiting new areas.