Monday morning at 8:55 I went up to the marine store here in Alpena marina. The owner saw me sitting on a bench and asked if I was waiting for him to open or just holding the bench down. Showed him the exploded pulley and he nodded. He said he didn't carry parts like that but he could put me in touch with a Merc dealer.
Spoke to the Merc dealer and got the part nailed down and ordered. Went ahead and ordered 2. Might as well swap out the pulley on the Port motor while I'm at it. His wife will bring them here once they arrive at the shop.
I went up to thank the marina owner and give an update. He gave me a map of the area and suggested some places to check out. Have to say the folks here are very accommodating.
We walked to the NOAA Marine Heritage center. It's a small museum that has a glass bottom shipwreck tour. We decided to go on the tour. From reading the exhibits there are estimated to be 150 wrecks in Thunder Bay. So far they know the exact locations of about 50.
We got on the tour boat Lady Michigan. She has 2 Decks. Top is open except for the pilot house. The bottom has the viewing area and more seats.
Before we got going I mentioned to the captain that it was us he hailed while being towed in. We were in the channel getting switched to a side tow when they were returning from a tour. He starting asking about our boat and out trip. We filled him in on our adventure.
The tour was about 2 hours. Once clear of the channel and at cruise speed the captain invited us to sit with him in the pilot house. We chatted about the area, his experiences and ours. When we got near the first wreck we headed down to view and he said to come back for the return trip.
The water is fairly clear and the wrecks are fairly shallow. These things have been under water around 150 years but there is still a lot you can identify.
The eclipse was taking place and we tried to get some pictures. The best ones were when it was cloudy. We got to see the sun at about 50% blocked.
We saw 1 more wreck and went by Thunder Bay Island lighthouse (which is where this part of the adventure started).
On the way back we sat with the captain again. He asked when we'd have the part we needed to get back under way. We said Tuesday. He said we'll you will be in Alpena a couple more days then. That's when we found out there were gale warnings for Tuesday and Wednesday. Waves of 4 to 6 feet with possible 10 footers.
We'll watch the weather and see what we end up with but for now we appear to be stuck in Alpena.
No comments:
Post a Comment