With Bekkala Diesel working on Freelance, Dan and I turned our attention to our house batteries. It would have been great to have Bekkala look at our charging issues, but we did not want to pull someone away from Commodore Niels boat. We were told about a local battery specialist and arranged a service call for the next morning at the Houghton County Marina. The marina had space for us on their docks, so we could get an electrical connection, as well as water, fuel and a pump out. The marina is in Hancock, across the waterway and on the other side of the lift bridge from the Houghton city seawall.
The next challenge was to talk Niels and Vicki into joining us on our boat and continuing on to Rogers City. They did not want to impose. With much badgering on our part, they relented and agreed to join us. Now keep in mind that since we’ve not done this cruising thing before, we packed Gaviidae with everything we thought we “might” need. We also knew that at least 30% would not really be needed but we brought it anyway – you know about being prepared for anything just in case. It was a challenge to rearrange our “stuff” to give the Jensens some space – amazing how much you can squish into smaller areas. Picture one of those wind-up Jack-in-the-Box toys.
But I’m getting ahead of myself because I really need to talk about hospitality. When I put out the Hail Mary to the WWS group, I got a response back within a very short time from Sheri Lynn who provided her phone number and offered her assistance. This connection resulted in Sheri and her husband Dennis meeting us for pizza at The Ambassador (restaurant, near the Houghton seawall). During this time, Vicki had been getting to know Roy from Roy’s Pasties and Bakery (across the street from our boats). Roy and his wife Trisha also joined us at The Ambassador. So in one short day we had made 4 new friends who offered everything from transportation to hot showers. We also met another sailor while at the restaurant who stopped by the next day to show us his beautiful wooden boat that had been built by his father – more new friends and more hospitality. I love the Keweenaw! Beautiful area and fabulous people.
June 30, 2015
July 1, 2015 47° 07.508’N 88° 34.298’W