Thankful

Psalm 147:1 "Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!"
We are incredibly thankful for the ideal conditions we have had from the start of this trip. God has blessed us with perfect weather and blissfully calm water. True, with almost no wind we've sailed very little, but God knew we needed a few days to find our sea legs and acquaint ourselves with the new boat and equipment. This will sound strange, but it's been a blessing to not have the distraction and commotion of sailing; even Wayne agrees with that (well, somewhat). It's also been a treat to just veg out and relax after months of nonstop preparation activity. We so appreciate the opportunity to sit and do nothing without a long to-do list hanging over our heads.

So, aside from relaxing, how do we pass the time? Well, obviously I'm working on the blog. We're reading our cruising guides to determine where we want to go and what we want to do when we get there. The guides also give us water depths, show us desirable anchorages and the locations and amenities of marinas, and warn us what to watch out for. As I mentioned earlier, Wayne is acquainting himself with the new instruments. I've been taking photos, sorting them out, editing, and preparing to upload them. Cell phone coverage has been surprisingly good, so we've been able to make some phone calls. Then there's just the day to day ordinary stuff like meal preparation and cleaning up.

We left our anchorage in Grand Marais, Michigan around 4:00 this morning. There was a little rain shower early, and Wayne had a visitor - a bat - join him in the cockpit. It was gone by the time I got up, but Wayne barricaded the companionway to keep the little guy out of the cabin, and opened all the enclosure panels to facilitate his escape.

Half an hour ago we passed by Whitefish Point, where many of Lake Superior's shipwrecks are laid to rest. Wayne said there's a shipwreck museum there, which he visited when he did the Trans Superior Race in 2003. We're now headed for Sault Sainte Marie, ETA 3:30-4:00. We WILL have internet service there; we will actually get off of the boat and walk, go out for dinner, go to the grocery store, etc. I’m ready for a boat break!