What is that?

I came tumbling out of the berth at 0400 this morning. I don't think it was the rain that woke me up. We were expecting rain. I don't remember hearing any thunder or seeing any lightning. What I was hearing and what had likely woken me up was the sound of a boat engine running nearby. At 0400 in the morning in rain and some wind? That is a sure signal that something is going very wrong for someone. It was really dark and I had no good idea how to interpret the confusion of lights I was seeing as I headed out on deck. What I could figure out was that there was a sailboat motoring past our stern with someone on the foredeck clearly stowing an anchor. He did not sound happy when I asked him if all was well. They motored off into the darkness and I didn't see them again. Come morning all of other boats that were anchored with us were still around.

The rain didn't last long but there was no going back to sleep after that. The first light showed in a sky that had a tinge of red. Mmm...red sky in the morning, sailors take warning. But the winds were calm and behind the tinge of red was a blue sky with small puffy clouds. A review of the current forecasts suggested a weather window that looked good enough to move to our next planned stop. So we moved. At least one other boat made the same call and we followed them out into the Lake. There was some rolling motion but it wasn't bad, though it was too much for the auto pilot. Given the short night and hand helming in rolling seas for nearly 5 hours, it felt like a long day.

We are not on the big lake tonight. We motored down a canal into Lake Charlevoix and up into an anchorage recommended to us by good friends who have already been this way. We are about 3 miles inland from the Lake Michigan. This time it looks a pretty sure bet that tomorrow is a stay-put kind of day. The forecasted winds for right now, out in the big lake, are showing just shy of 24 knots. (I didn't say it was a big weather window.) Tomorrow is more of the same. When our friends stopped here they sat for several days before the big lake was quiet enough to tangle with. We hope to be gone after just two nights here. But what we hope has nothing to do with what will happen. We just have to wait and see. 

A boat bit; our wash down pump croaked this morning while pulling up the hook. We don't have the right spare on board but we did have an extra pump for the tank water. It doesn't have near the oomph of a wash down pump, but it is better than nothing. A bit of boat maintenance after a short night and a longish day. It comes with the territory.