Drummond Island

Tuesday, August 25

We pushed hard yesterday because the weather was forecast to be bad today, so it was a rest day today. Last night was clear with lots of stars out, living with the light pollution of the city one forgets how beautiful the night sky is with millions of stars out. The clear also lets the temperature drop. This morning was 53 with clouds and blustery winds. Never did warm all day, and we had a couple of periods of rain and heavy blowing mist.

We had a leisurely day, Diana did some painting and reading, while a caught up on the news online. There is some disturbing news for us, the Army Corp of Engineers and Coast Guard have closed the Illinois Waterway at mile 296 indefinitely. This is where they have built the electric fish barrier to keep the Asian Carp out of Lake Michigan just south of Chicago.

My understanding is that they have been running it at a low voltage and allowing boat traffic. They apparently decide that they need a higher voltage and have doubled the current on the water, now they are not sure if it is save for boats to pass through. They have done some testing and are currently allowing barges without hazard material to pass with some restrictions. They are making no comment about when pleasure boat traffic might resume.

We don’t plan to be in that stretch of water for at least two and probably three weeks. If there is no resolution to the situation then we will have to explore the option of putting the boat in winter storage somewhere on Lake Michigan and continuing our journey next summer.

There is a beautiful classic Grand Banks 49 in the slip next to us. It is being prepared for winter storage here in Drummond Island Yacht Haven. Diana got a nice picture of it as it was coming back from the fuel dock.

She also got a picture of Memories and our neighbors from across the harbor.

Late afternoon another band of rain and blowing mist came in and lasted until sunset. It cleared just as the sunset, producing a beautiful sunset.