Aug 28 2009

August 27 Alpena to Port Austin 66.0 NM

Published by Kip at 1:43 pm under Uncategorized

Underway at 0800 in bright, clear conditions with light winds from the NNW.  Just after we left the harbor and hoisted the mainsail an amazing thing happened. I noticed a bat crawling down one of our lines on the mast to the nest of blocks at the base of the mast and he hunkered down amidst the blocks and stayed there the rest of the day. Royal Eagle has morphed to the Bat Mobile.  We had a calm lake and after listening to the forecast which was calling for strong SE winds and rain for tomorrow, we decided to bite the bullet and make the long trip to Port Austin. It was the right decision as we had an easy fast trip to Port Austin arriving at 1715. We refueled, went to our slipand the headed out to dinner to the Bank. Yes it is a converted bank building and the good food we enjoyed in the past is still being served. We checked on the bat when we returned to the boat and he was still there. We need to do a major cleanup especially the deck so given the forecast we plan to stay here tomorrow. I spoke to our fiends Bill and Connie Bowman who we originally met on our sailing trip in the Maldive Islands and they may be able to join us in Port Austin tomorrow as they are headed north up Lake Huron. I hope it works out.

One response so far

One Response to “August 27 Alpena to Port Austin 66.0 NM”

  1. Patricia Kleinon 28 Aug 2009 at 9:59 pm

    Wow a bat! I bet BCI (Bat Conservation International) would love this story! I hope Royal Eagle (and you) are fine with the bat; and I hope the bat is fine, also. I wonder why he/she did not fly away.

    Sail Safe!