Bridge? What Bridge?

June 13, 2004
Monroe Harbor, Chicago, IL

Capn’ & Admiral

Up early. Make coffee. Take a few pictures for posterity. Pay the bill at Crowley’s. Take a deep breath.

First Mate on Watch

Get then engine warmed up. Sun block, hats, and sunglasses. Another deep breath.

Ok, we’re ready.

Lake Michigan, here we come!

The Tallest Building in America

Traveling the six-or-so miles up the Chicago river doesn’t seem like a big deal, until you figure in twenty-eight draw bridges (and one fixed at I-94), a lock, tour and freight boats (reserving their right-of-way), Chicago street traffic, pedestrians (who want to watch from the bridge that is about to lift), CTA trains (the “L”), the rail road, six separate bridge crew teams (who try to operate the bridges – some of which are really old), and the 16 boats of our flotilla – and some of us are crazy. We started at 9:00 am. We entered lake Michigan exactly five hours later. We could have crawled faster. For our maiden voyage, it was great!

On Sunday morning, 15 sailboats and one very tall power “yacht” left Crowley’s. Not too bad at first, as the river is wide and there’s plenty of room. We did notice, however, that most of these guys are nuts. They all have light-weight little fin-keeled boats that maneuver like sports cars, while we have this tank, like an old Cadillac Fleetwood with bad tires and brakes, which takes all the power and concentration we can muster to keep it under control. The crazy fin-keelers zip to-and-fro as if there’s not a care in the world and look at us like we are some retro-yuppies in our old fashioned world cruiser. As if they think they know something we don’t.

It’s not a problem. We try to maintain our place in the center of things – in the center of the channel and the center of the flotilla. Not pushing to be the first ones in line, but making sure we aren’t the last ones through – and get razzed over the radio by the bridge tenders trying to lower the bridge.

And, it was great! Cruising right though the heart of Chicago. Past the Sear’s Tower. Past many of the great land marks of the city – State Street, Wacker Drive, Marina Towers, the Wrigley Building. After passing Bridge #29, we all congregated next to Navy Pier, waiting for the lock to open that would take us into Lake Michigan. Once the lock was empty, the green light came on and everyone, from small power boat to big lake cruise ship, filled every inch wall space along the lock. The door closed and up we went. It was over before we even knew it began. The lake side door opened and the four-foot waves of Lake Michigan met us head on. Out we went into the roughness. Magnificent.

Raising Bridges for Floatilla

Moving Through

Sear’s Tower looming

The Chicago skyline and Grant Park to our right, we headed south to our mooring at Monroe Harbor. We tied up at mooring ball “South B 2”. Terrific! We were right in the middle of the harbor, in the front row, with the Buckingham Fountain and the whole city at our deck and all of the harbor and Lake Michigan behind us. The Chicago Blues Festival was in full swing, giving us a free front row seat. I could not think of a better place to wait for weather before our Lake Michigan crossing.

Our View of Chicago from our Mooring in Monroe Harbor.