Day 2- Horseshoe Island

When we woke up in the morning everything was very quiet. The night was still and calm my only complaint was the heat. We did not run the generator be cause all week it had been getting very cool at night, but this night did not seem to get as cool. I had woke up through-out the night a bit uncomfortable from the stuffiness, but all and all was not that bad. It may have been the fact Scott and I stayed up late with the fire scavenging for fire wood and make bad decisions with both the fire and consumption of adult beverages...

The next morning we picked the bottles and cans out of the fire that we thought was a good idea to put in there the night before, took a few ibuprofen for the other bad decisions and went for a hike around the island. Grace and Peyton stayed back for some fishing. Grace forgot her tennis shoes so all she had was flip flops not the best for hiking. Plus, Peyton and Pierce just made the hike the day before. There is a trail on the island that is 1k around the entire island. It was a fun little walk and allowed us all to see the sights from the entire island.

After our walk we decided to go to Little Sister Bay to Fred and Fuzzy's resort for lunch. In order to get this done we had to get showered and ready for the day. Scott and I soaped up and did a lake bath. Jill showered on the swim platform as she was not going for the cool morning dip! It was decided to leave Liming (Scott and Jill's boat) on the island and take one boat over due to the shortage of space at Fred and Fussy's, so we all jumped on Always Starboard and were on our way to get some famous fried green beans (our favorite item on the menu).

Upon our return we parted ways with the Derosier's and started our way to Sister Bay as our first port of call on our trip for Friday night. We thought we had never been there before by water, but then quickly remembered being there with our 248 fourwinns and getting stranded with engine problems. Maybe that was why we removed this port from our memory.

The boys had fun at the little beach just next to the marina where they jumped of the break-wall and played in the sand even though the sand was filled with some larger stones. After some beach time we went to dinner, some ice cream and came back to the boat for the night.

Summer 2014 Summer Boat Trip -

This year for our annual vacation we decided to keep it a bit local. Our plan was to have our boat in Sturgeon Bay for the remainder of the season starting at the beginning of August. In the past few years we have left our boat in Sturgeon Bay for an extended time after our trip due to the water conditions on Winnebago after the end of July. 

Our destination was our favorite marina in Sturgeon Bay, Centerpointe Marina. The boat had been there for a couple of weeks prior to our trip. When we arrived at Centerpointe around 10am Thursday Morning we had to do some last min provisioning. Along with that the canvas had a few bad seams so I had it fixed at one of the local shops that morning as well. 

After last years big water trip where the family swore not to do another trip due to the wind and weather, we were tweaking our plan. For the first night the plan was to go stay on the hook at Nicolet Bay or Horseshoe island. Our friends the Derosier's went with us up to our first spot. We swam at Nicolet Bay and took t he dinghy to the beach and enjoyed the afternoon. Weather and waves were not an issue on this day it was beautiful. 

As the day was winding down Peyton and Grace swam to the boat and got some money to buy all the kids ice cream from the beach concession stand. After that we all went back to the boat and went across the bay to horseshoe island for the night. 

The kids gathered wood while the adults made a nice dock side steak dinner. During that time both Peyton and Pierce walked all over the island and had a great little adventure in the woods on their own. 

On the Hook - High Cliff State Park

It was decided late in the evening to run over to High Cliff State Park for a night on the hook. For Susan and I it was our first attempt at this. The same for our friends Scott and Jill who accompanied us in their Regal 2760. Our largest barrier to doing in the past is the hassle we have with two dogs requiring the land to do "their business".

When we made the decision after dinner to do it, Scott and I needed to run back my house to grab the dinghy. Susan and I normally do not leave our dinghy on the boat when we are on Lake Winnebago. There is really no real benefit from having a dinghy on this lake, however, getting the dogs to and from land when anchored it was a must. The dinghy ended up working great and everyone used it to entertain the kids as well as getting Scott and his wife back and forth for their ritual morning runs.

We really lucked out with the weather which was the driving factor for doing this, especially so last minute. Scott and I had talked about it during the week, however, I was having difficulty convincing Susan because she did not want to hassle with the dogs. It turned out the night could not have been better for anchoring. There was absolutely no wind that night and throughout the following day it continued to be eerily calm. 

The area is so beautiful, it is the largest natural shoreline on the lake about three miles of uninterrupted natural shoreline. We woke in the morning to cook breakfast for the entire crew as Scott and Jill are not equipped with a generator. Susan and I were more then happy to cook as they took care of dinner on the dock the night before. While Scott took the kids out on the dinghy he was able to get some great shots of our boats tied up.  

We had both a great evening and morning and all agreed to do this more often. The only downside of this trip was Scott and Jill needed to cut the weekend short. They needed to leave early Saturday afternoon to get their oldest to a Girl Scout Camp and to attend a party at Jill's mother's place for Manitowoc county's annual fly-in airshow.

So many boaters are fearful of anchoring out from the horror stories that many tell.  Many include scary nights on the hook from either storms or tide. Scott and I agreed we really have nothing to worry about and should not over complicate things. We do not have extreme tide effects, being an inland lake, and storms were not going to be an issue this particular night. Even having that security, we did use our Drag Queen app on the iPhone. This is actually a great app as you always have your phone near by and it really never gets turned off. At least my never does...