Day 52 - DuSable Harbor, Chicago - August 27, 2011

We got up early today and headed to Shedd Aquarium.  We walked along next to Monroe Harbor to get from the boat to the aquarium.  The lakeshore in Chicago is amazing.  There are pedestrian/bike paths all along the water’s edge between Lake Shore Drive and the water.  They are used all day long by runners, walkers, bikers, people on roller blades and even tourists seeing Chicago on a  Segway (a 2-2.5 hour tour is around $50 per person).

We need to get our “air draft” (the distance from the water to the top part of the boat) under 17 feet to get under all the bridges in Chicago.  This means we need to remove the radar, the anchor light and the canvas over the helm station.  We got the radar and anchor light taken care of today and will do the canvas right before we depart.  And speaking of departure, we originally planned to head out Sunday morning (August 28, 2011), but have decided to move that back to Monday.  The wind is still predicted to be blowing quite hard all day Sunday, diminishing later in the day.  We think the advantages of traveling on Sunday (less barge traffic and no issues with the opening of the Amtrak bridge) are outweighed by the disadvantages of trying to manage our first lock when the wind is blowing over 25 knots.

We got to watch fireworks from the boat tonight.  Chicago’s Navy Pier hosts fireworks on Wednesday and Saturday nights during the summer.  Other than fireworks after a Loons game at Dow Diamond, this is the best place for fireworks viewing

            Miles: 0           Bridges: 0        Locks: 0