Chicago - Monroe Harbor
SV Meshugga
Nicholas & Deidre Mace
Thu 14 Jun 2018 15:32
6 June 2018 - The End of the first part of our Loop Adventure !
We arrived in Chicago primarily for our son Kieran’s wedding to Katie McHugh, who’s parents live in Geneva, and hence the wedding is to be held near her home town (although Kieran and Katie live in San Francisco).
Chicago Sky-Line
We met our planned itinerary arriving Chicago prior to 15 June, allowing us a good month to explore and sightsee Chicago.
On arriving at Monroe Harbor we anchored on the southern portion, south of the mooring balls, which on the chart is demarcated as Anchorage. The morning after our first night, the Monroe Harbor Master came to tell us that the maritime chart was out of date, and that Anchorage was no-longer permitted anywhere in Monroe Harbor.....
After checking out local marinas, we found we’d need to pay $4/foot/day, equating to $248 per day, i.e. $8600 for the period we’d be in Chicago - and would not be able use their electricity as they only run US 110V and we are a European boat at 220V. We quickly decided that this was beyond our monthly planned Cruising Budget, and looked around for other options.
Shaun and Keith of DuSable Marina/ Munroe Harbor were most accommodating and laid a large mooring ball which accommodated Meshugga, and we tied up to the Ball at a much more reasonable rate of $1/foot/day, i.e. $62 per day.
Unfortunately being a large boat, we were well below/south/at the back of all the other boats on mooring balls, and directly opposite the entrance into Munroe Harbor, so we were subjected to the Lake Swell, boat entering and leaving the Harbor which largely ignored the No Wake Zone, and we became a curiosity turning mark for boats. Accompanied with cold weather, rain, incessant mosquitos, miggies, no-seeums and biting flies, it was not a pleasant mooring.
Meshugga on our Mooring Ball compared to all the other boats on Mooring Balls, and that’s not even with our mast up !!
The daily mess everywhere on Meshugga of bugs, and green stuff from the rain. Very difficult to clean off....
On a happier note, we made a lovely day trip to Geneva to visit our future daughter-in-laws parents, Steve and Maureen McHugh, at their beautiful home on the Fox River, and were impressed that the trains allowed bicycles aboard. After which we popped into the Millennium Park and spent a couple of hours at the Blues Festival, and went to look at the Chicago Bean.
Chicago Bean
A few trips, both chores to stores, and some sightseeing around Chicago, showcased her as a huge modern city. Whilst clean and with a huge variety of stores, and many bicycle lanes, big towns are not quite our thing.