Red Pearl

August 21, 2025, our official launch day! We had hoped to leave yesterday, but it was 3-4 foot waves and we decided it was a “no go” day. Today was supposed to be 0-1 foot waves, but I think it was higher than that.

Stacy (Dea’s sister) and Carol (Dea’s mom) drove us to the boat, helped us load, prayed with us and saw us off!

The plan for today was to cut across the lake from Benton Harbor to Chicago.

We saw a massive freighter on the St. Joseph River and then we had to stop and wait on the train bridge before we left the St Joseph River for the final time.

We made it out to Lake Michigan and began the trek across to Chicago. It was a little unnerving when we could no longer see any land.

The water was a little more “rolly” than we expected, and poor Larry got a little (ok a lot!) seasick!

One of the highlights of the day was when we could make out the Chicago Skyline from about 30 miles out from the city!

We made our way to the DuSable Marina in downtown Chcago.

We were docked right next to where it all started for us 32 years ago! When we were first married, Dea went to Grad School in downtown Chicago and we lived at Lake Point Tower, overlooking Navy Pier and pictured below.

We walked the River Walk and also went to Navy Pier. The boat show was on at the Pier and we saw amazing boats! Then we had Indian food for dinner.

We TRIED to end our day with a peaceful sunset and a drink.

But it’s never as easy as that! Dea noticed that the water pump was not working for the A/C system. Larry doesn’t know exactly what he did, but he went down in the engine room and “burped” air out of the pump and it was working! Thank God for A/C for a better night’s sleep!