Heritage Harbour is located just outside Ottawa Illinois. It is an example of the latest trend in housing developments. Located in what I suspect is an old sand quarry, the marina is surrounded by houses, townhouses and cottages. There are pickle ball courts, beach volleyball, fire pit for 50, a restaurant, tiki bar and swimming pool. Owners can slip their boats in their “backyard”.
The marina is immaculate and welcoming. The harbour master, his wife and staff are all helpful. A courtesy van allowed us to drive the short distance to Ottawa to attend to personal matters like haircuts and pedicures. We really didn’t take any time to explore other than the inadvertent tours caused by the oneway streets – just like home.
We re-encounter some boaters we had meet in Hammond Indiana. They had unfortunately touched bottom and folded every one of the five blades on the propeller. They hired a diver to pull the prop and called a place in Chicago to see if they could find a new one. A Beneteau representative had told them the shaft on their 34 trawler was 2”. They drove to Chicago in a rental to pick up the new prop. It turned out that these European boats have 15 mm shafts. The prop shop is looking for a prop that will fit and will deliver it to Ottawa if they are successful. Otherwise it is an eight week wait to have one cast.
We also ran into Dilly Dally’s sons again at the swimming pool. They too bent a prop. Fortunately, their boat had two replacements propellers on board. They had pulled in for the night so the replacements could be installed.
Good reminder to stay in the channel.
Moon Dance IV 