Tuesday, August 31: Charlevoix, MI - We Made It!

We left Mackinac Island yesterday very early (this is the sunrise you see left - not the sunset!) and the waves were nonexistent. This lasted for the couple of hours of an 8 hour trip but it wasn't a bad ride at all. It was only about 5 miles to the Mackinac Straits and the "Big Mac" bridge. It was quite a site - the two towers are over 400 feet tall so the vehicles on the bridge looked like toys. Steve was working (again) as we traveled until it became too rough to sand - but he had enough time to sand the other removable part of the floor board covering the engine. It was a long trip of 60 miles but we pulled into Charlevoix about 3:00 - tired but happy to have this part of the lake completed. There is a HUGE yacht docked here from the Cayman Islands. If you look closely next to the guy on the dock (in the middle of the picture) you can see the size of the bumper this boat needs. The marina here is really nice. Many of the cities that accepted funding from the state of Michigan have been rebuilt in the last couple of years with money coming from boating related activities - all very nice and set fees of $42 for us to spend a night. There is a fountain for the kids of the town - and they were using it all day (it was 90 degrees and sunny yesterday). Waves today were to be 3 - 5 feet so we will stay put here for another day. May leave tomorrow - who knows! The maps below show the general route we have travel in the slightly over 1000 miles (this includes all of the zigzagging around we did) we have gone since leaving New York. Only about 250 miles left to reach Chicago and the way to Florida!

Sunday, August 29: Still at Mackinac Island

We should have know. The weather forecast seems like it is never right so based on what was predicted, we just figured we'd be here until Wednesday when the winds shifted directions. Instead by noon it was a beautiful day with little wind and almost no waves - but too late for us to leave. Oh well - better to sit an extra day than fight high winds and waves.

So for lunch Steve managed to find a place with the best coney dog (maybe better than the Perrysville Drive Inn). And a nice fish taco for him as well.

To work off the lunch we biked to the 8 story museum which was very difficult to find but was well worth the trip (it was really very close to the marina :-) - not much was worked off!). Here is Steve at the wheel of a pilothouse ferry from the early 1900's. There was a great view of the downtown as well as the "Big Mac" as the suspension bridge over the Straits of Mackinac is called. It was the longest suspension bridge at the time it was built in 1957. Quite a feat. Ferry was the only way to get from St. Ignace on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the mainland Michigan.

Lots of ferry boat coming and going in the harbor on the hour - much like Put-in-Bay. Every time they arrive we know it because the boat rocks like we are in 2 foot waves! Nicely the marina provides four pilings from which we tie off on four corners so no harm. Freighters pass by the island quite regularly as well.

And there is always the two opinions about the comfort level in the boat. It works well with Steve in the main cabin with the air conditioner on and 78 degrees and I am in either the forward or aft cabin enjoying warm temperature in the 80's!

Saturday, August 28: Mackinac Island, Michigan

After two days anchored in the Les Cheneaux Islands in northern Lake Huron, we arrived at Mackinac (pronounced Mack in aw - no matter what the spelling is) Island. The trip out of DeTour Passage (connecting Lake Superior to Lake Huron) was pleasant enough even though it was quite cool. Being back in the Great Lakes means we see lots of lighthouses and we now share the channels with the big lake freighters (guess who has the right of way :-)) I finally managed to make it to a grocery store with Steve (first time since we've been out) and managed to slip some contraband into his cart! Normally mac and cheese would be an unacceptable item! The anchorages out were both nice but the second night it was really nice. It had been described as having "Bahama like" water. Didn't see that the first night bu definitely did the second night. Clear water - could see the bottom at 15 feet. Different shades of blue - no fish though (except for one nice perch which Steve ended up throwing back in) and nice kayaking. Beautiful sunset to boot. Mackinac Island has no motorized transportation so the only way to get around is walk, bike or horse drawn carriage. We did the horse drawn island tour and the biked (Steve did all the way around the island - me - only 1/3 of the way). Went past the Grand Hotel (site of the filming of 'Somewhere in Time' with Christopher Reeves - charge of $10 if you want to walk on the porch!) and stopped at the natural arch. The water here is truly like in the Bahamas. Much more clear and blue than Lake Erie - maybe due to the depth of these lakes. 1/4 of a mile offshore it was 265 feet deep - Lake Erie is maybe 100 feet at it's deepest! The island is also know for it's fudge (purchased and eaten almost all by me before I could get a picture of it :-)) And to top off the day, I was able to watch the Browns play their 3rd scrimmage game. After numerous go-arounds with Direct TV, I have given up trying to get the national local channels and will just hope that we get ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and CW where ever we happen to be (unless it's in Florida - in which case we will actually get the locals). Heading out ??? Depends on the weather/winds as the first run down Lake Michigan is about 60 miles so will take us about 8 hours. No repeats of Lake Onatrio are desired!

Wednesday, August 25: DeTour Village - back in the USA

We think we know why they named this city DeTour Village: when we attempted to go out onto Lake Huron we turned around and detoured right here to the city docks :-) The weather has once again been the critical factor that made us decide not to anchor out last night but to rather travel yesterday straight from Blind River to Drummond Island, MI. The ride over (in red on the map left) was a 46 mile run over the mostly open water of the North Channel. It was a nice ride as the wind was from the south. No way would we have been able to come today.

The marina last night was nice - breakfast place a 10 minute bike ride. Cute place with lots of what Miriam would classify as "carnage" on the walls (fish, deer heads etc). Anyway, we headed out this morning to the anchorage about 20 miles west across the top of Lake Huron. Well, that didn't work as we turned around when the winds worsened. There were 2 - 3 foot predicted - who needs it?

Steve put another coat of finish on one of his projects. We both kept grabbing onto the side when entering the boat so this was his fix!

Me? I was devising a trap for anyone silly enough to fall into it. Background: we have no fuel gauges so the only way to know how much is in the tanks is to dip a stick into the tank and measure the level of fuel. Normally the runner covers the floor hatch over the engine (and fuel tank) - pic 1. So I typically fold the rug from the right a bit, slide the hatch cover and runner back about a foot, fold the runner back from the left and I can dip the tank - pic 2.

As I did this yesterday morning, I got distracted after sliding the hatch and rug back (the front end of which of course covers the hole to the engine area). And of course I stepped right on the rug that didn't have anything under it! So a banged shoulder, knee, shin and skinned forearm later, I have decided that Steve was right - just roll up the rug every time I check the fuel level :-)

Seems I have been saying the phrase "I think you were right" way too often lately!

Monday, August 23: Blind River

Finally after 4 days of not seeing the sun, the clouds cleared this afternoon on our way to Blind River. Two of the cloudy/rainy/stormy days were spent at the marina in Spanish. But these are the times that Steve spends working - this time on sanding and refinishing more of the cabin floor. We apparently timed our Friday departure from Croker Island well as we ate breakfast with a couple (Peter and Cheryl) who had spent Friday night at Croker - along with 22 other boats. All was fine until the storm rolled in and the wind strengthened and changed directions - which means the boats all start swinging around with some dragging anchor as most anchor with only a front anchor. Peter said their boat ended up banging on the rocks for about 15 minutes until the wind died again. It was just the keel as they have a 6 foot draft. Sometimes it pays to have a 3 1/2 draft boat! And it definitely pays to be tied to a dock sometimes! Peter and Cheryl are headed to Chicago and Florida also. Anyway, after we left Spanish yesterday we ended up anchoring at Long Point. It was supposed to clear off and be nice. Right. So we spent another cloudy day waiting for the sun. It never did come out even by noon today so finally we decided to kayak anyway - which worked out great as the water was very calm and it was easy to see the bottom. The kayak route is in orange below. Click on the picture to make it bigger! We pulled up anchor at 2 pm today and no sooner were out on the channel than the sun came out! But it was a wonderful ride over some of the most open water we've been on in quite a while. After 2 1/2 months boating on Canadian waters, we will spend the last night anchored tomorrow and return to the US at Drummond Island on Wednesday. We will definitely miss the islands and wonderful views of Georgian Bay and the North Channel that we've had since leaving the Trent over 400 miles ago. There are a few islands on Lake Michigan but nothing close to what is up here.

Saturday, August 21: Spanish

The trip out of Gore Bay was pretty uneventful as the wind and waves were at our back for a change. But very cool. On the bridge I had on: a t-shirt, a thermal shirt, a turtleneck, a sweatshirt and a windbreaker - it looked like I had gained about 30 lbs! So not a nice day but we arrived at the Benjamin Islands about 10 am and managed to pick our way through the rocks to a great spot on Croker Island. The sun was out for the afternoon - which was enough time for Steve to do some climbing and great picture taking of our anchorage. The dinghy went into the water and we made a trip to the beach which was just down shore a bit from the boat. It was very peaceful just listening to the waves wash up on shore. A bit more hiking and we called it a day as rain/storms were predicted for early afternoon. Thursday cleared by noon as predicted so we dinghied to the other islands around us - quite the view from other rock peaks (I read by the dinghy as Steve played mountain goat :-)). After two nights at this anchorage, it was time to move on. One of the pains of anchoring is having to collect all of the ropes to shore and anchors. Steve uses the dinghy to do this most time. Our windlass bit the dust a couple of weeks ago (we can exchange it hopefully in Chicago as it is still under warranty) so in the meantime, it's a lot of hauling by hand (by Steve of course). It was very peaceful as we prepared to leave Croker although as the day wore on, the weather worsened and our plans to anchor out again were changed. We traveled into Spanish yesterday (Friday) and will spend the night here again tonight as it is supposed to rain/storm again today. Really nice marina though. And I found some highlighters at the grocery store in town (about a 15 minute bike ride)!! I've been wanting to mark the rest of our path as the charts don't really show you how to go - just show where the buoys are. So we are good to go as far as Drummond, Michigan now. That's about a week or so away but we are ready!