Drummond Island to Mackinaw Island

Good sleep last night after a good travel day to Drummond Island and new waters!!  Left Drummond Island about 8:30 heading toward Mackinaw Island.  Waters were calm to begin but then out to the open waters of Lake Huron.  It was still pretty calm given the amount of open water.  This water is nothing like we are used to in the Kawarthas.  You don't often have boats looking like this pass by.  Their wake is enough to break a few dishes if you aren't prepared.

I absolutely love Mackinaw Island...Dexter....not so much.  There are no motorized vehicles allowed here so there are literally thousands of bicycles on the streets along with horse and buggies.  The town is sooo clean.  You never even see any horse sh*# .......ever.  Not sure how they do that?? Ok, those last 2 sentences in italics were posted yesterday.  Yes you see horse sh*#, but not very much.  They are very good at following the horses and keeping their town clean.   There are rules here and everyone abides by them....hellllloooo laws...why wouldn't you?  But here it just works.  When we approached the marine we radioed in for a slip assignment and were told no, you can't do that until you are in the marina, this is first come, first serve....very fair.  After we arrived and got settled we took a walk up to the main street with Dexter.  It was just way to busy for him so we brought him back to the boat and went just ourselves.  He was much happier on the boat.  He didn't like the horses at all. 

Now this next picture is for  Len and Gail.  In a town where there are no motorized vehicles allowed.....they have a Harley Davidson store?  Upon approaching the store we see the bike is not motorized.  We laughed as we thought of our good friends.

Day 2 on Mackinaw Island.  What a great day to break out the bikes! There is a road that  travels right around the coast of the island.  It's a total of 8 miles so after Dexter had is morning walk we decided to take it on.  Absolutely beautiful!!  There are mile markers every mile so you know where you are.  We haven't used the bikes much at all since we bought them 3 or 4 years ago.  I'm pretty sure we'll be using them much more now.

 

 As we passed mile one we came upon a beach with hundreds of Inuksuks?  Not sure if that is the proper name.  Someone asked us and that's what I told them.....Steve told him I made it up. Maybe I did??

Mile 6 with the Mackinaw Bridge in the distance.

Arrived back at the boat at about 11am.  We are planning on lunch at the Grand Hotel.  So thought we would exercise Dexter before we left for lunch.  There is a park close and it wasn't very busy as most people stick to the streets....because there are no cars!!  Dexter got his off leash chuck it...soo happy!

It's about a 1/2 hour walk to the Grand Hotel for lunch so we decided to take the bikes.  We love our bikes! We parked our bikes in the Grand Hotel parking lot which looks like this....

 We had a delicious lunch of salad, fresh oysters, fresh shrimp, lamb, pasta, chicken, assorted cheeses, fruits and desserts.  The hotel is very historic.  We had a great view from our table.

When we left the hotel we decided to go up the hill and tour the homes close to the Grand Hotel.  Well we never saw the homes...I guess we took a wrong turn which resulted in a 6 mile bike ride home. Our asses hurt!!

Approaching the boat now after lunch.  The bike ride back was good to burn off many of the calories consumed.  The streets here are riddled with bicycles.  It's no wonder there are no cars allowed because there wouldn't be the space for them anywhere.  On the main street it can be a challenge to find a spot for your bike.

It's been a great day with so much more to look forward to.  When we check in to the Mackinaw Marina they asked us would you like to book for 2 nights or just "One Bay at a Time?"  I smiled.  We will decide where we will go tomorrow over dinner tonight.  Somewhere Northern Lake Michigan, "One Bay at a Time."

Mackinaw City to Harbour Springs (rough ride) to Charlevoix to Frankfort Lake Michigan

We were up early and planned to head for northern Lake Michigan. Listened to the weather and decided not such a good idea so we just went across the channel and stayed at Mackinaw City. The minute we pulled in to the dock we had so many people approaching our boat asking where we were from, where we were headed. We met the sweetest couple. They have been boating for 60 years. When I was out on the dock talking to them she said "oh you are Canadian!".... Wasn't quite sure how she knew.....then she told me....."you said it's really windy out there EH".... It's the eh....I told her you've got me...eh is your version of y'all. We laughed as she told me how she has many relatives from Canada.  I was hoping to get a picture of them but when I went back out they had gone boating. They had to be well in to their eighties.

Stayed the night in Mackinaw City and watched the tourists line up for the ferry over to Mackinaw Island.

Left then next day for Harbour Springs and took a shot of the Mackinaw Bridge from underneath.  The bridge appears to be grill type surface so you can see the vehicles passing overhead.

  Thought the winds were to be only 10 MPH with waves 2 feet or less...that's what weather said.  Easy trip to our next destination.....well you would think.  It was about 45miles, which travelling at 7 knots (1 mile = 1.15 nautical miles) we figured would take us approx 6 1/2 to 7 hours. We were about 1/2 way there when the winds picked up to 20 MPH which is a huge difference on the water.   If we were close we would have turned back but there was no turning back. When you're half way there it's half way either way.  We always batten down. We put the coffee maker in the sink....it either bounced out or came out when we went sideways.  We were on the bridge and it wasn't safe to even go down the ladder to check on anything as we could have been tossed ourselves. The second half of the trip actually took us 4 hours in very uncomfortable weather but the boat can always take more than the crew.

 Made it safely to our anchorage that day and stayed for 2 days to wait out another windy day.  We had a great time watching young kids that belonged to a sailing club sail off of our stern. They loved Dexter!

After 2 days at Harbour Springs we left for Charlevoix. It was only about a 2 hour ride. Found a nice anchorage close to shore so we could swim and kayak.  Dexter loves to swim beside the kayak.  The lake had a swing bridge that opened every hour and 1/2 hour that allowed passage in to the lake.

We only stayed one night there because winds were supposed to be very calm and we had a 70 mile journey to our next destination....about 10 hours. We were both awake at 4am so it was anchors away!!  The world is actually a very pretty place at that time of the day. Who knew?!  When we left we were relying totally on our instruments as it was pretty dark.  Then the sun came up on our stern as we travelled in flat calm water.....so peaceful we were both having trouble staying awake.

Apparently some us can't take the early mornings so I snapped a picture while he was catching a nap.

I didn't know until I started to update our blog that he did the same....busted!

Dexter made it 10 hours without even asking to pee. I need a Dexter bladder!  The water was flat calm all the way but a little foggy.....actually pea soup foggy. We used our radar and chart plotter to tell us where we were going....very much like navigating at night but I'll take fog over wind any day. Fog doesn't break shit!

Arrived at Frankfort Michigan at around 4pm. Met the crew of  a 150' boat. This is what their dinghy looks liked.  The boxes you see at each end is actually the holding tank from the bathrooms on the much larger boat.  Not many docks can accommodate a boat this size so this is how they get pumped out. 

And this is what their boat looks like.  We had a good chat with the crew of the boat.  When we asked where they were from they said "no fixed address".....gotta love that!  The one we chatted with was Australian.  He asked what we were doing and when we told him he said "You will use much less fuel and have much less paperwork that we do."

Staying put tomorrow as they are calling for thunderstorms and strong winds.  The town of Frankfort is just up the street from the Marina so we will explore that tomorrow.  Gonna be a good sleep tonight.  Love living "One Bay at a Time"

Travelling to Frankfort on Lake Michigan

These are pictures that PV "Kat in the Hat" took of our boat the day we travelled from Charlevoix to Frankfurt in flat calm waters.  The hills you see in the distance are sand.

Frankfort - Manistee anchorage - Whitelake Marina waiting out wind

 Stayed a couple of nights in Frankfort.  There was a large grocery store there which allowed us to restock at good prices.  Steve and I walked up and after everything I put in the cart Steve would say "OK that's enough we have to carry this stuff back."  But then we would see something else we needed or wanted.  We took a nap sack and some larger bags so the walk back to the Marina was a good work out.  We took a little detour to the end of town and sat by the beach for a while.  The beach sand was like silk between our toes.  Good thing the grocery transport was a good work out because we had to stop for ice cream on the way. 

There were probably 3 other Looper boats in the Marina so at about 4:30 one of the other Loopers came to our boat and asked us to join them for drinks on the lawn at 5:30.  "Velomer," Bob and PM Amidon, "Kat in The Hatt," Richard and Katherine.  Also another American boat "Navigator."  The third boat were not Loopers, just very knowledgeable boaters.   We had some appetizers and drinks and some very good conversation.  So much in common when you meet someone with the same dream as yours so conversation was very easy!  Looking forward to meeting up with this group again, along the way.

Left Frankfort on Monday August 17th.  Had a nice ride to our next destination where we decided to anchor for the night.  Just stayed one night and didn't do much exploring.  Just stayed on the boat and played with the Kayak, Dexter and watched the fisherman.  There were many in this area.  Dexter needs his exercise so we threw a ball off of the boat and he continued to retrieve.  He loves his swimming.

There is a ship museum here but we didn't go ashore.  Very interesting to get up close and check out the boats by water.

We were up early....with the fisherman.  They start at about 5am and they didn't go slow past our boat because we were sleeping.  We decided to be on our way to our next destination.  We decided, once it got to be a half decent hour of day that we should probably reserve at the Marina in Chicago.  The only tough thing about that is you just can't predict when you may be held up with wind.  Lake Michigan is a huge body of water and can kick up quickly. We have downloaded probably 3 or 4 weather apps that we check daily, more than once. Wind Alert seems to be very good and very accurate.  This app gives you hourly winds and waves.

We headed toward our next destination, White Lake, Michigan.  For you land lovers it is close to Grand Rapids, Michigan.  We were about 1/2 way there when the clouds rolled in and we were in heavy rain.  The visibility was poor so we decided not to go quite so far and tucked in to Pentwater.  Just as we pulled in to Pentwater the skies opened and the clouds were gone.  I looked at Steve and said "wanna keep going to White Lake?"  he was in so we carried on.  We knew the next few days were going to be wind days where we wouldn't be going anywhere.

Waiting out the wind in White Lake and man is it windy.  White Lake is a small Lake with access to Lake Michigan so it is not a rough lake in winds but there have been white caps on this lake the past couple of days.  The flags on the Marina boat house have been straight out most of the time we have been here.

 Steve took the day today to do some maintenance on the boat.  There is a Napa Auto Parts just across the street from the Marina.  We went there yesterday and they were so accommodating.  We purchasing some oil so Steve could change the oil on both engines as well as the generator.  They offered to deliver the oil and also pick up our old oil and dispose of it. 

There are two towns here.  White Hall and Montegue, we took a walk up to White Hall yesterday and are about to go check out Montague.  Dexter will make this walk with us.  If he doesn't get his exercise he is like a spoiled 2 year old.  Right about now my sulking, pouty puppy needs to move.

7:30am on Friday August 21st.  Woke to calm winds so we are off to our next destination....."One Bay at a Time"......

Portage Lake anchorage to South Haven Lake Michigan

After we left White Lake we travelled to Portage Lake.  It is a small lake with no Marina but very popular with the locals to come in off of Lake Michigan for the day to swim, barbeque and even stay the night.  We were with 4 other boats that also anchored that night.  The water was 75 degrees F.  It was very refreshing.  Steve, myself and Dexter all enjoyed a refreshing swim!

Only calling for 5 - 10 mile an hour winds the next day so we are moving on down big ole Lake Michigan.  The pictures below show Lake Simcoe in comparison to Lake Michigan. Lake Michigan is the picture on the left and Lake Simcoe is being pointed to in the picture on the right.  Our boater friends at home can respect how Lake Simcoe can kick up in heavy winds.  Lake Michigan is a Lake to be watched closely for winds and waves and given utmost respect.  Always count on more winds and waves than are predicted. 

Our trip the next day was 30 miles which takes about 4 hours.  We were only about 8 miles in when the waves started to kick up, more than predicted.  We decided to tuck in to a small lake in Holland.  Just as we approached the entrance Steve left the helm for about 10 minutes.  By the time he came back I had turned the boat around and headed for our original destination of South Haven. (He just thinks he's the captain.)  The waves had calmed so I made an executive decision to carry on. 

South Haven is a very busy town.  The busiest we have stopped at yet.  There are two beautiful beaches on each side of the entrance. 

There was a veterans celebration just as we entered the entrance to the town.  Boats were coming and going. 

 When we arrived at the Marina they had us tie to the dock wall.  We were actually lucky to get a dock at all for the evening.  Boats from Chicago (yes we are getting close) and other places in Illinois will visit this port on weekends.  We did not have a reservation which we should have but again very difficult to time your arrival when waiting on Mother Nature.  I did call earlier but this facility did not offer a refund if you didn't show regardless of the weather and at the time we didn't know if we would make it or not.

Once we were there they were very accommodating.  We settled in and then Steve dropped the dinghy for a ride down the Black River

Dexter loves to have bow watch....or bow wow watch lol.

The shoreline existed of dock after dock with many fishing boats and pleasure boats.  Spotted one with a great name!  Right Mom and Dad!!!

As we approached our boat after our dinghy ride we were stopped by the Sherriff.  He started by saying we were not in trouble......well that's a good thing.  Then he asked us where we got our boat registration numbers from on our dinghy.  I laughed and said "oh we just made them up" but then quickly recovered by saying..."we're Canadian!....eh"  They said they wondered if we were from Canada.  We had a short chat and they were on their way. 

A few hours later while we sat on our boat we noticed many people walked and driving to the end of the pier.  We wondered what was happening so we decided to take a walk.   As we were approaching the end of the pier everyone was walking back so what ever it was we figured we had missed it.  Turns out everyone was going to the end of the pier to watch the sun set.  We missed the best part but it was still very beautiful and hard to believe looking out at the Lake that it could be so mean at times. 

There was an old light house at the end of the pier.  I went inside to snap a picture and was followed by a very knowledgeable man about light houses.  He pointed out all the spots that were rusted and where the sun would now shine through.  They are planning on restoring the lighthouse. 

 The following morning the Harbour Master came out and asked us to move to the Northern part of the Marina off the dock wall.  The winds were supposed to kick up and even though we were inland she said that spot will have you rocking uncomfortably in the wind if we didn't move. 

We will be here for another few days as there is a small craft warning due to winds until Monday night and even then not looking favourable to travel until Thursday. The Harbour Master told us there were a couple more Loopers in the Marina.  Going to do some exploring tomorrow and possibly meet some new Looper friends, "One Bay at a Time."