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."

To Walmart in Michigan windy day pictures

Steve was up very early this morning so he took Dexter out for his morning exercise with out waking me.  It was a great sleep in until 9am.  Just as I woke up Dex and Steve were back on the boat.  Steve turned the coffee on and we were good to start the day.  There is no grocery store in town so we asked the locals where they shop and they said Walmart!!  It is only 3 miles from the Marina so we broke out the bikes and put on our nap sacks.  Fully replenished for at least a couple of weeks.  Had to pass on the great wine prices to make room for more important calories in the nap sack :(...

Nap sacks full....ready for our ride back.  It's an easy ride...sidewalks most of the way with a bicycle path on one road. 

The day is a very windy day with waves on Lake Michigan at 11 feet!  Once we got back to the boat and put all of our groceries away we thought we would take a walk to the end of the pier.  There is usually a 4 - 5 foot clearance from the water to the top of the pier but today the waves were coming right over top the pier wall.  Soaked me up to my waste.  It was hilarious.

Here it comes!

 

                                                                             Soaked!!

We walked back to the boat via the beach.  There weren't many people on the beach given the high winds and the beach warnings due to high waves and currents.  You could feel the sand blasting your legs along the walk.  Crazy winds today.  Not a boat in sight when we looked out to the Lake.

The beaches aren't patrolled so if you wanted to swim you could.  However there were warnings posted at the beach entrance. 

Tomorrow still calling for high winds so we will break out the bikes again.  There is a bike trail that goes for 34 miles that we will explore.  Looks like we may be able to move on Wednesday but for now we'll just take it "One Bay at a Time"

South Haven Marina and arriving in Chicago

Checking the weather and winds we have decided to stay put another 2 days.  Winds and waves should be calm on Thursday August 27th so we will get up early and travel 74 miles across the lake to Chicago. 

Tuesday we thought we would check out the bike trails in South Haven.  We found a trail that connects South Haven and Kalamazoo, 39 miles.  We cycled to mile 5and then turned around so it was a great ride through forests, past the river and through farmers fields.

Wednesday we spent cleaning and doing laundry.  It rained most of the day so it was a good day to do chores. 

Thursday morning I heard Steve get up.  I checked the time and it was 4:30am.  I figured he would be right back to bed and then........the sound of the electric tooth brush...really??  By the time we got hydro and water unhooked and took Dexter for a walk it was 5:30 and we were ready to go.  We exited the entrance to South Haven, which had been literally impassible for the past 4 days due to high winds and waves.  Out to the lake and set our course and was it ever dark.  We were both quiet and then Steve said "what time does it get light out?"  I just laughed and reminded him that I was fast asleep an hour ago.

It was a beautiful ride across.  There wasn't a ripple in the water and we first spotted Chicago when we were 37 miles away.  The smooth ride even allowed Steve to do some last minute deck scrubbing.

Nice and clean for Chicago.

The ride across was 9 hours but Chicago is an hour behind so we arrived at

1:30pm.  Still lots of time in the day. 

We pulled in to the Marina and were met by 4 other Looper boats.  There is one right beside us. "Sea to See" - Ron and Vicki Montgomery.  While we were checking in at the Marina Harbour we heard someone ask, "Can you please tell us where One Bay at a Time is located?  We told them that was us and they are also Loopers staying in the same Marina, "Sea Moss" - Clark and Evelyn Woodworth.  Then 2 other couples came over to our boats and we talked until 8pm (7pm Chicago time).  "Knot Home" -Al and Kaye Sterling, "Namaste" - Jim and Joann McFail.  Ron, Vicki, Al and Kaye decided to go for dinner and asked us to join them but we had had a long day and were looking forward to a hot shower and a pillow. 

The next day we thought we would take a walk and see the sights of Chicago.  We walked out to the Navy Pier and decided take an architectural boat tour.  It was a 75 minute tour of the Chicago River with all the history of the buildings and interesting architecture.

  After the boat tour we took Dexter for a long walk and then decided we would go on a hunt for Chicago deep dish pizza.  We found the address but walked and walked but never could find it.  Turns out we were walking under the street not on the street.  By the time we realized what we had done we had walked a long way so we came back to the boat and made burgers for dinner. 

The view from our boat at the Marina after dark.   

The next day was rainy and damp so we thought we would check out the Aquarium.  When we arrived there was a very long line to the entrance of the Aquarium.  We waited for an hour before we even entered the Aquarium and we were both just a little disappointed.  It was crowded and the shows were not until 4pm which would have been too long to leave Dexter on the boat so we just walked around and looked at marine life. 

When we left the Aquarium we thought we'd give our hunt for deep dish pizza another try....GREAT SUCCESS!!   Now that's what I call a pizza pie.  We ate at 3pm and that was lunch and dinner.  We also had left overs coming back to the boat. 

 We are both exhausted from all of the walking but we needed to burn some calories today after the pizza lunch.  Got back to the boat just in time to avoid the rain.  Heading south tomorrow on the river....not sure what that has in store for us but what ever....we will take it "One Bay at a Time."

Last night in Michigan travelling down the river to Heritage Marine

Saturday night we turned in early as we were going to get an early start on our journey south in the morning.  We were awakened by the sound of fireworks and were treated to a great show off the stern of our boat.  Great send off!

Left Chicago on Sunday August 30th by 8am.  There are 2 routes you can take Southbound out of Chicago.  One you must have a clearance of less than 17 feet as there are many bridges that you must pass under that don't lift.  The other is a route taken by boats with a higher clearance not able to pass under the bridges.  Steve and I spent a good hour on Saturday before our departure measuring the height of our boat....then we measured it again....then we checked our math...and then we checked our math again.  Wouldn't it suck if we measured right but calculated wrong?!  Final count came in at 15 feet 10 inches.  We were being very liberal with our measurements leaving a couple of inches in our favour.  The route with the bridges is much more scenic and takes you right through the City of Chicago.  We were going for the scenic  route.  The bridges did seem very low and I'm pretty sure I ducked as we went under the lower passes.

The river runs right through down town Chicago and the buildings and architecture are amazing.

 The building with the antennae, to the left is the Sears Tower.  The antennae are in the fog so not very visible.  Once the tallest building in the world. Not so much any longer.

Our final destination on Sunday was Joliet.  As we made our way down the river we came to a small passage.  You are strictly forbidden to stop your boat during this pass as there is a strong electrical current in the water.  The current is to stop invasive fish species from migrating to Lake Michigan.  We did see some Carp in the water further down the river and were told by some locals that if you were to take a small motor boat in the river they may jump right in your boat.  They seemed to be very plentiful where we were and as we go south they say they will be even more plentiful.

Joliet is a small town about 50 miles from Chicago.  There is a free wall there with power.  When we turned the corner to Joliet were surprised to see 6 other Loopers tied to the wall.  We also met our first Canadian Loopers out of Bayport Midland, Father and Son John and Lee Dunnink.  Kaye and Al from Knot Home, that we met in Chicago were also there.  We met Valerie and Tim O'Neil from Chester B, George and Pat Hospodar from Reflection, and Werner and Kathie Steuernagel from It's About Time.   We met for "Docktails" and chatted for a while and then turned in early as we decided we would get an early start because we had 3 locks to pass through the next day.  It was a7am start Monday Aug 31st.  If we didn't get through the lift bridge by 7:30 we would have been held up until 8:30 as it closes for rush hour traffic.

Although we only had 3 locks to pass through these locks are nothing like the locks at home on the Trent Severn Waterway.  They are open 24 hours a day 365 days a week.  They are FREE!  However, there is quite a bit of commercial traffic and the commercial traffic takes priority.  So, if there is a lot of commercial traffic you can be held up at these locks for hours waiting for barge after barge.  The barges are huge and are pushed by tows.  If you see a tow approaching you must radio and ask what the captain of the tow would like you to do...pass?.....wait?.....pull off to safe zone? Most times they tell you to pass one whistle or two.  If they say pass two whistles, you pass them on their starboard.  If they say pass one whistle, you pass them on their port. 

This picture shows the difference between an empty barge and a full barge.  Notice the difference in the water line on the barge that is empty compared to the one that is full and how much lower the fuller one is sitting in the water.  The bottom picture is the empty barge.  It looks like it is full of sand but the sand is actually piled behind the barge on land. 

We made it through all 3 locks with out having to wait any unreasonable length of time.  We did hear of another boat that was held up for 7 hours at one lock waiting for barge traffic.  Although the locks look huge there is only room in the lock for one barge at a time. 

We arrived at our destination for the day and what a great stop. Heritage Marina. The Marina offers discounts to Loopers and was absolutely beautiful.

 There was a very clean pool, where we spent the afternoon, beautiful docks, restaurant, showers and very clean grounds and facilities. Dockage was very reasonable at $1 per foot.  We had drinks by the pool and enjoyed a very refreshing swim after a very hot day on the water.  Our American friends, Kay and Al from Baton Rouge, thought the water was freezing but being Canadian, we thought it was beautiful.  We laughed when Kay said "Y'all would think it's beautiful you have no choice but to swim in freezing cold water all the time!"  Kay also showed me some new navigational tools pool side which will be a huge asset when looking for places to stay along the way!!  Thank you Kay!!....She tried to teach me to whistle too but that was hopeless.  After drinks and swimming we went back to our boat and then met for dinner at the restaurant.  The food was excellent as was the service.  Conversation never lacking.

  Great day with a great group.  Some are shopping tomorrow, some have some laundry to do, some have some cleaning to do....Steve and I are going to head South in the morning.  Hoping we will meet this group again along the way as we travel "One Bay at a Time."