Lake Michigan

Perhaps it should be called Lake Michigos! (sorry as I remember it, that is Yiddish,  for “Crazy” or maybe it should be Mishouganah - whatever)

People may complain about the Delaware Bay, but it is only one day. Lake Michigan was 22 days, of which we only traveled 9 and 6 of those were out of frustration. Only three of the 9 days had seas under 2 ft. Every other day we traveled we saw some 3 ft. and occasionally 4 and 5 ft. The towns were nice and we wanted to visit more than we did, but with the lake being so rough we traveled whenever we could. So we spent more time than we wanted in some places and did not get to see others.

Mackinac Straights Bridge

Friday, August 20^th

Headed out early the morning through the Straights of Mackinac. We were headed for Petosky. The weather is not ideal but should be O.K. The wind and seas were behind going through the straights, but as we turned south through Grays Reef we felt as if we were in a washing machine. 4-6 ft. waves coming from every direction. Our speed dropped to 4 ½ mph on occasion. I decided to burn some fuel and punched to get through. About 2 hrs. later we headed close to shore to get out of the waves ( the wind was coming from the shore so the waves were smaller there). Near shore the waves dropped to two feet and it was a better ride in to Petosky.

The towns are getting larger as we move south. Petosky feels like a suburban town. There is a waterfront festival this weekend. The Rotary had a pretty nice midway and kids games. We were smelling Diesel in the cabin when we arrived, so I spent the rest of the day trying to find a leak. It only smelled with the engine running and I found diesel in the oil pan. Not finding any real leak I tightened the injector fittings.

Saturday, August 21^st

A short 2 ½ hr. trip to Charlevoix today, since the lake was not going to be calm and Charlevoix only a little way out from the bay near Petosky. The diesel leak seems to be gone..

Charlevoix is another nice port. The Michigan Marinas have been first class so far. There was a sidewalk sale going on and the town was quite crowded. It also felt like a an east coast suburban town. The Marina is situated in a park with a “ground level” fountain. That is no pool at the base just an extension of the sidewalk with drains in it. The kids (of all ages) can play in it. It had various water jets coming out of the ground and playing up and down, sometimes on sometimes off. I watched on little boy go up to a jet that was not shooting water at the time and put his foot over it. When nothing happened he looked down and the five smaller jets around the big one shot him straight in the face. Hardly fazed him.

One of the "Mushroom Houses" at Charlevoix

Sunday, August 22^nd

We missed the 8 o'clock bridge opening by a minute and since the next one was in ½ hr. we cruised out through a narrow cut in to Lake Charlevoix. Carole decided to have breakfast and came up saying she smelled diesel. I went to check and found diesel spraying out of a crack in one of the injector lines. We were lucky we missed the bridge. We went directly back to the dock. A quick conference with Leigh my diesel guru and some online research found a nearby auto parts store open on Sunday, where I hoped to find a brake line repair kit. I walked about a mile to the store and bought $2.00 worth of parts. We tried to find the leak and repair it in the store, but even with air pressure we could not locate it. They loaned me the flaring tool to take with me and another customer gave me a ride back to the boat. I had to reinstall the line and run the engine to pinpoint the leak. I then cut the line at the leak and found that it was an extra heavy steel line that the tool was not going to be able to deal with. Back to the store. One look at the line and the parts guy knew that he did not have the tools to do the repair. Fortunately two other customers there knew a little about the injector lines and convinced me that I could use a simple compression connector and it would work just fine. I am not a fan of compression connectors as I have seen too many of them leak under sinks with just household water pressure. Diesel injectors are much higher pressure, but I was in a bind so I thought I would give it a try. I took it back to the boat and reassembled the injector line with the compression connector. I checked it out at the dock, and when it looked like it was holding, we took the boat out on to Charlevoix Lake and ran it. I ran it both hard and easy several times to check it out and everything held fine. So tomorrow we can go. Since I did not trust the connector long term I went on line ordered a new injector line for delivery to Traverse City.

Monday, August 23^rd

We made the 7:30 bridge opening today and plan to go to Traverse City instead of stopping in Northport which puts us back on our planned schedule. It is really calm out here today so I can actually get some work done underway. I checked online on the part I ordered yesterday and boy I am glad I did. They were not going to ship until Tomorrow and 2^nd day air would mean that we would have to stay an extra day in Traverse City. I called to see if it could be shipped next day air. Turns out that the part was not even in stock (even though the website said 'in stock”) and I was told that they did not know when it would be shipped since they were not even Volvo Diesel dealers! I canceled the order and one website and two phone calls later I found one in stock that would be shipped today- with expected arrival Wednesday.

We are meeting up with Windsong again, seems that Two Turtles and Magoo are about 150 miles ahead of us. Unless they stop for a while we may not meet up with them until we get to the Tennessee River.

We made good time and arrived at Traverse City about 3:00pm. Traverse City is about a 50 mile side trip for us. One of the former Meerwald Captains, Matt lives near here and we want to visit with him. He met us at the dock with our mail and several packages and offered to loan us a car for tomorrow – a real bonus!

Cheyenne a former mate on the Meerwald and now Captain on Manitou (Traverse City's Tall Ship) stopped by to say hello. She was flying to the Tall Ship festival in Chicago in an hour, but we did get to sit and talk for a bit.

Tuesday, August 24^th

Matt actually loaned us Wendy's car for the day. Wendy is the Office Manager at Traverse City Tall Ship and that was where our mail was sent. They actually live about 30 miles away on a small piece of land near a state wildlife area, and besides the wildlife they are in a small cooperative chicken venture- so we got a dozen eggs with the car.

We did lots of shopping for parts and food today.

We had dinner with Matt and Wendy and really enjoyed being with them. They offered the car for another day.

Wednesday, August 25^th

The main reason for loaning us the car for another day was so that Carole could get a haircut. I got started cleaning and waxing the plastic flybridge windows. Matt had suggested we visit the Music House Museum in Acme, so I got out of cleaning the boat for another day! Tomorrow is not supposed to be a good travel day so I may be cleaning tomorrow.

The Music House Museum is a collection of Automatic Music Machines – Nickelodeons, player pianos, etc. They have a player piano that reproduces the artists' key pressure as well as timing and strokes. We heard “Rhapsody in Blue” played by George Gershwin. It sounded wonderful, not like any player piano I ever heard. It was a grand Piano and at the end the tour group was applauding. They also have the automatic orchestra/organ that was at the entrance to the Wildwood Amusement Pier for many years. It uses a book instead of a roll to play the music. There is also a mechanical violin player and a 40' wide x 18' high mechanical dance orchestra. All of these and more work and were played for us during the tour. While we were listening to the instruments we found ourselves grinning. This was a real highlight for both Carole and me.

The violin player with piano player behind to accompany it.

This reproduces a full dance orchestra

After getting the car back to Wendy I also picked up the new injector line and installed it. While down in the engine room I found a small leak in the Air conditioner inlet which I fixed and then decided some ballast that was midship could be me moved to port and help get rid of our list to starboard.

Weather report has changed. We may be able to get to Northport (25 miles) or even Leland (about 50 miles) if the forecast holds.

I get to avoid cleaning the boat again!

Thursday, August 26^th

Clear, cool and relatively calm. Underway at 7:30. With an 8-9 hour run an early start is helpful. It is a little bumpy, but as we leave Traverse Bay and turn south it has gotten a lot easier.

We met up with 5 other Loopers in Leland, Michigan and 4 of us went to Bluebird Tavern for fried smelts.

Wing Report – not advertised as Buffalo Wings, but they were close: Flavor – 4, Meaty – 3, Crispy – 3, Heat -3, Total 13 not too shabby!

The smelts and onion rings were great.

Weather report for tomorrow is poor for us. Winds 15-20 and seas 3-5 feet coming straight at us. This may continue for 4 days. Lake Michigan must not love us.

Friday, August 27^th

Took a walk through town. It is a very pleasant place. Well kept houses and several nice art galleries. There is a restored section called Fishtown right near the marina. It is mostly tourist shops, well done just nothing special. There is at least one commercial fishing boat and fish smoking house. The best smoked lake trout so far.

I spent the rest of the day cleaning, polishing and watching the waves break over the high stone breakwater. Latest report says at least one more day here and then maybe a break. We have one more 8- 10 hour day and then we 2, 4, and 6 hour options most of the rest of the way to Chicago.

Saturday, August 28^th

Another day of watching the waves break over the seawall. Took a walk to the lake in the afternoon and watched a wedding party leave the restaurant in four pontoon boats to the cheers of the crowd on the bridge nearby. Annie got a short swim/run in the lake – I could not throw a stick far enough for her to find water deep enough to swim in.

Leland Fishing Village

Sunday, August 29^th

We got a small break in the seas so we are leaving. Waves are only 2-3 feet high on the nose. I know that does not seem like much, but the constant pounding and pitching of the boat can wear you down. After 6 hours we pulled in to Frankford, MI. Called Matt, Wendy was able to get off a bit early so after we had a Looper's Social Hour on board, Matt and Wendy took us to dinner at the”Cabbage Shed” in Elberta. Matt was driving his 1951 Morris Mini. Good wings: Crispy – 3, Taste -4, heat -3, Meaty -3, total 13.

Some of the Dunes along the Lake

Monday, August 30^th
Another bumpy ride to get to Manatee. The marina and town got a “thumbs down” from the Old Grouch, but after a tiring ride we thought we would go in to a lake behind town and anchor. Q's End called out to us from a slip. I tried to get them on the radio, but there was no answer. We proceeded through to the lake and were looking for a spot to anchor when they called us on the radio. Since the marina was redoing its shower and bathroom facilities they were giving a 40% discount. For $22 a night we took a slip. I am not sure what The Old Grouch did not like. It was not a terrible place. The town had some interesting art galleries and the market was pretty convenient.

Tuesday, August 31^st

No happiness on Lake Michigan today, so I got to clean some more. I also spent some time trying to splice lines on the new fenders we got in Traverse City. Splicing double braid without the proper size fid is almost impossible. I gave up. Meanwhile Carole used the time to make and insect screen for the starboard door. It is a quite complicated shape and will take at least one more day.

Wednesday, September 1^st

Three months gone by and all is going pretty well. The boat inside is still a work in progress (as far as stowing stuff) but I am happy with it.

The call was for 2-3 ft. waves today. As we left Manatee we were slammed with a 6 footer and my nice clean deck took a full cup of coffee. Annie then decided to lay down at my feet (she was upset by the wave) and proceeded to spread the coffee and her hair around the flybridge floor. The seas stayed at the 3-4 level; with some 5's thrown in. Our speed at cruising rpm is normally 7 mph. The seas kept us at 5 – 5 ½ mph. After we turned around a point of land and changing course to head for a harbor we were taking the waves broadside and rolling 15º side to side. Fortunately it eased off a bit and the last two hours were only a bit uncomfortable. We stopped in Pentwater – took a walk through town and had dinner with Tom & Linda from Q's End. Wing report, Village Cafe: Crispy -1, Taste -3, Meaty -4, Heat -2, Total -10. I am glad the salad was really good.

Thursday, September 2^nd

After 17 days we have gotten a forecast that looks like an easy day. And so far they are right! Lake is almost flat.

Early morning on the Lake

At 9:30 the waves have picked up to 1', still easy going. By 10:30 the waves were at 2' and by 11:30 we are seeing 3' and still building. When we enter White Lake we are really rocking and rolling – so much for the forecast! The five boats split up. Three went to the municipal marina and two of us to Crosswinds Marina. The marinas are close together so it is easy to walk to the other boats. We expect to stay for a few days so the plan is to go to Lazy Dolphin tomorrow night for Pizza.

Sunset at White Lake

Friday September 3^rd

Still waiting for the weather. Boat work and goofing off today. I was loaned the proper size fid by the marina manager and was able to eye splice the double braid line on the new fenders. Carole was making a screen for the starboard door.

Had lunch at the marina restaurant and it was pretty good. Dinner was slow cooked pork with Trader Joe's Indian Curry Sauce. Pizza party is tomorrow.

Saturday, September 4^th

Another weather day. Borrowed the Marina manager's Truck to go to the farmers market & supermarket. A really first class farm market. Some of the best looking fruits and vegetables yet. It is also the right time of year. Corn and tomatoes have been really good. We do miss the crabs though.

Pizza Party on Lazy Dolphin with Q's End, Windsong, and The Old Grouch. Consensus is tomorrow we go.

Sunday, September 5^th

Heading out at 11:00 am – only 10 miles to Muskegan or 23 miles to Grand haven if the lake is quiet enough. It is pretty cool out and the wind is in our face to start. Seas are in the 2-3 foot range. The top end of our comfort level. After an hour we turn south. The wind is now on our beam (side) making the ride pretty rolly. The boat is rocking through 20º. Wind and waves are down a bit though and we decide to go on to Grand haven. The town dock is very nice. It is located in a large waterfront park. Lots of people in the park. It is however rocking and rolling. The boats are bouncing a lot. The waves have a fairly straight run in from the lake and up the river.

Spaghetti Dinner on Windsong with the group. We then get to watch a light and sound show with a huge animated fountain across the river. Really well done and we had front row seats. It is a nightly show from Memorial Day to Labor Day. There were viewing stands in the park and they were full. The fountain and lights played to music that varied from pop to classical.

We spent the night with the boat bouncing off the dock.

Monday, September 6^th (Labor Day)

Wind is down a bit, but the lake still has 6' waves. Gale warnings on the lake for the next 2 days. We expect we will be here til Thursday. Rain has kept things quiet. Not many people in the park or on the docks. I did a (very) little cleaning in the v-berth and Carole was working on the Screen for the starboard door. We moved the boat to the other side of the dock so we would be blown away from the dock instead of against it. In the process of cleaning the grill I managed to drop the drip pan overboard. Fishing with a net did not work so I tried diving for it. The bottom here is thick with soft mud and visibility was zero. After about 10 dives I was cold and had to quit. All I fund was a pair of sunglasses. I think I will buy a new drip pan.

Watched the light show again. Different than last night. It was shorter and still very well done.

The wind started to pick up at 3:00 AM and while the boat rocked a lot we did not hit the dock.

Tuesday, September 7^th

Wind is still picking up. The only boats left here are us loopers. Everyone was out at 7:30 this morning adjusting dock lines and preparing for the heavier winds. The good news is that it is warmer and not raining.

Very rough day in the marina. The dock lines are chafing through and there is not enough chafing gear to cover all of the spots that need it. We had one line break from chafe and another that is trash. The backup lines that are already in place look good and are not chafing.

We went for a walk to the inlet and watched 6-8' waves coming almost straight in creating the surge we are getting at the dock. Surfers were walking out on the breakwalls, jumping in, and surfing to the beach. We watched several waves break over the 30' high lighthouse.

It was a difficult night with the surge stretching lines and straining the docks and cleats.

I missed the big one

They keep on rolling in

And in!

 

 

 

These are the little ones

Wednesday, September 8^th

Wind is a bit lighter today, and everyone is taking it easy. Walked to the farm market, spliced up some new dock lines and Carole continued to work on the screen for the door. Tonight looks pretty good and tomorrow is a go.

the calm after the storm

Thursday, September 9^th

Out on the lake with a following wind and only 2' waves. First day in 3 weeks without the 3 footers. We are making great time and hope it holds all day.

We made good time to South Haven, and traveled in comfort. While walking through town a parade of old tractors came through. There must have been 50 of them. There is an old engine and tractor show at the fairgrounds about five miles away. I would like to go there, but priority now is to get the heck off the lake.

Friday, September 10^th

Off to Michigan City this morning. It is Cold and a bit bumpy, but generally O.K. A rather uneventful trip. We did cross a state line and are now in Indiana. Got in too late to go to town. A had dinner at the yacht club. The special was wings – poor choice – Hot -2, Meaty -4, Taste -1, Crispy -1, total -8.

Saturday, September 11^th

On to Hammond Indiana. Hope to meet up with Victor there. He is Salvatore's (my brother-in-law) brother there. Haven't seen him in 15 years.

Seas started out calm and built to 2', but it was a short trip, about 4 ½ hrs. and we were in Hammond.

A nice marina with really nice friendly people on the dock. However it was about a ½ mile walk to the office and facilities. There is nothing nearby except the Casino and a beach. Everything else is across the road and about 12 railroad tracks.

We had a nice 2 hr. visit with Vic and he also drove me to the market (beer run) and back. One of the seasonal people had offered me a ride, but Vic was already on his way. He drew up a map for us which helped a lot.

We went to the Casino Buffet for dinner. Fantastic Buffet. The largest I have ever seen, everything from Crayfish to Southern Fried Chicken and everything in between., very reasonable and also quite good.

No I did not augment the casino's bottom line while there.

Tomorrow off to Chicago!

The North Channel

Tuesday August 10^th

Killarney is considered to be the end of the Georgian Bay or the beginning of the North Channel. Bit of fog this morning and just as we started to move to the pumpout the brigantine (a Tall Ship) Playfair took up most of the dock. When I went over to find out how long I would be there he noticed my Bayshore Discovery Tee Shirt and asked if I was involved with the A.J.Meeerwald. We talked for a bit and I found out he has met Jesse and knows Dave Leanza, one of our former mates. The Playfair is one of three brigantines out of Toronto that take teenagers for two week cruises. These 70 ft steel boats carry 28 people – 18 passengers and 10 crew – all except the captain are teenagers. He must be nuts!

The leak is still there, I tried using “X-Treme Tape” and it did a good job of slowing it to a very slow drip, but the surface is just too irregular. Tomorrow we should be near a hardware store and I can get a replacement washer. If not I will try more tape.

We traveled about 25 miles to Bay Fine, which is described as the closest thing to a Fiord on the East coast. I do not know about the fiord part, but traveling between limestone cliffs, with pine trees in every crack and notch is quite pretty. I do not understand what the trees live on. There is no dirt in some of the places, only rock, yet there are big trees growing there.

Trees will grow anywhere

We anchored at the head of the bay and took the dinghies (there were three boats) up another gorge. Serendipity could get there but the anchorage inside was very weedy and we preferred to stay on the outside. At the head of the gorge we hiked about ¾ mile uphill to Topaz Lake. A pristine blue lake surrounded by limestone cliffs. The hike was tortuous. Rocky stream beds and muddy hills to climb. Then it was almost straight down for another 200 ft. to the lake. Was it worth it? Depends on who you ask. I thought it was. Carole was happy to make it up and down safely, but the view was not worth the trip.

Another quiet night at anchor.

Wednesday, August 11^th

An easy day to Little Current. We tied up to the town dock. I spent the afternoon looking for parts and making repairs. Apparently the washers that were used to connect faucets 15-20 years ago (cone washers) are hard to find. The local hardware store had none and the clerk had never seen one. I was able to buy one of the new flexible connectors and extricate the washer from it. It worked and we have water pressure again.

Uphill to Lake Topaz

The generator fuel problem is another story. A check of the fuel line found an almost completely plugged fuel pickup. I tried blowing it clean with 60 lbs. Of air pressure and all I got was a trickle of air through. When I tried to remove it from the tank the nut molded inside the tank rotated. With no access to the inside of the tank I plugged the old pickup tube, drilled a hole in the tank and inserted the fuel line to about ½ inch off the bottom. I then sealed the tube to the tank. We now have a working generator again.

Had dinner with Randy and Barb (Lazy Dolphin) at the Anchor Inn. Wing Rating – Taste 3, Crispy -2, Heat -3, Meaty -3, total – 11. Pretty good and they served a lot of them.

Thursday August 12^th

Annie doesn't think much of my shower

A hazy warm day – got a late start. Close to noon by the time we left the fuel dock, but it is only a short 15 mile trip to Kagamond. About 3:00 we took a 1 kilometer trail to Bridal Veil Falls. Nice easy trail, lots of wildflowers. The falls was pretty, but even more fun was swimming in the pool and standing under the falling water. With a 50 – 60' drop I got a great massage. Annie refused to swim under the falling water, but she had a great swim. This is the first time since she was a pup that she swam with us. She would swim out, circle us and swim back to shore. She kept repeating it until one of us returned to shore.

Cocktails on Windsong who anchored out instead of taking a slip.

Friday August 13^th

Friday the 13^th! Woke up to find two brigantines tied up at the dock. They were Playfair and Pathfinder, the same two that we saw in Killarney. They tried to sail to the dock but the wind totally died. One of them actually kedged to the dock. (Sailspeak – Kedging is the process of rowing and anchor out as far as you can and then pulling the boat up to the anchor. Then repeating the process until you arrive at your destination. Or more commonly used to get the boat unstuck after a grounding.)

Underway about 10 AM. The other boats we have been with the last week or so are mostly ready to leave the North Channel. Lazy Dolphin Windsong and us are expecting to be back in the U.S. In three days. The Old Grouch is probably a day behind that. They are intrigued by the small towns where we have docked and want to visit more of them. As Canadians who keep their boat in Penantang (on the Georgian Bay) they will be able to see much of this territory after they complete the loop.

Cruising the North Channel

I can see why several of the boats we have met are cruising the Georgian Bay and North Channel this year and leaving their boat here or in Brewerton, NY for the winter. Next year they can do it again or continue on and complete the loop. There are certainly many more places to visit than we had time for. We want to be off Lake Michigan by mid September at the latest.

We headed back to the “Small Boat Route” through the North Channel. We found ourselves following Lazy Dolphin who had stayed in Little Current an extra day instead of going with us to Kangamond. We were headed to an anchorage recommended by Reese (Captain on the brigantine Playfair). It was beautiful, but not very good for us. It was too deep most places and the shallow areas were all flat rock with no place for the anchor to dig in. There was a rock wall we could have tied up to, but there were no trees big enough to hold us or anything else we could tie to. We had to leave there and found a nice anchorage between four islands and spent a quiet night, after I replaced the fuel filter for the generator.

Nothing to tie up to

 Saturday, August 14^th

Decided to make a long run today. We had several possible destinations in mind and did not need to pick one for the first three hours. Half an hour out it started raining and intermittently it rained so hard we couldn't see. As decision time approached Lazy Dolphin (who caught up with us in the rain) decided to head south to Vidal Bay. By coincidence – or not – it is only a few miles west of Gore Bay. Vidal Bay along with Blind River were my original destinations, but then I found the Grant Islands on the charts. They are all about the same distance, but the Grant Isles put us 10 mile closer to the U.S. customs check in tomorrow.

At one o'clock the weather cleared up some so it became an easy run the rest of the way.

Another Quiet Anchorage

East Grant Island was supposed to be the better anchorage, however at 40' deep we passed on it. West Grant proved to be much better. We went for a walk on Anchor Island, saw some nice wild flowers. I found a rock with a fossil imprint, and Annie of course got her water romp. Another beautiful clear night with no wind.

I started wondering what makes this area so special for me. Then I started thinking about what makes anyplace special or extraordinary. My thoughts of course wandered all over and I concluded that for me it is a place that I know I want to return and see more. Not very profound, Eh! (Too much Canada)

So if I want to see more, why don't we stay longer? Well one or two more weeks would not put a dent in what I want, and the weather dictates when we have to leave. Besides, I do not do cold. We also have a goal of completing the loop. So perhaps next year or the year after we can spend an entire summer in the Georgian Bay & North Channel, or maybe we will find someplace else to see. Actually next year we are considering the 1000 Islands, Montreal, and the Rideaux Canal mini loop. We shall see.

Sunday, August 15^th

Out in the North Channel

Clear and calm – about a 25 mile trip to the U.S. Customs dock at on Drummond Island. A 4 hour trip for us, over open water, so it is set the autopilot and keep watch. Scored a few points this morning. I picked some raspberries for Carole's breakfast while walking Annie.

The trip started out calm. By the time we got to U.S. waters, 3 hours later, the wind was up to 20 kts. and a two foot chop with white caps on our nose. We should be in a sheltered bay in 15 minutes.

Clearing customs was a non-event. The customs officer helped us dock our boat! We took on fuel and pumped out while there. On to Detour Village for the night. Supposed to have better facilities and closer shopping. The wind is still blowing hard, 25 kts. Docking straight into the wind proved more difficult than I expected. It took several tries, but we made it.

If this town has more facilities than Drummond, Drummond Islands must have none. We did find one restaurant that actually served dinner after 7:00 PM. Everything else was closed on Sunday. The food was very good.

Monday, August 16^th

Hung around today to wait out the weather. This gave us the opportunity to do some shopping and some computer catch up. Tomorrow does not look great, but may be doable. We can go 24 miles to Government Bay and then another 30 the next day to Mackinac Island or make one 40 mile day to Mackinac Island direct. With the wind looking poor the next day also we decide to go and decide when we get to the Government Bay turnoff.

Tuesday, August 17^th

Cool and windy again. We get an early start. It is fairly rough- 2-4 ft. waves, but right on our nose again, so while it is not comfortable it is tolerable. Six more hours of this if it does not change. When we get to the decision point it appears to be 2 hrs. to Government Bay or 4 Hrs. to Mackinac Island. The island is very visible in front of us and beckons us on. Now that we have passed the decision point the wind and seas take their revenge. Seas go to 3-5 ft. with an occasional 6 footer. I decide to burn a bit more fuel to keep our speed up and we arrive at Mackinac (pronounced Mack-in-awe) at 1:00.

We are promptly greeted by a mink sitting in the rocks at the head of the slip. It promptly disappeared as soon as I picked up the camera.

Mackinac Island is quite different. For starters it is a culture shock for us. We are coming off the Georgian Bay and North Channel where there are few people, even counting all of the boats we saw. Here there are thousands of tourists coming and going on ferries every day. We are told that the daytime population of the island is 10,000 and at night the population drops to 2000. Secondly change is the thousands of bicycles in the streets. And the third difference is the reason for the second. There are no motorized vehicles on the island (except for an ambulance and fire truck). So all commerce is by horse drawn wagons or trucks. People either walk, bike, or take a carriage.

We walked through town with Annie and you would think that she is a rock star. Almost everyone wanted to pet her, and she loved it at first, then she just ignored them.

The Bakery Truck

Not only are the tours conducted in horse drawn wagons, but the delivery trucks/wagons, garbage trucks, and even the street sweeper are all horse drawn. We watched one two horse team back the trash/recycle wagon around a 90° corner downhill on a driveway! I can not back a trailer even close to that well, and these horses have to do it every day!

The overall effect of the bikes and horses is to slow down the pace. I do not find the crowds oppressive like I usually do. The main street however is strictly tourist. Fudge Shops (17), “T” shirt shops, gift shops, and a few restaurants, OH and one food market all in about five blocks. During our walk we gathered the information we needed to be tourists tomorrow.

And the Fudge Shops!

Wednesday August 18

I have called the horse drawn wagons “trucks” since most of them, including the tour carriages have automobile or truck wheels. Some carriages have large spoke type wheels, but most of the vehicles have balloon tires which makes for a more comfortable ride. So I call the wagons, trucks.

Ate breakfast out this morning and then got on a carriage tour of the Island. We lucked out and got front row seats on the carriage. These carriages seat 24 people and are pulled by two LARGE horses. The horses are Belgian and Percherons. They work ½ day, 5 or 6 days a week. The tour takes us through town, past the Grand Hotel, the stables, and on to a transfer station where we change on to a larger wagon pulled by a three horse team – and if I thought the first horses were large these are even bigger. The back of the horses are easily over 6 feet high, and we are told that they weigh about 2000 lbs. Each. The wagons take us through the state park area with a photo (and horse watering) stop at Arch Rock. When climbing the hills the drivers stop often to give the horses a breather, and going downhill they have hydraulic brakes to keep the wagon from running over the horses.

The wrong end of a three horse team

The carriage tour stops at Fort Mackinac and allows those who want to tour the fort to get off. We get off to avoid having to climb up the hill from town. Going home downhill later will be much easier.

The restoration of the fort is nicely done. They do many reenactments and have a number of period dressed guides available. The boy and girl scouts also come up for a week or two and in exchange for quarters and a chance to see the island they act as volunteer hosts, giving directions, offering to take pictures, etc. We watched a court martial of an enlisted soldier who was drunk and disorderly. And then we stopped to watch a demonstration of soldiers drilling and firing rifles. We wound up being the drillees. I really did not need to be reminded how to drill. I gave that up 50 years ago. It was fun, however watching kids, moms and dads winding up all over the field as the commands were called. We did not get to fire the rifles though.

The drill team before the start

We were able to catch a ride on the carriage tour back to town. We did not go to the Grand Hotel to walk on the porch. The hotel has the longest porch in the world. We did not walk on it. The hotel charges $10.00 just to enter the hotel, unless you are a hotel guest, or want to have lunch buffet there. Somehow $50.00 each for lunch doesn't do it for me just to walk on the porch and have lunch.

The entire front is one long porch

While we were up at the fort we saw Windsong and Lazy Dolphin coming across from the North Channel. They also had a rough crossing.

Thursday August 9^th

We went to the Art Museum this morning. A combination of local art, native American artifacts and old photographs and paintings from the island.

Three ferries arriving at Mackinac Island

At one o'clock we left Mackinac Island to cross to Mackinaw City. It was a quick two hour trip punctuated by incessant wakes from all of the ferries running to the island. There are three ferry companies and each company has a ferry every ½ hr. from both Mackinaw City and Ignace – and they are all loaded with visitors!

Mackinaw City is also loaded with tourists. We did a bit of food shopping at the local IGA. We walked there, but gave Carole a ride back. I had to walk back since Annie was with me. We went to dinner at the local bar – the sign on the wall says “BAR” It was really pretty good. The two restaurants in town came with really poor revues from several tourists that were wandering the town.
At the marina the Mackinac Straights bridge is almost overhead.

Tomorrow we leave the North Channel and head into Lake Michigan.

Georgian Bay

You are looking at a mural on a full size grain elevator

After Locking through Port Severn we thought we had it made . After all “The Georgian Bay” is one of the finer cruising grounds, open water, lots of Islands,plenty of anchorages and great scenery.
Leaving the lock in Port Severn guess what we found – all of the above except the “Open Water” part. We had to negotiate – yes you guessed it – more narrow rocky channels until we reached an opening to the bay and we headed for Midland. Great Mural on the grain elevators. We also got to watch some races. The canoes started out by rowing and then switched to sail when there was enough wind. We stopped there for a short shopping trip and then headed across the harbor and anchored out off of a state park.

Monday through Thursday – July 26^th to 29^th

Bay Moorings is sponsoring a Looper's Reunion. It is just a short ride around to the other side of the Peninsula to Penantanguishine (hereafter called Penantang).About 19 Looper boats are expected. We know about ½ of them at this point. The Marina charged for the docking, but all of the other events were free. It started Monday night with a wine and Cheese party – a great mixer. And they announced that on Tuesday at 11:00 would be the start of the Cardboard Boat race.

Putting the deck on Loopers Blooper

Teams were to to consist of two boats – we get to choose our own teammates. Four teams formed up. At 11:00 o'clock each team got to pick their own refrigerator box out of a pile, and we were each given a box knife (not many metal detectors out here) and two rolls of duct tape. We had 1 ½ hrs. to build our boats. Bill (from High Spirits) and I did most of the building, Barbara was our Gopher and Carole was the Decorator. We had thought a bit about it ahead of time. Bill was sure we would run out of time so we finished the basic boat in ½ hour and had way too much time to decorate it. Carole made a name board “Loopers Bloopers” and then painted a mermaid (complete with nipples) on the foredeck. Since the piece of cardboard we used for the foredeck came with a round hole in it we had to put a flagpole up. We used a broom for the mast, three stays and AGLCA and Bay Moorings pennants flew from it. If there had been a prize for decoration (there wasn't) we would have won it easily! Bill also used the extra time to completely cover the outside of the boat with duct tape to help make it more water resistant.

At 12:30 they served us lunch and at one the race was on!

The building of the "SLED"

I was the driver since I was lighter than Bill and neither Carole or Barbara would even consider getting into a cardboard boat – even if it was completely covered with Duct Tape. The race started from the boat launch ramp, went out about 25 yards to a docked boat then ½ way back to another dock where we were given a drink to finish before the finish line and back to the ramp and a short run to the finish line.

The starting Line

The Start

Well at least most of us started

The "SLED" takes off

I start behind these two

Chugging Along

Second to the start line,
the finish is ten yards up the ramp.

Award Ceremony

I predicted that our boat would not sink, but that I would probably turn it over. I almost did. As the race started I slipped on the ramp on to my butt, taking the boat with me. There was only 2” of water at that point and Bill caught the boat. The slip at the start put me 3^rd of out four boats. The fourth boat turned over at the start & never floated. The boat in front was an ingenious design. It was basically a surfboard and the driver/captain lay on it and propelled it with swim fins. I knew I had no chance against him as I was using a kayak paddle and our boat was basically a box with a slanted front. Does paddling a potato chip give you the picture? Each stroke I took would spin the boat around and I would need to take a stroke quickly on the other side to keep it more or less in the right direction. We did have that nifty flagpole though! In second place was a more conventional type boat, slightly pointed in front and it was being propelled by a kayak paddle made of two oars taped together. He was struggling and as I passed him I watched his boat fill with water and sink. I eventually got sort of a rhythm going, but the surfboard was at the drink station by the time I reached the turn. Fortunately he had not heard that he had to finish the drink before finishing the race. It gave him a pause which gave the water more time to soak in to the cardboard. The drink was in some kind of kids sipping cup with the straw all wound around the outside of it. It felt like I was sucking my guts out each time I tried to drink more. I had the straw in my teeth and was paddling and sucking while I tried to catch up. Jay, on the surfboard, got off the surfboard before it got back to the start line and had to go back. By then the board was totally waterlogged and he was out of gas. He could not get the boat to move. He got off and dragged it to the start line, but he was wearing flippers and I got the boat to the start line about the same time he did. Without flippers on it was no contest to the finish. I was so tired that I couldn't break the the tape, or maybe it was because they used Police Barrier Tape (that's my excuse). The whole thing was a blast and it was even better because we won. The “Boat” was on display all the next day in front of the Marina Office. On Wednesday night they did a Barbeque Buffet Dinner, and the boat was on display again. One boater had Carole sign the deck and she took it on her boat as a memento.

Blacksmith

During the day on Wednesday we visited a recreated Jesuit/Indian village, circa 1629 . Using Archeological findings the St. Marie village was recreated. It was originally built so the Jesuits could convert the Indians to Christianity. In the end it created a conflict in the native community and led to the end of the tribe. Intern/Guides dressed in period dress were stationed in many of the buildings. They were usually engaged in an activity that was common at that period (making candles, birch bark pots, wooden planks, etc.) It was very well done and they were quite knowledgeable. Carole got to try her hand at writing with a quill pen, difficult but with practice it was doable.

After the village we visited the Martyrs Shrine commemorating those who died Christianizing the local natives. It was – well a shrine. The church was beautiful, just not my thing.

A BBQ at night with a good presentation on the trip up the Georgian Bay – what to see, what routes to take, places to anchor, and places to avoid capped the gathering.

Mitch practicing his vise

On Thursday morning there was a 1 on 1 route planning and Q & A session, and at noon we headed out on to the Georgian Bay. 2 ½ hours later we were anchored in Longuissa Bay with about a dozen other boats – One was another looper and one about to be. Had cocktails aboard Windsong a 38' sailing catamaran out of Salem Mass. With three chocolate labs aboard.

The trick in this area is finding a place to take Annie ashore. Most of the land around here is privately owned and it is not considered polite to go ashore on some ones land. There are many smallish rock islands in the anchorages and the locals call them “Dog Poop Islands” and they are! It does work for us.

Friday July 30^th

A 35 mile trip takes us up the 30,000 islands to Port Rossum Bay. This is a Dominion Weekend – The first weekend of every month is a 3 day weekend) and by 2:30 when we arrive there are boats in almost every anchoring spot. We have been traveling with Windsong and Lazy Dolphin is also coming so we are looking for a place to anchor 3 boats. We finally find a cove with enough room and all get anchored

Serendipity at anchor

The trip was really pretty. This area is an outcropping of the Canadian Shield and there is solid rock everywhere. We might be traveling in water 90-150 feet deep and the shore is 20 feet away! Like nothing I have ever seen before. Social hour on our bridge today.

Weather has been cool and very comfortable. Great for sleeping but a bit cool for swimming although Annie doesn't think so. She jumps in to the water every time I take her to shore.

Saturday July 31^st

We will probably stay put today. Yesterday we were besieged by lots of boats rushing about. I expect today will be much worse and anchorages will be full by the time we get to them at 7 mph. One thought was for the 6 of us to get in a dinghy and go for an early dinner at Henry's fish camp about 5 miles back. We shall see. Carole, Annie and I took a short dinghy ride this morning and then hiked a little on a nearby island. This is National Park territory so there are no private lands or cottages here. Lots of moss and lichens growing on the rocky land. We did find a patch of black raspberries for a morning snack. Back at the boat we had a bacon and egg brunch.

Carole Fishing

Carole started fishing and I was headed out in a kayak with a fishing rod when I heard a shout. Carole had caught a 2 lb. Smallmouth bass. I spent the next hour and a half fishing all of the “good” spots and caught nothing, while Carole got her bass under the boat on a worm. So much for the great fisherman! Anyway fish dinner tonight.

Bass for dinner was good. It was a clear cool evening and with no lights for miles around the stars were incredible.

We have decided to stay another day and have lunch at Henry's Fish Camp on our way up the bay on Monday.

It has been three days without internet, and I am still going through withdrawals. Although we still have cell phone service I feel like I have lost contact with the rest of the world as I know it. We can sort of get one TV station and we have a few DVD's of shows we recorded. It is likely we will be in this situation for the next few weeks so I better get over it.

Sunday August 1^st

The group at Moon River Falls

Overcast, cool with a light wind. One side of the dinghy was deflated this morning. It was the patched side and I was concerned that the patch failed, however I found the cap on one of the inflation valves was off and it probably leaked out overnight. I re inflated it and took Annie to shore and it is holding fine.

Mitch contemplating a dive

We are riding about 7 miles to Moon River Falls with two other boats in their dinghies (ours is too small and too slow). We were told that it is a great place to visit and we do not want to miss it. Sun is coming out but still lots of cloud cover. What a fun trip. An hours ride through rock canyons and open bays took us to the head of the Moon River and a small falls. The place was loaded with campers, day trippers, canoes, and rental aluminum boats. Kids (young and old) were jumping off the rocks in to the pool below the falls, others like us, were just hiking and looking. I thought about trying a jump but I was already cold and the prospect of an hours ride back at 20 mph in a wet bathing suit stopped me.

Social Hour tonight on Lazy Dolphin.

Monday august 2^nd

Raised anchor at 10:30 and headed NW to Henry's Fish Camp for lunch. I got a birthday card signed by everyone, Barb & Randy, Jay & Joan, and Carole. Had a Henry Burger which is Fried Pike (Walleye) on a roll and enough fries (nice and crispy) to feed all six of us. Everyone got that that many fries. Pretty good lunch and a great show. Dock hands (3 at a time) running to help dock all of the boats arriving and they were being choreographed by the dockmaster up on the hill. At the same time seaplanes were landing and taxiing in. About 8 planes were in and out while we were eating lunch. Several had to wait for dock space.

Seaplanes at Henry's Fish Camp

Carole has observed that the Canadian dock hands were way better than the U.S. Hands. They listen and and seem to be more knowledgeable and they are not looking for tips. In fact we have had several refuse them.

After lunch we continued on to Parry Sound. The marina is run by the local Chamber of Commerce and the dock hands did not live up to Carole' Canadian standard. Nice town – Bobby Orr's hometown – we did not go t the museum, but did go to the movies. Saw “Inception”. Very different, somewhat strange at first and then very good. We really liked it.

Tuesday August 3^rd

Shopping and laundry took up the morning. I was a little antsy so we hooked up with Windsong and pushed on another 15 miles. After negotiating a lot of narrow channels (Windsong took the outside route so they could sail a bit) we entered Snug Harbor. It was too small and shallow for us to anchor so Windsong headed for a side bay behind an island. We heard a loud crunch and saw Windsong had run up on a submerged rock. Jay was distracted by two girls in Bikini's paddling a canoe. He claimed that they seemed to be struggling and he wanted to give them room. Fortunately he did little damage although it did take both of our boats at almost full power to get him off. The owner of the nearby island came out in his outboard and helped turn Windsong around. He also offered to pull them off with his tug. When they asked if he was affiliated with Towboat US (Windsong's towing insurance) he told them that there would be no charge. The local people here are amazing. A number of people stopped to see if they could help. When we anchored behind the island, one boater came by to tell me that I might be anchoring on the island's power cable. At that point Bob (the island's owner) came over to return the towline I had used. He told me that it was only his phone cable and that if I raised the anchor and saw the line to just remove it from the anchor. The three of us (Bob, myself, and the other boater) sat and talked for a half hour about tug boats. Bob's was a 1942 restored tug.

Jay and Joan insisted on treating us to dinner. On the way over in their dinghy we saw a mink running around in the rocks. A really good fish and chips (what else?) restaurant. They had just finished smoking a batch of whitefish which was excellent.

Wednesday August 4^th

Started this morning with a call shortly after we left Snug Harbor. Windsong had lost both its engines. They were able to run slowly, and we accompanied them back in to Snug Harbor. After some investigation we found a fuel filter on one engine was loose so that engine problem was solved. The other engine appeared to have a failed fuel pump. Jay had an electric pump that he could use to replace the engine pump. We were sent on our way whole he did the repair, cleaned up and did some testing.

We continued on to Hopewell Bay. Lazy Dolphin had gone on to Pointe Au Baril found nothing and came on back to Hopewell Bay. Windsong and Selah also also showed up there. We hosted social hour on our flybridge.

Thursday August 5^th

Carole had a mini melt down today. After the grounding of Windsong she was understandably nervous about hidden rocks. On entering Hopewell Bay last night I was headed for what I thought was the opening, when Carole came up she pointed out that I was one island off and that it was real shallow where I was headed. I naturally argued with her, but she was right. The combination of events did shake her up a bit. Being used to mud bottoms where if you run aground it is only an inconvenience to a rock bottom where hitting something hurts either the people or the boat is a big transition. So I understand the concern and we have come to some agreements and I have promised to be more diligent.

We took a 2 ½ hour bumpy ride across Byng (pronounced bing) inlet and ran about 4 miles up to Britt. A nice marina and campground. I was able to refill our propane tank. I can not exchange it since it is an aluminum tank. We ran the refrigerator 14 days (some of them 24 hrs.) as well as cooking on the tank. I am happy with that.

A tight Channel

We did a chart session with Selah, Windsong and Lazy Dolphin to see where we would go the next day.

Friday August 6^th
Wind is not quite as bad this morning. We had some short fairly exposed runs. In the afternoon we had our choice of a tight inside passage or an outside run. Selah took the outside (they were about 1 ½ hrs ahead of us) and anchored in the Bustard Isles after reporting a 1 -2 ft. chop. Windsong (about ½ hr. ahead ) decided to push on to Beaverstone Bay on the outside. I called Lazy Dolphin (about 45 Minutes ahead) to find out what they had found, and learned that they had taken the inside channel. They reported it was well marked and very scenic although it was a bit tight is was doable. We had just reached the decision point and were leaning towards the outside run when Randy's report changed our mind. Carole was O.K. As long as it was well marked – so off we went! One of our best decisions so far this trip. It was a spectacular trip. When Randy told us it was tight, but easy it was before he had come to Obstacle Island and Parting Channel. About 25 minutes after we entered the channel Barb called and said if we thought we had seen tight and narrow she said: “You ain't seen nothing yet!” WOW – we turned into parting channel and were looking at a huge rock in front of us. The channel was maybe 30 ft. wide and in about 2 ½ boat lengths we we had to turn left at the rock. Turn right around the rock and then left again to avoid hitting our flybridge on an overhanging rock. The vistas were wonderful. Looking our over all of the red rocks surrounded by water. It was a real beautiful treat.

The narrows

Uh Oh!

Made the first turn

This is what we saw after the first turn

We then took a short run outside and up the Bad Rive to an anchorage at Devils Rapids. I was having trouble deciding where to anchor when Randy offered to have us raft up to them. After a bit of a struggle we managed to set our anchor and tie up alongside the Lazy Dolphin.

What a great anchorage. We took the dinghy to go on a nearby island with Annie. On the way we thought we we look around for Devils Rapids before the walk. ! ½ hrs. later we got back to the boat. We had gone through the rapids (it was running slow this time of year) and in to a canyon. Then we took a side canyon up to a small falls and then found another canyon that we followed for about ¾ mile up to another falls. When we got back I took Randy and Barb up there as their dinghy is too large to go there safely.

Rafted in Bad River

Small Canyon near Devils Rapids

Cardinal Flowers at Devils Rapids

One of the rapids - no we did not go up them!

We were intrigued enough to decide to stay for another day.

Saturday August 7^th

Cool, sunny and calm this morning. Carole heard a strange sound and went out to see if the dinghy was rubbing against the boat. She called me to come see. Up on the hill on the Island next to us were a pair of Sandhill Cranes feeding (we had too look them up). We watched them for about 15 minutes before they flew away.

We went off with Randy and Barb in two dinghys – we took Annie and hoped to hike on the island nearby. If we could climb to the to we would get a great view of the area. We tried four different approaches and each one was separated from the highest island by water. We wound up motoring around the island and never did find a way up to the top. We did have a fun afternoon drifting down alongside the rocks with the current.

On a Hike at the rapids

Sunday August 8^th

The day started overcast with a short rain shower. We decided last night that if the wind died we would go today. It mostly died, but the forecast was for 15 kts. In the morning building to 20 by noon. We were undecided. Lazy Dolphin contacted The Old Grouch who were already underway. They reported that it was lumpy, but O.K. We both decided to go. It was a bit uncomfortable but doable. We would only be underway outside the protection of the islands for 1 ½ hrs. And then the rain started. We pulled in and anchored behind Burnt Island in the Beaverstone Bay (still in the Georgian Bay) in a pouring rain. It is 1 o'clock and there is no wind- I mean none- and lots of rain (not in the forecast). Makes one wonder what the forecasters are doing. After we anchored at 1:00 we spent the afternoon working on a puzzle. After the rain cleared we took a dinghy ride over to the nearby island (not Burnt Island). Interesting rock formations. It looked like the rocks had been set in concrete similar to the way bricks look with ribbons of cement between them. Carole and I both liked the island so it is now “our island”! Since the 20 kt. Winds were non-existent we had a beautiful evening.

Aah!

Monday August 9^th

Mist in the treetops at 7:30 am and very calm. At 8:00 the fog starts to drop and by 9:00 we socked in solid. Lazy Dolphin and The Old Grouch who are in the anchorage with us are invisible. By 10:00 the fog had lifted and we got underway. We are headed for Killarney and it proves to be another really scenic trip. It is really amazing how the rocks and the formations change as we move along. Every channel seems different. I realize that the pictures do not show it to its best, but every area we pass through has a different feel to it.

By the time we reach Killarney it has gotten quite warm. This has been the first real swimming weather in about a month. I had really expected to see more warm weather than we have had. Killarney harbor was not the most inviting swimming place, but the shower in the marina was great!

On the trip over I found the water tank empty. I did not think we could have used that much, but it was possible. When we arrived I filled the tank and turned on the water pump. It seemed to be running a long time when Carole found water coming out from under the sink in the forward head. I shut off the pump and found the hot water pipe going in to the sink had pulled out. I replaced and tightened it, but still had a slow leak. There is no hardware store in Killarney. I shut off the water pressure for the night and hope that we can find a hardware store soon.

We went to the “World Famous Fish and Chips” at Herbert's Fishery. We ate it on the patio at the dock. It was really fresh since the fish come to the dock on on side, are cleaned and then cooked on the other side. Service is out of an old school bus. Have to say the fish was slightly overcooked.