On Sunday, July 22, we left Hilton Beach and headed south back into US waters. Will took the car and his kids and drove to St. Ingnace, MI and we took the boat through Drummond Island customs and onto St. Ingnace, where we all met up again for the night. We came across the western end of Lake Huron and past Mackanaw Island.
The majestic Mackinac Bridge from about 5 miles away in Lake Huron. This bridge carries interstate highway 75 accros the Straights of Mackinac and connects lower Michigan with the UP, and defines the beginning of Lake Michigan.
On Tuesday, Mary brought her kids and they all moved onto the boat with us. Will gave us a night at the East Jordan Inn, a delightful B and B. The other 6 spent the night on the boat. On Wednesday night we really tested the sleeping accomodations on the boat when we joined the other 6 for one night. We did prove that 8 on the boat is too many! On Thursday morning, Will and kids headed of to the Detroit area, and Thursday afternoon Mary headed south to Ann Arbor, leaving Elisabeth and Anya with us for a few days. Today, Friday July 27, we moved the boat to Petosky, MI and are in their very nice Municipal Marina.
On Sunday, July 29 we moved to Charlevoix and on Monday Jim and Katie Johanson, Pete's parents met us and picked up Elisabeth and Anya. Once the grand kids were gone we headed out to Beaver Island, a neat little community on a laid back island. We spent two nights there, biking around the island on Tuesday.
Wednesday we went further west to a small island, High Island and anchored for the night in a small cove.
On Thursday we proceeded south to the tip of Leeanau Peninsula, which forms Grand Traverse Bay, to the little town of Northport, MI. As we came into the harbor we were greeted by two other "Loopers" who we had traveled some with in Georgian Bay and the North Channel. We all enjoyed dinner together after some wine aboard Odyssee.
Yesterday we went down to Suttons Bay for lunch and then anchored out for the night. Today, Saturday August 4, we anchored all day in Bowers Harbor near Mapleton, MI.
This last week we have visited other towns and bays in Grand Travers Bay. These included the towns of Traverse City, Suttons Bay, and Elk Rapids where we are now on Saturday, August 11. We spent nights anchored behind Lee Point and Old Mission Harbor.
Tomorrow our daughter Mary and her two girls will join us for a week in Door County, WI.
We've had a great week in Door County, WI. Was very windy from the NW when we left Elk Rapids on Sunday, August 12, so we only went accross Traverse Bay to an anchorage at Northport. On Monday things calmed down some and we did make the crossing over to Washington Island, at the far NE tip of Door County, where we spent the rest of the day and then anchored for the night behind Detroit Island.
Typical shore line near NE corner of Door County
Tuesday we again had a stiff wind from the SW but we ventured down to Ephraim, our favorite spot in Door County. Tueday evening we went to an old fashioned fish boil served family style. We spent wednesday biking through Peninsula State Park, climbing the lookout tower at the NE corner of the park, visiting the light house at the NW corner of the park, lunch in Fish Creek, and back to Ephraim. Someone forgot to remind us that biking 20 some miles towing a trailer with two little kids in it was A LOT OF WORK! But the old body worked pretty well!!
The finishing touches on the fish boil!
When we woke up Thursday morning the wind was blasting from the North, but as the morning passed, the wind started to die. At 1:00 PM we left for Sturgeon Bay in a dead calm, but with a wave still rolling from the North. We anchored that night in Sawyer Harbor and managed to find a rock with our starboard prop in 7' of water. When we hit, I turned both engins off and set the anchor. I checked the depth with a lead line and I had 7' everywhere I checked. I deployed the dingy and checked the water depth in all directions and I found it was deeper to the east so planned on going to the east when we left in the morning. We anchored in a SE breeze with a forcast to go to the NW and blow, so I set a second anchor so we wouldn't drift over what ever we hit. Then I put on my dive gear and went down to survey the damage. One blade was bent on the tip about and inch in from the outside radius. Got out two hammers, a large channel lock, and a file. Was able to bend the tip back most of the way but couldn't quite get the nice tip shap restored. When we powered up this morning we had a vibration in the starboard shaft at about 1500 RPM. The wind was really blowing again from the NW with 5 to 7' waves predicted out in Lake Michigan, so we elected not to cross back to the Michigan side until Saturday when the wind is forcast to be light from the east and waves of 1 to 2'. So found a place to pull the boat and they let me change out the props. That is complete, the boat is back in the water, and we are planning to cross the lake to Frankfort, MI tomorrow.
We had a smooth crossing to Frankfort on Saturday. We will be here until Tuesday morning, August 21, when we plan to leave and head south to White Lake, MI.
We left Frankfort on August 21, stopped in Manastee for the night, went on to Ludington for the afternoon on Wednesday and spent the night in Lake Pentwater. Tied up for the day on Thursday, August 23 in Pentwater, MI, a neat little town. Did some provisioning, went to the free band concert at the park that evening, and spent the night. Friday we continued our trip to White Lake and a visit with the Nelson's.
On Monday, August 27, we crossed the lake to Port Washington, WI. It was not a good day. The wave prodiction was 1-2' from the SW. As we left the east side the waves were more like 2-3', just tolorable. As we got about 20 miles from the western shore, the Coast Guard directed us to listen to a weather bulletin on channel 22. We did and learned that a squall line was predicted to come off the west shore at Port Washington with high winds and rain. At about 12 miles out we could see it on our radar and about 6 miles out it hit, building the waves quickly to 5-6'. We could no longer maintain our westerly course, stuff was all over, the trash compactor came out, the salon table was sliding around, one leg on the sun deck table collapsed and it was sliding around. We tried going straight into it, barely managable but not productive at getting to shore. We went straight down wind, quite comfortable and we could quarter the waves some to move a little closer to shore. So we ultimately tacked our way in, slowly up wind than down wind, with each down wind we would get closer to shore. Took us an hour to finally get through the breakwater and into Port Washington. Not fun! We broke two lamps and scratched the salon floor. This was the fourth time since being on Lake Michigan that the forcast had been wrong, the NOAA weather service is really having trouble figuring out what the weather and waves are going to do with these small low systems moving across the stationary front that has been laying across the lake for the last few weeks, and we got caught in unpleasent waves.
Claria decided she needed a break, she didn't need to do any more boating on Lake Michigan! Our daughter Mary has just moved into their new home in Dexter, MI, so Claria has gone to the Detroit area to help take care of grandkids so Mary can get some work done.
I moved the boat to Milwaukee on Wednesday, August 29, and spent 5 days seeing many of my old P&H buddies and sailing friends at Pewaukee Lake. Sailed two races on Ron Schloemer's A Boat, always a fun ride on those 38' machines! Yesterday, Monday September 4, Ron Schloemer and I moved the boat to Kenosha, WI.
The Illinois river has been closed due to flooding. It is just now staring to allow traffic to move again, and the commercial traffic that is backed up has first priority to get through. Consequently, transiant dockage in the Chicago area has been hard to find. Things are starting to open up, and we will probably try to move the boat to Chicago on the weekend and start down the rivers on Monday or so.
Claria returned to Chicago on Friday, September 8, I picked her up and went out to the Schloemers new home near Lake Geneva for the weekend. Watched some of the E boat regatta at Delavan Lake, seeing several friends from Minnesota and Michigan who had come to race. On Sunday Schloemers drove us to the boat in Kenosha and we moved it to Chicago where we are docked at the Chicago Yacht Club for a couple of days.
On Wednesdasy, September 12, we were tourists in Chicago. This included a 2 1/2 hour Segway tour. What a blast to drive a new Segway, nothing to it!
From here we start down the Illinois Waterway.
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