Last Days on Lake Michigan

August 26-August 31, 2010 Thursday to Tuesday

Although we enjoyed our stay in Frankfort, we knew it was time to move on south to Pentwater, MI.  The winds were light, the waves 1-2 feet and we had a following sea-it doesn't get much better than that on Lake Michigan. Pentwater's main street is very typical of all the Michigan port towns we've visited, but this one had a small but interesting marine store with almost any kind of marine part you'd need along with some marine antiques.  The town provides another fish preparation station for all the fish the fishermen catch and a weekly concert for the locals and tourists.  And, of course, ice cream parlors galore!

Great Music!

Fish Prep Station

We knew the winds were iffy, but decided to make our way south.  The day started out calm but soon changed to what we call "uncomfortable"- so it was a rough three and a half hour ride on four to six foot seas.  We pulled into White Lake and welcomed the six mile calm ride to the end to the Whitehall Municipal Marina.  We thought we were in the wrong place because only two sailboats were in this good size marina.
No, the dockmaster told us, we were in the right place ...pick any slip we wanted!  That was certainly different. (We were later told that seasonal slip rentals now choose to go to another marina with a pool.)  This town looked as if the economy was beating it up more than the other towns as there were more vacant buildings and fewer people enjoying the park than other Michigan towns we've visited.  They did have a beautiful quilt shop that got thoroughly scoured!  They also had a fantastic 22 mile bike path with its own bridge to get across the river that was very enjoyable to ride. Pete spent some time replacing  belts, cabinet hardware and fluids-there's always something to look after...

Whitehall's empty docks

We had  stayed in Whitehall for two days and were  getting itchy to continue on.  The water was again rough with noticeable winds, making for another "uncomfortable" ride to Grand Haven, Michigan.  This port was almost as busy as Mackinac Island with plenty of tourists and a parade of boats all day long. They had an interesting three town museum dedicated to transportation and  two mile boardwalk running out to the lighthouse.  We noticed their main street was torn up and learned that the power plant on the river was piping their hot water into the newly laid pipes under the street so the street would stay snow and ice free all winter long -I 'd love to  have that in Newtown!   We were entertained by  the Musical Fountains-a light  and water show that danced to tunes like "Let It Be"-very different. 

Grand Haven Lighthouse

Bowden Bike

Grand Haven's new streets in the making

Musical Fountains

The weather Monday as we left Grand Haven was getting hot and humid but the lake was calm with light winds. We had wanted to stop at Saugatuck as it was highly recommended by many folks but we decided to take advantage of the good travel conditions and continue on to South Haven.  South Haven is more upscale that some of the other towns with more boutiques and other shops.  We did some needed grocery shopping and laundry which left us little time to really explore it.  We needed to get to New Buffalo to pick up our mail.  Our ride to New Buffalo was bumpy but reasonable.  We took on fuel and went to the municipal marina and were again surprised at the amount of empty slips available-surprised because we had read how we needed reservations at these marinas, yet Mackinac Island was the only one that required a reservation-lucky for us.
Our big disappointment was that our mail package had not arrived yet.  The post office people were most accommodating by offering to drive it down to the marina if it arrived Wednesday(it didn't) so now well have to figure out a new PO after we leave Chicago.  New Buffalo has a glut of condos by the waterfront but unfortunately, are only about 1/3 full.  It seems the developer had grandiose vision of this being a suburb of Chicago, got Amtrak to put in a stop here and then when bankrupt. You can see the condos in the picture of the marina. The town has scars from being abandoned by the developers.

New Buffalo/condos

New Buffalo main street

Our next stop is Chicago...can't wait!
Enjoy the first day of school!

On to Lake Michigan

We recently learned that the Newtown Bee published an article about our Loop journey,  We had corresponded with Nancy Crevier so she was very familiar with the trip and us.  We would like to thank her for her beautiful article.  She took lots of information and wove it into an informative article.  Thanks, Nancy,  for your effort and talent!

August 19-25, 2010
Those Lake Huron winds kept blowing hard so we had to stay on at Mackinac Island -not a bad place to get stuck .  We had an incident, though, that disturbed us -while we were at the Mackinac Island Municipal Marina three males and a female boarded our boat and tried to steal our AGLCA burgee (flag that designates our membership in the America's Great Loop Association).  The bars had closed (it was 3AM) and when Pete's flashed the flashlight, they all took off.  While trying to get the burgee, they bent the pole the burgee hangs from.  They seemed drunk and it was probably just a dare from one drunk to another but, even though is seemed harmless to them, it made us realize how vulnerable we are.  It took a while for us to get back to sleep.  The police told us we should have called 911-we probably need to keep a phone next to us in case of any emergency.

Burgee with new post

We finally left Mackinac Island and had a short 6 mile  bumpy ride to Mackinaw City, MI.  We figured even though the winds were still blowing some, we could start inching our way to Lake Michigan. Mackinaw City (pronounced the same as Mackinac-very confusing).  This small town is a tourist stop for many who take the ferry over to Mackinac Island for the day  but sleep in one of the MANY motels here.  The have an interesting self directed walking tour along Wawatam Park from the marina park to the reconstructed village of Cololonial Michilimackinac and Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse.  Mackinaw City is also famous for the four mile long, 135 foot high Mackinaw Bridge, spanning the Strait of Mackinac and connecting the two Michigan Peninsulas.  It is quite impressive to travel under!

 From Mackinaw City we traveled to Petoskey, Michigan and tied up in another Michigan municipal facility that is incorporated into their town park.   The city was having their annual "Festival on the Bay" which offered food (mostly pulled pork and brisket sandwiched), arts and crafts festival and a tent with all day live music.  We listened to a great band of young kids performing old music with a lot of jamming going on.  The Rolling Stones never sounded better!  There was a giant Jimaan canoe ride into the Bay sponsored by the Little Travis Bay Band of Odawa Indians.  Everyone came back chanting a loud song-sounds like they were having a great time!  The city had a West Marine within walking distance where we could buy some boat equipment we haven't been able to find other places.

Jimman canoe

You Rock!

 Since the weather was good we decided to travel to Charlevox .  What a great town-with their new municipal docks, grocery store that was bigger than a convenience store, upscale shops and my favorite, the mushroom houses.  These were fairy tale mushroom homes built during the 30' and 40's by Earl Young.  They remind you of what a hobbit might live in.  He built over twenty of them in the area and we were able to locate about eight of them. 

When we left Charlvoix, we knew the seas would be choppy but we didn't expect the 4-6+ foot chop we had.  We were getting beat up by them (getting sea sick is not fun!) so we stopped in Northport, a 22 mile ride.  This town is full of art galleries and antique shops-and yes, a very good ice cream shop.  Their architecture is very western, with the fake facade on most of their buildings.

Northport

From Northport we traveled twenty-six miles to Lelalnd.  This recently completely refurbished marina was great-docks that were clean and safe and laundry facilities almost like home. "Fishtown" is their claim to fame-it's a real commercial fishing community that also uses some of its buildings for tourist interests(t shirts and ice cream and fudge).  Their beaches are beautiful with some of the best sand we've ever been on.

Fishtown

More T shirts

Typical commercial lake fishing boat

Beautiful beaches

From Leland we motored to Frankfort where we are now.  Again we are in a wonderful municipal marina that has a Main Street right in front of us.  In fact the library is in our front yard...have to visit it today!  It even has a hair salon to get a much needed color and cut.  While each town might have one, you can't always count on it being in walking distance.  There's a bike path that connects to Elberta on the other side of the Betsie Lake that we'll explore today. There's a "Fountain of Youth" mineral spring that's offered to the public right at the marina.  It smells like sulfur so it's difficult to swallow.  Don't think it works; I haven't seen anyone fill their water bottles from it.
Last night's walk along the park/marina brought us to the Frankfort Municipal Ramp which has a facility dedicated to fishermen to weigh, measure and fillet their fish.  They REALLY take their fishing seriously around here!

Frankfort Lighthouse

Fish prep house

Fish prep equipment

The weather looks to be very windy and the seas will be rough so it looks like we will be here for a few days- let's see- a beautiful beach, nice town, comfortable marina, good restaurants-I think we can handle that!
Hope you are relishing this beautiful weather!

Mackinac Island -the Wind and the Wilsons

After careful considerations, we decided to leave the North Channel and head back toward civilization.  We cleared customs at Drummond Island and overnighted in DeTour, Michigan.  The State of Michigan runs a top notch inexpensive marina and harbor system - a harbor of refuge is available about every 20 miles along the Michigan shoreline.  DeTour was our first municipal marina and was clean, quiet and welcoming.  The people are proud of their village and worked hard to preserve its identity.

DeTour Welcoming

DeTour Lighthouse

We heard the weather was going to turn nasty and we wanted to cut the trip to Mackinac Island in half so we stayed in Centerville, MI.  Fortunately for us the bad weather went to the north and south of us, again skipping us-not that we're complaining about that.  Centerville was just that- a ville-that we had to be extremely careful getting into their shallow water.  We had to get around their dredging operation to get into the marina and hoped they had dredged enough to allow us not to go aground.  The depth finder read -0.2' but we think weeds helped that reading.  Anyway, we made it in and out just fine.

Dredging in Centerville

We couldn't get a slip in Mackinac Island for Saturday night (we could for Sunday and Monday) so we went to St. Ignace, MI.  The town was busy but it seemed to be mostly the ferry stop most people catch to Mackinac Island.  We took their walking tour, finding the St. Anthony Rock, left by a glacier and were entertained by an extensive fireworks display.  We've seen more fireworks this year than in xx years!

St. Anthony's Rock

St. Ignace fireworks

 

 

The ride from St. Ignace to Mackinac Island is only about 6 miles but it felt like 6o miles.  The wind had whipped up and Lake Huron showed us her stuff. She had been placid for the past two weeks but saved up her strength until now.  Needless to say, we were very happy to see Mackinac Lighthouse and Harbor.

Mackinac Lighthouse

 

 

 

 

 

Mackinac Island (pronounced Mackinaw) is a small island that attracts tourists from all over.  They're famous for their fudge (12 fudge shops) and their Victorian architecture  but, most importantly, for their lack of any motorized vehicles(no cars, trucks,motorcycles, scooters etc).  This means the only form of transportation is bicycles and horses. The delivery people and taxi drivers all drive horse drawn wagons (the aroma is a memory in itself!).  The tourists all ride bikes-either they've taken them over on the ferry or they rent them.  It's really a pleasure to ride without the fear of a car plowing you over so MANY people of all ages and sizes hop on a bike and tour the island. No one locks their bikes either but I don't know the crime record for stolen bikes here.

UPS Delivery!

 We did the typical tourist thing and had lunch at The Grand Hotel.  It is THE must see here because of its 600 foot porch and fame as an exclusive expensive resort.  They charge tourists $10 to sit on their porch and shop in their shops but deduct the $10 from their pricey but good lunch buffet. Since we weren't having dinner there (jackets and ties/no slacks for women), we went for the lunch buffet.  The hotel was grandiose and impressive but we thought it was somewhat dated but maybe that's part of its charm.  What do you think?

The Grand Hotel

Fort Mackinac is another landmark we checked out.  Its staffed by soldiers dressed in their Revolutionary War uniforms.  They hourly shoot off canon or rifles-Buddy spends a lot of time in the shower away from the much hated gunshot noise!  The Fort dominates the hill over the city and gave us an awesome panorama view of Mackinac Straits.

The perimeter of the island is eight miles, making the ride very doable.  We rode early which was a good thing since there were many people out riding by the time we finished our ride.  From the road you can see Arch Rock.

Arch Rock

On the day we rode there were white caps on the bay from the 20-25 mph winds.  The past three days have been extremely windy with a few raindrops and a couple of rainbows.

We're hoping for calmer weather tomorrow.  One boater came in to the marina today, saying he had 9 foot waves out there- that's 81/2 more than we like them! 
Enjoy these last days of summer!

The North Channel-Our Wilderness

We knew we would be reaching civilization soon when we reached Killarney, so we wanted to keep looking for the "unusual" in the remainder of the Georgian Bay.  We read about the Georgian Bay Fishing Camp; it sounded different so we decided to find it.  The route was off the main channel but we still had the minor channel (dotted line vs. solid line on the charts) to follow so we knew we would be safe.  We followed that dotted line to Obstacle Island; we now know it is appropriately named.  The channel was well marked and brought us to a right angle turn into Parting Channel.  We had no trouble following the channel markers but wait, is that a huge rock sticking out in the middle of the channel?  Oh, yes, it is!  We couldn't believe what we were seeing!  Pete's expert steering got us through that narrow 20' channel.  We wish we had pictures to show you but I was on the bow looking for boulders and since there were boulders everywhere, I was jumping around pointing out the rocks that surrounded us.  Taking pictures was the last thing on my mind at that point.  Our pictures of that rock are very clear in our minds...we'll never forget that granite!

Georgian Bay Fishing Camp

Sportsman Inn in Killarney was our next stop and we greatly appreciated the new showers and laundry facilities- oh, for the little pleasures in life!  Killarney was once a quiet fishing village-it was not connected by road to the rest of Ontario until 1962-and is still quiet by our standards but tourists now come by boat and car.  Herbert's Fisheries Mr. Perch Restaurant works from its old school bus origins, making delicious fish and chips and nothing else.(The old take it or leave it philosophy!)  They also sold fresh-off-the-boat pickerel,whitefish and smoked fish-all delicious!

 Herbert's Fish and Chips

Killarney separates the Georgian Bay and the North Channel so as we left Killarney, we began the next leg of our journey.  The North Channel runs 100 miles long and about 20 miles wide.  We thought the Georgian Bay was remote but the North Channel is even more desolate-lost cell coverage here!  High winds cause high seas in Lake Huron so we left Killarney in a hurry since the winds were beginning to get into the 15-20 mile per hour range.  We made it to Baie Fine, one of the few fjords in North America-and we're glad we did-the place was breathtaking!  We made it to a cove off Baie Finn called Mary Ann Cove and anchored with about 14 other boats doing the same thing we were doing-it looked like our own private marina.  Everyone there anchors med style with a bow and stern anchor so Pete had to dinghy a stern anchor and secure it to a rock.
We were very safe and comfortable there so we stayed for two nights.  We took a "rugged" hike up Frazer Bay Hill and got an amazing view of Frazer Bay, Baie Fine and McGregor Bay-certainly worth the climb!  The views and colors were incredible (The Caribbean of the North)-nothing we've ever seen before!

Frazer Bay-Baie Fine-McGregor Bay

 Little Current (pop. 1500-a thriving metropolis) was next on our itinerary.  After passing Strawberry Island Lighthouse, we had to wait for the Little Current swing bridge to open-it opens for 15 minutes every hour on the hour-and when it opened it looked like I95 at rush hour!  Every tall boat had been putzing along in the bay waiting for that magic hour and no one wasted any time getting into Little Current!  Little Current is aptly named; it has a little current and sometimes a lot of current-unusual for this lake. We stayed at Spider Bay Marina, appropriately named.  We awoke to all the docks and boats covered with elaborate spider webs ala Charlotte style. The spiders kept us company  everywhere we went in the marina-like visiting with the Adams Family.  The Country Music Festival kept us entertained all day and night and the fireworks were outstanding.  The next day Pete changed Tony M's oil, something he's wanted to get done.

Strawberry Island Lighthouse

Acrophobians  Beware!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little Current Quaintness

 Anchoring in these pristine coves has made exploring the North Channel even more special.After leaving Little Current, we found a beautiful cove inside Clapperton Island across from Harbor Island.This Harbor Island was a handy-man special deserted old resort that used to be THE place to go in the 50' and 60's-supposedly John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe used to frequent it often.  I hope they enjoyed that cove as much as we did!

Kagawong, our next stop, is a quaint little village.It boasts a communication museum, a unique  nautically-themed church and the Bridal Veil Falls, a waterfalls that is quite a tourist draw.  We hiked up the trail along the Kagawong River to get the falls, meeting about 20 people along the way.  When we got to the Falls, we couldn't believe the amount of people at the Falls-it helps that an Ontario highway passes by Bridal Veil Falls-what a "cool"way to spend some time!

              

We spent our last night in the North Channel anchored out  in a cove next to Turnbull Island.  It was peaceful,serene and the perfect end to this section of our journey.