Lake Michigan

07.29.2010

Lake Michigan greeted us with a light chop. Thirty minutes before we entered the channel to Lake Charlevoix the winds picked up. Boats seemed to come out of nowhere scrambling to get a slip in Charlevoix City Marina. Many of the vessels were sail boats returning to Chicago from last week’s race, (Chicago to Mackinac Island).

Charlevoix is a tourist town. T-shirts, ice cream and fudge are easy to find. The most interesting store is The Cherry Republic. I didn’t know you could make so many things from cherries.

07.30.2010 we left at 0600 to get ahead of the sail boats. If we stayed in Charlevoix I would have shop with intentions to buy at The Cherry Republic. Thank goodness for the .com industry.

Lake Michigan was kind this morning. The waves were at our stern all the way to Leland. I was grateful.

Leland Township Harbor Marina turned out to be crowded overnight stay. Boats were rafted 3 deep on their beams and on the sterns of the boats in slips. WIFi was only available in the boaters’ lounge where your thoughts had to compete with volume of the TV.

The marina building is new and premises are well maintained. This is a hot spot for local cruisers and tourist. The town was a fishing village. The old buildings and sheds are now retail shops.

07.31.2010

There were no slips available at the three marinas in Frankfort. We anchored in the harbor and were rocked by anglers going out at 1900 hours and returning at 0100, and going out at 0500 the next day.

Frankfort is known for its 480 foot sand dunes. The town was small but good for provisioning. It has a waterfront park with a large bike path. There is a smoked fish shop and the biggest supermarket we’d seen since Albany NY.

There are many sand dunes on the eastern shore.

A marina on Round Lake near Chalesvoix Municipal Marina

Trails on the dunes

Sunset in frankfort

Fog

Golf Course in the fog

Crossing our wake celebration

08.01.2010 – 08.03.2010

We met up with Tom and Diana, Noah Agenda, at Ludington Marina. It is good to reunite with friends and share loop adventures. Of course having others to discuss the next leg of the trip with is a bonus.

Ludington, MI is a good place to spend a few days. The marina facilities were clean and our phones and broadband worked adequately, (most of the time).

Manitowoc Wisconsin, where we brought Freedom, is across Lake Michigan from Ludington MI. So we crossed our wake but this time we’re taking the east side route down to Chicago. We’ll celebrate closing the loop as purest (one continuous voyage) in Grand Rivers Kentucky where we resumed the loop in October, 2009.

St Mary River

07.25.2010 we reentered the USA at Drummond Island which is on the St Mary River. We had a short wait at Yacht Haven Marina for the custom’s officer. Once cleared, we were able to get off the boat. Tut was happy to be on U.S. soil again. He rolled around in the dirt which is a sign of joy, or when female felines are within view, self advertisement. There were no other cats in the area.

Linda and Dave, Perfect Timing, were at the marina with two of their grand children who we met in Marathon, Florida.

07.26.2010 – day 2 at Yacht Haven

The 1^st stop on our bike tour of Drummond Island was the U.S. Post office. Postage in Ontario Canada includes 13% harmonized sales Tax. It coat $1.13 to mail a post card or a letter. I was happy to pay the U.S. costs to mail a package to our granddaughter. I’ll still complain when I have to wait in line for service but no more

Next we went to the hardware store, clothing shop and grocery. All three retail businesses are owned by the same guy.

Our last stop was a gourmet store. Andrew purchased sorghum and pasties, two items he had searched for throughout the trip.

07.27.2010 we docked at St Ignace Marina. We took the ferry to Mackinac Island which may be the fudge capital of the world. In a ½ mile strip there were at least 12 fudge shops.

No automobiles are allowed the island. You can walk, ride a bike or take a horse drawn carriage to get around. We chose to take our bikes so we could ride the 8 mile coastal trail.

It was hot and humid which enhanced the downtown town area’s aroma of steaming horse excretion and fudge. People crowed the sidewalks while hoards of bike cyclist, with varied degrees of skill, shared the main street with horses.

We started the trail at the finish marker to bike opposite the traffic. Although there were fewer riders on our side of the road there was danger. Hazards included: children racing their parents on the wrong side of blind curves; elderly, on bicycles built for two, losing the capacity to peddle uphill swaying into our path; lane jumping riders using cell phones; people making emergency stops forcing the traffic into our lane; bikers pulling dog tent trailers, dogs trying to escape the trailers, people carting children in overloaded carriers with reduced steerage; and the intermittently spaced manure obstructions.

Mackinac Island is beautiful. The water is two toned, aqua close to shore and dark blue as the depth increases. We past the Grand hotel (featured in the movie Somewhere in Time) and Arch Rock before returning to historical downtown. We had an early dinner at Mustang’s Tavern then rode the ferry back to St Ignace.

Ship carrying bales of hay to Mackinac Island for the horses

Mackinac Island Marina

Mackinac Island Coastal Trail

Me riding my bike

Arch Rock

Me waiting for the ferry on the dock - Mackinac Island

Andrew waiting for the ferry

Downtown Mackinac Island

Grand Hotel

Photo taken from ferry

Ferry Captain watching clearance

07.28.2010 the wind was steady at 20 knots with gust to 30. We stayed another day at St Ignace. Andrew found another pasties shop. We now have a freezer d full of them.

Back in the USA

07.24.2010 Thessalon Marina

Canadian Coast Guard

The crew was friendly. They went out every night regardless of the weather to patrol.

07.25.2010 Tut prepares for re entry into the USA.

Our first U.S. sunset in 36 days - Yacht Haven Marina

U.S. grade sea gulls on Drummond Island.

07.26.2010 the crew is on alert for a quick departure. The captain is checking the weather to determine if we should stay at Yacht Haven Marina another day or move on.