Moving on down the Lake

Arcadia - we anchored out for the night.  It was calm, quiet and peaceful.  The next day we stopped at Ludington for fuel and then proceeded on to Pentwater.

King is pulling up the anchor and I am driving the boat out of the anchorage back into Lake Michigan.

I wouldn't want to climb back up these stairs.

Pentwater - we spent the night at Pentwater, MI and enjoyed a walk around this harbor town.

Next morning on to Grand Haven.  Smooth water.

 Lots of wonderful homes as we entered into Grand Haven.

This large freighter came up the river where we were tied to the town wall - passing within 150 ft. of us.

See the boats on the left side of the photo.  They are rafted together and tied to the wall behind our boat.  It is now night and the freighter is leaving and going back out into Lake Michigan. 

At 9:30 the Grand Haven musical fountain began its nightly program, immediately across the river from the free town wall where we tied up.  Built in 1962, it is a display of synchronized high definition modern pop music and lights in a 20 minute sequence.  We set on the bow of our boat with boaters Roger and Mary from TaTa and enjoyed the program, along with hundreds of others sitting on park benches, blankets and the grandstand.  

Grand Haven is truly an usual town because of the very large number of boats.  The channel reminded us of MoPac (highway in Austin) at rush hour, but instead of bumper to bumper cars there are bumper to bumper boats of every size and type.  

Lake Michigan is Big

Lake Michigan -
307 miles at its longest point and 110 miles wide.  We traveled the eastern shoreline from Mackinaw City to Chicago.  Today through Sunday we are at Hammond Municipal Marina and we plan to leave Sunday morning and begin our journey down through the inland river system.  Boating on Lake Michigan is controlled by the wind, the waves - both their size and direction.  We have boated nearly every day for over a week, which makes for pretty long days.  It is good to be settled into a marina for several days and rest, do laundry and clean the boat.

Leland, Michigan
One of our favorite stops.  Next door to the marina is historic Fishtown on the Leland River.  More than a century ago the commercial fishing industry thrived.  Now it is smaller, but an operating fish house remains, and all the fish shanties have been turned into little shops, eating establishments and tiny art galleries, still in the fishing and boating character of the original buildings.

"Janice Sue" below, is an authentic Great Lakes ice breaker.  Lots of charter fish boats still operate from Leland.

Drying racks for the nets.

Great restaurant, The Cove, has a great view overlooking historic Fishtown.  Enjoyed the white fish, plus purchased the two glasses on the table to add to my 'glass collection'.

Leland River view

 Interesting art gallery

King and his mobile office at the new Leland City Marina - Fishtown is in the background.

Marina view from the office

Into Lake Michigan, Sleeping Bear Dunes in the distance

On to Charlevoix - finally

Before leaving Mackinaw City, we had dinner at Pizza Palace with new friends Tim and Pam on Sweetwater and Bob on El Nido.  Tim and Pam are headed for Traverse City and Bob, with his dog Duncan, plans to buddy-boat with us tomorrow en route to Charlevoix.

After a long week in Mackinaw City the weather improved and we felt we could safely go to Charlevoix. The weather, wind and waves, must be favorable before starting the trip because this is the longest stretch on Lake Michigan - about 50 miles.  There is no harbor or marina before Charlevoix, so we had to make the entire length in one day.

Mackinaw Bridge - crossing under into Lake Michigan.  Waves are under 2 feet and wind is less than 20 mph.

Welcome to Charlevoix - we were happy to see that sign.

Charlevoix is a town of 3,000 year round residents which grows to a population of 30,000 during the summer months, due mostly to U. S. citizens from the midwest that own summer homes here. 

A canal from Lake Michigan enters into the Charlevoix Round Lake harbor.  There is a drawbridge that opens for 5 minutes on the hour and the half hour.  We waited outside the canal until we could see the bridge open before we proceeded on to Round Lake and the marina.

Into Round Lake and the very upscale marina

Charlevoix - big recreation, big boats, big boat garages, big houses, big money.

Charlevoix is also well known for its mushroom houses which were designed by Earl Young in the 1920's. The elfish homes feature curved cedar shake rooftop and undulating stone walls and stone chimneys that are curved and overflowing.  We walked around the town and enjoyed seeing the different mushroom houses.  Maybe we are in the Shire!

We continue to enjoy the absolutely beautiful flowers in this area.

The next morning we timed our departure to coincide with the bridge opening.  As we approached the bridge we were surprised to see more mushroom houses.

Bob on El Nido, waiting for the bridge opening with us, ready to head to Leland

Mackinaw City Day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

We had perfect weather and seas last week, but on Tuesday it started to rain and the wind started to blow.  So.... We have stayed at the same marina in Mackinaw City for eight nights.  The town is a tourist town, consisting of restaurants, fudge, and t-shirt shops.  I  bought a hooded sweatshirt and have enjoyed it.  We've been using all of our blankets at night.

So, we have worked on the boat, cleaned the boat and learned to make banana bread in a crock pot.

There are about ten other Looper boats here as well.  We've made new friends, gone out to dinner and had a get together one evening at the marina clubhouse.

A fun restaurant, decorated to look like a  northern Michigan lodge

The Air Force Jazz Band played a concert in the park, across from out marina.

The United States Coast Guard ice breaker Mackinaw resides next to our marina.  It is known as 'Queen of the Great Lakes' and was built as part of the war effort in World War II to meet the demands of moving war materials during the winter months.  It is now a museum and was decommissioned in 2006.

Trawler 'Hallelejah' looper showed us pictures of the ice on Lake Superior from the past winter, an usually cold winter.  These pictures were taken six months ago.  The wind causes the ice to heave. There were still ice chunks in the lake as late as June.  Glad we are here in August with no snow or ice.

We rarely have TV reception.  We get 2 channels here in Mackinaw City.  It's 9:30 p.m. Note my robe and blanket.  I told you that it is cold here.

Three distinct variations of water "craft". 

 

We plan to leave about 7 a.m. tomorrow (Sunday) and travel 50 miles to Charlevoix.  The weather is predicted to have winds out of the northeast at 5 - 10 knots and waves less than 2 feet. This is as good as we can expect.  The forecast is for several good days, so hopefully we can get part way down Lake Michigan.