Moving Again

I've been pretty neglectful with the blog the past week. I'll update this morning. We have been stuck for most of the time. We left Mackinac Isand and had a good trip to Charlevoix, but then got weathered in for 4 days. We enjoyed the town, it was a delight. Ate some good fish and good beer. The marina folks there were great and the boat in the slip next to us was a Canadian couple doing the loop as well. Due to fmily issues, though, they are stopping and putting their boat up in Charlevoix for the winter. After 4 days there, we were able to move on to Frankfort, 75 miles down the shore. We were stuck there for 5 nights, but again enjoyed the town, fish and beer. We anchored in Betsy Lake the whole time, near a boat that had traveled from Germany, a big catamaran. Frankfort is where my brother Jim kept his boat for many years, salmon fishing. It has a great brewpub and hardware store. Cindy found a thrift store of sorts and picked up some treasures, and I found some neat old books. Yesterday we adventured out to try and move, but it was pretty bouncy, and came back in, went to the Frankfort farmers market nd wasted another day. Today the weather is much more benign and we are on the move as I write this. Not sure where we will end up yet, at least Ludington, and maybe further. All is well, but we are used to moving and all the sitting in one spot gets a little old.

Docked at Charlevoix

Betsy Point, sand dunes everywhere

Frankfort Beach

Coast Guard Station

Birds on the Frankfort breakwater

Waves breaking on the barrier

Ancient medical texts at the thrift store

Some of Cindy's treasures

Farmer's Market

Mackinac Island

We've spent the last couple of days touring Mackinac Island. Very interesting place histoically and aesthetically. Flowers and gardens everywhere and learning the history of the island since the Revolutionary War to the present was new to me. We toured the fort, walked the town, had a good beer and some mediocre food. No cars here, only bikes and horses, but everything ws so close that we walked. I think their season is winding down, and it wasn't real crowded. Lots of older people, and the island has a lot of vertical to it, so a lot of the were struggling with the walking. This morning we will pass under the Mackinac Bridge ( in about 30 minutes) and move on to Charlevoix for a couple of days I think, our stay depending on weather. It is flat today and a good day to move on.

Clear water like the Bahamas

Monarch butterflies on the flowers near the Grand Hotel

Grand Hotel. They wanted $10 a head just to go inside. We passed.

Beautiful stone church along with the ubiquitous horses and carriage

Harbor view from the fort. Our boat is down there in the middle

Our boat is dead center

Two of the old people touring the island

This contraption is a "horse shit" zamboni. It is pulled by horses and sweeps up the manure they deposit on the roads.

Arch Rock

Grand Hotel this morning as we left

Looking at the bridge as we approach this morning

View of the fort this morning

Lake Huron

We are now in Lake Huron. After an overnight at Grand Marais and a visit to the brewpub there, we departed in the fog to round Whitefish Point, cross Whitefish Bay and anchor in a delightful spot in Waiska Bay. We met nother boat doing the loop at Grand Marais. They had a big Carver they had just bought in Bayfield, but were only running on one engine. They had lost the transmission on one side, and hoped to get it fixe on Lake Michigan someplace. Yesterday we locked through the Soo on the Canadian side. I called them ahead of time to check if we could lock through without clearing into Canada, and they assured me it was fine and that the lock opened at 10 am. We got to the lock and she apologized, but it didn't open until 11, so we had a wait for a bit. It gave me a chance to talk to another boater locking through with us. He was a logger that lived 20 miles north of the Soo. Nice guy and very knowledgeable about boats. After locking through, we were in the St. Mary's river in the afternoon, passing Laker after Laker upbound. Sometimes the channel is only 00 feet wide, so we got up close and personal with a couple of them. midafternoon we tied up at a Michigan state dock on Lime Island, all alone. It's an island that they mined limestone and crushed it to make lime, they stored in kilns on the island. It is all abandoned now and is part of their state park system. There was a great trail system on the island, so we got our exercise in. Today, I think we are moving on to Mackinac Island if they have a slip for us. I hav always wanted to go there.

Larry the cable guy was at the brewpub in Grand Marais, which was a clone nof the Winton Liquor Store

Lime Island Fuel tanks. It had been a refueling stop for Lakers years ago

Good speed on the St. Mary's River

A Laker passing our dock last evening

Docked at Lime Island

Picking aapples at Lime Island

The old school house

Another Laker passing by this morning

Two Lakers passing each other

On to Grand Marais Michigan

This morning we left Marquette after a four day stay due to weather issues. It has finally laid down and predictions for the next several days look favorable, so the plan will be to move 70 miles east today to Grand Marais, Michigan (which has a good brewpub I think), then to n anchorage just above the Soo Locks tomorrow, then to the Drummond Island area on Tuesday. We'll see. Our stay in Marquette was delightful. Cindy varnished the foredeck of the pilot house and I fixed a nagging problem with the head, replacing the flush ball that was not sealing. We toured the area as best you can on folding bikes, got some exercise and last night watched the Twins sweep a doubleheader against Cleveland, so things went pretty well. The gale warnings and small craft advisories have been lifted and thi morning the lake is pretty flat. We toured a well done museum on UP and Mrquette history. We found a great fish market on the waterfront, and a couple of thrift stores.

One of the first women's hockey teams, in Marquette

Prophetic date on the fireman's memorial

Marquette fire bell

The old ore dock. When it was active, the railroad spanned the area from the top of the hill, across the town itself to the top of the dock

Ore dock showing the loading shutes

Walking the breakwater

Our shadows

Breakwater with the lighthouse in the distance

This lighthouse was indeed a house with the light on top

Father Baraga's chapel, Marquette had some neat architecture, mostly built with local sandstone blocks

Holed up in Marquette

Cindy and I had a discussion when we left Grand Marais and headed for Isle Royale. A critical look at the wather for the next seven days, suggested that the north side of the lake was not where we should be. It is quite remote, no support services, and very sketchy internet/phone service, which is pretty critical for our weather observations, We decided to go to the south side of the island for a night, then cross back to the south shore on the Keweenaw Peninsula, and follow the south shore. Now in retrospect, a pretty good move. We had a delightful night in Hay Bay on the mid portion of the south side of Isle Royale, then crossed to the Keweenaw north inlet and on to Houghton Hancock for a night. From there, on to Marquette, with plans to proceed on down the south shore to Grand Marais, Michigan and the Soo. Our stay in Houghton included a trip back to the antique store we visited in June, and a nice meal at the Library restaurant, with a good IPA. The run to Marquette was a little lumpy, but improved as the day progressed. Yesterday we pulled out of Marquette, early, with a destination of Grand Marais, MI and a bail out at Munising if needed, knowing the weather was going to deteriorate. Well, we got a couple of miles out of the Marquette harbor and things were ugly. Wine glasse were breaking, the boat was rolling with 4 footers on the beam, so we reversed course and now are holed up in Marquette, waiting out a gale warning the Coast Guard posted for the next day or two. It's  good spot, found a fish house with good smoked trout sold by a  real fisherman in rubber bib overalls. We (Cindy) varnished the foredeck in the pilothouse, and will put another coat on today. I worked in the engine room and on the head. We'll pull out when we can. The good news is by Sunday it looks flat, and continues flat most of next week.

Hay Bay Isle Royale sunrise

Raising anchor on Isle Royale

Leaves are changing

Restaurant in Houghton, eat flags and name

Dredging at the Houghton entrance

Lighthouse at the Houghton canal west entrance

Weather buoy we passed, recording wind, water temp, wave height

Huron Islands

Ore boat exiting the Marquette harbor as we arrived