On Tuesday, Joey & Holly needed to return to Northport, so we pulled out of the Mackinac Island marina by 9am, and shuttled them across the Mackinac Straits to Mackinaw City (pronounced the same with different spelling – go figure) where Joey had parked his car the day before. After dropping them off, we continued our journey, passing under the Mackinac Bridge, which, at almost 5 miles in length, is the longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere. We entered the almost flat waters of Lake Michigan and headed southwest toward a very popular tourist town, Charlevoix, on the western coast of Michigan, 58 miles away. We’ve noticed a change in the weather patterns in the past several weeks, with the warm and long sunny days we had in June & July being replaced by cooler mornings & evenings and the days getting shorter, and windy weather fronts moving through every 5 days or so. Since Lake Michigan can be very rough (so much in fact that the government has ensured that there are harbors of refuge at least every 20 miles down the eastern side of Lake Michigan), our intent is to put as many miles under Rickshaw’s keel as we can whenever the weather is favorable. With the winds typically coming out of the west, the waves fetching across Lake Michigan can easily build to over 6 feet by the time they reach the Michigan shoreline.
We arrived in Charlevoix around 5pm, and motored under the drawbridge between the entrance channel and the main harbor to our anchorage in Oyster Bay. Shortly after dropping our anchor, we got a call from Quest, who was in the Charlevoix marina, inviting us for dinner. So we dropped Ricky-Dink over the side, and sped across the bay 3 miles, meeting up with Carl & Ricki on Quest, Mike & Kathy on Queen Kathleen and Joe & Edie on Seaquel, who we had never met before. Shortly after 8:00pm, we decided we should return to Rickshaw before total darkness set in, so we made our way back to Rickshaw, returning Ricky-Dink to her cradle on the dinghy deck around 9pm.
After pulling the anchor up Wednesday morning, we motored back through the Charlevoix channel returning to Lake Michigan, and turned the wheel southbound, heading toward Leland, where we would wait out the front predicted to arrive Thursday, promising heavy rains and high winds. We passed through the Leland harbor entrance around noon, and proceeded to our slip in the marina, awaiting Joey & Holly to return via his car. We had originally hoped to give Joey & Holly the experience of anchoring out Wednesday night, but decided that experiencing heavy rains and 4-5 foot seas when they awoke Thursday morning might be too much for their first time, so we scratched those plans, and instead spent the day exploring the Sleeping Bear Dunes just south of Leland in Joey’s car, along with Joey & Holly. The dunes are 500 foot high sand dunes which steeply drop down to Lake Michigan and are part of the National Park system.
The weather forecast for Thursday morning proved to be 100% accurate, so we awoke in the marina to a downpouring thunderstorm and were rocked throughout the day and night by heavy winds, reaching 40 mph at one point. The bad weather gave us a chance to catch up on a few chores and boat projects, including the repair of the washer & dryer, thanks to the receipt of a new water pump to Holly’s grandmother’s house, and the resolution of a problem with the fuel polisher. Belinda spent the day verifying a successful fix of the washer by catching up on laundry (yea! No more water on the floor!), and exploring the quaint shops in the town between rainshowers. Another problem that needed Jim’s attention was to diagnose the cause of the radar not communicating with the scanner mounted on top of the arch, 8 feet above the flybridge. During one of the breaks in the rain, Jim unzipped the flybridge cover and started the removal of the radar scanner dome cover to check for any loose wiring that might explain the reason for the malfunctioning radar. The dome is held in place by 4 bolts, of which 3 are easily accessible by standing on a bench seat on the flybridge. The last bolt proved very difficult to reach so Jim attempted to extend his reach by standing on a very wobbly 15” stool, placed on top of the bench seat, which soon proved to be a bad decision. As he stood up on the stool to reach the last bolt, the stool tipped over, sending Jim crashing down and planting the left side of his face solidly into the edge of the bench seat, resulting in an almost perfect circular deep-purple black eye.
He now bears a strong resemblance to Petey, on the Little Rascals (for those old enough to remember).
On Friday, Joey loaned us his car which enabled us the means to get out of the marina and do more exploring and to do some major reprovisioning from Walmart in nearby Traverse City, since our existing inventory of food and supplies had been severely depleted over the last month due to the 3 sets of company. We invited Carl & Ricki along & decided to drive back up to Charlevoix for a quick reunion with Skip & Barb on Moor $tuff, whom we had not seen since mid-June in Waterford, NY, and Joe & Tara on Seabatical. After the brief visit and a lunch stop, we headed back south in the car to Traverse City, loading up a basket with $250 in groceries at Walmart, and a few small purchases at West Marine & Home Depot. We arrived back at the marina about 5pm, and quickly dropped off the groceries, before cleaning up and driving back north to Holly’s grandmother’s (Christie) “cottage”, in the exclusive community of Northport Point, where Christie spends her summers, away from her home in Houston. We feasted on wine & a wonderful dinner prepared by Christie, watching the sun set over Grand Traverse Bay, following a golf-cart tour of the gated community before being returned to Rickshaw by Joey around 10pm.
The weather had finally broken Friday afternoon, so, on Saturday morning, we gladly untied our docklines from the Leland marina and headed out to the last island that we would visit for a while, which was the South Manitou island, 15 miles west of Leland. The island is part of the Sleeping Bear Dunes national park, so is manned by two Park Service personnel, who live on the island full-time during the summer season. Upon arriving in the eastern-facing bay on the east side of the island, we dropped our anchor in 25 feet of crystal clear aqua- green water, ate a quick lunch on the aft deck, before hoisting Ricky-Dink over the side to explore the island. The bay is edged by white sandy beaches, which, together with the aqua waters, gave the appearance of being somewhere in the Caribbean, except for the absence of palm trees. We beached the dinghy near the ranger station and walked up the beach to inquire what there was to do there. We were told that we had just missed the last tour of the 150 year old lighthouse, but that we could be given a personal tour in about 30 minutes. Bob, who worked for the Park Service until his retirement a few years ago, and who now volunteers to work for 3 weeks straight on the island, showed up right on time and gave us the personal tour of the lighthouse, explaining the history and the mechanics of how a lighthouse operates, including how a 120 watt light bulb can be projected through a Fresnel lens and be seen over 10 miles away. Returning to Rickshaw early evening, we spent the rest of the evening being rocked to sleep in our anchorage.
Sunday’s weather continued to be favorable for travel, so we took advantage of the calm seas and winds to make more progress down the Michigan coast. Our hope was that, by the end of the week, we could be near the bottom of Lake Michigan to meet up with Jim’s sister, Louise, and her husband, Bob, who could drive over from Detroit for an overnight visit. The next weather system was predicted to be at mid-week, so we wanted to make as many miles as we could while the weather cooperated, in order to be that far south by the end of the week. The best destination for Saturday was decided to be Manistee, 51 miles down the coast, so we pulled up the anchor at South Manitou island early Sunday morning, and motored down the coast, passed many more sand dune cliffs lining the shores of northern Michigan. We arrived in Manistee by 5pm, passing through 3 drawbridges, and into a marina where we took on 660 gallons of diesel, which had been consumed since we last filled up in Brewerton, NY. After doing major damage to our credit card at the fuel dock, we crossed over the bay, and planted our anchor in 20 feet of water, just off of the small boat ramp.
We arrived in Charlevoix around 5pm, and motored under the drawbridge between the entrance channel and the main harbor to our anchorage in Oyster Bay. Shortly after dropping our anchor, we got a call from Quest, who was in the Charlevoix marina, inviting us for dinner. So we dropped Ricky-Dink over the side, and sped across the bay 3 miles, meeting up with Carl & Ricki on Quest, Mike & Kathy on Queen Kathleen and Joe & Edie on Seaquel, who we had never met before. Shortly after 8:00pm, we decided we should return to Rickshaw before total darkness set in, so we made our way back to Rickshaw, returning Ricky-Dink to her cradle on the dinghy deck around 9pm.
After pulling the anchor up Wednesday morning, we motored back through the Charlevoix channel returning to Lake Michigan, and turned the wheel southbound, heading toward Leland, where we would wait out the front predicted to arrive Thursday, promising heavy rains and high winds. We passed through the Leland harbor entrance around noon, and proceeded to our slip in the marina, awaiting Joey & Holly to return via his car. We had originally hoped to give Joey & Holly the experience of anchoring out Wednesday night, but decided that experiencing heavy rains and 4-5 foot seas when they awoke Thursday morning might be too much for their first time, so we scratched those plans, and instead spent the day exploring the Sleeping Bear Dunes just south of Leland in Joey’s car, along with Joey & Holly. The dunes are 500 foot high sand dunes which steeply drop down to Lake Michigan and are part of the National Park system.
The weather forecast for Thursday morning proved to be 100% accurate, so we awoke in the marina to a downpouring thunderstorm and were rocked throughout the day and night by heavy winds, reaching 40 mph at one point. The bad weather gave us a chance to catch up on a few chores and boat projects, including the repair of the washer & dryer, thanks to the receipt of a new water pump to Holly’s grandmother’s house, and the resolution of a problem with the fuel polisher. Belinda spent the day verifying a successful fix of the washer by catching up on laundry (yea! No more water on the floor!), and exploring the quaint shops in the town between rainshowers. Another problem that needed Jim’s attention was to diagnose the cause of the radar not communicating with the scanner mounted on top of the arch, 8 feet above the flybridge. During one of the breaks in the rain, Jim unzipped the flybridge cover and started the removal of the radar scanner dome cover to check for any loose wiring that might explain the reason for the malfunctioning radar. The dome is held in place by 4 bolts, of which 3 are easily accessible by standing on a bench seat on the flybridge. The last bolt proved very difficult to reach so Jim attempted to extend his reach by standing on a very wobbly 15” stool, placed on top of the bench seat, which soon proved to be a bad decision. As he stood up on the stool to reach the last bolt, the stool tipped over, sending Jim crashing down and planting the left side of his face solidly into the edge of the bench seat, resulting in an almost perfect circular deep-purple black eye.
He now bears a strong resemblance to Petey, on the Little Rascals (for those old enough to remember).
On Friday, Joey loaned us his car which enabled us the means to get out of the marina and do more exploring and to do some major reprovisioning from Walmart in nearby Traverse City, since our existing inventory of food and supplies had been severely depleted over the last month due to the 3 sets of company. We invited Carl & Ricki along & decided to drive back up to Charlevoix for a quick reunion with Skip & Barb on Moor $tuff, whom we had not seen since mid-June in Waterford, NY, and Joe & Tara on Seabatical. After the brief visit and a lunch stop, we headed back south in the car to Traverse City, loading up a basket with $250 in groceries at Walmart, and a few small purchases at West Marine & Home Depot. We arrived back at the marina about 5pm, and quickly dropped off the groceries, before cleaning up and driving back north to Holly’s grandmother’s (Christie) “cottage”, in the exclusive community of Northport Point, where Christie spends her summers, away from her home in Houston. We feasted on wine & a wonderful dinner prepared by Christie, watching the sun set over Grand Traverse Bay, following a golf-cart tour of the gated community before being returned to Rickshaw by Joey around 10pm.
The weather had finally broken Friday afternoon, so, on Saturday morning, we gladly untied our docklines from the Leland marina and headed out to the last island that we would visit for a while, which was the South Manitou island, 15 miles west of Leland. The island is part of the Sleeping Bear Dunes national park, so is manned by two Park Service personnel, who live on the island full-time during the summer season. Upon arriving in the eastern-facing bay on the east side of the island, we dropped our anchor in 25 feet of crystal clear aqua- green water, ate a quick lunch on the aft deck, before hoisting Ricky-Dink over the side to explore the island. The bay is edged by white sandy beaches, which, together with the aqua waters, gave the appearance of being somewhere in the Caribbean, except for the absence of palm trees. We beached the dinghy near the ranger station and walked up the beach to inquire what there was to do there. We were told that we had just missed the last tour of the 150 year old lighthouse, but that we could be given a personal tour in about 30 minutes. Bob, who worked for the Park Service until his retirement a few years ago, and who now volunteers to work for 3 weeks straight on the island, showed up right on time and gave us the personal tour of the lighthouse, explaining the history and the mechanics of how a lighthouse operates, including how a 120 watt light bulb can be projected through a Fresnel lens and be seen over 10 miles away. Returning to Rickshaw early evening, we spent the rest of the evening being rocked to sleep in our anchorage.
Sunday’s weather continued to be favorable for travel, so we took advantage of the calm seas and winds to make more progress down the Michigan coast. Our hope was that, by the end of the week, we could be near the bottom of Lake Michigan to meet up with Jim’s sister, Louise, and her husband, Bob, who could drive over from Detroit for an overnight visit. The next weather system was predicted to be at mid-week, so we wanted to make as many miles as we could while the weather cooperated, in order to be that far south by the end of the week. The best destination for Saturday was decided to be Manistee, 51 miles down the coast, so we pulled up the anchor at South Manitou island early Sunday morning, and motored down the coast, passed many more sand dune cliffs lining the shores of northern Michigan. We arrived in Manistee by 5pm, passing through 3 drawbridges, and into a marina where we took on 660 gallons of diesel, which had been consumed since we last filled up in Brewerton, NY. After doing major damage to our credit card at the fuel dock, we crossed over the bay, and planted our anchor in 20 feet of water, just off of the small boat ramp.
 A freighter just passed under the Mackinac Bridge. The Mackinac Island lighthouse to the right.  Jim and Belinda made to the top of the first dune - just behind Joey and Holly.  Joey and Holly on the dunes with Glen Lake in the back ground.  As expected - these are the idiots who can't read. If you look closely you will see the only way these people can climb back up is on all fours. It will take them hours - this dune is VERY STEEP!!  This is the view of Grand Traverse Bay that we enjoyed while dinning at Holly's Grandmother's cottage on Northport Point.  The water in South Manitou Island Bay made us think we were in the Caribbean - we only needed palm trees.  We could see Rickshaw anchored in the bay from the top of the lighthouse.  Sunrise in bay.  As we headed south from South Manitou Island towards Manistee, we got one more look at Sleeping Bear Dunes. |  The first dune in Sleeping Bear Dune National Park.  Jim, Holly and Joey made it to the top of the second dune, Belinda is trailing behind.  Joey standing at the top of one of the steepest dunes. A warning sign was posted warning people NOT to go down the eroding sand dune and if rescue was required a fee will be charged.  Skip, Belinda, Ricki, Carl, Barbara and Jim. Thanks Tara for snapping this.   It was very windy at the top of the lighthouse!  The lighthouse from the bay.  Jim's black eye  The draw bridge opens on request in Manistee - great, no waiting! |
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