Lake Michigan/Again

8/3/08

Today we left our anchorage at Government bay at dawn. We got to the Mackinac Bridge about 10:00 am and are now officially back to Lake Michigan. We think the bridge used to be a different color so will have to check that out sometime.

 Our original intention was to go to Beaver Island and anchor there overnight. However we are having another quiet sunny day on the lake, so we decided to go all the way to Charlevoix, MI. It is one of our favorite places and we heard that their new marina is great. Also, several boats from Sheboygan are planning on being there in the next few days and we would like to meet up with them. This is another 80 mile trek so we are taking advantage of the nice weather. Some books we read about the loop say to plan for being able to travel only about one out of every three days because of the weather on Lake Michigan and that seems to be pretty true. Probably that pertains more to power boats than sail boats but there is still plenty of times it is more fun to stay at the dock.  Before the new marina was built you had to anchor in round lake and wait, sometimes several days, for a slip to open up. They added about 50 more slips but when we got there we still had to get on the waiting list for the next day. It is not a big issue except that there are some boats that anchor a little too close for comfort.

8/4/08

No sign of the Sheboygan contingent yet but we did get a slip about noon. The new marina is all that it is cracked up to be. No wonder people are fighting to get in. We are settled in and heading out to some of our favorite establishments.

8/5/08

We spent the morning cleaning, and laundry. John and Pam Zechlinski and Dale and Carol Huenink came in this afternoon. We went to dinner at our favorite place, Whitney's, and had a great time catching up with old friends. I was on my way to the laundry this morning and saw the cutest thing, but I didn’t have the camera with me. Right in front of the office they have a round area for kids to play where the water shoots at random out of the ground, for the kids it is like running through the sprinkler. Any age kids can enjoy it and there is always a big group there. Well today there must have been something not working because right in the middle of it were two maintenance guys with the thing ripped apart and hoses sticking out all over. But on the wall was about 15 three year olds with their bathing suits on and the most forlorn looks on their faces. It looked like a crisis of epic proportions to them for sure. Happy ending though, because by the time I came out the waterworks was fixed. Close call.

8/6/08

The six of us decided that our activity of the day would be to go on a dink safari. We went around Round Lake and then into Lake Charlevoix and to Irish Boat Works. We got to see the Stars and Stripes Catamaran that was in the America’s cup. It didn’t look like that much fun to sail that thing. We had a great time zipping around. Then before dinner we went to see the movie, Mama Mia! We all like musicals so everyone seemed to love it.  We decided to go to this restaurant overlooking the bridge but they said the wait would be 45 minutes for an outside table. Rolf mentioned that we would go back to Whitney’s and voila, there was an outside table for us. I still don’t quite know why that works but it does. Rolf did the same thing in Chicago once and it worked then too. He just asked to use the phone to call the sushi bar down the street and they all of the sudden could seat us. Go figure.

Here is our illustrious commodore showing off his rowing skills.

8/7/08

Today we all left for points south. We headed out for Leland and the others went to Frankfort. It was more windy and wavy than the NOAA forecast but we were in by 10:30 in the morning. It was not forecasted but the wind built all day so it was really good to get an early start and finish. It seems from our perspective this year that the weather channel forecast has been better than NOAA, we don’t know why.

The waves here were pretty remarkable so we walked over to the beach where there people were kiteboarding (I don’t know what the real term is). They were really screaming along. Our next destination is Sturgeon Bay and would probably start heading in that direction tomorrow when it calms down a little but we have to wait here for the mail. So we may be weathered in for a few more days. I can think of a lot worse places to be stuck. We have always liked it here. There is ice cream, groceries, about 5 restaurants, bakery, beach, other stores, etc, a couple of blocks from the boat. What more could you want. Plus the place is awash in fresh whitefish, (personal favorite). Yippee.

8/8/08