The Last of Lake Michigan & Completing the Great Loop!

 August 20-23, 2012

 

 

The day we left Grand Haven, Monday, 8/20, we had every intention of stopping in Saugatuck, MI for a night.  (At least, I did!)  Saugatuck is well-known for its shopping and art galleries and I was excited to get there.  We had a great 21-mile trip with almost no wind and calm seas.  When we were about 3 miles from the Saugatuck breakwater, Roger asked me to call Sergeant Marina to confirm water depth in the harbor.  When I talked to the dockmaster, he said the boat that was in our assigned slip was going to stay an extra day and they didn’t have any other slips available.  I think there is some Michigan rule about squatter’s rights?  Anyway, the dockmaster called another marina and was able to get us a slip.  By then, we weren’t too happy and these 2 places were $2.50/ft., which is almost twice as much as the $49 a night we’d been paying all the way down Lake Michigan.  So we blew past Saugatuck  (at 7 miles an hour), and no shopping for me!

 

We had said we’d take our time cruising down Lake Michigan, but we went directly to South Haven, which turned into a 50-mile day, and spent 2 nights there.  South Haven is a cute town, but the grocery store within walking distance was a “Save A-Lot”.  I think the name is appropriate; you really do “save a lot” because you don’t WANT to buy anything in the store!  We met a couple of people doing the Great Loop and had drinks with them on Monday night. The next day Roger went for a bike ride and stopped at a Maritime museum, one that he & Travis must have missed on a road trip 8 or 9 years ago.  I sorted through 15 pounds and 2-months’ of mail.  Fortunately, Karin, from the UPS Store in Clearwater where we have all of mail sent, had alerted me to a jury duty notice that Roger received and he was able to postpone it before the deadline.  Life doesn’t stop just because we’ve been on the Great Loop!

 

More “Loopers” arrived at South Haven marina on Tuesday and they organized a get together for drinks.  Some of them are just at the very beginning of the Great Loop and some are about ½ way through.  The 12 of us were comparing experiences and they had a lot of questions for us because we were one-stop-away from crossing our wake.  Craig from Blue Heron proposed a toast to us and we were very touched.  It was fun to hear their enthusiasm, fears and concerns about the trip ahead of them.  We hope we’ll cross paths with them again, maybe in Clearwater as they pass through our area.

 

And so….it was our last official day on The Great Loop…. Wednesday, August 22^nd, which was yesterday.  We checked weather and were on our way by our usual 7:00 a.m.  Only the fishermen were out again this early and as we edged our way out of the river and into Lake Michigan, conditions were once again very good for the last 48.8 nautical miles!  In fact, the further south we went, the calmer the seas got.  We had the wind on our nose again and we could only do 6.5 knots, but we were in NO HURRY to reach our final destination on the Great Loop.  We reminisced about our great adventure, and as we got close to the Michigan City power plant, the more emotional we became.  Roger was excited.  I was excited too, but tearful.  

 

Three years ago, when our son Travis dropped us off at the Michigan City marina and drove off with our car, I had a really big cry.  I cried then because I knew that I was going to miss the kids terribly (which I have).  I cried because I was going to miss Indianapolis & our friends and my tennis girls (which I did).  I cried because our house still hadn’t sold and I was concerned about leaving it vacant (which it did sell – 3 weeks after we started our Great Loop).  I cried because we had left our lives behind for the unknown experience that lay ahead of us.  I cried because I was not experienced in long distance cruising and I was fearful of what I didn’t know.  How could I have let Roger get me into this?  That’s what I was thinking when we told Michigan City marina that we were vacating our slip and we pulled up our lines and went into Lake Michigan, bound for Chicago.  The rest is history now, as illustrated in our blog…

 

And yesterday…… I was tearful again as we got closer to the marina; in some ways, I didn’t want to come home!  I cried because of the adventure that we are now leaving behind; it’s come to an end.    I cried because we have been so fortunate to have met ALL the people that we have, and we have made some friends for life (for which I will always be thankful).  We’ll miss Danny & Susan from Potest Fieri as they moved on to Lake Superior to go back to Thunder Bay, ON.  We cruised on and off with them for 3 years and became a part of each other’s family.  It would be impossible not to be emotional at this time, but in fact it was just the two of us and Louie as we “crossed our wake” in Michigan City at 2:50 p.m. on August 22, 2012.  

 

We had requested a slip on our old dock in Michigan City, and we pulled into the slip right next to our old one.  I had emailed a few people from the dock that we had stayed in touch with and they will be here this weekend and they are even having a dock party for someone who is just starting the trip down the rivers.  That’s lucky timing for us!  We can’t wait to see them!

 

As soon as we tied our lines and plugged in our power cord, I hugged Roger.  I told him I was so proud of him!  And I thanked him for being brave enough to plan this trip – it’s what so many people only dream about and never do.  I thanked him for his patience with me as I learned the liveaboard life and as I learned to trust our instincts, to not be afraid, to be more confident as I became a much better boater.  I thanked him for being smart (technically) because he was able to troubleshoot issues that came up mechanically and electrically along the way.  Susan Godin from Potest Fieri always told me, “If you never leave the dock, your boat won’t give you any problems.”  But we didn’t want a “condo on the water”.  We wanted to SEE and EXPERIENCE everything we could along the route of America’s Great Loop.  

 

That’s why it took us 2 days short of 3 years and almost 8,000 miles under our keel, which included a number of side trips.  When we bought the boat, it was 21 years old and had 503 hours on the engine.  Today, 5 years later, we have put almost 1000 more hours on the engine.  With all the new equipment we added in 2007 & 2008, the boat is barely broken in and we’ve been so many places.

 

I am grateful that we were able to complete the Great Loop safely and in good health.  I didn’t forget about the times we fell off the boat or stubbed our feet, smashed a finger, hit our heads or fell into an open lazarette or engine space.  But relatively speaking, we were unscathed.

 

So now you’re wondering, what’s next?!  Well, we have plans…to sell Karen Anne (not ME, the boat!).  Today we sold our dinghy and motor to Canadian “loopers” that we met in South Haven and are here in Michigan City now.  And by December 1, we plan to transfer ownership to our good friends Steve & Rae Mason! They sold their boat in February, and after traveling with us on Karen Anne last summer in the Trent-Severn and more recently, they spent 6 days aboard in the North Channel in Canada, they decided that they loved this Krogen Manatee (as funny-looking outside as she seems at first glance) as much as we do.   You’ve seen Steve & Rae in many of the photos on our blog.  In fact, if you didn’t know us, you might have been wondering if they were the owners!  We plan to cruise with them a little, but they already told us that we have to sleep in the salon and they will get the stateroom.  Roger & I told them that will be fine with us because we’re going to stay with them in the Bahamas for a MONTH!  Ha!

 

We’ll leave Michigan City next week, Tuesday, if the weather holds, and take the boat back up to Muskegon for the survey and then winter storage.  Rae & Steve will meet us there and Steve and Roger will winterize the boat and get it ready for storage. In June, we had left our truck at Rae & Steve’s house in Kincardine, Ontario when we drove up to the boat in Georgian Bay.  They dropped it off for us in Saugatuck a few weeks ago when they went to look at another boat before they decided to buy Karen Anne.  So we’ll pick up the truck (and it looks like I’m not going to miss Saugatuck after all!), rent a U-Haul trailer and fill it with our stuff to take to Florida.  On the way, we’ll stop in Indianapolis to help Travis move into his new apartment and offload some of my galley items and other things for him.  Good timing, Travis!

 

I’ve been writing the blog since we left on the trip and now it’s time to stop.  I’m a little bit sad, but I’m glad that so many people have been interested in our adventure.  I asked Roger what he was thinking about the Great Loop coming to an end and here is what he wrote:  

 

ROGER:

“Back when I was in the merchant marine, and we were arriving back to our home port (usually NY or NJ) after what was usually a 3 - 4 month voyage, we were busy in the engine room with all the things we did as we were maneuvering into port.  When we were finally tied up, the bridge would ring down to the engine room "All Engines Stop" then "Secure Engines - Engage Turning Gear".  We would then write those commands and the time they occurred in the engine room log.   When that happened I would get the feeling, "the voyage is complete and I'm going home". That's what ran through my mind yesterday when I shut down the engine and turned off all the equipment in the pilothouse. Old memories die hard.”

 

There is a song that Rae Mason sent me when she & Steve said good-by to us as they went north in the winter of 2010.  It is called “Friends”, by Eileen Quinn.  Please visit our Home Page and listen to the words.  The song has captured what is in Roger’s and my hearts and pretty much sums up how we feel about leaving this part of our life behind.

 

It’s kind of bittersweet, isn’t it?  This chapter of our lives is complete.  And now the Great Loop Circle is complete. For the past 3 years, we’ve really been “Living the Dream” as you’ve seen in our blog.  And now…well we’re going to figure out what we’re going to do next…. soon enough. 

 

Here’s a couple of excerpts from Friends, by Eileen Quinn:

 

I'm counting up what I've got to show for all these years afloat


a dog eared passport, a weathered face, a tired old boat


a yarn or two that might be true and a couple of battle scars


days of sparkling waters, nights of falling stars

 



I've got seashells, I've got souvenirs, I've got songs I've penned


I've got photographs, I've got memories, but mostly I've got friends
...

 

The weather’s settled and soon we’re underway

You’ll go North and I’ll go South, that’s the price we pay

But I’ll see you some day in some harbor I haven’t been too yet

And surely we will know each other even if we’d never met.

 

I've got seashells, I've got souvenirs, I've got songs I've penned


I've got photographs, I've got memories, but mostly I've got friends
...

Lake Michigan and Ports Southbound!

 August 7-19, 2012

 

 

Lake Michigan is well over 300 miles long.  The winds typically come from the west/southwest, so we knew we had to pick our travel days carefully for our trip southward.  For 3 years, I have been deferring the weather watch to Roger.  Since our hold-up in Mackinaw City, I started monitoring the weather websites myself.  The problem with the 3 different sites was that sometimes we’d get 3 different forecasts.  It didn’t take long to figure out that Lake Michigan was pretty temperamental; winds, waves, storms and fog were what we’d hope to minimize if not able to avoid.  We figured out that we had to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.  So each time we go out onto this “Great Lake”, we batten down everything we possibly can.    

 

On Wednesday, August 8^th, we finally got out of Mackinaw City at dawn and went the full 60 miles to Charlevoix, MI.  The ride was okay; nothing sticks out in my mind 11 days later, except for… the Beaver Island ferry that crossed in front of us as we neared the breakwater in Charlevoix.  Roger & I were discussing our ETA and whether or not we could make the 2:00 bridge opening behind the ferryboat into Charlevoix, when all of a sudden the wake, along with the swells coming out of the west, got us good!  The boat went side to side about 3 times and it was the worst rolling we’d experienced to-date.  The boat recovered easily after a string of bad words came out of my mouth.  We had some chairs on the upper deck, the bungee cord came loose, and the chairs slid across the deck.  Lucky we didn't lose one overboard.

 

Then I went downstairs and everything -- books, DVDs, etc. had flown off the shelf in the salon.  And our 2 LazyBoy recliners and side table moved into the cabin almost 2 feet away from where they were.  Drawers slid open in our stateroom; stuff fell onto the floor.  And when we opened the cupboards, we had to catch things in the air!  The martini shaker almost knocked Roger out!  I can tell you next time a ferry goes by, we'll be more alert for the wake we know is behind it.

 

Charlevoix was just as charming as we’d expected – an upscale resort community.  We settled in nicely for 3 nights (which turned into 4 nights because of weather, of course).  First on the agenda:  Roger finally got his hair cut—I had never seen him with his hair this long!  I bought out the Farmers Market – blueberries, peaches, basil, pie, bread, bagels, tomatoes, and more.  We went to the movies and saw The Bourne Legacy.  On the 3^rd day, we caught the Waterfront Art Fair.  It was fantastic and I was told that artisans have a difficult time getting into this annual 1-day show in Charlevoix.  We rode our bikes along Lake Charlevoix and one of the “cottagers” offered to take our picture.  Weather had kicked up again and we had to go on a wait list for an extra day at the marina.  Luckily, we set our alarm and were 3^rdin line for an extension, which came through by noon that day.  It was a great place to get stuck for an extra day!

 

Next on our itinerary was Leland, MI, about 46 miles from Charlevoix.  It was a one-day stop at the Leland Town Marina, which was very nicely rebuilt 3 years ago.  We had no problem getting a slip, but by the end of the day, the marina was full.  Leland is home to “Fish Town”, which is a National Landmark District, a restored fishing town with lots of shops that cater to tourists.  We went out for dinner that night and I had walleye that was delicious!

 

On Monday, Aug. 13^th, we headed toward Frankfort, MI. We passed Sleeping Bear Sand Dune, which is over 400 feet high.  It was pretty incredible, even in the dreary, drizzly weather.  Frankfort itself looked a little beaten down, contrary to how the Waterway Guide touted it.  On the way to Frankfort, a text message from our daughter-in-law Kelly gave us a lift!  Kelly and Brett are expecting a boy!!  We’ve known about the baby, but were patiently waiting to find out if we should be buying pink or blue!!  

 

We were glad to be able to leave Frankfort behind.  We also skipped Manistee and Ludington.  With weather delays and all these stops, it would take us 2 months to get down Lake Michigan.  We got into Lake Michigan in the fog and it stayed with us for most of the trip.  We couldn’t have done it without our radar, especially because Roger spent an hour and a half inside the cabin on a conference call and I was driving the boat upstairs in the pilothouse.  If I had any concerns, we agreed that I would pull back on the power and he would come up right away.  Fortunately, everything went smoothly.  We arrived at Snug Harbor Marina in Pentwater and it was a nice surprise.  We took a slip on the fuel dock, easy in and easy out for our next morning’s early departure.  Pentwater is small, but quaint.  There were plenty of nice shops, but by the time we walked up to town, the shops were closed.  Roger’s good luck, not mine!  We went into a really nice grocery store, ‘Cenzo’s and bought a carrot cake that rivals any we’ve ever had.  

 

From Pentwater, we went to Muskegon.  We knew the downtown area was a few miles away from any of the marinas, and at the last minute we chose Great Lakes Marina.  Lucky!  We looked at the weather and booked in for 3 nights.  This marina gives 50% off to “Loopers” and we paid $20/night!  After going to a slip that the dockhand assigned to us, we decided it was too narrow and we took a spot at the end of a T dock.  That was fine and we were directly across from Barb & Craig’s boat “Alacrity” (friends we met in Georgian Bay and the North Channel who had gone back to Colorado for a month).  Soon after we tied up, we had 2 visitors: Jim Allen, the local AGLCA host (Great Loop organization) came aboard for a beer and offered us a ride anywhere we needed to go; and Phil Moyer, a seasonal slipholder from Houston who also offered us a ride.  I took Phil up on a ride to Petco later that day and to the Post Office the next day.  He & his wife Virginia came aboard one night for Happy Hour and we had a great visit.  Such nice people here!

 

I reserved a slip at the Grand Haven, MI Municipal Marina for Saturday and Sunday nights.  This is a busy marina and I was glad I’d looked at weather far enough in advance to book a slip and really glad that the weather cooperated – somewhat.  The photos show the weather forecast on my iPhone – waves 1 foot or less.  Right!!!  They were much more than that and even had a really short chop.  Winds were right on our nose, so it was up and down and up and down for quite a while.  We were glad that it was only a 14 nautical mile run!  

 

We pulled into the dock, which is right against Grand Haven’s waterfront boardwalk and there were a bunch of people watching us.  One of the guys we’d met in Muskegon on our dock was there with his buddies and they took our lines.  Everyone wanted to chat with us, and when I went to check out the Farmer’s Market, I had just missed it.  Oh well!  I walked the art festival, but it was not as great as Charlevoix’s and took a walk to downtown where the street was closed for a sidewalk sale.  This is a great little town and very accessible by walking.  The municipal docks are right on the river and although there’s a little motion on the boat, it’s fun to watch all the traffic from our cockpit.  Today, the Coast Guard boarded a number of boats right in front of us.  

 

At night, there is a show at the Musical Fountain across the river from us.  It is a synchronization of water, music and multi-colored lights and is presented each night of the summer and lasts about 20 minutes.  We watched from our upper deck and took video, but I couldn’t get it to load in the photo gallery.  Since Roger & I know about “pumps”, we took an interest in the design of the water part of the show. The water display is pumped through a system that spans 8,000 feet of piping and pumps 4,000 gallons per minute!  There are 1,300 nozzles of varying diameters that create the effect of “Dancing Waters” which reach a height of 125 feet using single stage pumps!  It was just fantastic!

 

Tomorrow’s weather looks good and we will leave Grand Haven and head into Saugatuck, MI for a night.  After Saugatuck is South Haven for 2 days, where once again we will receive our mail.  And maybe one more stop before we reach Michigan City, IN where we started the Great Loop almost exactly 3 years ago.  We have less than 100 miles to go and it’s becoming a little emotional for us as we near the end of this adventure.  Until then, we are going to enjoy the last few stops to the fullest!

Leaving Canada and Stuck in Mackinaw City, USA

 July 26 – August 6, 2012

 

Still in the North Channel, our stay in the Benjamin Islands ended on a rough note.  We had to stay there overnight on Wednesday, 7/26, because Roger had conference calls and we had good cell phone and internet service there.  But it rained and some time that night, the winds shifted to the Northeast and we rocked and rolled in the anchorage all night long.  The wind directions were bizarre; they were all over the place, and one weather forecast differed from the next and from the next one after that.  We couldn’t wait to get out of there on Thursday.

 

We headed to Turnbull Island and dropped the hook in a very calm anchorage with about 7 other boats.  The winds shifted there also, but they were lighter and it was more protected.  We stayed for 2 nights and met the nicest people.  There was a couple on a 30-ft. sailboat from Indianapolis and we dinghied over to meet them. They keep their boat on Drummond Island and sail in the North Channel in the summertime.  They were describing their simple life on their sailboat and Roger told them, “Yeah well, Karen’s idea of roughing it is not being able to use her hair dryer.”  Ha, ha, Roger.  (The fact is that I could use my hair dryer if I really wanted to because we have a large inverter.)  

 

We found a good weather day on Saturday, 7/28, to head to Drummond Island, Michigan.  When we entered U.S. waters, both Roger and I were struck by our emotions.  We looked at each other, and admitted that this marked the beginning of the end of our Great Loop.  Drummond Island is where we checked in with U.S. Customs.  At the dock, the harbormaster said that she would alert Border Patrol and send the agent to our boat.  When he arrived, he asked for permission to come aboard.  Of course, Roger said yes and have a seat.  The Border Patrol agent no sooner sat down and Louie jumped in his lap.  Well, that sure broke the ice!  

 

We stayed at Drummond Island just one night.  There isn’t much available there and we headed to St. Ignace, MI.  When we arrived, we fueled up and were happy to see diesel at $3.79/ gallon.  We took a slip for 2 nights and then left for Mackinac Island on Tuesday, 7/31.  It was a little tricky getting into our slip.  The dockmaster told us that the finger docks were only 30-feet long, so at the last minute we decided to back in to the slip.  I always set the lines and fenders on both sides of the boat just in case we have to make a last-minute change such as this one.  The docks were fixed, not floating, and very high off the water, so we had to get on and off the boat from our top deck.  We were happy to see that Danny & Susan arrived that same day; we had split off from them on that Wednesday at the Benjis and had planned to meet up with them again here.  

 

Mackinac Island is very quaint.  (It’s actually pronounced “Mackinaw”.)  There are no motorized vehicles allowed.  Horses and carriages are the only mode of transportation, other than bicycles and feet.  So you can imagine the fragrance!  Even though the UPS truck gets ferried over to the island each day, the packages are unloaded at the ferry terminal, put on a carriage and the UPS guy walks next to the carriage with his dolly and delivers the packages to the stores or homes.

 

On our first day, Danny and Susan showed us the back way into the Grand Hotel.  To enter the hotel itself, even to sit on the front porch, the fee is $10 per person.  But if you enter the property by the tennis courts, you can slip by.  We went inside this magnificent hotel and had drinks on the top floor in the Cupola Bar.  The view was gorgeous, as is the hotel itself.

 

The next day was our 25^th wedding anniversary.  Susan and I went to Starbuck’s for our usual and walked in and out of the shops.  Then Roger & I rode our bikes, and had a nice lunch at the Gatehouse at the Grand Hotel.  I told him that I want to come back and stay at the Grand Hotel for our 50^th anniversary, since it’s unlikely we’ll be able to come by boat.  I should probably make a reservation now, because by then we’ll be so old that we’ll probably forget!  Roger & I took a tour of Fort Mackinac and I vowed that is my last fort tour.  If you’ve seen one fort, you’ve seen ‘em all.  We had our anniversary dinner at the Carriage House and it was a great choice.

 

On Thursday, August 2^nd, we left for Mackinaw City.  It was only a 6-mile run, but the wakes from the numerous ferry boats and the winds made me glad we were so close.  Winds were gusting when we got to Straits Marina, and the marina was practically empty. We went to the movies with Danny & Susan and took walks around the town.  We also toured the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw, a 290-foot Icebreaker ship that made it possible for commercial ships to travel in winter through the Great Lakes.  It was a typical ship (seen the engine room of one ship, seen ‘em all), but more interesting because of the job it did forging a clearance through the very thick ice covering the lakes, something I usually don’t think about. 

 

Like Mackinac Island, Mackinaw City is very touristy (but without the horse smell).  There is an overabundance of fudge shops and tee shirt and souvenir places.  This was culture shock from the isolation and sheer natural beauty of Georgian Bay and the North Channel.  Luckily, we’d eased back into “civilization” when we arrived in sleepy Drummond Island and St. Ignace.  

 

Over the next couple of days, the marina got a little busier as the winds started to increase.  Two barges even came in for refuge on Saturday.  Mackinaw City is on the Straits of Mackinac, the narrow waterway which joins Lake Huron to Lake Michigan, so it gets the confused fetch of both lakes along with plenty of wind.  

 

After a couple of days we were ready to leave, but it was not to be!  Yesterday (Sunday, 8/5), we had gale force winds.  Even Louie didn’t want to be outside in the wind!  Danny & Susan came over for drinks and Susan & I had our farewell raspberry martinis.  This was our last night together, because they are heading to Lake Superior; the weather forecast was better for their destination today.  After dinner, we said good-by and shed a few tears (the girls did anyway).  It’s been a great 3 years cruising on and off with Danny and Susan and we’ll miss them very much.  Don’t get me started again…I’m getting choked up as I write this.  That’s one of the most special things about this Great Loop adventure – the people you meet and the new friendships you make.  

 

Well, it looks like the winds and the waves will subside for our direction on Wednesday.  Even though we started our Great Loop in Lake Michigan three years ago, we never got very far north.  So we are going to make the turn into Lake Michigan on Wednesday and hopscotch down along the eastern shore this month, checking in and out of as many of the little harbor towns as the weather will allow us.  Our next stop is Charlevoix, MI.  At least I hope so because that’s where I’ve had our mail sent.