Long Island to Mackinaw Island

AUGUST 14, 2006 (Long Island to Mackinac Island) Woke up to a strong wind shift. The wind is getting strong and water getting choppy. Winds are around 15-20 gusting to 30 with gale force predicted for the evening and there’s a small craft warning out. We will have to move to a more protected anchorage anyway, so we figure as long as we are moving, we will take a look to see just how bad it is out there. If it’s too rough we can come back in and look for a better anchorage. The water is rough, but in our opinion, not real bad, so we decided to make our move to Mackinaw Island. There are white caps everywhere and the waves are 3-4’ and sloppy. Once again, we didn’t see one other boat the entire cruise. Jaycie didn’t get sick this time. Pulling into Mackinaw marina was like a fairy tale. Classic old houses with flowers everywhere, horses pulling carriages, more bicycles than you could count and NO CARS! It was beautiful! Another exciting thing was when we pulled into the harbor, there were eight ‘Loopers” there….it was like a reunion! We reminisced with old friends and then headed to town. They rent bikes all over town and they are everywhere (actually, too many)! From higher on the island you get a view that I don’t think pictures can capture (although I did try). The island ferries shoot “rooster tails” much higher than the ferries themselves (what a site). Unfortunately, they wait a little too long to stop their wakes and rock all the boats in the marina…but livable. Another interesting thing is that there is a fort high on the hill and they fire a cannon (part of a show they put on) every couple of hours. At first you jump, but as time goes on you get used to it (most of us). In the evening trumpeters from atop the fort play the national anthem as they lower all the flags in front of it. Then at about 10:00 a long trumpet plays taps. A magical ending to a magical day!

DeTour Village to Long Island, MI

AUGUST 13, 2006 (DeTour to Long Island) A light wind this morning, but not too bad. Sunny but a little cool. We are starting to see a lot of freighters again and will throughout the Great Lakes area. I had to re-assemble my windlass quickly this morning because we are going to anchor out tonight. Even though the motor is broken it will still at least hold the chain from “running away”. Barring any serious snags or major clumps of weed or mud on the anchor…I should be able to pull it out (again) by hand. By the time we left the wind had picked up a little and when we got into Lake Huron it was definitely choppy (1-3’) and rolling in sets. We had to put up with it for a couple of hours and then turned in to some protected “back channels”. Amazing summer communities with small boats, sunfish and jet skis all around. We saw quite a few old mahogany speedboats (Joyce loves them) and more boat houses than you could count. And yet, it still didn’t feel crowded or congested. We had to go slow (5-6 knots) so as not to wake the boat and people, but we didn’t mind because it was so pretty and relaxing. We got to our cove (Long Island) and dropped anchor. We’re pretty much the only two boats here, except for a couple of small runabouts. A funny thing, this cove is HUGE and pretty much flat water as far as you can see and yet a small boat of water skiers find it necessary to ski right between our two boats and show off….can you believe it? Who could be so inconsiderate (other than me when I was younger)? I guess that’s karma. Well, it was entertaining anyway.

Drummond Island to DeTour Village

AUGUST 12, 2006 (Drummond Island to DeTour, MI) Woke up and it was another beautiful morning. The water was flat, sun was out so we decided to get cruising. The next stop, yesterdays destination, was only about an hour away and offers free docking with 150 gallons of fuel. We both could use some fuel, so we headed over. This is one of those days when you’re out on the water, you look around and say, “Life is good!”. When we arrived at DeTour it was nice to see that the water was still unbelievably beautiful and that it didn’t change to brown now that we were across the border (I guess we have to wait for the Illinois River for that)! We fueled up, docked and headed for town. Another small, quaint town. I spoke with a couple of local kids and found out that the graduating class had 12 kids last year. This year they combined with another school and will have a whopping 20! There are about 200 kids in the school which is K-12. I told them that Jaycie’s kindergarten class had over 300! I will say that it sounds really nice though. They said that they know everyone in school and everyone gets along…AMAZING! The town was small but cute. I liked going shopping in the local grocery store. It had wood (albeit wobbly) floors with tin ceilings. Everyone in town waved or said hi as you walked by. We’re really liking these small towns! Mackinaw Island is really getting close and somewhere we want to stop. We want to get there after the weekend so there’s a better chance of getting a slip on the island (and not have to stay in the city and take a ferry across), so we will kill some time by staying a few more places along the way. I know sometimes it can sound like a tough life, but sometimes you just have to suck it up and bite the bullet.

The Soo to Drummond Island

AUGUST 11, 2006 (The Soo to Drummond Island-Michigan, USA!) Another beautiful (but very cool) morning, we headed for DeTour (only we ended up in Drummond Island-because of customs check in). The current was with us so we were doing about 10 knots- I’m not positive…but I think I felt the boat get up on plane J. Anyway, we were flying! Gorgeous, as usual, but one interesting point was a 300’ long, man made channel with stone blocks stacked (like walls) on either side. Very interesting. When we radioed in to Detour, we were instructed to go to Drummond Island to check in with a customs officer (about an hour away-we had already been cruising for 4 hours). We went and checked in. With heightened security we expected “the Spanish inquisition”, but no one even came to our boat! We went to the office, showed our documents….and that was it! Good, because it was easy….bad, because IT WAS TOO EASY! Anyway, walking back to our boat we were crossing a street and there was a car (moving quickly) about 75’ away and showing no signs of slowing. As he passed in front of us, leaving us in a dust cloud, I thought to myself…we’re finally back in America!

Hilton Beach to The Soo

AUGUST 9, 2006 (Hilton Beach to Saulte Ste. Marie-”The Soo”) Beautiful morning. We decided to take a side trip to the Saulte Ste. Marie (Soo Saint Marie) referred to as “The Soo”. It’s just before the locks going into Lake Superior and we were told it was a big city. When I asked, “How big is it?”, the reply was…”It’s a city!” (duh!). The cruise was beautiful, but on the way we had about a 2 knot current against us (which slowed us to between 6.1 and 7 knots). Anyway, a really pretty cruise, as usual, but as we approached the city it… “lacked height“. Probably about the size of Garden City (maybe) with not as many “tall” buildings. They did, however, have a lot of different type of business’ there, so we went to get our windlass motor rebuilt. I called and got directions to go east 4 blocks, turn left 3 blocks, turn left until you get to the train tracks and they’re just past them on the left. When asking a stranger on the street to head me in the right direction he informs me, “Just go straight up that street (across from us) and they’re about 2 blocks on the right side….just before the train tracks”! The guys at the shop were great (although they don’t know how to give directions!) but, unfortunately, couldn’t do it. I did, however, get an education of electrical motors. It appears that I may have exacerbated my windlass problem by hammering the outside (like a starter motor) when it was “stuck“. The only problem is that marine motors tend to have permanent magnets (for less corrosion) and SHATTER when hammered (oh well, live and learn). If I can’t find a new replacement motor (which is proving to be a little tough) I will have to buy a new windlass which is about $2,800 uninstalled (OUCH!). They had a really big mall, so we took Jaycie to the movies and saw The Ant Bully….really cute. When we got back to the boat we decided that we like it here, so we will stay another day. AUGUST 10, 2006 (The Soo) I was able to locate a lumber yard which had exotic (rare) wood which I needed for teaching Jaycie to carve. I called and he gave me directions (uh oh) and told me it was about 3 miles east just over the train tracks. I repeated the directions back to him to confirm. Jaycie and I then rode for what seemed like about 5 miles until the road stopped… with NO TRAIN TRACKS! I called the guy on my cell and told him where I was and he said “Oh you had to go west”- I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN! What is it with Canadians and directions (and distances)!!! Needless to say we didn‘t get our wood. When we got back to the boat we took our bikes to the locks. Only about 21’ high (only) and huge in length (for tankers). We took our bikes over the lock doors (you’re allowed when they are closed) and rode around the island…really nice! They had paths all throughout. We saw the rapids and spillway on the other side and actually saw kids diving in and playing in the water ..CRAZY!!! (even the locals thought so). They looked around 12 or 13. John (TT) said, “Do you think their mothers know what they’re doing?!”. I don’t think so. High over our heads is a bridge which connects Canada to the US. Yesterday, Joyce commented that the traffic was horrendous and I said it must be rush hour. Later we heard about the terrorist plot and heightened security…now we know why the bridge was almost at a standstill. This is our last stop in Canada and then we check back into the USA tomorrow…hope we don’t have to much trouble.

AUGUST 8, 2006 (Bruce Mines to Hilton Beach) It was a cool night, but what a morning! Sunny, calm and water like glass - a sharp contrast to our arrival yesterday. We only have about 10 miles to travel to our next destination, Hilton Beach. We hear they have town run kids programs so we are looking forward to having Jaycie join in with the local kids. It was such a calm, nice day that I decide to refinish some teak I have wanted to do for a while now. Jaycie went to the first program and wrote stories. In the afternoon she went to an art class at the library where she drew pictures on the sidewalk. She had a great time. Joyce went into town with TT and said the towns keep getting smaller and she thought she heard “banjo’s” playing. I told her that’s o.k., it’s probably a good warm-up for when we get down south!

Thessalon to Bruce Mines

AUGUST 6, 2006 (Thessalon) We woke up to high winds and high seas and since we were in such a well protected marina we decided to stay another day. They have a brand new beautiful community room upstairs with a living room, kitchen, tables and plenty of working room. I needed to make some screens for the salon so I used their room to do it. We heard there was a baseball tournament today, so we biked in to find them. The community beach was across the street and it actually had small waves breaking with kids loving it. Joyce and Linda went shopping while Jaycie and I went to the game. We had hotdogs and ice cream and then headed back to the boat. Hopefully tomorrow the weather will be a little better. AUGUST 7, 2006 (Thessalon to Bruce Mines) Pretty windy morning, but not as bad as yesterday and it was supposed to get worse…but later. We left in windy weather and only had about 2 hours to cruise to our next destination. Water was white capped everywhere. About an hour into the trip the chop was about 2-3’ with occasional 4’ putting spray over the fly bridge. On the weather band we heard them announce a small craft warning for the North Channel (that would explain why we didn’t see any other boats the entire trip). We were heading into the wind almost the entire way and the boat handle it incredibly well, so it really wasn’t uncomfortable at all. The winds were really picking up and by the time we pulled into Bruce Mines the winds were ripping (15-25 knots- with occasional gusts to 30+). On my first attempt the wind pushed me into a bad positions so I had to back out quickly and take a second approach - which was successful. Later, TT told us that the dock hand/boy said, “You guys are going to help me get him in…right?“ The wind stayed ripping all evening…WOW! The cove was really pretty, but I guess we’ll enjoy it more on the way out, when we are not in high winds. We went into town to a museum and took a tour of the mine. We even got to go down into it… although we didn’t go very deep. We went to a Bavarian restaurant where the food was excellent. Wind started dying down a little in the late evening, hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Blind River to Thessalon

AUGUST 5, 2006 (Blind River Marina to Thessalon) What a morning! Dead calm, flat water and sunshine…WOW! We went to a little café for breakfast (which we had seen yesterday, but they didn’t serve it after 11am). Then we headed over to the “pump-out” to empty our holding tank (for waste water). It took longer than expected because ½ way through, the pump out needed to get pumped out-it was full. Finally we were pumped out and on our way. The cruise was as flat as could be. It’s the second time it was like this and I couldn’t help but think about wakeboarding. It’s hard to believe it’s the same water we were looking at yesterday. We worked on getting our auto-pilot working in which we were semi-successful. I told TT on the radio; I got it working pretty good, if I was on the east side of Lake and set it to get to the west side…. I would probably get there! Actually, it wasn’t that bad- for an older system. During the long straight monotonous runs, it will give some welcome relief at the helm. By the time we arrived at Thessalon the wind had picked up. We docked at the marina in a very protected area. The marina was recently redone and looked really nice. They have “loaner bikes” which the five of us took into town. They are big red bikes, with foot breaks, big black seats and white walls…BEAUTIFUL! The town was a typical, nice small town, unfortunately most of it was shut down. We road around a little, shopped a little and headed back to the boat. We heard there are some “mines” about 12 miles from here, so weather permitting, we will try to go there tomorrow (I’ve never been in a mine…sounds exciting!). Joyce did some home schooling, I did some cleaning and maintenance on the boat… and we called it a day. Oh, one last note, we are all very excited today because we just figured out that we have cruised 1,075 miles from home (only about 5,500 miles to go).

John's Island to Blind River

AUGUST 3, 2006 (John’s Island to Blind River) What a gorgeous morning! Still, sunny, clear….BEAUTIFUL! We are ready to leave so we start the engines and pull anchor…however, it doesn’t go that smooth. While Joyce goes forward to retrieve the anchor our port engine dies. I run in and try to restart…which it does. Joyce tries to pull anchor and the windlass won’t work. I try to get it to work but its to no avail. TT is already out and waiting, so I decide to pull it out by hand (100’ of chain plus the anchor!). It’s a work out, but goes smoother than I expected….until the port engine dies AGAIN!! Anchors up, but we’re on one engine…time for bilge diving (an endearing term TT has given to going below to fix something). Joyce radios TT and informs them of our situation, so they proceed at a slow (slower) speed. I go below and do a port engine Racor fuel filter change, flip on my backup electric fuel pump and restart the engine…it starts (and runs perfect all the way to our next destination). The weather was a “10” for the entire cruise. It was nice to see the sun again! We get to the marina and as usual it’s great. I make my dinghy stand-offs (which I have been designing and collecting parts for the job almost since we started). It came out amazing and for the first time I can get to the stern ladder to the sundeck. A sail boat comes into the marina and is given bad information and goes hard aground about 30’ off the end of our dock. It turns into quite a project to get him off. I tried to fix the windlass, but after disassembling it, I find it has severely cracked internal part. I find a re-builder, but it is 5:00 and they are 1 ½ hours away. To top it off tomorrow is Friday and they close for the weekend. I’ll call tomorrow and, if they can fix it, we’ll rent a car and drive to the Saute Ste. Marie (city). If they can do it we’ll stay another day. If not, we’ll move on, in that direction, and try to set it up for Monday. We end the day with a BBQ on the dock. The food and drink (frozen strawberry margaritas-110 octane compliments of Joyce) are great, a beautiful sunset, not wind and warm….life is good! AUGUST 4, 2006 (Blind River) Woke up to high winds (15-25 knots). The bay was all white caps with small craft warnings. I was hoping to get to Saute Ste. Marie (The Soo) but “the” rental car was out and “the” taxi was going the other direction for most of the day. Oh well, we’ll try to get there as we travel a little closer to it (or maybe we’ll take a side excursion up the river to The Soo. So we stayed and walked a few miles to town and a logger museum. The town was a little depressed, lacking cleaning and polish…but they did have a big, brand new neon sign to tell about their events, (go figure). While walking back with our bags a man pulled up and offered us a ride back to the marina… so we took it. People are that way up here, it’s really nice (although we had to make sure Jaycie understood that “back home” we never except a ride from strangers). By late evening, the wind started to die down and we were optimistic that tomorrow would be a better traveling day.

So. Benjamin Island to John's Island

AUGUST 2, 2006 (South Benjamin Island to Johns Island) It rained hard over night and is still raining off and on this morning. There is a small craft advisory in our area threatening severe thunder storms, potential “0” visibility and large hail. We’re only have to go about 25 miles so we are not in a rush to leave and will sit tight and listen to the weather before making a decision. I don’t think I mentioned that at Gore Bay they had the trawler which had sunk in the last storm. Today we hear over the VHF there is a sail boat in distress (sinking) out there….so we will definitely be cautious (as usual) in making our decision. Well, it’s been decided we will leave (although I am not totally comfortable with it). Not 10 minutes out we are in a nasty downpour and visibility is dropping. We quickly make sure our radar is working properly, but we never loose complete visibility. The entire trip is in cloud covered, wet conditions and looking at the black clouds ahead, I am waiting for lightening bolts to start dropping in the distance (luckily, they never do). Even in all that bad weather it’s a great cruise. The anchorage we pull into is secluded and well protected with high ground pretty much all around us. Once again (although I know it is starting to sound redundant) it is BEAUTIFUL. There used to be a lumber mill in here years ago and the ruins and lots of dead heads (floating logs w/just the tips sticking just out or just under the water) are all around the area. It’s a bit windy and we are sailing on the hook (anchor). We are swinging back and forth in wide arcs, but it’s not annoying or uncomfortable. We go to shore and while exploring find loads of wild blueberries. We get ½ a bag full (which Joyce later bakes into muffins...mmmm!). When we head back to the boat the wind is dying down and the sky is showing signs of breaking up. I think we are in for a beautiful day tomorrow.

Gore Bay to So. Benjamin Islands

AUGUST 1, 2006 (Gore Bay- to South Benjamin Island) Morning weather was a little “funky” again so we waited a little, studied the weather and decided to shove off. We led the way to the South Benjamin Islands. When we got out into the bay it was VERY choppy. The seas were quartering us, from the stern (hitting us at a 45 degree angle between the side and rear of the boat), and giving us a wicked twisting side roll. Jaycie didn’t feel so good (although never “tossed her cookies”) and for the first time we dumped some things off some shelves (luckily, nothing broke). While I was on the sundeck with Jaycie, we rolled so hard the table and chairs slid across the CARPET towards us and back again. It wasn’t that bad the entire time, but lasted about 2 hours. Then we turned and the seas were following (which made it much better-in comparison). We arrived at the Benjamin’s and it was again…beautiful. Large and small rock Islands (orange colors) all around with evergreens above the “rock line” and that beautiful green blue crystal clear water. Joyce, Jaycie and John (TT) took the dogs to shore to explore and pick a spot for our fire later. When they got back to the boat we went for a swim and jumped and flipped of the sundeck. This time Jaycie had more confidence, from “dock jumping” earlier in the week… and she jumped off!!! Our sundeck hardtop is about 13’6 off the water so we were really proud of her (and no I didn’t push her!). After the first one, she did it another 3 times. We went into shore around 7:00 with all our wood and dinner supplies. I can’t even tell you how unbelievable it was. When the sun started setting, sitting on those smooth rocks and looking out over the boats in the cove….WOW! An interesting thing was that Joyce called Steven and then I spoke with him on the cell. To be sitting as far away from him and in such a remote and desolate location, to be talking with you son as if he were around the corner….AMAZING! We built a small fire to get some red coals good enough to cook on. Dinner was great. We went down to a small water hole in the rock island and went for an evening swim. There were lots of frogs. The dogs were running around having the time of their life. The sun started to set and we went back to our fire and built a T-pee over the existing fire, but this time with all the wood we had left - about 5’ high. When it lit… it was INCREDIBLE! The flames were jumping about 8’ high, popping and crackling, sending sparks high into the air….a true bon fire! As I took pictures, we could see flash bulbs going off from the boats in the cove. I figured they were thinking one of two things; What idiots! or I wonder if they have marshmallows? On a scale of 1-10 this day was a 12!!! I don’t think I will ever forget this day.

Kagawong to Gore Bay

JULY 30, 2006 (Kagawong to Gore Bay) Weather was heavily overcast with pretty poor visibility. We waited a little while, the visibility got a little better and then decided to leave. The water was flat but day was gray and very cool. It’s o.k. to have flat water and so-so weather, or rougher water with beautiful weather….but not bad water and weather! So it was a nice cruise! We arrived at Gore Bay…yet another nice small town. We went in and while walking around located the last EXECUTIONER left in the hardware store…we bought it! Back at the marina we saw a new boat, with the EXACT hull as mine and went to talk to the owner. It was manufactured by Symbol. Since it was a 2002, there were modifications to the superstructure, but the hull was exactly the same! Our boat is a 1985, so it was amazing to see that they still use the same molds. The owners were real nice people and we got a little history about who’s building it and such. He also told me he’s been in some nasty conditions with it (short and choppy 10-12’ seas in the Great Lakes-not by choice) and the boat handled it beautifully (which is always nice to hear). He’s cruised this area for many years and we met on his boat for some real “local knowledge” of the area and recommended anchorages and things to see. Joyce says that the guy gave her so many good places to see it gave her a headache (and you thought boating was all fun and games, it’s actually quite stressful!:-) As far as tomorrow goes, we’re getting mixed signals on the weather for the next few days, so we’ll just wait until the morning to see what we are doing. JULY 31, 2006 (Gore Bay) Well the morning weather didn’t look so good. There have been some threatening weather patterns, so we decided to stay another day. Late morning we had some wild lightening and thunder and some rain. I actually saw a bolt of lightening come down, not touch the ground, and U-turn and go back up! Pretty wild! When it started raining we went in and did a little business work. By the afternoon, the sun came out and you wondered why you didn’t leave. But it’s a nice town so we hiked back in and walked around some more. Wanted to send Christy a book, but it cost $9 to ship it to the U.S. and the book only cost $15 (guess we’ll wait until we’re back in the states). During our stay here, I found three “unusual items” I had been looking for, for quite some time (12vdc test light bulb, screen frame and SS snap swivel connectors). What a score! The girls made dinner (Rigatoni ala vodka) and we all had dinner on the dock- it was great. Tomorrow we’re going to the South Benjamin Islands and heard you can have campfires on shore (they’re mostly rock). We all love cooking hotdogs and marshmallows over a campfire (TT does too). We figured the islands would be stripped of wood by now, so we went on a scavenger hunt for wood. Coincidently, they were doing construction at the marina and we managed to get a load (dinghy full) of wood. Mainly 2x4’s ranging from 2-5’ in length. It’s going to be some fire!

JULY 29, 2006 (Kagawong) Weather looks bad,so we decided to stay another day (besides, we love this town). Rained off and on most of the morning. Later, we went into town to a small church which had a nautical theme. The pulpit was actually the bow of a wooden boat that had sunk many years ago. It was a really nice church, (seats about 50 - MAX). Then we went to a small chocolate factory/store (Jenn- you would love it!). Went to a small museum and got some local history of the area. Some kids on this island have to actually travel on a bus for over 1 1/2 hours to get to school everyday (each way)! We found a “hedge maze” which was actually a lot of fun. After the town we went hiking in the woods. There were some great trails with really steep climbs (very challenging). When we got back to the boat the weather cleared, so we went swimming and jumping and flipping off the high dock again. Jaycie met a girl almost exactly her age and she was wearing the same bathing suit (what were the odds?). They had a great time together. Her Mom was a former Class one gymnast so we had a lot in common and talked for a while. We had dinner on the dock picnic tables with TT and then got……ice cream! It’s amazing how many spiders (large ones) are on this dock. There are large webs everywhere you look. The mosquitoes were coming out so a boater ran back to his boat and came back with….THE EXECUTIONER! For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s a small electrified tennis racket that you swing at bugs and it acts like a bug zapper. Quite a site! (We’ll have to get one tomorrow)

Little Current to Kagawong

JULY 28, 2006 (Little Current to Kagawong) Our cruise this morning was like being on a lake (oh…it is kind of a lake), I mean like glass. Wind started to kick up as we got closer to the anchorage and with it being wide open with a lot of fetch, we decided to head for the marina. They had just enough room to squeeze us in for the night. Great little marina with a really neat little cove/beach. It had a spiral slide out in the middle of the water. I know you won’t believe it, but they have an ice cream shop right in the little marina shop about 12 steps from our boat…what were the odds! They have a nice high dock (about 12’) which the kids were jumping from, so of course we joined in. I did some flips and twists and we got Jaycie to jump for her first time. She loved it! Two brothers were running the business here (like ours) while - and get this - their parents did The Loop! They were doing an awesome job too (like ours)! Their parents will be “closing” the loop this August. This town is known for their water fall. It’s called Bridle Veil Falls because you can swim under and get behind the falls. We walked to the falls and it was spectacular… about 60‘ high. We swam under it (it roughs you up a little) and stood behind it… AWESOME! We saw a snake beside us on a rock and Jaycie freaked out! When she screamed, the snake slithered into the water and I could barely stop her from running through the falls and across the top of the water…back to dry land! After I explained that the snake was running from her, she got her composure back (not that the next snake won’t get the same reaction) and we decided to follow and walk in the stream back to the boat, while Joyce took Boo along the path with the TT crew. When the stream went way far away from the trail I was a little concerned that it would actually get back to where our boat was….but it did. Love this town.., going to try to stay another day. Went to a little outdoor German food stand.

All the weeds on the anchor from "The Pool",but it was worth it. The traffic waiting for the bridge to open. "Just like home"