Sleeping Bear Dunes/ Frankfort MI

The first pictures are of a very large swan that was hanging around our boat, he did not mind his picture being taken at all. Next are some pictures of sleeping bear dunes, and a little background info on them. They are located along the lake shore of Michigan's lower peninsula. Named after the Chippewa legend of the sleeping bear says there was an enormous forest fire on the western shore of lake Michigan that drove a mother bear and her two cubs into the lake for shelter. After many miles of swimming the cubs lagged behind and eventually drowned from exhaustion. When the mother bear reached shore she waited on top of a high bluff in hopes that her cubs would appear. The winds buried the sleeping bear under the sands of the dunes where she waits to this day. Impressed by the mother bear's determination and faith, the "great spirit" created two islands (North & South Manitou) to commemorate the cubs.

Charlevoix

Arrived in Charlevoix on Wed, after a couple days on Beaver Island. Charlevoix is a much larger town than the previous towns we have been to, and it is very pretty. The downtown is lined with all sorts of small stores, restaurants, and ice cream shops, my favorite. The city docks are right in the middle of the downtown area on "Round Lake" which then connects to "Lake Charlevoix". To get to Round Lake we went down the channel from lake Michigan and thru a bascule bridge which emptied into Round Lake. We ended up staying two days because it was such a nice place to explore, and we had laundry to do. Our bikes are getting a work out, it is the best way to see everything, at a leisurely pace. I do wonder who designs these bike seats, someone with a skinny butt I'll bet. The funny roof on the house in the picture is a style, they are called "mushroom houses". The other house picture is a sample of what you will find on round lake.

We left Charlevoix today, Lake Michigan was unbelievably calm. The next stop was suppose to be Leeland, but with the lake like glass we decided to push on to Frankfort, MI which is about 77 miles south of Charlevoix. This is a small resort town, and by the weather forecast that we are hearing it looks like we will be staying for a few days due to 5 - 8 footers they are predicting for tomorrow. Remember to double click on the pictures to enlarge them, and have a great weekend everyone.

Beaver Island

The straits of Mackinaw is how you enter into lake Michigan, the waves, swells were about 1 foot, and quickly went to 3 - 4 foot. At that point we made the decision to go to Beaver Island instead of Petoskey. We just wanted to get off the water, it's no fun when your getting tossed around. Looks like we will be staying here for a few days. Beaver Island is a small resort town, we met quite a few people who were also waiting out the weather. Tomorrow is Jim's birthday, and they have an Irish pub here that we will have a birthday dinner at. We will probably pass on Petoskey when we do hit the water, and go to Charlevoix.

Mackinaw Island

Mackinaw Island was a pretty interesting place, I never realized the history behind it. The fort and most of the buildings (14) are intact and have been kept in good repair, with interactive displays and period furnishings. It sits high on a hill, so most of the pictures are looking down, which is great. No autos allowed, lots of horse drawn carriages, bikes galore, and of course good old walking. We hit the fudge place, can't go to Mackinaw and not get fudge. The day started out chilly and cloudy, later in the afternoon the sky cleared, sun came out and the temp got up to about 70. I was happy to have cloudy skies when we hiked up the hill to the fort. We took the ferry back to St Ignace, where our boat is docked. Mackinaw Island has a marina, but it was suggested by allot of other boaters to go to either Mackinaw city or St Ignace for dockage, because the the wake (waves) from the ferries cause the boats to rock & roll on the island.

Tomorrow we will leave St Ignace for Petoskey, MI. We will go thru the "Straits of Mackinaw" and enter Lake Michigan. It's about 3 hours away, and the weather is suppose to be calm, little wind and 1 - 2 foot waves in Lake Michigan. With any luck we will also have sun. Hey Paul & Shirley, we did make it to Mackinaw before christmas, yeah.

Mackinac Island /St. Ignace

The weather cleared somewhat, and we left Drummond Island for St. Ignace, which is on the upper peninsula of Michigan, across from Mackinac Island. Hard to get dockage at Mackinac, so we will take the ferry over tomorrow and hope the weather will continue to improve. Today we explored St. Ignace, it has a beautiful boardwalk along the waterfront. Had lunch with Ralph & Ann from the boat "Harmonie" at the marina pub. Tonight there is a fireworks show over the water, so we should have a front row seat again. The marina was new in 2003, great new docks, beautiful clear water, good company, it doesn't get better than this.

Drummond Island, MI

The weather has not co-operated with our plans to move on, so we will stay here. There are still high wind warnings. Another looper couple came in today, they are out of Ft Lauderdale, formerly from Bratenahl, Ohio. They are heading the same direction we are, so maybe tomorrow, if winds are down we will both head out. I took some pictures last night of the stormy sky, which was really pretty.

I can't believe the start of the school year is just a week away. Connor, Erin, & James, we hope you have an amazing senior year. Ian, Jillian, Katie, Kristin, & Nick enjoy your school year and we hope you have great teachers and allot of fun re-connecting with your friends.

Good to hear from Jan, Jeff & Linda @ "Vermilion Power Boats" enjoy the rest of the season, it sure goes quickly. Hopefully everyone's doing well.

Drummond Island, MI

Back in the USA. We left Gore Bay today and entered the United States at Drummond Island, MI. The customs agents were at our boat as we were getting gas, before we even docked. It is a main check in point, they are actually stationed here. We had all our documents in order, so it was just a formality.

Our plan is to head for Mackinaw Island tomorrow, weather permitting. There is a Great loop gathering in Newport Bay, MI on Monday. We are going to try to get there, allot of good info will be available for the trek ahead, along with meeting other boaters that are "looping" . The pictures are of the north channel on the Michigan side, notice the aquamarine waters, so beautiful, I thought you had to go way south to see these colors. I know it's just the shoreline, but the water is so clear and pretty I just had to post it.

Kagawong, Little Current and Gore Bay, Ont.

Since Friday's post we have visited Little Current on the North Channel in Ontario, from there we went went a bit further west to Kagawong, Ontario. There is a waterfall called "Bridal veil falls" very pretty, but not nearly as large as our own Brandywine falls or Chagrin falls. After the falls, we went on to the "chocolate store" where of course I picked up a few bites for later. There is a very small church that we went to, the pulpit is an actual front of an old wood boat, with many nautical items throughout the church, see the pictures.

The marina had a pot luck dinner which we attended, great food and very friendly people. We also met our first group of fellow loopers. There were two other boats that came in, one is "Biddy & the Beast", that's Dan & Biddy's boat, they are from Kentucky and almost done with their trip. The other boat is "Franklyterryific" which is Frank & Terry's boat, they are from RI. We had drinks on Dans & Biddy's boat after the pot luck.


We headed out on Sunday for an anchorage at Croker Island, another uninhabited island, that has cove's for anchoring out. Spent the night there, had a T'storm during the night, so the waves rocked the boat, and us to sleep. Today which is Monday we went south west to "Gore Bay" and will be spending tonight and tomorrow night at this marina. Tomorrow is laundry again, and we will check out the town, it is very small. We went to dinner tonight at one of the two restaurants in town and everything was already closed at 6:00.

Baie Fine, Ontario

Baie Fine, pronounced "Bay Fin" is North Americas only Fjord. This waterway sits between Blue Ridge South and La Cloche Range.We anchored out here in a small bay. We saw a black bear on the side of the mountain. This cabin sits in the middle of the water at the end of this waterway. Kind of like a cul de sac, but in the middle of it.

Today, Friday we headed about 13 miles up the North Channel to a little place called "Little Current" we waited for our first "swing bridge" of the trip to open today. That was interesting. We arrived at the marina around noon, plenty of time to explore, relax and plan tomorrow's destination.

More Killarney, Ontario

Here are some more pictures of Killarney. The float planes would land in the bay, and float past our boat to where they docked in the water. The other picture is a close up of the granite, counter tops any one?

Tobermory & Kilarney, Ontario

Tuesday we arrived in Tobermory, the town surrounds the docks, so everything is within walking distance. We had a late lunch at the "Fish & Chips" place. Good food and a great view of the Marina.

Check out this 65' yacht, it's called "Momousse", it's from Montreal. I am going to google the name to see if it is a company. I saw 3 large screen TVs when I walked past, all were on. I'd hate to pay for fuel in that.

There is a ton of rock cliffs that surround this part of the Georgian bay. The Tobermory islands are covered with a forest of cedar, white pine, spruce, birch, tamarack, balsam fir, mountain ash, and trembling aspen. Some of the cedars clinging to the cliffs are among the oldest living trees in the world, over 1500 years of age. Geological studies have found some that were 1,862 years old.

Birds around the island include gulls, double-breasted cormorants, red-breasted ducks, loons, great blue herons, osprey, great black-backed gulls, and an occasional bald eagle.


Wed. morning we took off for Killarney, which is further North, it is the farthest North that we will go. This whole area is just unbelievable, so much beauty, I wish I had a wide angle lens adapter for my camera. Again the pictures just don't capture how magnificent it is. In Killarney the rock is mostly granite, slabs upon slabs. We took the dinghy out for a ride in the bay and channel, water was pretty cold, I can't imagine being up here in the winter.