High flyin!

Rick and I are now in Port Washington, Wisconsin. It's about 35 miles north of Milwaukee. Our trip out in Lake Michigan down the coast of Wisconsin has been okay, although yesterday got awfully rough late in the day when we went about 60 miles from Sturgeon Bay to Manitowoc. It was a 10 1/2 hour trip, so we were pretty pooped. Today was "only" 40 miles, and it was much calmer.

This picture is back in Fish Creek, where we suffered through that windy night tied to the dock wall. I'll never forget that night! But the next day, after I had two naps, was better. We were in a regular marina slip, which calmed the still-strong wind. Rick and I took a bike ride to the Peninsula State Park, just right near the marina, and this 1868 lighthouse is an attraction. The whole ride was so pretty, looking out at the bay and seeing the campers enjoying their summer.

That night we went back to the same tavern for the third time to watch the Dodgers beat the Brewers, again! We had become "regulars" and knew the bar tenders intimately!

Finally the wind direction changed and quieted down and I felt safe to leave the safety of the slip. So last Thursday we cruised first to Egg Harbor, where I filled up with fuel. It was 50 cents less per gallon than my previous fill up, meaning this time cost $100 less! We strolled around the pretty, flower-filled village, but all we could claim when done were ice cream cones and a six-pack of Shipwreck beer brewed right there on the spot. (Those got downed in a couple days.)

So we cruised a little farther to the large town of Sturgeon Bay. We had lunch at Kitty O'Rileys Irish Pub, and then toured their big maritime museum. Rick phoned the local airport to see if they rented planes. They did. Guess what we did the next day? Well, the photo here means you don't have to guess, do you?

Rick rode his bike to the airport the next morning, and had to fly with them and do three "touch and go's" to demonstrate he was a capable pilot. Then I got in and he flew us on a tour of the entire Door Peninsula and Washington Island, right where we'd been the previous five days! It was beautiful, and we could see everywhere we'd been right down to all our docks and anchorages and biking roads, etc.

What was significant for me was that it was my first flight with Rick!! He'd been asking me to fly with him for years, but I never did until now. It was tons of fun!

After the flight we rode to the historical museum, and we got to talking to the docent. Turns out she is the daughter of the original owner of the restaurant where we had our Fish Boil. He was the one who popularized it back in 1939. We got to watch a video about him and his innovations, and how a fish boil works.

By the way, I had said that they added diesel fuel to the fire only for show, but that's not true. It actually provides the extra heat needed to cause the boil over, which gets rid of the fish skin, fat, and potato waste. And, they don't add butter to the pot. Melted butter is served over the fish and potatoes when the plate is served.

The picture above is when we left Sturgeon Bay, on our way back out onto Lake Michigan. Originally it was just a bay there from the other side, but in 1873 they dug a two-mile canal to make the waterway go through. That way, ships and boats could take a short cut into Green Bay and avoid going around the treacherous tip of the peninsula, called "Death's Door". However, when we passed through Death's Door twice, it was as calm as could be.

Anyway, the picture shows the lighthouse and also the end of the canal as it connects to Lake Michigan. Our calm water was about to end.

I did not take a single picture out in the lake or in Manitowoc. I was so tired and flustered by the time we got there, I was in no mood to make merry. The swells had gotten so bad, I had to bypass Manitowoc against the swells, and then turn around and come in WITH the swells (it's called tacking, what sailboats do into the wind).

The only story I have to relate about yesterday is the size of my hamburger at the restaurant. We tied up at our slip and immediately went to find food. We had never eaten since breakfast because the seas were too rough to prepare anything. Well, the hamburger was HUGE! I've never seen one that wide - about 8 inches in diameter. I didn't realize anyone made buns that big. The menu offered doubles and triples, but we asked the waitress and she said hardly anyone can eat a double much less the triple. (Also, a town we passed during the day was Two Rivers, which the locals pronounce "Trivers". Who'd have guessed?)

This morning we left Manitowoc early when there was no wind. What a more pleasant cruise today's was! I wasn't even stressed when we landed this time, so we walked all of 60 yards to a restaurant where this German-style oompah band was playing in the courtyard. We loved it! They even served German beer (surprise!), and German food. Rick and I helped out the locals in every way we could!

These guys had personalities. This fellow was their "heavy metal" performer (haha). He had two hammers, and simply hit them against an anvil to the beat of the music. But he acted like it was a real tough instrument to master, all in fun. For his second number, he ceremoniously blindfolded himself and then hammered exactly the same way, as if you needed to see to hit an anvil from two inches up.

Rick and I then walked around this charming old town of Port Washington to help metabolize the EtOH. But dang, all we did was pass more interesting bars, including the Sir James that featured 400 different beers. We had to try a variety we'd never had before, of course.

The forecast looks good for tomorrow, so we should be touring Milwaukee in the afternoon. We should be into the Chicago River (and OUT of the big bad Great Lakes) by Thursday. See ya then!

Lake Michigan (Green Bay) Fury!

Last night I paid my dues! For all the perfect days we've had, ya gotta pay the piper at some point. I've never had a night like that. A super-strong wind and huge swells battered Breaking Away against the dock wall in Fish Creek on the Green Bay side of the Door Peninsula in Wisconsin, where we were tied up. I had to constantly position the fenders to keep us from smashing to bits against the wooden posts sticking out from the dock. I stayed at it until 4:30 am, when I repositioned our ropes, which eased the banging enough to allow the fenders to keep their positions, which in turn allowed me to finally go to bed despite the continued violent action.

This is a photo of where it all took place. I had called ahead for a slip in the harbor, but they were full and said I could tie to the outer dock wall. It was getting windy, and I wanted SOME protection vs anchoring out, and at that point the wind was coming from the west and I would have been protected.

I snapped this picture in the late afternoon yesterday before a storm came over and dumped rain and strong winds from the NW. The winds were bad, but not as bad as during the night. And, the funny thing was, when the storm passed over, it was totally calm and the sun came out. Rick and I went to a tavern for dinner and to watch the Dodgers play the local team, the Milwaukee Brewers (Dodgers won!). By the time we walked back to the boat at 10:30, the wind had resumed and now was coming in from the North, smack dab into us. Our only exposed side was to the North, and the swells were coming in from exactly that direction.

I added fenders to the ones already out. I tied them around the wooden posts, but as the rocking got wilder, the fenders kept getting knocked to the sides and then the boat would hit the posts - HARD and up and down. I kept having to move from one post to the next keeping the fenders in place. I continued at this for about three hours, and was thinking I would do it all night long. I didn't hear from Rick, who was sleeping upstairs in the flybridge, so I assumed he was asleep and I figured one of us ought to get some sleep. I found out this morning he couldn't sleep with all the banging around, but he didn't know I was outside working.

About 4:15 I saw that our mid-line ("spring" line) was chafing against the metal dock and might fail eventually, so I decided to retie it and to add a second spring line. That improved the rocking action considerably since the swells were now allowed to push the boat away from the dock slightly. I noticed right away that the fenders now were not being jostled the way they had been, and they stayed in place when the boat banged into them. I studied the new situation for 15 minutes and the fenders stayed in place the entire time, so I decided to hit the hay. I fell asleep, but also awoke a few times and checked the fenders and they continued to stay in position. Whew!

This morning, the winds were still ferocious and predicted to continue with the possibility of new storms from the N. Luckily, a boat left its slip and they allowed me to take it. We're now on the back side of the pier in a protected slip, tied to both sides and not touching the dock at all. Three kind people helped me shove off when I departed, which was a trick in itself since the wind wanted to push me right back against the dock.

I later took a nap, assisted other boaters coming or going, and now am updating my blog! We may have to stay here another day to wait out the winds. For the entire 240 miles down to Chicago, we'll have to watch the weather and harbor-hop. No more anchoring out for a long time. These Great Lakes didn't get their ominous reputations for nothing!

My last blog entry was from Beaver Island, just a half day into Lake Michigan from Mackinac Straights. We were also waiting out bad weather there. Well, the next morning, the forecast was for some heavy seas, but they would be right at us and diminishing to almost nothing in the afternoon. Therefore, we departed early, heading SW directly across open water of the Great Lake, destined for Washington Island in Wisconsin, 70 miles away (just a few miles this side of the Door Peninsula, which juts out into the lake from Green Bay).

All went according to plan across the lake until about 2 pm. Instead of diminishing, the seas got bigger AND the swells switched to hitting us broadside ("abeam") from the NW. I finally could no longer continue SW and had to turn 90 degrees to NW, straight into the growing swells. It was bad for about 2 hours, although not nearly as bad as it had been several days earlier in our Lake Huron Fury ride to Mackinac Island.

Our new NW heading took us back to Michigan, but silver linings abound for us if we only look for them! One of our books mentioned Fayette State Park, and it looked like it had a well protected cove as long as the single dock had availability. After 11 hours of non-stop cruising, we arrived at the cove after passing spectacular limestone cliffs such as the ones in this picture.

Sure enough, there were only two other boats at the park dock, and it was totally protected from the incoming winds and swell (see next photo at how tucked-in we were). What a relief to be done after 11 hours! After a beer, some phone calls, a shower, and dinner (Rick BBQed chicken on our grill), we began our exploration of the state park grounds.

Notice the old buildings in this and the next picture. This was a VERY interesting place! From 1867 to 1891, it was a bustling town (Fayette) centered around a huge "pig iron" factory. When the factory closed in 1891, just about everyone left except the hotel remained until 1950 as a tourist attraction for those wanting to see the "ghost town". In 1959 the state turned it into a preserved museum, with excellent exhibits showing how the people lived and how they made the pig iron.

The next morning we took a long hike, and this view from across the bay, atop the limestone cliffs, was sure pretty! You can see Breaking Away down at the dock, in front of another trawler.

Pig iron was an intermediate product used in steel making. The raw iron ore was shipped by train from upper MI, barged across on the water to Fayette's docks (which used to line the entire bay), and then melted with the nearby limestone in huge furnaces. This process separated out impurities and concentrated the iron into blocks. To fire the furnaces, they had to convert local hardwoods into charcoal in their huge kilns. The iron blocks were then shipped to Detroit and other factories to make steel.

Most of the original buildings/homes/stores/hotel/theater/bank were preserved and/or rebuilt, furnished, and explained with signs and exhibits. It was totally interesting, and in a beautiful setting to boot. We were SOOO glad the previous day's weather caused us to go there.

After Rick's big Sunday brunch he made, we set out on a perfect day on the lake to reach our original destination at Washington Island in Wisconsin (passing to Central time zone). We tied up at a marina in Little Detroit Harbor, and set out on our bikes to see everything the island had to offer. The first place we arrived was Nelsen's Bitters Bar. Totally famous place as it turns out! Tom Nelsen in 1899 invented a "tonic" to cure stomach ailments, but sold this 90-proof booze from his bar. When Prohibition hit in 1919, he convinced the Feds that his was a pharmaceutical, so he got his pharmacy license and was approved to continue to operate his bar selling this booze. Wisconsin now says his is the longest continuously operating bar (selling alcohol) in the state.

This picture shows the bar maid and Rick getting ready for his "cure".

The fun part is that they've made drinking the bitters tonic into a phenomenon, and Rick didn't want to pass up the opportunity. You drink the shot, and then sign their official book, and receive a personalized membership card in the Bitters Club. Over 10,000 belong to this exclusive fraternity of drinkers!

After he downed the bitters and became a club member, we had our sandwich lunches and our beers, and continued on our bike ride to the north end of the island. No, Rick did not swerve all over the road. It was only a shot, probably as much alcohol as if he'd had his usual second beer. No biggie!

Our biking road took us to a beach that was famous for its being all stones and zero sand. See in the picture? The Great Lakes water temps have been warm (72), so we took swims to cool off. It was pretty difficult to walk on those stones, lemme tell ya. On the ride back, we also saw an old Norwegian church from 1895; turns out that all of the Door Peninsula was settled by Scandinavians and is still predominately so.

We left Washington Island late in the afternoon seeking an anchorage. The best was on the south side of the peninsula even though our plan was to harbor-hop down the northern side. So, we went about 90 minutes SW to Rawley's Bay and anchored in a still cove all by ourselves. When it's still, you can hear people's conversations a long ways away at their homes, and they can probably hear us too. You can also watch the moon rise and reflect off the lake to the east.

Unfortunately, a wind did come up during the night, and it was from the exposed south. That would not have been so bad except the incoming swells were from the east, meaning they hit us broadside since the bow was facing into the south wind. Man, our peaceful anchorage was soon a pain in the rear. By morning, after rocking side to side all night, we headed over to the now-protected north side of the peninsula, arriving in the village of Ellison Bay early, and tied to the town dock for the day and night.

We spent most of that day (Monday) riding our bikes all over the top of the beautiful, wooded, and uncrowded peninsula. In the village to the north was a maritime museum which we toured. After a yummy lunch with a spectacular view, we biked to a state park and Rick went in the water. This was the tip of the peninsula, so we had passed it on the water both going and coming earlier.

For my biking friends out there, don't tell, but we rode our bikes on a hiking trail for a few miles in the state park! Skinny road tires are NOT meant for trails, but we survived....slowly. Hey, ANYONE can ride a road bike on roads, but WE rode trails!

After we returned to the boat, I took a ride on to the village to the south and arranged to have my second battery replaced the next morning. That advice I'd gotten in Ontario that I needed only one new battery was wrong. I needed both, and this one had gone completely kaput.

Then came a highlight of the trip -- the Fish Boil. It has been a traditional dinner experience in Door County for 100 yrs, invented by Scandinavian fishermen to feed their flocks. The restaurant only 60 yards from our boat had been one of the earliest to popularize it for "regular" folks and tourists, back in 1935.

The "chef" starts by boiling a huge cauldron of water over a wood-burning fire. Into it they add butter and salt, then later, locally grown new potatoes. A bit later in go the onions. Finally, with 10 minutes left, he adds the fresh Lake Michigan Whitefish.

This picture shows the "chef" watching carefully for the critical point in the process -- the "boil over".

The fish oils boil over and the fat flash-burns into a flame ball!! An instant or two later, they pour water on the fire and steam shoots high into the sky. They learned to make it a dramatic tourist attraction by tossing some diesel fuel into the fire at the very moment the fat boils over, so that the flare-up is totally cool to see. What would be a normal flame-up is a HUGE flame-up, and he yells out "boil over" right as he tosses in the diesel fuel!

Almost immediately they lift the strainer food pot from the cauldron and the "chef" calls out, "Dinner!" We paying customers then go fetch our feast. It truly was yummy. The fish was cooked perfectly. I must not forget to mention that part of the traditional Fish Boil dinner is cherry pie, of course from locally grown cherries.

Yesterday we departed Ellison Bay, stopped in Sisters Bay to get the new battery, and moved on here to Fish Creek, a crowded touristy town. (We passed right over the town of Ephraim because we read it was dry!) But here in Fish Creek it's nice! Lots of flowers, doo-dad shops like this one in the picture, parks, candy shops, restaurants with Fish Boils, and a marina with a dock wall exposed to killer North swells. We'll now see how many lay-over days we will have as we make our way down to Chicago. I'll breathe a sigh of relief when we are finally done with the Great Lakes, even though we've certainly had wonderful adventures here.

Island fun, now island waiting

Fun on Mackinac Island, and now we’re waiting at Beaver Island until the weather clears.

Top line – we had three days of relaxing, sightseeing, restaurant-eating, and general frivolity on the tourist island. Janet and Cheryl flew home on Wednesday. Thursday morning Rick and I took Bob and Linda over to Mackinaw City, then sailed west 40 miles here to Beaver Island, which is out in Lake Michigan. It was great weather and calm seas. But last night the predicted strong winds come up and we must remain here until the stormy weather clears for our long cruise farther across the lake to Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula (the one sticking out from Green Bay).

As I type this, the weather is entirely different than when I took this photo last evening. I’m on Breaking Away anchored out in the bay and it’s raining hard, and it's dark as the worst of the storm approaches. Based on the forecasts, we’ll be here today and possibly tomorrow. At least it’s a well-protected bay.

Last evening it was so totally calm. After anchoring, we took the dinghy into the village to stroll. Cute little place. A ferry brings day-trippers here during the summer, when their population increases from the 500 full-timers. The island is most famous for the Mormon settlement here in the mid-1850s, when a fellow named James Jesse Strang broke away from the church and tried to establish a competing branch. He was assassinated by two of his disgruntled followers and mainlanders drove the remaining followers away.

The homes are quite nice along the waterfront, and so was the pub where we enjoyed a Michigan-brewed beer. We later returned to the boat, grilled hamburgers, enjoyed the setting sun in calm weather, and watched another All in the Family on DVD. We kept saying, "It doesn't get any better than this!"

Now, I’ll go back to Mackinac Island to bring you up to the present time…

After I posted my blog last Tuesday morning, I went for a long scenic hike with Bob Foley and Linda Young while my siblings did their own individual sightseeing. There was much to choose from on Mackinac Is. The homes are incredible, and this is one on the West Bluffs overlooking the straits that connect Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. Bob and Linda are Nestle/Carnation friends, now retired and living in Jackson, CA. They were going to vacation here this summer, and were kind enough to schedule their trip for when I was going to be here too.

Th funniest thing happened just as we began our first walk together. A woman passing us going the other direction suddenly stopped us and declared, "I've been reading your blog! I recognize you!" She and her husband were doing the Great Loop too, and she had been following my blog since we were just a few days ahead of them. It made me feel pretty special to be "famous", especially in front of two old friends! hahaha

Here are some more of the beautiful homes on the island. As many of you know, cars have been prohibited here since the “horseless carriage” days of 1902. Bikes are everywhere, as are horse-drawn carriages. There are even “buses” with three horses pulling. This gives the island a particular scent, but it’s all in the fun.

On our hike we went to Arch Rock, over-looking the lake to the east where we had suffered the day before. It was not as bad on this day. There are trails everywhere, and the weather was perfect and we enjoyed our exploring. Later in the afternoon, I rode my bike around the island (8.2 miles) a couple times. There were thousands of cyclists out and about, but I was the only one in cycling garb so it seemed a bit strange.

Another famous site is the Grand Hotel, where they filmed Somewhere in Time. Apparently there were so many tourists swarming the hotel and its grounds that they began charging non-hotel residents. I thought this sign was pretty funny. Only Cheryl among us paid the $10 and explored the hotel. She had been looking forward to seeing it ever since she found out we’d be on this island since Somewhere in Time is one of her favorite films, and sure enough, she loved her visit.

Fudge is another Mackinac Is. tourist staple, and about every second shop along the street sells it. I broke down and bought a slice, and then Rick and I bought three more before we left. Hmmmm, let me try a bite right now….

We all enjoyed the sights, the historical markers, the food, the drinks, the walking, the biking (Rick and Janet did lots of biking too), and chumming with Bob and Linda.

Here we are just before Cheryl and Janet departed. We four had a marvelous time during our 18 days together. So much fun and reminiscing and adventure and thanking Mom and Dad. Interestingly, I don’t know when will be the next time I’ll see my sisters.

Even the airport shuttle is a horse-drawn carriage! Here are Cheryl and Janet getting aboard with their luggage. Their little plane took them a short ways to another airport on the mainland, where they then flew to Detroit, then Salt Lake City, then Sacramento.

Later in the day, Rick and I did three loads of laundry, reorganized the boat, and cleaned up. I changed the fuel filter, tightened the alternator belt (again, the first time being June 1), and added a little water to the batteries. The four of us had a nice dinner at an Irish pub, followed by some more strolling to enjoy the mood.

What a change of weather we had Wednesday night! It POURED rain all night long and blew like heck. Normally, we can say “I’m glad we were inside the cozy boat.” However, Rick was sleeping on the flybridge, and despite all the curtains being closed, he and his things got all wet. It’s just not water-tight up there, and the storm raged and water got in, and he was too sleepy to want to move downstairs while it was pouring. We heard that the island got 5 inches of rain overnight!

It rained off and on during the morning, but finally ended about 9 am. So, Bob and Linda brought their luggage to Breaking Away and we departed our little haven port. We were taking them only a few miles away, to Mackinaw City on the mainland to the south, but it was a rough little crossing. Side-hitting swells rolled us pretty significantly, and it was not helped by all the ferries passing us and leaving big wakes. But we eventually got into the marina. Bob retrieved their rental car and we drove to a grocery market to stock up for the first time in over a week.

This photo shows us heading under the 5-mi-long Mackinac Bridge that connects lower Michigan with its Upper Peninsula. Its suspension section is the largest in the western hemisphere. We had said goodbye to Bob and Linda after unloading our bags of “man food” (hahaha) and doing a few other chores. It was still a little choppy but had improved greatly since we arrived a couple hours earlier.

We headed west toward the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan. Along the way we passed this lighthouse, one of many on the lake. I heard there were 900 of them, the most of any of the Great Lakes.

As the afternoon wore on, the seas got calmer and smoother until it became glassy!! Wow, what a change!!! We hadn’t had it this nice since our return to Sault Ste. Marie across Lake Superior the previous Saturday. So, with Otto Pilot taking the helm, we could relax a little, as I was here.

It stayed totally placid the rest of the day. Now we have our bad weather, although the rain has stopped for now. It’s still blowing pretty hard. I just checked the extended forecast on the computer and tomorrow is now predicted to be much better, and importantly, the wind is predicted to be coming into us instead of from the side. If that holds up, maybe we can sail on tomorrow and reach Sturgeon Bay in Wisconsin.

Lake Huron Fury!

I'm lucky to be writing this blog after yesterday's 34-mile passage to Mackinac Island here! We were out in terrible weather on Lake Huron, taking its fury head on for 9 straight hours. This picture doesn't really do justice to what we faced, because the swells were three to six feet ALL DAY LONG, and spaced near enough to each other that we had to slow to about 4 mph. That's why it took us 9 hours, and we struggled to keep the boat straight into the swells to prevent us from swaying wildly and unsafely.

Rick and I took turns at the helm, because it was exhausting to fight the wheel every moment and to focus on each coming swell that lifted us up, plunged us down, and splashed water everywhere, even up to the flybridge. The headwind was so strong (we learned later it was gusting to 40 mph) we had to keep the front plastic window down the entire way. And, we left first thing in the morning thinking we'd eat breakfast on the way, but it was way too rough and none of had a single bite of any food until we got to Mackinac Island at 4 pm. That, of course, added to our fatigue and stress.

We all collapsed (figuratively) when we finally arrived and tied up to the marina dock. We admitted to each other how scared we were for those entire 9 hours, because it WAS scary out there in Lake Huron's fury! As an indication of how we felt, we all wore our life preservers the entire trip after the initial hour. I was mad at myself for going out in that weather. It was calm when we departed at 6 am, but once out in the main open lake, it got bad quickly. Papa was watching over us, especially considering that we could make way ONLY directly into the wind and swells (since we would likely capsize if we tried to head in any other direction), and directly in front of us for the entire 34 miles was our destination - Mackinac Island.

Going back to the beginning, since I last posted, we left our anchorage in the quiet cove on our way toward Lake Superior last Friday the 13th. It took us longer than I had figured to reach the town of Sault Saint Marie, where the locks are located for getting into Lake Superior. We finally did, late in the day, and it was such a big deal for Cheryl, Janet and Rick since this was their first locking experience.

The big differences for me were: 1) it was so huge! The chamber was at least 20 times larger than any other lock I'd been in, since they need to hold the super-sized Great Lake freighters ("Lakers"); 2) we had a large audience! These locks are a tourist attraction, and there's a viewing platform along the lock with camera-toting fans. We entered the lock just as we arrived, right behind a tour boat with yet more people watching me. At least I did okay and didn't crash into the wall; and 3) there were no cables or ropes to grab onto. No, the lock operators tossed ropes from way up high down to Rick at the bow and Janet at the stern. By the time we rose to the level of Lake Superior, there we were face to face with the tourists all taking our picture as we were taking THEIR picture! Kinda funny!

Then off we went out into Lake Superior, a 33-mile cruise over to Whitefish Point where we wanted to visit the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. I was wondering, of course, how the "seas" would be out on famous Lake Superior, and at first it was pretty calm and okay. I used the auto pilot, and could take pictures of the huge Lakers passing us, such as the one in this photo. But then the seas got big, living up to the lake's reputation. Lucky for us (He's always looking after us!), the big swells were coming directly from behind us. They pushed us along directly to our destination, a small harbor built straight out from the beach south of the Point.

It was a struggle at the helm, but also kind of fun as the boat climbed the back of each swell and then surfed down the fronts. To be going faster than the swells, I had to "speed" along at 2500 rpm (normal is 1600) and with the tailwind, we were blazing along at 12 mph (lightning speed for Breaking Away). But with the rough seas, I was fearing that Friday the 13th was having its effect on me afterall.

This photo shows Breaking Away docked at the tiny harbor near Whitefish Point. By the time we reached the harbor, it was getting a bit scary with the very strong winds and the size of the swells hitting us from behind. It was a huge relief to finally enter the protection of the harbor behind two huge breakwaters. But then came the next challenge - to dock safely with the strong wind. Luckily (I use that word a lot, don't I?) I had called ahead to the Shipwreck Museum to inquire about tying up in the harbor, and they had given me permission to use their reserved dock since their boat was not there at the moment. As I entered the harbor, I realized there were only about 10 docks, and right in front of me was one of only a few empty ones. I couldn't see if it was the correct one for me or not, but with the strong wind, I needed to tie up to something right away or else I'd have been washed to shore in no time.

It all worked! I got cleanly into the space, and the wind pushed me right up against the dock! Boy was I ever relieved I was done and safely tied up! And once we walked to the front of the dock, we could see it WAS the spot they had said I could use. The waves were crashing against the breakwater and splashing high up and over, the way you see in hurricane photos. It took me a long time to get unwound, but Happy Hour helped! I then started wondering whether the next day's weather would allow me to cross back after we visited the museum. Little could I imagine that a couple days later I would be in seas worse that what we'd just experienced.

Here's the lighthouse at Whitefish Point and the Shipwreck Museum buildings we walked to the next morning. It was still very windy when we first woke up, but it died down as the morning wore on, as predicted by the forecaster. The museum was totally interesting about how that area is known as The Graveyard of the Great Lakes, and there have been 300 wrecks nearby. It made me want to hurry back to the boat and get going while it was still calm outside. But even then, the museum talked about how quickly conditions can worsen on the Great Lakes, so I was wary.

Before we left, we decided to take a quick swim in Lake Superior. We saw others doing it, and they said the water was warmer than they could ever remember. It WAS warm, at my most northerly spot on the Great Loop adventure.

Once we departed, we could not believe what a difference in the water from the day before! Totally calm and smooth. I just set the auto pilot, and relaxed! Lakers passed us again, and here's a picture of one and you can see how calm the water was.

This picture shows a Laker leaving the lock next to the one we were waiting to go into to return back to Lake Huron. These Soo Locks have three locks side by side so they can handle all the big Laker traffic. We had to wait about 30 minutes for the Laker in front of us to lock down (they fill the entire lock chamber with no room left for the likes of me), and then when I entered the lock, I was the ONLY boat in there! The entire tourist audience was staring only at us! I'm again glad I didn't screw up in front of everyone!

When the lock gates opened, we made a quick left turn and went to a marina directly across in the Canadian Sault Ste. Marie. Right next to us was this moose! We've been watching for a moose for the entire two weeks, and this was as close as we got. After a wonderful dinner in a restaurant for the first time in about a week, we walked around the town and enjoyed a cool evening.

The next morning (Sunday), we started by cruising all of a half mile across the river to the other side and being inspected by U.S. Customs. Two officers drove down to the marina we stopped in, and checked our passports and wrote down all sorts of stuff about us and the boat, and then for $27.50 they let us proceed.

We cruised a LONG way, finally reaching where we'd stopped for fuel a few days earlier - De Tour Village, Michigan. The wind was picking up and hitting us from the side, but at least we were protected by islands and the mainland, so the swells weren't large. We were planning to stop in De Tour Village only to pump out the holding tank and do some shopping, but the wind was so fierce and the forecast so bad, that we decided to stay there for the night and not get closer to Mackinac Island as originally planned.

It got completely calm during the night, and was still calm the next morning, so we departed toward what should have been a 5-hour trip to Mackinac Is. Then the seas got real bad real quickly, just as we'd seen at the Shipwreck Museum. This picture shows, in a pale sort of way, the rough waters we were navigating.

Here we are, finally eating some food in Mackinac Is at 4 pm after starving all day since it was too rough to eat. We were holding on the entire time as the boat pitched wildly up and down and side to side for those 9 harrowing hours.

Meeting us at the dock were two Nestle friends, Bob Foley and his wife, Linda Young. They watched us arrive from their hotel window right on the bay, and could see how exhausted we were. Later we got to visit and walk around the town together, and have dessert. Today and tomorrow we'll all have fun together and I'll post their picture in my next blog entry. Janet and Cheryl have to depart from the airport here on the island tomorrow.

See ya next time!

Anchoring in paradise

We four siblings have anchored out every night since we started! Up until they joined me, we usually tied up at a marina every few nights to plug in, wash the boat, eat at a restaurant, etc. Well, we haven't done that once. We like being out in the peaceful wilds, with opportunities for seeing animals and birds, having kayaking, swimming and dingying adventures, and feasting on creative meals (not that I have had anything to do with those! Cheryl, and tonight Janet, have kept us well fed!).

This photo shows one of the hundreds of lighthouses we have passed since entering Lake Huron. I guess it's redundant to mention the thousands of islands and rocks out here, and lighthouses have been everywhere as aids to us mariners. They certainly become the subject of photos!

Since my last blog posting, we've criss-crossed the North Channel four times - north shore, then to the south shore, and vice versa. In a northern village named Spanish, we all walked two miles to reach a grocery store and restaurant...but the book said it would be a half mile. Luckily, a kind woman noticed our bags and offered to drive us back to the boat. Her car held only four, so I got my exercise jogging back. At least I can always jump into the water when I get hot. And tonight, Rick initiated jumping in from the flybridge.

We anchored not too many miles west of there, and the next morning we crossed back to the south side of the channel in a pretty thick fog. I had my radar operating, not only for myself but also so that other boats with radar would more easily see me. We finally reached Gore Bay, passing close to Janet Head, at the tip of a bay on Manitoulin Island (reminder: it's the largest fresh-water island in the world). But Janet's Head was typically all fogged in. Hahahahaha. By the time we docked in the cute little town of Gore Bay, the fog had lifted and we rode the bikes out to the Janet Head lighthouse for a tour. See how cool it is? The fourth generation of the family still was operating it and living there for the summers.

This is Janet in front of the sign for her Head Lighthouse.

We cruised on in the afternoon (this was Tuesday, Aug 10) farther west to Vidal Bay for the night. So, in one afternoon, we'd been in Gore Vidal bays! LOL As usual, we were pretty much all alone with beautiful shoreline and scenery all around us.

The next morning Janet, Rick and I took turns on the kayak and we were even able to paddle up a river. This picture is me on that little river.

Later we cruised to the base of the very next bay to our west, which was the final bay on the long Manitoulin Island. There, we again wanted to visit their historic lighthouse. Only this time, it was 10 miles away, so the other three went in the dockmaster's van (wasn't that nice of him to drive them, for a small price of course?), and I used it as an excuse for a bike workout. Only trouble was that I went the wrong way three times, so my total was about 28 miles instead of 20 miles, and I was sorta racing the van to show how tough I was. LOL Rick took this photo of me as their van passed me on the ride back to the harbor. So I was pretty pooped when it was all done. The lighthouse, built in 1873, was very interesting, even with sweat in my eyes! hahahaha

We puttered away from Muldrum Bay in the early afternoon and ventured through the Mississagi Straights right out into the open Lake Huron. Luckily, the weather was okay, and we turned west and eventually entered the USA!! What was funny was that our cell phones seemed to know exactly where that line on the water was. As soon as we passed over where the chart showed the border was, out there in the "middle" of Lake Huron, I had cell phone service again, and everyone else's suddenly became domestic instead of foreign.

After a nice little anchorage last night on Drummond Island, Michican, we sailed this morning on totally glassy seas in Lake Huron to De Tour Passage, where the huge Great Lakes tankers come and go to Lake Superior. We saw three of them as we were approaching, and it impressed my sibs since they hadn't seen big ships since they began 9 days ago.

At the marina in De Tour Passage, we finally filled the fuel tanks. The gauge was showing 1/8th, but it still took only 200 ("only"???) gallons even though the capacity is 300 gallons. But at $3.51 per gallon, the bill was pretty darned high. We also washed the boat for the first time in four weeks, and did three loads of laundry.

That was earlier today. We then headed north back into Canada (and my cell phone stopped working immediately upon crossing the imaginary line on the chart). We are staying tonight in a little cove on the north side of St. Joseph Island, on our way to Lake Superior tomorrow. The shore lines of the many islands are still spotted with summer Canadian cottages, and the weather has continued to be fabulous. And we four siblings continue to have a total blast.

Lake Huron Beauty

The “sibling rivalry” fun continues! Cheryl, Janet, Rick and I have been having a super time cruising the North Channel of Lake Huron. So many beautiful sights, hikes, flora, fauna, sun rises, sunsets, pouring rain, wind, waterfalls, “alpine” lakes, watching old home movies, and good ole sibling banter/teasing/singing.

Since my last posting, we anchored for the night next to Dead Island in Georgian Bay. Great name, huh? Well, it wasn’t so dead, because right away Janet spotted this bear swimming between the little rock islands and then hustling across the length of a larger island and finally over the top and out sight. All four of us watched his entire journey in our binoculars. It was my first bear sighting on this boat adventure!

I mentioned in my previous blog posting about having the Sibling Rivalry wine for our happy hour. Well, I just HAD to show you this photo of the wine “coming between” the two primary rivals. LOL

The next morning (last Thursday), Rick and Janet both took kayak rides and hiked around on Dead Island while I did a bike ride on the trainer. After departing, we had to cross a 17-mile open-water ROUGH ride. Luckily, the strong winds and 3-4 ft swells came straight at us instead of from the side, so we did ok bouncing up and down during the two-hour adventure.

We finally turned north behind the protection of islands, and anchored for a calm lunch. Continuing, we got to navigate one of the prettiest parts yet, an 8-mile narrow channel bounded by tall cliffs. Here’s Rick at the bow as we were cruising through this channel, called Collins Inlet.

It actually started raining on us, and the strong headwind picked up again, so halfway through the Inlet I decided to try to find protection for the night. We dropped anchor in a pretty spot, but just as we were about to depart for a dinghy exploration (the raining had stopped), we realized we had dragged anchor and were about to hit the rocks behind us. Rick and I jumped into action and got the heck out of there! I decided to just go on to the village of Kilarney, which marks the end of Georgian Bay.

We got a mooring in Kilarney, which is on a narrow passage between Georgian Bay and the North Channel. It’s like a river, with the mainland on one side and a large island, George Island, on the other. We dinghied the 100 yards to the mainland, and in 10 minutes had walked the entire length of this quaint village. We hadn’t planned on it, but could not pass up eating dinner at Herbert’s World Famous Fish and Chips, operated out of this old school bus. Even vegetarian Janet agreed to eat the fish because they promised her it was local and fresh. It definitely had a good reputation judging by the throngs of locals and tourists lined up at the bus window waiting to order or pick up their feasts.

We were moored against George Island, and the next morning we climbed in the dinghy and went all of 60 ft to a little dock behind the boat and embarked on a five-mile, five-hour hike. Here’s a photo of Janet reading to us from the nature-guide brochure about what we were seeing along the way.

It was a very beautiful and interesting hike, with varying terrain through woods, rocks, tall grassy meadows, shoreline, bogs (no moose though), and wild blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, which we ate with glee! This picture shows when we reached the far side of the island, with Manitoulin Island across the water. Manitoulin Island is the largest fresh-water island in the world, and run most of the length of the North Channel. It’s what makes the North Channel a channel, separating it from the open Lake Huron.

We later ate sandwiches in the village and did some shopping, and Rick and Janet went on another hike to the lighthouse while Cheryl read and I napped.

That night at our mooring we enjoyed a World Famous Mercurio Pasketti dinner on the flybridge. Cheryl has been our primary cook and sandwich maker. It was a perfect evening!

We departed early the next morning (Saturday).and went a little ways across calm open water to a special destination recommended in all the cruising guides – Baie Fine, an actual fjord! It was a 7-mile-long channel with mountains or cliffs on either side, and ending in a small bay called The Pool. This photo shows part of the shoreline as we navigated through the inlet.

When we reached The Pool, we were surprised to see only a single boat anchored there, so we quickly grabbed a spot in the beautiful setting surrounded by tall forested or rocky hillsides. We later found out why no one was there – a heavily weeded bottom that entangled the anchor like never before.

But first things first. We ate a scrumptious salmon-tacos lunch, and then Janet, Rick and I dinghied to the shore for a steep hike to Topaz Lake. Many boating visitors were swimming and diving off the cliffs into the crystal-clear water, and Rick and Janet joined them. It was all SOOO cool!

Back at Breaking Away, this HUGE snapping turtle appeared next to us, apparently begging for food for about 20 minutes. Loads of fish accompanied him. We realized they probably were asking for seconds on the leftover salmon I had tossed into the lake earlier. Cracked us up! We had chummed for turtle!

That night we anchored all by ourselves in a cove off one of the many islands out here. After Janet and Rick took kayak rides and I rode my bike (trainer), it began to pour. And it didn’t stop. We cruised in the downpour to the town of Little Current, where we wanted to get some fuel, which I had not gotten since June 27 at the beginning of the Trent-Severn Canal.

Before we arrived at the fuel dock, however, we had to wait for a swing bridge to open for us. I had forgotten that this was new to my siblings, to have cars stop and wait for little old us. I’m used to it now, but they marveled at how it swung open and we passed through, still in pouring rain.

I had to wait a long time for the rain intensity to lighten before I could pump my fuel so that water would not enter the tank. Even then, we had to hold a rag over the nozzle to block the rain. I could stand to add only 49 gallons since the cost was – get this -- $4.36/gallon! I wanted only enough to get me to, I hope, lower prices in the U.S.

With it still raining, we headed to the quaint village of Kowawong. As luck would have it, the skies cleared just before we arrived. We hiked to this wonderful Bridal Veil Falls, where we could swim directly under the falls and stand up behind them. It was a hightlight of the trip so far! We also toured a local museum and generally enjoyed seeing the local charm of this historic mill town.


We then cruised to this quiet anchorage on Eagle Island for last night, and this is the scene we awoke to. There are 13 other boats in this cove, with total glass and no wind. Last night we had a wonderful happy hour, macaroni and cheese dinner, and All in the Family reruns on DVD. It’s been fabulous, and we still have nine more days with the four siblings!