Crossing Lake Michigan to Ludington

The plan was for Tom and Jim to attend the Packer game on Sunday, Sept. 9th, and to leave for Sturgeon Bay on the 10th.  However, the wind/wave reports for crossing Lake Michigan were only predicting reasonable forecasts through Monday mid-day.  So Tom sacrificed the game and we headed to Sturgeon Bay on Sunday. We stayed the night and fueled at Quarterdeck Marina and left for Ludington, MI at first light Monday.  The mist was thick as we headed down the channel, but it lifted when we reached the lake.

Lighthouse on breakwater at Sturgeon Bay

Misty early morning start from Sturgeon Bay

The waves were one footers as we left, but built to threes as we approached Ludington.  Since the predictions were for increased winds and waves later in the day, we chose to run the passage and arrived in Ludington (80+ miles) around noon.  We first saw land, the Manitou's, about 25 miles from shore.  Seeing  Big Point Sable lighthouse as we appoached was a thrill.  Coming into the Ludington Channel, we passed by the Ludington lighthouse and made our way to the public marina.

Passing the Ludington lighthouse as we entered calm waters behind the breakwater.

The public marina has older, very high docks, but we used our upper deck entrance and had no problem.  The marina is within a few blocks of downtown (with a great market) and the Badger dock.  Next door is a sculpture park telling the history of the area.  (Click on photos to enlarge)

Men of the sea

Sailing

Children at play

Fishing through the generations

Fruit harvest

Steam ships

Lumbering with the big wheel--an
invention that allowed the industry
to thrive year round.

Later Monday, a large trawler, Sea Hunt IV,  pulled in to the marina. When they saw our loop flag, they came over to introduce themselves. They too are looping having started in southern Lake Huron mid-July  The Canadian crew consists of Andre and Lisa DuBois, and sons Luc (11) and Pierre (8).  We enjoyed swapping stories and having dinner with them on Wednesday.  They have a five year live-aboard plan that includes going through the Panama Canal and a trip to Alaska.  WOW!

Crew of Sea Hunt IV

The Badger is a coal powered car ferry that runs from Ludington to Manitowoc,WI daily.  From the public marina we can see it leave at 9 a.m. and return at 7 p.m.  Watching it dock, especially in heavy wind, is quite impressive.  Unfortunately, federal regulations ( anti-dumping 2 tons of coal ash in the lake per trip) are shutting it down as of Oct. 13th unless an extension is granted or the funds are found to convert to diesel.  

Badger at dock at night.
(Photo by Missy:)

Badger spinning 180 degrees before dropping anchor and
backing into dock space.

Tom with Luc and Andre watching as the Badger docks.

Missy and Rich Ray arrived Thursday.  Richard's Roofing Company sponsors an annual fishing/golf outing  in mid-September at Barothy Lodge outside of Ludingon.  This year it was timed perfectly for Tom to join them while Missy and I stayed on Raydiance and explored town, the beach and farmer's market.

Just us and the seagulls on Ludington Beach.

Missy enjoying the sun on Ludington Beach

Watching the sun set across Lake Michigan is one of my favorite things and Thursday's sunset did not disappoint.  It just kept getting better and better as time went on.

Saturday the sun was shining and the wind had died down, so Tom, Rich and a crew of four (Kevin, John, Lane and Kris) decided to move Raydiance to Pentwater.  Mike Long joined Missy and me to see them off at the Ludington breakwater.  After giving us a runway twirl in the channel they headed north to see Big Point Sable Lighthouse before turning south to Pentwater.

Linda and Missy on Ludington breakwater.

Mike Long and Linda
on Ludington breakwater

Raydiance with roofing crew leaving Ludington
en route to Pentwater

Pat and Jim Aboard Northern Lake Michigan

Getting ready to begin the Mackinac Bridge Walk on Labor Day

At the finish line with tired feet, but still smiling.

Pat and Jim took the 8 a.m. ferry from Mackinac Island Monday and met us at the St. Ignace dock.  From there we caught a shuttle to the staging area for the annual Labor Day Mackinac Bridge Walk where we joined 60,000 others to walk the 5 mile bridge on a beautiful, sunny day. We started walking around 10 a.m. and Tom and Jim soon outpaced Pat and me.  They don't take their long legs into account. We met up with them at the other end of the bridge around 11:30.  The bridge walk was one of those happy accidents we didn't plan, but the timing worked and it was great fun.

Linda and Pat near center of bridge.

Going under the bridge tower.

View of  sparkling Lake Huron from bridge.

Linda receiving completion certificate.

The committee did a great job organizing this event.  Without any wait, we caught a shuttle from Mackinac City back to the staging area in St. Ignace.  From there we got on another shuttle that let us off right at the marina.

Since the water was flat and the wind/wave report for Monday and Tuesday was predicted to be better than the rest of the week,  we decided to head off to Beaver Island that afternoon.  We were underway around 1 p.m. and arrived at Beaver Island about 5 p.m.  We ran fast the last hour as a storm was brewing to the northwest.   We were in and tied fast by the time it let loose.  That night we had dinner at the Shamrock Bar and spent a few hours playing table shuffleboard (Tom and Jim eked out a victory) as the  storm continued pounding.

And the view just entering Lake Michigan.

The view going under the bridge en route to Beaver Island.

Due to the walk, the Coast Guard had a presence under the bridge .
This was our auxiliary Coast Guard escort under the bridge.

 Tuesday morning we were up early and underway by 7:45.  We had 80+ miles to go that day to reach Fayette, MI.  The weather was cool and sunny and the water was almost smooth the entire way.  Someone is definitely watching over us!
 We set the radar detection screen and let "Auto" have the helm while we played dominoes (with frequent helm checks by the captain and crew).

We think this little hitchhiker  is a Kirkland Warbler that has a very small nesting range in  northern lower Michigan.
He joined us about 40 miles into the run to Fayette and "hung on" until we were almost there.

Dolemite cliffs at entrance to Fayette harbor.
The dolemite was mined and used to remove the slag  in the iron ore process.

  Arriving at Fayette, MI around 4:30 p.m. we tied in the middle of a face dock with five other boats.  Fayette is a Michigan state park, the site of a historic 1800's iron ore community. The town was abandoned in the early 1900's when the hardwood forests used to make charcoal were depleted and the iron ore process became unprofitable.  The hotel remained open and was run until the mid-1950's.  After that the state of Michigan took over the site. Several of the buildings have been restored and display the history of the town.  Others are in the process of or slated for restoration.  It was a very interesting stop, and a bit spooky at night.

Iron ore furnaces at Fayette, MI

Historic village of Fayette with Raydiance at the dock.

Restored auditorim where the Fayette Coronet Band would often play.
Backstage the wallboards have signatures from the traveling troupes that had played there
including ventriloquists and animal shows.

Hiking the bluffs at Fayette

The beach on the south side of the island was made up of these
wonderful, smooth rocks.  I must confess a few made their way to the boat.

Sunset at Fayette with Mormon family in foreground:)

I love the birch trees in this area.  Guess I get that from my parents.

Tom and Jim found a guide to Yooper Bars at the gift shop.  Nothing would do but to try one that evening for dinner.  So we walked a mile to Sherry's and had a good walleye dinner.  Checking the book we discovered dat da two restaurants in DeTour were also classified as Yooper Bars.  Oh ya!!

Sherry's Yooper Bar

Having spent Wednesday exploring Fayette, we left for the 27 mile trip to Escanaba on Thursday morning.  The moon was still visible as we left the harbor, so we truly were going to "Escanaba in da moonlight"!  The harbor at Escanaba had high docks, but they were in good shape.  Pat and I explored the area using bikes  the marina had available.  The guys joined us that night and we biked to Hereford and Hops (an upscale yooper bar) for dinner.

The Bobsey twins getting ready to ride!

Do you think this might be Packer country?

Sand Hill Lighthouse in Escanaba, MI

After many checks of the wind/wave and weather reports,  it was decided that Friday--even though it was forecast to rain all day, which it did--was the better day to go on into Menominee,MI.  Sally and John Scott, Pat and Jim's good friends from Wausaukee, were able to rearrange plans and make the run.  I drove their car from Escanaba to Menominee and met them at the dock as they came in.  Although it wasn't a sunny day, the waves behaved and stayed one footers. So they enjoyed a smooth ride playing dominoes and Five Crowns with Jim and Tom alternating at the helm.

Tom, Pat, Linda, Jim, Sally and John

Arriving in Menominee, MI on a calm, but rainy day.

Pat and Jim spent Friday night with us and headed home to Wausaukee (30 minutes west) on Saturday.  Having been aboard twice now, they are becoming quite the experienced crew.  We are already making plans to meet somewhere on Superior next year!

Northern Michigan

With all the trouble we had getting our anchor to set in Bear Drop,  Tom has decided to add more chain to our gear and also upgrade to a heavier anchor.  He thinks maybe this one at DeTour should do the trick!

The ride from Blind River to Drummond, Michigan and on to DeTour, Michigan was very smooth.   Quite a contrast from our run from Bear Drop to Blind River.  As we neared Drummond, Tom took down our Canadian reciprocal flag and the Ontario flag and replaced them with the yellow quarantine flag.

Beautiful, calm water on the western end of the North Channel

At Drummond Yacht Harbor, the customs' official came to our boat at the dock and we cleared customs with no hassle.  We did not need to go through immigration as we were required to do in Florida.  From Drummond, the run to DeTour, Michigan was only about 6 miles.  We arrived at DeTour to find almost an empty marina.  Come to find out, they were closing on Sunday to begin dredging and 5 million dollars in dock renovations.  DeTour is a Michigan DNR - run harbor.

Lonely Raydiance at DeTour Marina

We had dinner Wednesday evening at a local bar that had wonderful hamburgers.  While there we met Jeff who had come into the harbor after us on a 40 foot sailboat.  He is planning to single-handed sail the Chicago-Mackinac race next summer. Now that is gutsy.  By the time we arrived back at the harbor a few more boats had arrived.

We decided to grill some steaks on Thursday and invited other boats to join us.  The impromptu potluck was delicious with everyone contributing a dish or two.  The other boaters were on sailboats--two from Milwaukee area, Jeff and Richard,  and Ann and John from Traverse City.  Ann was a fourth grade teacher so we naturally talked school.  Jeff is a pilot with Southwest and Richard, retired from IBM, is a flight instructor.  Such interesting people we have met!

Potluck at DeTour
L-R   Tom, Linda, Jeff, Ann and Richard

Friday everyone else left, but we decided to wait until Saturday as we were not in a hurry and the wind/wave report looked much better if we waited.  In the afternoon we took a walk to the ferry dock and watched it load.  It can hold as many as 35 cars and it operates 24 hours a day.  We slightly feel its wake in the marina.  The passage between Drummond Island and DeTour is the main shipping channel from Lake Huron to the locks at Sault Ste. Marie, so freighters and ore boats are a common sight.

DeTour to Drummond Island car ferry

Large ore boat on choppy channel

While at the ferry dock, Tom noticed the Linda Jean tied up next door.  Since my name is Linda Jeanne, I had to take a picture of it!

This carving called the Passage Keeper is across the street from the marina.  I asked a shopkeeper in town about it and she told me it had been carved about 5 years ago.  Apparently the old cottonwood tree was a nuisance and the owner of the property had it cut off about 15 feet from the ground.  Then he hired a chainsaw artist to create the statue.  It took about two weeks to carve this. At one time it held a wooden lantern, but that has not been replaced at present.  It is very impressive.

We left DeTour Saturday morning and had a smooth five hour ride to St. Ignace, passing several lighthouses on the way.  All are automated now days,  but I read that you can sign up to stay and be a lighthouse keeper for a few days at the DeTour Reef light.  Anybody interested?  I certainly would not want to be in there during a storm.

DeTour Reef Lighthouse

Lighthouse in Lake Huron

St. Ignace has a very nice marina, and it was quite full over Labor Day.  The Duncan Bay Boat Club from Cheboygan, MI was there in force.  We met several of them Saturday night as we watched a fireworks display over the water. One couple, Charlie and Linda Thomas, were gold loopers, and we enjoyed sharing stories with them. They invited us to their pancake breakfast the next morning and encouraged us to stay at their marina when we get to Cheboygan next summer.

Pancake breakfast with the Duncan Bay Boat Club
Charlie and Linda Thomas, gold loopers

Everything fell into place at St. Ignace.  Pat and Jim, my sister and her husband, were joining us for a week, but didn't want to drive over and have to come back for a car.  So they took a bus from Menominee, MI with a group of people coming to Mackinac to walk the bridge on Labor Day.  The bus made a two hour stop at the marina in St. Ignace to allow the riders to browse a craft fair taking place there.  This worked out great for us as Pat and Jim were bringing several boat parts we had bought by phone and had shipped to their house.  We weren't sure how they were going to manage their luggage and the boxes,  so this stop at the craft fair was just what we needed.  After unloading and packing an overnight backpack each, they headed for the dock next door to catch a ferry to Mackinac Island with the rest of the tour.  We joined them via ferry later that day and spent a few hours touring the island, buying fudge as all good fudgies do, and celebrating Pat's birthday at dinner.  They stayed on the island that night and we took the ferry back to Raydiance.  The next day we all took part in the annual Labor Day Mackinac Bridge Walk.  More on that in the next installment.

Fort Mackinac

The Grand Hotel

A few of the little cottages on the island

Downtown Mackinac Island

A cool turret on a cottage near downtown

Sunset behind the lighthouse off Mackinac Island