Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Last night we had a dandy storm.  First the lightning started.  The entire sky was lit up by the lightning longer than it was dark in between lightning flashes.  I have never seen anything like it.  Then the wind started blowing and rocking us even in this wonderfully protected harbor.  Then the rain began falling.  It sounded like hail hitting the boat.  It didn't last very long, but it was quite a show.  This morning the sun was out, but the temperature was considerably cooler than yesterday. 

John and I walked into town for yet another look around.  We stopped in a bar for a drink and enjoyed the locals for awhile.  This is a nice, small town. On the way back, we watched a large sailboat being launched at the ramp.  It took awhile for the guys to step up the mast and then the semi backed the trailer into the water.  The cool thing was that the trailer was attached to the semi by a cable so that the trailer and the boat were backed into the water, but the semi stayed up on dry concrete.  It was pretty cool to watch. 

We spent the rest of the day getting things ready to make the trip home.  We'll see you all soon.

Sunday, July 30, 2012

We visited the marina office this morning to inquire about a weekly or monthly rate.  They have a weekly rate plus 2 days free when you pay for 5 days.  So, we decided to leave the boat here for a couple of weeks and make a trip home.  We thought that was the hard part, but finding a rental car and / or a taxi cab in this small town was decidedly more difficult.  We did work it out though.  We will be home soon to see you all. 

Today I also found a hair salon and managed to get an appointment for a haircut.  Finally!!  After my haircut, John and I went out for dinner.  So, it's been a great day. 

Sunday, July 29, 2012

After speaking with our boat neighbors last night, we decided to cross Lake Michigan today and head for Port Washington, Wisconsin.  The forecast was for less than one foot seas in the morning, building to one to two foot waves this afternoon.  It's warmer today than the last few days.  The seas were flat as we started out this morning, but by 10:30, we had two to three foot seas.  The waves were coming at us which is better than hitting us on the side, so we kept going.  We left this morning at 6:55 A.M. and arrived at Port Washington Marina at 3:30 this afternoon.  Our new boat friends passed us about 11:00, but they had left Snug Harbor at 9:00.  I'm jealous!

Once we arrived here, we immediately met our new boat neighbors.  They caught our lines for us as we docked.  They invited us for dinner, but our dinner was already in the works, plus we had not eaten anything all day and were very hungry.  This harbor appears to be fairly new and very well protected.  It's good to be across Lake Michigan because we are hoping to go home for a grandchildren fix in the not so distant future.  It's going to be an early night tonight.  John and I are both pretty tired. Until tomorrow.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

This picture was taken early this morning before the haze burned off.

Today was the perfect cruising day!  We left Frankfurt this morning at 7:00 A.M.  The weather was sunny, light breeze, and less than 2 feet waves coming from behind us.  We cruised 67.5 miles and ended up in Pentwater, Michigan.  We had intended to anchor out in one of two bays on Pentwater Lake.  After four attempts and using two different style anchors, we gave up and got a slip at Snug Harbor.  Our boat neighbors are very friendly.  The one man used to live in Cincinnati, in Fairfield.  Small world, huh?  They invited us to Happy Hour with them and their friends.  We enjoyed talking with them all.  They are from Illinois and leaving to go home in the morning.

Friday, July 27, 2012

So, after waiting at North Port, MI for three days, we got on our way this morning.  It was cool, breezy, cloudy, and the seas were as predicted - less than 2 feet high.  We cruised 68 miles today and arrived at the Frankfurt Municipal Marina in Frankfurt, MI at 2:30 P.M.  It rained from about 10:30 until 3:00.  The rain wasn't so bad though.  It was steady, not driving.  We didn't have any issues with visibility.  We had called around 9:00 this morning to reserve a slip here and it was a good thing.  We got the very last slip at the far end of the harbor. 

I have been trying to get a haircut for about a month.  The first challenge is that it has to be close enough to walk.  Every town we have been in lately have one salon and they have been booked for the coming week.  We don't want to stay a whole week just to get a haircut.  It's driving me crazy!  Maybe the next town.  If not, I may have to wait until we come home to visit for a week.  Eventually, it will happen. 

Here a few pictures taken today in the rain.  They aren't beautiful, but it's all I could get today.

Sand dunes at Sleeping Bear National Park. 

 Even the water looks gray.

Sand dunes at Sleeping Bear National Park.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

We are still in a holding pattern.  We woke up this morning to fog, 2 to 4 foot waves, and off and on rain.   So, we opted to stay another day in North Port. It was a good day to lay low.  We really didn't do much today.  We walked a little once the rain quit.  We are hoping to move on tomorrow.  Maybe I shouldn't say that out loud.  I certainly don't want to jinx us. 

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

This morning we opted to stay put.  The weather forecast was for 15 mph winds and showers and thunderstorms.  This time they knew what they were talking about.  It rained most of the day.  We got some chores done and I spent a few hours sewing.  That's always a good way to spend time in my book.  We walked around the harbor and met some of the other boaters.  We enjoy hearing their stories.  It's easy to strike up a conversation with other boaters since we know already that we have something in common. 

Tomorrow morning we hope to be able to move along.  It all depends on the weather.  Until tomorrow....

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

This morning began like so many others.  We got up early and hoisted our anchor up.  The bridge that opens on the hour and half hour was still a few minutes away when it started closing.  John figured the bridge tender could not see us because of a stand of trees.  So, he gave one long and one short blast on the horn like the chart book says, and the bridge stopped closing and opened up the rest of the way.  Everything was fine until we got out to the open water.  The waves were supposed to be 2 to 3 feet high, but in reality they were 4 to 5 feet high.  We cruised about an hour and a half and turned into the Grand Traverse Bay where we found an available slip at North Port Municipal Marina.  We are happy that we made this decision.  The town is right at the end of the parking lot.  There is a post office, a library, a grocery store, a hardware store, a couple of restaurants, a couple f gift shops, and a shop with fabrics.  The only disappointing thing is that there is only one hair salon and they are booked until next week.  I have been trying to get a haircut for some time now.  I go around wearing a hat which I don't usually do because I look so shaggy.

The Depot 

Monday, July 23, 2012

We got up early this morning, intending to move on down Lake Michigan.  However, John went online to get the weather report and it called for high winds and 4 to 5 foot waves.  There was a small craft advisory as well.  Therefore, we opted to stay put.  When it got warm enough this afternoon, we jumped off the back of the boat and swam again.  The water is so clear, you can even see your feet in the water.  The weather is supposed to be better tomorrow.  We will check again in the morning before we motor on our way.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Today was the perfect cruising day!  The temperature was 79 degrees.  The sun was out and there was very little wind.  The water was dead calm.  It doesn't get better than that.  We fueled up at the marina before we left.  The price was $3.899 a gallon.  That's the best we have seen for awhile.  We got to the Highway 31 bridge across Pine River and missed the opening of the bridge by about 3 minutes.  So, we tied to a wall and waited for 30 minutes until the next opening.  We are currently anchored out in Oyster Bay which is in Lake Charlevoix.  The water is so clear.  We went swimming off the back of the boat and cooled off a bit.  There are so many other boats anchored here as well.   After 8:00, there weren't nearly as many boats anchored here. 

 Last look at Mackinac Bridge

These two pictures are of the boats anchored out near us in Oyster Bay on Lake Charlevoix.

Isn't she a lovely old boat?

Saturday, July 21, 2012

We are hanging out at The Straits Marina which is run by the state of Michigan DNR.  Today started out rainy, but it cleared up and proceeded to get pretty windy.  We are so glad we decided to stay until tomorrow.  Tonight there is a concert in the park right next to the marina at 8:00 which we are planning on attending.  I spent a good part of the day cleaning.  It had to be done and I'm glad it's finished, but it wasn't fun.  There is a big group here from another marina for the weekend.  They are having a blast partying up in the covered picnic areas. 

John fixed a couple of small items today and scrubbed on the boat after the rain stopped.  I think we should be ready to leave in the morning. 

The flowes are so pretty.

This bell tower is in the park where the concert is going to be.

 This statue is of Edgar Clayton whom the park is named after.

 "Haunted" house in downtown Mackinaw.  There are plenty of things for children to do.  It made us miss our grandchildren even more.



This liitle girl reminded us so much of one of our grandchildren.  Can you guess which one?

Friday, July 20. 2012

We stayed at Drummond Island Yacht Haven for two nights because the weather forecast was for 15 to 20 mph winds and 60% chance of rain.  We were glad that we stayed.  In the afternoon yesterday, another Jefferson boat came into the harbor.  We went over to visit with them (Jeff and Terry).  We ended up staying until 10:30.  Jeff gave us a tour of his boat (1986, 52 foot Jefferson  Monticello) named "Broke-r".  It was interesting to see the similarities and the differences between his boat and ours.  In the end, we sold him a few of the charts that we will no longer need.  We had a good time shooting the breeze with Jeff and Terry.

Sunset at Drummond Island Yacht Haven.

Today we left bright and early, heading for Mackinaw City.  We are docked at The Straits which is a marina owned and ran by the State of Michigan.  This marina is only about 2 years old.  The best part about being here is that we can walk into town.  This city is definitely a tourist town.  There are so many fudge shops, popcorn shops, a couple of wine shops, many restaurants, and many gift shops.  We walked to the shopping area called The Crossing where there is an outdoor amphitheater where a band called "Toast and Jam" was playing.  We found a table and enjoyed a couple of drinks while listening to the oldies music the two person band performed.  It was quite enjoyable.  At dinner time, we strolled down the street to a bar called The Keyhole Bar and Grille.  The food was good and the bar was comfortable.  We bought some ice cream and some bags of popcorn, but did manage to resist the fudge.  We have paid for two nights, so we won't be leaving until at least Sunday.

 Lighthouse between Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island

 Mackinac Bridge

One of the many ferries in the area

 This picture is for you, Kate.

John and Carol listening to the band.

I am going to try to upload the video of the Big Chute again.  Here goes...

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Yesterday morning we left Little Current after fueling up and getting pumped out.  So, we are good to go.  (ha ha).  We cruised along the North Channel for 6 hours and ended up anchored behind Vidal Island.  We thought we were there alone, but when our anchor decided to drag at 10:30 P.M. and we moved into a better position because of a shift in wind, we found that there was also a sailboat in the bay with us.  During the night, the wind picked up and we bobbed around pretty good.  John was up from 1:00 on.  I got up around 2:00 and took my turn watching the GPS to make sure we weren't going anywhere.  We were fine, but not comfortable without keeping watch.

This morning, we left early and headed out with no particular destination in mind.  We cruised along looking at the beautiful scenery.  When we decided about how long we wanted to cruise, since we were both tired from lack of sleep last night, we started calling marinas.  We needed to find a place where we could check in with Customs and where they had room for us for the night.  We called Mackinac Island Marina, Mackinaw City Marina, De Tours Marina, and Drummond Island Yacht Haven.  We ended up at Drummond Island Yacht Haven.  The Customs official visited our boat and we were checked in 20 minutes after arriving.  We had a nice day on the water, stopping at 1:45.  We enjoyed our time in Canada, meeting a lot of really nice folks, but it's nice to be back in the States again too.

Scenery while cruising.  I love my life!!!



Monday, July 16, 2012

We enjoyed our time at Sportsman's Inn.  Everywhere we've been in Ontario has Kawartha ice cream.  My favorite flavor is Black Raspberry Thunder, but my second favorite flavor is Tiger Tail.  It is orange ice cream mixed with licorice ice cream.  It sounds disgusting, but I really like it.  I had a cup of it yesterday at Sportsman's Inn on the front porch of the Inn while using the Internet.  John and I were both very comfortable sitting there computing and sipping an adult beverage.  We left there this morning around 9:00, heading for Little Current.

I was particularly looking forward to going to Little Current because when I as about 13, my Grandma and Grandpa took me and my brother Mark on vacation to Little Current.  I was very curious to see if anything would look familiar to me after all of these years.  Well, the main street looked a little familiar, but that was all.  There is a 1500 foot wall that the city operates with electric and water.  We are staying here tonight.  If it's raining in the morning, we will stay another night.  If not, we will move on again.  We only have about 2 more cruising days until we are back in the USA.  In 3 travel days, we should be at "Markinaw".  As some of you may know, my brother really likes Mackinaw, so much so that our brothers and brothers-in-law call it "Markinaw".  Once we find a place where we are comfortable leaving the boat for a brief time, we plan on making a run home to get our fix of children and grandchildren.  We are missing all of the hugs and kisses.

 Sportsman's Inn from our slip.  We were acrosst the water and they would send a water taxi over to get you whenever you wanted.

Water Street in Little Current. 

A gazebo made out of rocks along the shore of Little Current. 

Our boat docked along the wall.  That's Captain John climbing aboard.

Sunday, July15, 2012

We left Parry Sound on Saturday morning.  John had to get out the chart plotting kit to figure out exactly where we were supposed to go.  (Thanks, Sue).  The weather report was calling for scattered thunder storms last night and today.  After cruising about 60 miles, we set our anchor in a nice big bay called Sandy Bay.  There was one other boat anchored in the bay.  Fortunately, the rain stayed away.

This morning we pulled up anchor and moved along.  We had a 17 mile section that was unprotected to run today.  John had to use the chart plotting tools again.  We have the charts, but the GPS doesn't have the buoys marked on it.  So, to plot the course, John used what he learned in Captain's School.  This area is gorgeous.  We stopped today in Killarney at The Sportsman's Inn and Marina. where they have Internet service.  Yea!!  This marina and the town are both so quaint.  John thinks they look like a Norman Rockwell painting. 

This channel is so narrow.  Can you see how close the buoys are? 

I think this is the rock called the Crabby Indian. 

The rocks are so pretty.

Rocks everywhere!

Friday, July 13, 2012

On Tuesday, we moved along the Trent-Severn Waterway with our ultimate destination being The Big Chute.  We arrived there around 2:30 and we were the only boat wanting to go through.  John had originally wanted to watch a few boats go through before we actually took the plunge.  However, the lock master called us on his loudspeaker and said, "Come on, Captain. Give the tourists a thrill."  So, we proceeded onto the "railroad car".  It was the easiest lock of all.  All John had to do was drive the boat onto the spot the lock master told him.  That was it.  Straps tightened around the boat and very shortly after that we began moving.  It was like being on an amusement ride, only in slow motion.  What a thrill.  When we reached the highest point, there was a couple standing on the observation tower about equal in height with us. The woman called me by name.  I had no idea who she was.  Later, as we were docking on the low side of the dam, they were there to catch our lines.  They visited with us on the back of our boat and we came to find out that they read our blog and knew we were in the area and watched for us (among others whose blogs they read).  They seemed really nice.

Thursday morning early we left the Big Chute and headed to the final lock on the Trent-Severn Waterway.  We didn't have as far to go as we thought, and so we had to wait an hour for the lock at Port Severn.  After that we were in the Georgian Bay.  It is as beautiful as everyone told us it would be.  However, so far it is stressful because of all of the rock.  You HAVE to stay in the channel and there were times we had to stop and figure out exactly where the channel went.  We arrived in Parry Sound Thursday around 4:00.  We opted to stay at least 2 nights because we needed to grocery shop. (I don't think the fact that it is Friday the 13th had anything to do with that decision, but who knows?) The Sobey's Grocery sent a shuttle to the pier to pick me up to go to the store.  That was really nice.

Tonight there is a concert here at the pier.  Everything is wonderful!  Hope all is well with all of you! Also, I have many pictures and a movie to upload, but we don't have Internet service.  I am at the library and I can't get to my pictures.  As soon as I can blog from my computer, I will put them on.

The water here is 12 feet deep and sooo clear. 

Can you make out the narrow channel?

 

The next few pictures were taken from our boat while in the "railroad car" in the Big Chute.

Two of the Indian stone people. They are called inukshuk.

The old "railroad car" and track which they no longer use.

Monday, July 9, 2012

On Friday, with our guests still on board, we went through several locks, including the Peterborough Lift Lock.  That was especially fun since none of us had ever been in a Lift Lock before.  The ride up was smooth, unlike other locks we have experienced where the water is very turbulent.  The Peterborough Lock is fast as well.  It took us up to the water level on the other side.

After we arrived at Burleigh Falls and tied up to the wall, we drank a toast.  We all got cooled off in the water and then they took their belongings and left, Ed and Kyle to go back to the lake and Mike and Linda to go home.  It was sad to see them go.  We thoroughly enjoyed spending the last 6 days with them.

The next morning it was raining, and so we opted to stay at Burleigh Falls another night.  John went up to pay late in the afternoon, and found out that this wall has a one night only policy.  Since it wasn't terribly crowded, he let us stay another night. 

We were warned not to cruise on the weekends and not to enter a lock with a rental houseboat.  Both of those tidbits were good advice.  On Sunday, we cruised along because we had to leave the wall at Burleigh Falls.  When we got to Buckhorn, it was a zoo.  The walls were full, including the blue line where you wait for the lock.  There were about a half dozen or so boats floating around trying to stay out of the way until the lock was ready.  The big "Kawartha Spirit" came out of the lock and there was very little space to get out of his way.  He was honking at the boats like us that were waiting to either move to the blue line or get in the lock.  It all worked out, but it made both of us uncomfortable.  We stopped for the night at Rosedale.  We had made a reservation at the Rosedale Marina the day before.  We called them when we were in the lock to let them know we were close.  It was around 3:30 in the afternoon.  The man who answered the phone said we couldn't come in until after 6:30, because he couldn't have his fuel dock blocked.  The man on the phone when we made the reservation said to arrive before 7:00 because they close at 7:00 and we needed the keys to the facilities.  This did not make us happy campers.  We managed to squeeze in on the lock wall for the night.  The "Kawartha Voyageur" locked through just before closing time for the lock and tied up to the blue line for the night.  A few people walked over and we visited for awhile.  They said the boat has 39 staterooms and 38 of them were booked.  I thought that was pretty good. 

This morning, we did the second Lift Lock at Kirkfield.  This is the first lock in the Trent-Severn that we rode from high to low.  It looked kind of scary like you were hanging out over a big drop off.  John is not crazy about heights, so he stayed in the middle of the lock instead of going all the way to the front.  We were in the lock by ourselves. So, the rest of the Trent-Severn locks will be from high to low water and from Kirkfield on. the red and green buoys are on the opposite sides from when we started the canal system.

This is the Peterborough Lift Lock. 

This is the wall in front of us as we entered the lock. 

Lots of granite and islands to scoot around. 

 Church built on a rock.

 The crew (minus the picture taker).

Two of the crew (Mike and Kyle)

 It cracks me up that so many of the lock operations are manual.

 "Kawartha Voyageur" with her bow folded up so she can fit in the lock.

Kawartha Logger Pub and Restaurant.  We tried to go there for dinner, but it is out of business.   We were told the reason is that  the owner hired someone to kill his wife and is in jail.  

 "Kawartha Voyageur" again.  

The Trent Canal is so skinny that the guidebook tells you to get on the radio and anounce your name, size, position, and direction because it would not be pretty to try to pass another boat of any size in the canal.

 Not only is the Trent Canal skinny, but it is shallow as well.

Another skinny picture.  The water is so still.

 Kirkfield Lift Lock.  This is when we were almost all the way down, but you can see how wierd it is to look out from the "pan".

This bridge is on the Trent Canal.  The big "Kawartha Voyageur" fits through this opening.  I can't even imagine that.  It must only have an inch on each side and I can't see the top of the boat going through that skinny arch.