Michigan's West Coast

We've been in a nice cruising rhythm between staying in marinas and anchoring out - more marinas actually. Having some dinners on board and some out.  We've been underway early so that we can get off the lake before the breeze fills in.  Egret loves the lake and we usually travel at about 20 kts.

After Beaver Island, we headed over to the Michigan mainland and visited Harbor Springs (and took a 20 mile roundtrip bike ride to Petoskey); Charlevoix; Leland; Frankfort; Lake Portage; Pentwater; White Lake; Macatawa Lake, Holland; and Saugatuck.  All the towns on Michigan's west coast are basically resort towns for those who live in Detroit or Chicago.  They were built in the late 19th century and remind us of Edgartown, Nantucket, or Newport.  Fun restaurants, nice shops, and good walks abound.  We got our bikes out a few times for some sightseeing and some exercise which has been fun.  

One of the hotels in Charlevoix has a nice roof deck where we went for a sunset.

 

Charlevoix had some fun houses - The Mushroom Houses.

The prevailing winds in Michigan are out of the west so the shoreline can take quite a beating over the centuries of waves pounding them. Some impressive dunes have been created - the Sleeping Bear Dunes.

 

Taking a break on our bike ride in White Lake.

 

Philly friends in Michigan.  It was great to run into Chip Culp and Lucy Rice in White Lake.

 

Getting ready for the day’s adventure out on the lake. Millie is feeling bolder each day and likes 

to travel in the stern underway.

One of the fun communities that we came across was in Holland, MI.  The historic Ottawa beach -150 cottages are built onto a hillside and there are no roads. but are connected by boardwalks Owners need carts to transport their luggage and food to the house.  Each of the cottages had impressive porches and were pretty close together so I’m sure the neighbors got to know each other well. 

 

You see a bunch of different boats on the loop.  These are our Canadian friends, Bernie and Connie, on Blue Moose.

 

I’m not really sure what you call this.  It seems like a cross between a tea cup that you would see on a Disney ride and a big raft, but it has a little outboard and greeted us on our entrance to Saugatuck.  No, they are not on the Loop, but rather you can rent them for the day in Sagutuck.

Our lifelong friend Jay Wisentaner joined us in Holland for an afternoon and dinner- great fun to catch up.

 

Here's a snapshot of where we've been for the past few weeks.

Reflections on our Canadian experience

And that’s a wrap! 48 days in Canada – from exploring the Canadian 1000 Islands to going through 43 locks on the Trent-Severn Waterway – 3 of which absolutely took our breath away; to trading locks for rocks on the Georgian Bay (and fortunately not hitting any rocks); to exploring the beauty of the islands and the wilderness of the North Channel (saw 2 bears and 2 eagles and fortunately no rattlesnakes); and meeting so many friendly and amazing Canadians and Americans along the way…we will miss Canada. We already do.

 

For some unknown reason, Roger took his camera on the AM dinghy ride with Millie and was greeted by this Bald Eagle.

We look at these past 48 days as “chapters” in our summer experience…. each “chapter” felt very different from one another. The Canadian 1000 Islands offered a very friendly National Park system which included 18 islands where you could tie up to the park dock and stay for several nights – go for a hike on the island, use their facilities, enjoy the company of fellow cruisers, Canadians and Americans. Or you could anchor off those islands and dinghy to shore if you could not find dock space for the mothership. Either way, Millie had a chance to explore the islands and we got a chance to stretch our legs. We could not visit them all so we tended to choose those islands that allowed a generator to be run so we could have cooked meals. And wherever we went, it was so refreshing to swim and paddleboard in the freshwater.

 

After treating ourselves to the “city life” of Kingston, Ontario, we headed for Trenton, Ontario, and began the Trent-Severn Waterway (TSW), a 241 - mile journey, traversing 43 locks. The TSW rises gradually from the level of Lake Ontario to Lake Simcoe at more than 800 feet above sea level and then descends via locks to the level of Georgian Bay. Cruising the TSW is similar to cruising a canal in Europe; it is an intricate system of rivers, lakes, and canals connecting Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay. Quaint picturesque villages dot the countryside and there are dozens of cute little towns to stop and explore. And most evenings we could tie up to a lock wall and spend the night at no cost. At times we felt we were cruising in the front yards of many cottagers as their homes were right on the waterway. It was beautiful but at times quite shallow and skinny, so we both had to be on our “A game” and pilot together. The TSW lockmasters and their staff were so pleasant and fun to chat with as we ascended and then descended in the locks.

Let's go - I'm ready for a dinghy ride!

Millie - making new friends

The Georgian Bay (GB) is an introduction to the “Canadian wilderness”…. It is a large, fairly shallow bay with a rocky bottom off the north end of Lake Huron, 100 miles long by 50 miles wide. It is largely rural, remote, and desolate, with summer cottagers randomly scattered amongst the islands. The northern edge is called “30,000 Islands”, appropriately named; but there are 100,000 rocks just below the surface waiting for the unsuspecting and unlucky boater. Cautious navigation is necessary at all times, whether you travel on an open water passage or on the inside small-craft route - another reason for us both to be on our “A game” whenever we cruised. We stayed on the small-craft route the entire 2 weeks and fortunately had no issues, but we know of several cruisers who had prop casualties. We spent 11 nights on anchor, enjoying the pink granite coastline surrounded by pine trees.

 

Lighthouse at Snug Harbor, Georgian Bay

The North Channel was probably our favorite. It is even more rugged in appearance than the Georgian Bay, and there are fewer cottages. Passages are wider than on the small craft route through the GB, the islands are generally larger and there is more open water to cover. And there is no “small craft route” as in the 30,000 Islands so again, you need to be on your “A game.” It is a cruising ground that you will never tire of where eagles soar the skies and bears can be seen at the water’s edge. We found ourselves enjoying a multitude of anchorages and only went to a marina when we needed to provision.

Sad moment - taking down the Canadian courtesy flag 

So, farewell to Canada - It is now time to explore Lake Michigan and all the quaint towns along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.

Lake Michigan 101

Wait - my cell phone has 4 bars of 5G - what's 5G - haven't seen that in months! My Verizon hotspot actually works. I can navigate around our own blog - amazing! The buoys seem to be a little bigger. We must be back in the US.  In fact, we are.  As much as we enjoyed Canada, it's been nice to be back in the US.  We missed some of the comforts of home.  Clearing customs was easy.  We had the ROAM app loaded with our passports, vax cards, and all of our boat identification information.  While we were underway toward De Tour (pronounced detour), we activated the app and were told to wait for a video conference or approval.  We got the approval and we were all set.  Some of our friends had been given a hard time so we were relieved to get the go-ahead.  

After a stop at De Tour, we went to St. Ignace (pronounced Ig-neese - yes there's a theme here).  We jumped on the ferry in St. Ignace to visit Mackinac Island(pronounced Mack-in-aw). We originally planned to take Egret to Mackinac Island but we were running ahead of schedule and on the day we passed the island we couldn't get a slip.  Mackinac was very touristy but well worth the ferry ride over.  We took our bikes and, fortunately, we were given a wonderful bike route by our friends Brad and Susan that was off the beaten track and took us through some nice neighborhoods and fun tourist stops.

Arch Rock, Mackinac Island, MI

Just being tourists at the Arch

Mackinac Straights

Some of the houses from the Mac Is bike ride.

Chrisy insisted on a glass of wine on the world's longest porch of the Mackinac Island Grand Hotel 

and it did not disappoint.

No cars on Mac Is. just horse and carriage

After St. Ignace we headed to Beaver Island (mercifully pronounced Beaver Island).  We are the types that need to learn from experience. We can't read about it and learn. We can't listen to it and learn. No. We need to experience it.  We had read and heard that Lake Michigan can be insanely rough.  Fresh water is less dense than salt water and consequently gets a steeper and shorter period of chop than salt water.  It also builds up quicker. And weather changes quickly on the lake.  All that is to say that after getting a nice forecast, we started off having a smooth ride to Beaver Island and then the weather changed, the wind filled to about 15 knots and we got the snot kicked out of us.  What does that look like exactly?  Well, let's just say that there were plates, utensils, avocados, and bananas flying in the galley.  Millie was not a happy camper and her poor little heart was pounding for quite a while. Oh, and we also got a late start which is a no-no on the lake. Misery loves company and there were at least six other Looper boats out in the same conditions.  We have learned from our experience and that will not happen again. 

 

On our first night on Beaver Island, we were treated to dinner at David Kasievich and Andrew Kellner and their son Kayden's home. Tyler and Shelby were also visiting.  A special evening, Thanks. They have a beautiful home on the western side of Beaver Island, right on the water.

North Channel Highlights

We departed Little Current on Thursday 8/4 after a two-night stay.  Little Current provided us with an opportunity to get in a nice bike ride, two delicious dinners out at the famous Anchor Inn, a huge grocery provisioning, and plenty of walks for Millie. 

Quick Millie Update: She’s doing great! She enjoys her time in the marinas where she can get multiple walks each day, and she seems to enjoy her time on anchor as well. We’ve started to give her a little freedom when we hit the shore with the dinghy – just letting her run off-leash. She’s been doing great with it and comes back to the dinghy – pretty well.   She particularly enjoyed romping around on the Benjamin Islands.  There were huge rocks that provided her with lots of space to run back and forth between us. 

 

 

The Benjamins are a small cluster of islands just outside of Little Current.  We received multiple recommendations to anchor there so it was high on the list.  We were anticipating a little weather coming through so Chrisy made the astute recommendation to anchor in the less popular and smaller anchorage off the southern Benjamin Islands as it provided better protection from the anticipated wind shift to the northeast. The Benjamins did not disappoint.  Our anchorage was small by Canadian standards and there were several boats ahead of us so we needed to select our spot carefully.  Once we were settled we took a hike to try to reach the anchorage on the east side and meet up with fellow Back Cove owners, Brad and Susan, on Northern Light.  A deep ravine got in the way and we were only able to yell back and forth to each other from our cliffs.  Fortunately, they were able to dinghy over to us. 

 

We dinghied over to the small, southern-most Benjamin Island before our departure on Friday and it provided one of those “pinch me am I really here?” moments.  We climbed the massive rocks and had spectacular views of the North Channel.

Our anchorage in South Benjamins

The girls enjoying the views

 

As we speak with Canadian cruisers who are in these waters every summer, we have been told numerous stories of people doing the Loop and bringing their boats back to either Michigan or Canada so they can cruise these waters again and again.  Without exaggeration, these are the nicest cruising grounds we have ever been to.  Maine is a special place to cruise with amazing harbors, wildlife, and quaint towns.  We love our home waters of Narragansett Bay along with Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, and Block Island, but it’s pretty tough to beat the Georgian Bay and the North Channel.  The scenery is amazing, the towns are fun, we are swimming in seventy-degree fresh water and there’s hardly anyone up here. 

 

We left the Benjamins Friday 8/5 and went to Hotham Island.  The cruising guides told us about a small anchorage, well up a narrow bay where there was one house on the shore and the owners invite you up to their porch for cocktails every day.  Who would do that – every day? We had to go. What a nice couple, Norm and Elaine.  Elaine kayaked over to Egret in the early afternoon and gave us the ground rules – 4:30 pm, no dogs – Millie had already made her presence known, and no food – just drinks – that’s fine with us. There were three other boats in the harbor and everyone came.  Norm regaled us with stories of how the house was built – it’s completely off the grid, generator, solar power, septic tank, and freshwater filtration from the lake.  Elaine handled all the introductions, took all the pictures, and supplemented the stories.  Great fun and one of those moments that you only get cruising. Incidentally, we were the “newbies” at the gathering – the other 3 boats had already met Elaine and Norm over the years and always return to Hotham Island when they are in the North Channel to say hello.

 

Norm and Elain on their proch

Our weather has been a steady rhythm of two or three days of spectacular sunshine followed by a day or two of a cold front and rain.  Departing Hotham, we were looking for sanctuary from the approaching cold front.  For some of the cold fronts we have jumped into marinas, but for this one, we decided to head to a protected anchorage on John Island.  There’s great holding, plenty of swinging room, and the nearest boat is several hundred yards away.  We stayed here for two nights – saw a bear walking the shoreline at dusk and an eagle in the morning – and met 2 fellow cruisers as they dinghied by us in the anchorage.

 

Our time in Canada is drawing to a close, and we are beginning to schedule our return.  If you couldn’t tell from this and previous posts, we will miss Canada.  After two years of closure due to COVID, the Canadians are particularly happy to welcome us back.  The cruising from the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence to the North Channel has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  Again, we will miss Canada – and the many nice Canadians we have met along the way.     

Chrisy rocking the paddleboard.

Millie after a hard day.

Our neighbor prowling the shore.