It's been a while.

A few weeks of personal matters to tend to put boating way down the list of priorities.  The latest event was tooth implant surgery.  I'm recovering from that "fun" and still in a semi-drugged state.

But now for the good news, we're back at the helm.  Arrived Sunday and took the boat for a 3 mph cruise Monday morning on a nice "fishing chop".

Action was slow, but Kathy was in her "aggressive" fish finding mode at the helm.

Maybe there's a reason we spend more time fishing and less time catching.

Did I say action was slow?  Let me be a little more specific, these are sterile waters it seems.  There was no action.

So as the morning progressed, the tug Zeus passed and was the only commercial traffic of the morning.

We used to see that tug in Ludington quite often.

The afternoon was spent trying to stay cool in the 90° heat and humidity.

Tuesday morning started a little earlier.

No fishing chop today.

As the sun silhouettes the Round Island Light some 5 or 6 miles away...

we make another 3 mph run toward the west...

in a quest for the elusive king salmon...or any other living/swimming creature.

All we found were bugs.  This part of Michigan seems to have two seasons, winter and bugs.  Today's treat was a few midge flies and a billion gnats.

So after the "Intrepid Canada" passed...

I pulled lines and headed back to the marina for "debugging".

According to reports, fishing is slow everywhere.  That's not too unusual for July but I think the salmon fishery in the Great Lakes is in a world of hurt.  There are fish to be caught, but not the numbers of past years.

Time will tell.  Hopefully, August will bring a few fish this direction.  Until then, I'll have to be happy with the boating part of it all.

Time for a swim.

Tuesday was a non-boating day as expected but we had an interesting evening wining and dining with other boaters on the dock.

Wednesday was a different story.  We awoke to calm waters and clear skies once again.

On a last minute decision, I decided to alter our plan and head to a place we had not visited before...Long Point Cove.  It's a secluded little cove a east of Blind River and a 30 minute ride away.

We wound our way through the scattered islands and shoals into the eastern sun.

We arrived to discover what has to be one of the prettiest spots on the planet.  Long Point Cove.

It was here, that we received word of my father's passing.  It somehow seemed like the place to be if we couldn't be with him.  This was certainly a place he would have enjoyed.  Nothing but nature here.

Waters were calm, so with the news, we decided to make the 4 hour cruise back to Mackinaw City.

So this trip ends today.

There will be others.

Day 3 Monday.

The first couple days here haven't gone exactly to plan.  Night #1 was the 4th, so sleeping was out of the question for quite some time.  Night #2 was to be a peaceful evening anchored in a quiet harbor.  It didn't happen quite that way.  About dusk, our anchor broke free in the breeze.  It had held us for several hours but had not been adequately set apparently.  So, we had to go through that whole process when I should have been crawling into the sack.  On top of that, then you don't feel real good about waking up washed up on shore.  So sleep wasn't all that good night #2 either.

The forecast called for increasing wind and storms late Monday so we got up early and didn't waste any time leaving our "secure" anchorage at Harbor Island.

We wound our way through the islands and shoals of Potagannissing Bay...

Finally finding the open water of the North Channel.  Blind River, Ontario was the destination about 40 miles to the east.

The first hour of travel was quite comfortable.  A bit past the halfway point, the waves began to build a little.

I was still able to maintain a good cruise speed near 25 mph since it was a beam sea and didn't pound the boat at all.

By 9:00 am we had arrived at the Blind River marina and secured the boat at a slip on pier B.

This is home for the next day or two while the nasty weather passes.  It's a nice little marina that offers a lot considering the town isn't much of anything.

There's a ship store, laundry, shower rooms, lounge and restaurant all at the head of the docks...It's a bit of a trek to use the restrooms here.  They're in the red roofed buildings in the background.

With the boat all secured, the boat registered with the marina and cleared with Canadian Customs, it was time for me to catch up on two nights of limited sleep.  A two hour nap did the trick...oh, and that was after we walked the mile to the non existent town and back.

After a visit with some of the other boaters here, we cooked some dogs on the grill as the skies to the west got heavier.

It should be awesome sleeping tonight as the boat rocks with the wave surge entering the harbor.

It is a bit on the choppy side outside the harbor.  It was a good decision to make the move early this morning.

Tomorrow is scheduled to be a down day due to weather.  The highlight of the day will likely be a trip to the LCBO to shop for necessities.

Time to catch a few more hours of sleep.  I'm still a little shy of my normal 8 hour sessions.

Until the next time...

Day 2…Sunday

This was the first day on the water.  Today’s plan was to make the open water run across northern Lake Huron and spend the night anchored at the Harbor Island cove.

So after a night filled with explosions...

...we awoke to a perfectly still morning.

There was a VERY hazy sun rising over Shepler’s.

So we did a few things before heading out to let some of the haze burn off.  About 9:00 am, we were headed out the harbor entrance, looking at a calm Lake Huron.

Kathy was busy stowing all our lines from the slip in Mackinaw City (the yacht races will occur while we’re away and there’s no telling what might be left at the slip after that group blows through, so we took all our stuff off the slip).

And we bid Mackinaw City farewell.

Kathy shed a tear or two as we passed Mackinac Island without stopping.

She says we’ll have to make another visit in August.  The August calendar is kind of full so that might be a problem.

We continued along the SE Upper Peninsula coast on a glass calm lake…

…passing the Martin Reef light.  That’s one we haven’t seen before.  I noticed it had the usual flock of resident cormorants lining the base.

We motored up the DeTour channel and stopped in to top off the fuel tanks before we head into Canada.

I can only assume the cost of fuel in Canada will be a dollar or so more than here in the USA.  It always is.

Finished with fueling, we left the DeTour harbor …

…and made a course for our Harbor Island destination located in Potagannissing Bay near Drummond Island.

There were fishing boats everywhere near the little islands.  I’m guessing the cisco run might be on.  That’s a type of whitefish.  I was tempted to give that a try, but the breeze was a bit stiff this afternoon to bother with all the fuss of setting up the inflatable for a couple hour event.

We entered Harbor Island through the natural channel that is maybe 300 yards wide…

…and dropped anchor for the night.

Eventually, a few other boats pulled in for the night.

There were always a few smaller boats in the harbor that pulled in to fish for a while, then left.  Never saw anyone catch a fish.  That entire harbor is a bit shallow and weedy.  There are probably better places to find fish in that area.

As I post this, we are sitting in a slip in Blind River, Ontario.  

More to that story in the next edition.

Stay tuned.

Boat Trip 2015...

So the plan is to do a clockwise lap of the Lake Huron's North Channel from Mackinaw City to a bit east of Killarney, Ontario and back west along Manitoulin Island returning to Mackinaw City in a few weeks...maybe.

We wandered up here Friday morning thinking most of the weekend travelers would escape the city Thursday evening.  Wrong again.  Traffic was very heavy but we arrived at the marina in time for darkening NW skies.

A radar that indicated rain was imminent.

And, sure enough, the skies opened.

Kathy didn't seem too concerned.

Saturday morning was a little nicer.  This is prep day for the cruise.  Unload all the fishing gear and load everything else we own and might use in the next few weeks.  It's a day long process...or at least takes us that long to get done.

At least we had a nice day to get it all done.  The Shepler guys were busy washing the boats.

The rest of the marina was still quiet.

It's a sign of the times.  There used to be a waiting list to get a slip here.  This will be one of the busiest weekends of the season and our pier is perhaps 25% occupied (can handle up to a 32' boat) and the other pier is about 75% full of the larger craft.  The addition of a new state marine next door hurt business here, but that facility is far from being full as well.  This town needs about 1 1/2 marinas for a few weekends in July.

Even "Marina Mike" was at it early this morning.

We usually don't see him much before 9:00 am.  This was about 3 hours ahead of that schedule.  He's the asst. marina manager and was in charge of the city youth games in the park today.  He earned his pay today.

We took a bit of a break mid day and participated in the strawberry ice cream social in the park.

That was put on by a women's club here in the city.  Next to that, the local high school boosters were selling cherry and apple crisp.  We had some of that after dinner.

So the inflatable is loaded and we're all set to head north tomorrow.  Forecast is looking very good for a smooth ride to Harbor Island in Potagannissing Bay off Drummond Island.

Tomorrow the adventure begins.