Season Wrap Up

I'll take some time to fill my audience in on our activities since the July outing.  We actually did a lot of the same stuff with another stay on Mackinac Island because that's where Kathy likes to go, but also squeezed in a couple other things during August.

Kathy's folks came up to celebrate their anniversary...#68 as I recall...Geez, that's a bunch.  Anyway, I decided this year's entertainment was going to be a cruise up the Inland Waterway to Burt Lake and return.

We locked through the Cheboygan Lock and entered the upper Cheboygan River.

It takes a good hour to get through the river and into Mullet Lake where I can exercise my 680 horses after an hour at no wake speed.

Probably 10 miles across the lake then another hour through the Indian River which is a bit more quaint with cottages and boat houses.

It's a scenic trip.  We had a lunch while we drifted in Burt Lake and then made the return trip.  The waterway is something like 42 miles long in its entirety.  We did about 2/3 of that.

So after ditching all the summer visitors, we decided to move the boat up to Mackinaw City for a few weeks and enjoy life on a boat.

So it's down the river and through the US-23 drawbridge.

Passing the USCG cutter Mackinaw, I get a look at glassy calm Lake Huron beyond the breakwall.

These are the kind of conditions that make boating fun.

I won't have to worry about spilling my soda today.  It's smooth as a table top.

All the way to Mackinaw City, although there's a little roll to the lake because of the ferry boats when you get within about 5 miles of the city.

I pull into the city marina and am assigned slip #63.  That's the slip we had when we were seasonal slip holders there in 2019.

This is my picture window view for the next few weeks.

We are entertained with the tourists coming and going aboard the ferry boats daily...and there were thousands this year as the Island had one of their best tourist years ever.

We enjoyed the sights and sounds of the city and had some incredible weather.  Sunrises were always enhanced by the haze from the western fires.

Of course, the bridge is the focal point of Mackinaw City.

At night too.

The week before Labor Day, we had reserved a slip on Mackinac Island and ventured that direction on a bit of a lumpy lake.  I was a little concerned that the wind might make docking a little stressful.  We were assigned slip #74 on the west shore (we had reserved #6 on the east shore) so this was an upgrade for us and a pleasant surprise.  

Docking was no issue.  That boat tracks straight as an arrow in reverse.  Kathy likes to dock stern to shore so that we can keep track of the tourists passing by.

Downtown Mackinac Island was definitely less busy now than it was during our July visit.  Many schools are in session by now so that affects a place like this,

Early morning, you'll find the deliveries being made to the various businesses.  Here a dray delivers groceries to the island's grocery store.  Doud's Grocery is the oldest grocery store in the country. It dates back to 1884.

We did all the usual island activities including a daily ride around the island...or two.

There's always something to see.

The daily hikes always involve a climb of some kind.

This stairway goes to the east bluff for the view of downtown..

Then on to Arch Rock.

and the view up the east side of the island.

Then on to Fort Holmes.  This is the highest point on the island.

Another hike gets us to the West Bluff.

Down the road...

On to the porch of the Grand Hotel.

We went into the lobby and hung out like we were spending the big bucks.

Enough of the good life and it was off down the avenue back to town.

We could have taken a taxi like this one, but this was a hike.

Back in town, the Grand Hotel's carriage passes us.

After 4 days on the island, we headed back to Mackinaw City passing the Round Island lighthouse.

As well as steering clear of a passing lake freighter.

The purpose of returning to Mackinaw City was to be in town for the annual Labor Day Mackinac Bridge Walk...with 20,000 of our closest friends.

That gave the COVID vaccine a test.  

The bridge is closed to vehicle traffic now for the walk.  There is a concern that some idiot will drive into the crowd if vehicles and walkers are on the bridge at the same time.  

You can start at either end and walk half way and turn around, or walk across and wait for the bridge to reopen to get back, or be a "double crosser" and walk across and back.  We went halfway and returned.  Including the walk from the marina, it's probably about 7 miles total for our excursion.

With nasty weather in the forecast, I fired up the motors and headed the boat back toward Cheboygan.

It's about 15 miles and takes an hour to get home by the time it's all said and done.

The drawbridge opens at :15 and :45 past the hour or if you get lucky, it opens anytime for commercial traffic like the Bois Blanc Island car ferry.

Another 1/4 mile and I'm home.

So that was the gist of the season for cruising.  The Last Resort is high and dry now and ready for the winter nap.

Time for some household projects and if we're lucky...Caribbean cruising is back on our schedule in a few months.

July was Busy

It's way past time for an update to the old blog.  

We were busy in July.  After a year of hiding from the pandemic, this was a refreshing change in lifestyle.  

After enjoying the 4th of July festivities in Cheboygan and letting the working world enjoy their holiday, we cruised the 15 miles to the north (actually it's more west from here) to Mackinac Island and set up life in slip #6.

This slip is on the east shore opposite the Island House Hotel.

I usually try to get on the west shore closer to town, but after this stay, I think I like it here better.  The west shore seems to attract the party crowd that we try to avoid.  Blaring rap music doesn't seem to fit the island atmosphere.

We spent the maximum four days (DNR limits the days here) touring the island.  The highway on the east side of the island received a lot of damage during last year's high water.

The state (yes, this is a state highway M-185) is shoring up the road with rocks.  It's a massive job that stretches about three miles.  All the rocks are brought to the island on a barge and then transported to the construction site.

Because of the road construction, we had to detour off the shore road from Silver Birches to British Landing which turned out to be a nice diversion.

The dinghy here at British Landing has been a fixture since our visit in 2005.

In addition to the daily (sometimes semi-daily) bike rides around the island, we had lots of shopping time downtown.

Another day, we ditched the bikes and went on a hike...oh boy!  Of course, everywhere on the island that isn't next to the waterfront is uphill or in this case, up stairs...

...lots of stairs.  But the view from the east bluff is worth the climb.

That's my boat along the shore in the break between the trees.

From the east bluff it's on to Arch Rock.

Some guy just jumped off this thing a few weeks ago.  They scooped up the dead body off the shoreline a couple hundred feet below.

From here, we take the 207 stairs down to the shore road and walk back to the marina as one of the 1000 foot lake freighters pass by.

Another tradition for us is to visit the Grand Hotel.

To keep the riff-raff out of the hotel and preserve the atmosphere for guests, there is a $10 charge to access the hotel for non-guests.  We've figured out how to side step that little obstacle and spend a few minutes enjoying the hotel.

After 5:00 pm the hotel enforces a semi-formal dress code so we have to visit before the witching hour.  I never seem to pack my formal t-shirt on the boat.  

So those were the highlights of our stay on the island.

The next couple weeks included a trip out in the fishing boat to the reef off Bois Blanc Island.  It was the perfect morning as I motored out of Cheboygan harbor.

It takes a calm day for me to venture off shore in the Crestliner.  And calm it was!

I fished for lake trout for a while and hooked a fish but failed to land it.

I did a little research over the island reef looking for warm water fish.  The sonar showed fish but I caught nothing there.

I wasn't too far from the Poe Reef Light and since the lake was like a table top, I went there for the first time.

Another day, I decided to go play on Mullet Lake and launched the boat there.

It presents a bit of a problem having so many options for boating here.  I'll never master any of them.  I set lines hoping to find the rainbow trout in the lake.

It was so calm, the planer boards left a trail of bubbles that stretched as far as I could see them.

The good news is that I did have some luck such as this nice 24" rainbow.

The family camped nearby last week and were invited here to the condo for lunch and a boat ride for anyone that wanted to venture out.

I loaded up the boat and headed for the lake.

After an hour out on the lake, we returned with the dock staff at the ready.

I originally thought that docking in the river current might present a challenge.  As it turns out, the current is a huge asset.  It slows the boat to the point that I can just creep up to the wall and once there, the current helps to push the boat toward the dock posts.  A win-win.

I did a little boat work too.  I discovered the wood base I made for the dash GPS display was not very stable.  I needed a better mouse trap.  I have used a suction cup type product from a company named "Sea Sucker" for several years.  I wondered if I might be able to adapt something to use their system.  

Wonder no more.

I used a Sea Sucker suction mount paired with RAM components to create my new mount.  This thing is rock solid and the best part?  No holes in the dash.

These Sea Sucker mounts are used to attach bicycle racks to cars so they're pretty solid.

The next project completed just today is a new TV antenna on the boat.

I think there was an antenna there at one time, but there was just a cover over the mounting holes when I purchased the boat.  I had to make an angled mount to get the mounting mast vertical.  I've been using a flat household antenna as a poor substitute.  This improved my reception while docked at the condo from 3 to 16 over the air channels.  

So I'm all done on the arch now with trumpet horns, radar, and the TV antenna.

So that's a wrap on the middle third of summer.  More boating is on the calendar for August.  It's nice to be out and about again.

Ta ta for now.