PUT-IN BAY, OH TO BUFFALO, NY 9/10-9/18/2007
ADDED 9/18/07 John forgot something important in his capture of the Metro Beach MI blog. We met two wonderful residents, Sharon and Larry, who welcomed us into their home and allowed us to do laundry, bathe and watch TV. They offered us advise on our trip and gave us books to read. We really appreciated everything that they did for us. We hope to meet them along the way because they are headed to the Bahamas too.

We’ve been without internet for more than a week and therefore, no posts but we’ve been busy. We stayed on a mooring in Put-In Bay for just one evening then motor-sailed to Cleveland, OH on 9/10. Put-In Bay is a port on South Bass Island in Western Lake Erie. This is a great place to party with lots of bars, restaurants and shops. The way to get around this Island is by golf cart. We chose not to though and just ate Lake Erie perch and walleye at a local eatery. There is a whole chain of islands here. I wish we had had more time to explore.

The Admiral Perry monument can be seen from about 16 miles out.

This house was really cool. Talk about running aground!

Cleveland was next. Cleveland has a pretty skyline as you arrive by boat. Dominant features included the Cleveland Browns football stadium, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the Science and Industry Museum that are located together as you enter the main entrance of the huge harbor breakwater.
We stayed at the East 55th Street Marina in Cleveland. We arrived a day AFTER a nearby foundry had polluted the harbor with soot as they were cleaning their smoke stacks. It rained and the soot that should have blown away became black gook that soiled all the boats in the marina. We were there as the lawyers were negotiating payments to boat owners. We could have gotten over $1000 for our boat, but we arrived a day late. We probably could have done without the gook too! East 55th Street Marina is a hoot. There is a small store and restaurant at the marina and we met several interesting people there. We had T-bone steaks one night and several cocktails and the stories just flew. The chef joined us for a steak too… yummy and good price!!
One sailor named Annie gave us lots of good tips for our sailing adventure. What a group.

We also ate at a Caribbean/American restaurant called A Better Place. We had wonderful salads there. Our complements to the chef (who we met)… and to Carla our entertaining server/hostess/bartender. She was great! Hi Carla!

We saw the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame while we were in Cleveland. We, unfortunately, did not allot enough time for the museum and didn’t get to the last floor. The collections of apparel, handwritten song notes, pictures, old billboards, and musical instruments were impressive. There also were audio, video, and movies that were very entertaining and informative. My favorite collection was that of John Lennon…. Including the jacket he wore on the cover of Magical Mystery Tour Album!!!

We stayed 3 nights in Cleveland waiting for weather to change. We actually rented a car and were able to go out for haircuts and grocery shopping. Talk about knowing how to have a good time.

The next stop was Ashtabula, OH where we dropped the hook and stayed overnight. This was an industrial area with non-stop trains loading iron ore. We were happy to have a nice anchorage and cannot complain.

Next up was Erie, PA and Presque Isle State Park. This is the 2nd Presque Isle that we’ve stayed in but this time “Isle” is pronounced as you might expect. The Michigan Presque Isle is pronounced Presque “EEL”. We again stayed 3 nights due to changing weather… a cold front that brought heavy rain, heavy wind, and COLD weather. We anchored here for 3 nights and what a beautiful anchorage it was. We took a couple of nature walks in the park and walked along their beautiful beach. Very romantic!

Monday 9/17 brought us to Buffalo, NY. We were so lucky to have friends here who allowed us to do laundry, cooked us a meal, and carted us around town running errands. Lindsey, Colin, and 11 month old Willard were our wonderful hosts for lasagna, conversation, and a little TV…. in addition to all of the errands. Lindsey actually completed my laundry for me. What a lovely daughter you have Mike and Meg. We are so very grateful for the hospitality. The people we met in Buffalo were all so friendly and helpful. In taking down the sails in preparation for the trip down the Erie Canal, we noticed some seams that were coming apart on the headsail. A friendly slip-mate told us of a canvas repair shop and the fellow at the shop agreed to work on the sails on the same day, as we waited. Too bad about all of the snow because Buffalo really is beautiful and with its friendly people, it could be a great place to live…. But not for us. We’re headed south (actually north to go south) tomorrow. We hope to see Niagara Falls tomorrow too (not by sailboat however, tee hee). The Erie Canal waits!!!

(I cannot tell just how glad I am that we are leaving the Great Lakes behind us. Erie, the lake with the bad rep, actually turned out to be the easiest. We caught good wind here and from the right direction, too. I’d say Michigan kicked our butts. Huron wasn’t too bad but we had lots of fog. The general consensus has been that if you can sail on the lakes, you can sail anywhere. We’ll see.) JM

Well we finally got to leave. Not that we didn’t like this place, it was just that we needed to get going. We left Saturday morning, the 8th. The day before we met a very nice cruising couple (Sharon and Larry) that live right where we had been anchoring. We spent the afternoon sitting on couches and watching a TV! They gave us lots of advice for our trip and even let us do laundry. Living on a boat makes you miss some of the things we took for granted before. Sharon even offered to take Mary to the beauty shop on Saturday but we needed to leave while the weather was good.

While going south on Lake St. Clair we saw this freighter. We couldn’t figure out what the black speck was behind him. I joked that he was towing a dinghy. It turned out it was two fisherman in a small boat taking advantage of the smooth wake behind the freighter.

Our trip out the channel was uneventful although tense. The Detroit River was an interesting collection of sights. Lots of marinas, downtown development and lots of industry.

We passed, Belle Isle, the site of the Detroit Grand Prix that was held over Labor Day weekend. Freighter traffic was fun. They looked like they took up the whole river. I gave them lots of room.

We anchored near the mouth of the river. Not too bad but nothing like Metro Park.

We headed out Sunday morning for Put-In Bay. The flies were awful! Only someone who has sailed knows what we’re talking about. Thousands of fly lives were sacrificed. We got there early afternoon and had a great meal of Lake Erie perch and walleye. Goliath also got a long awaited run in the park.

This is Metro Beach:
We’ve been here since Saturday afternoon on Labor Day weekend and will be here till we get our parts. This weekend it was crazy! Power boats everywhere. I have never seen so many boats in one spot.

We’ve gone for some dinghy rides and Mary went swimming. It’s a very dog unfriendly place so Goliath has had to spend most of his time in the boat.

After a nice day (although very rough day out on the lake) we left early to try to make the St. Clair River and Algonac, our first mail pickup since leaving Milwaukee. We were also expecting a replacement chartplotter / radar display from Garmin and an instrument display from B&G.

We made good time to Port Huron and once in the river we were flying! At the river entrance the current gave us a boost to over 11 mph! Well it’s flying in a sailboat!

We settled down to a steady 10+ for the rest of the trip. We had been in contact with Algonac Harbour Club off and on for a week. We called when we realized that we could get there in a reasonable time. They had no slips! No place to anchor and now no place to park to get our stuff. We finally got them to concede they had a space for Friday night but had to be out by 11 am. Up until this point we had been pleased to find helpful, friendly and courteous people everywhere. It seems the closer you get to “civilzation” the more uncivilized the people are. There were no packages (not their fault) but they could have cared less about our situation of having no where to go.

We parked for the night in the mud (they had reassured me that there was plenty of water depth, there wasn’t). We got our mail the next day and left for Lake St. Clair.

We picked Metro Beach as the only option since it had a large area to anchor. The approach was very shallow and instructions on how to get in were not real clear. We’ll we were off by a few degrees and we were grounded on the sand bar. A call to TowBoatUS and we were off in less than an hour. I gotta say that towing insurance is the best deal out there. One hour labor at $154 plus a $12 per foot ungrounding charge amounted to a $634 total bill paid by BoatUS. Total premium for the year, $120!

They got us straightened out and off we went to the anchorage.

I’ve got to put Harbor Beach in this blog, not because it’s the most beautiful marina (it’s not) or most beautiful city (it’s very nice) but because the people here are so NICE!

Everywhere you go (except maybe The Hunters Bar, they told me to go there only if I wanted a fight) everyone was so friendly and helpful. Our new best friend, Dickson, drove us around to find a gas tank for the dink and then took us to town. We stopped in the shops and stores and met friendly smiles consistently. Our lunch at Smalley’s was great and a phone call or two back to the marina (the guy was out mowing the lawn) got us a ride back.

We’re in Lake Huron. On 8/23 we motored from Mackinac Island to Hammond Bay Harbor in the midst of thick fog. The GPS and radar helped tremendously with navigation. Another sailboat and a tanker, who had seen us on radar, each hailed us by VHF. Everyone was looking out for one another but it sure was unnerving to hear the tanker’s horn as it approached us and then passed and be unable to see it. We stayed the night anchored at Hammond Bay Harbor which is just a small harbor of refuge.
It was not much to look at but was a welcome sight in the fog. Michigan maintains a very nice system of state owned docks to help the weary sailor. Some are beautiful full service marinas in active ports and others are just these refuge spots behind breakwaters. The slip fees are $1 per foot which is as cheap as you’ll see anywhere.

The fog cleared in Hammond Bay Harbor, so we started out for Presque Isle on 8/24. Unfortunately not more than an hour later the fog returned and we spent the second day in fog.
We had a heck of a time finding the channel into the Presque Isle Marina because of the fog. Presque Isle Marina is in a beautiful forest setting.
The harbor is hidden back in a corner of a lovely bay. There is a lighthouse that welcomes you to the entrance of the bay. We tried to take a picture of it sticking out of the fog, but the picture did not do the subject justice. There was a steady rain, fog and it was COLD on 8/25 so we stayed a second night. Suddenly we found some projects that seemed more important than sailing in the rain.

Goliath was happy to be back to the grass. We took him for a long walk on a nature trail that leads from the marina to the lighthouse. At the marina is a restaurant called The Portage. This is the home of the Presque Isle Yacht Club. We had a Friday fish dinner (not fried though) and it was excellent. What luck to have an eatery at hand and one that had good food!! There also was a laundry/pizza parlor and a convenience store/deli across the street. I frequented all of these businesses. I used the rainy day to do laundry and type out this verbose blog on their free internet. Life is good.

We motored to Little Manitou Island because there was no wind. Again, what a difference a day makes. Little Manitou is an uninhabited island (other than the Federal ranger who is the caretaker) that allows only primitive camping. It is a beautiful setting with an endangered sandpiper in residence. Sorry Dori, I forgot the name of the bird.
As we arrived we encountered some Milwaukee neighbors, the Odyssey (a very nice traditional motor yacht) and the Denis Sullivan. The Sullivan is the “tall” ship that sails out of Milwaukee (3 masted schooner). It kind of looked like a pirate ship at a deserted island…Oh except for the other boats. Unfortunately, before I could get a picture, it departed. This anchorage made us realize that we had not heard a siren blasting since we left Milwaukee and its non-stop police chases.

We only stayed over night in Little Manitou before sailing/motoring to Harbor Springs. We never even left the boat. The passage to Harbor Springs started out fine but ended up being a long haul because of the east winds on our nose. We were slowed to a sail’s pace. As we neared Harbor Springs, we encountered a small fishing boat in distress. They had run out of fuel and were drifting out into Lake Michigan. They flagged us down and we called in a distress “Pan, Pan, Pan” over the VHF. A friend of theirs heard the call and came out in a powerboat and towed them back. It was quite difficult for the powerboat to make headway with the tow. The captain of the powerboat kept the two fishermen in their little 14-foot boat for the trip back and they weren’t even wearing life jackets. Having followed the progress of a similar fishing boat that submerged outside of Frankfort, we seemed to be more concerned for their safety then they were.

Harbor Springs is a beautiful town that caters to the rich and famous (or so we think). The shops were a bit pricy for our pocket books but we enjoyed ogling the huge powerboats. They even had an independent Hinckley sales office! We were able to find anchorage but it was on the unprotected west shore and there was that dastardly east wind. We initially were at a loss as to where to anchor in this small harbor area but an angel in a Nonsuch sailboat showed up and showed us where to go. We had encountered him out on the Lake when we were helping the fishermen. He was quite a sailor and very kind to help us.
It was a very uncomfortable and rocky two nights of anchorage. We were happy that the anchor held.

On August 21, we motor sailed to Mackinac Island. The east winds had died on 8/21, and the weather channel forecasted moderate winds that would change from Eastern to Southern. Unfortunately, the winds did not cooperate and we again were faced with east winds on the nose. This time we were caught with the sails up when the winds picked up and had a heck of a time getting them down. The anchor came off the roller again as the waves broke over the bow. This time I heard it come off and there was no damage. Of course it meant that John had to go to the bow in the heavy seas to remove the 44-pound anchor and bring it back to the cockpit. We turned the boat around to do this so that the waves were following us and it was more stable. I was behind the wheel keeping the boat pointed in the right direction. I was nervous for John’s safety, but he performed admirably and had no worries himself. John will remedy the anchor situation once we can get somewhere where there are more fabrication services available. We lost the gas can for the dinghy in the maneuvering. Guess we’ll be rowing until we can get the gas can replaced. Again, getting to a place with more services will be necessary to remedy the gas can situation.

Sailing through the Straits of Mackinac was quite an experience and passing under the bridge was a new experience for me but John had done it a year earlier on Scott Fuller’s delivery.
We kept seeing what we thought were cigarette boats with their giant rooster tails but they turned out to be ferries racing back and forth. It was unnerving to see these boats racing by with jets of water at least 20’ high! Well, we were going to steer clear and it seemed like we were going to make it when six ferries raced us to the entrance. John gave way as water and wakes were everywhere. Sheesh!

But enough of the trials and tribulations! Mackinac Island is a paradise. As you may know, there are no motorized vehicles on the island. There are hundreds of bikes for rent and many horse drawn carriages serving as taxis, tour “buses”, and service vehicles. There is a historic fort here from the 1800’s and the marina is just down the hill from it. They played “Taps” at 10 PM and “Reveille” at 9:30 AM. John thought 9:30 was pretty late for a true “Reveille”, but we appreciate it very much because we decided to sleep a bit longer. They also had a nasty habit of blowing off a cannon frequently during the day that caused me to jump each time. There is a troop of Boy Scouts here and they seem to be helping out at the Fort. The troop bugler played “Call to Colors” and “Retreat” this evening as the troop retired the colors. It made John kind of nostalgic about his days as a Scout leader and his son Jordan playing the bugle at camp.

The night we arrived in Mackinac Island, we were exhausted from the bumpy passage, so we ate dinner out at the Yankee Peddler. I had the pot roast that I recommend highly. It reminded me of Mom’s. On the 22nd we took a 4-mile walk partway around the island.
We came across a park with a “putt, putt” golf course that was comprised of beautifully manicured greens rather than the goofy ones we are used to with the Astroturf and funny animals. We didn’t play, but John was impressed by this course. The island homes are beautiful and there are flowers everywhere even with the drought that they’ve had. This is the view from our boat.

The boat slip was 3 1/2 feet above the deck of the boat. This made getting on and off a bit tricky for us. I didn’t look graceful but I was able to catapult myself up there. Goliath was happy to be in a slip so that he could make his trips to the grass for his business. He has been successful in using the deck of the boat as a grass substitute but he doesn’t like it one bit. He’ll tell you more about this, I’m sure.

We plan to leave tomorrow to head south (provided the weather is good). Yes, we are not going to the North Channel. It is late in the year and I fear we’ll be met with worse weather then we have. The marina here on Mackinac Island closes on 9/3/07 that led me to believe that places North would also be closing down. We also met a man that had just had returned from the North Channel that day and he confirmed that things were closing down up there. If we had started our journey earlier it would have made sense. We are a bit disappointed, but we are happy to be able to head south earlier.

P.S. Happy Birthday Bob… he’s 29 again!!

We left Ludington in dead calm seas. What a difference a day makes. We put up the sails briefly halfway through the trip, but there was too little wind and we took them down. By the time we were an hour from Frankfort there was wind and we could have sailed but we could see our destination and it seemed futile. As we entered Frankfort Harbor we heard a distress call to the Coast Guard about a boat that was capsizing out in the Lake. It was a 16-foot Lund that must have taken on water over the sides. We watched as they brought one of the survivors in and were told that another was rescued by helicopter because he was too heavy to load into the boat. We saw the salvage company bring the boat in the next day.

We anchored here with about 10 other sailboats on the first night and we were alone on night two. The winds were strong overnight night one and several boats dragged anchor during the night. There was quite a commotion in the middle of the night while two sailboats untangled themselves. We met a couple from the Portage Lake area of MI, Mike and Ivy. We had lunch with them at the Coho Café and they gave us advise on where to go in the North Channel. They have traveled in the area extensively and also had lived aboard in the early days of their marriage. We found their advice very useful and hope one day to pass along similar advise to another cruising couple. When John dropped them off at their Tartan, Ivy gave us some books and some canned turkey! SPAM canned turkey. I’ve never had canned turkey SPAM, but appreciate the thought and probably will use it up in the North Channel.

This is taken looking north towards town. Marylee sits at anchor to the right.

Frankfort’s downtown area is right across from the anchorage area, so we had access to the library wireless and all of the downtown amenities. We could stay here longer, but the North Channel waits, as does cold weather. We must push on.

P.S> 8/16 is son Will’s 30th birthday. Will was born the day Elvis died. His wife Lindsey said she was going to make him an Elvis suit but I guess it didn’t materialize. Love you Will!

P.S.P.S. We stayed an extra day due to heavy winds. It has been a great day on the beach and exploring the area. We even saw people surfing in Lake Michigan!

A small craft advisory was issued for Lake Michigan on the morning of our departure for Ludington. We had been borrowing internet service so I looked up what the Coast Guard meant by “small craft” and found it to be 33 feet or less. Since we have a 40-foot sailboat, we thought that we’d do OK. Well we were met with chop, rollers, and waves from every imaginable direction with waves to 6 feet or more (they look much bigger in person). It was terrifying for the first two hours and uncomfortable for most of the trip. When we arrived in Ludington we found damage to the hull where the Delta anchor, which came off the roller while we were being banged around, had banged the side of the boat during the trip. We heard a banging noise, but who would investigate in 6 foot seas. We’ll think twice before going out with small craft advisories in effect.

Ludington is a beautiful port known for the car ferry “The Badger”. Our guidebooks did not show any anchorages in Ludington and we needed showers, so we rented a slip at the Ludington Municipal Marina. This was a very inexpensive place to dock with very nice facilities. We were able to use shore electrical power for the first time in two months. We charged all battery powered items and were able to watch a DVD on the computer and not worry about running out of electricity.

I washed the cockpit of the boat while John repaired the hull damage. We decided to leave when we completed our chores because the weather report for 8/16 did not sound too good.

We anchored for two nights in White Lake, MI. This was a beautiful spot to unwind after the hectic departure preparations and the long trip across the lake. John was finally able to relax. Goliath and I already were accustomed to relaxation. We had one meal out while in White Lake, the Dockside Grill.