Drone Shot of Harbor Springs Marina

                           

8/24-8/25 
     We traveled about 55 miles across the Mackinac Straights and we are officially in Lake Michigan.  It was a very nice day and the lake was calm.  We are staying in Harbor Springs, a very charming town with gorgeous houses and beautiful flowers.  Karl took this drone shot and it shows how clear the water is.  We have enjoyed these few days. 

View of Mackinac  Bridge,, a 5 mile suspension bridge

Great Drone shot of Mackinac Island

                                                Great Drone shot of Mackinac Island

 

                       

Fun days in Mackinac Island

We have visitors from Tallahassee!  Mary Jean and David!

8/20-8/23

     We are now in Mackinac Island, a short boat/ferry ride from Mackinaw City.  The difference in the spelling is deliberate, in that the French settlers named it Mackinac Island, but both are pronounced Mackinaw.  We are excited to meet our Tallahassee friends, David and Mary Jean here!  One of the best things about this small vacation island, is that no cars have been allowed since 1898!  It adds to the charm of the island!  People get around by walking, bicycling, and horse-drawn carriages! The first thing we noticed was the absence of automobile and truck noises and their exhaust!  The next thing, was the wonderful aroma of homemade fudge (there are 16 fudge shops) blending in with the unpleasant odor of horse manure!  It was a little disarming at first, but the fudge won the battle and we enjoyed tasting it!  By the way, there are Pooper Scoopers who do a good job of cleaning the streets, but I would hate that job!

Fudge

Bicycles and horses are the main transportation!

      You do have to be careful crossing the street due to all the tourists and horse poop,  but once you get out around the island on foot or bicycle, you appreciate the quietness and beauty of the island.  It is famous for it's lilacs and well tended gardens.  Karl and I immediately got out our bikes and rode around the 8.2 mile perimeter of the island enjoying the spectacular views!

Our guide named his horse team "Waffles" because they are Belgium horses!

Quaint Post Office, dubbed the laziest Post Office because they don not deliver mail, you have to come get it!
I think it should be dubbed the prettiest Post Office!

Victorian Home

Garden at the Grand Hotel

The Grand Hotel

       Another great thing about the Island, is that you won"t see any chain restaurants or hotels.  The charming Victorian Inns, B & B's, and hotels were built around the turn of the century and each one is unique in it's own way, independently owned.  There are plenty of restaurants to choose from, plus we found the oldest family owned grocery store in the country, still providing fresh food for the islanders and vacationers.

Great local market

     Mary Jean and David arrived by ferry in the late afternoon.  After they got settled into their charming Chippewa Hotel, we had a drink at the Pink Pony Bar on the waterfront.  We enjoyed catching up on all the news from Tallahassee.  We had a very nice dinner and planned our busy schedule for the next day!

View from the run!

      After running in the morning (and me walking), we enjoyed a nice breakfast.  We joined the many tourists for a delightful 2 hour horse-drawn tour around the island.  Our guides were fun and witty, full of information about the island! The horses were strong and steady! We actually enjoyed the tour a lot more than we anticipated.  Mary Jean,  the Keep America Beautiful and Clean Advocate, asked the obvious question that no one was brave enough to ask, "What happens to all the horse manure?"   Our guide answered with a funny joke, something about scooping it up and depositing at at the back door of the fudge stores!  After a laugh, he did admit that it was used as a compost, probably  the largest in the world!

                           * A few fun facts about the island that we learned from our guide *
 - The year round population is about 500 people and there are at least 600 horses!
 -There is one physician and four veterinarians on the island! Priorities!
  -There is a bicycle speed limit of 25 miles per hour!
  -The 4-Star Grand Hotel is a main attraction, having close to 360 rooms, each one decorated differently so you could stay there for a year and be in a "new" room every night!
   -The island has one of the four US cemeteries with a flag at half mast 365 days of the year to honor the unmarked graves of the unknown soldiers.  The other three are in Arlington, Pearl Harbor and Gettysburg.
   -Most of the island is a national park!
    -The romantic classic movie "Somewhere in Time" starring Christopher Reeves and Jayne Seymour was filmed on the island at the Grand Hotel in 1979 and has become a cult favorite and a huge source of tourism to the island.  Karl and I bought the DVD and watched it, fun to recognize all the locations of where it was filmed!
   -The amount of deer population varies from year to year because during the winter they cross over the ice to different islands!
    -Most of the horses are taken off the island for  the winter months.

View from the Fort

View from the fort

     Our last stop was a visit to Fort Mackinaw, a British and then American outpost.  All the buildings were built by soldiers around 100 years ago.  We watched a riffle demonstration and toured the officer's quarters.

     We returned back to the hotel and to the boat to rest up and get ready for our big dinner at the Grand Hotel!  The Grand Hotel has hosted Kings, Queens, Presidents and Celebrities since 1887 and now will host Mackie, Karl, David and Mary Jean!  There is a dress code for dinner, jacket and tie for gentlemen and dresses for the ladies!  We boarded our horse-drawn taxi to take us to the hotel.  We enjoyed our delicious meal and listening to an orchestra play during dinner.  It was quite the experience!

Butterflies loved Karl, a stop at the Butterfly House

Mary Jean and David's view from their hotel

Karl is talking to  the horse at the Grand Hotel

The horse responding to Karl

We  eventually made friends! And the carriage returned us safely to the boat!
Mary Jean and David opted to walk back to their hotel!
It was a night to remember!

   





 

   






   

   
   

Mackinaw City, Michigan

Chris fixed the starboard cleat

8/17-8/19    Mackinaw City
     We traveled about 50 miles from DeTour to Mackinaw City on a bright sunny day.  Jeff and Chris finished up the cleat work this morning and did an excellent job.  I am confident that our lines will hold firmly now from that starboard side!  We docked at the city marina.  Later in the day, we clocked  wind gusts up to 40 mph.  Our paddle boards almost flew off the boat!

     We toured the USCGC Mackinaw Icebreaker Ship, which was right beside the marina.  For 62 years, this ship cut through the ice during the winter months in the Great Lakes to keep the shipping lanes open.  It transported iron ore and copper from the upper peninsula of Michigan to factories in the lower Great Lakes during WWII.  It had three large engine rooms.  It is hard to believe that this huge lake freezes over every winter!

   

USCG Icebreaker Ship

      We hopped on our bikes and toured the Old Mackinaw Point Lighthouse, built in 1889.  The light and fog horn helped captains navigate safely through the dangerous Straights of Mackinaw.  Three generations lived here to keep the lighthouse running every night.

Mackinaw Point Lighthouse and living quarters

Lake Huron beach at the Lighthouse
View of the Mackinac Bridge

     We also walked through the reconstructed Michilimackinac Fort where costumed historians told stories about what life was like in the fort during colonial days.  We learned some history about the Native Americans, British and French fur trading.  The fort was dismantled in 1780 and moved to Mackinac Island.

   

Our tour guide at the Michilimackinac Fort

Shooting a cannon

Back in the USA!

8/14/19
      We traveled the last 54 miles to our destination of DeTour, Michigan, back in the USA.  We have enjoyed being in Canada for nearly 6 weeks, but both of us agreed that it is nice to be home in the United States.  We were able to clear customs on our phone, using a new ap called CBP ROAM.  It was fairly easy, but they do have you take pictures of your passports and if necessary, they have you remain on the line for a  video chat.  They did  this for us, but the customs officer was very nice and just asked us some general questions.

      Next step:  Fix the toilet!   The motor had arrived at the marina and fortunately we got in touch with a local marine service that sent someone out to install it.  Karl was relieved, he had visions of how he was going to fix it himself.   We also asked if they could fix the starboard bow cleat, with has been damaged for quite a while now.  The cleat was bent and was very loose.  This is where you tie up the boat to a dock.  It is a process, because it has to be dug out, repaired and re-fiber glassed, which takes time.  We decided to stay in the marina for a few days to get this work done.  It will be well worth it.

Captain Karl navigated us safely through the gorgeous Canadian Waterways!  

     We used several Waterway Guides, Skipper Bob Publications, Paper Charts, Navionics (on  iPad), Aqua Map (on iPad) and Captain John's Looper Companion Guide.  We will continue using these valuable guides to get us though the rest of our journey through Lake Michigan, Chicago,  Illinois Waterway, Mississippi River, Ohio River, Cumberland River, Tennessee River and Tenn Tom Waterway and on to Mobile, Alabama and then back home to Sandestin, Florida.  We still have a long way to go!

Sunrise in DeTour, Michigan!

     

A Few More Stops in the North Channel

8/11-8/13  Still in Ontario, Traveling in the North Channel, Lake Huron

One of the Many Lighthouses

Our Drone

     The North Channel is about 138 miles.  We enjoyed a few more stops, including Gore Bay and Blind River.  The water is clear and clean.  The scenery is rugged and very sparsely populated.  I have noticed that the people in this area are very protective of their pristine waters, woods and wilderness.  They take recycling seriously, as well!  Every where we went, they made  it easy to recycle, keeping garbage disposable accessible and well maintained in separate containers, etc.  All bear proof!

Drone shot of Benjamin Islands

Ice Cream is very good in Canada!

Even in the very less populated towns, there is usually a LCBO, which is a liquor store.

The acronym stands for Liquor Control Board of Ontario, which I had to look up!

Windy Weather and Eating Canadian Food

                                                                           Poutine

    Poutine!  Popular Canadian outrageous food!  French fries smothered in gravy  and cheese curds!  We had to try it at least once.  We shared this "child-sized" portion!  Canada is also well known for it's Butter Tarts which are pretty good.  We have also enjoyed their Canadian bacon, called pea meal bacon.  It is rolled in cornmeal and fried.  

Spanish Marina

More clouds rolling in

8/10

     The weather has been very windy with gusts up to 25 mph with rain and thunderstorms.  We made it to Spanish Marina right before it really turned bad.  We stayed there 2 nights.  We traveled 24 miles over very choppy seas to stay at Kagawong Marina today.  The weather is still very windy.  The saving grace is that the internet works here!  We are catching up on some things.  

     We have a bad problem with the master head (toilet)!  We discovered that it is leaking.  I called our friend, Perry, the Head Honcho in Key West who has helped us in the past with leaky toilets!  He confirmed that we need a new motor.  Karl ordered it, but just not sure when and where we can get it installed.  In the meantime, we are glad we have 2 bathrooms!  

Hiked to Bridal Falls in Kagawong, a very small town (400 people).
This is the main attraction

Bridal Falls

Local Food Truck Fish and Chips and Hamburgers

Boat Shaped Pulpit

Poison Ivy along the trails

Georgian Bay and North Channel in Ontario

Dinner at Killearney Mountain Lodge
We have now traveled 165 miles through the Georgian Bay!
Next we will be traveling through the North Channel!

7/28 through 8/8

      We have been anchoring out quite a bit and for us this is a relatively new experience, with the exception of the Bahamas.  We have enjoyed a mixture of solitude and peacefulness when we find ourselves alone in a small cove and then companionship when we anchor in a popular spot.  People are so friendly!  Probably because they are vacationing!  They come to our boat to speak to us, while on their paddle boards or kayaks! We are a novelty because we are from Florida! We watch kids jump off the steep cliffs, swim and enjoy fishing in the lake.  We hike up to the top of these huge cliffs and are surprised to find people at the top!  It has been a lot of fun.  I have finally been able to read a few books while on anchor.

Steep climb

Covered Portage view of our boat

View from the top

    One of our favorite places was Covered Portage Cove.  We anchored in this cove, surrounded by granite cliffs with plenty of trees and foliage. The sounds of other boats and people echoed off the walls of the cliffs.  We enjoyed a nice hike to the top and picked wild blueberries.  I kept an eye out for bears, because bears like blueberries, too1  We kept a handful to make blueberry pancakes.

     Another very challenging 2 mile hike was at Mary Anne Cove, where we hiked and climbed over boulders to get to the top.  It was very difficult, but we were rewarded with a gorgeous view of Frazier Bay and Baie Fine.  The mountains are made of white quartz, almost looking like there is snow on them!  There are plenty of spiders around here!  One joined us for a few days and every night would weave his web which we found in the mornings.

Lazy Dingy Ride

Swim in Lake Topaz, Water was green and clear!

"The Pool" Anchorage
White quartz looked like snow 

Hiked 695 feet to top of Frazier Bay Hill 

Rough trail- had to look hard for it!

     We spent a few days in Little Current, a very small town on Manitoulin Island in the North Channel .   We walked to a grocery.   We still did not have internet!  We ate several meals at the Anchor Inn where we caught up on some emails since they had free WiFi.

My well used Looper Bag!  

Peaceful

Benjamin Islands- another favorite anchorage

Benjamin Islands- North channel

We saw a guy jump off this cliff