Crossing Back Home, day 10 & 11

The near shore forecast for the day was wave 2-3 feet and winds at times 20kts. Susan got up early and went for a walk down to the beach to look at the lake. When she returned she said it is time to go. She said the waves were not as bad as the day before, so I agreed lets go for it. After getting out on the lake I asked her if she really thought this was better.  In my estimation the wave heights were more like 3-5 feet. She then told me that the open water forecast was for 3-5 footers with occasional 6 to 8 foot waves. Yup it was all of that. Again these waves were coming at us so again it was a long ride. There were larger swells that were fairly steep that were quartering our bow and causing me to drive the boat more north then I would have liked. We ended up going off course by 5-6 miles to accommodate the wave and swell action. Luckily, this time we thought ahead and before we left the boys both took motion sickness pills so they did not get sea sick as yesterday they both were vomiting when we arrived in Frankfort. The crossing took us over 3 hrs due to having to go slow and steady due to the seas.

When we where about 20 miles out it began to settle down. By 5 miles out we were able to run the boat at our normal cruising speed. We were so glad to see the big red buoy at the entrance to Sturgeon Bay and were greeted by a large rain cloud when we finally tied up at Centerpointe Marina. The intention was to get the boat on the trailer and go home, but the rain stopped us from doing that. It was actually a good thing as we were all just exhausted from the ride and needed some time to relax. The plan was now to relax and pull the boat in the morning and go home.  It was a good feeling once we got home to unpack get everything put away and take the boat down to the launch to put it back in it home port slip in Neenah. When I came under the bridge and saw our little city and the docks it was almost a sigh of relief to be done with this vacation.

Susan and I both discussed if this was going to be our last trip across the lake for awhile. Although the adventure is fun and exhilarating we just were unable to enjoy it. There was only one day that we "enjoyed" ourselves. It was the day in Suttons Bay when we road from Frankfort to Suttons bay. We did not get a good week of weather and when we can not get the boys off the boat for that long of a period it is just not that enjoyable.

Next years plan is to just put the boat in Door County for a month and take some long weekends rather than push for a big trip.

Day 7: A day of disappointments...

Radar is a wonderful thing. We cuirsed about 50 or 60 miles up the east shore from Ludington to Frankfort and had at times less than a few hundred feet of visibility. It turned out my radar has worked on the entire trip.  It’s crazy this is actually working now, but I can say I will never recommend Raymarine to anyone. I do not think it is worth the hype and Raymarine needs to do some work to get me back on their good side.

Back to Sturgeon Bay

We crossed on Sunday and it was the most beautiful water we have ever seen on lake Michigan. The water was so calm and flat. We ended up spending two days in Frankfort. Our first day was great weather the second was raining all day and then we left on the next morning. Embarking at about 9am.  We were not in a hurry, because there was fog in Sturgeon Bay. Ended up just having breakfast in sturgeon bay and then left to go home. The end to our Michigan vacation. See you next year!

Day 5;On to Charlevoix

Today we received horrible news. Our dog Keta has lymphoma. The official test results will not be back until Thursday. We decided to go to Charlevoix and stay there. We have reservations and it can be difficult to get in. The plan is, we stay here until we hear from the vet with the official results. Susan has been in contact with our vet back home and she actually called in another prescription to the pharmacy here. The vet in Bay Harbor also said they would come here to help us if they needed to.

Today's weather is great. It is warm and the wind is light to moderate. Peyton and I went for a bike ride to Lake Charlevoix to check it out while Susan put Pierce down for a nap. We found a fresh fish market on our bike ride. We will go back there later for some fresh fillets for dinner some night this week. We saw their fishing vessels (not the prettiest ships on the earth) and talked to the workers back in the cleaning area.

After Pierce wakes up we will go down to the beach and let the kids run around. The beach is supposed to be very nice and has a concession stand. Dinner will be grilling out at the marina and hopefully meeting more interesting people.

The couple behind us is in retirement and spent the last 4 summers living aboard a 30' sail boat. They have a home here and one in FL. He told me they sailed up from FL along the inter coastal. It took them 3 summers to get to Charlevoix. His wife has a large bird that lives on their boat with them. The bird is cage free. He explained that animals are not meant to be caged...He also said he would not recommend his trip to anyone, as it was very frustrating for him to be dictated by the weather. I would find that to be just part of the adventure. I am not sure what his rush was all about. He also said he rather just sit in the marina now all day. They sure are interesting. He is a rough old sailor and gave some insight on the town and surrounding areas. He talked about the marina area we came from, Bay Harbor; it was a abandoned concrete manufacturing plant before is was purchased and the land was very contaminated. As he put it "some rich bastard came in and bought it all up and then found out it was polluted".

Day 3; Crossing Lake Michigan to Leland

Crossed! Left Sturgeon went to Leland, MI. Waves were not bad. Not anything to write home about. When crossing the manitou's islands things really got flat. What a great lake this body of water is. It is amazing as we are running in hundreds of feet of water and there is an island right next to us. I guess you can anchorage at the south manitou island your bow be in 70' and your stern in 3'. Nuts! We will have to do that some time.


Spent the day exploring and playing on their beach. It was great the kids had fun and we had a good time. The kids, however, did not end the day well. It was a rough night.

Leland is a cool little town, worth the stop. We will be back. This location is perfect to relax and rejuvenate before pushing on to the next town (the fuel is less too).

There is a restaurant that has a camera you can control in the harbor. We ate there and called Grandma and Grandpa so they could play with it and see the kids... The Cove TV the camera is on top of the building in the above picture.

Leaving for Sturgeon Bay

Friday July 23, 2010. I took the day off of work to prepare for the trip to Sturgeon Bay. Susan had to work at least half of day. We woke up and the weather was not pleasant. The day prior we had received 4" of rain and many streets were flooded. Our vacation companion, Scott, was suffering from the storm Thursday and Friday with a sewer water filled basement, however, that was not going to stop him from his trip.

By the time we had left the house it was close to 4pm (not the stellar start I wanted). I had purchased a new winch handle (the trailer did not have one when we bought it) and was impressed on how well it worked. Even though I had the new handle I did not crank the boat as much as I should have. We did not have the proper tounge weight and the truck could not go more then 60 mph without feeling like we where going to end up in the ditch!

Once in Stugeon Bay after the white nuckle trip through Green Bay at rush hour with hwy 172 closed we could finally relax. Well not really we had to put the boat back together which takes a few hours of messing around (the boat is too tall for the hwy and needs to be disasembled and then put back together). By the time the kids were in bed it was time for us to hit the sack too.