Saturday / Monday, June 29 - July 1
We don’t have a choice – Charlevoix can’t extend our stay do to overbooking of marina. It is Foggy, but we have to leave. We are out of Charlevoix with the 7:30 a.m. bridge with Sonador to follow us at 8:30. We came out of the fog after turning east towards the Mackinac Bridge. We had great following seas and winds so that we didn’t have to use a lot of speed but were making 9.78 mph across ground. We went 55 miles in 6.5 hours! WOW! We fueled and pumped out and docked as Melissa pulled into the marina. She travels a lot faster than we do. We had docktails and went out for pizza with Melissa. Great evening. Tomorrow we travel alone. Sunday – Barb ran to the bakery (well walked fast) and got bakery for us and Melissa. We were off the dock by 7:03 a.m. heading east to Harbour Island anchorage. The weather was great! Sun (in our face) and no winds, so no waves. We arrived to find only 2 boats in the inner harbor so had choice of where to anchor (depth didn’t seem to be a problem this year. We got the dinghy down, hooked up the battery and rode over the Drummond Marina for fuel. Nice ride but the winds and waves were building – of course they were SW which means they come directly into the anchorage. Hallelujah was fine, but the smaller sail boats were jumping around. We decided to stay an extra day here and let the weather settle down on the North Channel. So we laid around on Monday – very little internet so we read books and relaxed while the winds blew quite strongly. The other sail boats didn’t leave and we had a couple more come in.
Sonador in Mackinaw City
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Ice Breaker Museum in Mack City
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Harbour Island inside anchorage
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Drummond Island Marina about half mile from anchorage
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Wednesday - Friday, June 19 - 28
Reality leaving Charlevoix with a Mushroom House in background.
Weather cooperated and we made the 35 mile run from Leland to Charlevoix in 4 hours. We had a little help from trailing winds. We love Charlevoix and were happy to see Pat and Hal (dockmasters) there to greet us. We called Bergman Marine that we were here, only to have to leave a message. We didn’t reach them until Friday. In the meantime, we walked and restocked wine cabinet. Celebrated year 49 of marriage with dinner out. We use Charlevoix as our last boat stocking location before entering Canada. Not much can be put into the freezer, but lots of storage for other foods! Each day we did some sort of shopping either by bike or walking. We have a routine when in Charlevoix, Dave takes a bike ride while Barb walks – sure sounds like FL living. We met up with Melissa and Miss Sophie (dog) on Sonador and had some great docktails. She gave us a couple of new anchorages to try when in Canada. Friends on a DF were also here and we went out to dinner with them – great to see Roger and Lorie on Reality! We met a looper couple who were just starting the loop – Jim and Julie Johnson on F.A.I.T.H. We had a couple of cocktails with them and gave them lots of info. We were disappointed that Bergman’s never got to the boat, but we still like Charlevoix. Will have to wait for repairs until we return to the states. Barb had the opportunity to see Boyle City by car – went with Melissa to a farmer’s market there. Bigger than Charlevoix market but not by much. We continue to watch the weather as we need a two day window to get to Drummond Island anchorage. Between winds and rain and fog, days passed by. You would think Hallelujah would be clean and shiny but we can’t seem to work long or so hard this year. Still need to get the bugs off the decks – but did a little cleaning as the last days were upon us.
Sunday / Monday, June 17-18
We left Menominee with some breeze but following seas for the 23 mile run to Sturgeon Bay. We didn’t have any trouble docking in the winds. We did a little engine room work that we found while traveling but otherwise we prepared for tomorrow – a long day. On Tuesday we left Sturgeon Bay really early – as the sun was coming up. We did an 82 mile run to Leland, MI – across and north of Sturgeon Bay ship channel. We are using Nebo and have family following us. Unfortunately, Nebo doesn’t work when there are no cell towers. When we arrived in Leland we had a large bank space on our NEBO track – but we called family to let them know we had arrived. The run was cold (43° air temp on the lake) and foggy in spots. Leland was a little warmer, but it took a while to thaw out. Barb walked around town, we got a great steak at the meat market and relaxed after the 9.5 hour run. The longest run of this trip. We are off tomorrow for Charlevoix. We did briefly meet a couple of Loopers traveling south – no docktails though.
Wednesday / Sunday, June 12 - 16
Hallelujah on T at Menominee, MI
The weather has not cooperated – it is cold, wet and very windy. We decided to remain here in Menominee, MI as the dock prices are cheaper than moving to Sturgeon Bay and sitting out the weather there. We stayed aboard and did a number cleaning projects but did take walks around town. There isn’t much here and no real bike trails – not that we could have used them. It rained on and off most days. Barb did walk out to the grocery store one day (about 1.5 miles) to get some needed produce and dairy stuff. Otherwise, we made use of a great internet connection and did a lot of playing around. We also spent time trying to figure out electrical problem and finding a place back in MI that could fix it.
