A charming small town, population 2,513, located on Round Lake, off Lake Michigan, Charlevoix is noted for its excellent restaurants and mushroom houses. The mushroom relates to the architecture and roundness of the homes.

The drawbridge at the entrance to the harbor opens once an hour and, out of season, opens only by appointment. We entered on the hour so we must be officially in season. Although it still seems to be season,  I am wearing wool sweaters and long pants. Yesterday I bought a scarf.

We got into our slip just as the Marina was closing for the night. Hooked up to power and walked to town for dinner at “ Grey House”.  It was crowded and the food excellent. A Golf cart was charging in the driveway touting lifts home but by the time we were ready to leave it was unavailable, so we walked on back to the boat. The exercise was welcome.

home

walk to Grey House

wooden sailboat and garages

boat house on round Lake

typical house

mushroom house

The morning was still dark as we stealthily backed out of our slip into the Straits of Mackinaw. We needed to get under the bridge and go south towards Petosky before 6:30 am, when the bridge would close for a pedestrian walk.

A sea of flashing blue lights emerged from the dark behind and all around us.  A loudhailer spouted, where are your stern lights? Oh! They are not on? Put on the radar I can’t see anything!

We are getting closer to the bridge but not fast enough. Blue lights are directly on our stern. A shout from the VHF radio, Dream Seeker, pick up the pace, you must be 600 feet from the bridge before 6:30. It didn’t take lights for them to know to who we are. Denny pushed the engines to their limit.

Arrived in Petosky in time to walk through a park into town and to the only store open on Labor Day, the grocery store. Docked in the State Marina. The State Marinas are now all in compliance with the national electrical codes. Unfortunately we started popping breakers again and had to use our generator for power during our two-day stay. Although, they are in beautiful condition, have excellent facilities and until we get our boat in compliance we will no longer stay in Michigan State Marinas.

Walkway downtown

Garden Club Garden

Blue lights and the bridge

Blue lights

Bicycle repair stations

The seas were flat, a welcome change as we left Detour Village, and they stayed that way all the way to Mackinaw City. We docked in a marina outside of Mackinaw Island and took an early ferry into the island.

A fifty-year old memory ran through my mind. It was of a charming, comfortable and quiet island full of horses, carriages, bicycles but no cars; A memory of sitting upon the wrap-around porch in the Grand Hotel, with a drink in my hand, on beautiful chairs and lazily contemplating the waters at the confluence of Lakes Huron and Michigan.

In stark contrast to what we saw today, the streets are streaming with people. Horses, carriages and bicycles are still there but the island has been engulfed in the arms of commercialism. It is still beautiful but you cannot get into the hotel or the fort without paying a fee. The ferries run every half hour and churn the waters all through the Straits creating large swells and fudge is sold in great quantities all over the island.

I guess you could say that it is possible to see a sizable change in fifty years in almost any place in the United States but it was most poignant for me, and my memories.

Ferry

empty Marina

side view of The GrandHotel

petting Horses

two of many

Hardware store on Mackinaw

Grand Hotel from the ferry

the view from my carriage ride

A little bumpy on the way out of Meldrum Bay turned to jarring when we reached the west end of North Channel.  Bang! Crash! Screech!  The salon table crashes to the floor. Was that my computer? Catch my chart books! Hang on to the phone!

Dream Seeker is rolling and I am sliding back and forth along the leather settee, hanging on to the built in table in front of me. Look at those waves! No! Best to look at the horizon! Cannot see any land on the horizon. We are in the northernmost tip of Lake Huron and the seas are five to seven. Four hours later we are still in lake Huron, the seas are still raging and I am in the throes of mal de mer.

Denny is having the time of his life.

5PM and we are in the States, DeTour Village, Michigan, in our slip with the aid of many, including “Hallelujah”, another Looper Boat. Hey! We are all having dinner at the Mainsail restaurant.  Join us in an hour.

Having spent a few hours last week setting up our CBP (customs and border patrol) Roam App, we activated the app, pushed the “arrived” button, were contacted by video chat with a Customs agent and welcomed home.

Dream Seeker has been navigated from inside the pilothouse for the past two days.The inside temperature is 71 degrees, outside reads 75, but the wind is blowing 15 knots and the sun is behind the clouds making it feel below 50.

I am wearing long warm pants a cashmere sweater over a long sleeved shirt and closed shoes and socks: Not my typical Florida dress. We are still in Canada, in the North Channel and three weeks behind our original schedule. Which, we believe, would have kept us wearing shorts for the entire trip.

Still feeling cold and sorry for myself, I receive a call from home and am told it is extremely hot and humid there with a Category three to five hurricane heading directly at Florida. Pre hurricane panic is causing store shelves to empty and there are long lines at the gas pumps. Don’t worry, we are putting up your shutters and battening down the hatches.

Suddenly the sun comes out and everything looks much brighter. We find we are anchored right next to a cell tower and all is right with the world.

I am expecting a warm Indian summer.

The channel markers are making wakes, the wind is blowing 20 miles per hour, the clouds are grey and poised for rain and we are trying to dock Dream Seeker in a slip too short and too narrow.

Put the fenders down further! Throw that line! Where is the spring line? Put that engine into reverse! The Marina deck hands are pushing the sixty thousand pound boat off the dock but they are losing the battle to the wind forcing the boat onto the dock. Patiently, with the help of many on the docks, we are berthed.

An almost out of control trawler is trying to come in behind us. He is swaying badly and sailing way too fast, aiming for a dock we refused because of its inaccessibility in this sea. He impacts and bounces off Dream Seeker, blasting two bow thrusters, crashes into another dock,  backs his vessel into a slip and is caught by many helpful hands.

The Town of Little Current, Ontario is grossly misnamed. The current is fierce.

First words we hear on docking are “there is a potluck tonight, come and join us in the pavilion”. Eighty-five people showed up for the last potluck of the season; great food, fun boaters and prizes.  We didn’t win any.

Town Mural

Little Current harbor deceptively quiet

Returning from grocery store

Pot Luck

We are the only boat on this end of “Baie Fine”.   It is a long narrow bay within the North Channel lined with engaging vistas, pine covered hills and calm seas, all which contribute to isolation. It appears that one could disappear never to be seen again.

It is peaceful but almost too peaceful. It is quiet but almost too quiet. It is silent but almost too silent.

A tantalizing message from one son but no way to respond; Phone calls from two other sons I could not return, all because of ‘No service”

I had a blog all ready to send but “No service”

It was Sunday and I wanted to make calls home, “No Service”

A gorgeous view but completely out of touch with the outside world is an oddity that I now realize I rarely desire.

I do think that Denny enjoyed the solitude much more than I but then,  “Therein lies the rub. “

Furniture and goods stacked precariously on small boats ready for a trip to an island cottage. Hills of quartz, which look like snow capped mountains. Unsoiled, unpolluted, and untainted dramatic views! This is Killarney.  Cool nights, clear air, calm seas and 78 degrees, make it just about perfect.

A church where we stumbled into an afternoon Mass, a general store that had nothing we needed, a fish and Chips restaurant that claimed to be the best in Canada, where we had lunch, and a Marina with a small ferry that takes you across the canal, this is Killarney.

We spent Saturday night in Sportsman Inn Marina, country music was whispering across the canal. Revelers were dancing drinking and singing while we were sitting in Adirondack chairs having docktails and sharing tall tales with Drifters.

I guess we are not the last of the Loopers for this year as we thought because two more Looper boats came into port. We are the stragglers though. For the next two days we are in the northernmost part of our odyssey, then we turn south and hope to follow the good weather all the way into Florida.

Ferry

Dream Seeker and Drifters

Sunset

Victoria and Mike

Sportsman Inn Marina

Float plane

Fish and Chips

Quartz mountains

Three to five foot waves and a following sea thwarted our attempt to sprint across the Georgian Bay to Killarney. This side of the bay is full of immense rocks, small craft and twirling windmills but the seas are calmer. Wrights Marina in the town of Britt, Ontario, proved to be a safe haven. The town, population 278, has a hardware store, a liquor store, a grocery store and a restaurant all in one small building; the ice cream store and post office are down the street.

We found the toilet bowl cleaner but it only did half the job we thought it would.Other products suggested for getting rid of mustaches will have to wait their turn for trial until we are able to obtain them. Denny has some FSR he thinks might work.

Recycling seems to be what the town wants to be noted for.  No trash disposal unless in thin clear plastic bags. The bins are labeled for clear and colored glass, soft plastic bottles, ridged plastic bottles and cardboard.

Had lunch in the only restaurant in town with Drifters and it was surprisingly good. The forecast for tomorrow is for sunny skies, 60 degrees and 5 mile an hour winds.

the flowers are fading

clear plastic bags only

Marina

Lighthouse

Recyling Bin

garbage only

More filtered trash

No! don’t anchor there. It is too far away from land and I will freeze on the dinghy ride. No! Not there either, too much wind, no not there, not pretty, so we stopped at Big Sound Marina in Parry Sound where we found three other Loopers.

No Ubers in this part of Canada and we miss them, Taxicabs come, but not on our schedule. Taxied to the grocery store but had to wait 30 minutes to get back.

Magic potion, Poli-glo, rust remover, lemon juice and considerable scrubbing, but to no avail. Removing the mustache off the boat is proving to be a very daunting task for Denny, just holding the dinghy steady in the water is impossible. The consensus from on lookers is to try a well-known toilet bowl cleaner.  I guess we wait until we get to another grocery or hardware store.

What a terrific bookstore in this small town, the concept is simple and it works elegantly. Bearly Used Books sells gently used books at very discounted prices. Patrons bring in books and get a credit, the books are catalogued and priced and put on the endless shelves. I was there for two hours and only spent thirty-eight dollars.  I could have stayed much longer but I was spirited away by Victoria inviting us for drinks: First things first.

Georgian bay is the northeastern arm of Lake Huron, characterized by rugged bedrock and white pine forests to the north and sandy beaches to the south. The average depth is 150 feet. Cabins built on large flat rocks, float planes landing on the vast expanse of water and squawking Canada Geese, these are the scenes in Georgian Bay. We will be here at least two more days.

Big Sound Marina

Victoria and Drifters

Cabin on sound

Denny Cleaning mustache

Book Store

Denny and the dinghy

MC Henry’s Fish and Chips restaurant

Is this a Moose?