Cruising Lake Huron- Port Huron to Rogers City

Sailboats in Port Huron ready to race

Bluewater Bridge we crossed to Sarnia on the motorcycle trip

Ft. Gratoit light

Harbor Beach light

We left Port Huron on Friday one day ahead of the sailboat race and headed for Harbor Beach which is in the northern portion of Michigan's thumb on Huron's western shore. The weather was good and Lake Huron was smooth as glass. We got to Harbor Beach and took on a couple hundred gallons of fuel at $4.05/gal. and got the boat tucked into her slip. The marina was really nice and the people very friendly. The marina also had a webcam for viewing the harbor and when Jane posted this, everyone was looking us up and calling us so we would go out on the foredeck and wave to the camera. At one point the marina staff asked us if we wanted them to focus the camera exclusively on Bavarian Cream! We learned of a festival at the local Catholic church and thought we would check it out. We wanted to eat lunch there and spend an afternoon, but when we arrived the only activity was a fund raising auction with about 60 people in attendance. There was little food and the beer counter wasn't open, so we headed over to a restaurant that was recommended by the marina staff and had lunch there. After lunch Jane went shopping then we returned to the boat. The next morning we were able to watch the sailboats as they passed the marina on their way to Mackinac. We learned the following day that during the night a storm rolled through the sailboat fleet and one boat capsized drowning two young men. Over ten boats supposedly left the race to assist in the distress call, but unfortunately their efforts proved fruitless.

Some rough conditions on Huron

Our deepest water yet

We had spent two days in Harbor Beach and a confusing weather forecast on the third day caused us to decide to spend an extra day due to high winds. From the marina it didn't seem to be all that bad, but we learned later from some other arriving boaters that conditions were really lousy. The next morning called for slightly better conditions and we decided to move on since the extended forecast didn't look very promising. On this day we wanted to head to Harrisville on Huron's western shore about the middle of the mitten. This also required us to cross Saginaw Bay which was around 40 miles across and really open water. Well, let's just say that we were glad when this day was over. We spent around three hours in 3-4' seas and it wasn't fun, although Jane said it wasn't as bad as our rough day in the Chesapeake. We also went through some of the deepest water we had experienced with a maximum depth of 211'. We arrived at Harrisville and stayed on the boat and at the marina.

South Point light

Pride of Michigan comes into Alpena

At the heritage museum

Shipwreck exhibit

The next day we headed out for Alpena. The day started with reasonably good conditions which steadily deteriorated as the day progressed. With west winds and us hugging the shoreline we thought we would be better off, but we learned that Lake Huron can be nasty. We arrived in Alpena with the intention of spending 3 days here. With a population of around 13,000, Alpena is one of the larger cities in Michigan's upper lower. Additionally, there are many businesses, stores, and restaurants within walking distance of the marina. This makes it an easy place to re-provision which is exactly what we did. We went to a farmer's market, bought groceries, visited a hardware store and Jane got to visit lots of boutiques. On our second day, we went to a Great Lakes heritage museum which was really interesting. The museum exhibits focused on all of the shipwrecks that occurred in this part of Lake Huron with particular emphasis on wrecks occurring between 1825-1925. And there were a mess of them! Many of these wrecks are now preserved in a marine sanctuary and it is possible to dive the various wrecks. After the museum we went to a really great restaurant for dinner then back to the boat.

Thunder Bay Island light

Middle Island light

Presque Isle light

The water is so clear

Now that's a prop!

Bavarian Cream in Rogers City

We left Alpena and headed for the neat little town of Rogers City. We were excited to visit here, because it was a destination we had visited before via its webcam and the internet. For a couple of hours this past January we watched the frozen harbor and shipping lane on the lake. We watched as a snowplow plowed the marina's parking lot, so we felt really connected to this place. We had good conditions for travel and passed several of Michigan's upper lower landmarks. We arrived at Rogers City and 3 dockhands assisted us in berthing the boat. The thing that we really marveled at was how clean and clear the water in the marina was. You could easily see details on the bottom in 8-9 feet of water. The marina staff offered to drive us to a local supermarket which we took them up on. The next day we got our bikes down and rode around town. We had lunch at a recommended restaurant and the food was delicious. Then we went back to the boat and put on our bathing suits and headed for the beach that was right next to the marina. After some ice cream we had supper on the boat and turned in with the intention of heading to Mackinaw City tomorrow.

A gull having a catfish dinner