Doing the Western Upper-Lower, Mackinaw City to Charlevoix

If you've ever looked at a map of Michigan, you discover how huge the state is if you consider the land area plus its territorial waters. In land area Michigan ranks 22nd among the states, but add in its territorial waters which includes about one-half of Lake Huron and about 2/3 of Lakes Michigan and Superior, and that ranking jumps to tenth overall. This size, and the fact that Michigan is separated into the upper peninsula and the lower "mitten" by the Straits of Mackinac, causes Michiganders to regionalize their state for reference purposes. Thus weather forecasts are given for the "upper-lower" which refers to the most northern part of the lower "mitten." This can be further divided into regions east of Mackinaw City (i.e. along Lake Huron) or west (i.e. along Lake Michigan). So, for what it's worth, when we left Mackinaw City heading west, we were beginning to cruise the western upper-lower. Everyone got that (not that it's important!)???

Mackinac Suspension Bridge

Our northern most point

White Shoal light

Gray's Reef light

We headed west from Mackinaw City with good weather and conditions. We were about one-half mile from the Mackinaw Suspension Bridge and one-half mile from the marina when the port engine died for no apparent reason. With one engine running, Capt. Larry went below to determine what the problem was. He came up from below and Jane was all worried. He got to the helm and turned on the ignition and the engine fired right up. Seems that when he had drained the fuel pre-filters while in port, he forgot to turn the fuel back on! So off we go heading for our next destination, Beaver Island. Along the way, we passed a milestone by passing our northern most point of our trip. From this point on we would generally be heading back south towards home. Beaver Island is the largest, and most northern island in Lake Michigan, and the guidebooks all indicate that it is an interesting stop. To get there though, you have to navigate through Gray's Reef, a rather large expanse of rocky reef that is noted for its shallow depths and very rough seas when the conditions aren't good.

St. James Harbor light, Beaver Island

The reef is about 20 miles from Mackinaw City and in a strong S or SW wind over the long fetch of Lake Michigan, the seas can easily build to 6-9 foot waves or higher. The problem, if one encounters such conditions, is that there is no place to go for refuge.

Meeting a freighter in Gray's Reef

Although Bavarian Cream could likely clear the charted depths on a shortcut through the reef, Capt. Larry decided that we would stay in the deep water of the shipping channels to play it safe (there are rocks down there!). We turned south into the Gray's Reef Channel just south of the White Shoal light and headed for the Gray's Reef light at the other end. Our luck, there was a coal freighter entering the 3,000' foot wide channel from the south. We got through the channel then turned for St. James Harbor and the town of St. James, Beaver Island's largest community.

We got the boat into her slip at the Beaver Island Marina, then got our bikes down to scout out the town. Beaver Island is remote, naturally beautiful, and has a colorful history.

Beaver Island Marina

Donnegal Bay, Beaver Island

Front Lake, Beaver Island

Toy firetrucks at the Toy Museum

Toys at the Toy Museum

Beaver Island public beach

Beaver Island is probably most renowned as the hub of a faction of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This faction was founded by James J. Strang after the death of Joseph Smith who founded Mormonism. Strang moved his followers to Beaver Island supposedly to avoid persecution, but more likely to exert control over his followers. We find it ironic that a religious group that champions polygamy as one of its tenets would locate to a place called Beaver Island. Strang declared himself king of his followers (the Strangites) and the island has several roads and landmarks that are referenced by King James Strang. Strang was eventually assassinated and his followers were driven from the island, but they made a major impact on the island's development. For more information about the island and its association with Mormonism click on this link Beaver Island. We rode our bikes all over the island and saw some pretty scenery. One of the attractions we were told not miss was the Toy Museum. We rode our bikes to this establishment and were amazed at what we found. Inside there were toys from the 1920's and 30's and perhaps even earlier. The museum runs itself through the sale of toys to visitors, and Jane paid her way with sales for the grandkids! It was a really neat attraction. Jane visited a few of the shops in town, then we donned our bathing suits and spent part of an afternoon at the harbor's public beach. While Beaver Island only has around 500 residents, we noticed from signs, bumper stickers, and license plates that they are fiercely proud of their community.

Deep water in Lake Michigan

After two days on Beaver Island we left and headed back to the Michigan mainland, pulling into a marina in Petosky. Along the way we passed over water that was even deeper than what we encountered in Lake Huron at 280 feet. Petosky is another small lakeside town that we found to be very charming. The guides indicate there is a lot of businesses close to the marina. We set out to pick up some groceries and scout out a place to eat, only to learn that the guides neglected to inform us that while establishments were close by, there were some monstrous hills that had to be climbed to get to them! We were less than one-half mile from a Wal-Mart when Jane announced that she had had enough and we went into another grocery store and abandoned any ideas of purchasing anything other than groceries. We made our way back to the boat, but were too pooped to head out again. The next morning we strolled through downtown Petosky and had breakfast at a downtown restaurant. Rain was forecast and the skies were threatening so we went back to the boat for a rainy afternoon.

Unique architecture in Charlevoix

Rough conditions on Lake Michigan

Breaking surf at the lighthouse

Kevin and Pam's POS ride in Charlevoix

The next day the weather was good so we shoved off for a short trip to Charlevoix. We found Charlevoix to be even more delightful than Petosky with a renewed downtown and tourist area right next to the municipal marina. Jane was a happy camper with being able to visit so many shops and be only a short distance from the boat. Our plans were to spend two days in Charlevoix and then push on to our next stop, but on the evening of the second day a cold front moved through and the weather changed considerably. We awoke to find 20-25 kt. winds with gusts to 30 kts. The marina harbormaster suggested we walk down to the lake shore to get a look at the lake conditions. We watched 3-5 foot waves break on the waterfront and returned to the boat to hear reports of 6-9-foot seas out in the open water of Lake Michigan. It definitely was not going to be a travel day. We got our bikes down and biked around the outskirts of town, then returned to boat and relaxed for the afternoon. Being on Lake Michigan this time of year the rule of thumb is to allow one weather day for every two travel days. Hopefully we will get a break in the weather and will be able to leave tomorrow. The again, extending our stay in Charlevoix wouldn't really disappoint us terribly.

We Do Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island

Forty-Mile light

Poe Reef light

Fourteen Ft Shoal light

We left Rogers City and made our way to Mackinaw City. We had a good day for traveling, but the wind picked up about one-half hour before we arrived at the marina. We had difficulty getting the boat into her slip as the wind was blowing us all over the place and the slip width was only a couple of feet greater than our beam. After a second attempt and with the help of two dockhands we finally eased her into her berth. Our plan was to stay here 2-3 days so we could do some boat chores, visit Mackinac Island, and just relax.

Mackinac Island light

Downtown Mackinac Island

Riding around the island

The grandchildren shrine

The Grand Hotel

Arriving at the Grand Hotel

The extended weather forecast wasn't promising, so with a good weather window, we decided to head over to Mackinac Island the next day. We boarded a ferry located right next to the marina and took a short ride over to the island. Since no motorized vehicles are allowed on the island, we took our bikes so it would be easier to get around. There is an eight-mile bike path around the island and we decided to ride this route as our first activity. The route is really level and runs along the shoreline. The only distraction was that there was a lot of other bike riders and horse-drawn carriages.  Along the way we stopped and built a little rock shrine for our grandkids. The bottom rock was for Brennan, the next one up for Madison, and then Hannah's rock, the third from the bottom. Finally we found a nice round rock that had Sadie written all over it. This shrine overlooks the straits and the Mackinac suspension bridge. We don't know how long it will last there, but we'll often think about it when we get home and with the grandkids again. We made it around the island and then parked our bikes and took a carriage ride up to the Grand Hotel. High on Jane's list was to visit the hotel and have lunch there.

Lunch at the Grand

The Grand's front porch

The gardens at the Grand

We enjoyed a lunch in the hotel's traditional grand style. The hotel was the site for the filming of the movie Somewhere in Time and Jane enjoyed wandering the halls a seeing all of the film's and hotel's memorabilia. We sat on the hotel's grand front porch, supposedly the longest in the world, and wrote a bunch of postcards. Then we wandered along the hotel's famous gardens before heading back to find our bicycles. We wandered through a number of the island's little shops souvenir shopping and then loaded our bikes onto the ferry and headed back to the mainland. We invited a sole looper to the boat for happy hour, then cleaned up, had dinner on the boat and turned in for the evening.

The weather forecast for the next day wasn't very promising so we extended our stay for another day. Around mid-morning it started to rain. In between showers Jane headed out to do some shopping at the mainland stores. Capt. Larry had some engine room chores to do and after lunch we sat on the back of the boat and enjoyed docktails. Hopefully, the weather will pass and we will be able to head over to Beaver Island for a couple of days.

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

Cruising to Port Huron and Meeting Our Canadian Friends

Detroit River light

South Bass Island light

We left Lakeside Marblehead and headed across Lake Erie's western basin for the Detroit River. We had perfect conditions for traveling, although it was unseasonably hot throughout the area. We passed several U.S. and Canadian islands that dot this portion of the lake and finally made it to the Detroit River light which starts the Detroit River. The river current surprised us at around 3 kts. which slowed our progress somewhat. Large interlake ships frequent this passage, and we had to remain alert as to where this traffic was. We passed downtown Detroit to port and Windsor, ON to starboard then made our way up to a marina opposite Belle Isle. This put us nearly at the beginning of Lake St. Clair.

Detroit skyline

The next morning we crossed the lake and went up the St. Clair River, passing several large ships as we made our way to Port Huron. The current in the St. Clair River was even faster than that in the Detroit River and it took us the better part of a day to make the trip. Also, unknown to us, there was a major sailboat race, the Port Huron to Mackinac race, scheduled for the weekend and we found several of the marinas full. We finally found a marina with space, but had to pass through three bascule bridges with restricted schedules to get to it which took over an hour. After getting the boat in her slip, we contacted our Canadian friends, Jim and Marie Foubister who live across the river in Sarnia, ON. We met Jim and Marie several years ago on a cruise ship and stayed at their house when we did the motorcycle trip in 2008. They agreed to cross over and meet up with us the next day.

Jim, Jane and Marie

The Canadian delivers the Canadian!

The following day turned out to be a real scorcher with temperatures into the mid-nineties. We took advantage of the marina's pool while doing some laundry, then returned to the boat to get ready for Jim and Marie. We had a fantastic reunion with us telling loop stories and them telling about their extensive travels and cruises. It was great to see them and catch up. We went downtown to a restaurant that was recommended by a fellow boater and had a good meal, then we returned to the boat for some more visiting. Near dark, Jim and Marie left to return home. We're not sure when we'll meet again, but then we never really expected to have seen them on two different occasions since our first meeting. One never knows what will bring people together.

The Foubisters and Bavarian Cream