Lake Michigan Part 1 - Never a dull moment.....and a hobbitt or two.

Never a dull moment....and a hobbit or two.

So the last time I posted an update we were sitting at Drummond Yacht Haven using their wifi, just after clearing customs. ( I noticed from your comments we are not alone in our customs woes)

We headed out to a nice little anchorage just outside the marina and while we were dropping the anchor Gary asked me if I heard a weird noise from the engines……of course I didn’t. Sad but true, as soon as we got securely anchored, Gary checked and there it was….a busted waterpump.

Now, if any of you are loyal followers of this blog, you might remember reading that we have had a problem with a water pump not a mere 6 months ago. And, as Gary tells me, they do wear and tear and need replacing from time to time but 6 months is way too soon to pack it up! So we contacted the company who we got it from and they said we had to return it and if it falls under warranty it will be rebuilt and returned to us…..This is all very easy if you are on a boat anchored in the middle of nowhere!!!!!!!

Fortunately we had a spare so Gary replaced it and we are good to go.

The trip to St Ignas was lovely. The waters of Lake Huron were smooth and calm till we hit Mackinaw Island.
 

Smooth waters of Lake Huron in the early morning

 The straits of Mackinaw is a notoriously bad piece of water, we took one look at it and decided to rather anchor off St Ignas for the night, nice and protected from the waves and winds on Lake Michigan.The next day the weather forecast was so-so but if we didn’t move we would be stuck there for more than a week, so we moved. The straits were ok but as soon as we turned south to head down Lake Michigan we knew we were in for a rough ride. The waves were hitting us on our bow and some of them rocked us really good, for about a 1/3 of the trip we were able to use Autopilot but then Gary had to steer through the rough waters. Even though it was bad, we had been in worse ….all I could think was that at least it was only a 4 hour trip and not a 30 hour one.

Sun trying to peak through



Mackinaw Bridge in the back as the sun rises on a windy day

Charlevoix Light house

Charlevoix - mini Fort Lauderdale

Charlevoix canal and across the street is the famous
Weathervane Restaurant also designed by Earl Young (see below)

A very smart young man selling hotdogs to boaters in Round Lake

At last we arrived in Charlevoix -which the Canadians pronounce with a “wa” sound at the end and the Americans pronounce with a “voy” sound at the end. We anchored in Oyster Bay waiting for a good weather day to head further south.

 

As the weather gave us an extra day in Charlevoix we decided to check out the town. I am so glad we did. We were lucky to be here for the farmers market, so we stocked up on fresh fruit and veggies. We had a delicious burger at Roquette Burger Bistro, we walked Park Avenue and checked out the Earl Young houses and on the way back to our anchorage took a detour behind the Coast guard station and found a lovely little brook , deep enough for  a great dingy ride.

Mommy and Jacob watching the duckies

 



A nasty storm blew through , look closely you will see the little sailboat dragging
it's anchor - Oyster Bay ( Gary just told me it is a 37 Foot sailboat doing the Danforth Suffle not
a small boat by any means)



 

 

Scenes from a beach

 

 

This plaque caught my attention. It mentioned that a
Magdalena  Beers bought the house in 1869 - won't mean
anything to most of you but my family might get a kick out of it.
 

 

Designed by Earl Young -
beginning in the late 1930s to the 1950s he built and redesigned houses
His designs are often refer to as Mushroom house or Hobbit houses 

 

308 Park Avenue, called “Betide” by Young, was built in 1943.
 It is three times larger than it look.
 

 

 

A little hobbit picking some wild black berries and eating them too!!

 

The “Mushroom House,” is the most photographed residence in Charlevoix. 
It is considered to be Young’s most beautiful home, built in 1951 and 1952. 
Some of the walls are three feet thick. 
The leaded pane windows are originally from a Polish castle,
then a lumber baron’s mansion that was demolished. 
The rooms are so irregular that an exact square footage has never been determined. 

 

The rock walls around some of the properties

 

Game of Rock Throne?

 

A "new" Earl Young house built on the banks of Round Lake in Charlevoix

 

We were fortunate to hit Charlevoix on Farmers market day
This area is well know for their cherries. Delicious!!!

 



Gary went for a snorkel in Oyster Bay on an old schooner shipwreck about a
100 feet in length
It is clearly marked on the charts and well worth checking out..
Afterwards he coaxed the ducks into eating out of his hand

So tomorrow we hope to hit the road again and see how far we can make it this time. We are aiming for Frankfort but if the weather turns sour we will head into an anchorage in North Port. Keep your fingers crossed for smooth seas and calm winds.

I appreciate you reading this, but just for your information: I have noticed some spammers leaving comments on the blog. I or Gary, in no way use this blog to advertise or sell anything. I do it for my own pleasure and for some of you out there that might get a kick of reading about our woes, laughs and life. Thank you for all your comments, it means so much to us, everytime I read onw I am again surprised that someone out there is actually reading what I write. I am honoured and flattered.

Christelle

 

 

.................to be continued