085: Epilogue (and last post)

 After tying up to the dock in Sturgeon Bay our first stop was over to the Get Real Cafe, for the best meal around Sturgeon Bay (farm to table).

And on Saturday, the 17th, we had to hit the Farmers Market.   Afterwards I went over to the hardware store for some odds and ends and then it was back to the boat for some cleaning and maintenance chores.

That night Nancy and I went to the local community theater and saw "Jeeves Saves the Day."    "A Streetcar Named Desire" it was not, but it was a fun outing.  Afterwards is was over to the marina hot tub for some long-overdue soaking!

On Sunday it rained in the morning and cleared up in the afternoon, so we lazed around the pool and hot tub.   Sometimes lazy is good.

On Monday the 19th we left Sturgeon Bay being careful to obey the no-wake zone by the Coast Guard station:

Blog post 003 had this shot of the Sturgeon Bay light house, so we thought we'd take another shot for "full circle" effect:

The original plan was to get as far as Manitowoc, WI or even Sheboygan, but even though the sea conditions weren't bad (three footers pushing us), the Coast Guard announced a "small craft advisory" and one of the crew got anxious so we bailed out to Kewaunee after twenty-five n/m's.   Here is the light house there:

And an old US Army tugboat.

We wound up staying two nights here waiting for Lake Michigan to calm down for our run to Port Washington.  Nothing much to report although we did have to help a sailboat dock late one night as the skipper was having quite a bit of trouble docking.  The next morning I had to jump up on the bow of Hygge to keep him from hitting us on his way out of the marina.  Had I not, he would have crashed into our bow.   We did have a decent meal at a local place with Dennis and Morrie, another "looper" couple. 

On Wednesday, the 21st we left early for the ten-hour run to my favorite Wisconsin harbor town, Port Washington.  Love this place:

No stop in Port Washington would be complete without visiting Bernie's Fine Meats to stock up on their jalapeno-cheddar bratwursts.   You haven't had a brat until you've had one of those!

We would have liked to stay in PW for a few days, but we had a nice weather window for the forty-two n/m run to Racine the next day, so we took it.  

So gentle reader, here is the last picture of the last blog post: Wind Point Light House just north of Racine:

It was great trip/adventure and we highly recommend the Great Loop to anyone thinking about it.  It exceeded our expectations from the standpoint of natural beauty and the friends that we met along the way.   The best part is probably that neither Nancy or me is being interviewed on Dateline NBC explaining how the other one "went missing" along the way ("Well gee Mr. Holt* one minute Nancy/Dave was on the back of the boat, and I went down to use the head, and then she/he was gone.)  ;-)

Next Adventure?  TBD.  Hygge is going into winter storage in Racine, Wi.  Next summer we'd like to go back to Canada and then into Lake Superior (but not "When the skies of November turn gloomy.")   

Thanks for reading the blog, hope you enjoyed it.

Dave

* Fun story:  Lester Holt lived near us "back in the day" in Lincoln Park, Chicago.  One cold winter day we both were both at the dog park watching our dogs play and I said, "I haven't been this cold since I lived in Alaska.  Lester said, "I used to live in Alaska, too."  We compared notes and it turns out we both lived on Elmendorf Air Force Base at the same time.   I asked him if he ever got dropped off at the day care center near the base commissary and exchange (grocery store and department store) while our parents shopped.  He answered in the affirmative, to which I replied, "I remember playing with a black kid now and then, wonder if it was you.   We compared some notes, and there is a good chance it was him.  Small world.

  

084: If I had a Boat, If I had a Pony: wake crossed

On August 11, 2024 we left De Tour Village for a twenty-seven n/m run over to Hessel.MI to rendezvous with a buddy of mine, Dan Garland, who has a great house/property in the Les Cheneaux Islands area of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  The seas started out about three footers on the nose but gradually settled down and we had a nice run.   The last eight n/m’s were through a winding channel with lots of vacation homes on the shore.   This was a very interesting and eclectic place on its own island:

 

We thought about anchoring out, but it was still a bit “saucy” so we pulled into the Hessel Township Marina and Dan came over in his boat to pick us up and take us back to his place.  Dan and two of his siblings own the place and have a great setup, complete with their own little private beach.   We had a nice visit and met Dan’s nephew who is an Academy Award winning documentary film maker.  He has production deal with Ron Howard’s company and Nancy and I were relieved to hear that Ron Howard is a truly a nice of a guy as he presents.  (I’d have been crushed if Opie/Richie Cunningham was really a jerk.)

Hessel:

That night we went over to the Les Cheneaux Culinary School Restaurant with Dan and had a great meal.

On the 12^th we left Hessel for the fifty-two n/m run to Beaver Island by way of Mackinac Island. 

Sunrise at Hessel:

Again, we had three footers on the nose for about half the trip, and then it calmed down a bit.   Off Mackinac Island we spotted this super yacht, formerly owned by the billionaire Robert Maxwell, who fell (or was he pushed?) off it and drowned off the Canary Islands.   Now owned by one of Robert Murdoch’s ex-wives.

 

The Grand Hotel:

 

 Mackinac Straights Bridge:

 

 

We pulled into Beaver Island and docked next to fellow Loopers Moree and Dennis of the good ship “Gypsea” and joined them for a potluck dinner.  Afterwards Nancy rode over to the lighthouse while I did “work work” for my part time gig.   The water around Beaver Island is crystal clear, like Bahama’s clear.  Amazing.  We had a weather window to cross the rest of Lake Michigan the next day, so unfortunately, we couldn’t hang around Beaver Island, but it is on a future “must do again” list.   

 
Beaver Island Lighthouse:

 On the 13^th the plan was to go seventy-two n/m’s across the Lake to Washington Island, Wisconsin, a place we know well from prior trip.   We cast of the dock lines by 6:45 a.m as it was projected to take us approximately elven hours to complete the crossing.   As we left the harbor, I played “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” for “good luck” (see earlier posts).   We had a great crossing.

Sunrise at Beaver Island:

 

Crossing:

About halfway across the winds shifted and for the last third of the trip we had “half-footers” on the nose and our speed slowed from 7.2 knots to 6.2 knots, but “no bid deal.”    It was a great crossing, and we pulled into Washington Island (back in the Central Time Zone) after eleven hours.    

After getting the boat all tied up we took the marina’s courtesy car with the crew of Gypsea to the Albatross burger place for one of their “world famous” burgers, and then we went over to School House Beach (a favorite place of ours) for a swim.  Full disclosure:  Nancy was the only one who went in the water as it was a bit cold, and the sun was setting.    School House Beach is one of the five beaches in the world without sand, but rather polished smooth rocks.   It’s a “geological thing.”

 


The Beach:

The rocks:

Norwegian chapel:

The next morning (August 14th) Gypsea left early for Fish Creek, WI and we hung around for a return trip to School House Beach for another swim.  I wimped out, but Nancy was in her element swimming in clear (but cold for me) water.   We had lunch and cast off the lines around 1:00 pm for the twenty n/m run to Fish Creek where we joined the Gypsea crew for an après-dinner cocktail.

To Fish Creek:

Fish Creek:

On the 15th we did a short seven n/m run down to Egg Harbor.  Unfortunately, it rained all day so we didn’t do much but hang around the boat and read/watch videos.

Action Shot leaving Fish Creek:

On the way to Egg Harbor:

Egg Harbor:

On the 16th we left for the twenty n/m run to Sturgeon Bay and the official “crossing of our wake”.   Here is the moment:

 

Familiar sights of Sturgeon Bay, the Maritime Museum:

It's official:

 

Dave

Odometer:  5,735 n/m's  6,600 statute miles

 

 

083: The North Channel: Curtailed Again

On August 5^th we left Killarney for the twenty-three n/m run to “The Pool” at the end of the approx. ten n/m long Baie Fine Fjord.   The Pool is actually a bay and it is spectacular.

 

Aside from the natural beauty of the Pool, the big highlight of this spot is a Topaz Lake, a mountain lake up a moderately difficult hike.   We really enjoyed the hike, and Topaz Lake was great.  The water temperature was perfect, not like those mountain lakes in the White Mountains when Nancy and I did a week hike on the Appalachian Trail – those lakes were COLD.  We hiked up with a nice couple and really enjoyed this place.  Definitely on the “must do/see” list.

Topaz Lake:

On the 6^th we went twenty-two n/m’s to the town of Little Current and stayed in Spider Bay Marina.  Little Current had an actual grocery store, so we stocked up on food supplies.   We also took the bikes and rode over to the Little Current Swing Bridge (Hygge was able to go under it, but larger boats must wait for an opening, which it does on the hour) and had a nice chat with the Bridge Tender.   There isn’t much to Little Current, but Nancy was able to go for a swim off the beach there, and we did talk to a variety of boaters in the marina about our G/L trip and general boating talk.  

The next morning, we went to a decent coffee shop before setting off on the sixteen n/m trip to South Benjamin Island.   As we headed out of the marina we heard a message on Channel 16 from the Bridge Tender: “The eleven o clock opening will be delayed, the bridge is inoperative.  We have called maintenance services.”    While we were headed away from the bridge, it was yet another reminder of why we like our diminutive boat:  we have gone under most of bridges that need an opening for boats to go through.

Swing Bridge:

LC: Lighthouse

South Benjamin Island is phenomenal.   There were no less than eighteen boats in the large, well-protected bay, but with our shallow draft we were able to find a small bay within a bay and we anchored in five feet of water about forty feet off the shore.   We “stern-tied” to the a rock on the shore to keep Hygge from swinging on her anchor.   Forty feet is pretty darn close to the shore, and I was super-anal about the anchor.  Not only did I put out a second bow anchor, but I dove down on both to make sure they were nicely set.   With the stern tie and two anchors out, we literally didn’t move more than a few feet side to side (slack in the stern line).  

 

Great spot:

 

We rowed the dinghy to shore (engine would have been silly) and did some hiking on the Island and got this nice panoramic view. 

 

Later we went swimming off the boat, and given the relative shallowness of our bay-within-a-bay, the water was a great temperature.  

The “Plan” for the 8^th was to head over to Blind River Bay further east, and then on the 9^th go east again to Thessalon Island before turning south and heading out of the North Channel.  That changed, however, when we looked at the weather forecast.  A big storm was coming in with strong west winds predicted starting on Friday (the 8^th was Thursday) and lasting through Saturday, so we wanted a nice protected marina to hunker down in.   Long story short, we wound up bypassing those stops and went seventy-three n/m’s to Drummond Island, MI for the night.  It was a bittersweet moment when we re-entered US territory and cleared customs (via app).   “Tears in his eyes, I guess” as I took down our Canadian courtesy flag.   Canada was fantastic and we hope to come back and spend more time in Georgian Bay and the North Channel next summer.

Back, Back, Back in the USA:

 

Nancy's artistic shot:

Sunrise on the 9th:

On the 9^th we took a short seven n/m ride over to De Tour Village, MI to stay at the state park marina, which is on the western side of the peninsula, so well-protected from the coming storm.  

This area is the main shipping channel from Lake Superior:

We had lunch with “Loopers” from three other boats and shared experiences, etc. etc.     The storm did come in:

 

The next day I was up early and "got the worm" in the way of these shots:

Cool gift shop:

 

   

Dave

 

Odometer: 5,540 n/m’s