Les Cheneaux, Beaver Island, Charlevoix, and Northport

While waiting for the rain to stop in Drummond, I was able to snag a slip in Charlevoix for 2 nights. This lead to a complete change in plans. Instead of going north west to Sault St. Marie, we would head west and then south with one night in Les Cheneaux and 2 nights at Beaver Island. This would allow us to get into Charlevoix in the morning.

From Drummond, it was a near perfect day to be on Lake Huron.

We dropped the anchor in Marquette Bay and then enjoyed a dinghy ride to Hessel and shared the sunset with a group of kayakers.

The next morning we pulled anchor and glided out of the Les Cheneaux Islands for Beaver Island.

Again, the weatherman was right. We had a gentle breeze as we crossed into Lake Michigan to Beaver Island.

We dropped the hook our first night at Beaver and anchored amid about a dozen other boats. When we were here last, workers were finishing repairs on the north dock. This time, the north docks were full, and gas and diesel were being sold there. It’s nice to see improvements being made. We arrived on the final day of the Beaver Island Music Festival and were able to enjoy some Irish fiddle type music in town.

We had a little more wind as we made our crossing to Charlevoix. We were happy with the conditions, but I doubt the sailboats were. The Chicago to Mackinaw race began on the 17th, the day we were cruising from Marquette Bay to Beaver. The water was like glass for us. Perfect! Not so for these racers. As we passed several heading to Charlevoix, they were on day 3 of their race. That means 3 days with very little wind. Good for us means yuck for them.

The marina at Charlevoix is kinda like country club lane. Lots of big, fancy, $$$ boats. We didn’t realize it, but we were coming in at the beginning of Charlevoix’s Venetian Festival, a 4 day extravaganza complete with carnival rides, the crowning of Miss Venetian Festival, music in the park and fireworks. Unfortunately, our 2 day stay would end before the major events would start. But we anchored a couple nights in Lake Charlevoix and were able to dinghy in to experience some of the happenings.

With a forecast of rain and wind coming, we made a short trip through Lake Charlevoix to Boyne City and found a wall to tie to at Sommerville Yacht Club. No power or water, but a spot to hang to and grass for Maggie.

Just to say- Bigger is not always Better. Especially when it comes to trying to get a boat slip in Michigan. Now, we have nothing to complain about. We totally realize how lucky we are to be out cruising and living this wonderful life. But…. Just saying, finding a slip for a boat that is over 45’ is a major issue. I can’t tell you how many times I have gone on the Michigan Dept. of Natural Resources website that all Michigan DNR marinas use to book slips and found zero availability on line. Marinas will take phone calls for slips the “day of” at 8am. No guarantees you will get one. The frustrating thing is we go through all the hoops of trying to reserve on line, calling at 8 am the day of and being told “no availability” only to anchor in the harbor and see empty slips that never fill that night. Oh well, I just needed to get that of my chest.

So, saying all that, of course we couldn’t get a slip in Charlevoix or Boyne City and decided it was time to continue south. The forecast gave us two ehhhh days to travel, not real good, but not horrible. We decided to roll the dice and head out. Alarms were set to wake us up at 5am with a plan to untie by 6. Unfortunately, the forecast had deteriorated from the night before, but we decided to peek our head out into Lake Michigan and see what she really looked like.

Yeah, these pictures don’t really show much. So we continued out. As we entered the lake, the 3’ rollers started piling up and the white caps were clearly visible. The forecast was never nasty, and we could certainly handle what the lake was giving us, but it was definitely not enjoyable. With the waves coming at us from the west and hitting us on the beam (the side) of the boat, the rolling was uncomfortable. This would have been a super time to have stabilizers; which of course, we don’t have. We had hopes of making a very long run to Frankfort, but we kept a few contingencies in case the weather was not to our liking, and it was not. One was to turn in to Northport, another was to anchor at South Manitou Island.

Yesterday, with conditions worsening, we opted to go into Northport. Of course, no slips were available, so we anchored again. Weather watching being a constant for us, we knew we wanted to make a move and get on a dock for a few days. Forecasts were calling for a front to drop in from the north in a few days with winds up to 40 mph, laundry is piling up and the holding tank could use a dump. Again, we decided to wake up at 5 am and hope the forecast for Monday would improve and not worsen. Today is that Monday and at 5 am, Tim declared we were on. Conditions were much better and we’d make the long run to Frankfort. I had the anchor up before 6 and with luck, the good forecast is holding.

We were up at dawn and heading north before the sun had fully risen. After rounding the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula, we were again working our way south.

Even better, the phone call I made to Frankfort Municipal Marina paid off. They have a slip for us for the next two nights. That will get us through tomorrow’s storm. And after my previous whining, I was able to book 5 nights in Manistee. that should hold us for the next batch of nasty weather. Our eyes are peeled looking for a good weather window to make the slow dash across Lake Michigan to Wisconsin. Keep your fingers crossed for us.