Day 357: Monday, August 27, 2013
Port to Port: Beaver Island to Charlevoix, Michigan
Underway: 7:07 am Motor Off: 12:40 pm Miles Traveled: 39 Stayed At: Marina
Mile to Mile: We are finally starting our 400 mile journey down the length of Lake Michigan. It is big water but the ports along the eastern shore are 20-40 miles apart so, if we pick good weather windows, we should have some nice cruising over the next 10 days. The prevailing winds are usually from the west so we could have some perfect sailing weather giving us a speed boost. Our first 40 mile trek was overcast and rainy but not stormy. We had some waves and swells on the front quarter which slewed the boat around but nothing uncomfortable. Just boring – no buoys, no scenery and gray skies. At least we are finally going south.
We made it to the Charlevoix lift bridge with 5 minutes to spare (it only opens on the hour and half hour) and we were tied up at the municipal marina a few minutes later. Everyone has told us we would really like Charlevoix so we were excited to do some exploring but first we needed to finish a couple of boat projects. Cindy hung out some wet stuff to dry while we got checked in. I walked 15 minutes to the nearest gas station and refilled our containers (saved about $12). We were ready to check out downtown.
The park area in front of the marina is beautiful. Nice curving stone retaining walls, lush green grass, a kids water feature with fountains to run in and out of and huge, multicolored hanging flower pots all along the water front – it lives up to the towns nickname, “Charlevoix the Beautiful”. We did some window shopping and Cindy bought a lightweight waterproof jacket. The shops were nice but I’m not sure what we are missing – you can only shop so much.
Marinas are interesting places. Everyone has a story and is usually willing to share. I started chatting with Bill sitting in the cockpit of his sailboat and found out he runs an outdoor store in town and just bought this boat in Holland Michigan to travel to the islands this winter. How exciting. I can’t imagine how long his To Do List is to get ready to leave to go south for the winter by sometime in September. At least the boat looks ready to go – it was beautiful with lots of custom woodwork in the interior. It might have been a boat we would have bought had we been looking. Then, after dinner, I was sitting in the lounge typing the blog and got to chatting with Marti and Warren – another sailing couple that have spent the last 9 weeks exploring the area on their Cabo Rico. We now know someone in South Haven which is a nice port to stop in on our way south. Dinner anyone? We enjoyed sharing sailing stories – especially sailing stories on small boats. We hope to meet again.
The weather looks perfect for traveling south tomorrow – a light north wind, waves 1-2 feet and sunny. What more could you ask for?
