Jeff and Diana’s Great Lakes Cruise

  We had a "sporty" ride yesterday from Charlevoix to Petoskey!  I was happy it was only a bit over two hours.  We are in Petoskey Marina for about five nights.   In Charlevoix Petoskey Marina Freighter at anchor

  Our first furry friends aboard this trip with my friend Jen. We also had fun with friends from back home, the Kelly’s.  So Tuesday we left Traverse City and headed North. We were advised by friends to go to Omena Bay. Pulled into the beautiful bay and anchored. Had a frozen wine slushy (Frose) at Leelanau Cellars and lunch at Knot Just A Bar   Omena MI   Overnight at Northport Marina   Then headed toward Charlevoix.  Not much wind so motoring along and hmm what was that noise? We had run over something.  Turned around and this was what it was!  A ROV  Remote operated vehicle!  Good thing Jeff knows of them because I thought it looked dangerous like a torpedo!  No harm to us luckily! We were lucky to get into Charlevoix City Marina again. Every marina is busy and booked!  We even went on a dinghy excursion to see the beautiful homes. One more night here.  Welcome back Whitefish dinner tonight! A big house and room for you...

  So we wanted to go home and see family. It took an Uber to get us our car rental, a car rental and almost three hours and it was worth every bit!   Before we left we rode the bike trail to Black Star Farms for wine tasting. Beautiful ride!  It was 24 miles round trip. We also have since found out you can go one way and bring your bicycles back on the bus😍. Maybe next time!! The boat stayed at the dock in Elmwood Township marina just outside Traverse City. We were gone two nights. Then due to how booked these marinas are we moved to anchorage. We had one beautiful day and then yesterday morning (Saturday) we had rain and waves and more rain. We estimate almost five inches of rain in our dinghy!!  It was a rough morning.  We went to lunch and visited with our friends that have a place here. Every restaurant in Traverse City is so busy and the streets are full of people!  This morning is beautiful. We will spend a few more days here.  At the bottom I’l...

Old Mission Peninsula Light house Bowers Harbor sunset 7/19/2021 Thursday we went into the beautiful Elk Rapids marina.  We first went to the fuel dock to do a pump out and get our slip assignment.  It was windy and when trying to get off the dock area the outboard motor for our dinghy that was on a bracket at the rail hit into a dock post and was flung into the bottom of the channel!  Submerged at about 12 feet ----pause and imagine the captains words!  What to do?  We went to our slip and walked over to "the scene of the incident".  A diver was discussed but thankfully the dock hand and Jeff retrieved it with a grappling hook.  It went to our boat and you tube told us how to try to save it.   Drying it out Where it happened  So the next day we put it back together and luckily for us, it works!!  Good news for us! Friday was sunny and beautiful so were were able to ride bikes, go to shops, go to the beach and Jeff fished a little. ...

Another beautiful sunset  Apparently this is home to the “big hot woody”. The Mitten brewery in Northport Back out   Well not as many pictures now.  We left Charlevoix on Wednesday.  We had really enjoyed that marina!  Once out in the lake, we were moving along side the big yacht, The Scout.  Such a beauty!  It is the one shown in our last post.  Soon waves were a moderate size making for a sporty ride😀.  Safely arrived in Northport and actually had a couple hours sitting at the little beach.  That was so nice! Northport did not have any slips open for the next night, so we left and proceeded to Elk Rapids.  This is another beautiful marina.  We did go past Mission Point light but it was far off.  One surprising point I learned is that this bay has a depth of over 600 feet!  Crazy!

Our neighbors  The Scout Charlevoix. Our first draw bridge  We had a great anchorage and quiet at Garden Island.  Then we went over to Petoskey and a beautiful marina.  Deb and Rick met us for a couple nights in Petoskey and we had a great time!   Petoskey to Charlevoix more rain and fog but sun out now for 5:00!  We have really enjoyed Petoskey and Charlevoix areas! Garden Island sunset Petoskey