Thursday, August 22: It's All Downhill Now, Baby!

Date:                           August 22, 2013

Day on the Cruise:     129

From:                          Straits State Harbor Marina, Mackinaw City, MI
                                       
To:                               Petoskey Harbor Marina, Petoskey, MI

Statute Miles:              57.7 SM

Time:                           6.9 Hrs

Cumulative Miles:       2,981.8 SM

On Board:                   Susan, Chuck, Maggie, Trooper, Peanut

Tonight we are well into Lake Michigan at Petoskey, MI on Little Traverse Bay.

Petoskey, MI on the other side of the "Mitten"

Welcome to Petoskey

We got a pump out at Mackinaw City before we left this morning, then after 5 nights at the Straits Marina, we got away from the dock at 7:50. It was a beautiful morning starting out. Little to no wind, and cool, but not cold.

View out the front door this morning

Once outside the marina break walls, we got into rolling swells that were coming through the Straits, under the big Bridge, and into Lake Huron. They rocked us a little, but nothing too bad. Someone told us that you have to go under the Bridge's center span, and we saw a bunch of pleasure boats crossing under it in this area, so we went out to the middle and went under the Bridge. The current against us was more than 1 mph,so we had to increase power to make headway.

Once under the Bridge, we set a course using waypoints for Petoskey. Our first turn was about 20 miles to the West of Mackinaw City. We had several boats cruising with us. A big bulk material ship came up behind us and passed us, then we began to get reports of fog from boats in front of us. No sooner than the big ship passed us, she disappeared into a fog bank. The pleasure boats running parallel to us in the same direction about half a mile to our port or left side, also disappeared  and we were quickly immersed in a thick blanket of fog.

Going into a thick blanket of fog

I had turned my radar on when I heard radio chatter about the fog, so I was playing with the settings after having used it last in Albemarle Sound in North Carolina. I set the range to three miles and this seemed good to keep track of the vessels around me. We could see the ship and another one behind us on the AIS as well as the radar. I tracked two fast movers that came up from my stern and passed me, one on each side. One was a Coast Guard boat! I also tracked a fast mover that came toward us. I picked him up at three miles on radar and at about a mile, he came out of the fog and passed me to starboard. I also picked up the buoy where we were going to make our first turn, but the fog lifted before we got to it,and we could see it fine. The autopilot also was steering the boat, and it turned the boat at the appointed waypoint. It was fun navigating "in the blind" with the instruments that were all working for a change!

One other interesting thing about the radar is the fact that it tracked a rain shower that came at us from the West in the fog. It was very eerie in that all of this clutter suddenly showed on the radar screen ahead of me. We were in the fog, but it got really dark. The clutter moved towards us very fast and got denser and denser. My chartplotter convinced me that it was not land - we were still out in the Straits of Mackinaw. As the clutter came up to us on the radar screen, it started to rain! The shower moved over us and then behind us, and it stopped raining. What a great learning lab today on radar!

At 10:37 this morning, we finally turned South after more than 4 months of cruising North and West. It is all down hill now, Baby! We have cruised as far North as we will go! What an exciting milestone!

Heading South for the first time in more than 4 months!

At the point where we turned South, we were into Lake Michigan. The seas were 1-2', mostly 1, and were from our stern, which gave us a following sea. We managed OK because the waves were not that big. We were in the area of several big shoals, so we followed the ship channel through Gray's Reef. As luck would have it, we met a huge ship coming North through this narrow ship channel. I slowed down and let the big guy get past me before heading through the cut.

This guy came by us as we were heading South

With the waves manageable, I cut some corners and eliminated some legs on the route,and we got to Petoskey about 2:40 PM. Petoskey is on the South shore of Little Traverse Bay, and is a recommended stop from other Loopers. The only marina here is fairly large, and we are here for two nights.

Tonight we walked around town and ate dinner at a Polish Restaurant right downtown. It was excellent! Petoskey is very hilly. It might be hard to ride bikes. We wound up walking about a mile outside downtown to a Rite Aid to pick up some prescriptions and supplies. Of course we had to walk about a mile back to the marina! We checked out some interesting stores that we saw in the downtown area. Tomorrow we will go back into town and do some shopping. We also found a couple of barber shops.

This si the Park around our marina

Looking up the hill into downtown Petoskey

Little Traverse Bay from a hill in town

Lake Michigan in the background

Looking out to Lake Michigan

Store in downtown Petoskey

Our Marina in Petoskey

"Blue Moon" in Petoskey, MI

We have been unable to get a slip for Saturday and Sunday in the next town where we want to stop, Charlevoix, MI. This means that we may skip Charlevoix and continue South to Leland, MI.

Thanks for Reading!