Friday, August 16: A Short Cruise to Rogers City, MI

Date:                           August 16, 2013

Day on the Cruise:     123

From:                          Presque Isle, MI
                                       
To:                              Rogers City, MI

Statute Miles:              20.5 SM

Time:                           2.75 Hrs

Cumulative Miles:       2,871.4 SM

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

Just about 20 miles further up the Coast tonight at Rogers City, MI.

Rogers City is only 20 miles North of where we were last night

Marina and town at Rogers City

This morning before we left Presque Isle, we walked around the State Park that is the Harbor. We took a beautiful wooded path that went through groves of what I think are Hemlocks and Fir trees. They looked like Christmas Trees! The Hemlocks had fruit that was visible on the branches. We saw a snake on the path, but it was so cold, I think the poor thing was frozen! There was also a path by the beach along the Lake and the path along the break wall. All in all, a beautiful morning and a beautiful place.

We think this is a Birch tree with its bark unraveling

Blue Moon at Presque Isle this morning

Beautiful clear water this morning

You can see the bottom under "Blue Moon"

Fir tree - looks like a Christmas Tree

Fruit on a Hemlock Tree

Fir Tree

Presque Isle Harbor looking out to Lake Huron this morning

Walk way on the break wall

Board walk into the woods

Presque Isle Marina

Path through the woods at Presque Isle

Path through the woods at Presque Isle

Harbor at Presque Isle this morning

Snake on the path

Susan and Maggie at Presque Isle this morning

Wild flower field Presque Isle

This is not an aquarium, but rather one of the slips at the Harbor this morning!

Our trip to Rogers City was short, and the ride was smooth. This is a great marina. Even though it is the standard "Harbor of Refuge" design with the same docks and layouts that we have seen many times before, this marina was vibrant and had a good many boats. It was right downtown and had an amphitheater that hosted a concert tonight.

"New" Presque Isle Lighthouse

Beautiful Cruising Weathe

Another "harbor of Refuge"

"Blue Moon" at Rogers City

Heading North out of Presque Isle

"Blue Moon" at Rogers City

Rogers City Marina

Measuring a ship's propeller at Rogers City

Big Anchor at Rogers City

Rogers City is another town out in the  middle of nowhere. It is near a huge Calcite quarry just to the South of the town. There are extensive stockpiles of raw materials along the shore, and there is a significant port there to ship the material. I say this because we almost ended up in their port.

I navigated again today running a route from Presque Isle to Rogers City. At each waypoint, the autopilot steered the boat around the mark and then we veered off track only to come back to the next waypoint. We were not running in a straight line from mark to mark, but rather we were running a "bow". Not what I wanted to see! At the second to last waypoint, the boat "bowed" so far toward the shore that we came right past the wharf at the Calcite Mine. Again, not what I wanted to see.

After recovering manually, I started tweaking some adjustments on the autopilot. I changed a setting on how the boat steers back to the original course when it veers off course. Bingo! That did the trick and the boat stayed on it's course with little deviation. Hoo Raa! We will test this adjustment tomorrow on the long run to Mackinaw City.
After we got to Rogers City, we ate lunch and then rode bikes to the Rite Aid to get some prescriptions filled. It was on the outter edge of town. There was a grocery store and Ace Hardware in the shopping center, so we got some cat litter and milk and put these in the bike baskets. Our floor fan quit working when we  finished the rough trip from Put-in-Bay to Detroit last week. We tossed it in the dumpster at the marina in Detroit, so we have been using a small fan on the counter.

At the Ace, we bought a new floor fan. I asked the guy about bungee cords to tie it on my bike, and told him we were on our boat at the marina. He offered to drive the fan to the boat for me, so we rode the bikes back to the marina and met the man with the fan. Very thoughtful and considerate of this gentleman.

There was an Oriental Restaurant a couple blocks from the marina that was recommended to us, so we ate dinner there. It was good. We walked to the Restaurant, and noticed that the main streets in Rogers City are very wide.

Wide streets in Rogers City

Wide streets in Rogers City

Anyone know why this "antennae" is attached to the fire hydrant?

Tomorrow we will go about 50 miles to Mackinaw City to put us at the top of the Michigan "mitten", and for all practical purposes, we will be finished with Lake Huron and ready for Lake Michigan.

Thanks for Reading!