Date: October 6, 2013
Day on the Cruise: 156 (Holding)
From: Home in Alabama
To: Green Turtle Bay Resort, Grand Rivers, KY
Statute Miles: 0.0 SM
Time: 0.0 Hrs
Cumulative Miles: 3,984.3 SM (Holding)
On Board: Susan, Chuck, Maggie, Trooper, Peanut
As we prepare to start our transit of the "Southern Rivers" portion of the Great Loop, we want to look back and summarize our thoughts on the Great Lakes portion of the trip.
As many readers of the Blog know, we chose not to do the Canadian portion of the Loop. Why you ask would we forego what many feel is the most beautiful scenery on the trip? There are several reasons, but the main one is that we are traveling with a parrot, a dog, and a cat. The dog and cat would probably be OK coming in and out of the Country through Customs. The parrot would not have been. We did not want the hassle of a quarantine and the possibility of never seeing the bird again.
I had also spent a lot of time on business in Northern Ohio along Lake Erie during my last few years before retirement. I wanted the experience of visiting friends and places that I had been in the region.
Lastly, we wanted to do the entire Erie Canal instead of just the Eastern portion. To accomplish this feat, we were dumped out at the Western end of the Canal into the Niagara River that then ties into Lake Erie.
We were on the Lakes for a total of 34 days during the period July 31 to September 2 of this year. Was it worth it? My overall assessment is a resounding yes, but I have to say that there were some very trying and challenging days that we experienced - days that I do not want to re-live, for sure.
Our introduction to the Lakes came on a very long 10 hour day as we cruised from Tonawanda, NY, North of Buffalo, to Erie, PA. We entered Lake Erie through an extensive break wall complex at Buffalo, NY, and headed West. The early morning weather produced some chop that later flattened out, and the Lake was a mill pond for much of the afternoon as we made Erie, PA and a nice marina right in the City. We had heard of Lake Erie's reputation as being rough with strange waves that were more square than round, whatever that means. But, having reached Erie, so far, so good. Maybe this Lake's reputation was overblown.
Our second day out Lake Erie changed to a windy, rough kind of place and we opted to stay in the harbor at Erie. Good call. Erie was an OK town. We liked a Mexican Restaurant that we found right downtown, but otherwise, it was not that great a place for transient boaters.
We moved West and had some rough days on the Lake as well as some calm days. The marinas where we stayed were OK, but nothing great. We stayed at a State Park marina in Ohio, and at marinas in Fairport and Lorrain.
The highlight of Lake Erie was Put-in-Bay on South Bass Island off of Sandusky and Port Clinton, OH. I had been here before on dinner trips for business. We really enjoyed this stop and actually spent several days here checking out the Island, riding bikes, and doing the restaurants. Maybe we should have spent one more day in "the Bay".
The day we left was forecast to be light winds with 1' seas. We woke up and it was blowing pretty good. We saw boats leaving and we waited until after 8:00 and decided to try it. We were going to Detroit, and had about a 25 mile cruise to get into the Detroit River Channel. We thought that with the wind coming from the North, Northeast, that we could catch something of a lee shore, and it wouldn't be too bad.
Boy, was that a mistake! It was arguably one of the three worst cruising days of our trip. We witnessed Lake Erie in her fury, and I am sure that it gets much worse than this, but it was all we could take that day. Thankfully, we got to the Detroit River and the marina in downtown Detroit without loosing the boat. I hate Lake Erie! The water is not pretty. It can be rough. The marinas are blah and not plentiful. The towns that we visited are not real scenic. With all due respect to my friends in Ohio who boat on the Lake, I am glad that Lake Erie is not my primary cruising ground!
I will say that our one regret from Lake Erie was not visiting Cedar Point Amusement Park at Sandusky. We should have gone to the marina at Cedar Point and spent a few days on our way to Put-in-Bay.
Our next Great Lakes experience was Lake Huron. Lake Huron is incredible! From the time we entered the St. Clair River, the water and the scenery was beautiful. The color and clarity of the water was amazing in both the River and the Lake. I was on pins and needles as we navigated under the Blue Bridge at Port Huron and the nasty currents that we had heard about. Yes, the currents were a challenge, but we got through OK.
I will never forget the view of Lake Huron as we went under the Blue Bridge and took the channel into the Lake. Canada on the right. The US on the left. And nothing but azure blue water ahead of us. It was so beautiful.
We loved cruising North on Lake Huron along the lee shore that knocked down the Westerly breezes and allowed the seas to be somewhat calm. We loved the clarity of the water where we could see the bottom. In some locations toward the Northern part of the Michigan peninsula, it was like boating in an aquarium!
Once leaving Port Huron, we found the Michigan countryside to be very rural as we worked our way North along the "Mitten". We loved stopping at the small towns such as Port Sanilac, Rogers City, and Harrisville. We wished we had stayed at Presque Isle maybe another day. The Michigan State Marinas and local municipal marinas were excellent. Great facilities! Having learned our "weather lesson" on Lake Erie, we were careful to pick our days on Lake Huron, and our cruising days were spectacular. Lake Huron is our favorite of the three Lakes that we visited, and a must do experience!
At the top of Lake Huron is Mackinaw City and the Straits of Mackinac. We spent several days here and managed to rendezvous with some of our Looper friends that had taken the Canadian route. Our state marina was protected, but it was always windy in Mackinaw. Going to Mackinac Island and touring the Grand Hotel was a real treat-something that we have always wanted to do. Seeing the enormous Straits of Mackinac Bridge was also a great experience.
But at Mackinaw City, we sort of hit a wall with the cruising. It began to get old. We had Lake Michigan and its ugly reputation ahead of us. Chicago was our next milestone, and we could not wait to get there and get onto the Rivers. We were ready to get off the Lakes. The Lakes were probably ready to get us off of them also.
Our departure from Mackinaw was delayed for a couple of days by high winds. When we left, we had a very long day to Petoskey, MI that took us West then finally turned us South on the Loop. We rounded the "mitten" at our Northern most point on the Great Loop trip. This day was not without challenge as we endured fog and moderate seas and then reefs that were marked by very interesting light houses standing out in the Lake. We will never forget having to pass a huge "Laker" ship coming North through Gray's Reef Channel. That was a neat experience. This day also saw us pass into Lake Michigan. Finally.
Visiting Petoskey was a lot of fun. Some of the best shops that we saw outside of Chicago. Good food also. A neat town! Near Charlevoix, which we tried to visit but could not get into the good marina there. I regret not visiting Charlevoix, MI, but we will try to go back by car.
Our 90 mile day to Frankfort, MI was long, but we made it and managed to navigate around the islands and points jutting out into the Lake. The sand dunes along the shore were amazing and not to miss! We took a weather day at Frankfort and part of a third day as thunderstorms rumbled across the Lake from Wisconsin. Our burn out became very noticeable in Frankfort. We wanted to be on the move, not stuck in a little lake side town. We wanted to be on our way to Chicago! In Frankfort we enjoyed a great sunset and an excellent local restaurant.
Lake Michigan still had not given us her best. We knew it was probably coming, but after the Put-in-Bay to Detroit Lake Erie experience, we were picking our travel days more carefully. We had no idea that we would get a Lake Michigan "welcome" on a short trip from Frankfort to Ludington, MI.
We waited out the thunderstorm and left Frankfort with a great forecast from our friends at NOAA. Except that I think they had already taken their Government shutdown furloughs on this day. The last two and a half hours of the trip, we got into un-forecasted high winds from the South. Waves built to 5 and 6 feet on our nose and we were being launched airborne after crashing through the big rollers. Probably worse than Lake Erie. Turning into the approach channel to the Ludington break walls was also white knuckle time. Then having to dodge that darn fisherman in a small aluminum boat at the entrance to the break walls.......well, thanks for all you gave us Lake Michigan, especially without any notice! Where the heck is Chicago, anyway?
Next was Grand Haven, MI and its great restaurants and the cool musical fountain at night behind our boat. Then St. Joseph and finally Chicago. We made the 60 mile run from the West Coast of Michigan to Chicago in good seas with no incident, even though we were totally out of sight of land during the crossing. We wish we had been able to see the Chicago skyline much sooner than we did, but when the haze allowed us to see the city, it was awesome!
We were technically still in Lake Michigan during our stay in the windy city, but our marina at DuSable Harbor was protected by break walls. Nevertheless, Chicago ended the Great Lakes experience for "Blue Moon" and her crew. Thankfully!
Our experience? Lake Erie: blah, rough, yes on Put-in-Bay, No on ever going back in a boat. Lake Huron: amazing, beautiful, great cruising, loved it. Would love to go back. Lake Michigan: burned out, ready for it to be over, some nice towns, where is Chicago, rough and unforgiving, glad to be off it!
Thanks for Reading!
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