Traveling near M/V Avocet, a fellow looper.

Looper dinner with the crews of Leap of Faith, Lone Star, Inspiration and Stillwater 2.

Sometimes its a calm day with nice scenery.

Coffee on deck with Kevin and Pam

Skipper on the hunt

Manitowoc is a small town on the Wisconsin side, with plenty to do. There is a terrific Maritime museum with a submarine tour, and we were lucky enough to be there for both the Sputnik festival and a fish boil.  The story goes that when Sputnik finally crashed back to earth, a large, 20 lb piece dropped into downtown Manitowoc.  The people there sent the piece back to Russia, and have celebrated the date ever since. We attended the Miss Manitowoc pagent as well as the Aliens in the Alleyway festival, featuring a parking lot tent, brats and beer.

The fish boil is another local tradition, similar to a clam back or lobster back, but again, held in a parking lot.  A large pot is brought to a boil and a basket of whole potatoes and onions is boiled. Then a large basket of local fish – in this case, whitefish — is put on top and boiled.  Chucks of fish, including bones and skin. As the fish is brought to a boil, the fat and scum rise to the top of the pot.  A canister of diesel was then thrown on the wood fire, causing the pot to boil over and the scum from the top to pour over the sides, leaving the food free of the scum.  The baskets are then removed and served.  Anyone knowing Artie will be relieved to know that there were also hot dogs available.

There are sand dunes on Lake Michigan.  Who knew?

Leland is a cool and funky little town, known in part for a section called Fishtown where the fishing boats come in with their catch.  It is a bit more touristy now, but fun to walk. Saw an amphibious car (see the propellers on the back and the boat registration numbers on the side?).  Also a champion Cottonwood tree truck which dwarfed Artie, cool shops and a nice downtown, and a bonus of a nice sunset.

After leaving Mackinac Island, we passed through the Straights of Mackinac, under the bridge, and down into Lake Michigan.  We had now passed the northernmost part of this trip.  Our stops on Lake Michigan started on the Michigan side.  We stopped at Charlevoix, Leland, and Frankfort.  We then crossed over to the Wisconsin side, to Sturgeon Bay.  Time didn’t allow us to cross into Green Bay.  We instead continued south on the Wisconsin side, stopping in Manitowoc, Port Washington, and Racine.  We are currently in Racine, awaiting a good weather window to move down to Chicago which will be our last stop on the Lake before entering the Inland waterway and the river system.

There is a very large bridge that crosses the Straights of Mackinac, which is very impressive.  The Grand Hotel is also located on the Island and is impressive in its own right — if a bit snooty.  Notice the two women in red blazers and pith helmets.  It is their job to keep the riff-raff out or to collect the ten dollars charged to walk up onto the front porch.  At least the ten dollars can then be applied to the fifty dollar lunch buffet.  There is also a movie released about twenty years ago, Somewhere In Time, with Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve, which ties into the hotel.  It is commemorated on a plaque outside.

We crossed back into the United States at Drummond Island, and then headed for Mackinac Island and then Lake Michigan to head south to Chicago.  Mackinac is a pretty special place.  No cars are allowed on the island, except for emergency services.  Your choices are to travel on foot, by bicycle or by horse.  We saw the UPS driver delivering packages by horse and cart.  Skipper was fascinated with the “big dogs” and told us on a regular basis that “I can take him!”.  Saw a few cool rock formations, both natural and man-made.  Did the touristy, ice cream and fudge thing. Watched a troop of girl scouts march in formation each evening to lower the flags. Nice to see the US flag at the top of the pole again.

Our time in the North Channel was relatively short.  Ran into a few rough weather days, and started seeing “end of season” sale signs in the marina shops.  By Meldrum Bay, the dockmaster greeted us by saying “It’s pretty late in the season for loopers”. Didn’t stop the Skipper from hunting frogs, and didn’t stop me from getting at least one swim in — even though the water was only about 68 degrees.  Oh well, time to move on.  We did discover that there was a boat rental outfit in Gore Bay that rents both power and sailboats to explore the area;  further south, in Georgian Bay, there are the ubiquitous houseboats available for rent.  If we ever want to come back up this way — and it would be well worth doing — I might consider those options or a cottage, if we decided against another full loop.  That’s a thought for another day.

Stopped at Killarney Mountain Lodge, which was a very nice property with restaurant, pool and nice docks.  The local LCBO (municpal booze store) was accessible by boat.  We then headed into the North Channel.  Didn’t spend as much time as we had originally planned, as we are a bit late in the season due to our prior delays and the weather was a bit sporty, shall we say.

Just so wild and gorgeous, amazing to see.  Neither photos nor words really do this area justice.

Baie Fine is one of a very few fjords; we travelled in and played follow the leader with a small powerboat and sailboat through the entrance.  Met up with M/V Inspiration along the way.

After Snug Harbor, we headed out into Georgian Bay.  There was a lot of wind and chop that day, and the marked channel went out to the Bay and then back into a a number of tight turns and shallow water. We chose to stay in the Bay and cut directly across to Byng Inlet.  A lucky choice, as it turns out, as we were happy to meet up with Pam and Phil on Inspiration and have travelled with them on and off, ever since.

After by-passing Henry’s Fish Camp, we recalled that our friends Robert and Brenda on Over Ice recommended stopping at Gilly’s in Snug Harbor.  As there was a bit of a blow forcast, we wound up staying there a couple of nights. Amazingly, we were able to get into their dock, however the wind was whipping up some pretty big chop and we had to tie across to the next dock to hold in place.  A great meal.

Yaaayyy!  So done with locks for now. This was the last, tiny lock on the Trent Severn leading to Georgian Bay and more skinny water, rock outcroppings, and comments of “We’re supposed to go WHERE???”.  Tried to follow the locals, or at least their wake, to get a feel of where to go.  Even with a chartplotter, paper charts and binoculars at the ready, the channel markers were difficult to spot, and not always easy to interpret. We arrived at the famous Henry’s Fish Camp a bit too early in the day to stop.  Notice the float plane at the dock.

Last Lock in the Trent Severn

Small lock

Headed out to Georgian Bay on Lake Huron

Hard to see the markers

Don’t miss the markers on the rocks!

Follow the wake

Follow the lake

Oh, now I see where he went!

Henry’s Fish Camp- Notice the float plane?!

Henry’s Fish Camp

Skinny again

After leaving Orillia, we passed through more skinny water and rock outcroppings; our next stop was the Big Chute.  Click on images for captions.

More skinny water…

More rock outcroppings

We are now in “cottaqge country”

Approachng the Big Chute

Loading in with two other boats; they left our running gear hanging over the back

The straps come up to support the boat and the water drains out

Up we go, over the roadway

Looking ahead

Almost to the top

Looking down and ahead, just like a rollercoater!

Looking back, notice the roadway

Going down

Lock masters

At the end, we pulled over just past the chute to stay the night

While stuck in Orillia waiting for the prop repairs to be completed, we rented a car to check out the local sights.  Lots of farmland nearby, and of course we did Artie’s favorite cultural excursion to the local boat boneyard, where you never know what you may find. We were also happy to reunite for a short time with Lynn and Wayne on LeryLynn, and with Dale and Andy and John and Priscilla on Changing Latitudes.  And finally, we drove over to the Big Chute, which is a lock in the guise of a marine railway.  Essentially, your boat is driven onto a railway car, picked up in slings, and the railway car is moved over a hill and roadway, where you are deposited on the other side.  You do have to see it to believe it.

Sorry for being so far behind. We finally have decent internet access, and I finally have a new phone, and, and, and, yada, yada, yada … the dog ate my homework, etc.  In other words, no good excuse. After our LOOONNNGGG and excruciating stay in Orillia, we decided to keep moving on pretty promptly as the boating season can be awfully short in Canada after August.  We have since moved through Georgian Bay and the North Channel in Lake Huron, then checked back into the United States at Drummond Island, then moved to Mackinac Island, and then into Lake Michigan, starting on the Michigan side and moving across the Lake to the Wisconsin side, where we are now.  Next stop:  Chicago.  Photos and updates to follow.