July 9th We left Cleveland and headed for Put-In-Bay. The lake cooperated and we had a fairly easy day. Walked around the village and enjoyed the tourist atmosphere. Monday morning, up and out early. We got out into the open water and the wind changed, became very choppy and decided to go back to Put-In-Bay and wait for calmer waters. We extended our tour of the town, went to Crystal Cave – I’ll just say that it was cool (temp wise) down there. Forecast calls for calmer waters.

Tuesday at 6:30 we left out again headed for the Detroit River. We didn’t find it as treacherous as we had been told, but there was quite a current – unfortunately we were going against it. We found a nice marina in Harbor Hill with a pool and Jacuzzi which we took advantage of.

Wednesday left at 6:20 a.m. to cross Lake St. Clair. It was rainy but cleared with overcast skies all day. We entered St. Clair River, went through the “cut” and found a little spot to anchor overnight. The water was incredibly clear. We made sure our anchor lights were working properly because there are BIG ships going up and down the channel.

Thursday morning we got to the entrance of Lake Huron. We went up the Black River at Port Huron and stopped at Port Huron Yacht Club. You could feel the excitement in the air. The big Port Huron/Mackinaw Sailboat Race is this weekend. Fortunately we just wanted to stop to stock up on groceries and fuel and keep moving. The yacht club was generous to let us dock for several hours, but made it very clear that they did not have room for us overnight. It worked to our advantage because West Marine had a courtesy shuttle from the club to their store and/or grocery stores. It was great – John actually even helped bring our groceries back to the boat for us. The boat settled a little deeper in the water, but we will be well fed! We fueled up and fill the water tanks and took off again. The current going in to the lake was unbelievable with a big cargo ship on our tail. It’s amazing how fast these ships move. As we got out onto the lake we turned on the auto pilot and sat back and relaxed. It was a warm day and the water seemed extremely inviting. I mentioned to Clay that if he’d stop the boat I’d go for a swim. Later he told me he didn’t think I was serious, but I definitely was. The water temp was 73.4 but I know as we get further north my chances of finding anything water than that will be very slim. I settled for a nice shower at the marina when we pulled in to Port Sanilac for the evening.

Friday morning arrived, but fortunately for the crew we had to wait for the dock master to come in at 7:00 to return our clubhouse key. We were all up and had the boat ready to pull out the minute we saw him though. When we got out on to the lake it was like glass, turned on the auto pilot again and started reading our books. What a life! We got in to Port Austin at about 3:00, washed the boat down and headed in to town to adventure. We found some neat shops and one that actually had a soda fountain. Clay had a strawberry milk shake and I had chocolate malt – umm good. Our plan is to head to Harrisville and depending on the weather we will either continue north to Presque Island and then head over to the North Channel or head to the Georgian Bay from Harrisville. Internet access may not be readily available, so if we don’t update for a while, just know that we’re probably really enjoying ourselves in the North Channel and Georgian Bay. (having trouble uploading pictures, I'll keep trying though)