New friends - daughter/mother Morgan and Jere
A romantic stroll on the beach
Beautiful beaches on Lake Michigan


We are in Frankfort Michigan. We left Charlevoix this morning early because the weather forecast was for high winds and high waves late in the morning. We were pulling into the harbor just as the winds picked up and someone who came in about an hour after us said they were getting 3-4 foot waves when they were coming in. Anyway, we are still having a wonderful time. Unfortunately we are still out of range for our Verizon cellphone. Our bill for last month was $185 for roaming in Canada – and we didn’t really make many calls! We were hoping that when we got here we’d have coverage, but not so. There was a classic car show going on when we got here. We saw a Cobra that we think was the same kit car that Chris has. It did not have a seam or blemish in the paint. Clay said whoever did it was good. Then just around the corner the library was having a book sale. Clay and I both stocked up on several books, we got 10 paperbacks for $5 - what a steal. We then walked downtown and found a little café and had lunch. As we were walking back there was big rush at the book sale so we stopped in again. They were having a bag sale - as many books as you could fit in a paper bag for $2.00. Well, we picked out another 12 books – so we should be supplied for a good while. We’ve been reading a lot - I don’t think I’ve ready so many books in my life as I have in the last four months, but I’m enjoying them. The fishing here seems to be really good - I think the Salmon is hot right now. Last night a guy came in to the dock with a big cooler just filled with salmon filets. Clay tried to help him hoping he’d toss a couple at us – no luck!!

People here are getting ready for the end of the season – it’s seems so foreign, but we’ve been getting some cooler night already. Since we’ve left the Northern Channel we haven’t had the nerve to get back in the water. It usually starts out in the morning about 68 and warms up to 71 - maybe as we get a little further south it’ll warm up a little. I was really enjoying the refreshing swims we were having, especially in the crystal clear water. You don’t have to worry about sharks and gators - but they do have snapping turtles.

Back to the USA



Our plans changed a little. We did go to Blind River and spent the night in the Marina there. We took the bikes into town and did some exploring. This was the biggest town we’d seen in a long time – they even had a Kentucky Fried Chicken, which Clay had to check out. Once again we met some wonderful people and received more local knowledge so we decided to change our plans. We were told about a group of islands southeast of where we were that isolated and beautiful. Feeling nervous about leaving the quiet little anchorages we’ve been experiencing we decided to take that route and if we wanted to head back to our planned route we could. The next morning we headed to East Grant Island. It was a beautiful spot, but the wind was up quite a bit, so we never got to shore. In the morning the wind was coming from the northwest which would give us a great sail to Drummond – which we did. We had an excellent sail – surfing on the waves. We arrived in Drummond shortly before noon, had a speedy check in with customs and decided to run with the wind. We ran into some friends we’d made along the way on Adagio that were headed to the Les Cheneaux Islands. Another wonderful sail we arrived in Hessel early in the afternoon. On our way in the channel we got to see some nice cottages with beautiful boat houses and meticulously polished wooden boats. Some of them had two and three. Evidently Hessel was the original distributor of Chris Craft boats. We anchored and rowed into town to explore. To our pleasant surprise, they were having their annual wooden boat show the next day. There were acres upon acres of varnish. It was a real treat for Clay – and I enjoyed it too.





On Sunday we pulled anchor and headed for Mackinac Island. The wind wasn’t favoring so we motored the entire way – but it was a short jaunt and we arrived in time to go visit the old fort and historical old town. For those who haven’t experienced Mackinac Island, they have done their best to keep the island flavor – there are no motorized vehicles allowed on the island with the exception of fire and rescue vehicles. You can walk, ride a bike or take a horse drawn buggy ride. We did a lot of the first two. The wind really picked up and going through the Straits of Mackinaw was not a good idea in those conditions. We ended up staying on Mackinac for three days. We had plenty of time to explore, so we rode our bikes and made a complete circle of the island. On Wednesday morning we headed for the “bridge”. I needed some prescriptions refilled and the only Walgreen’s near the water was in Petoskey. This was a little off our planned route, but it was a necessary stop. The marina was kind enough to let us tie up while we went to shore to the pharmacy. Once again we had a hike, but we found a West Marine on the way, so it wasn’t quite so bad. With prescriptions on board, we head back out and got to Charlevoix in time for dinner. Charlevoix is a really quaint little place, very popular vacation spot. After asking one of the dock hands where the nearest place was to get propane, he handed us the keys to his car – how nice was that? We stayed two days – explored Lake Charlevoix and attended a concert in the park. Next port – Frankfort.

Hi Folks,

We are in at dock tonight in Spanish Ontario in the North Channel. Can’t say enough about what a wonderful time we’re having in such a beautiful place. The pictures above might give you an idea about how nice it really is. As you can see we’ve been seeing wildlife, sorry no picture of the moose and we haven’t been able to capture a loon on camera either, only the ones in the boat! If you’re following our trail, we went from Killarney back to Little Current, then up into the Bay of Islands (not for the faint of heart). From there we anchored in Sturgeon Bay and Bell Cove, on to Amendroz, then to Croker and the Benjamins. After the Benjamins we went to Eagle Island and then scooted to Hotham Island where we snuck into a little cove with the entrance of just six feet between two rocks about 25 feet. We thought we found a very secluded anchorage, but were descended by dingy’s asking how did we get in there, but we met some more interesting people. Clay is going to have to go into sales for the Gemini because we have someone come on board at almost every anchorage to check out the boat. We have 15 minutes of free internet here at this dock, so I probably won’t get the blog updated. You can pass this on to anyone who’s interested. The plan now is to hit Blind River, Thessalon, Bruce Mines, Hilton Beach with stops inbetween at little anchorages we want to check out. From there we’ll had back to Drummond Island to check back in with US Customs before we start heading for Mackinaw City. We miss everyone, but we are having a wonderful time!