Great Loop Overall Statistics to date:
Statute Miles: 3257.7
Average Miles/Day: 47.2
Total Hours Underway: 444
Average speed (mph): 7.4
States Transited: 12
Total Days: 153
Travel Days: 69
Locks: 43
Fuel Purchased: 902.5
Miles / Gallon: 3.5
Nights at Extra Days
Marinas: 40 77
Anchor: 19 6
City dock: 3 0
Free Wall: 8 4
Mooring: 0 0
Travel Day 64 - Leaving Charlevoix
We had initially planned to stay in Charlevoix two days and then make two short hops to get down to Traverse City with a stopover at Northport. A strong front came through with some high westerly winds, so we decided to stay in Charlevoix a third day and head directly for Traverse City in one leg today. There was a bit of a swell on our beam as we left the bay at Charlevoix. We soon turned South, though, at red number 2 which put the waves further aft, and it was much less rolly. We had nearly one knot of favorable current as we made our way down the western side of Michigan for Traverse Bay. This was a welcome sight to see on the chart plotter speed indicator. …. and just as quick, we lost it only an hour later as we turned down into great Traverse Bay. We arrived without incident and tied up quickly.
Travel Day 65 - Leaving Traverse City
There was several days of unsettled weather coming up soon, so we decided to take advantage of the last calm morning to ‘stage’ ourselves far north on Grand Traverse Bay in anticipation a being able to head out and around the point as soon as the weather cleared. As predicted, the morning was calm with 5 mph N winds and flat water. We would only have a 3-1/2 hour travel day today to try to get a spot on the first come first serve breakwall in the harbor at Northport. All the other slips were full. We arrived before the official 11 check out time so there was no room for us right away. We stood by outside the Breakwater for 15 to 20 minutes until some other boats left for the day and we were able to get a great spot inside the breakwater on the wall.
Travel Day 66 - Leaving Northport
We set a destination of Frankfort today with some intermediate anchoring options since the weather was going to be questionable with regards to wind direction and wave heights. We decided we would just make our way south and read the water and radar along the way. We left just before first light and were barely able to see the day markers on the way out. We've lost about 45 minutes now of daylight "running time" as the summer days get shorter. The wind was initially 10 to 15 out of the North so it made running across the top of the peninsula (waves on the beam) a little uncomfortable until we turned South on the western side. We then had waves coming more from behind us. We plan to stop just in front of Sleeping Bear Dunes for some drone pictures. We picked up about a half a knot of boat speed for about 2 hours due to the current through Manitou Passage. We took a few pictures at Sleeping Bear Dunes, but the current and wind were quite strong, and it was difficult to keep things aligned and insure we could safely land the drone on the boat. By the time we got down to point Betsie, the waves from the stern quarter were really causing us to “fishtail” around and the autopilot was working hard to keep up. There were no slips available in Frankfort, so we put the anchor down in a popular anchorage inside the protected harbor at around 3:00pm.
Travel Day 67 - Leaving Frankfort
The day was going to be windy and rainy. High winds blowing out of the East for most of the morning. We decided to go anyway and hug the shoreline for protection from the wind and waves. We stayed about a half a mile offshore -- following the thirty-foot depth contour on the charts, and things were fairly calm most of the morning. An intense thunderstorm came through around 9 o'clock that lasted about 45 minutes, but we were safe and dry in the lee of the shore’s tall dunes. As soon as the first front passed and we thought we were done, another band showed up right behind it and provided us more rain for most of the rest of the trip. A grey, dreary day of travel. The winds and rain finally abated and the sun peeked out about 30 minutes prior to our arrival to the harbor --- as if perfectly planned and scheduled. Nice.
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Great Loop Travel Days (GLTD):
064: Traverse City MI from Charlevoix MI
065: Northport MI from Traverse City MI
066: Frankfort MI from Northport MI
067: Ludington MI from Frankfort MI
Map of our Overall Great Loop travel:
GLTD064 Traverse City MI (from Charlevoix MI): After holding up in Charlevoix an extra day due to predicted high waves out on the lake, we decided weather and waves were comfortable enough for us to continue south on the Michigan side of Lake Michigan.
We departed before first light to travel a few hours before any of the predicted wind and waves picked up. Our departure was illuminated by a full moon, the twinkling city streets, and the patriotically lit swing bridge.
We had an unremarkable day on Lake Michigan.
By early afternoon, we had arrived at Traverse City harbor. We encountered a few delays getting settled in:
We wanted to pump-out the holding take and top off fuel, but we had to wait in the fairway for about 30 minutes for several boats to be serviced at the fuel dock.
After we finished servicing at the fuel dock, we motored to our assigned slip, which was partially occupied by the dinghy of the neighboring boat. We tried contacting the marina staff both on VHF and phone, but got no answer, so we backed out all the way to the fuel dock and yelled out our request for a different slip to the attendant there. One of the staff didn’t seem to understand why we needed assistance; fortunately, another staff person located a nearby slip for us to use instead.
Well, as we tried to back into the slip, we got wedged between the finger pier and the center piling! It was 0.5” narrower than our boat. Ray was able to force the boat into what was supposed to be 16 feet wide slip that was obviously just shy of 16 feet.
In this photo, you can barely see the center piling that we were able to JUST squeeze past. SCOUT is 16 feet at the widest point. SCOUT was obviously wider than the slip.
On to our next dilemma…We planned 2 nights in Traverse City, which means we only had a day and a half to visit as many of the SEVEN (yes, 7) breweries in town as we could! 😊
1. North Peak Brewing Company is located in a historic c.1904 building which was formerly the Big Daylight Candy Factory. We walked the 3/4 mile to have lunch. We then walked another 1/2 mile to Ace Hardware to re-stock our fuel additive supply and to purchase spider spray and spider traps. (Notice an annoyance here?)
2. Not to Miss: Beverage: Rare Bird Brewpub is in a c.1931 building. We walked 3/4 mile to have a beverage before walking to another brewery for dinner. Rare Bird had a good selection of beers AND cocktails on tap. I highly recommend the *Nitro* Cold Brew Martini on tap!
3. The Filling Station Microbrewery is operated from a c.1927 railway station (and platform). We started walking toward The Filling Station, but found roads closed for construction a couple of blocks away. So, we back-tracked to Rare Bird and then walked a 1.4-mile detour, only to find there was a 1.5 hour wait for dinner AND no bar seating, even just to sample a beer!
As we stood at the hostess stand discussing our disappointment and next-steps plan, I asked the hostess again how long the wait would be to sit and have 1 beer. She then said, “Give us 5 minutes.” So, …. at least Ray could sample the beer! When we were directed to our seats at the bar, there were at least 8 seats open. I obviously don’t understand their seating process. 🤨
We decided to walk back to Rare Bird for dinner (even though it would be a LONG walk, back around the construction detour – on top of the 2+ miles we had already walked, around the detour).
4. Silver Spruce Brewing: Along the way back to Rare Bird, we passed right by this brewery. Even though I was getting VERY hungry, I “allowed” Ray to stop in for a small pour. 😊 Carolinas Connection: The couple who owns Silver Spruce met at a brewery in Asheville NC.
Not to Miss: Food: Rare Bird Brewpub offers Gluten Free buns, so we shared a delicious Lamb Burger. The Pecorino Garlic Dusted Frites were also delicious! By the time we walked back to the boat, we had walked 4.5 miles for this dinner outing! 😮 Thanks to construction on multiple bridges for at least 1.5 of those miles.
Kayaking: The next day, we paddled about 2 miles from the marina to Boardman River. You can see a construction worker up ahead on this bridge that we had to detour around last night.
Churches:
First Baptist Church c.1874 is the third oldest church building in Traverse City.
In the early years, congregants were baptized in the Boardman River (where we kayaked), according to a history written by C.S. Wright. Ref: https://www.record-eagle.com/news/body_and_soul/third-oldest-tc-church-gets-new-pastor/article_777b0783-a744-5a12-a919-245fd1266fa2.html
First Congregational Church c.1867 now forms the east wing of the Robert P. Griffin Hall of Justice…
…and a former Presbyterian Church makes up the west wing.
This site has a photo of the modern building flanked by the 2 churches: https://www.gtcountymi.gov/268/Holiday-Schedule
This site has an old postcard showing the 2 churches before they were transformed to a justice building: https://traversehistory.org/tours/
We continued our Traverse City brewery tour on our 2nd (final) night in port.
5. Fresh Coast Beer Works is in a c.1956 building. We walked uptown (fast – to beat the rain) to sample a beer before dinner. One unique “service” here is that, through their partnership with UBrew Homebrew Supply, you can buy the ingredients to make any Fresh Coast beers, and they will supply the recipe.
6. Mackinaw Brewing Company, in the c.1900 Beadle Building, is Traverse City's original brew pub. It seemed “franchise-y”, but we enjoyed the Smokehouse Sampler that we shared -- ribs, brisket and sausage.
7. The Workshop Brewing Company was just 1/2 mile from the marina.
We enjoyed a nice sunset on our last night in port.
GLTD065 Northport MI (from Traverse City MI): For a 4-hour trip to Northport, there was no need to leave early, so we did not set an alarm. We made a leisurely departure alongside many fishing boats in the harbor.
Just out from our destination harbor, Ray noticed this old building. My post-cruise research revealed that this is Gull Island (or Bellow Island). Gary L. Miller wrote about what he has learned of the island. The house was built around 1910 by Edward Taylor Ustick Sr. Before Miller’s research, he had heard stories that Ustick was driven off by the hoards of gulls using the island as a rookery. He tells another interesting account of why the owner abandoned the island. Ref: https://mynorth.com/2015/04/northports-gull-island-the-true-story/
We arrived at Northport Marina before noon and tied up to the wall of the breakwater. When I checked in, the harbormaster said, in an imitation southern drawl, “You talk funny.” 😊 He was very nice, obviously funny, and welcoming. SCOUT was on the outer wall of the very crowded marina (center of photo below).
Not to Miss: Food: We managed to get to Barb’s Bakery just before they closed. They had just 3 items left; I had to get them all. (Yes, I splurged on a little gluten. I actually split my donuts into “bites” then froze them to have occasionally with coffee. Yum!) These gorgeous flowers are on the little bridge that crosses a creek.
We enjoyed lunch at Garage Bar & Grill. They offered a good variety of food, and our lunch was good.
We stopped at Tom's Basket market on the way back from lunch for a few provisions. They had a large selection of things -- even a Gluten Free section!
🔷 Boater Tip: There is a supply of rugged wagons out front at Tom’s Basket, and we saw one parked at the marina.
We didn’t need a cart since we only needed a few items and had brought backpacks, but if you need groceries, you might ask the harbormaster (or call the store) to inquire about use of the carts.
Not to Miss: Food: For dinner, we walked back uptown to The Mitten Brewing Company. While they don’t have a kitchen, they have various food trucks adjacent to the brewery. The day we were there, The Big Hot Woody - North End Eatery was onsite making wood-fired pizzas – even Gluten Free cauliflower crust, which was awesome!
Back at our spot on the wall at the marina, we had a great view of a sailboat race on Grand Traverse Bay.
We thoroughly enjoyed our day in Northport MI. Such a quiet little town, and everything very much “in reach” … grocery, bakery, hardware, parks, trails, restaurants, brewery, ice cream shop …
But, we had to keep cruising while the water was flat and the lake was kind.
GLTD066 Frankfort MI (from Northport MI): We set our clocks and prepared to depart at “o’dark thirty” to beat the winds as we reentered Lake Michigan. Ray crab-crawled SCOUT sideways out from between 2 boats on the wall.
Leaving in the dark makes me think I’m going on a trip.
Remember those days -- growing up, when the family was driving to Disney World or you were going to youth camp, and you had to leave “bright and early”? Well, it wasn’t so “bright”, so I don’t know where that saying came from. 🤔
Occasionally I enjoy seeing our travel from the map perspective.
This screenshot was taken after we had been cruising over 2 hours from Northport – up and around the point.
Northport Marina is on the western shore of Grand Traverse Bay.
It took us 2 hours to travel north up the bay, then south down to the Lake Michigan side of Northport.
Deep Thoughts: A little later in the morning, the depth of Lake Michigan was almost 600 feet! No shoal-draft worries here!
📞 Future stay marina planning: I reserved a slip for 2 days in Ludington MI, where we planned to wait for better weather to continue cruising, and possibly head east across Lake Michigan to Wisconsin (if winds are from the east).
A few hours after departure, I tried to do some blogging, but there was just enough roll on the seas to interfere with my constitution. 🙁
By mid-morning, we were both hungry and decided to have an early lunch, so I took the helm while Ray made rice bowls with leftover curry chicken wings. Yum!
💗🤍💙
It was difficult for me to enjoy the trip, as I was pre-occupied with the situation in Afghanistan (explosions at the airport on 08/26/2021).
By mid-morning, we were surprised by the LARGE dunes! 😮 (Sorry, the smoke/haze interfered with photo quality.) Those little specs along the shoreline are people!
Just before noon, we headed close to shore at Sleeping Bear Dune, where Ray flew the drone for some still photos. The water was beautiful. From this view, I think I can see the dune extending under the water’s edge.
You can see on our tracklog where we deviated close by the dune for SCOUT’s “glamour shots”.
Sleeping Bear Dunes, as old as continental ice sheets […], are 450 feet tall. They are the world’s largest collection of freshwater sand dunes.
We had to get the selfie shot too. 😊
The Dune Climb is apparently sanctioned by the national park.
Look at all the people running down the slope!
I would maybe call it a “thong” of people. 😉
📞 Same-day marina planning: I tried a few days ago to get a slip in Frankfort, but they were full all weekend for a fishing tournament or something. By my second call mid-day today, 2 of the marinas I called were still full, so we just planned to anchor out in the harbor.
This is Point Betsie Lighthouse, operating continuously since 1858.
The trees provide a soft green backdrop.
Shortly beyond Betsie, we passed Frankfort North Pier Lighthouse and anchored in Betsie Lake.
The “blue” moon cast a rosy outlook over the sailors. (Ray was up later than usual to capture this photo. 😊)
GLTD067 Ludington MI (from Frankfort MI): We hauled anchor by 6:30. Heading out past all of the fishing boats to Lake Michigan, we noticed lightning in the distance. Hmmm….
Weather radar indicated we may get a little of the storm.
By 7:00, we had rain and 25-30 mph winds, but it was not too bad.
By 7:15, the storm appeared to be over, and we saw a full double rainbow. (I just couldn’t fit the whole rainbow in the frame.)
If a rainbow is like a comforting hug, this double rainbow was like a comforting bear hug. 😊
At 9:00 am, we were still watching storms form to the West and move towards us on the weather radar.
By 9:40 am, the second frontal storm was splitting in two, and we were hoping the worst parts would miss us to the south.
By 10:30 am, after having missed the severe bands of the first group of clouds, it looked like, again, we were going to JUST miss the severe portions (red) of the second group.
It was rainy, but, fortunately, seas were flat, since wind was mostly from the East and the high dunes offered some protection as we traveled south, staying close shore.
By noon, the sun was peeking through the clouds over Big Sable Light. Whew!
By early afternoon, SCOUT was docked at Ludington Municipal Marina. At this point, no longer a surprise, it was a very nice Michigan State DNR-supported marina.
We would be here for at least 3 nights, waiting for a good weather window to get back out onto Lake Michigan.
Finally, our farmers market drought ended! We walked a few blocks uptown to get some fresh veggies. Along the way, we stopped to look at a few RVs at an RV and boat show being held right at the marina!
Not to Miss: Food: For dinner, we walked about 1/2 mile to Ludington Bay Brewing Company. The food was great, and they have a large active venue – both inside and out.
The night we were there, we enjoyed live music from Michigan Mafia String Band.
The next day, we took a long humid walk (1.5 miles, one way) to Cartier Park Pathway -- to do more walking!
Not to Miss: Food: Luciano's Ristoranti offers Gluten Free pasta -- Score! On the way back from our long walk, we picked up take-out from here for lunch. Delicious! We both enjoyed our selections!
Challenge: I have been looking for GF pasta for many weeks. Now, to find GF pasta -- with “a la vodka” (pink) sauce – for the “win”.
Critter Update: The spider spray seems to have worked; we have eliminated several big spiders, but we have a few more to go.
Since we have killed 2 spiders from inside the windows, we also placed a few spider “papers” inside just to make sure no new spiders make it in. So far, so good -- no “catches”.
We think we picked up a large number of the spiders at a marina a week or so ago, and they have been making babies at various places on our boat all along the way. I think we are gaining on them, though.
S.S. Badger: After Ray’s awesome steak & potatoes dinner, I was able to video the S.S. Badger docking in Perre Marquette Lake.
The S.S. Badger is the last coal-fired passenger steamship in operation in the United States. She has provided a fun, reliable and affordable shortcut across beautiful Lake Michigan for more than 60 years. Originally designed to transport railroad cars, the 410ft. S.S. BADGER can accommodate 600 passengers and 180 vehicles, including; RVs, motorcycles, motor coaches, and commercial trucks. Ref: https://www.ssbadger.com/about/history/
The short video below shows the ferry entering the harbor and pivoting into her slip.
The harbor is so small that they actually drop the anchor partway in (!) so that they can use it to pivot the boat so the car ramp will be positioned at the dock.
It was funny to see the fishing boats completely ignoring this hulk of a ship coming in and only casually moving out the way at the very last minute to give them room.
At the end of the video, you see how the bow dock line gets over to the huge ‘dolphin’ (group of pilings for tie-off).
A crewman on the ferry throws one end of a small, light messenger line over to the dock hands.
The crewman then walks the messenger line up to the bow where another crewman connects the large dock line to the light messenger line and then releases the dock line.
The dock hands work hard to pull in as much of the messenger line as possible before the dock line drops into the water (when the line probably becomes heavier).
Our 3rd day in port, we went sightseeing at the waterfront park.
Flags were flying at half-mast for the soldiers lost in the airport bombing in Afghanistan. 😢
🟠 Life Afloat Tip: Loopers must find the best way to balance enjoyment of the loop with the stress of domestic and foreign affairs that are happening simultaneously.
Though it seems we are on a year-long vacation, life does go on outside of our boat. While it sometimes feels awkward to post blogs and photos celebrating our adventures, I believe we should always find joy in our journeys.
Ray had to get in on this “Hooked on Hamlin” sculpture by Stanley Proctor (Tallahassee FL). Hamlin Lake is nearby.
“A father may teach his son to fish, but a grandfather teaches him to fish for his dreams.” Chinese proverb.
And I had to get in on “Follow the Leader”, also by Stanley Proctor. There is purposely (I assume) an empty stone in the line for just this purpose.
For dinner, we went to Jamesport Brewing. I enjoyed another deconstructed gyro. This felt like more like a restaurant with brews on tap, than a brewery with food, but it was great nonetheless.
Docktails: When we got back to the marina, we enjoyed “docktails”, hosted by active loopers Adventure Awaits. There were several other active loopers in the marina: Summer Rain, Happiness Is, and Quite Nice. There were a couple of gold loopers (those who have already completed one loop) as well, including Sunshine Rose. (I can’t recall the other boat name. 🙁)
Much of the talk focused on the next day’s forecast. SCOUT had already decided to stay in port an extra day to wait out a forecast of 2-foot waves. These would be no problem for us from any direction but on the beam – which they were forecast to be.
🔷 Boater Tip: Significant Wave Height, commonly referred to as Seas in the Marine Forecast, is the average of the highest one-third (33%) of waves (measured from trough to crest) that occur in a given period. This is measured because the larger waves are usually more significant than the smaller waves. [… Be] aware that many individual waves will probably be higher.
SCOUT uses multiple wind forecast apps -- Windy, Predict Wind, and NOAA, as well as “local knowledge” (by talking to folks around the marina).Each uses different forecast models, so some user “averaging” is needed.
Following docktails, we saw a gorgeous sunset.
🛑 Weather Delay: As I mentioned, we decided to stay an extra day, waiting for better seas on Lake Michigan.
The next day, we took a stroll to the beach, where waves were CRASHING at the lighthouse. Sorry, no photo. 🙁 Between the strong wind and crashing waves, I was just trying to stay on the slippery break wall.
The cute couple from mv Quite Nice, the only looper boat still in port, joined us for dinner at Timbers Steak & Seafood. Among other things, we discussed forecast weather & seas for the next day’s travel. 😊
What’s next? This will probably be our last opportunity to cross over to Wisconsin before heading down the rivers. Again, weather – forecast wind and wave direction – will determine whether we travel the Michigan side or the Wisconsin side for the remainder of our travel south on Lake Michigan.
Watch for the next blog to see which way we travel next.
Click here to view our previous blog posts: https://n37scout.wixsite.com/travels/blog
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