Lake MIchigan

We crossed the border from the North Channel of Lake Huron, Canada into Michigan, on July 18. Then we headed to Mackinac Island.

Crossing the Border

Crossing the Border by boat requires using the CBP ROAM mobile application. "Download the CBP ROAM app and create an account on login.gov. Fill out the traveler and vessel information in the app. Once in the US waters, report your arrival through the app. A CBP Officer will review your submission and may initiate a video interview if necessary."

We found this process very frustrating. It required entering and submitting our information multiple times, only to have the CBP officer deny the request because the video link was not working to initiate the video interview. After repeating this effort several times, we were able to reach a CBP officer by phone. In the meantime, we are hanging out in the channel trying to dodge other boaters, stay off of shoals, etc. After multiple phone calls and a lengthy phone interview, we were finally verified without the video. Now it looks like the video interview is no longer "required". It was exasperating. But, it felt good to be back in the USA and beyond the border crossing ordeal, once again!

Mackinac Island

In the background you can see the Grand Hotel, which has 393 guest rooms. Each room is unique. Royalty and celebrities can afford to stay there with off-season rates starting at $199 per person per night. Horse and buggies can cart you around the island if you don't wish to walk or bicycle. No cars are allowed. We docked at the Mackinac Island State Harbor, and getting off the boat, I met a new friend who has grown up going there several times a year. She showed me around, told me some of the local Island lore and took me on a walking and biking tour. This is Mackinac Island’s Grand Hotel 'Secret Garden’. They don't advertise how to get there. We wandered around the grounds, followed a inconspicuous path around some trees which opened up to the Secret Garden. What a find!

Mackinac Island is a huge tourist draw with several ferry companies carting folks back and forth to the Island. It has lots of shops, including over a dozen fudge shops. After sampling several, and buying a few, my vote goes to double dark chocolate expresso fudge!

St. Ignace, Chebogan, and Mackinaw City

The advantage of the Mackinac Island marina is that you are right there! Something to see is happening right in front of the boats, and no time is required to travel there or back. On the other hand, the docks are narrow, tall, hard for the dog to get off and on the boat, and the constant wave activity from the ferries and current continually knocked the boat around. You definitely felt the commotion, especially when trying to sleep! After two nights, we moved to the marina at St Ignace. It was much calmer, and you could still watch all the boat and ferry traffic traveling back and forth to the Island. 

We've discovered finding a place and a person to work on the boat is a project, but Keith was able to make an appointment to get some maintenance work done at Cheboygan.  So, we headed east from St Ignace for 20 miles on July 24, (which took about 2.5 hours), to Walstrom Marine. We had an AIS (Automatic Information System) installed (which was recommended to have done before reaching the Mississippi River- so our location would show up on the GPS/radar of the big, commercial vessels), moved the control panel for the inverter so it doesn't require Keith going down into the engine compartment to turn it on and off, and smaller projects like changing the oil and fuel filters, replacing the anchoring light, repairing the macerator pump and trying to fix a leak in the heat exchanger.  (Looks like we need a new heat exchanger, because the leak was not repairable). Anyway, we "returned" to Mackinaw City (across the Straits of Mackinac from St. Ignace) and were ready to start our trip down the east side of Lake Michigan by the beginning of August!

Lake Michigan

Capt. John's "The Looper's Companion Guide" recommends first-time Loopers travel down the eastern side of Lake Michigan because the eastern shore is sandy, whereas the western side is rocky. That was a good enough reason for us! The other point the boating guide made is that weather changes can be very quick and squalls and lightning pop up with little notice. We also noticed that changes in wind direction, added to the regular swells on the lake, made for squirrelly waves and rough travel. We planned our stops accordingly, to minimize travel time in rough water by taking short hops, keeping an eye on the weather forecast and taking advantage of "good" travel days: when waves were NOT out of the west, and preferably less than a foot. We need to match this up with where we were able to get reservations. Cancelling reservations risks losing money if reservations are not refundable. 

Normally, you wouldn't make  reservations more that a few days ahead, due to unpredictable travel conditions.  BUT, this year, the locks around Chicago have been closed since the beginning of June, and won't open until the beginning of October (HOPEFULLY). So, marina reservations along Lake Michigan are filling up. To avoid the risk of marinas being full, lots of Loopers have been making reservations as far as we can travel, and plan to wait out at a nearby marina until the locks open. 

So, we are slowly traveling down the east shore of Lake Michigan to Hammond, Indiana, where we will wait for the locks to open. Adverse travel conditions have required multiple phone calls to adjust reservations and hopefully avoiding costly fees for not showing up at pre-planned stops. 

Along the Way

July 31           Mackinaw City to Petoskey                          52 miles        6.5 hours

August 5         Petoskey (Bay Harbor Marina)

                        to Charlevoix                                               15 miles           2 hours

August 8         Charlevoix to Leland                                   35 miles        4.5 hours 

August 9         Leland to Frankfort                                      41 miles           5 hours

August 11       Frankfort to Manistee                                   29 miles           4 hours

August 13       Manistee to Ludington                                 26 miles        3.5 hours

August 15       Ludington to Pentwater                               14 miles            2 hours

August 16       Pentwater to Montague (Whitehall)            37 miles         4.5 hours

August 18       Ellenwood Landing (Whitehall) to 

                        Harbour Towne Marina (Muskegon)          19 miles         2.5 hours  

August 21       Muskegon to Grand Haven                         16 miles            2 hours

August 25       Grand Haven to South Haven                     48 miles            6 hours

August 26       South Haven to West Basin (St. Joe)          24 miles            3 hours

August 30       St. Joseph to Michigan City, Indiana          36 miles         4.5 hours

September 10 Wash. Park(MichiganCity) to Hammond   32 miles            4 hours

Bay Harbor: searching for Petoskey stones: fossilized coral. It is the state stone of Michigan. Look along the rocky shoreline, because, when wet, the "eyes" really stand out. I learned that the "big" eyed stones are referred to as Petoskey stones, and the "small" eyed stones are referred to as Charlevoix stones.

Charlevoix - arrived before our slip was available, so decided to try out the anchor mechanism. Decided the chain was OK, but the rode (rope) needed to be replaced. Good to figure this out before we got into the river system south of Chicago where we will need to use this!

The towns we visited had lots of charm.  We felt welcome and met interesting people. It has been a wonderful part of our trip, in spite of the often windy weather, that made traveling down the lake a little stressful.

Ellenwood Landing (Whitehall) - finally gave up chasing all the seam leaks on the inflatable dingy. Found a Walker Bay 10' rigid dingy on Craigslist, which the sellers delivered to us at the marina. 

Grand Haven

A nightly show directly across the river from the Municipal marina with water and lights, synchronized to a variety of music. The 20 minute show plays at dark from Memorial Day through Labor Day. And its free, It's been a local tradition for over 60 years. An unexpected treat across from the Grand Haven Marina. 

South Haven 

A picture of our boat at the South Haven Marina with our "new" Walker Bay dingy on the back.

St Joseph

Nice sandy beach on a sunny day. We stayed an extra day or so due to winds and waves that created "no travel" days.  So we missed seeing New Buffalo and went to Michigan City next.

Michigan City, Indiana 

Our Friends Doug and Mindy Hasse on SoulShine. We first met them on the Hudson River at Hyde Park when Keith walked up to them as strangers and tried to get Mindy to go to the Culinary Institute lunch reservation with me in his place. We also met at Kingston (NY), Orilla (Canada),  Macinaw City. South Haven, St. Joseph (MI),  Michigan City, and Hammond (IN). This picture is with their 13-year basset hound Amelia, who sadly passed away.