Bouncing Along Michigan

8/27/11 Saturday     Irish Boat Shop is a working boat yard that doesn't have many slips that will accommodate Tourist thus they put us on the wall next to the travel lifts. Tight but not too bad. They did offer a 20 percent Looper discount for overnights.

Tighter than it looks.

Bru & Sandy had access to a car that one of the slipholders let them use during their stay. Nice! Since we had wheels we went for a drive around Charlevoix. A picturesque little harbor town with a beautiful waterfront and some unusual homes that resemble a mushroom.

Mushroom home.

Downtown waterfront.
The whole area is a vacation mecca with golf, water sports, winter sports, and the usual stores that go with a tourist hot spot. We finished the day with cocktails (Like you couldn't guess!) on Coconuts.

8/28/11 Sunday     At a little after 9 we wiggled our way out of the Irish Boat Shop marina and headed to the draw bridge hoping to make the 9:30 opening. Just as we entered Round Lake and had the bridge in sight at 9:28 it started to open and let 3 boats through. We were only a couple hundred yards from it when it started coming back down. Drats! Nothing to do but float around until 10am and look at the downtown and surrounding area.

Charlevoix bridge.

We finally got through the bridge and back onto Lake Michigan. Our destination today. Leland and it's Fishtown area. Seas were forecasted to be 1' to 3' coming from the north. That meant following seas for Tourist. Something that makes her tail swing back and forth like the pendulum on a clock. We applied enough speed to minimize the swinging and made our way to Leland arriving a little after noon. Once Tourist was secured we headed to town. About a hundred yards away!
We walked through the Fishtown area to Rick's Cafe.

Fishtown.

Rick's Cafe.

Once inside we perused the menu and decided to order a couple of Chubby Mary's to get things started.

Chubby Mary's. Is that a fish in there? Rick, he's looking at me!

Which is Chubby and who is Mary?

Lunch was great as were the Chubby's and it took every ounce of my will power to keep from going back to the boat and taking a nap. Leland is a neat little town with touristy shops, grocery store, and fish market all within easy walking distance from the marina.

Looking out over the marina to the Lake.

8/29/11 Monday     We were hoping to sneak across the lake to the Door County area of Wisconsin today but with a forecast of 2' to 4' seas we decided to continue heading south. We passed the Sleeping Bear Dunes area and tried to figure out what drug the person was on who thought the dunes resembled a sleeping bear.

Sleeping Bear Dunes. A big pile of sand.

Our ride was smooth until we rounded Betsie Point then the water became confused with waves coming at us from the front and from the side. For the last leg of the journey it was like being in a washing machine. The breakwater at Manistee was a welcome sight as we slid in between the protective rocks. We quickly found our marina and got secured. We weren't in any danger on the lake, just an uncomfortable ride that we were glad to be done with.