Day 45-46. 2nd year. July 4-5. On to Midland and lay day in Midland. 9 miles. Total. 3401

Here are some drone shots from the previous day anchorage at Chimney Bay which did not make the post from yesterday.

July 4

Another bright sunny day greets us as we weigh anchor and head back to Midland's Bay Port Marina. this is our last full day with our son, Kyle aboard.

We settled in at the dock and then took our rental car into town to explore. Had lunch at Phil's Pub, a local favorite, and wandered a bit through town. There were some impressive brick homes just outside of downtown atop the hill and brick/stone city hall and library.

We then took off for the Huronia Museum which has

1. A replica of a 1500's Mendat Village complete with palisades, longhouse, wigwam, sweat lodge, and shaman lodge, as well as, birch bark canoes, lookout towers, game area and of course gardens for growing, squash, corn, and beans.

2. Maritime history of Lake Huron from pictures and artifacts of steamships, tugboats, canalers (narrow boats that plied the canals), to the large freighters who carried the grain, and wood products. Also had the uniforms and memorabilia from naval personnel who served in Lake Huron.

3. Huronia Indian and early settlers artifacts and tools and artwork. Had some impressive samplers from the early 1800's which did not show in the photo very well.

Next we visited the Martyr's Shrine which sits atop a great hill over looking Midland Bay. The church and shrine were built in 1920. The church is an imposing stone cathedral which has an interior entirely of wood- ceilings, floors, and pews and altars, all wood, and beautiful stained glass windows.

After our afternoon of playing tourist, we retired to the boat to relax, have dinner, and play Yahtzee. Kyle beat the pants off of both Bill and I. Bill likes to think he let him win, but I know better.

July 5

Returned Kyle to the Toronto airport early this morning. Was fun to share our adventure with him and give him a taste of living the lake lifestyle in Canada! He even collected a few rocks and a walking stick along the way.

Returning to the boat, we stopped at the grocery store and then did chores. Not too exciting! Am getting ready for our next guests, my sister Kathy and her husband Dick.

Met two more Loopers, who visited us by dinghy. They were traveling with another boat and they began their journey in Chicago, so they are almost done with the Loop.

As we had a rental car, we ate lunch out, a real treat. We then drove a bit downtown and found lovely homes and gardens and a waterfront filled with marinas and parks, as well as mural painted silos left from the days where grain and wood pulp were shipped by boat from Midland. Also enjoyed viewing the many murals on the sides of the businesses downtown.

The city has lots of murals downtown which depict the history of Midland- its lighthouse and shipping economy.

June 4-5. Day 63-64. On to Cape May New Jersey. 53.4nm. Total 1534 miles.

Left Delaware City at 5:35am to be able to take advantage of the strong currents going with us while traversing Delaware River and Delaware Bay. The Delaware River goes south about 15 miles and flows into the Delaware Bay. As we travel south, New Jersey is to the east and Delaware is to our west. We are traveling just outside the shipping channel and are really moving at 10.9 knots. That is three knots faster than we normally travel, as the outgoing tides are pushing us along. Nice to have Mother Nature helps us save on fuel. The Delaware River is about 8 miles wide so there is plenty of room for the freighters and the pleasure boats. So far, we have not encountered any commercial traffic, but there is a large freighter behind us that will eventually pass us as they travel at 14 knots. The Delaware Bay proper varies from 23-29 miles wide and 26 miles long. There are five lighthouses on the Delaware marking the shipping channel. We went by Ship J...

Reflections on the Bahamas

Reflections on the Bahamas Over the past 10 weeks, we have traveled through Abaco, Eleuthera and Exuma Islands and enjoyed the hospitality of the Bahamian people. We have learned all about the islands, its unique geography - limestone, caves, blue holes and chalk cliffs; and colorful history-pirates and rum running, salt ponds and cotton plantations, boat building and wrecking/salvage. Traveling over 1300 miles through narrow cuts and wide bays to vast depths of ocean, we negotiated the islands and found safe harbors, calm coves for anchoring, bays filled with moorings and marinas large and small. This trip required us to pay close attention to the weather, the tides and currents as we traveled between and through the islands. The Bahamian people are warm and friendly, willing to give us rides, advice and directions, as well as some secret recipes!! We enjoyed hiking trails, walking the beaches, snorkeling the coral rocks and reefs, discovering ruins and ol...

Day 64-65. May 25-26. On to Peck Lake, Jupiter, FL and then on to Indiantown/ Okeechobee Waterway. Miles 63.5/ 29.1 Total Miles 1122.1/1142.0

Day 64 We started early to get ahead of the holiday boat traffic. Weighing anchor at Lake Sylvia in Fort Lauderdale, we traveled on the Intracoastal Waterway past the iconic Pier 66 Tower and Bahia Mar Marina. We then turned north and passed the older sections of the city - Las Olas( older homes), Galt Ocean Mile (one mile of condominiums on the beach), and the famous miles of beaches on the Atlantic. I used to live here in the early 70's and the biggest change I see is the older smaller homes on the water are being replaced with larger versions and a few more condo towers have been built. As we go further north towards Commercial Blvd, North Fort Lauderdale, and Pompano Beach and its Lighthouse at the cut, there is less reconstruction. The next town we traveled through was Boca Raton with its Spanish architecture, Camino Real and its landmark tower. The sand bar at the cut was just beginning to fill up with Memorial Day revelers as we went by. Next were t...

Crustacean Travels

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