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 98. 2nd year. August 27. On to Manistee. Miles 25 Total miles. 3910.

We weighed anchor on a sunny 50 degree morning. So we put on our sweatshirts and drove from below as we left Frankfort. Going through Frankfort’s channel and breakwater we encountered a few intrepid fisherman and further along as we cleared the breakwater there must have been over a hundred fishing boats. Almost like playing bumper cars, but with boats. Had to negotiate a path between them as the fishing boats were all trolling fishing lines behind them. We were still seeing fishermen 4 miles south of Frankfort. These guys sure take their fishing tournaments seriously! The shoreline that we pass heading south are still sand dunes bluffs some as tall as 200 feet. As we travel, we pass the small town of Arcadia and Portage Lake, each situated on an inland lake which is connected to Lake Michigan by a dredged channel. Interesting to note that the dredged channels were originally small rivers connecting the inland lakes to Lake Michigan. As we passe...

Crustacean Travels

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