A Earl Young designed house

Round Lake ,Charlevoix Mi.

View of Paridise Bay-Beaver Island

Beaver Island Marina

Mackinac Is.,Beaver Is.,and Charlevoix

We sailed away from our marina early Sat. a.m. after 3 days there. Yes, the sails went up right away-. sailing the straits of Mackinac and under the famous Machinac Bridge into the northren waters of Lake Michigan along the shipping route.. This was great only the fog also settled in around us so we had to be extra cautious to stay clear of the lake frieghters..We were thankful for radar and communicating captains.After the fog lifted we passed 2 more frieghters  at a good distance. We came to our next destination mid afternoon-- St. James harbour located in a bay at the north end of Beaver Island .A quiet and picturesque little community , a good place to spend our 2nd Sunday. We found an interesting museum that told a lot of the history of the Island especially the short stay of the Morman settlement there under the leadership of' King' Jesse James Strang.After they left a lot of Irishmen settled the island.. The ferry comes across from mainland 2 times a day in the open season. It comes from Charlevoix . This busy marina became our next destination. We had a nice sail from Beaver Island to Charlevoix on Monday morning.This busy marina and community is also a very friendly place. We toured a very classy art and antique store with mostly Dutch art and furniture. This store keeper recommended a Bistro in town. We enjoyed it very much.On Tues.after doing laundry and cleaning boat we toured the town and took photos of 'fairy tale' stone houses  with curved roofs- designed in the early 19oo's by Earl Young. Since the camera battery needed charging we headed out again in the eve.on the way back we heard music on the street .The street was closed down for a block  party which has become an annual event in this town.As we walked by- people stopped us and invited us to join them for food and drinks and local talent. we spoke with many more interesting people.We came back to do the blog. Our plans are to go to Leland,Michigan tomorrow. Now for some pics.

Sailing under Mackinac bridge

Elizabeth Bay to Mackinac Island

Saturday afternoon we made it to Elizabeth Bay along the north shore of Manitoulin Is.to Andy and Carolyn Bouwman and family's site. We had a great weekend and esp. Sunday with them.We're afraid we lost the photos on our camera from the last few days or we would certainly be posting some neat ones of our stay anchored off their campsite[lot]. From there we sailed to Thessalon on the mainland.,our last Canadian port. We were the only transient ship there. That evening the coastguard/ RCMP boat came in around 9p.m. Bill visited with one of the officers the next morning ,He also owned a sail boat.This port has good laundry facilities.yes we did laundry.
 Tuesday at about 11 a,m, we had a great sail to Drummond Island our port of entry into American waters. After talking to the customs officer we put up our crisp and clean stars and stripes American courtesy flag.The lady at the yacht haven desk recommended a lovely fine dinning restaurant and figured Bill should take me[us] out and rented us a car. It was worth the drive.
  Wed. a.m we worked our way over to Machinac Island. It was a workout.After making our way down the channel at Detour, down to the top west end of Lake Huron we were able to sail .The winds were brisk . they did get up to 25 knots and later we dealt with fog so we motor sailed with partial sails. We made it to the marina and the sun was shining. It felt like it's name 'Harbour of Refuge'.Today, Thursday is again a beautifull day and we spent a good part of the day soaking in the history and the quaintness of the island that has no motorized vehicles-lots of horses and bicycles.Tomorrow we plan to bike around the island.. Sat. to Beaver Island. , Lake Michigan. "til then.

Main St Mackinac

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View from the boat of the fort

The Benjamins,Gore Bay and previous pictures

Our first stop was Wingfield Basin,here's Shawnie at the light house and Adriana 1 in the bay.

Our send off Chris and Juanita and family

        We are making some headway with publishing photos,still lots to learn. The trip is going really well. We visited the beautiful Benjamin Islands ,a popular haunt for many boaters especially sailors.Did some walking over the rocks and toured the area with our dingy.Yesterday ,,Friday, we made our way over to the port of Gore Bay.Another sunny day .After stocking up on a few items Jim and Laurie Wells joined us  on our boat . They had moved to the Gore Bay Marina from Wiarton last year and love it up here.
   Today is overcast and raining a little. We plan to go to Elizabeth Bay today to share today and Sunday with the Bouwmans [from our church]. It'll be good to visit with them.Good bye for now.

The adventure begins

We are excited to share with you that we are on our way.On Monday ,Aug.15 we embarked on our sailing trip "The Great American Loop".
 Chris and Juanita and family brought us to our marina in Wiarton.They, Diane B and some of our neighbouring boaters gave us the send off.We set out shortly after 9 a.m. and were able to sail out of Colpoy's Bay-- but had to motor our way to our first destination-Wingfield Basin-at the Cabot Head[east side of Bruce Peninsula.We toured the Lighthouse museum.
 After a good nights rest we started out at 8 a.m. Tues. for Killarney. We had a great sail most of the way We love this port and scenic channel and area. Our plans are to go to the Benjamins tomorrow D.V.
 We're having a little learning curve trying to get this together so the photos may come later. au revoir

Count Down is ON!

Shawnie and I are only 9 days away from beginning our sailing adventure on Adriana1. We will be informing you all about this adventure on this new blog site.  Please stay tuned.