Sailing the Top of Michigan

By Howard and Kathy Staley

After three weeks and 520 sea miles, Kathy and I completed a fun filled, adventuresome, relaxed and occasionally high adrenaline sailing trip, from Northern Lake Huron (the port of Little Current on Manotulin Island in the North Channel), to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

When was this trip ? It started in mid August and ended in the first week of September, this year (2009)

(Please note that some of the geographic references in the text are coded to the map below, as (A), (B), etc. )

What was the route ? From the North Channel of Lake Huron (B), proceed west; continue west under the Mackinaw Bridge (F), entering Lake Michigan (G). Continue west into Green Bay (H). Then go south through Green Bay and into Lake Michigan at Sturgeon Bay (J), and on to Milwaukee, Wisconsin (M).

From North Channel of Lake Huron (B), upper right, to Milwaukee (M), lower left.

Since the boat was equipped with a chart plotter, the helm navigation was fairly straightforward, that is, set the next waypoint then follow the line; however, we used paper charts for planning the next day’s

journeys, and we maintained a paper chart plot of our movement.

On What Kind Of Boat ? A 4 year old Catalina 350, named “Sheet Music”, equipped with mast furling mainsail, radar and autopilot, chart plotter, etc.

Who was Crew ? The boat owners, Dick and Jen, friends of ours, who live in Arizona and home-port their boat in Milwaukee. They sail the Great Lakes every summer from June to September. Kind’a their floating summer cottage. Just a note (pardon the pun) about Dick and Jen. They are accomplished vocal performers and have an extensive barbershop singing background. They currently sing duets with Dick on the guitar. Hence the boat’s name, Sheet Music. They practice their singing daily, and they perform throughout their North Channel trips in peoples’ homes and at parties. The picture is them performing at an end-of-year party, in Little Current, given by Roy Eaton, the Little Current Cruiser’s (radio) Net producer and host.

Dick and Jen Singing at Roy Eaton’s Party

Kathy and Howard were the additional crew.

Back in August, Dick and Jen were looking for crew to help them sail the boat back to its homeport for winter lay up. A couple of weeks later we stepped aboard Sheet Music at Little Current.

How did we get to Little Current (B), ? It’s easy. From Cincinnati, go up Interstate 75 to Detroit, then take I 94 to Port Huron, then on to the Canadian highways to Tobermory (A) at the Northern tip of the Bruce Peninsula. (about a 10 hour trip) Then, take the Chi-Chemonn ferry across to Manatoluin Island (about 2 hours), then an hour’s auto trip to Little Current.

Tobermory to Manatoluin Island Ferry

Cruise Ship at docks of Little Current

If you have the time, just the road trip to Tobermory is a vacation in itself. Gunkholeing (by car) Canada’s Lake Huron port towns of Goderich, Kincardine, Port Elgin, and Wireton could easily fill a week. After our day’s road trip, spending a nice evening at dinner overlooking Tobermory’s harbour, then enjoying a relaxing misty morning in Tobermory was worth the trip alone. Tobermory, like the other towns mentioned, is a beautiful and quaint Canadian port town with its bustling harbour serving both commercial and recreational boaters. The town is splendidly isolated sitting at the very tip of the Bruce Peninsula. The “flower pot” islands just off the mainland are interestingly unusual rock formations; the area is also a scuba diving mecca both for the natural underwater formations and for the many shipwrecks of these waters.

Since our plan was to finish the boat trip in Milwaukee, we did not want our car waiting for us in Tobermory. To solve this problem, we got friends to drive us to Tobermory, drop us off, then they drove back to Cincinnati. Worked out great for us, and they also saw a bit of Canada and Lake Huron’s pristine shoreline.

How was the Sailing Trip ? Just to set the record straight, it was not so much of a sailing trip as it was a motoring trip. That’s the way most long destination oriented trips seem to go. That is, you don’t always go where the wind blows; you go where your next destination is, either by sail or by motor. In the 23 days away from home, we spent the first 4 days sailing and overnighting in North Channel anchorages. We returned to Little Current to attend the previously mentioned Cruiser’s Net party. Then, we embarked on 15 days of sailing to Milwaukee. Of the voyage, 5 days were under sail alone and about 6 days by motor or motor sailing. While in transit, we had only two weather days when we couldn’t sail (and one gale force wind day when we should not have sailed…but did), and two planned relaxation layover stays, one on Mackinaw Island (F) and the other at Fayette (H).

How Were The underway Days Spent ?

Little Current (B) to Gore Bay (C)- Day one, we had a relaxing sail west from Little Current, Manitoulin Island, about 30 miles, to Gore Bay, Manitoulin Island).

Entering Gore Bay provided some excitement as a squall set in and visibility went to about zero; but as squalls often do, it cleared up quite fast. However, shortly after we got tied up dockside, winds picked up to 45MPH which made us quite happy not to still be on the open water. Gore Bay is the capital city of the Island and an attractive town worth visiting for more than just an overnight. So we stayed. The high winds and rain the next kept us there.

Gore Bay Harbour

We had a great time visiting their farmer’s market (which is always a good thing to do at the beginning of a two week boat trip). Their historical museum (which is in the old stone jail building), their restaurants and their hiking trails (between rain storms) kept us busy. Swapping stories with other boaters, who were also waiting out the weather, is always a good pastime.

Gore Bay (C) to Meldrum Bay (D)- Sailed about 35 miles west along the Northern shore of Manitoulin Island, motor and sail.

Meldrum Bay is located at the far western end of Manitoulin Island. It is a very small village with rather “rough” municipal docks. However, it is a wonderful place to overnight and browse the entire community. It is easily done in a short walk. There is a General Store with anything you need (not necessarily everything you want), a museum, an inn and restaurant and a dock master’s office. That’s it!

Meldrum Bay’s Docks were, ‘ahem, “Basic”

The Inn called the Meldrum Bay Inn is a do-not-miss!!! stop for any traveler. The two story inn has a gourmet restaurant, serving great lakes whitefish along with home baked pastries. On the long front porch, with tables and views of the harbour, there are hummingbird feeders hanging every 8 feet on the outer perimeter. Kathy was, of course, very happy. There is also an interesting museum at the Fishing Net Shed showing the history of the area. As with this whole area, lumbering and commercial fishing was the reason for the community’s original founding. Meldrum Bay is a must stop for seeing old Manitoulin Island living.

Meldrum Bay (D) to De Tour Village, Michigan (E) – Continue about 55 miles west, motoring in light winds.. Upon leaving Meldrum Bay it was a bit hazy which contributed to our first “out of sight of land” conditions for an extended period of time. While Dead Reckoning Navigation is more fun, the chart plotter and radar certainly helps relive anxiety. Even with the electronic navigation aids we still maintained a paper chart plot of our entire voyage.

After clearing customs at Drummond Island, we proceeded another two hours to DeTour Village where we docked for the night.

While at Drummond Island and later at Mackinaw Island, we met a New Zealand couple and their two teenage children who traveled from New Zeland to Florida, bought a metal home- made trawler, and are now traveling the “Great Loop”, that is, up the east coast, across New York and the Great Lakes to Chicago, down the Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee Rivers to the Tenn-Tom Waterway to Mobile Bay and on to Florida. (Tenn-Tom web link:

http://www.tenntom.org/MAINPAGES/ttwhome.html ) The trawler was home built on a farm, in Zanesville, Ohio. At the completion of their loop trip, they will sell the boat and return home to New Zealand. It is so fascinating to meet travelers like this.

Steel Trawler with the New Zealand Sailors

Since the channel that separates De Tour Village from Drummond Island is the commercial shipping channel between Lake Superior and the lower lakes, it excited this midwesterner’s spirit to watch the thousand footer bulk freighters and ocean going ships pass close by us throughout the evening. On this Sunday night De Tour Village was not exactly full of nightlife so we turned-in at sunset in preparation for an early morning start to Mackinaw Island.

De Tour Village (E) to Mackinaw Island (F) – Continued about 35 miles westerly, all motoring in light winds. We then docked at the town docks of Mackinaw Island. This is planned to be a two night stay so we can fully enjoy the Island. The first evening’s meal was whitefish, of course. The Village Inn has the best !! The next day we took the horse drawn carriage island tour (there are no cars/trucks on the island). In a tourist stop area, where many horse carriages congregate, our carriage driver instructed us that as we depart the carriage and walked around, “to not splash in the puddles because it hadn’t rained here for several days” Eh, Eh.

Mackinaw Island is beautiful, tasteful and elegant, and is lavishly painted with colorful gardens and plantings. It is a terrific place just to walk, talk and enjoy where you are.

Entering Mackinaw Island Harbor

August 25^th is slightly after season so the crowds were not pressing. Also, we ate our limit of fudge, along with other healthy goodies. We left Mackinaw Island early on the second morning to make the crossing to Beaver Island.

Mackinaw Island (F) to Beaver Island (G) – Continued westerly about 45 miles both sailing and motoring. The first excitement of the day was sailing under the Mackinaw Bridge. We’ve driven over it many times, and always wanted to sail under. This was the time !! What a thrill.

Approaching the Mackinaw Bridge en route to Beaver Island

Under the bridge is where you leave the waters of Lake Huron and enter the northern waters of Lake Michigan. Next stop is Beaver Island. Most of the trip was in the busy commercial shipping channels that are narrowed by shoal waters. In this area of Lake Michigan there are several light houses built directly on the water marking the shoals in this important area of high commercial shipping traffic.

Gray’s Reef Light House – Lake Michigan

Even with only 4 1/2 foot draft we paid close attention to the water depth. When on watch, the main job was to keep a lookout for the large lake freighters since we were continually in the commercial shipping channel during this leg of the trip. Once you sight a freighter you must constantly track its’ bearing, from you, to determine if you are on a collision course. They move very fast compared to a small sailboat.

Beaver Island was a special stop on this trip. Kathy and I have wanted to visit here for many years, ever since we heard a lecture about its’ geography and history at a Cincinnati Nature Center travel lecture.

Beaver Island is steeped in interesting history, particularly the Mormon settlement in the mid 1800’s. See this link: http://www.beaverisland.net/History/ The September, 2009 issue of Sail Magazine, page 42, has an excellent article describing Beaver Island. The island is well worth visiting for a couple of days.

Loading Lumber at the Beaver Island Docks

Beaver Island has a fascinating historical museum, good eating places, and do take an island tour (we didn’t since good weather had us leaving the next day). We did, however, have a nice visit to the island health clinic where a kindly and very skilled nurse extracted a piece of wooden pier piling (aka., a major splinter) that had jammed itself fully up and under my ring finger’s fingernail. Ouch !! As I was adjusting the dock lines, let’s just say that I was careless. The nurse at the clinic was delightfully candid. As she examined my red, swollen and quite tender finger, she simply smiled, looked me in the eye and said “this is going to hurt”. It was refreshing to have somebody tell you exactly where you stood. Anyway, she started to dig…… until I cried “uncle”; then she inserted a needle full of Novocain into my finger. After that nothing hurt. Later we had a good dinner at the Shamrock Inn then off to Sheet Music’s quarter berth with one hand soaking in hot Epsom salt water and the other hand holding a good Nevil Shute book. The next morning we made an early departure for the 80 mile Lake Michigan crossing.

Beaver Island (G) to Fayette, Michigan (H) – Again west for about 80 miles with little sailing. The crossing was uneventful in flat water, and we were out of sight of land for most of the day. It was peaceful because we were no longer in the commercial shipping channel. The auto pilot and chart plotter did their job and we relaxed (of course still maintaining a lookout).

Fayette, Michigan’s harbor is a destination that we have wanted to visit, by boat, from when we first started visiting its adjoining state park over 18 years ago. It is a natural, totally protected harbor, that served an iron smelting “company town” in operation from 1870’s to 1890’s. See this link: http://www.absolutemichigan.com/destination/fayette/ The docks are bare bones, that is, no water or electric or bath/showers although the docks themselves are excellent. Dockage for a 35 ft boat was only $24/night. Fayette State Park is a restored historical village, a harbor and state park campground; with its isolation it is very lightly used and therefore offers a quiet marina and campground. The harbor holds only about 10 boats. There were four other sailboats and a couple of trawlers at the dock. We have stayed at the campground many times, once while towing our own sailboat and using it as a pop-up camper at a campsite in the campground. It created a conversation piece not only with other campers but also with some boat people who were at the docks and came to the campground to see this boat that was being used as a camper.

Fayette Harbor & Docks

A view from the Fayette Docks. Historic Building is the iron smelting furnace dating from the 1800’s

We revisited all the historical buildings since they are continually being refurbished. The buildings include an iron smelter, coke ovens, hotel, employee homes, opera house, etc. Dick and Jen had not been here so we enjoyed showing them around. This was a planned two-day stay to relax and immerse ourselves in Fayette’s history. On the second morning we left early since the winds were forecasted to pick up in the afternoon.

Fayette, Michigan (H) to Washington Island, Wisconsin (I) – Proceeded about 35 miles due south, all sailing. The forecast called for strong Northerly winds in the afternoon so we left early. However, after about only an hour underway the winds picked up rapidly and never let up. Following a half hour fight to get the sails reefed we settled into a routine of surfing off the front of 10 foot waves being propelled by following winds of up to 60 mph. With the mainsail fully furled and with a very small headsail out we were making good 7 plus knots. When the winds occasionally eased to 35 mph I can’t believe that I thought to myself “oh boy, this is nice and calm”….. everything is relative. Oh well, since I proceeded to get sea sick I didn’t much care after that anyway. Dick handled the helm magnificently and we finally got into the lee of Washington Island which calmed the waves, then on into a marina by about 1500, a.k.a., 3:00PM.

Washington Island is the island just 7 miles north of the tip of Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula. Washington Island’s isolation from the mainland is much of its’ allure. See the following link: http://www.washingtonislandchamber.com/ We spent two nights there as the weather kept us tied to the dock. This turned out to be a bountiful gift, as we had a wonderful time making several new friends and thoroughly exploring the Island. We were befriended by an island couple who had an interest in music, as do the owners of “Sheet Music”. These folks took us to an evening island musical program, then to a couple of bars/restaurants to see the local night life, Then another journey the next day, for an all afternoon personally escorted tour of the island then later to their home for drinks and conversation. One legendary bar we visited, Nelsons Hall, “encourages” new arrivals to drink up a whole shot of straight Bitters. Ugh! Therefore, with the social pressure on us, we consumed a full shot of Bitters each, and in return received a round of applause and personal ID cards attesting to our “good sense”. I like bitters, however, usually encapsulated in whiskey and sweet vermouth, with a cherry or two. Washington Island’s European history starts in the 1800’s and has an Icelandic and Scandinavian origin. Much of the architecture reflects this heritage.

Washington Island’s Stave Church, a replica of one in Borgund, Norway

It was a memorable visit and we look forward to returning. After our second night at the dock, we got underway for the next port, Sturgeon Bay.

Washington Island (I) to Sturgeon Bay (J) –About 45 miles, due south, all motoring because of very light winds. In Sturgeon Bay we docked at a luxurious commercial marina, with saunas showers, lounge, restaurant, etc.

Sturgeon Bay has a history steeped in shipbuilding since the 1800’s. It is presently the winter lay-up port to many Great Lakes bulk freighters. We saw several of them nested side-by-side, laid up for this year’s sailing season, probably because of the current economic downturn.

Sturgeon Bay has a shipbuilding tradition that included building WWII US Navy combat ships and more recently the mammoth Lake freighters. Within walking distance is a comprehensive maritime and area history museum.

On a walking tour into town, across the river, we wound up at a pub called The Nautical Inn which had everything a sailor would need, especially its’ Tuesday night, all-you-can-eat crab legs.

Sturgeon Bay, Lake Freighters Laid Up for the Season

Like most ports, Sturgeon Bay should be visited for at least two nights. However, we had to go when the weather was good, so the next morning, it was out onto the waters of Lake Michigan to Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

Sturgeon Bay (J) to Manitowoc (K) – About 55 miles, due south, all motoring. While leaving Sturgeon Bay through the Sturgeon Bay Cannel (proceeding to Lake Michigan) we saw a bald eagle. Kathy was happy. We turned to starboard and motored south, down Lake Michigan in flat waters.

Manitowoc is an industrial town with a very large Budweiser plant on the waterfront. The municipal docks are very nice, and are located alongside a city park. Like many Great Lakes port towns, Manitowoc has been a shipbuilding center from the 1800’s. During WWII, ships ranging from Landing Crafts to Submarines were built here. Currently Burger Yachts still builds very large yachts in Manitowoc.

Downtown Manitowoc has an old-fashioned chocolate candy/ice cream store. It is a must stop!! Manitowoc is at the mouth of Manitowoc River. Its’ bridges are lighted at night with blue lights on their underside, shining into the water. Reminds you of the days when some “customized” cars had purple under lights.

As always, at the marina boaters’ lounge it was interesting to talk with other boating folks who were on envious journeys. For example, “loopers” (boaters on the “great loop” http://www.greatloop.org/index.php who were worried about the recent closing of the Chicago River bridges blocking them from continuing their voyage. Would you believe, there are “traffic jams” on the water also.

The next morning we are off to Port Washington

Manitowoc (K) to Port Washington (L) – About 40 miles south, both sailing and motoring.

Port Washington is a smaller port city with excellent recreational docking facilities. The town has maintained its heritage with beautifully kept old homes, turreted Victorian buildings, a skyline dotted with tall church steeples, and a quaint downtown.

Port Washington Harbor Light

Tomorrow will be our last day on the water, so it is early to bed and get ready for the end of our trip.

Port Washington (L) to Milwaukee (M) – A rather short motoring trip of 25 miles. We entered the Milwaukee harbor, topped off our fuel for winter storage, pumped out then headed to our slip in the Milwaukee River.

Milwaukee Harbor from Lake Michigan

Milwaukee was a interesting place to spend the next two days while waiting for our transportation home. Being in a large port city was a nice contrast to the small town ports we had become accustom to. Fortunately our slip was in the area of Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward District which afforded several enjoyable walking tours.

Our dock was located on Milwaukee’s beautiful River Walk which was bustling with downtown business people, tourists and condo residents who lived along the river.

Capt Dick and Jen, on the Milwaukee River

We were also within walking distance of the Art Museum, the Science Museum and other points of interest. Downtown Milwaukee’s Public Market, is similar to Seattle’s Pike Street Market. Excellent produce, meat, seafood, herbs, baked goods and eateries made it a regular stop on our walks of downtown. All major city downtowns could benefit from such a market. We found that Milwaukee is a fun and interesting city to visit and, as with all the other port towns where we stayed, we are looking forward to our next visit.

Thus ended our boat trip.

Road Trip: Milwaukee to Cincinnati, Ohio – Our situation now is: we are in Milwaukee without a car and we need to get home. So, welcome a bus service that I had never heard of. It is called MegaBus. It operates new busses (some are double deckers) all over the Midwest (and parts of Canada and New England and in England). In the Midwest they operate from a hub in Chicago and fan out to most major cities. We boarded MegaBus in Milwaukee at 7:00PM and got to Cincinnati at 4:30AM, eight and ½ hours. Heck, I couldn’t drive it in that length of time. And, driving would cost at least as much as the fare, which was $46 each. Nor did I have to drive through Chicago! I recommend this bus. Here is a link

http://www.megabus.com/us/

A good friend and neighbor picked us up at 4:30AM, at 4^th and Race, in downtown Cincinnati, and took us home.

Anyway, this is the end of our trip. It was nice to get on the open water again and do some extended destination sailing. It is always fun to visit new ports, make new friends and renew old friendships. Also, crewing for an extended time, on a boat that is new to us, is an unequaled experience building event.

Would we do it again? Absolutely !!