Detroit to Grand Haven

Cruising north out of Detroit, we were in somewhat familiar territory.  But we knew we still had a lot of water ahead before we would hang a left in the Grand Haven channel.  After crossing Lake St. Clair, we moved up the St. Clair River were we exchanged hellos with friend and fellow looper, Dave Lozon, who responding to our phone call, stood waving from shore at his home on Harsens Island.  Then, a few miles out of the river into Lake Huron, we saw a dangerous storm brewing to the west with what appeared to be a tail developing under its frontal cloud.  We immediately made a power turn to the south to stay out the storm's path.  In doing so, however, we forgot to disengage our stabilizers and caused them to lock up.  After the storm passed, we once again moved north toward our first stop at Port Sanilac, but found  with a stabilizer fin frozen, we no longer had the option to go faster than ten knots.  We kept this speed the next day on our way to Harrisville Harbor, where we spent four days visiting Linda's mom whose home sits on a hill within the harbor's breakwall.  Fortunately, during this stay, our stabilizer's electronics decided to self-correct, and we were able to move a bit faster to our next destination in Rogers City.

From here we moved directly north across the top of Lake Huron to Drummond Island where we crashed for nine days.  Now we felt we were truly home.  We have slipped at Drummond Island Yacht Haven each summer for sixteen years, enjoying its laid back atmosphere, its gorgeous views and sunsets, and its fantastic biking and fishing opportunities. 

 Here we met up with our good friends and dock mates, Dennis and Randi Nickels who have boated with us for many years in this part of the world.  The last four days on the island were especially fun, as the Nickels' granddaughters, Emma and Julia, and two of ours, Jordan and Corey, came up to stay with us.  Fellow loopers, Tom and Diane from "Noah Agenda", also spent a couple of days with us, and Andrew and Sallyann from "Freedom" joined us for a campfire picnic with s'mores on a small nearby island. 

Next, complete with grandkids, our two boats cruised to Mackinac Island where we spent four days enjoying the biking, the dining, the fudge, and the general ambiance of the place.  Then, Mackinac City, where parents picked the grandkids.

 While the Nickels moved south to Charlevoix, we stayed another day to greet daughter, Jennifer who had flown in from Connecticut along with her friend and our grandkids, Courtney and Carter. Then, back to the island to have fun with this part of our family for four more days plus an additional day in Mack City where we once again enjoyed the beauty of the Mack Bridge lit up at night.

Next we headed through the straits to Charlevoix, another of our favorite "up north" ports.  Here we again made rendezvous with the Nickels who were slipped at the Municipal Marina on Round Lake near downtown.  Rather than staying downtown, this  trip we chose to stay on Lake Charlevoix on the wall at Irish Boat Shop, where the lake views are spectacular.

 After three days, we left for Leland on the Leelanau Peninsula.  Twice Linda and I biked the fifteen miles around Lake Leelanau and once biked the twenty one mile round trip to the neat little town of Suttons Bay, one of the crown jewels of Grand Traverse Bay.  Leland is full  of fun shops and restaurants, many situated along a river in the city's historic "Fish Town".  It's also noted as a site from which to watch world class sunsets.

We next pulled into Frankfort, where we were weathered in for five days because of seas which ranged  from five to eleven feet each day.  No problem.  If you have to be weathered in, this is the place to be.  Frankfort is a great place to kick back, swim, hike fish, eat, or whatever.  Its Betsie River Trail, which goes for miles along an old railroad bed to pristine Crystal Lake and beyond, is one of the most scenic bike and hike trails anywhere on the loop.

 Finally, on August 20, 2010, after 117 miles more, we pulled into the Grand Haven channel, gold burgee flying.  We felt powerful but mixed emotions cruising the last five miles of the loop down the Grand River to our marina on Spring Lake.  Sure, we felt happy to be back home safe and sound, in familiar, happy surroundings.  But we also felt a bit of sadness over the finality of our great adventure; the completion of a six thousand mile journey, itself the culmination of years of dreaming and planning.  What helped us snap out of our melancholy, though, was the cheers of our marina friends who had gathered on the dock to welcome us into our slip with hugs, high fives, and balloons.

People ask us if we would do it again. I asked Linda what she thought, and her response summed of both our feelings perfectly when she said, "Don't sell the charts and guidebooks. You never know"! We wouldn't want to do it again right away. The trip is exhilarating, but it's also exhausting. With skinny water, seventy five locks, and always the possibility of bad weather or mechanical issues, its can be hard work and stressful at times.  But the trip was even better than the dream. Maybe again. Maybe in a couple of years if all goes well.

Two final thoughts.  First, Linda and I are still working and we realized we could not have done this trip without the help and support of our office staff and colleagues back home. To them we owe our profound thanks.                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                    

  Second, we want to salute our "looper cat", Schatze, who boasting 4.8 pounds of fighting weight and nearly  twenty years of experience and determination, traveled 6,000 miles by boat and 8,000 miles        by car  (back and forth to Michigan).   Traveling 14,000 total miles, she never complained--though  she did get seasick four times--and she earned our enduring admiration.  Way to go "Schat's"! 

                                                                

Erie Canal to Detroit

Leaving Kingston, NY, we passed its attractive lighthouse as well as other neat lighthouses on our 60 mile trip up the Hudson to Troy, NY. 

Troy is the gateway to the New York canal system where, after you enter your first lock, you must decide whether to turn left on to the Erie Canal or go straight up river to the Champlain Canal and Lake Champlain.  We took the left turn.  The Erie canal is not the same canal as the original finished in 1825.  The original was only four feet deep and forty feet wide, and was designed to carry small barges.  Built before the time of self-propelled boats, the barges were pulled along by mules which walked on paths along what were essentially  ditches filled with water.  While the old canal was enlarged and deepened several times over the years to allow larger craft to transit, the system was changed dramatically at the turn of the century once craft were self-propelled.  The canal could now follow natural rivers and waterways.  Much of our trip on the Erie was on the Mohawk River, which is fairly wide and easily navigated between the red and green buoys.  At times, we saw remains of the old canal.  While at Schenectady, we docked next to ruins of an old aquaduct where the canal actually crossed the Mohawk.  The flat part on top of the arch in the accompanying photos is where mules walked, pulling barges which floated in water contained in the man-made aquaduct  next to the path. 

The Mohawk is a beautiful river, following a course through mountain valleys.  You can sometimes see highways and often see trains which follow the same natural waterway. 

After a hundred miles or so the canal leaves the Mohawk and becomes a relatively narrow canal which tracks alongside the river.  This we followed until we entered the twenty mile long Lake Oneida and then, after another seven miles, we turned right onto the Oswego Canal to Oswego, NY.

While on the canal, we stayed at several small marinas at places including Schenectady, St. Johnsville, Brewerton (at the end of Lake Oneida), and Oswego.  One night we also tied up to a lock wall. There, Linda, Schatze, and I enjoyed a peaceful night alone on the river. 

The locks we traversed ranged in rise or drop from eight to forty feet, most being in the twenty foot range.  While a few locks had fixed rubber-coated vertical rods around which we put our bow and stern lines, most had hanging ropes, the end of which we looped under a horn of our bow and stern cleats.  All-in-all, we transited twenty eight locks on this part of our trip, and we slipped under innumerable low bridges and flood gates. 

From Oswego, we headed north across Lake Ontario to Kingston, Ontario.  Kingston is a great little city, with lots of interesting restaurants, outdoor cafes, and shops.  It's a lively place, home to Canada's version of West Point, and with its beautiful parks and active beautification projects, exudes community pride.  Next, we traveled through the inland waterways of the Bay of Quinte to Trenton, the gateway to the Trent-Severn Waterway.  The next day, we entered the first of forty four locks on this two hundred eighty mile route to Georgian Bay.  The locks here are narrow and short, and are manually operated by the lockmaster and assistant who open and close the gates using man power alone. 

Unfortunately, our starboard engine overheated as we approached lock five, and after staying overnight on the lock wall adjacent to the lock, and after working with a mechanic, we limped the seven miles back to Trenton. 

 During a sea trial there, the over heating issue corrected itself (either weeds or a stuck thermostat, we think), but we decided to forgo the Trent-Severn and head south for the Welland Canal and the Great Lakes, where we wouldn't have to worry so much about narrow, shallow channels, rocks, weeds in our intakes, and where we had a better chance to find facilities to haul us out, if needed.

Waiting out mechanics and weather, we ended up staying four additional days in Trenton at Fraser Park Marina.  It was a great place to be during a stressful situation.  The hosts were extremely helpful, finding a way to accommodate us during their busiest weekend of the year.  On July 1, Canada Day, we enjoyed the company of nine additional looper couples, and shared holiday festivities, a marina potluck, fireworks, and the inaugural lighting of the city's new welcome sign. 

 

On July 2, we crossed the big lake and stayed at Port Dahlousie, next to the Welland entrance.  The next day we picked up a required third crew to help us through the canal.  After eight and a half hours on this intimidating system, we exited and stayed overnight at a nearby marina. 

From there we went south across Lake Erie to Erie, PA, where we checked into immigration/customs, fueled up, and took a ferry across the bay to Presque Isle State Park, where we had arguably the best bike ride of our trip.

 

Next, a one hundred ten mile trip to Cleveland, then a similar length run to Detroit and to the southern tip of Lake St. Clair.  Perfect Timing will be docked here for five or six days while we catch up at home. 

Chesapeake Bay to the Erie Canal

We left Great Bridge, Virginia on May 27, and moved twelve miles downriver to Portsmouth.  While we stopped at a marina merely to get charts of the Chesapeake, the dockmaster convinced us that moving on without seeing his part of the world would be a huge mistake.  We were happy he was such a good salesman.  After touring the city's historical district, we took a paddle wheel ferry across the river to Norfolk, where we visited "Nauticus", a great marine and naval museum which includes entry to the battleship Wisconsin.  As home to the navy's Atlantic fleet, Norfolk is a vibrant city, and as we left, we were awed by the dozens of naval vessels of every size and description. 

Now moving up Chesapeake, we arrived in Yorktown, famous as the site where George Washington defeated Cornwallis in the last significant battle of the Revolutionary War.  Docked at the new Riverwalk Landing, with its interesting shops and restaurants, we found Yorktown to be a fun, pretty place.

To us, boating up the Chesapeake was very much like boating on the Great Lakes, particularly similar to the area on the Michigan side of Lake Michigan, with its many interesting natural ports, with cities and towns often situated on connecting rivers or lakes.  Boaters could spend a lifetime of summers exploring the Chesapeake.  For our part, we chose to bypass the larger cities such as Washington, D.C.,  Baltimore, and Annapolis, to instead visit smaller towns, most of which, we found, could boast of a rich and colorful watermans' heritage.  Deltaville, the first such town, was once a  famous boat building center, but now depends largely on the yachting scene.  With only 800 permanent residents, it is home to over 3,000 boats!  To us it will also be memorable as the place where in the first time in 16 years and over 24,000 cruising miles, we grounded our boat.  Leaving through a serpentine channel, which seemed about two feet wide, we hit the sand bottom.  Fortunately, a Good Samaritan pulled us off in about ten minutes, with no apparent damage to the boat. 

 Moving north up the Bay, we next visited the towns of Solomons, St. Michaels and Rock Hall, each proud of a history tied to fish, oysters, clams, and blue crabs.  For three days, we stayed at Solomons, where one day we enjoyed a fantastic seafood lunch at a waterfront restaurant, then brought back crab cakes, fresh shrimp, and phenomenal seafood salad from a gourmet food store.  Then, at St. Michaels, arguably one of the most popular cruising destinations on the Chesapeake, we found dozens of quaint shops and quality restaurants in a setting that somehow escapes that "touristy" feel.  We spent two days there, exploring it and the surrounding area by bike.  Rock Hall, our last stop on the Bay, was refreshing in that it has retained much of its watermans' heritage as a still-working port.  Though oyster harvests aren't what they once were, you can still watch watermen bring in crabs, rockfish (stripped bass), and clams.

After moving through the C&D (Chesapeake & Delaware) Canal and then south through the Delaware Bay,  we rounded the Cape May light and docked at Canyon Club Marina.  With its sport-fish battle wagons lined up at the docks ready to speed to the offshore "canyons", it's easy to see how the marina gets its name.  For two days, we biked past Cape May's beautiful beaches, historic WWII beach bunkers and spotting towers, as well as its famous Victorian homes and hotels.

 Then, because of a tight weather window we headed up the Atlantic past Atlantic City (that's O.K.--been there, done that), straight to the Big Apple.  Passing under the Verrazano Bridge, we entered the Port of New York, stopped to enjoy the Statue of Liberty, and then, less than a half mile up the Hudson, hung a left to Liberty Landing Marina.

 This marina, we found, was the perfect home base for us to enjoy the city.  From it, we could (and did) take a ferry across river to the financial district to enjoy the city.  From our boat, the view of Manhattan and the financial district was spectacular, especially after dark when the lights of the skyscrapers brightened up the night sky.

 As part of Liberty State Park, it was near walking trails which passed near the historical triumvirate of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the CRRNJ railroad and ferry terminal, which funneled seventy percent of Ellis Island immigrants to the rest of the country.

We found this location a great place to take on guests, and during our stay there, we enjoyed the company of Linda's brother, Dennis, from Scranton, as well as our daughter and grandkids, Jennifer, Courtney, and Carter, and Jen's friend, Scott, all from nearby Connecticut.  Jen and the kids especially enjoyed seeing the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the railroad station up close from the walking path, as well as the world class hand-on science center and Imax theater, also part of the park.  A photo in this post shows Jen and Courtney in a wind tunnel designed to demonstrate the power of hurricane force winds and rain. 

 Following NYC, we travelled past the impressive Palisades on the Jersey side of the Hudson,  passed by the fortress-like buildings of West Point, then cruised through the breathtaking fifteen mile long Hudson River Gorge.  

Further along, we passed by "Bannermans' Island" with its impressive Scottish castle-like ruins, then past Hyde Park, where we could catch a brief glimpse of the Roosevelt house. 

After seeing lots of barge traffic and interesting light houses along the way, we finally hung a left off the Hudson into Rondout Creek to berth at Kingston, N.Y., our last stop before Troy, the gateway to the Erie Canal.