Magical calm seas to Petoskey
We were up and on our way this morning by 8:30am. These long pulls feel strange to us now after spending a month in the North Channel where a “long” day was three hours. Now a “short” day is six. Today is almost 12 hours. There are not a lot of anchorages in the bigger water. Lots of marinas, but we do try to avoid those to save money and also stress as marina’s are a lot more stress than dropping and pulling anchor.
Cory made us bagels for breakfast underway. We ran out of gouda and I was forced to enjoy a brie bagel that was phenomenal. Captain came down while we were working down below with a grin and said he wanted to set the sails all by himself. He can run this boat single handed but it has been a long time as he has crew to do the deck work for him. He was excited to do it all himself. Cory went to go take off the sail cover and even that he didn’t want him to do, he wanted to do it ALL by himself! He got everything set to raise sails and the little wind he had died, so he never got to single hand.
Overall, the long sail was uneventful. We ran into the ferry wakes as we came past Mackinaw Island. One time we got hit by wakes from the Mackinac City and St. Ignace ferries at once and got stuck in the confused seas. Captain had a hard time as we got tossed for quite a bit and turned beam too the waves. We were like webble-wobbles getting tipped pretty extremely from port to starboard for a few minutes. Darn ferries. We passed under the Mighty Mac for the 15th time and left those ferries behind. We saw workman up on the bridge walking the cables and they waved to us. I later found out that the internet guys “Josh and Jase” from England were actually on top of the bridge as we went under. They sure got an experience!!!
I left Captain in the calmer waters and went to take an hour nap and then I finished my book and started to pick up my palette cleanser book a bit before I took over at the wheel. I relieved Captain at 2:45pm. We were past all the shipping lanes and shoals and there was no wind. I can steer when I’m not worried about crazy wind and today it was glass. He left me with a clear view of land to my port to follow and a magical haze to my starboard. I had the most amazing time. I put on my OKGO playlist and had full command of the ship while everyone else was down below. I sang as loud as I wanted to. I watched a distant lighthouse appear to float on the glass water. I marveled how the calm waters went to infinity and you couldn’t tell where the sea ended and the sky started. It was like floating through a dream. My radar kept me confident no one was coming up on me as the only thing it showed were the nats that had taken refuge in the lee on the screen. I steered with my feet as I just scanned the horizon and day dreamed. I figured out how to stand and steer which gave me a much better viewing and some fresh breeze on my face. Steering alternatively with my left and right leg it was really good lateral rehab for my knee. I never saw another boat.
Captain took a nice two hour nap and by the time he came back up we were rounding our way into Little Traverse Bay with Petosky in sight. We checked the winds one more time and decided it would be fine to stay by the marina for the night. We dropped anchor just after 7pm. We all loaded into the dinghy and headed to shore. Captain and I had been here just once before, and similarly, late in the afternoon mid-week. It is a sleepy town at that time of day but we managed to find a great brewery with views of the bay for dinner. They were very dog friendly and even brought Kona a pup cup. Kona made friends with other tourists and was happy to stretch her legs. We enjoyed walking around town and seeing the beautiful gardens and marveled at all the green grass; something we have seen very little of in the rugged North Channel. We walked the lighthouse pier after sunset and soaked in the last bit of daylight.
When we returned to our dinghy we found a yellow note stuck to our engine. Oh no. We all thought we got a ticket as we had beached the boat by the marina in a public park. It wasn’t a ticket! It was a note telling us to come to particular slip in the marina for “a surprise!” Intrigued we went on the quest.
In the dark we slowly came upon a large boat named Christy J and a silhouette of a man came out to greet us. He asked us if we remembered him and we had that embarrassing moment of having to say no, please remind us. And even now, after he re-introduced himself, we ALL forgot his and his wife’s name. I seriously have the hardest time committing names to memory if I don’t see them written down. So, Christy J, if you are reading this, I’m so sorry! Drop me a note so I can remember! I may not remember their names, but as we chatted it started to come back. We had met in Little Current in 2024 and continued together to the Benjamin’s and anchored near each other. We had a fire together and had chatted a lot that year. Petosky is his home port and he saw our boat anchored out and knew it was us. He said he went on a dinghy quest looking for a rouge boat as he could see we had gone to shore. He looked everywhere and finally found us at the beach and left the note. They remember us fondly for my trumpet playing and he pulled up a video of my playing two years ago. They play it often for people when talking about their travels. I’m honored. When we got back to Ciara, I played Taps for him even though it was well past 10pm. I got applause from many from shore, even at that hour indicated how much we are back in civilization. I went back to my blog and found not only pictures of him anchored next to us but a full description of our meeting bringing a flood of memories to who they were. He designed the “Big House” in Ann Arbor…. the U of M football stadium! I’m glad we are so recognizable, rememberable and also still embarrassed how we can’t fully remember everyone we meet over the years until there is context.
Captain was pretty exhausted. Pretty sure he had a little too much time in the sun today so we called it a night around 10:30. We had spent a lot of time today mulling over charts and weather. There is good wind coming for the weekend and we have 48 hours to find good holding. The problem is this part of Michigan has pretty terrible anchorages. Either they are very exposed in one or more directions (and this blow is going to clock around 180 degrees meaning we need really good protection from multiple sides), very deep drop offs (more then 40 feet deep within 100 feet of shore) or fully surrounded by private property of folks who very much don’t want you to bring your dog to shore of their multimillion-dollar mansions (even though it’s fully legal up to the high-water mark). As tired as we are from long days the decision was made to skip Charlevoix for now and head to North Port tomorrow and then make a run for Frankfort where there we can tuck into an inland lake and be very secure for the weekend. Frankfort is where I really want to be anyhow as it is my favorite place in Michigan. I’m more then happy to sit there for a week if needed before we head back to WI. We can think about that later, but for now we carry on and get to a safe spot.
