Charles W. Moore

Petoskey

online casinos

Beaver Island

Enroute

[singlepic id=207 w=320 h=240 float=left]S Manitou was great and we spent a whole day beach-combing for Petoskey and Charlevoix stones.  The only catch for all this national park beauty was a precarious anchorage.  On our nightly anchor swing we came within 20′ of the beach (it dropped off very rapidly so at 10′ out it was 7′ deep.

Day 1

Arrived Beaver Island from South Manitou at 1700 local time. Passage was totally calm the whole trip but we had to motor and not sail.  There were some 2′ swells between S Fox Island and North Manitou but by and large it was a great passage.  We plan on two or three days here.

The flotilla arrive within 30 minutes of each other.  Paramour was first then Inspiration and finally Windfluence (they actually sailed a lot due to their light tonnage and sail rig).  We went to eat at the Shamrock and it was good but high priced.  SAM and I walked to the Beaver Island Lodge to check out our old haunts – it was pretty much the same but very quiet from what it used to be.

Day 2 Beaver Island

[singlepic id=205 w=320 h=240 float=right]We rented a car and the day event was touring the island from north to south and east to west.  On the north was a very cool beach that was as warm as bath water, on the south was the old light house that is open to the public, on the west side it was sort of far from the Lake Michigan but on the east side the road was right next to LM.

We drove to the Library and visited the Donavan Langford IV area of the Library – how peaceful and serene with the music – and SAM was crying for a while at after looking at the picture of  DL IV.  We stopped by JKM’s friends house and drove up the driveway but no one was at home.  We did get some pictures though.  People know DL’s on the island  and corrected our grammar all the time: you must pronounce everything correctly.

We are now preparing to walk to Beaver Island Lodge for dinner – an old haunt of ours when we were able to fly to the island at will (like our airplane).  I have some pictures that I will embed later so return and you can see the slideshow.

We are having the time of our lives and love all that we have been blessed with and everyone we know and strangers as well.

Day 3

We did not leave for Petoskey this morning as planned.  Some vicious  thunderstorms that looked like they might reach us before we could make it across the lake made the no-go decision.  No one in the group wanted to go so it was an easy decision. Tomorrow we head for Petoskey, MI a 3/4 day sail.  BFN……….Inspiration out.

[slideshow id=24]

Depart Frankfort for S Manitou

Departing Frankfort this AM.  Destination S. Manitou Island where we will spend Sat & Sun nights – if weather permits – but we will have no internet for several days so this will be the last update for a while.

Frankfort Day 3 more & 4

Day 3 continues

[singlepic id=203 w=320 h=240 float=left]Slide show below.  We did go kayaking on the crystal clear Platte River yesterday our day 3 here in Frankfort.  It was a great trip down the river and from the drop off point we walked the 300 yards (or floated) out to Lake Michigan.  We did not take any pictures so we are without anything to show for our efforts except our memories. The river was a real zoo of tubers.  The water was almost luke warm.  We were back at the boats by 1730 hrs local.

Prior to kayaking we toured the Sleeping Bear Dunes and area with stops in Leland and Glen Harbor.  Sleeping Bear is absolutely world class as is the whole area.  It is hard to believe this is in our back yard and we have never been to see it before.  Cruises are great.  The picture is one area of Sleeping Bear.  Along the way we purchased for $10 a lifetime Senior National Park pass – what a real deal.

Day 4

The internet was still not working this morning so I asked the marina if we could look at it.  He said yes so I logged into the router and had the thing up and running is a few minutes.  Now I can continue with the blog and get email.

I turned in the car this morning and now we are without wheels.  Today we stay here again as our flotilla has by democratic decree decided we did not want to sail the high seas today.   Wind from the NW would hamper our progress and the seas are 3 or 4 feet of chop.

The LM has layed down by the afternoon and sailboats were departing.  We will leave tomorrow for S Manitou Island which is about 30nm distance.  Bill and I spent time talking at the Frankfort Beach while Peggy & SAM walked down to the first point ( a few miles).

[slideshow id=23]

Frankfort Days 2 & 3

DAY 2

[singlepic id=192 w=320 h=240 float=right]SAM went for a long walk today – 8 miles to the other side of the harbor and back.  I did my usual lazy stuff and walked a mile or so plus took some pictures.  This was a planed day in Frankfort with a leave date of tomorrow.  However, the waves were still 4′ out there and we may stay for day 3.  We shall see what tomorrow brings for weather (written late at night).

Day 3

We have decided to stay another day because our friends of Paramour arrived last night & they will be here two days.  We may stay here a fourth day and sail to the Manitou Islands with them.  We are in the process of renting an automobile and will tour the area in style.  Moore later….

Frankfort

We departed Manistee slip at 0850 today.  We had winds right on the stern with seas about 2′ .  As we proceeded north,  winds and seas kept building and finally reached a pretty consistent 4′ with occasional 6′. online casino .  For a while we raised the main sail and had the jib out running wing on wing but the seas kept corkscrewing us and the main kept gybing and then that would disrupt the air on the jib.  We rolled up the jib and struggled with the main for another hour but finally bit the bullet and turned into the wind and shipped some water.  With some difficulty in the 22kt winds I lowered and tamed the main sail.  From there it was running with the winds all the way to Frankfort, at hull speed and above, where we arrived at 1400 hrs.  I have to say we were beat.  We had lunch and took naps.

A Manistee Saturday

[singlepic id=191 w=320 h=240 float=left]We awoke to moderate rain and open hatches and ports – in other words, we were wet inside the boat.  We hurriedly closer her up tight and went back to a lazy sleep and awoke around 0900 hrs.

After doing our morning duties SAM went for a walk but I remained behind to play on the internet.  We walked up to a hardware and bought some mosquito spray – both of us had numerous bites – to be used if things got really bad.  On the way back it started to rain again, and remained rainy all day, so we stopped in for a coffee in hopes it would quit.  We walked to the boat – about a half mile – without getting too wet.

We had lunch on the boat and then I took a nap while SAM played on the internet and watched a movie.  After awaking I went out with light jacket in hand to a misting rain and started to walk the “River Walk” down to the other terminus and it really started to rain hard.  SAM came following after, while I was waiting under a bridge to stay dry, and we finished the walk in a steady, heavy rain.  I was soaked to the skin but SAM had a rain coat so went via diversionary route that included all the shops in town.

Then came supper, which was great, and writing on my blog.  Besides being captain I a chief dish dryer and have just completed this task.  This pretty much ends another day in the retired life I have come to enjoy.  Moore later…..

Manistee

Inspiration arrived Manistee Friday about 1400 hrs.  We are staying at the Manistee Municipal Marina for a couple of days due to the forcast rain – we are fair weather sailors if possible.

I awoke to banging around last night and found SAM closing all the ports and hatches we left open – rain had started some time ago and a lot of things below were wet.  They were hung up to dry and we went back to sleep until 0900 hrs because we were tired.

Yesterday I bought a couple of books at the used bookshop and they are in real good shape but the price was high ($5) each.  Today we will put the dingy in the water and motor up river to check things out but right now SAM is trying to find a farmers market to buy some goods.  Moore later…………

Ludington

Arrived in Ludington after a 3 hour motor from Pentwater.  Seas started about 1′ and later built to 2 ‘ & choppy.  Weather was great and the wind was about 4 kt about 30 degrees of port so we could not sail unless we wanted to tack way out and come back.  We got here about 1400 local time.

Leaving Pentwater, we were up and ready for departure about 0730 local.  Engine start was normal and we started to lift the anchor but it was stuck in the mud so we had to use the windlass in earnest.  The chain was real muddy so we are also glad for the  wash down pump.  We took on 33 gallons of diesel and this should last the trip and departed with SAM at the helm.

We intend next stop at Manistee even though they have closed sections of the municipal marina for renovation.  No showers or laundry facilities.   We will probably stay until Sunday or Monday.

Pentwater

We arrived in Pentwater, IM from Muskegon on Tuesday 7/27/10 at 1630.  Bright sunny skies followed us all the way and as forecast the winds were from the south building to 15 knots – this lead to a rolling boat until I put up the sails around White Lake.  The seas were the short period 3′ variety.  We found an anchorage right across the Pentwater Lake from the town.  We will be here until Thursday when we depart for Manistee with alternate of  Ludington.

The internet here is poor so I shall be brief.  We did a tour of the lake when we arrived yesterday and we went aground.  Luckily we were able to reverse off and get out into deeper water.  The charts are incorrect.  Last night we put the dingy in the water and cruised over to the town just before dark.  I also found out the combination of the municipal marina showers so we took a shower too.  It felt good to be clean again.  Today we will explore the town – maybe rent mopeds to do it.