Great Loop Blog Day 17/18

Given the conditions the day before, the run to Cheboygan was downright boring. Lake Huron was as flat as the Great Lakes ever get, soft rounded one footers.

It is the ever changing, ever different subtle changes in sea conditions and the weather than drives them that makes cruising such a wonderful and pleasant endeavor. No two days are alike.

We ate breakfast, and put the "Darina and Alan" playlist on the Fusion stereo - a collection that ranges from Frank Sinatra to James Taylor to John Legend to Alan Jackson and everything in between - and sang along as we floated along at 6 1/2 knots. Yorksie, exhausted from the day before, slept most of the way over.

The entrance to Cheboygan harbor is well marked with a dredged entrance channel to 21 feet. There are functional range lights which is a nice touch. You can't miss the Coast Guard cutter docked downriver. The DNR marina is just inside the river on your right.

The Marina is run by the City and is part of the DNR reservation system. It is clean, well maintained, has great showers, and decent wifi.

We took a short walk towards town. On the way in we discovered a sister ship rotting away in the parking lot of the marina. So sad to see another Taiwanese trawler slowly disintegrating.

Please save this vessel!!

Our usual high energy five mile jaunt quickly pooped out, as we had gotten about three hours sleep the night before, and we returned to the good ship Sea Moose after picking up our Amazon package at the Dock Master's office. In the package was:

• The parts I need to pull fresh air into the "bus heater" that runs off the engine heat, 2 4" duct flanges and a short length of 4" duct with 2 hose clamps

• The Great Loopers Companion Cruising Guide

• 2 packages of oil absorbent pads that I no longer need thanks to the generous contribution of the folks at Harrisville Marina.

We cooked the sausage we bought in Rodgers city on the Magma and it was delicious! Went to bed before the sun went down and slept soundly. In the morning our next door neighbors who are taking care of our house dropped by, as they have property in Cheboygan and were up for the weekend. The kids munched on cookies and drank lemonade while the adults drank coffee. As we only have three coffee cups on Sea Moose, the Dock Master was kind enough to allow Darina to take cups and coffee from the boaters lounge. Our neighbors headed for the beach, and we headed north to Mackinaw City. Here we are in a group hug before they left. We are extremely grateful that they are watching our house and taking care of the lawn while we do the loop.

Yorksie and the new cat eyed each other suspiciously the whole time but thankfully there were no incidents.

The run to the Mackinac Straits was beautiful, clear, and calm. It was quite emotional to approach the Mighty Mac bridge, as I had driven over it several times dreaming of taking my own boat through the straits. I looked up statistics on the bridge for Darina, and converted them to metric units.

Pictures of the bridge do not do it justice, it is five miles long and simply magnificent.

We pulled into the Mackinaw City Marina for several days, as we are headed to Mackinac Island tomorrow, expecting a busy Monday, and they staying through Wednesday morning for the long sixty mile run to Petosky.