Off the Great Loop. Boat pulled, see the full damage - Yikes. How to post iPhone MOV files?

[wahoo33417]

Smokey. Yeah, we traded in our 2005 Journey 258 for this 2007 282.

Sorry for absence, but prettiest area had no service at all.

Went from Hessel to De Tour. Stayed in Les Cheneaux Islands as long as we could, to east entrance.
Arrived De Tour early, so took their advise on exploring North Bay and DO NOT CROSS LINE INTO CANADA. They are a customs port.

Well, they routed us through a kinda narrow channel where the line goes down the middle. So of course we wandered over the middle in a few places. Didn’t see any Canadian gun boats. Will have to stamp our passports ourselves!
Mink were common in Hessel and left their tracks on boat.




Leaving Hessel Marina. One of our favorites.



Les Cheneaux Islands.

 

[wahoo33417]

Continuing with Run to De Tour:





East Entry in sight.



Back out in Mackinaw Straights, heading east.



The turn into North Bay.




Winds picked up during afternoon exploration. That’s why we got blow over the line towards this Canadian shoreline. I promise.




We were reminded that this is still a busy shipping lane to Lake Ontario.




Tied up in De Tour. Becky thought about sleeping in her hammock. Until the rains came.

 

[wahoo33417]

From De Tour it was a short, wet ride to Drummond Island Yacht Haven. The name might overstate the case a bit. But the ride took us through some beautiful areas dotted with islands and shoals. Constant look out for the next marker was sometimes hampered by rain. But it was still a fun and beautiful ride.

Okay, not the most attractive picture, but

 

[wahoo33417]

Made a back-track run from Drummond Island to St. Ignace. So don’t want to include too many redundant pics of Mackinaw Straights. After a day in St. Ignace, made the short run over to Mackinac City to take Becky to Pellston airport. I’m solo from here on.

Heading west on the Straights this time:


Incredibly clear water in St. Ignace and most every marina. Been told it’s due to zebra mussels ability to filter feed so many gallons of water per hour.



Tied up in Mackinac Straights State Marina.

 

[wahoo33417]

Headed out early from Mackinac Straights Marina to Rogers City. Wanted to beat the increasing wind.

A pre-dawn shot of Mackinaw as I left the harbor.


Heading east on the Straights pre-sunrise.


Green buoy as Straights begins to turn south.


Really not too much photogenic on the West shore of Huron. Especially with the distance I have to stay offshore due to many charted rocky outcrops.


But there was a nice sunrise.


Tied up at Rogers City Marina. Nice marina, great people.

 

[wahoo33417]

We are camping in Petoskey and have been checking out the marina's in the area. I think my wife is getting excited about some trips in or around the area in our newly acquired 208. The Great Lakes are truly a gem and worth exploring. I will be following this thread, and hope you two have a great trip.

Walleyze. We noticed two fairly new 208's berthed in Hessel Marina. Perfect territory for them, I think. Combination of exposed, deep water and gorgeous protected water to run to when things kick up.

 

[wahoo33417]

Travelled from Rogers City to Alpena this morning. Only 58 miles, but wanted to make port before the forcasted wind increase to 15 knots on the nose. Despite my early start, the wind shift caught me for about 30 minutes before port.


Again, a nice sunrise.


Seas were a little bumpy but following before the turnaround to more head-on.


Tied up at Alpena City Marina.


Tomorrow's forecast is NW 5-10, then turning to NE 10-15 with gusts to 20. Question is, can I cover 75 miles to Tawas before the winds clock around?

 

[wahoo33417]

Oh what a day. Got a very early start for the nearly 90 mile run from Alpena to Tawas. Could have been shorter, but I’m very conservative about all those shoals and rock out crops not so near shore. Don’t like to risk my boat 1,500 miles from home Yeah, Right, as we shall see.

heavy weather and an unfavorable change in wind direction was forecast for about noon.

first light is about 5:30, so I started about 4:30. I had yesterday’s GPS track and a spotlight to help me navigate the lengthy channel.

I didn’t use the spotlight in the harbor because people were sleeping on their boats. I could see well enough.

Until WHAM! My bow hit the rock breakwater at idle speed. (I swear that breakwater wasn’t that long when I came in yesterday.) Back to the dock to inspect I go.

It was a solid hit on the nose and I didn’t feel anything beneath that. I could see the gel coat damage and one small chip through to the fiberglass. Looked into all forward storage areas and bilges. No cracks and all dry in forward storage areas and bilges.

If it’s the worst thing I ever do I’ll be happy.


Running to beat the wind change. This is with a quite loaded boat and 4/5 fuel.


GPS said 30.7 at 4,000 rpm. Still getting 1.8 mpg per Yamaha on a quite shoddy bottom.


As has been common the last few days, another beautiful sunrise.



Definitely looks like a rest day tomorrow. Good, I need it!

 

[wahoo33417]

After breezy rest day, got going with a 90 mile run from Tawas to Port Sanilac. I could have shaved off 5 miles by running closer to shore on the ‘Thumb’, but I don’t want to risk shaving anything else off the bottom - or worse. The original forecast of ‘winds light and variable’ turned to NW 5-10. That was about right.

Got an early start, but not so early that I hit any breakwaters this time. I could actually see the first marker.


And then I could see the second marker too! Amazing.


Sunrise came on time today.


After about 30 miles across the catcher’s mitt and the thumb, this was first glimpse of land.


As I got closer, a wind farm came into view.


Currently in Port Sanilac. Might be stuck here. The annual Sailboat Regatta is this weekend. Partying and events have already started. So I can’t get a slip anywhere south of here. One marina said the waterway is jam-packed, stay away if you can. But my boat hauler ride arrives in a few days. So far, I’ve been spot on scheduling wise. I really messed up by not accounting for this Regatta. I assumed same time as last year for initial planning. Amongst all the other things to do, checking this was a higher priority that got missed. Working on options, so we’ll see.

 

[wahoo33417]

Port Sanilac will be closest port to Detroit that I make. Seems that the big sailboat regatta begins this weekend. Everywhere I call south of entrance to St. Clair River says they have no slips. One marina operator said the waterway is one big party, stay away if you can.

Well, I really wanted to cross under that Bluewater Bridge that connects US and Canada a bit north of Detroit.

The forecast was for south winds 5-10, picking up considerably in the afternoon. So, with another O-dark-thirty start, I could make my Bluewater Bridge and be back in Sanilac well before winds pick up.

O-dark-thirty start. And I didn’t hit anything!


Only about a 30 mile run until I saw ships lining up for the entrance channel.

Bluewater Bridge came into view.


In planning trip, I had really hoped to stay at Sarnia Marina on the Canadian side. Canada said that was not to be. But just days before today, Canada announced that they would begin letting vaccinated Americans in within two weeks. So I tried stopping at Sarnia Marina to see if they would just let me buy a sweatshirt. No one was there. They weren’t open yet! Damn. On the plus side, no one was there to arrest me either.


Approaching ridge from the south on the way back to Port Sanilac.



Passing a small freighter in the channel.
took a

took a closer look at the interesting channel markers on the way out

 

[wahoo33417]

I was torn between waiting out the Regatta and contacting my boat hauler. I had seen all I set out to see except downtown Detroit. So I called hauler to see what his schedule looked like. Turns out he was in Georgia headed home to Florida with an empty trailer. It would help him out very much if he could turn around and come get me now. I Said okay and he was there the next day.

That’s when I got to see the extent of damage I did on that rock jetty. Tony (hauler) gave me a real hard time about that. I told him he needs to lower his price due to all the fiberglass weight I took off the boat.

So we called my local Grady dealer and Tony will drop the boat off with them. He does enough work with them that he has a key to their service yard. That’s nice part of having long-term relationship with hauler. He’ll leave my boat on his trailer while repairs are made. No additional charge. He has several other trailers.






So far, I’ve been posting via iPhone. (That’s my excuse for the poor grammar and typos!) Webmaster has really made this site user friendly for me to be able to do that. I’d like to post some videos, but apparently site won’t accept apple's MOV format direct from iPhone or iPad. Any suggested easy workarounds?

Tx, Rob

 

[SmokyMtnGrady]

awesome trip. In my business I get people all the freakn time tell me how great the fudge is at Mackinaw Island ,blah blah blah . lol. You are an outlaw ,breaking into Canada ,evading their gun boats and sales clerks at the gift shops . I am impressed. Question, did you play the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald while on the lakes? if you didn't play it , you know you thought about it .

I think your adventure was very cool. one day I suspect I might give it a go. Thanks for the pictures and sharing it here also, I will be the Keys starting Sunday August 1through the 13th.

 

[wahoo33417]

Bob: Yes, we did play The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald! During our short time in the St. Mary's River, which leads to Lake Ontario.

Seems like this long trailer to the Keys is an annual even for you. Good luck and safe travels.

Rob