We left Mackinac Island early on Wednesday morning and put in 9 hours of motoring. We found a good anchorage at Northport Bay and settled in for the night. On Thursday, we headed south for Leland and arrived just in time for lunch. Figured we deserved a bit of a break and a walk about town was just in order. After a relaxing lunch, we picked up some groceries, finished a load of laundry at the marina, caught up on emails and consulted with the locals for a good anchorage given the increasing winds south of here.
Found a great spot in Sleeping Bear Bay and we were settled by 6:00. Enjoyed a quiet games night and some TV. Yes, TV! In the USA, they still transmit channels over the airwaves, so a $100 digital antenna gets us just about every major channel (as long as we're within reach of a city or tower). This morning, we checked the weather again --- this is SOOOO important. On a typical day, we check several times while on the water. Today, we were expecting 10-15 kts winds from the south with seas of 1 - 2 feet. Perfect, we'd be motoring into the wind.
HA! Did the weather man get it wrong! We soon realized that we were heading into 30 kts winds with HUGE sea swells of 6-8 feet or more. It was like riding a giant roller coaster with no seatbelt. Don't get me wrong, we were safe and nothing to be overly concerned about, but it's not a fun ride and it's hard on Catan. We decided to head for the nearest port, Frankfort, about 1 hour 20 minutes south of our position. It was a long 80 minutes, let me tell you.
Safely tied up, we are happy to be here for 2 nights until this windy weather passes through. As I said, the rough seas were not 'dangerous' for us, but nonetheless, not enjoyable either. The last couple of photos represent the aftermath of the cabin below. Took us a while to ensure that we had all of our Catan game board pieces in tact (we do), and rearrange the furniture in the salon. Nothing broken or damaged, just rearranged!
We had a really nice walk around town and picked out a restaurant for our 33rd wedding anniversary dinner tomorrow. Where have all of these years gone? We both feel so very blessed (and happy to be together). And the family that we have around us is the most amazing feeling - two grandchildren already, and three wonderful adult children (plus the best son-in-law ever). Not to mention Eric's mom, Viv, brothers & sisters and many nieces & nephews. Yes, we are blessed.
As we were preparing to walk into town, we noticed another trawler pull in with a Canadian flag off the stern. They pulled in beside us and we realized we had seen them in Mackinac Island as well. Turns out that they are also 'loopers' and we are having them over for a drink tonight to get caught up on our mutual travels & plans.
All in all a good day and thankfully, a safe day. Now, to get ready to meet our new found looper friends! Cheers :)
