Chapter 73: The North Channel & Upper Michigan

Log 73
The North Channel and Upper Michigan

5:10 AM
Tuesday, August 01, 2000
Northwest Marine Yacht Club
Charlevoix, MI.

Day 93

I woke up at 4:15 this morning, had a lot on my mind so I decided to just get up, and get to it. Getting up at this time reminds me of when we first left on our trip last September, and getting up at this time was a normal day. I can still remember those mornings, and I’m sure I will for a long time.
I was outside earlier making a couple of phone calls (well actually leaving voice mails) and it looks like it will be a pretty good day, weather wise. I was concerned it might be very foggy this morning, but it looks like it will be ok.

Let’s get up to date on our progress…
We left Killarney about 7 AM on Sunday morning and had a beautiful day as we entered, and then crossed the North Channel. The North Channel is somewhat like the Georgian Bay, except it is not as big, and does not have all of the small islands dotting the northern shore. The route we took had us winding around several of the large islands, and it was neat to navigate these islands, as well see all of the beauty. We weren’t sure how far we would go when we headed out, but it was so pretty and such a beautiful day we just kept going.
We ended up crossing almost the entire North Channel in one day. We picked out a neat cove to stop for the night, and anchor in, but when we got close we decided to go on to the next cove, and get some fuel (89 cents a liter) and stay at a marina. Our final choice was Meldrum Bay, a small bay just off the North Channel itself, and just before a pass that would take us to Lake Huron.
After getting some fuel, and tying up the boat it was time for a dinghy ride, and some exploring the cove we were in.
Side note: Here is a key difference in the way we travel, and the way sail boaters travel. We tie up to the dock. Get the power all set. Make sure the sattalite TV will tune in so we can watch it later. Make a drink, and take a dinghy cruise. Sail boaters head to the back of the cove, drop a hook, let the wind blow them where it will, sit back and read a book. That is why God invented all of these coves.
Anyway…..the four of us ran around the cove for a little bit, but it was pretty boring, so we dropped off the girls, and Terry and I went fishing. As usual, we didn’t catch anything, so in an hour or so we were back at the boat. We did have some bad news though, as we were coming back to the boat we noticed that the position of the boat, in relation to the trees would not allow us to get a satellite signal for the TV. Tough duty, we may have to watch a tape later. Which, after a great dinner of kielbasa that Deb prepared, is exact ally what we did.

Monday…

It rained overnight, and it had not totally left the area when we got up. When we were getting ready to leave it started to mist a little, but we decided to go anyway, and drive from the upper station, rather than from inside. By the time we were out of the cove, it went from misting to raining, and we had to put on our rain gear, and make provisions to keep the charts dry. The further we went, the darker it got, and we found ourselves driving by radar, and charts, because we couldn’t see very far at all.
We needed to get from Meldrum Bay to Lake Huron and then to Lake Michigan. To do this there are three passes that take you from the North Channel to Lake Huron. Two of them are well used by ship traffic, and one is not. We chose the one less traveled, and the one closest to our bay. The good news was it was a little closer; the bad news is you have to travel much more on Lake Huron, and they say it can be a terrible lake. As it turned out the decision was a good one. Lake Huron was definitely different than the North Channel, but not that bad at all.
The further we went on Monday, the worse the weather (or I should say fog) got. We were traveling along on Lake Huron with probably 2 foot seas, but they were almost at our stern, so they were fine, but the fog kept getting thicker and thicker. We were navigating by chart plotter, GPS, and radar, and I so glad we had them because if we didn’t I have no clue what we would have done. If you think about it, without the navigation equipment you would be out in the middle of the lake traveling blind. (By the way there are several people who do this, and this is how they get into trouble)
Speaking of getting into trouble, I’ll give you an example of what can happen. We were cruising along when we noticed a blip on the radar. (About 10 miles away) We both commented it looked like a boat rather than a buoy. (Terry does an excellent job of keeping track of our position so he could tell exactly where we were) The further west we went the bigger the blip got, and we started to really pay attention, because it looked like it could be crossing our path. Well for the next 30 minutes we tracked our progress, and the blips, until it became obvious that we were on a direct collision course if one of us didn’t change our direction. That was an easy decision for us, and so we just slowed down, and as we did, out of the fog appeared this HUGE tanker ship, heading southeast down Lake Huron. We were never in any danger because we were aware of his position at all times, but if we hadn’t been…well you know the rest.
When Lake Huron and Lake Michigan meets are called the Straights of Mackinac. This is where Mackinaw Island is and we had planned to stop there as we went by. Well you may not believe this, but we never saw Mackinaw Island. By the time we got there, the fog was so thick that all we say was the buoy off the tip of the island. This may not seem like such a big deal to read this, but you need to know is that this is a big shipping lane and the channel goes right next to the island, and if we did not have the island of radar, it would have not existed. The other thing we had to contend with was all of the ferry traffic. The ship to shore radio was very busy with all of the ferry traffic reporting there positions, and we were very busy looking at the charts trying to figure out where they said they were at the time they reported their positions.
Well I could go on for a long time about the fog, but let me just say it was the worst I have ever been in. We sort of felt our way along for most of the day, and it really didn’t lift until late in the afternoon, when we made it to Charlevoix. We tied up there about 5 PM after traveling over 130 miles in the rain and fog. It was a very interesting day. It is also a day I will look back on with fond memories.

BK