We left Charlevoix after being woken by the dock master….”AHOY BLUE BOAT YOU HAVE 9 MINUTES TO BE OFF THE DOCK”. Well he wasn’t trying to wake us up, he was trying to wake up some people across from us in a blue sailboat. A cruise ship was coming in and no one was supposed to be docked there. Well it turned out the cruise ship schedule had changed after the dock master went home yesterday and there was no problem with them being dock in that slip.
They got their next night free and we got an early start. It was smooth as glass as we entered “The Big Lake”. That is what the locals on Lake Charlevoix call lake Michigan, I thought I had come from the Big Lake (Lake Charlevoix) coming from Oyster Bay since the marina was in Round Lake. Another local got a laugh out of my lack of knowledge; he won’t be the last as we continue our adventure. Well that smooth as glass soon became 2-3 foot waves on our Starboard Beam. I had left the guest cabin hatch open and we had water coming into the port holes. Thankful Charlotte closed the hatches before we had any damage. We only had an hour before we turned into Grand Traverse Bay where things started calming down.
When we reached Traverse City we were able to get our stay extended till we get back from Florida. I had called a local looper, Jim Favors, who has volunteered as a harbor host for AGLCA. Harbor hosts help out loopers with local information.
Jim stopped buy with his son and offered to give us a ride to the Airport but another looper Loren, took us. Loren and his wife Mary Marilyn are live aborts 6 months a year in Traverse City and the other 6 months in Florida. They have completed the loop twice.
We had dinner at North Peak a Microbrewery Monday night and then Red Ginger Tuesday night. We would recommend both.
