In our last blog post, on our approach to Mackinac Island, and again on our horse drawn wagon ride on the island, we caught glimpses of the Mackinac Bridge. Today we got to go under it! This bridge is significant for a couple of reasons: One was obvious because it is so huge! It is the longest suspension bridge with two towers in the Western Hemisphere. It spans between St. Ignace and Mackinaw City. The second is that it marks the transition from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan which means a new body of water for us as we cross the Straits of Mackinac. Officially, Georgian Bay and the North Channel are Lake Huron so Lake Michigan is the second body of water on our Great Loop. It is the biggest and coolest bridge that we have ever gone under with our boat!
We saw our first cargo ship approaching us. We looked it up on AIS (Automatic Identification System), which is a system for identifying other vessels in our vicinity. AIS reported its length as 0.165 nautical miles! That's almost 1000 feet long. It also tells us our closest point of approach and time to closest point of approach. We also encountered our first two tows, however, there was no need to radio any of these ships for passing since there was so much space. Once we get to the river system, we will be radioing tows regularly to see how they want us to pass them.
The entry to Charlevoix is a narrow channel with a bridge that opens every half hour. The bridge has 16 feet of clearance and we require 19 feet so we had to wait for it to open. It seemed that some boats were just waiting for the bridge opening for the experience of going under a raised bridge. It made for a busy water way while we waited! Our information indicated that we could anchor in Round Bay, but once we saw it, we knew that it was too busy and too small for our liking. We got a reservation at the Irish Boat Shop and tied up on the end of a breakwall. We didn't like the spot that much, but we were secure.
We took our bikes and went on an exploration to find the mushroom houses. These homes were designed by Earl Young and there are about thirty of them. He designed the homes to fit in with the landscaping and some have thatched roofs that look like mushrooms so that's how they got their name. The next day we cleaned the boat and then went to the beach for a swim. It was our hottest day so far and the swim was refreshing. Then we biked downtown, found a spot to lock up the bikes, and hit the shops. We really enjoyed the shopping district and Heather got a couple of swimsuits. Then we watched the bridge raise from a pedestrian's perspective.
Our time in Charlevoix ended with a bang, actually several bangs! Our marina is very close to the Belvedere Club which is a neighborhood of high end cottages and homes. There had been an event going on at the clubhouse and everyone was in formal wear. We believe that it was a birthday celebration like the one in the movie Meet Joe Black. The party ended with a fantastic display of fireworks.
We left Charlevoix and spent a couple of days on anchor in Omena Bay. We were actually heading to Suttons Bay, but sometimes you have to be flexible. The water was not behaving as we had expected from the forecast. Apparently, on Lake Michigan, you can get a swell forecast as well as a wind and wave forecast - lesson learned! That day the swell and the waves were against each other. Cam had to throttle up to keep his crew happy! The winds were out of the north so we tucked into Omena Bay. Anchoring there was interesting. First we dropped anchor just at the edge of the shelf in 13 feet of water. After we went on a dinghy explore, we realized the shelf was mostly 6-7 feet deep everywhere so we moved in much closer to shore and re-anchored. It was super calm and so shallow and clear that we could see every inch of our chain and anchor under water! While it was a very small town, it had a winery so we dinghied in to enjoy a wine tasting at the Lee Lan Au Cellars and bought several bottles of wine. The anchorage was very protected and we enjoyed peaceful beautiful sunsets and nice walks along the shore.
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