Teddy's Northern Adventure

This summer, Teddy Bear took a boating trip on Crews Control, accompanied by O Captain and On Cue.

The first stop was for the Riviera Yacht Club summer rendezvous in Ludingtong, Michigan. Originally planning to leave on Friday morning, the captains looks at the weather and decided to head up Thursday evening. On this part of the journey they were joined by the Bostonian, named because it's captain, Kevin Egan, is from the Boston area. However, Teddy thought it was tribute to his being a boston terrier, and nobody was willing to break the news to him.

The seas were as flat as they could be, and we all made great time getting to Ludington.

When we arrived, it was fairly late, and we headed to Michael's for some dinner. We discovered that on Thursdays their kitchen closes down at 10pm, and they only thing they serve is broasted chicken or pizza.

On Friday, Wayne and Tami won the scavenger hunt, and with it a fifth of Jose Cuervo. The 'appetizers' were a complete taco bar. Saturday, Kirk and Cher won the dinghy race, with Mark and Michelle coming in dead last in over 4 minutes. Karen Orr won the 50/50 drawing and just about knocked Mark into the water in her celebration. Ken reluctantly went in the water as well after he found out he had to if he wanted any share of the winings.

Although we were not there, the report of Monica losing her shoes did make it back to the rest of the group. We also found a store in downtown Ludington named Best Market that had a fantastic deli, and Wayne learned that when you go to the deli, they will actaully slice as much as you want off, you don't have to buy the entire 5 pound ham.

On Sunday, O'Captain, Crews Control, and On Cue headed north, planning to anchor at South Manitou Island. On the way there, we stopped for fuel in Arcadia. There was a little bit of concern as On Cue turned up quite a bit of sand in the channel, Turns out you need to stay to the south side of the channel. The dockmaster at Arcadia was very friendly and helpful, and we fueled up and topped off the dinghy tanks as well. Two cycle oil was $6.00 for a quart.

Chippewa Indians Legend tells us of the mother bear, Mishe Mokwa, who fled a great forest fire in Wisconsin with her two cubs. Mishe Mokwa reached the Michigan shore and climbed a steep bluff to await her cubs. The cubs, exhausted by their long swim, never reached land. The mother bear waited day after day to no avail. Finally she died. The Great Spirit Manitou marked her resting place with the Sleeping Bear Dunes and raised North and South Manitou Islands from the spot where the cubs perished.

We arrived in South Manitou island, and anchored in 20 feet of water, which was actually extremely close to shore. After securing the boats, we went on one of Bill and Barb's patented one drink dinghy run, then later had daquiri's On Cue.

We were all entertained by the Mitchell's late-night decision to shower on their swim platform as well. The next day, we took the dinghies to shore and explored the island and the museum. You can learn much more about the area by following this link:
http://www.leelanau.com/manitou/islands/

From South Manitou, O Captain decided to continue to rough it and stay at Leland, which still had much of the new facilities under construction. Crews Control and On Cue continued to Traverse City as planned. We stopped in Sutton's Bay for lunch on the way, mainly to test our docking ability in 25 knot winds. Sutton's Bay has day docks on the south end of the marina, slips 133-138, clearly painted on the end, for $2.00 per hour. We walked into town and had lunch at the Firehouse Pub, which also served their own version of a black and tan, Guinness mixed with a hard cider. Wayne's theory was that it was the only way they could get rid of the cider.

In Traverse, we found the store Momentum, where Chris bought a rain jacket for only $19.00. We later noticed in subsequent ports the exact same jacket was selling for $59.00, which made Chris think he got a deal. Wayne wanted to go to Annie's, where he got the one dollar ice cream cone, which according to him, even at a dollar, was NOT a deal. We had gyro's at U&I, which is highly recommended and deservedly so. The wireless code at the Espresso Cafe is Baychiller, which is important to know as the coffee was $3.00 a cup. The new facilities at Duncal L. Clinch marina were excellent, and the trip down the bay was well worth it. We also found a very accurate weather predictor.

The next leg of the journey for Crews Control and On Cue was Elk Rapids (O Captain headed on to Charlevoix). Elk Rapids is a large facility, and because Teddy insists, we got slips right up on shore, which is important to ask for as all of the finger docks key off of one dock, making for a long walk to shore if you are on those docks.

The internet cafe in town still charges for wireless (how quaint). The recommended place to eat is Pearl's, to which the marina will shuttle you. Pearl's has fantastic cajun food, and a bloody mary that looks back at you as you drink it (served with a crawfish). We can recommend the mixed grill and the jambalaya. Wayne almost killed himself doing an oyster shooter with Absolute Peppar.
Interestingly, in Elk Rapids, they had a bear sculpture in town that was painted with the legend of Bear and her cubs.

Crews Control and On Cue then met back up with O Captain in Charlevoix. Charlevoix has all new docks, 3 each holding more than 24 boats. The drawbridge is a bit low on the way into Charlevoix, and On Cue had to lower the antenna in order to not have to wait for the bridge. In Charlevoix, the Whitney oyster bar was our initial desitination. We did learn that the area to go is the third floor, where from 4-7 they serve all of their cold appetizers, including the oysters, half off.

Wayne had plenty of oysters, but Chris did actually have to teach him the proper technique. Wayne and Chris walked to Irish marine on Lake Charlevoix, which was quite a hike. Little did we know we would be right back there the next day by dinghy. Wayne had to go to Irish because he had registered for Aquapalooza there, knowing we would be in the area at the time, and wanted to pick up his freebies. If you know Wayne, you know he is all about the freebies. As we mentioned, the next day we took the dinghies from Round Lake through to Lake Charlevoix. We learned that there was the natural path between the 2 lakes that was quite pretty. It's hard to notice, but it is on the north side of the dug out channel. We went to Irish because Bill wanted to see if he could get some free stuff too (Sea Ray owners). Then we ate lunch at Kelsey B's, which was a very nice place for sandwiches.
Charlevoix has their own musical fountain as well.

After we got back, we made sure to go back to Whitney's after 8pm in order to see the singer David Cisco. Cisco has a steel drum that he plays as well, and he passes out drumsticks to the crowd. Cathie is probably the only person who ever purchased Cisco's CD, 10 years ago, and she was able to convince David to play her favorite song from it. He was shocked to find someone who had his CD. We were worried about the seas the next morning, they started out as 2-4 footers. We had planned to stop in Frankfort, but O Captain decided to continue on. As we neared Frankfort, since Tami was asleep, Wayne decided to also continue on, heading home in 3-5 footers, stopping in Manistee for fuel at $3.40 per gallon.

On Cue decided to stay in Frankfort, and we stayed at Jacobsen's marina. What an excellent facility. Although we did not take advantage of it, they will cook a lobster dinnner for you on-site and bring it to your boat. We ended up staying an extra day there, and can highly recommend the Tali Fusion restaurant, a very high quality asian restaurant. There was a place named Dinghy's there that must be excellent, because we could not get in there without an hour wait at any time of the day.

On Cue came back on Sunday in 1 footers, taking about half the time it took Wayne on Friday, and also when we fueled up in Ludington, we only paid $2.80 per gallon.