Taurus Great Loop

 

We are still in Alpena, Michigan, mostly due to the weather. We have had rain and thunderstorms through this afternoon, with wind and rain tomorrow. Which is fine. We did get a break in the weather to go to the English-style pub. They had awesome fish and chips, and a prime rib sandwich.  We also found out that there was a concert at the bandshell in the park that happens to be near our marina. The band was “Shout”, a Beatles Tribute band that has won many Battle of the Bands for Beatles.   "Shout", a Beatles Tribute Band

We are staying in Alpena for the weekend. Their downtown is right next to the Marina which is convenient for replenishing supplies.  I thought that since you might not have the why’s and wherefores that we are making this journey, I should give you some background information. You see, several years ago, Fred’s mother gave him the book, “Honey, Let’s Get a Boat”.  That book was also the beginning of America’s Great Loop Cruiser Association.  See the history that began in 1999 here --  https://greatloop.org/page/About_AGLCA?&hhsearchterms=%22honey%22 .  You might wonder how Loopers recognize other Loopers along the way. There are a couple of different ways. We have the Nebo app, which allows you to search for Looper boats. All Loopers know about this app and most of them use it.  You can see Taurus (our boat) on this picture from Nebo. And there are currently several Looper boats on the same dock that we are on. The image under “Taurus” is the AGLCA imag...

Due to the weather forecast, we left E. Tawas at 7:30 this morning. There was a beautiful sunrise at 6:40 am. The weather forecast called for a Small Craft Warning starting at 2:00 pm today. They are calling for 3-5 ft. waves this afternoon and tonight. Not good for smaller boats.  We arrived at Alpena, MI around 1:00 pm, which is good considering we had to travel 60 miles. We got a little help from the Lake at one point by giving us following seas. Instead of 13-14 knots, we traveled at 15 knots for a brief time.  Alpena is the second largest metropolitan area in northern Michigan, second to Traverse City. The population here is 24,000 including the surrounding county. Our home town of Simsbury is larger than that.  With Michigan shaped like a mitten, we are on the top of the index finger tonight. We plan to stay here until Monday. Tomorrow and Sunday are forecast to be bad weather days. Boaters must pay attention to the weather. We look at the forecast several days out....

We left the Thumb of Michigan this morning, and cruised across the open water between the Thumb and the Mitten. It was odd not being able to see land. Even in the Long Island Sound, we can see land. The water was flat and great for our cruise.  The sun rises later here and sets later.  Here is this morning’s sunrise. There is a boardwalk above the breakwater wall, so Fred took a walk on it. There is a beach next to the marina, as well as an RV park Taurus in the slip. It’s the boat right in the middle of the picture.  For dinner, 8 of us, 4 boats, all went to dinner

We left St. Clair Shores and cruised up the rest of the St. Clair River and into Lake Huron.  Check out its history here:   https://www.michigan.org/great-lakes/lake-huron Lake Huron Some more of the US and Canada We had to go behind a breakwater wall for our marina at Harbor Beach tonight.  Then the marina is built out in the water behind the wall.  It’s very nice but is overrun with spiders.  Thank goodness it’s only for one night. Time for us to learn something.  Michigan is made up of two parts - the Mitten and the Upper Peninsula (UP).  We are currently on the Thumb (of the Mitten).  The weather on Lake Huron can change dramatically and quickly. And there are not many natural harbors for a boat to get out of the weather. The rivers are short and do not have natural harbors. The marina that we were in last night in the Black River only had slips in a row along the side of the River. So the State of Michigan has developed man-made harbors (Harb...

After an overnight stay at St. Clair Shores, we cruised today in Lake St. Clair, then cruised up the St. Clair River.  See the opening from the Lake to the River. As you can see from the pictures, it was a nice, calm day in the water. There were houses built right at the water on the American side of the river, but not many in the Canadian side.  Do you see the color of the water?  It really is turquoise, similar to the Caribbean.  We had a total of three freighters pass us going downstream. Here’s one of them:   Freighter on the St. Clair River We still aren’t used to these gigantic channel markers.  As we turned onto the Black River to go to our marina for tonight, we had to go under three bridges. As Taurus is taller than the height of the bridge, they opened for us. And finally, a look at our wake in turquoise water:   Our Wake in Turquoise Water Tomorrow - Lake Huron!

As we left Monroe at 8:00 am this morning, not many of the other boaters were stirring. I guess the Regatta went until the wee hours of the morning.  😆  We headed up the Detroit River and said good-by to Lake Erie.  The Detroit River is part of the connection between Lake Erie and Lake Huron - whereas the Erie Canal is the connection for the Northeast and the Midwest.  The Erie Canal has locks because the Oswego River and the Hudson River are at different heights. So we go thru locks to raise or lower the water level for the boat. Similarly, Lake Huron and Lake Erie have a difference in water elevation of 8 ft. This is not addressed by locks on the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, or the Detroit River, so the water from Lake Huron is flowing downhill to Lake Erie. That creates a current for those of us traveling upstream. Today, we had enough current to lower our speed by 2.5 knots. 😳  Entrance to the Detroit River from Lake Erie The Detroit River is a major s...

The sunrise in Sandusky was beautiful this morning.  We couldn’t get in our first choice marina in Monroe, MI, so we are at the Monroe Boat Club marina. We should have known this would be an interesting Marina, when they told Fred over the phone that they were putting us on the “banana dock”.  Fred found this marina at a little out of the way channel in Booles Harbor. It turns out this was a good thing, as this boat club is holding their annual Regatta this weekend. (In New England a regatta is a series of races). Fred asked when the races are and there aren’t any. In Michigan, a regatta is a party!  It’s their biggest money-maker and there’s walleye for dinner. They expect to serve 3,000 people 😮. There will be DJ’s and a band tonight and tomorrow. We just extended our stay to 2 nights so we can join in the fun.  And, since we’re here for their Regatta, our dockage is free. So far, Michigan people are great.  Update: we attended the walleye fish fry and it was...

We left Cleveland in good cruising weather. We had a 4-hr trip.  As we approached Sandusky, we could see Cedar Point Amusement Park, the roller coaster capital of the world.  Opened in 1870, it is the second-oldest operating amusement park in the United States behind only Lake Compounce (in CT) 🤩   Known as "America's Roller Coast",  the Cedar Point Amusement Park features a world-record 71 rides, including 17  roller coasters  – the second-most in the world behind  Six Flags Magic Mountain . We got in to Sandusky early enough to go to the Maritime Museum, then moved on to an outdoor restaurant brew pub.    We had walleye for dinner, one of the specialties of Lake Erie. It was delicious. Note: this was the walleye by which we judged all other walleye.  None of the others came close to being as good.        

Since there is a Small Craft Warning for today and the waves are 3-5 feet on our beam (side of the boat), we stayed another day in Cleveland. I caught up on laundry while Fred walked the streets of Cleveland. There weren’t many people out due to COVID-19.  There is a small airport next to the marina.  They have a B-29 that they are flying and it lands right over us. Apparently there are only 2 of them in the world.   B-29 Landing in Cleveland We did have dinner at the local modern Mexican restaurant with all the Loopers. We had 18 people (9 boats) and, as usual, it was a fun time.  Tomorrow it’s on to Sandusky, OH!

Today we went to the front of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  We also saw the SiriusXM studio that broadcasts on channel 26. We spent 2 1/2 hours but some people could spend a whole day.  We definitely recommend going to the Hall of Fame if you’re ever in Cleveland. They have lots of memorabilia starting in the 1920’s.  It includes many costumes worn by artists, instruments, hand-written music, and contracts. There are a lot of video clips and pictures. We didn’t recognize everybody, but they all contributed to this music industry.  They have everything from Ma Rainey to Taylor Swift and Machine Gun Kelly.   And we were able to see our boat out of one of the windows.  It’s the last boat at the far end of this dock.  Taurus gets around!  In addition, 5 Looper boats got together for dock tails this evening. Fun times.