Tuesday Aug 30

Well the wedding is over and we'll be headed back to the boat in an hour or so.
The wedding was so lovely and it was wonderful to see family, especially Rick, Nicole and the kids. I'll be attaching pictures at the end.
It's been a very busy few days for us. Probably the most interesting thing was sleeping in a bed! And it was soft... not at all like the V-berth on the boat. It didn't take long at all to sink into the mattress!
JoAnne and Ed Furniss arrived just a bit ago and will be going with us to the boat. What fun! Always good to spend time with friends.

The attached pictures are - our nephew Jake with our grandson Cooper on the jet ski; Great-grandma holding Amelia; the next two are of Rick, Nicole, Skip, Xavier and Cooper in Lake Michigan (water was 54 that day!); the last pic is of the family.

Blogs will continue tomorrow from the boat.
Love and blessings,
Margo and Skip

Tuesday Aug 23

By now everyone knows about the 5.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Northern Virginia today. I got a text from David at 2:49 today telling us about it. They evacuated his office and he said 8,000 people were trying to get out of the parking lot! He got home and found some things had fallen off the walls and some books fell from the bookshelves but otherwise all was okay. I'm so thankful that he is okay, even though he was shaken up alot.
We are still in Petoskey and will leave the boat here when we leave tomorrow for a family wedding this weekend in Muskegon.
We've been noticing that the  boat engine would lose RPM's as we were motoring. You could  actually hear the engine change pitch. Skip called  Chris for some advice and did what Chris suggested but nothing worked. Tomorrow, Wed., we  have a mechanic coming to take a look. Can we all say "money pit"!
Oh well, we're having so much fun!
Just so everyone knows, we may not be posting much for the next week 'cause we'll be in Muskegon. So Jim B. don't worry about us okay!?
Love and Blessings,
Margo and Skip

Monday Aug 22

We left Beaver Island about 7:45 am, bound for Petoskey. Almost immediately it bagan to sprinkle and did that off and on most of the trip across the lake. The sky kept changing, but it was omnious looking for awhile - dark and brooding. But we did have wind from the right direction and we were able to sail most of the way to Petoskey. As we were coming into Little Traverse Bay the wind really picked up - about  22 knots. Fortunately we were at a point to take the sails down and motor into Petoskey Harbor. We got tied up and Vince and Diane took Skip back to Mackinaw City to get our car. I stayed behind to get some things done.
But while we were walking to the Andersons car, we noticed that the power boat next to us was named Koinonia. That's the name of our Sunday school class so we were all curious about the name. Later I asked a lady on the boat about the boats name. She told me that they had just purchased the boat and the name was already there. She went on to tell me that she googled the word because she didn't know it's meaning. She said it had spiritual meaning.  ;-)
When Skip got back we went to the Urgent Care Clinic to have my knee looked at (the injury from my biking experience on Beaver Island!). I was pretty sure there was infection in the wound and sure enough there is. So now I'm on antibiotics. It's gonna be an ugly scar for sure!
Later we went to the City Park Grill for dinner. Very nice! And the food was so yummy! City Park Grill is one of the oldest building's in Petoskey and a favorite haunt of Ernest Hemingway when he vacationed here in the summer's.
We checked the weather before we went to bed and decided to stay here another night. The weather (wind) is gonna be fierce tomorrow (Tuesday).
Love and Blessings,
Margo and Skip

Saturday Aug 20 and Sunday Aug 21

Saturday
Had such a nice day on the water today even though we didn't get to sail all day. We left Mackinaw City and headed to Beaver Island arriving about 4ish. Got settled in and took a walk into town.  Came back to the boat and fixed dinner and played cards!
The pictures attached show Vince and Diane some relaxing  while we made our way to Beaver. And of course there's the Captain at the helm.

Sunday
Got up a little later than usual today... played cards way to late! But we showered and fixed breakfast and decided to rent bikes and go for a ride.
So  we got our bikes and headed out. It was a beautiful day with big puffy clouds in the blue sky. We had a map so we knew where we were going, at least most of  the time. There are some beautiful scenes; great landscapes; and blue water in every view.  About an hour into the  ride we came to the beach on the other side of the island from where the boat is moored. I was slowing down and applying the brakes and as I put my foot down on the gravel road, the bike tire rolled over a large rock and I lost my balance. Needless to say, I fell! My knee is pretty banged up with part of it just hanging on by a slight attachment to the rest of my knee. Since we were at the beach we took our shoes off and walked out into the water where I washed my knee off.
But wait, the story gets better... We saw that rain was coming so we put our shoes back on and began to peddle back to the boat. We had left the hatches open (which we never do!). And yes it began to rain. Vince rode ahead of us to get to the boat as quickly as possible. Diane, Skip and I followed but not as fast. It bagan to rain harder and hail started to fall! Thankfully it was only pea sized and not  the size of golf balls! We finally had to duck down a lane that was tree covered.
We all looked like drowned rats! Plus the V-berth got wet. So here we are in these wet clothes, a wet bed and sheets and tennis shoes! Gheeezzzz! It's a bike ride we won't soon forget..
Headed to  the Shamrock Pub for dinner later.
Love and Blessings,
Margo and Skip

Friday Aug 19

Well I see that I got my days of the week confused 'cause the 18th was Thursday! Go figure! Oh Well.
David left early this morning for his fourteen hour drive back to Annapolis. Sure was good to have him with us for a few days and he had fun too! Vince and Diane joined us this afternoon. It's so good to see friends from home and catch up on what's going on in the Ville!
We took a walk into  town, stopped at the Keyhole for a beer and meandered back to the boat after stopping by the Farmer's Market to pick up some fresh veggies and fruit.
After dinner we played double-bid-euchre! A new way to play euchre for Skip and I. I think by tomorrow when we play again I'll know better what I'm doing!  ;-)
Love and blessings,
Margo and Skip

Friday Aug 18

Woke to a beautiful dy today! Sunshine and blue skies! and lots of wind, just not going our way. It was in our nose all day. Bummer! It's a motoring day today.
So we motored from Drummond Island back to Mackinaw City. We docked at the Straits State Harbor where we were before. It's a great place and only three years old. The folks here are so nice and very accomodating.
We went to the Keyhole Bar for dinner. There are keys everywhere! All shapes and sizes; from cars and houses; hotel/motel keys. Keys, keys and more keys!  We all three had fish... Yummee! Great meal.
David leaves tomorrow (Friday) for his long 14 hour trip back to Annapolis. It was fun having him with us for a few days. This afternoon, Vince and Diane Anderson join us. It will be good to see them.
I've attached a couple of pictures. A great looking lighthouse at the Straits of Mackinac and a picture of David.
Love and blessings,
Margo  and Skip

Wednesday Aug 17

Great sail today! Tem tpo fifteen mph winds, one to Two foot waves! We were keeling over pretty good and almost buried the rail! Ed you have loved it!
So cool! David enjoyed being at the helm!
We sailed for almost four hours. We had a great time.
Pulled into Drummond Island Yacht Haven and we  were so pleased with the marina. Very nice and very nice folks here.
Got tied up and visited with the boat next to us (they are doing the  loop!)  Fixed dinner  - had beef kabobs with veggies  and 'taters.  Yummee!
Listened to fun music and has fun -
Tomorrow we're back to Mac City. David leaves early Friday morning for his drive back to Annapolis MD.
Andersons  come on Friday afternoon!
Love and Blessings,
Margo and Skip

Tuesday Aug 16, 2011

David joined us late Monday night after several hours on the road from Evansville. So fun to see family - well one member anyway!
Went to the grocery before we left Mackinaw City. We didn't have much wind today but it was a beautiful day and we were able to  get in two hours of sailing before we took the sails in.
We came back to DeTour for the night and tomorrow will probably sail around Drummond Island.
It was a great day!
Love and blessings,
Margo  and Skip

Monday August 15

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day! We left DeTour Harbor and motored for a bit then hoisted our sails (Kevin I always think of you when I hear that!) and off we went. The only problem was that we were going in the wrong direction!
Oh well, we were sailing so that was okay. We tacked every hour or so and then brought the jib in and motored sailed for awhile. Sklp noticed it was getting late (well not really late) and we were going to a marina we had not been to before and we wanted to get there before dark so we lowered the main and motored the rest of the way... about 4 hours!
Now we are cleaning because David will be here in a bit! It will be good to see family! Seems l
Not sure what we'll do tomorrow but David wants to sail so we will do just that.
It was a great day and God has truly blessed our summer!
Love and Blessings,
Margo and Skip

Sunday Aug 14

Great big beautiful  day today! Even though we did not hoist the sails.
We left the Soo about 10am and made our way to St. Mary's River and a series of red and green bouys. You definitely had to pay attention! It was like driving in Chicago, only the tankers and freighters going both ways was a little more daunting than a semi tractor-trailer.
We got docked in  DeTour, another great Michigan State operated harbor.
We walked into town for a couple miles and ended up at the Mainsail Bar and Grille. So instead of the brats  we were gonna have, we split a chicken sandwich, french fries and onion rings. Yummee!
Came back to the boat and played gin rummy and I won!!  Who knew!!
Tomorrow we are off to Mackinaw City.  And David will be there on  Tuesday!!
Love and Blessings,
Margo and Skip

Saturday Aug 13

Very overcast  and rainy today but we avoided the big rain. It went South of us thankfully. The current was with us today as we motored to Sault Ste. Marie from WhitefishBay.
We decided to lock "down" through the American Locks today as we had gone to Lake Superior through the Canadian Locks, locking "up". What a difference between the two.
The American Locks at the  Soo are very commercial  in nature. All the freighter/tanker traffic go through the American side. Today alone we saw at least ten big vessels either coming or going on the lake.
The American Locks have four chambers but only two  are uused extensively. Both in the South canal - the Poe and the MacArthur locks. The Poe lock is for vessels of up to 1,000 ft. We locked through the  Poe Canal and we were all alone in the chamber! We were dwarfed by the size of the area.
So we got to the locks but had to wait for a freighter to lock "up" to Lake Superior. In the mean time a tanker came up behind us to go into the MacArthur lock. Boy did we feel small next to those two. 
We locked through in about  20 minutes once we got in the chamber. Coming out the other side into Lake Huron we motored to the marina and settled in.
The freighters and tankers are so massive. I'm attaching some pictures of the big vessels and the locks.
Tomorrow we head for De Tour for the night and then it's off to Mackinaw City where David will meet us for a few days. Can't wait to see him!
Love and Blessings,
Margo and Skip

Friday, Aug 12

A good day today. We were able to sail - 10-13 mph winds out of the Southwest, with 1-2 ft. waves. It was overcast until late in the afternoon when the sun finally showed up!
As we were sailing and I was at the helm, I thought about Genesis and the creation story. Genesis 1:10 says, "God called the dry land Earth and the waters  that were gathered He called Seas. And God saw that it was good." This lake is so massive; over 31,700 square miles of water, with a depth of 1,279 feet.
Today I looked to the port side (left) of the boat and all I could see was water. Beautiful blue water. During this trip, there have been only a few times that we could not see land. It's very impressive and very humbling. I have a great deal of respect for this lake.
We pulled into Whitefish Point, got settled in and  took a two mile hike to the lighthouse and shipwreck museum. This lighthouse is the oldest on the lake, dating back to 1849. Whitefish Point has the destinction of being known as "the graveyard of the Great Lakes" with more than 500 shipwrecks, the most notable is the Edmund Fitzgerald.
After our walk I made a pot of creamy wild rice soup with mushrooms and chicken. It was good on this cool evening.
It's off to  bed with us. Another full day tomorrow as we head to Sault Ste. Marie and the locks on the  American side.
Love and Blessings Everyone!
Margo and Skip

Pics are of our boat and of the fishing boats in Whitefish Bay Harbor. Some of them look like they haven't seen fish for quite some time!

Wednesday Aug 10 and Thursday Aug 11

Wed, Aug 10
Spent an extra day in Houghton due to the weather. Nasty storm - big wind! We were neither one excited about traveling with 30 mph wind and 7 foot waves!
So  today, Wed, we left for Big Bay. We had a great sail! The wind was perfect so  we made really good time and we were able to have the sails up about 6 hours.
We had the dock all to ourselves when we got to Big Bay. It was very quiet and peaceful.
We need a good nights sleep for an early day tomorrow. We'll be headed to Grand Maris!

Thurs, Aug 11
Long day today - 97 miles and we motored all the way! The lake was flat and there was no  wind at all.
We got docked and headed to the Lake Superior Brewing Co. for dinner. We both had a cheeseburger! Yummmeeee! We've been eating fish mostly, which is not a bad thing, but we both needed some red meat!
Well it's off to  bed. We're headed to Whitefish  Bay tomorrow.
Love and Blessings Everyone!
Margo and Skip

Monday Aug 8 and Tues Aug 9

Monday
A long day today! Motoring from Stockton Island, Wisconsin to Houghton Hancock, Michigan - over 100 miles and 15 1/2 hours. Goodness what a day!
But we made it safely.
About 6 hrs into the trip we noticed what we first thought was a bird flying around the boat. It was a bat! First he tucked into a seam of the dodger. Skip  managed to get him out of the seam and he went into the fold of the sail we thought. So  when we entered the Portage Canal going to Houghton Hancock we hoisted the sail and out he came. Hopefully he went to the wooded area on either side of the canal! It was a bit scary and made me anxious!
I kept telling Skip to to call someone! I don't know who I thought we could/would call! Batbusters I guess.
Never a dull moment with us!!

Tuesday
Spent the day in Houghton - the weather was not good  for us. High winds and big waves. There were white-caps on the water in the canal! Not good at all.
So we had a low key day today. Did some reading; did some walking. Watched the weather live in front of us and on the internet trying to decide what to do tomorrow.
Love and Blessings,
Margo and Skip

Aug 7Sunday

We had a great day of sailing today! The wind was out of the North East to begin with, switching to the South at days end.  (Ed, we were clocking about 8 knots of boat speed!)
We ended our day in Quarry Bay on Stockton Island, getting ready to our trip back to Lake Michigan beginning tomorrow.
We weren't on the dock tied up very long when we were joined by 2 power boats and another sailboat. The name of the sailboat was "Airborne" as in the 101st Airborne. Well, I had to find out what that was all about so I began a conversation.
The boat is owned by Herb Suerth who  was one of the original "Band of Brothers" from the 101st! What an interesting gentleman he is. He was there with his wife, daughter and son-in-law and three grandchildren. I'm attaching a picture of Herb with the  kids.
We had dinner and hit the sack early. Skip made me set an alarm 'cause we have to get moving at 0-dark-thirty!
Love and Blessings,
Margo and Skip

Sunday Aug 7

As I write this, we have just left Bayfield to begin our trip back to Lake Michigan. We have so enjoyed our time in the Apostles. It was more than we could have asked for. The history, the beauty of this untouched region... everything has been amazing.
We're headed to Stockton Island and from there we will head out for the journey to Mackinaw City.
More news from us as it develops!
Love and blessings,
Margo and Skip

Friday Aug 5

Hey Ya'll!
Well we're back in Bayfield after several glorious days sailing around the Apostle Islands. We saw some beautiful, pristine areas of our country this past week. The Apostles are a national treasure for sure. If you ever have the opportunity to visit this area, you should take it.
We got alot done today - grocery, haircuts (at the barber shop! Yes, even me!), fish market, and dinner at Maggies with our friend Niels. We had a wonderful time and now it's on to bed for a good  nights sleep! Hope the guys across the dock from us don't party all night!!
Love and Blessings,
Margo and Skip

Thursday Aug 4

We'll we've been without any coverage for past three days so I just posted a few days worth of blog postings.
Today, Thurs., we sailed out to Devil's Island. The island was named by the Indians because they thought evil spirits lived there. The island is a series of honeycombed caves at the base/waterline of the island. It's quite lovely really. I'm sure the picture I've attached will not do it justice.
Because we had a small amount of wind, we decided to try our Spinner. See the attached.
We docked at South Twin for the night, walked the beach and bathed in the lake. Only one word for that... refreshing!
Love and blessings,
Margo and Skip

Wednesday Aug 3

Well we woke to  a beautiful morning with some wind. So after a breakfast of oatmeal we headed out. We had not gone to far and the engine alarm went off! We had blown a hose and lost almost all our antifreeze. What a mess.
We had not yet put up our sails so we had to hurry to do that so we had some power. So Skip worked on the engine and I sailed the boat such as it was.
It took Skip about an hour to repair the problem.
Once that was complete, we sailed for awhile and then motored for awhile and so now we are tied up on Otter Island.
My kiddos won't remember this but they have been here. I think Chris was about 3 at the time.
It is a beautiful island, heavily wooded. It's claim to fame is that in 1960 it was host to the National Boy Scout Camporee! There were about \,000 Boy Scouts from all over the country came to  Otter for a week of camping.
We've been invited to a fresh lake trout dinner tonight by our dock mates, Beverly and Gary and their daughter Rhonda.
Sleep well everyone. More to come tomorrow.
Love and blessings,
Margo and Skip

Tuesday August 2

And it rained and rained and rained.... And the wind howelled! And the boat was safe and the boat was dry! (the window patch worked!) But it stopped raining and blowing and by 1:30pm the sun was out and it was a beautiful day.
We set out for a four mile hike through the Tombolo Trail. The beginning of  the trail was a dense forest of Eastern Hemlock, White Cedar and Balsam Fir with low ground cover of fern and a plant that resembled hosta but smaller. Along the way were markers describing what we were looking at. We came to an overlook where to the left was a bog and to the right was a Pine Savannah.
Continuing on we came out of the forest and we were looking at Jordan Bay, a beautiful 1 1/2 mile stretch of beach. Because of the red sandstone in these parts, the sand has a red hue to it.  The sand is fine and not to hard to walk in close to the water. We made it down the beach to a section where there was a separation in the beach by an inlet of water forming a stream.  We also spotted what looked like bear tracks! Yikes! I tried to talk Skip into just walking back the way we came but the man was on a mission! Me... not so much!
So we took our shoes off and waded across the stream and continued hiking. We soon found ourselves back in the forest and then walking across a foot bridge over the bog. There we could see wild cranberries. We picked wild blueberries along the path and ate those as we walked.  Very small and quite tasty!
Almost three hours later we found overselves back at the boat where we donned swimsuits and went for a dip.  This time I took the plunge! And it felt so refreshing! Not at all like the bathwater temperatures of our lakes at home. 
It turrned into a beautiful afternoon and evening.
We showered, took our "bag chairs" to the dock and watched the sun go down. And visited with our dock mates Billy and Ann (and their dog Gracie) and Julia and Troy.
It was a great day and such a blessing.
Love and blessings,
Margo and Skip

Pictures - Julia and Troy; Billy, Ann and Gracie; Skip on the dock; sunset on Stockton

Monday August 1

The day began a little oovercast with a hint of rain (which it never did by the way!). Skip changed the oil in the engine and I went to the grocery and fish market.. We finally took off about 1pm for a few days of island sailing. First on our agenda is Stockton Island. By then the sun was out and there was a bit of a breeze.
Here's some information about the Apostles:
It is generally believed that the islands were named by the French missionaries in the late 1600's in the belief that there were only 12 islands and therefore named for the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. There are actually 22 islands, each with it's own unique name showing the influence of the Chippewa Indian's and French settlers. The islands are now part of the Park Service and were named a National Lakeshore in 1970.
This area of Lake  Superior has more pleasure craft per square mile than any other part of the lake. The largest charter company is located here as well as seven marinas and two yacht clubs accounting for more privately owned boats  than anywhere else on Lake Superior.
Not  all of the islands have docks; in some cases we will anchor out ina bay.
We got to Stockton about 4:30 and tied up. It's a small area with not much depth, but we found a place on the East dock. The Park Service has jurisdiction over the Apostles and have made some nice improvements to the camping areas, hicking trails, and docks that exist.
Stockton has a full time Park Ranger living on the island. Her name is Amie and she is here from Memorial Day to Labor Day and is then replaced by someone else. There is also a maintenance crew here to keep the trails cleared, etc.
This island is the most popular of the Apostles because of the diverse terrain here. There are logoons, bogs, sandy beaches and dense forests.
Last night the Park Ranger had a presentation in which she talked about the Tombolo. I had never heard this word before so was quite interested. A tombolo is a sandbar. Stockton was originally two islands but over many centuries, a tombolo or sandbar joined the two making it one.  Today the Tombolo Trail gives folks a great way to explore this area.
We also learned of the many different types of vegetation here. Some edible such as the wild blueberries and cranberries.
Tomorrow we will hike the Tombolo Trail, a 3.8 mile trek. Tonight we will huncker-down for the storm that's coming!
In the meantime, we are so blessed with all the wonders we see.
Love and Blessings Everyone,
Margo and Skip

The attached picture was taken at the Apostle Island Marina this morning as the sun came up.

Sunday July 31

Glorious day in Bayfield! Sunny blue skies, not much wind, but a beautiful day !
Went to Egg Toss for  breakfast! Yummmeee! Fresh raspberries with heavy cream, eggs benedict with "toss potato's". I only ordered the small portion 'cause I knew I couldn't eat the whole thing! Skip had fresh blueberry pancakes, eggs and apple smoked sausage. Goodness - we won't have to  eat the rest of the  day.
We took a walk after that to wear off  some of those calories. Came back to the boat and worked on a couple of  projects. One window on top leaked when it rained so we took it out, cleaned the  pane and the area it sits in and re-caulked it. Hopefully that will take care of it. We'll find out tomorrow - big storm coming!
Skip put our new flag up. Our old American flag was a bit faded and  tatered. He also worked on the mian sail ribs, changing out the screws..
We walked to  Maggies and borrowed Nancy's car and rode up to  Erickson's Orchard to see Muriel and Jimmy but they weren't there. We did get our apple cider donuts though! And picked up some fresh blueberries and raspberries.
Another wonderful day! We feel so blessed to be able to do  this.
Love and Blessings Everyone,
Margo and Skip