Gazelle

En route to East Tawas with northerlies at about 10 kts. The waves were right square on the stern all the way to AuSable Point, which made for a nice ride, but lousy sailing. We were back into that thing where the wind would fill the sails until you surfed down a wave, then the sail would collapse, then you'd start back up the next wave and it would fill again, pulling all the lines taut with a loud thunking noise that shook the boat. So we gave that up and just surfed along under bare poles with the motor ticking over just enough to give us some control. The forecast had been for 2-4 foot waves, but they were probably more like 4-6 foot. At the turn at AuSable Point the waves followed us around the corner and we had them square on the stern again until we rounded the #2 at Tawas  Point.  Then the water went pretty flat.

 

Next day we borrowed my sister and brother in laws bikes and checked out the great bike path that stretches from the State Park out on Tawas Point all the way to Alabaster. We did make it to the point, but didn't quite make it to Alabaster. Later that evening we gave my niece Katy a chance to show off her "ice cream scoopin' guns" when we went into the ice cream shop she works at for some dessert. Scooping ice cream is excellent upper body and arm building exercise, I'm told.

 

Friday AM is time to head back to Caseville, but not without incident. First some background: we have an inflatable dingy on davits on the back of our boat, you boaters know the kind I mean, but for you non-boaters, they have inflatable tubes that form the sides, and the tubes are pointed in the back. We call these protrusions "Madonnas" at our marina, named after the pop singer when she was going through her "metallic cone shaped bra on the outside of her clothes" creative period. Anyway, we pull very hard to port (that's left, non-boaters) when the boat first goes into reverse, which happens to be the side of the boat the dinghy Madonnas protrude on, and the side of the boat that was tied to the dock. Apparently I had forgotten to pay attention to some tiny little stupid details, like what direction the butt end of the vessel was actually going when I applied the throttle. So, under perfect conditions, with no currents or excessive crosswinds to complicate things, we transformed an everyday maneuver that 99.999% of all boaters (even us) do routinely into a Three Stooges slapstick routine. To my complete suprise, the boat pulled hard to port, as it has every single stinkin' time I've ever backed it up for the last 15 years, the dinghy Madonnas caught on the last dock post, the faithful Yanmar diesel continued to faithfully provide reverse thrust, and before I could say "scuttle my scuppers" the pointy end of the boat swung to starboard (right), and the entire 37 foot, 11,000 pound boat/dinghy assemblage came to rest perfectly wedged 90 degrees in the boat slip, with the madonnas straddling the dock post behind us, and the bow pulpit mere inches from the vacant dock that had been on located perfectly sensibly on our right when this whole gruesome mess started. There was not enough room for us to go either backward or forward. About this time a good samaritan came along, probably thinking "I gotta see this",  or perhaps thinking he might be needed as a witness in some future litigation or insurance claim, and offered his assistance. With a completely straight face he asked us if were trying to get TO the dock or AWAY from the dock. Beth passed him a line while I gave him a one sentence summary of how we'd ended up shoehorned in here like this, and what we actually had hoped to accomplish here this morning when we untied the dock lines only moments ago. But even though I strung together a handful or two of actual words which went together perfectly nicely to make a complete coherent sentence, what he probably heard come from my mouth was more like "Woo-woo-woo, nyuk-nyuk-nyuk! Nyong, nyong, nyong! " Anyway, I'll be forever grateful to this unknown gentlman for helping us get free from the clutches of the dock, and especially for not laughing out loud.

 

 

Hung around for a while in Hessel to see what the fog was going to do. It was pretty thick, and we hoped if we dawdled with our second cups of coffee it would thin out a bit. However, it soon became obvious that the fog was here to stay, so we took off for Bois Blanc Island. Our route took us between Mackinaw Island and Round Island, so we got a good view down into the harbor - no racers there yet but the big party tent is up and everything is ready to go for when they do get there. Got a call from my buddy Greg Madill, he was headed for Cheboygan and wondered if we needed anything from the store before we got together tomorrow afternoon, a nice gesture on his part, we thought. Quite foggy until we were almost to the harbor at Bois Blanc, then it lifted. We were the only transient boat there when we arrived, so we had our pick of spots along the wall to tie up to. Walked the 1/4 mile to Hawk's Landing for ice cream, then another mile and a quarter to the museum/library, where there was a book sale and antique car show in progress. People are quite friendly here on the island, I don't think a single car passed us without the driver waving to us. Back to the boat where we both fell asleep until we were awakened by Deputy Whipple, who had come down to the dock to collect our daily dockage fee (that's how they do it here on the island). Deputy Whipple was just a fountain of information about the island and it's wildlife. We learned that they were in the middle of a really nastly Mayfly hatch, so he told us that if we saw geese beginning to congregate in the harbor, we should button up the boat because the hatch was about to start. So before we left to walk back to Hawk's for dinner, Beth closed the hatches, because, she said, it would be just her luck that a goose would jump up on the boat after a mayfly, step on the hatch screen, fall through into the boat and end up in the v-berth. She thinks of everything. Good dinner at Hawk's: olive burgers and "Bob-Lo Fries" (the locals pronounce Bois Blanc as "Bob Lo").

 

Next day we left for Hammond Bay where we plan to meet up with the Madills and see their new dream home right by the lakeshore where they plan to retire in a few years. He had given me the lattitude and longitude of their house, so when we came abeam of it, I got out the conch shell and let 'er rip, hoping he could hear us. They were there to meet us at the dock when we arrived; turns out they've got a freighter watching scope on the second story balcony and they saw us the minute we came around the point just west of their house. They heard the conch shell too. It's a gorgeous place, two stories with floor to peak windows overlooking their own stretch of private Lake Huron beachfront. After the grand tour we spent several hours on the balcony yakking, then we had a chicken BBQ. During dinner the storm clouds started to roll in, and with all those windows we got quite the show of lightning several miles out on the lake. It sprinkled only slightly while we were at the house, but it rained and blew like crazy after we got back to the boat.

 

Today we're back in Presque Isle Harbor after entering the marina in the middle of some greasy-looking fog and a torrential downpour. Now, thought,  at 4:30 or so it's nice and sunny. I had wanted to walk up to the top of the new lighthouse but it's too far too walk (1 1 /2 miles) with the threat of a downpour, and now it's too late, so we'll do it next time. Assuming no weather delays, tomorrow will be Harrisville, then East Tawas for a couple of days before we head back to Caseville Friday. We're planning on taking a  tour of the Tawas Point lighthouse since it's now open to the public.

Hung around for a while in Hessel to see what the fog was going to do. It was pretty thick, and we hoped if we dawdled with our second cups of coffee it would thin out a bit. However, it soon became obvious that the fog was here to stay, so we took off for Bois Blanc Island. Our route took us between Mackinaw Island and Round Island, so we got a good view down into the harbor - no racers there yet but the big party tent is up and everything is ready to go for when they do get there. Got a call from my buddy Greg Madill, he was headed for Cheboygan and wondered if we needed anything from the store before we got together tomorrow afternoon, a nice gesture on his part, we thought. Quite foggy until we were almost to the harbor at Bois Blanc, then it lifted. We were the only transient boat there when we arrived, so we had our pick of spots along the wall to tie up to. Walked the 1/4 mile to Hawk's Landing for ice cream, then another mile and a quarter to the museum/library, where there was a book sale and antique car show in progress. People are quite friendly here on the island, I don't think a single car passed us without the driver waving to us. Back to the boat where we both fell asleep until we were awakened by Deputy Whipple, who had come down to the dock to collect our daily dockage fee (that's how they do it here on the island). Deputy Whipple was just a fountain of information about the island and it's wildlife. We learned that they were in the middle of a really nastly Mayfly hatch, so he told us that if we saw geese beginning to congregate in the harbor, we should button up the boat because the hatch was about to start. So before we left to walk back to Hawk's for dinner, Beth closed the hatches, because, she said, it would be just her luck that a goose would jump up on the boat after a mayfly, step on the hatch screen, fall through into the boat and end up in the v-berth. She thinks of everything. Good dinner at Hawk's: olive burgers and "Bob-Lo Fries" (the locals pronounce Bois Blanc as "Bob Lo").

 

Next day we left for Hammond Bay where we plan to meet up with the Madills and see their new dream home right by the lakeshore where they plan to retire in a few years. He had given me the lattitude and longitude of their house, so when we came abeam of it, I got out the conch shell and let 'er rip, hoping he could hear us. They were there to meet us at the dock when we arrived; turns out they've got a freighter watching scope on the second story balcony and they saw us the minute we came around the point just west of their house. They heard the conch shell too. It's a gorgeous place, two stories with floor to peak windows overlooking their own stretch of private Lake Huron beachfront. After the grand tour we spent several hours on the balcony yakking, then we had a chicken BBQ. During dinner the storm clouds started to roll in, and with all those windows we got quite the show of lightning several miles out on the lake. It sprinkled only slightly while we were at the house, but it rained and blew like crazy after we got back to the boat.

 

Today we're back in Presque Isle Harbor after entering the marina in the middle of some greasy-looking fog and a torrential downpour. Now, thought,  at 4:30 or so it's nice and sunny. I had wanted to walk up to the top of the new lighthouse but it's too far too walk (1 1 /2 miles) with the threat of a downpour, and now it's too late, so we'll do it next time. Assuming no weather delays, tomorrow will be Harrisville, then East Tawas for a couple of days before we head back to Caseville Friday. We're planning on taking a  tour of the Tawas Point lighthouse since it's now open to the public.

Drizzle off and on last night, heavy fog and yucky blah this morning. Walked up to the gazebo near the Harbormaster's office to wait for them to open so we could get our bathroom key deposit back. While there we struck up a delightful conversation with the Millers, he of the Great Lakes Cruising Club board, and organizer of the annual rallies. This is where they keep their boat, and they were there awaiting the reinstallation of the engine in their trawler Seagull later today. They hope to be on their way to the wilderness rally at Collins Inlet by Monday. The conversation only came to a halt because we looked over and noticed that the engine installation project had started over at Mertaugh's, so the Miller's headed back that way. By then it was 10:00, the fog had not lifted one bit, it was colder than when we got up, and we figured by the time we got to our next destination it would be too late to do anything, anyway. So we decided to stay here for another day. 

 

Took a walk around the town near the waterfront and over to the Indian Cemetery. Then back to the Pickle Point shop to look at their eclectic assortment of board games, art supplies, household goods, clothing, and "Muck Boots", among other stuff. I had seen the newest poster for the upcoming Antique Wooden Boat Show yesterday, and asked the woman in the store if she was familiar with the artist. In fact, the poster has been produced about 3 minutes up the road at the local art gallery for years, and she told me I could probably get a signed print up there. Plus, the Hessel Bakery has reopened, and happens to be next door to the gallery. So off we went, where I did in fact buy a signed poster, which we'll take home and get matted and framed, then next door for fresh pasties and cinnamon bread. Oh yeah, life is good!

 

While Beth is doing some laundry, we're sitting on a bench near the boat launch, watching the mechanics launch and test run a couple of gorgeous old Chris Crafts. These boats are everywhere up here, almost commonplace. Of course, this is one reason the Antique Wooden Boat Show is held here every year.

 

As I write this it's 3:00, the fog has lifted and the sun is out. It promises to be a gorgeous afternoon, and the weather tomorrow should be a bit better than today's started out. So, we'll head for Bois Blanc tomorrow early, then to Hammond Bay Sunday. I've managed to get a cell phone signal by standing in a certain 2 square foot area while balancing on one foot and tilting the phone toward a big pickup truck parked nearby to bounce the puny signal to a distant cell phone tower, which must not be working the way it has been up till now, because the call went through! Before the call was dropped, I managed to talk to my old working buddy Greg Madill, and we plan to get together in Hammond Bay, where they're currently staying at their cottage on the lake.

 

New photos of Hessel have been added.