Cruising Log WEEK10

There comes a time to leave. It may not be in the best of circumstances but it is time, so we headed south. South from Elk Rapids means north for 20 miles to exit Grand Traverse Bay. If the weather is iffy, as it was, Northport is the last refuge in the bay to bail out. We have spent many days waiting for better weather there and were not looking forward to another extended stay. We decided to try for Leland or maybe Frankfort.

The Manitou Passage is a channel of sorts; North and South Manitou Islands demarcate it to the west, and Pyramid Point and Sleeping Bear Point to the east. It constricts the lake in both the horizontal and the vertical plane: 6 miles across and in some places 6 feet deep. From Grand Traverse Light on one end to Frankfort on the other, Leland is about a third of the way through.

Leland’s harbor is an afterthought, tacked on the coast to give boats a way out of the Passage’s often riotous weather. But Leland requires getting off track and heading east away from Pyramid Point. This means the next day you have to make up the lost ground and with the weather forecast none to hopeful we decided to tough it out to Frankfort.

Whether it was a good choice or bad one is hard to judge. I do know that if someone would have made us an offer for Carrie Rose during what turned out to be a 87 mile, 9½ hour trek we would have given it serious consideration.

Frankfort is a lovely town on the banks of Betsie Lake with a good bakery, several fine restaurants, a well-stocked hardware store and a bike path running through the marina. Our stay was extended by a guest’s arrival from Chicago. Marty drove up the 6 hours and drove us around an area that we have only seen from the lake: Sleeping Bear Dunes Light House and national seashore, the maritime museum at Glen Haven, dinner in Glen Arbor, and a survey of Leland Harbor, never before seen in its new configuration.

Tuesday we cruised to Manistee, an uneventful trip except for stopping dead in a nearly empty lake to prevent a wayward fisherman from colliding with us. The marina has a new boathouse and is located on the banks of the Manistee River about a mile and a half from the lake. The river had an odd combination of an outward flowing current with a strong inward blowing wind and this lead to a minor mishap while docking. I managed to destroy several of our engine intake louvers in the process.

Besides the constant stream of fishing vessels of every possible configuration an enormous lake freighter ghosted by in the early afternoon, and as predicted by the harbormaster did the same at 2AM with its now empty bulk even larger than before. There is no room for error in its transit. One false move and the entire riverfront would be splinters of fiberglass and wood, not to mention bones!

Pentwater is our next stop but don’t hold me to this . . . you just never know on the big lake.

Point Betsie lighthouse, just 5 miles from Frankfort

The welcoming Frankfort, MI lighthouse

Manistee River amongst the butterflies

One humongous ship

One humongous ship at 2:30 in the morning