Slip 29

Slip 29 in Elk Rapids will be our home for the next couple days until the weather calms down. We came over from Northport, MI on Saturday. Elk Rapids is quite south (20 miles) on the east shore of Grand Traverse Bay. It is a pretty town with a protected harbor, a well-stocked wine store and a first class pizzeria.

The Antrim Chain of Lakes, the main one being Torch Lake, empties into the bay here via the Elk River. As with the other wonders of Michigan who knew this existed. There is a spillway, which leads to a rapid of sorts, two beaches and a privately owned (by a family that lives on the premises) hydroelectric plant at the dam. Charlotte is catching up on her watercolors and I am waiting for inspiration, this along with walking on the beach and visiting every art gallery in town.

Sitting here waiting out the latest string of thunderstorms has me reminiscing about our experiences in northern Michigan and Canada. It is a challenging area with — get ready this is a long list — islands, shoals, freighters, rivers, international borders, commercial fishing nets, the Straight of Mackinac culminating with the bridge, fog, large light houses, hit and miss weather forecasts, magnetic variation, ferries, narrow channels, unpredictable currents and to top it all off, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron with their long fetches and large waves. Then there are the rocks of the North Channel.

This is not to mention the technical skills of navigating the above and at the end of each day anchoring with no way to replenish supplies other than what we remembered to bring. It is a crash course in piloting and navigation. All it needs is tides to complicate matters further!