The last cruise of the season is always special as it has to sustain us through a boatless Denver winter. I wanted to make it extra special on this 23 mile sunny and calm trip from Charlevoix to Northport so I “fired” Captain Bob and took full command for the day—docking, setting waypoints, monitoring the GPS and paper charts, helm duty (ok—monitoring the autohelm) and having Captain Bob wait on me for a change. Maybe I will go ahead and get my Captain’s license.
We visited Northport in 9/08 at the start of our Great Circle Loop and remembered it as an unpretentious, charming, hilly port town similar to our home port of Bayfield on Lake Superior. Northport Marina has a very helpful staff (Marv, Martha and Jason) and the price is right at $15 per night after 9/15—the lowest price on the whole Loop. Northport has everything we need—Tom’s Grocery store, an Ace Hardware store, Wi-Fi at the marina and library, an indoor pool up the hill at Highlands, and the real reason we came back—Barb’s Bakery for the best cinnamon twists ever. Grand Traverse Bay Lighthouse and Leelanau State Park are 8 miles away. We looped with a lot of Michigan boaters and some have cottages near here and we were able to visit with Pat and Ted (South Shore), and Deb (Catrina), and hope to see Jack and Linda (Cynthia Faye and other Loopers in future summers in this area.
We will be hauling-out on 10/1 with Northport Bay Boat Yard for inside cold storage ($4.50 sq foot). In the meantime, we have an endless list of chores for the next 2 weeks. I am the kind of project person who makes detailed lists of everything to do and then get immense pleasure checking stuff off. Logging it here would only make your eyes glaze over so I will simply note that Bob is doing the winterization of all systems and I am getting Baby Grand looking grand again by cleaning, waxing, polishing and varnishing. We also have to replace 2 cracked windows, fix the flybridge shifter and do a toilet make-over. Sounds fun---huh, but if you play, you eventually have to pay. Does that sound too Irish Catholic—I will also honor my heritage by consuming alcohol for medicinal reasons as 60+ year old bodies are not meant for some of these project contortions.
We’ve had a great season and will now be Great Lakes cruisers rather than Loopers. We look forward to exploring Lake Michigan and returning to the North Channel and Georgian Bay areas of Lake Huron for the next few summers. I will probably add-on to this blog and you are welcome back aboard in June, 2011.
We visited Northport in 9/08 at the start of our Great Circle Loop and remembered it as an unpretentious, charming, hilly port town similar to our home port of Bayfield on Lake Superior. Northport Marina has a very helpful staff (Marv, Martha and Jason) and the price is right at $15 per night after 9/15—the lowest price on the whole Loop. Northport has everything we need—Tom’s Grocery store, an Ace Hardware store, Wi-Fi at the marina and library, an indoor pool up the hill at Highlands, and the real reason we came back—Barb’s Bakery for the best cinnamon twists ever. Grand Traverse Bay Lighthouse and Leelanau State Park are 8 miles away. We looped with a lot of Michigan boaters and some have cottages near here and we were able to visit with Pat and Ted (South Shore), and Deb (Catrina), and hope to see Jack and Linda (Cynthia Faye and other Loopers in future summers in this area.
We will be hauling-out on 10/1 with Northport Bay Boat Yard for inside cold storage ($4.50 sq foot). In the meantime, we have an endless list of chores for the next 2 weeks. I am the kind of project person who makes detailed lists of everything to do and then get immense pleasure checking stuff off. Logging it here would only make your eyes glaze over so I will simply note that Bob is doing the winterization of all systems and I am getting Baby Grand looking grand again by cleaning, waxing, polishing and varnishing. We also have to replace 2 cracked windows, fix the flybridge shifter and do a toilet make-over. Sounds fun---huh, but if you play, you eventually have to pay. Does that sound too Irish Catholic—I will also honor my heritage by consuming alcohol for medicinal reasons as 60+ year old bodies are not meant for some of these project contortions.
We’ve had a great season and will now be Great Lakes cruisers rather than Loopers. We look forward to exploring Lake Michigan and returning to the North Channel and Georgian Bay areas of Lake Huron for the next few summers. I will probably add-on to this blog and you are welcome back aboard in June, 2011.
Have a great winter and we look forward to following the blogs of our boating friends heading south. Let's stay in touch peggy8301@hotmail.com
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