Lake Huron

We loved the harbors on Lake Huron! Peaceful anchorages and simple efficient municipal marinas. We walked many beautiful fresh water beaches! The water is shallow and full of lime rather than iron like Lake Superior, so Lake Huron is very blue!

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From Marquette we sailed to Munising area where we anchored at Grand Island, a national lakeshore with lovely hiking trails. We kayaked, hiked, and swam in Lake Superior. There was a wreck tour boat that came past, and a few jet skis and pontoons, but otherwise we had a quiet anchorage. From Munising we sailed along the spectacular painted rocks shoreline which are like the Apostle Islands, but the stone cliffs are much higher, whiter, more varied in color; and rise high above the lake shore for miles along the coast. There are also many beautiful lighthouses along this shore, and then suddenly, as we rounded a point, the awesome sand dunes rise from the shoreline! They are high, gigantic, and impossible to describe!

David above the dunes at Grand Marais, Michigan

We slowly navigated the shallow Grand Marias Michigan entry and found a sweet, protected harbor lined with a lovely public beach. This small town had everything we needed: a brewery, hardware, and grocery store. We transported our bikes to shore from the boat via kayak (not a simple process), went for a nice long ride along the shore to an incredible dune overlook, People were friendly, there was a nice public dock with a handsome harbor master and brand-new showers. We loved it in Grand Marais and stayed three nights on the hook.

From Grand Marais we continued to Whitefish Bay - a huge body of water we could barely see across but eventually could see Canada, the shore lined with huge wind turbines. We spent a night anchored in a tight little spot with good protection but with no place to go ashore. In the morning, leaving Whitefish Bay meant we had finished our time in Lake Superior and were entering the St. Mary’s River which would take us to the Sault Sainte Marie Locks. The Soo lock is made for 1000-foot ships, but we had the whole thing to ourselves, so it made Khira seem small. We slowly dropped the twenty-one feet, quick and easy!

Twenty-one feet down into the Soo lock

Through the lock! 

Leaving the Soo lock we continued in the St. Mary’s River which was by far the most tedious of our travels as we were using the same tight waterway as the big ships, and we had to mindful of scattered hard-to-see aids to navigation. It was a long day but just out of the mouth of the St Mary’s we anchored off Drummond Island in Whitney Bay, a beautiful sparsely populated area that reminded us of Maine, and again we stayed on the boat.

Ships passed in the St. Mary's. There was plenty of room but they are big!

We were happy to be in Lake Huron and made time to Presque Isle where we anchored in another sweet shallow bay. The Presque Isle general store had loaner bikes for transients, so we visited two light houses, and hiked up the taller one for a spectacular view of Lake Huron. We bought nice frozen shrimp at the market and had shrimp scampi at anchor.

Lots of light houses!

Next stop was Alpena where we took a dock, did laundry, got groceries, and found the Austin Brothers Brewery on the outskirts of town with a good Michigan cheery beer! From Alpena we sailed to Harrisville with its sparkling new municipal marina and spent another night at a dock. Not much going on in Harrisville, but we did bike to a beautiful state park, sat on the beach, then played pickleball, and had dinner at the local bar. Next stop was Port Austin where we anchored in the tight channel and did not go to shore, but watched families jump from the pier, and we swam from the boat.

Long days called for refreshing drinks!

Port Sanilac was the next stop - we went to the dock and found the cutest “Alley Bar” behind an antique store with very friendly people, where we relaxed on an old-fashioned metal glider in front of a kitsch-filled fountain. We also had a wonderful visit from Judith’s brother Jim and sister-in-law MaryAnn. ‘So good to see family and we appreciate them making the drive to see us!

Awesome alley bar fountain in Port Sanilac

Seventy miles yesterday got us out of Lake Huron, under the Blue Water Bridge, and into the St. Claire River where we dealt with a Father’s Day madhouse of power boats. There were swarms of giant may flies, nasty house flies, and stinging deer flies, then the weather turned hot and muggy, but we were motivated to make miles and stay ahead of the forecasted storms. We made it into Gross Pointe for the night and hobbled into a yacht club slip coated with bugs. A shower never felt so good!

Gross Pointe Yacht Club is different from Madeline Island Yacht Club

Storms came through as predicted last night, but today we biked around Gross Pointe, played pickle ball on beautiful yacht club courts, swam laps in the lovely pool, and picked up produce at Trader Joe’s! We are both looking forward to moving further south and east, into Lake Erie tomorrow! 

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