S/V Geru: Waiting for Weather on Northern Lake Michigan

Our trip onto Lake Michigan started out very much like the rest of the lake would go - waiting for weather. Our first day of waiting was in Mackinac City. We spent the day walking the streets in amazement at the contrast from the remote closed-down Canadian towns to the crazy busy tourist shops there - what a change! It felt like we had turned a corner as it was finally warm, there were lots of people around, and we had the border crossing behind us.

Our first stop on Lake Michigan proper was the beautiful town of Charlevoix. The town fronts on a small lake protected from Lake Michigan by a narrow inlet. The marina is right downtown next to a great waterfront park. The eastern shore of Lake Michigan is (mostly) one long beach so we enjoyed our first beach walks of the trip.

Charlevoix was our next delay of waiting for weather. The temperature got colder while we were there as well and the marina was slowly preparing to shut down for the season. We didn't really mind being held up in Charlevoix as we were able to see just about all of the "Mushroom Houses" build by Earl Young for which the town is famous. We were also able to order some boat parts and install them on Geru.

After being in Charlevoix for seven days, we got a bit of a weather window. We were anxious to continue south, so we left on a day which was rather boisterous for our trip to Leland. Leaving the harbour through the channel was quite the ride and it was pushing our comfort zone, but Geru was handling it well. We arrived in Leland after surfing the waves down the lake under engine. We were the only boat to arrive that day... We guess the kiteboarders on the beach were a sign! Leland is a small town which still has its old fishing shacks along a salmon fish run into the harbour - it was a great second stop on Lake Michigan.

Our next stop was Arcadia where we stayed for two days to wait out some more high winds. Farther south, flooding and a loose bolt awaited us...