Yearly Archives: 2026

July 17, 2026 The smoke rolled in to Northport on Tuesday morning. At that time, we thought it would be short lived, but now realize that it's going to hang around and continues to worsen. Now storms are moving in making our anchorage in Northport very lumpy. So, we surrendered and moved this morning to a slip at the Marina where we'll hunker down (enjoying the Leelanau Township Library) and run the AC at night to keep some of the smoke out of the cabin. We booked 6 nights as the situation is not improving anytime soon according to reports. This is the first time we are not sure about making it to the North Channel. We certainly do not want to be there with this thick smoke and with so many fires burning across Canada and Minnesota. It's not hard to imagine…

This morning the blue dragonflies came. They came by the dozens and landed on our dinghy, came through the back door and checked us out. There are the first we have encountered - are they after the midges covering our boat? They look like they are searching for something.Many of them seem to have found what they were looking for - a mate, others seem obsessed with an unwritten agenda Closer to shore I watched these two flitting around. Dragon flies

To be sure, a Great Lakes passage is short. You’ll only make a multi-day passage if you sail the lake in the long way. Ocean passages can be measured in weeks. As I write, the nearest land is 18 miles away or about three and half hours at our current speed. A look in any direction, as far as you can see, is water. I’m on watch. With 9 knots of wind from the north, we’re making 5.4 knots on the rhumb line (93º True) to the tip of the Leelanau peninsula. We left Pedersen Bay around 5:30am CDT. It’s about 35 miles or seven-ish hours until we get to Leelanau. We’ve come about 25 miles in the five hours since we weighed anchor. The wind was light at first, so we had the sails up, and the motor running at 1700rpm.  That…

We love seeing Eagles. I'm still amazed at the comeback Eagles have made following the DDT disaster. When growing up in the 60's and 70's I never experienced the delight of seeing an eagle soar, the dark body and the white flash of tail. It wasn't until I went on a mission trip to serve in Alaska at Echo Bay Bible Camp that I saw my first eagle. We always take it as a good omen when we are greeted by eagles. In fact, one just flew over our bow this morning in Detroit Harbor. They are enormous birds. Their wings have a unique swooping motion. Neither hurried, or awkward as some ducks. Just strong and purposeful. Onboard, we have a photograph of an eagle taken by Nathan Landick, hanging near our table. Nate take amazing photos of wildlife. He has a knack…

It's amazing to me how sounds are amplified across water. That private conversation you are having on your boat or on shore, or at the cottage, may not be as private as you think! Add a little alcohol and amp up the volume and the whole harbor can hear you. When we are sailing, we often hear the grinding of motors long before we see any boats. This is especially true for the freighters. We are aware of their low throbbing engines long before we can see any sign of a ship. Airplanes and helicopters are also amplified. We will hear them long before they appear on the horizon. The same is true for shorebirds and waterfowl. Just over the point, there is a large meeting ground full of pelican, gulls, and cormorants. Last night as dusk was settling in, we could hear…

We are anchored in Detroit Harbor on Washington Island. Washington Island is the northernmost point of the Door Peninsula and is accessed by a 30 minute ferry ride from Northport. Unless you are sailing in! We arrived yesterday afternoon from Sister Bay. It was a pleasant motor/sail under sunny skies and light wind "on the nose" which means it's not great for where we wanted to head - thus the motor sail. At one point yesterday, we both heard a metallic ping and couldn't figure out what had happened. We looked around and hadn't lost anything overboard. and didn't find anything amiss. After dropping anchor, we usually lower the dinghy for a better view out the back and Harold noticed a bolt in the dinghy - along with a washer and a nut. Apparently it worked it's way out of the davit support.…

We left Sturgeon Bay just after lunch and dropped anchor in Egg Harbor around 4pm. It was a relaxing sail that got a little zesty as we turned into the harbor but with Mr. Westerbeke's assistance (our iron sail) we had little problem getting settled in. We love our new "Big Mama" Anchor and thankfully there was very good holding in the bay. During our two night stay we had some pretty big winds associated with thunderstorms bear down on us. I'm glad we were in a "protected" harbor! During the day, there were a lot of folks enjoying the beach and some PWC - Jet Skis charging around the harbor but the evenings and nights were quiet and peaceful - just us and the pelicans. The full moon rose over the Door Peninsula the first evening and was a lovely melon color…