SaltyDog
New Member
To continue the “Points of Interest†thread started by boltman, thought I would share some of this past summer’s adventures/destinations. While our seasonal slip is in Frankfort, we have been spending the Spring and Fall in the Traverse Bay area.
Destination Boyne City, Michigan, Memorial Day Weekend.
Leaving Traverse City we headed to Boyne City for a long Memorial Day weekend. Boyne City is at the southeast end of Lake Charlevoix. We headed out Friday morning around 9:30 am, were waiting for the fog to lift at least a bit. The bay (Grand Traverse) was calm with patchy fog. Once we reach the big lake (Michigan) the fog had lifted and sun was shining.
From Lake Michigan you enter the channel that connects to Round Lake (City of Charlevoix). There is a Bascule Bridge that opens on the half hour, with our radio antenna and masthead light down we can clear the bridge. Once inside Round Lake there is another short channel to Lake Charlevoix. It is a nice cruise around Round Lake, lots of nice houses and “big†boats to see.
Lake Charlevoix is about 13 miles long and a nice ride down to Boyne City. There are two marinas available, the City Municipal and Harborage Marina, we stayed at the Harborage Marina where we had not been since 1998, it was nice to get back. Not a lot had changed at either the marina or town.
The marina has nice slips available with floating docks. We were lucky and got a slip on the grass peninsula so had a nice area ashore adjacent to the boat. The bathhouse is roomy and has separate rooms each with a commode, sink and shower. The entire building is air conditioned and well lighted. The office has sitting area, coffee, cable TV access (weather channel) and an on-site weather station. Since the slips are privately owned there is usually no cable tv available at the transient slips (not an issue for us). Around the marina grounds there was plenty of room to exercise/play with our four legged family member, Waldo. The Harborage Marina has gas, diesel and pump-out. There were usually three to four docks hands around that were all very polite, helpful and willing to assist when asked.
Town is a short walk from either the Harborage Marina or City Municipal Marina which is next door. There are several good restaurants in town, some with nice views of the lake and sunsets (One Waterstreet for example). Actually, we love to walk and this boat town is great for walking – either along the lakeshore or up into the quite little residential area.
The weather was great the whole time we were there (about 5 days), sunny skies and warm days. We were out on the water just about every day cruising and exploring Lake Charlevoix. One day we took the south arm down to East Jordan, nice easy cruise, a lot of no wake but we were in no hurry. Another day we cruised out to Lake Michigan and then north up to Little Traverse Bay – Petoskey, Bay Harbor and Harbor Springs. Again, this was a great day trip and the water was perfect. Still being fairly early in the year we did not see a lot of boats either out on the lake (Michigan or Charlevoix) or in the marinas.
This trip was the first [major] cruise for Waldo and he did pretty well. We think he figured out quick that this is not such a bad life.
Destination Boyne City, Michigan, Memorial Day Weekend.
Leaving Traverse City we headed to Boyne City for a long Memorial Day weekend. Boyne City is at the southeast end of Lake Charlevoix. We headed out Friday morning around 9:30 am, were waiting for the fog to lift at least a bit. The bay (Grand Traverse) was calm with patchy fog. Once we reach the big lake (Michigan) the fog had lifted and sun was shining.
From Lake Michigan you enter the channel that connects to Round Lake (City of Charlevoix). There is a Bascule Bridge that opens on the half hour, with our radio antenna and masthead light down we can clear the bridge. Once inside Round Lake there is another short channel to Lake Charlevoix. It is a nice cruise around Round Lake, lots of nice houses and “big†boats to see.
Lake Charlevoix is about 13 miles long and a nice ride down to Boyne City. There are two marinas available, the City Municipal and Harborage Marina, we stayed at the Harborage Marina where we had not been since 1998, it was nice to get back. Not a lot had changed at either the marina or town.
The marina has nice slips available with floating docks. We were lucky and got a slip on the grass peninsula so had a nice area ashore adjacent to the boat. The bathhouse is roomy and has separate rooms each with a commode, sink and shower. The entire building is air conditioned and well lighted. The office has sitting area, coffee, cable TV access (weather channel) and an on-site weather station. Since the slips are privately owned there is usually no cable tv available at the transient slips (not an issue for us). Around the marina grounds there was plenty of room to exercise/play with our four legged family member, Waldo. The Harborage Marina has gas, diesel and pump-out. There were usually three to four docks hands around that were all very polite, helpful and willing to assist when asked.
Town is a short walk from either the Harborage Marina or City Municipal Marina which is next door. There are several good restaurants in town, some with nice views of the lake and sunsets (One Waterstreet for example). Actually, we love to walk and this boat town is great for walking – either along the lakeshore or up into the quite little residential area.
The weather was great the whole time we were there (about 5 days), sunny skies and warm days. We were out on the water just about every day cruising and exploring Lake Charlevoix. One day we took the south arm down to East Jordan, nice easy cruise, a lot of no wake but we were in no hurry. Another day we cruised out to Lake Michigan and then north up to Little Traverse Bay – Petoskey, Bay Harbor and Harbor Springs. Again, this was a great day trip and the water was perfect. Still being fairly early in the year we did not see a lot of boats either out on the lake (Michigan or Charlevoix) or in the marinas.
This trip was the first [major] cruise for Waldo and he did pretty well. We think he figured out quick that this is not such a bad life.
