Lets see some Great Lakes boating pics 2015!!

[Molson]

Some from this past weekend, Indian Harbour, Georgian Bay.




Leading our friend, and old boat in.

 

[Bresco]

Beautiful shots.

 

[AMFM3]

Great pics Molson! Love the new boat too...

Mark

 

[Molson]

Thanks Mark! We love it too. Too bad its coming out in a week or two.

 

[AMFM3]

I'm leaving AMFM in the water this year. Okanagan Lake never freezes and our super cold weather is infrequent. I'll winterize the systems, get the motors winterized and then let her sit in the slip. I can then go and sit on her whenever I feel the need!

Mark

 

[Molson]

I wish! Though it is in our backyard, I guess I could go sit on it whenever I wanted also. Though at -20 its not as fun. But I don't need a beer coozie!

 

[Creekwood]

I wish! Though it is in our backyard, I guess I could go sit on it whenever I wanted also. Though at -20 its not as fun. But I don't need a beer coozie!

Here is a Georgian Bay winter boating beer koozie (with Georgian Bay in the background ):
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l257/Creekwood_01/d80041fe96372459e0aa7ef33fa63564.jpg

 

[Molson]

ha! That's great.

 

[Zorba]

As our buddy Gordon said "the gales of November came early"

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Gofirstclass]

Zorba, was that last pic taken in the UK? That truck is on the wrong side of the road.

Just kidding. Great storm photos. Did that short section of the road make it through that storm without getting washed out?

 

[my3sons]

Have really enjoyed looking at these photos on this thread, and after the trip this summer to a lot of these places, they mean a lot more to us. The boat is hauled and I have had a chance to add a few that I have not seen yet, plus few more. Hope you enjoy.

Fairport NY, great spot on the Erie Canal

If you are into easy, relaxing boating, a Erie Canal trip is a great spring or fall trip (too hot for us in the summer)

Horizon to horizon double rainbows after a wicked Lake Erie storm, Port Colborne Ontario

Welland Canal

EASY BIG FELLA! Seaway control has us grab a wall while a freighter exits a lock

When Lake Ontario is this calm, you go! the one advantage of long distance cruising with a boat that can run. 95 mile crossing in under 4 hours, the wind blew for the next 3 days but we were safely in the Trent by then

Many of the loopers we met along the way didn't care much for the locks, but they don't bother us. It gives you the chance to talk to and meet other boaters

Peterborough Lift Lock The 410AC in front of us were loopers from Michigan who had spent everyday except 4 of the last year on their boat

Hell's Gate, Stoney Lake Ontario

Sunset on Balsam Lake ON

Kirkfield Lift Lock. These things are cool.

An accident on a nearby highway caused a power outage and we were stuck in a lock for 4 hours with a corporate sponsored 410. He was on his way to a rendezvous in Port Rawlins Bay. learned a lot from him about Georgian Bay.

Many of the locks have nice park like settings to spend the night at.

Climbing aboard the rail car at the Big Chute

Up, Over, and then down

Almost ready to drive off

We spent a lot of time with some great Folks we met from Tennessee. We agreed to photograph each others boat on the rail car for each other. The next few photos of their boat gives those of you who have never seen this a good perspective.

Now onto Georgian Bay. Sunset at anchorage in Indian Harbor

Near Massasauga park

Sunset in Echo Bay

Bow Watching... Keeping us off the rocks when searching for a good anchorage off the charts

Pointe au Baril Light

Nice spot in the Bustard Islands

Kind of a cloudy few days in the Bad River Channel, but had fun running the dinghy through the rapids

 

[Quint4]

Spectacular.

 

[MrHappy]

Great pictures. Thank you for sharing.

We missed Lake Michigan this year. We had been going to Muskegon for the past 5 years but decided to try Lake Cumberland this summer. We liked it but did not love it like we do Michigan. Will be booking our campsite for July in January.

 

[my3sons]

Thanks guys. Trouble posting, stay tuned for a few more.

 

[Gofirstclass]

Great shots My3Sons. Thanks for taking the time to post them and share them with us.

 

[my3sons]

Here's the rapids at The Bad River

Collins Inlet

Have to keep an eye out for planes landing, this one was at Killarney

On to the North Channel, Killarney Bay outside Covered Portage Cove

Hiking above Frazer Bay

Topaz Lake above Baie Fine

These guys kept us entertained for quite a while jumping and diving off the rocks at Topaz Lake

This is our money shot of the North Channel. Looking down Baie Fine from the pool with the cottage of the late Ralph Evinrude

Our anchorage at the Pool

Not a shot of the Great Lakes area, but needs to be seen for anyone thinking of doing the loop. 6 Looper couples from 6 different areas of the U.S. breaking bread in Little Current and comparing notes on everything from boats to places to go to how they chose to do this to what it's like living with your spouse 24/7 on a boat. The energy and excitement that we all were able to draw from others who are as passionate about boating, all discovering new and beautiful places for the first time and none of us really knowing what's around the next turn is incredible. We all know boaters are great people, The Loopers we met were boaters x2.

View of the North Channel from atop South Benjamin Island

Our spot in the Benjamins

The Benjamins was our favorite anchorage. We almost didn't go here because everyplace we had been was gorgeous, and the locals said to skip it, it gets too crowded. Probably because they didn't want us to get their spot

Everybody dinghies over to the rocks to watch the sunset and drink a little wine....Rough life.

On to Lake Huron. Main Street on Mackinac Island

The Straits of Mackinac and the Might Mac Bridge from the porch of the Grand Hotel

The Straits from The East Bluff

Mighty Mac is over 26,000 feet long

and has 155' of clearance over 295' of water

We were bummed about leaving the other loopers at Mackinac, they were heading into Lake Michigan, we were coming down Huron to get back to Lake Erie.
But we had never been in Lake Huron either so we were looking forward to that. As luck would have it we met up with some nice folks from Catawba Ohio who happened to also have a 400DB. We spent a week running down the east side of the mitten with them and they had been there before so we got the guided tour so to speak. They left us when we were at the Algonac Boat Club, we decided to stay a few extra days and take advantage of the pool and hot tub. The ports along Michigan were great. Rogers City, Harrisville, Port Austin, and Lexington. We especially liked Port Austin. The newly rebuilt marina was very nice and the close proximity to shopping and restaurants was very handy. The Farmers market there scored extra points with the admiral.

Sister ships in Port Austin MI

Sunset over Saginaw Bay from Port Austin

Point Gratiot Light, Mouth of the St Claire River

Something that we noticed about the St Claire is that the river banks are not very high and homes are very close to the water. Must not Flood There??

Very familiar sight, even if you haven't been there. The GM building in Detroit

We went on to lake Erie and the Islands, and this thread has a few great shots of Put In Bay area by other posters.
Here's one of our anchorage at Kelly's Island

Our dock mates, Pilot Lounge, made the run in their 410EC to PIB and spent a week traveling back to Buffalo with us. We visited Rock-n-Dock in Cleveland for the fist time. The marina has very nice docks, laundry, pump out and is right downtown. It's pricey at $2/ft, but we used to stay at Olde River, and everything was a cab ride from there so it's not so bad. The Bills were playing the Browns in a pre season game while we were there, so there was a lot of action in the marina that night from Browns fans attending the game by boat

The "mistake on the lake" no longer applies. I think Cleveland has done a great job revitalizing the waterfront and each time I go back, it seems a little bit more boater friendly

Running off Erie PA. Lake Erie on one of the few days that she is actually behaving. One of the nice things about being semi retired is that your quality of time on the water gets a whole lot better when you have more days from which to choose to do your boating than just Saturday and Sunday.

Some of our dock mates met us at The Sunset Bay Beach Club about 25 miles from home to spend our last night of our trip with us on the hook.
Boat friends are awesome!

Home port in sight. After 74 days out on the boat, It was good to see our friends and family again. Now some part time work to save up some boating bucks and in a few weeks, we will start to plan next year's adventure.

 

[boatman37]

awesome pics. thanks for sharing. something i'd like to do someday.

 

[alwhite00]

Great pictures - Looks like a hell of a trip. How did the 400 handle the rapids?

 

[Docsteder]

What a great adventure. Thanks for sharing in detail with the great picks.


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[Gofirstclass]

What a great way to spend a summer. Nice shots all. Do you guys take dinghies through that rapids?