The best adventure yet!!!

[Big Deal]

Hi everyone! As the ice begins to melt, I am excited to tell you of my next adventure. My two great hobbies are boating (obviously) and competing in Ironman triathlons. This year, however, I've qualified to be on the team that will swim the straits of Macinaw on Labor Day while the "sane" people are walking the bridge. Naturally I figured the only way to make this more epic is to take my 360 DA to the venue. I've had this lovely beast of a boat for five years now, and I think I'm ready to make the trip. Still, I've never made this trip before, and I'm in the planning stages. I'd be grateful for any advice that you'd be willing to give (best ports, etc). I'm not going to be able to take as much time as I'd like to do it, but if the weather doesn't cooperate, I own my own business and can take more time if need be. I'm coming from the Detroit area and planning on taking three days to get up there and three days to come home (weather permitting).
Oh--the swim is a fundraiser to help out Habitat for Humanity. Check out our website at MightyMacSwim.com. If you feel philanthropic, feel free to donate a few bucks under my name (Paul Schmude).
Cheers, and get those boats waxed!

 

[Gofirstclass]

Paul,

Some of this information is a few years old so I hope someone who has made the trip more recently chimes in. Your total trip will be a bit north of 300 miles each way. The first good port you come to going up the east side of MI will likely be at Port Austin which is about 150 miles from the Grosse Point area. That's a long day, but doable if you're running on plane. At 25mph, that's about 6 hours. Not a bad day on the lake.

Day two you could easily make Alpena (75 miles) or continue on up to Rogers City (115 miles). Both of those cities have nice marinas. If you did Rogers City on day two that only leaves you about 55 miles to Mackinac City. So the first day would be the longest, the third day the shortest, and that's the way I like to do a long trip.

On the way back if you want to change things up a bit, stop at Harrison or Presque Isle then Tawas City. All have decent harbors.

Good luck with the trip and the swim.

Here's my wish for you to have calm waters like we did last August when we were up there.

 

[Big Deal]

Excellent info! I was wondering how folks split up the legs of the trip when on a schedule. This helps a lot. That's about what I was planning. I like the idea of getting to Port Austin day 1 to take a little pressure off the next two days. Thanks again!

 

[Gofirstclass]

Big, if you haven't already done so, check out ActiveCaptain.com. It's a site that relies on user-generated (UG) data for their posts. The Interactive Cruising Guide is (IMHO) a must-have item for trip planning. Boaters who've been there, done that provide reviews of marinas, places to visit, moorages, etc. You can see what services (fuel, water, electricity) are available and other useful information about the various locations.

I use that and Google Earth for planning every trip. I like Google Earth because it let's you set out a path and measure the distance of a trip. That's how I came up with the distances I gave you in my first post.

When you take this trip and do you swim, please post photos so we can all enjoy your trip.

 

[1956olds]

Port austin is all new as of last year.docks water and electric all new,very nice . we stopped there for dinner on the way from detroit to baycity last spring.Depending on where you start from we did the trip to port austin in 6 hrs at 25.5 -27 knts then had dinner and went on to baycity.If you started earlier you could skip port austin and save a few miles by going across to harrisville for the night another 1.5-2 hr trip.

 

[Big Deal]

Awesome! I'll check out that site and certainly post pics! Harrisville would be great to get to if we get an early start. My plan is to be underway by 0800 every morning. Thanks for the info, guys!

 

[wesbstcroix]

Big, if you haven't already done so, check out ActiveCaptain.com. It's a site that relies on user-generated (UG) data for their posts. The Interactive Cruising Guide is (IMHO) a must-have item for trip planning. Boaters who've been there, done that provide reviews of marinas, places to visit, moorages, etc. You can see what services (fuel, water, electricity) are available and other useful information about the various locations.

I use that and Google Earth for planning every trip. I like Google Earth because it let's you set out a path and measure the distance of a trip. That's how I came up with the distances I gave you in my first post.

When you take this trip and do you swim, please post photos so we can all enjoy your trip.

I have been looking for a site like this all winter to no avail. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

 

[Gofirstclass]

If you don't make Harrisville on the way up, pull into Tawas. That's a great port. Well protected, nice people on the dock, lots of businesses and restaurants you can easily walk to.

Tawas is one of my favorite ports and favorite towns.

 

[1956olds]

Unfortunatly Tawas is currently being reconstructed,they were supposed to remove all but the gas dock last fall.They are planning a new breakwall extending out from the north side of the public launch to form a entrance into the harbor.They are changing the dock layout also and going all floaters.I dont know how far they have progressed but if Port Austin is an indicator i would expect two years or more of no Tawas docks.There is Jerrys marina on the north side of the tawas bay though.

 

[tc410]

While East Tawas is one of my favorite Lake Huron ports, many, including myself, would consider it too far west to make sense while running from the tip of the thumb to the northeast Michigan shore. Harrisville would make the most sense for a fuel stop. Same as Alpena, too far west into Thunder Bay to make any sense for a stop (unless it is specifically a destination you want to visit). GFC mentioned Presque Isle and Rogers City. Both on the rhumb line and great to overnight or refuel and stretch your legs. If we're on the Island for Labor Day this year we'll look you up! Wear a wetsuit - that's cold water!

 

[Gofirstclass]

1956Olds and tc410. There's nothing like local knowledge to find out the latest news about a facility. Jeff, good point about not wanting to turn that far west when heading up toward the Mackinaw area.

Many years ago I went with a friend and his parents on their 34'(?) Mathews from Saginaw Bay Yacht Club to Georgian Bay and the North Channel. We used Presque Isle as our jumping off point to go to Canada and hit Rogers City on the way back.

If I had known then what I know now about boating I've have made a strong case for not coming back when we did. The wind was howling, coming right down from the Straits of Mackinaw, and when we came out between Drummond Island and Cockburn Island, we were in swells that we couldn't see out of when we were in the trough of the waves, and that boat had a raised pilothouse of sorts. We tried to keep up with a freighter that we found headed uplake but he was moving too fast for our slow-as-molasses cruise speed. We were badly beaten up in that ~30 mile crossing and darned glad to see Rogers City's docks coming into view. Oh, and did I mention we had no radar, it was before GPS, and we were traveling by ourselves. We did have a LORAN system, but that was it. STOOPID, STOOPID, STOOPID!

Put me in the same situation today and I'd vote for delaying the trip until the weather cleared.

BigDeal, when you get up that way keep one eye on the weather.

 

[play dough]

The city is "Mackinaw". Everything else, bridge, island, straits, fort is "Mackinac".

There's two choices for a marina in Mackinaw City. The municipal (where I am seasonal) is directly across from the Mackinaw Crossing business area and main street. Mostly fixed docks (there are a few floating docks) wi-fi and an outstanding marina staff. You'll feel welcomed. Shepler's ferry operates out of that harbor and throws a little wake every 30 minutes that is more of a nuisance than a problem. Straits State Harbor is the state facility a couple blocks south. Not quite as convenient but a nice facility with floating docks. It's a zig-zag to enter the breakwall but that all but eliminates the wakes from passing ferries from entering the harbor. Last I knew there was no wi-fi outside of the marina lounge. Usage is normally quite low at Straits and goose droppings are a problem. Darrow's restaurant for good home cooking a bit out of the way of the tourist crowd (if that is at all possible Labor Day weekend), Audies is good but will be busy as it's near the bridge and the Keyhole Bar downtown for the best bar burger around and great nachos.

 

[Big Deal]

Very good info! Thanks guys! I'm going to look into both East Tawas and Port Austin. I already have a slip reserved at the Mackinaw City Municipal Marina ( I was worried about those getting booked up that weekend). That's good advice about the weather. I'm a little "nervous" about that already--I tend to take the "better safe than sorry" approach. Jeff I will look for you as well! Keep the advice coming!

 

[Gofirstclass]

The nice thing about having so many ports available along the east coast of MI is if the weather starts kicking up and you feel uncomfortable, you're only a few miles offshore and it's a short run to a safe harbor.

 

[1956olds]

GFC that is a good point,between Tawas and Harrisville is Oscoda.I think there are safe harbors every 20 miles or so. Presque isle is nice also but with limited ammenities,one restraunt and a park but well protected.Watch your gps up around thunder bay there are plenty of submerged shipwrecks around there.I usually like to run a couple miles off shore and keep them away from me a few hundred ft.also watch for other boats that may have divers off of them.

 

[tc410]

.....Keyhole Bar downtown for the best bar burger around and great nachos.

And ribs..... LOVE the ribs at Keyhole!!!!

 

[alwhite00]

Sounds like a great trip. i would plan on at least one extra day for travel as lake huron can be flat calm to ten footers in a matter of hours.

 

[Gofirstclass]

That's good advice about the weather. I'm a little "nervous" about that already--I tend to take the "better safe than sorry" approach.

Don't let my comments about my trip across the lake scare you. That trip was done in the 60's, well before there was any serious weather forecasting available. Be cautious and watch/listen to the weather reports, but that's just boating common sense.

 

[Big Deal]

Thanks again guys! The plans are materializing nicely!