Good morning!! Rise and shine.  The day is an early day…gotta catch those smooth lake waters when we can!

Before Sunrise leaving Petoskey Marina

We left so early the sun hadn’t even open his eyes.  See the sleeping dust is still in the horizon, the eye lid slowing rising.  Acchhh too early, Mr. Sun says to the world!

Our plan to day is to go around 90 miles from Petoskey to Frankfort.  With the promise of a great day on the water with no rain, no wind, no waves, we thought we could make this trip easily.  We will be traveling with fellow Loopers, the crew of SeaHorse.

Petoskey, MI to Frankfort, MI

The water was really really good all early morning.  The waves rolled a bit.  Easy Peasy day!!  We were truly excited.  We were going to be driving in shifts.  That way we both have some energy at the end of a long day.  We expect this trip to take at least 10 hours of cruising time.

Flat water in Little Traverse Bay into Lake Michigan

Wayne had closed his eyes for a few minutes.  It was my turn to close my eyes when I started getting texts on my phone from Loopers ahead of us at around 11am.  There were several Looper boats that had left Charlevoix and appeared to be anywhere from 1 -2 hours ahead of us.  The texts were about the sudden waves.  What waves?  Today is a wave-less day.  We debated about the waves for at least an hour.  Hoping the waves would settle by the time we got to their location.

NOPE!!  The Loopers ahead of us encountered 2-6 foot waves!!  They came out of nowhere.  The wind started to increase as well.  At least 4 hours sooner than the forecast.  Waves??  We don’t see the waves.  BUT we did see the wind wall.  On one side of an invisible wall the water was flat.  On the other side, white caps.    Oh dear!!

We decided to call Leland Marina to see if they could squeeze us into their marina for the night.  No way would Wayne & I want to tackle those kinds of waves.  Always Home could, you know.  SeaHorse and Always Home turned left and went into Leland, MI.  Glad we got off the Lake when we did.  The wind wall hit Leland with >10mph winds with gusts up to 20mph an hour after we arrived.  Where did these come from?

Our day ended up to be a 50 mile day.  Not bad.  Just not as planned.  I guess Nature Knows when to call a day- a day.  The blue arrow became our new destination.

Petoskey to Leland

We will put Frankfort off until tomorrow, weather permitting.

We didn’t get to see too much of Leland.  It is a fishing town, historically.  The original fishing village is currently home to many shops and eateries.  Nicely done village with plaques describing the original boaters in these waters.  I may be able to get some pictures in the morning when the lighting is better.

Importantly, we found ice-cream and located the Bakery for an early morning run for apple fritters.  Just up the hill and to the left across from the Post Office.  Very convenient.

On the way back to the boat I spied this old tree.  It actually looked freshly fallen.  I hope the folks getting cable/phone service don’t mind their box being crushed!

Recent uprooted tree?

We heard that all the Loopers caught in the high unexpected high waves and increasing wind gusts made it safely to Frankfort.  However, they did not enjoy the adventure at all.

As night falls on this little town, the sun is slowly closing his eyes and falling to sleep.

The Moon is up and will keep us company the rest of the night.  Full Moon tomorrow night?

Rising Moon