Marina at Harbor Lights Resort in Frankfort, MI to Ludington Municipal Marina, Ludington, MI

Day #28:  From last evening Mike and I played one game of cribbage he won the game. We went to the beach to take in our last sunset from Frankfort. Up at 5:30 A.M. the weather was beautiful clear and calm. We were underway at 6:10 A.M. were we had a beautiful sunrise over the sand dunes. We passed the "Roger Blough" at 9:40 A.M. At 10:40 A.M. we passed the tug "Spartan" which is paired with the barge Spartan II. At 11:30 A.M. we passed by Big Sable Light. At 12:40 P.M. we were secure at the Ludington Municipal Marina slip A-13. We traveled 51.3 miles today (total miles for the trip is 403 miles.) We are planning on staying in Ludington at least until Tuesday.  Past that we will be looking for a weather window to travel to Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The dock kids told us that we have the slip that we are in until we leave (what a relief). We then headed for a walk to check out the town. We looked in the grocery store which is very well stocked so no issues. We then headed for the beach where we walked on the break wall out to the lighthouse. On our way back we checked out a few places that we were considering for dinner this evening.  Happy hour on the boat. We went to The Sportsman's Restaurant and Irish Pub for perch dinners. We headed back to the boat where Mike played the guitar and I rested. We watched the "SS Badger" come back into Ludington while we were sitting on the flying bridge. There will not be a sunset to view as it has clouded up. We are in for a quiet evening.

                                                                                    

                                                            Sunrise over the sand dunes.

"Roger Blough"

Tug "Spartan" pushing the barge "Spartan II"

Big Sable Light

             

Our Looper flag with the Ludington Light in the background.

"Lifeboat 32" is in the marina yard.

                                                Ludington Lighthouse up close and personal.

"Reflection" is one of many pieces of art that is displayed all over Ludington.

Mike relaxing on the flying bridge playing the guitar and sipping a beer.

Art from Sportsman's Restaurant and Irish Pub. 

Our view from the flying bridge of the "SS Badger" coming back into Ludington.

Marina at Harbor Lights Resort in Frankfort, MI

Day #27: Up at 7 A.M. for coffee, grapefruit and banana bread. Got ready for my appointments at 9:15 A.M. I was able to get my hair trimmed and nails done at Posh by Samantha. Mike went to the grocery store for a few items for when we are in the rivers. We are storing food away so that when we are anchoring in the rivers we will have food available after our long days of traveling the rivers and locks. Ronn the harbormaster went to the post office for us so we were able to get our mail.  At 12:30 P.M. we launched the dinghy we headed south of the break wall. We found a quiet piece of beach.  We anchored we frolicked in the water and looked for Petoskey stones. We then headed north of the break wall back to the shipwreck of the "St. Lawerence" where we took a few more pictures. Lake Michigan was flat calm and beautiful. We traveled 11 miles on the dinghy today. We came back to the boat about 5 P.M. We had chili cheese dogs for dinner as we are trying to get food out of our of the freezer so that we can shut it down before we get into the rivers. Mike working on condo business while I blogged. The winds for Tuesday are looking great so we will be leaving early on Tuesday on our way to Ludington. 

Haircut and Nails 

Our view today while we were swimming in Lake Michigan.

These people have it right!

So do these!

Shipwreck of the "St. Lawerence"

Another one of our favorite views from the water.

 Frankfort Lighthouse at sunset. Those are standup paddle boards out at the light.

Our last sunset in Frankfort.

Marina at Harbor Lights Resort in Frankfort, MI

Day #26: Up at 7 A.M. for coffee, cherries, nectarine and banana bread. Things are changing on our favorite weather app for winds, Sailflow has the winds gusting to 30-35 miles per hour starting on Tuesday which was the day that we were suppose to travel to Ludington. Mike and I talking about leaving for Ludington on Monday. We do not have our mail yet and I was suppose to have my hair/nails done Monday morning. Mike and I talked to Ronn the Harbormaster to let him know that we may be leaving and if we do to have our mail sent back to St. Brendan's Isle. Mike and I went to the grocery store stocking up on some canned soups and nonperishable items for the rivers as we are starting to think about what they are going to be like in a few weeks. I called Ludington Municipal Marina and they have changed our arrival date to Monday. I have cancelled my hair/nail appointments. We are continuing to watch other weather apps that are not in agreement with Sailflow, Mike and I have talked we most likely will make the jump to Ludington Monday morning. By 11:00 A.M. Sailflow's winds for Tuesday are back down to where they were so we are continuing to monitor the situation. We launched the dinghy. We spent the afternoon between the beach and cruising along the north shore sand dunes. The wind forecast is back down for Tuesday so it is looking like we will be staying in Frankfort and jumping to Ludington on Tuesday. We had happy hour on the flying bridge followed by leftovers for dinner. Planning on Facetime and phone calls with family this evening.

Patty relaxing in the dinghy.

Mike relaxing in the dinghy with the sand dunes in the background.

Tug "Ann Marie" pulling two barges heading south from Frankfort.

Marina at Harbor Lights Resort in Frankfort, MI

Day 25: From last evening two games of cribbage, Mike won both games. We were up at 6:45 A.M. Mike and I both got dressed heading for the Crescent Bakery. We took our donuts back to the boat to have with our coffee. After breakfast we headed to the Farmer's Market were we bought some maple syrup and cherries. It is Sidewalk Days in Frankfort, they have main street blocked off. We walked through the sidewalk sales heading for a walk on the break wall. The waves were down so we were able to make it out to the lighthouse. We headed back to the boat for a bit letting it warm up before launching the dinghy. It is suppose to be beautiful the next two days sunny and mid-70's. We launched the dinghy heading out to the lake but the waves were 2 footers so we headed to the beach we dropped anchor relaxing for the afternoon. We tried to go into the lake later in the afternoon but the waters were choppy so we headed back to the beach. We got back to the boat around 4:45 P.M. Mike worked on some dinghy jobs. Today another Looper boat came to The Marina at Harbor Lights so Mike and I went over to introduce ourselves and exchange cards. Sandy and Bru are on the boat "Coconuts" they are the couple that posted the message about having issues with the Lake Michigan marinas not being able to get reservations. We shared information before Mike and I headed back to our boat. We relaxed on the flying bridge and are planning on walking down to the beach to see the sunset.

Very busy bakery here in Frankfort.

YUM!

Sidewalk sales in Frankfort.

                          Up close and personal with the lighthouse in Frankfort with sand dunes in the                                                                                        background.

                                                                             Terns 

Mike on the beach.

Beautiful sunset over Lake Michigan. Goodnight.

Marina at Harbor Lights Resort in Frankfort, MI

Day #24: Rain throughout the night. Up at 7 A.M. for banana bread, coffee and nectarine. Up for a walk to the grocery store for a few items. We had seen another Looper Boat at Frankfort Municipal Marina so we stopped by to give them one of our boat cards.  The boat name is HMS Vagabond. We met Mats and Penny from Florida, they are a very nice couple and we talked for about 30 minutes. One of the topics that we discussed was the difficulty of getting into the Michigan marinas. They shared some of their experiences from their travels and it was great to share information. Mike and I headed back to the marina with our groceries as it started to rain.. Mike and I did boat jobs.  We completed: laundry, Yeti cooler cleaned, galley cleaned and head cleaned. I received emails back from both of the Wisconsin marinas and both stated that they could accommodate us in their marinas. Manitowoc Marina asked for me to call them so I did talking to Mary. She took information about our boat I told her that I would call her as soon as we knew the date that we would be arriving. Since we had not planned on going to Wisconsin we left our charts at home. While I was talking to Mary I asked if they had the two charts that we needed. Mary stated that they did not have the charts but that she would order them today and have them when we arrived. Mike and I have talked that the decision has been made that we will be jumping from Michigan to Wisconsin after our stay in Ludington. Mike and I walked out onto the break wall it was very cool, cloudy and waves were breaking over the break wall. We walked the downtown area going into a few stores but made it without spending a dime. We headed back to the boat for happy hour up on the flying bridge. The sun tried to come out but the clouds persisted. Before dinner Mike cut his hair (he has been cutting his own hair since we retired).  Just as we were sitting down for dinner it started to rain again. We are in for a quiet evening on the boat.  The temperature is dropping so we are in for an evening of reading and cribbage.

                                                                 A great marina in Frankfort.

Jacobson Marina & Resort in Frankfort, MI to Marina at Harbor Lights Resort in Frankfort, MI

Day #23: From last evening Mike and I played two games of cribbage, Mike won both games, one of them was a skunk. We had a light rain throughout the night. Up at 7 A.M. it was sunny but cloudy when we got up. We had coffee, cherries and banana bread. Every morning Mike and I received an e-mail from America's Great Loop Cruiser's Association.  It is information sharing from other Loopers. One of topics today was a frustration of trying to get slips on the Michigan side. The topic is exactly what Mike and I have been experiencing along with the frustrations. Other Loopers are discussing going to Wisconsin moving down the shore to Chicago. Mike and I have started to talk about the possibility of crossing from Ludington, Michigan to Manitowoc, Wisconsin traveling down the Wisconsin side to Chicago. At 8:30 Mike wanted to go and talk to the harbormaster at marina that we were going to today in Frankfort. We talked to Ronn and he gave us our slip assignment and we were able to see where we would be heading. Ronn told us that whenever we wanted to head over the slip was available. We told him that we would be coming over around 11:30 A.M. he told us to call him on his cell phone he would help us into our slip. Mike and I went for a walk I found a place to get a haircut and manicure so I made an appointment for Monday at 9:15 A.M. We also went to the pharmacy to get a few items as well I needed some meds and Mike needed a pair of reading glasses as he lost a pair yesterday as they went into the water. We headed back to the marina we prepared the boat for departure. We headed to Jacobson's fuel dock taking on some diesel, gas for the dinghy and pumped out the head. After we headed to The Marina at Harbor Lights. Ronn helped us into our slip we were secure at 10:30 A.M. We are planning on staying until Tuesday but Ronn did confirm that we could stay longer if needed.  Mike and I walked to the hardware store, pharmacy and fish market. Mike was able to get smoked whitefish at the fishery here in Frankfort. Mike and I were going to launch the dinghy but it was windy so we headed up to the flying bridge for happy hour. The skies darkened and it rained for about 20 minutes we were very glad that we did not go out in the dinghy today. I was able to make a reservation at Ludington starting on July 31st though August 7th. I have started to look for marinas in Michigan south of Ludington for reservations at this time there are none available. We are seriously discussion crossing to Manitowoc traveling down the Wisconsin coast. I'm going to send e-mails to some of the marina's that we stayed at last year to see if they would have openings for us. Mike and I walked to the beach walking on the break wall the waves were washing over so we didn't make it out to the lighthouse.  We used the pool and hot tub here at the marina. Time for a quiet evening.

These are displayed all over town really cool.

Betsy Point Light 

Mike was able to get his smoked whitefish.

Not only does the fishery have fish that you can buy they will make you a fish sandwich while you wait. 

One of two hang glider.

The second hang glider this afternoon.

                                                                                       

                                                         Waves slashing over the break wall.

          

Jacobson Marina & Resort in Frankfort, MI

Day #22: Up at 7:00 A.M. for fresh cherries, coffee and Patty's Mom's banana bread. At 8:30 A.M. we took a walk to Harbor Lights Marina we spoke to the Harbor Master, Ronn, and he confirmed that he has our reservation starting tomorrow until Tuesday, July 31, 2018. Ronn did tell us that if we needed to stay a bit longer due to weather that he would have a slip for us. We did ask if we could have St. Brendan's Isle (this is our mail service) send our mail to the marina.  Ronn gave us the marina address so our mail will be delivered to the marina. One street up from the marina is the town of Frankfort with cute shops, restaurants, pharmacy and bakery. We walked to the Family Fare Grocery Store which is 0.6 miles from the marina.  At 10:30 A.M. we launched the dinghy.  We cruised around Lake Betsie. At 11:30 A.M. we returned to the boat and had lunch. At 12:30 P.M. we returned to the dinghy cruising up the north sand dune shore. We found the wreck of the "St. Lawerence". We cruised for a total of 6 miles this afternoon. We returned to the boat for happy hour on the flying bridge. We went to the pool and hot tub. Back to the flying bridge for cocktails before dinner. Just as we started to get dinner going Craig from the boat "Contentment" stopped by. His wife and him are both doing the loop. They started their loop in Hilton Head but bought a condo here in Frankfort, MI their boat is across from ours here at Jacobsons Marina & Resort. They will finish their loop in Hilton Head but will bring the boat back to Frankfort, MI. Craig told Mike that they have a car if we need to get somewhere they would be glad to help us out. Quiet evening tonight. It is suppose to rain this evening. Tomorrow we will be moving the boat to Harbor Lights Marina but prior to that we will be getting diesel in the boat, gas for the dinghy and pumpout the holding tank before leaving Jacobson Marina & Resort.

                                                                                   

                              Beach inside the break wall in Frankfort. Yup that is fog again.

Swans in Betsy Lake.

In 1867, the Frankfort Iron Works was established and a large blast furnace was constructed.

                                             Sailboat coming into the break wall lots of fog.  

Another sailboat in the fog. 

Two lights on the break walls with the sand dunes in the background.

Mike looking up at the sand dunes on Lake Michigan.

Mike only stayed in the water for a short period of time as the temperature of the water was 63 degrees. Brrrr!

We saw this long stairway on our way into Frankfort. 

Oops! you wouldn't want to get part way down.

Some of the wreck of the "St. Lawerence".