We've moved!

After spending several days in Charlevoix waiting out high winds and big waves, we left at 11:30 a.m., along with three other boats who were circling with us, waiting for the bridge to open. As we waited we took in the view of the Charlevoix City Marina under the new reservation system. It was filled with large (some humongous) power boats and very few sailboats. Sad, but not surprising.

We motored out the channel past the lighthouse which was painted red at the end of last season as part of program to restore it to its original state. We recently heard that there's a plan to add an old fashioned fog horn! That will be fun to hear.

The first leg of our trip took us straight into the wind and waves, so we motored. On our second leg, however, we were able to put up our new sail and turn off the engine for a while. It set nicely and moved us along on a fast reach. Eventually the wind diminished, though, and we had to turn on the engine again or risk arriving at our destination too late for dinner. We left the sail up as it helped ease the rolling motion caused by winds on our beam, plus allowed us to run the engine at a lower rpm and still make good time.

We got to the Edward C. Grace Memorial Harbor in Elk Rapids just before 5:00 p.m. This was our home base when we had our previous boat, but we had to give up our slip when we bought Cattitude, as she is two feet longer and didn't fit in the space allowed. We love it here. They now have wireless access on the docks and no reservation system, so we can stay up to two weeks at a time! And it's nice to be back in Grand Traverse Bay.