Going South

Viridian's components were freshened up, and she is running fine.  We cruised 90 miles south today along the western shore of Michigan from Harbor Springs to Frankfort Municipal Marina.  We had following seas all day, and it made for a fairly smooth ride but required a lot of steering to keep the heading.  We left Harbor Springs by sailing out of Little Traverse Bay and curled southwest to pass Grand Traverse Bay and Northport (where our buddy Dash Away crossed her wake).  To our starboard, we passed both north and south Manitou Islands.  Sleeping Bear Dunes lay to our port and looked totally out of place after seeing all the granite formations just a few miles north in Canada.  The rest of the trip was just more crystal clear water reaching depths of 300 feet below our keel.

Before docking we took on 130 gal of diesel fuel and topped off our water tanks for a two-day stay at Frankfort, MI.

Frankfort is another great little fishing village close to some of the best water in the world.  Locals are just now starting to fish for salmon and steelhead in the 200 ft. deep waters just off shore.  The town is full of great shops that offer unique items, not the usual "rubber tomahawk" tourist bait stuff we see so often.

A great band performed live in the park just in front of where Viridian was docked.  After we listened and watched them play, we pulled our wagon to the grocery store for a few last-minute items before heading back out in the big waters of Lake Michigan to continue our trek south.

That's the news and here's the view:

We are here

Today's route from Harbor Springs, MI to Frankfort, MI

Docked at Frankfort, MI

Time to service the Windlass

Needs a new gasket

Found all supplies at the local hardware store a block away

That should do it

These  huge sand dunes line the shore for miles from Sleeping Bear Dunes south

The dunes are a few hundred feet tall for as far as you can see

Afternoon walk on the sea wall out to the lighthouse