Skipper Buds Raft Up 2008

Our weekend began with a Sat night trip to the barge anchored in Smith's Bayou (Spring Lake) as guests of Skipper Buds. We had a dinner on the barge and "lights out" around 11 so none of the condo neighbors got too upset with the noise. Our "slumber party" included our friends the Rowladers and Kenyons as overnight guests.



This invite gave us a prime spot for the surprise band performing on Sunday, only one boat off the barges. Here are some pics of the crowd of boats and the surprise band (The O. C. Beach Boys) who are actually some of the original Beach Boys. They (and the local warm up band too) were great and the weather was very hot and perfect for a huge party! Also included is a pic of our group awaiting departure after the party...they all look like they had a great time!!!


This was a huge success for the 6th annual Raft Up!

Labor Day to Sept 7 Trip North

So after the huge raft off in Spring Lake we headed out of Grand Haven on Labor Day "first light".

S Manitou Island was so inviting we anchored out for the afternoon before heading into Leland for the evening. Not a lot of action late on Labor Day in Leland....and no cell signal. Kinda wierd that we could use our phones on S Manitou but not on the mainland in Lelend. So no blog updates.
Here is a pic of S Manitou Island lighthouse.

Here is "Fishtown" in Leland. It is now a few commercial fisherman, some charter boats and a lot of retail shops. It is being preserved as a historic area and really is pretty cool.

And sunset at Leland was fantastic.

The trip to Charlevoix was uneventful except for an electronics failure. Apparently (after a call to technical support) the hard drive is overheating and Windows is automatically shutting down. So we arrived using the back up handheld GPS and are "saving" the main electronics for radar (if we need it). We hope it works if needed as it sporadically does.

Anchored out in Lake Charlevoix for the afternoon on Tuesday....it was hot and the water was 75* so very refreshing. Staying at the Charlevoix Municipal Marina. Wow, I thought the state was out of money....I think the local money must have had some influence because the facilities are absolutely gorgeous. Internet in the lounge, excellent floating docks and Hal the Duckmaster (not a typo....there are so many ducks on the docks at night his first job in the morning is to hose all the docks down!) is very helpful.

Went to Boyne City on Wed. Nice town with a couple marinas. Had a great lunch at the Red Mesa Grill, a local Mexican place. Have eaten here a few times and it is great every time! Took a slow cruise back to Charlevoix. Note that we are now a dinghy. This is Kevin Costners 172 foot yacht "Battered Bull". Security guys pacing the deck and all. Habormaster said this was the largest yacht in for the season. Unbelievable....Spent Thursday taking a walk before the rains, reading, having a great bloody mary and going to the local grocery store for a deli chicken for dinner. Also went to the local farmers market for fresh sweet corn, cherries, squash etc. Hope to leave afround noon tomorrow and plan to stop for fuel in Leland (and to pick up my electrical adapter I left on the electric post!!!) May continue on further or stop in Leland for the night...we'll see. So far a great trip again!