Charlevoix, Michigan

August 30 and 31 -  We said goodbye to St. Ignace and headed to Charlevoix, Michigan at 7:00 a.m. on August 30.  When we first left St. Ignace, the water was calm and peaceful.  In fact, the first 2-1/2 hours were great!  We passed under the famous Mackinaw Bridge without incident.  There were a couple of freighters we were watching, but they never caused us to change course.  

 Cruising Under The Mackinaw Bridge

As we cruised through Gray's Reef, we turned south and the water got very rough with the 1-2 foot waves hitting us on the beam.  It was a very uncomfortable ride.  When we finally got to the entrance to Charlevoix, we had a 20 minute wait for the Hwy 31 draw bridge to go up.  It was very windy in the channel waiting for the bridge and the captain had to "station keep" the boat while waiting.  Initially, we were the only boat in the channel, then about ten minutes before the bridge opened two other big boats came in behind us.  They did not crowd us, but that 10 minutes felt like hours!  Especially after such a rough cruise.  We were exhausted and just wanted to be tied up in a slip.  Finally, the bridge opened and we were able to cruise to our marina.  

 Overlooking Charlevoix Marina

The town of Charlevoix is located on Round Lake and the marina is just to the right after passing under the bridge.  We had been there 7 years ago when we attended our first Nordic Tug rendezvous on "little" LeeLoo.  Charlevoix has really grown in 7 years - many more new shops, restaurants and bars.  We were there right before Labor Day so the marina was crowded.  In fact, we tried to make reservations there for the Labor Day weekend, but were told the marina was full.  There were several Looper boats in the marina. 

Charlevoix is known for the "Mushroom Houses".  We walked several blocks and found them.  There are probably about 8 houses of this style.  They looked very "hobbit" like.  Very interesting.  Some house were huge; some houses were tiny.  There's even a tour available on a golf cart that explains the history of these houses.

One Of Larger Mushroom Houses

Round Lake is very small and very beautiful with lots of homes with boat houses.  Charlevoix would be a great place to live if their winters weren't so long!

Beautiful, Upscale Homes Along Round Lake

We spent 2 days in Charlevoix waiting for good water before cruising to Northport, Michigan  to spend the Labor Day Weekend.