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Day 16 
Friday July 14th    Presque Isle to East Tawas


It's all "down hill from here" goes the saying, but as we start our travels back "down" the Michigan coastline towards home, there are still a few stops to make. A very comfortable 3 1/2 hour cruise today leads us to another 'new' port for us; East Tawas. We meet up again with Lime Cutter and have a nice time as our journey begins to wind down. 

click images to enlarge

Miles Today:
91

Destination:
East Tawas

Miles To Date:
630

 

 


Relaxing at the Dock

Awoke at 9:30 this morning, and I was looking forward to heading further south towards home, after our two day stay here at Presque Isle. I made coffee and grabbed a newspaper (which you just can’t get anchored out at the Benjamin’s). 

Here at the Presque Isle Harbor docks, they use some sort of giant feather dusters to clean all the docks of spiders every morning. Wow, what service.

 

I noticed that Seth from Sport ‘n Life had called on the direct-connect, and buzzed him back to chat a bit. They were on their way by car to MacRay Harbor where they had left their boat on the way back from their trip last week. They hoped to bring it back to their home port of Cedar Point today.


Off Au Sable Point


Tawas Lighthouse

After a nice hot shower on land, we made preparations to leave and make the trip to East Tawas. It was getting hot already, quite humid, but just a moderate wind. After tidying up, securing the dinghy, and double checking the route I had planned, we left the dock at 11:15.

The tripometer was at 539 miles, and there was a slight haze out on the water this morning. We noticed a couple of fishing nets set off of False Presque Isle, when we passed about ¾ mile off shore.

I called Lime Cutter on the cell phone at noon, and caught them taking a leisurely dinghy ride around Tawas Bay. I gave them an ETA of about 2:30 to join them. At 12:15 we rounded Thunderbay Island and proceeded to turn due south. The wind and waves seemed to be picking up a little, coming out of the south/southeast.

Gina made us some sandwiches for lunch at 1:00, and a half hour later we passed Harrisville, just shy of three miles out. The waves were building to two feet now, but it was still a comfortable ride. A little after 2:00 we rounded the #1 green buoy off of Au Sable Point, and turned southwest towards East Tawas. Wow had the lake changed, as it was darn near flat waters now.

We followed the coastline around the peninsula where the Tawas Light is, and the water shoals to a shallow depth. At 2:30 we made the Tawas Point #2 red buoy, then turned directly north to cross Tawas Bay and into the East Tawas State Dock.

A few minutes later we pulled up at the fuel dock, where we took on 126 gallons of gas and got a pump out. We were assigned slip #48, where we docked at 3:30, just across from Lime Cutter.


East Tawas State Docks

After hooking up the water and power we strolled the short distance down the docks and across the parking lot into town. East Tawas appeared to be a nice busy bustling place. We passed some nice gift shops and first went into Marmar Gourmet, where we picked up some appetizers, I had a cup of espresso, and we bought some wonderful decadent Gran Marnier and Amaretto truffles. I also found another store that offered an interesting combination of cigars and propeller repair. Sounds like my kind of place.

We showered when we got back to the boat, before meeting up with Lime Cutter for 7:00p.m. cocktails on the dock. It started to sprinkle, so we sat on their boat for a while, and when it cleared we headed back into town.

The gals did a short shopping tour, while Jim and I sat outside at Chum’s Bar for a beer. The rain chased us back inside, where we all had dinner. After devouring the nightly special of fish and chips, we meandered through town and finished up with ice cream cones.

Back at the boat, Gina used a coupon for two hours of wi-fi internet access, while I enjoyed a cigar and “watched” the end of the Detroit Tiger baseball game on my phone. It’s starting to feel a little ‘anti-climatic’ and sad as our cruise comes down to the final days. It does help to stop at new places that we haven’t been to before, and I’d like to stop back to East Tawas again sometime.


Day 16 July 14th 2006 On to Day 17
  Charts & Tracks from Day 16 Video of Day 16