So we’ve now been on our trip for 31 days, and we’re still in Michigan. This state is huge. Granted, we did take a side trip to Lake Superior, but Michigan seems to go on forever. It is now August 24, and we have to be in Chicago by September 10th or so… We also have plans to meet some friends in Holland, MI this coming weekend (Labor Day weekend). At this point we seem to be making longer runs when we travel. There were some early runs of 20-30 miles, now we are making 40+ mile runs.
We left Traverse City with light winds around 8am. Wind direction is actually proving to be more of a concern than actual wind strength. We’ll take a following sea over a beam sea any day. Today we traveled 44.2 nautical miles in just over 6 hours. We averaged 7.1 knots. This was a good travel day for us. No one got sea sick, the furniture stayed in place, and we had a smooth ride.
We arrived at Leland Township Marina around 2:30pm. Upon arrival, we noticed right away there were several other ‘Looper’s’ here. We are definitely catching up and seeing some of the same boats more often now. Leland is a quaint small town with a lovely harbor and a small area called “Fishtown“.
After checking in at the marina office, I retrieved the bikes for some exploring. oUr first stop was “Fishtown”. This was right off of the docks. Many of the original weathered fishing shanties composing Fishtown, now house small shops along the mouth of the Leland River, as it flows into Lake Michigan. However, these historic shanties were once used primarily for commercial fishing operations, including net-mending sheds, ice houses, smoke houses, and storage. A few Fishtown shanties are still used today to support the current, active commercial fishing operation.
For over 150 years Fishtown has evolved as a working waterfront. The shanties represent the heart and foundation of Fishtown, and are loved for their rustic appeal and enduring functionality. Surviving many a cold, windy, snowy winter in Northern Michigan, these shanties continue to tell their story of endurance. Many have been rented out and are small gift shops.
We explored this area, and also went to a local grocery store for more provisions. Shopping done, we headed back to the boat to assess what the plan was for tomorrow. We are hearing grumblings of upcoming weather, and confirmed for ourselves that there is some questionable weather coming our way. That being said, we really wanted to go to South Manitou Island, where there are sand dunes and unspoiled areas to explore, as well as many shipwrecks you can explore from the water. Sleeping Bear Dunes is also on the way.
There were no breweries in Leland, so we’ll save you from hearing about that. Leland was such a small town, we didn’t have too much to explore after Fishtown. The closest winery was 15 miles away, which is too far for us to bike to, even though we have been putting on some good miles. We were not up for a 30 mile round trip for some wine, but Frank did get plenty of terra firma time.
The evening ended with us having dinner on the boat, catching a sunset and retiring early, getting ready for an early departure.