GREAT LAKES

Boating Music We Love

Click on the album covers to find out more about Scott's music. "They say this is cruisin', travelin' the world by sea." Scott Perkins lives the life he expresses in his music, exploring the world aboard the 32-ft DownEast sailboat Chip Ahoy. His 6,000-mile trip around America's Great Loop boat trip inspired this collection of songs about passing through river locks, meeting interesting characters on boats and in America's small towns and watching dolphins play alongside Chip Ahoy as she entered…

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Covered Portage Cove – North Channel

Two miles to the west of Killarney lies Covered Portage Cove, a kunkholers dream. The narrow entrance, that has large boulders protruding from the water makes for an nerve racking entrance for ones first visit but made easier if the cruising guide advice is followed.Once inside it’s common practice to anchor med-moor style, this giving the greatest amount of room for other boaters as this area can get pretty busy at times. Lisa and I landed our dinghy so we…

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Killarney, Eh?

Killarney, what a great name but more importantly what a wonderful boaters paradise. Killarney sits at the northwest corner of Georgian Bay and the northeast section of the North Channel in Ontario Canada. We’ve been to Killarney a couple of times but to me I think it’s a place we could never tire of. Big enough for basic supplies but remote enough to one feel like there a long long way from home. On our last trip through Killarney we…

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Venetian Festival – Charlevoix, MI

One of our all time favorite things to experience in Charlevoix, our homeport, is Venetian Festival. It occurs during the peak of the summer and is a small hometown festival like none other.With the newly constructed marina, park and harbor this is a fabulous venue for all the fun activities the city of Charlevoix organizes every year. Every night of the festival there is a line up of some amazings bands. On Saturday there is a parade through town featuring…

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There’s No Place Like Home

Ain’t that the truth. We had a fun two weeks visiting with parents, siblings, sons and lovely Sarah, nieces and friends. We even met our new grand niece, Audrey.We savored the hugs and the time we had to share. Longing for our family and friends is the downside to the traveling that we do.We stopped in Sidney on our way to and back from Michigan to visit with Jim’s parents, Don and Diane and sister, Cindy and her husband, Steve.Our…

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We’re Back

Our friend Mary emailed us to ask if "Date Night" was finally over.Sorry to keep everybody hanging with the Date Night post, but we left Solomon Island for a two week road trip back home (Michigan/Ohio) to see family and friends.Now that we are back we are starting to plan our next trip to explore more of the Chesapeake Bay area. Next Sunday or Monday, weather permitting, we will head out across the bay to St. Michaels and Oxford for…

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Five Days and Counting

After anchoring out Wednesday night behind Navy Pier we lifted the anchor only to find a gigantic wad of seaweed on it. Once we got the seaweed off we traveled the short distance to DuSable Marina, three blocks from Michigan Avenue, for an expected three nights dockage. We've enjoyed walking around Grant and Millennium Parks as well as up and down Michigan Avenue, a couple of days it was under the protection of our umbrella due to the heavy rain.On…

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Room With A View

After waiting four days for a good day to cross Lake Michigan we departed our anchorage in Holland to head first south and then west across the lake. It was a pleasant ride but long, about 12 hours. We decided to anchor out our first night in Chicago since we were arriving so late in the day and it turned out to be an excellent idea. We are the only boat in an anchorage spot just behind Navy Pier. It…

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Holland to Anchor for the Night

We left Ludington this morning after closely watching the weather. It was nasty yesterday and we did not want to get caught in any bigger waves than we had already experienced so far on this trip. It was a good call and it was a little better than our first few days but not calm by any means. We were surprised to see "Stargazer" and Ginger and Laura anchored right next to us. They were some of the first "Loopers" that…

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On to Ludington, MI

We 're not sure if we're getting used to the bigger waves or they actually were slightly smaller on day two. We had a short day today only six hours on the water, stopping in Ludington, MI.While entering the Ludington Municipal Marina we notice that we were being closely followed by a Coast Guard boat and immediately after tying up to the dock they requested to board our boat. It was all harmless and they asked if we would permit…

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We’re On Our Way

Anxious, we left under the cover of darkness so that we could travel as far as possible on our first day of our second "Loop." It started out just fine with one to two-foot waves, however once we got through the Leland Narrows the waves increased to three to four-footers with the an occasional six-footer. Seventy-four miles was long enough for our first day, especially with all the bouncing around. We spent a quiet night at anchor in Frankfort with…

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Here We Go… Loop-D-Loop!

We woke up to high winds and big waves today - remnants of hurricane Gustav. Therefore we have decided to postpone our departure by a day or so, in hopes of calmer seas. By doing so we'll be able to spend a little time reflecting on why we're heading out a second "Loop."The bottom line is that we love to travel by boat while experiencing the beauty and sounds of America, learning about our history while meeting new and interesting…

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We Think It’s a Conspiracy

Could it be a conspiracy that our friends have called or talked to us about just one more going away dinner or party? I suppose they might be thinking that if they plan enough stuff we will be too busy and won't be able to leave before the snow flies. In reality we have had many tears shed while saying goodbye to our immediate family and close friends over the last few weeks.All we can say is... nice try guys.

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Labor Day Bridge Walk

Every year at 1:00 on Labor Day the residents of Charlevoix congregate on the bridge which spans Pine River Channel. They come together to celebrate the end of the summer season and to say goodbye to all the "Fudgies" who are leaving town across the bridge in droves.A short sing song poem is read with the crowd chanting in unison while thanking the tourists but expressing delight in reclaiming their small town. It is all done in good fun.

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August – A Month of Visits from Family & Friends

Our sons Bart and Skyler graced us with some valuable face time this month. We tried to show them a good time while visiting us at differnt times recently. My (Lisa's) brother Jem and his wife Patti came up to visit us before we left. They brought Barby with them. Our friends Wade and Susie drove north all the way from North Carolina to spend a few days with us on the new Kismet.

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Loopers Descend on Charlevoix

This week I had the pleasure (I say I because Jim is out of town doing a boat show in Indiana this week) to meet many of the Loopers that are just now transiting through our homeport of Charlevoix, MI. As you can see from the photos below these are friendly people with warm hearts. I already know that we will be in good company as we head south just after Labor Day.

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Festivals Galore

The last two weeks we took a few breaks from preparing for our trip to partake in two of northern Michigan's summer festivals. Charlevoix, our homeport, is a small town just south of Petoskey. The downtown overlooks a small inland lake called Round Lake. It is a popular destination spot for boaters as the harbor is well protected from the weather off Lake Michigan and the town is just a short walk up from the marina. It has an annual,…

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A Weekend of Traditions

Tradition dictates that a christening ceremony be performed for new boats. For thousands of years, we have gone to sea. We have crafted vessels to carry us and we have called them by name. These ships will nurture and care for us through perilous seas, and so we affectionately call them "she." To them we toast, and ask to celebrate KISMET.  Then everybody raises their plastic glass filled with champagne or your favorite non-alcoholic beverage and shouts,  To the Sailors…

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Back to the Future and Our Next “Loop”

We have been back to our homeport of Charlevoix, Michigan for three weeks already, to us it seems like time is flying, too fast. That's how our entire five-month experience in Seattle felt, before we knew it we were heading home. While traveling east we reflected and savored our time spent in a very cosmopolitan city with diverse people, landscape and history. The icing on the cake being that we were able to watch our new boat be built.This all…

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Welcome Home Kismet – Charlevoix, Michigan

We are so excited to be coming home to our homeport, Charlevoix, Michigan, and all of our friends and family. We got quite a reception from our boating buddies at the bridge as we approached. It was fun to see them run from there to our slip to help us dock. Our friendly harbor master, Hal radioed us to bring her in. Our slip (#5) was decorated with balloons and a welcoming sign at the end of the dock along…

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Getting Close – Mackinaw Island, Michigan

We left in somewhat rough waters but not too bad. We were surprised by how many empty slips in Mackinaw Island. They are usually full this time of year. We arrived late afternoon as one of our engines was acting up, we think from some bad gas we got a while back. Mackinaw Island is one of our most favorite places in the world.For us this was two days of winding down, reflection and some private celebrating before we set…

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Back in the USA – Crossing Lake Huron to Presque Isle, Michigan

We left Wednesday morning to cross Lake Huron. We got up about 5:00 and left our anchorage with a beautiful sunrise and mostly clear skies, calm waters for the most part but heavy fog a few miles out that lasted until we were almost on top of Presque Isle, MI. A beautiful marina here. State of the art gas dock. Hardly any boats here though. We are excited now to be able to spend a few days on Mackinaw Island…

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Oswego, New York

Oswego, New York was our last stop in the United States until we get back to Michigan. An old port town that again has a rich military history between the French, English, Native Americans, and ultimately what would become America. Oswego sits at the mouth of the Oswego river and Lake Ontario.We stayed an extra day because Lake Ontario had high west winds, therefore high rough seas and boating can be dangerous under these conditions. We took advantage of the…

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