Happy Destiny: 6/22/23 - Roger’s City Marina to Presque Isle anchorage

Riva watching the sunrise over the slightly foggy lake

Upon awakening we lazed around the boat for a couple of hours awaiting the local grocery store and The Painted Lady to open. We could not seem to get the ‘Rush Hour’ ice cream off our minds and knew that we wanted to procure another pint before we could even consider leaving Roger’s City! In addition we stopped in to a local well reviewed butcher shop, Plath’s Meats, where we walked out with an incredible looking 1.5” thick smoked bone in pork chop, a few bratwursts, some roast beef and Swiss cheese. With the small shop scores and a few other essentials from Save A Lot we headed back and we now had a fully stocked fridge and pantry.

We had an early lunch to finish off the leftover burgers and jalapeño poppers to make room in the fridge before riding off on a 15 mile round trip to 40 Mile Lighthouse. It was a nice ride, truly mostly flat unlike what google maps sometimes calls “mostly flat”, along the shoreline and through a state park area. Again we were taking notice of how much more modest the homes along the Huron shoreline are in comparison to what we had been seeing up to now on the Lake Michigan shores. Roger’s City looks alike a place that ‘regular Joe’s’ could actually afford to live.

At the 40 Mile Lighthouse we learned from a volunteer who was manning an old ship pilot house display that the light house is named that because it is situated 20 miles south of old Mackinac Point Lighthouse and 20 miles north of Presque Isle Lighthouse. The lighthouse grounds was impeccably kept and not only had the lighthouse but also the attached keepers house, a historic fog horn building, the pilot house and several other small buildings. The keeper of this lighthouse does actually still reside with his family there unlike many others that we have seen along our journeys. The volunteer at the top of the lighthouse was very knowledgeable and shared many tidbits of history of the lighthouse, it’s operation, and also some local shipwreck lore. This was also, we believe, the first lighthouse we’ve encountered that did NOT charge any admission to climb the tower; just asked for donation which we gladly obliged.

Pilot house exhibit and lighthouse keepers house

Probably the best lighthouse tour we’ve been to

Also adjacent to the lighthouse is the site of the October 19th, 1905 shipwreck of the 215’ long Joseph S. Fay. 33 of 35 crew members perished in the wreck. It now lies scattered by the Lake Michigan fury in 19’ of water just 300 yards off the coast. It, along with the MANY other shipwrecks along the Huron coast, is marked with a white buoy and is there for the public to view via boat, snorkeling or scuba diving. Erik is intent that he will be snorkeling at one or more sites before we leave this area of Lake Huron. Thunder Bay is on our list of upcoming stops and they have many such sites. We have acquired a list of them and have the gps navigational coordinates now.

Prior to the 7+ mile ride back to Happy Destiny a leg and butt rest was called for
At a spot with a spectacular lake view

Some of the remains of the Joseph S Fay lay on the beach for almost 120 years

After our ride back and getting Riva off the boat for a bit we readied Happy Destiny and fueled up before shoving off toward a chosen anchorage about 19 miles south at Presque Isle. The water was again flat as a pancake making for a smooth and enjoyable ride. Along the way we saw a couple additional lighthouses dotting the shoreline. While Renee drove for a while Erik retreated to the galley and prepared an InstaPot meatloaf and mashed potato dinner….a first time experiment.

Couple more lighthouses along our route this afternoon
The Great Lakes sure have a LOT of them!

We pulled into Presque Isle and dropped the hook at 4:45pm in what appeared to be a very tranquil bay that would give us a nice sunset view. The InstaPot meatloaf and mashed potato combo came out wonderfully and filled our bellies. Soon after dinner Erik decided it was time for him to finally take and INTENTIONAL swim in the Great Lakes. The water temps had risen as we have gone south to a balmy 62 degrees and the temptation of the crystal clear water was finally too much! It was certainly refreshing….62 degrees is still REALLY cold.

Burrrr

We sat on the aft deck for a couple of hours catching up on blogs for the past two days and enjoying the perfect weather and the peaceful serenity of the bay before Erik took Riva to shore for her evening potty call. On shore he found a few pretty wild flowers to adorn our dinette. As we sit on the deck enjoying the sun going down on another day we are finishing up blog posts and plan to enjoy another serving of ‘Rush Hour’ ice cream before bed.