Rogers City and the awesome Presque Isle

Late morning brought calmer seas and lighter winds. I broke out of the opening in the seawall around noon and headed South. The sun was bright and it seemed to bake all the chaos of the night before away as I set the autopilot and made a bowl of cereal for breakfast.
I was excited about going to Rogers City. It is a fair sized small town where I would be able to refresh my provisions and stock up on perishables. It was my first time there. I studied the marine charts and listened to the stereo to pass the time as I slowly moved down the coast.

Shortly after lunch I eventually spotted the small dots on the horizon ahead of the fishing boats based out of the marina. When i got closer I fired up the ship to shore radio and called in for a slip assignment from the Harbor Master. They were all filled up but had a spot along the North wall I could tie up to for the night. I slid into the busy marina and squeezed into the corner behind an old Tartan and tied her up for the evening.
Once settled in I met the owner of the tartan. He was an eccentric character in a pull down Peruvian goat herder hat and sandals. I can’t remember his name anymore but I do remember that whenever I mentioned him after that there was always someone in the group that knew who he was. He had a connection with a Great Lakes boating magazine and walked around handing out copies to anyone that would listen to him.
We drank a few beers while I watched him feverishly tackle one crisis after another on his boat with a makeshift collection of tools. The boat had no actual seats or table below. The interior was chopped up into rough storage areas and clutter was everywhere with no apparent rhyme or reason.
After a few beers listening to why I needed to buy his boat I broke loose and headed up into town to explore the bars and find some dinner. I found a bar to the North of the marina that took care of both. It was a little place that served the best Prime Rib I have ever eaten in my life.
After an evening of Wild Turkeys and water I stumbled my Prime Rib bloated ass back to the boat to pass out. Having the boat on the North wall turned out to be awesome for sleeping. The boat was tied up in the still water of the marina but the break wall of large boulders was breaking the waves just a few feet away all night. I slept with all the hatches open listening to the waves and enjoying the fresh breeze on a warm summer night.
Morning brought more sunny skies and I headed South. Presque Isle was the next hit. This is a harbor steeped in local history and is the coolest marina on the Michigan coast of Lake Huron. Until recently it was just a natural harbor where people would anchor out of the weather but the state has bought out the small family owned resort and put in a beautiful marina.
The winds picked up as the day wore on until I was hanging on for dear life with only the jib flying.
I tucked dangerously close to the rocky shore trying to hide from the wind behind the tree line. I watched a larger sailboat zoom along farther out have the inch thick braided jib sheet (the line leading to the end of the foresail) break in two a foot behind the sail under the strain of the strong winds.
The entrance to the harbor is a narrow shallow pass through the shallow rocky harbor entrance. There are two tall markers called range lights on shore that you line up like sighting a gun to line yourself up to safely come through the submerged boulders in the break. The entrance is famous for funneling the waves right down the chute as you squeeze through.
Once into the safety of the harbor the small string of buoys that snake around guiding you into the marina are straight ahead. As you pass through the high break walls you can’t help but be amazed at the fresh clean docks and facilities. The water can’t get any clearer and the whole place looks more like Maine than Michigan.
The people running the place are great. There is a small convenience and beer store across the street with a deli counter, liquor, ice cream shop, souvenir & gift area and a small collection of non- perishables that at a premium price can be a life saver if/when you get socked in for a few days more than you anticipated.
There is a bike rack in front of the store filled with fat tired bicycles free for the using to tour the island with. Presque Isle means “almost an island”. There is just a small strip of land big enough for a road connecting the island to land.
I’ve had the women working at the store offer the use of their cars to go to beer festivals in nearby towns or to a bar down the road. All they asked was that I be back by 9PM when the store closes so they can go home. Right in front of the docks is a great four star restaurant and bar. I have made it a ritual to sail up to Presque Isle every summer since that first visit.
I spent several days there biking around the island checking out the two lighthouses on opposite ends of the narrow piece of land. The "new" lighthouse was built in 1860...For a few bucks you can climb up to the top of them and check out the view. The island is cris-crossed with trails weaving through the woods and along the rock covered beaches. There is no better place to be stranded for a few days by the weather than here. I decided to hole up for a few days of R&R before heading farther south.
It was a good thing I rested up in paradise as the rest of the trip was rough as the fall weather was increasingly chewing up the Lake. The next leg was a run to Harrisville that had to be rerouted to Alpena due to some crazy circumstances I will detail in the next chapter.

Sailing to Alpena....barely