We left Pikes Bay on Friday evening. The plans was to go the 20 NM to Stockton Island and spend the night, and head out on the 90 KM crossing early in the morning. Stormy weather set in late that night with rain and 30kts of wind,with 8-10 ft seas, so we spent Saturday on the hook at Stockton. Early Sunday we headed out in NO wind. About 10 km out, the engine started overheating. To make a really long story short, we dirveted to Ontonogan, MI to sort out the several problems discovered while working on the cooling issue with the engine. While in Ontonogan, we met some true UPPERS. They were a HOOT! The stories we've heard about UPPERS are all true! Maybe more on that later....

Wednsday, with the new parts installed, we head for Houghton. We arrived about 8PM that day and tied to the wall in downtown Houghton. Here we met another couple who were returning from a 5 year jaunt through the carribbean. They were very informative, as we are planning on leaving June of 2012 on our adventure.

Thursday: We left Houghton and headed for Torch Lake. We called a couple (Gary and Kim) we had met on our last trip to Houghton, and they met us up in Torch Lake for cocktails and munchies. We had planned to stay in Torch Lake for a couple days, but found out Gary was playing and a local pub back in Houghton, so we decided to go watch him play. We Had a great time!
Friday: We left Houghton and sailed the short distance to the Lilly Pond at the east end of the Houghton Canal and spent the night.

Saturday: We let early on the 90km crossing back to the Apostile Islands. We ran into 2 good thundstorms on the way back. Nothing too serious, but the couple we had with us had never been so far from shore and were about as much trouble to deal with as the weather....LOL!. We made such good time crossing, we decided to go the last 20km back to the marina and hot showers.

Sunday: The guests have packed up and gone. As much fun as they were, it's nice just to sit and relax with just me a Vicki and start planning our next adventure!