Round Lake Retreat in Charlevoix the Beautiful – Our “Forever” Homeport

Escaping to Charlevoix for a Three-Week Vacation! –

When we arrive home after being away for the winter, we typically have a slew of chores to do at home. That’s after we put the boat away for a couple of months. Well, we got through the list and soon our thoughts turned to scheduling summer cruising time in the Great Lakes.

Jim and I used to have a slip in Charlevoix, Michigan on Round Lake. It was our home port for many years before we retired and started long-distance cruising. Charlevoix is a second home for Jim and me. We still know people that live in Charlevoix and a few of them still dock their boats in the downtown marina. When Jim asked my thoughts on where we should go for a three-week trip, I didn’t skip a beat. “Charlevoix, let’s to Charlevoix!”

We either anchored by the island on Round Lake or stayed a few nights at a time at the marina

Although we stopped for one night in Northport on the way up, we left Charlevoix for a few days to visit Harbor Springs and Petoskey. We split our time either at the marina or anchored out across Round Lake by the island. It was the perfect getaway. We got to spend time with our good friend Hal and his wife Mary Ann. Hal was the harbormaster for many years, (he is now retired). We visited our good friends Jeff and Denise and enjoyed a social event at their condo. We also bumped into other boaters we knew in the early 2000s.

Our friend, Janice came and spent a long weekend with us on Kismet. We docked at the marina most of the time. We took her to the island for an overnighter, so she could enjoy a night away from the dock. Janice has spent time on all our boats with us. A former sailor, Janice misses boating, we try to help her get reacquainted once in a while.

We timed our trip just right, we’d be present for both the
Boyne Thunder Poker Run and the Venetian Festival

At the beginning of our trip, we found out we’d be in the lake for one of the most fun events of the year, the Boyne Thunder Poker Run. Kismet was on the hook at the island that day. That was a much better spot than at the marina for watching the boats roar through the channel between Round Lake and Lake Charlevoix. Best of all, we made sure we were in Charlevoix for their well-known Venetian Festival, always the highlight of the summer.

This year Venetian Festival took on a whole new meaning for us, but that is a whole other post.

From the cockpit of Kismet, we observed several big yachts come into the Lake. Most notably, the ROCK.IT, a mega yacht owned by the man who started Jimmy John’s empire. In addition, we got to see Cindy Crawford cruise by our boat in Kris Rock’s boat, Cowboy. It is a new boat designed to look like an old vintage boat.

There were a few amazing sunsets and moonrises over the lake and an impressive storm that blew through near the end of our trip.

We launched our boat at Elmwood Marina, in East Bay. Just a few miles from downtown Traverse City.

The entrance to Charlevoix is an impressive channel, even big yachts can get into Round Lake and Lake Charlevoix. The map (below) will give you a good idea of what Round Lake looks like and the position of the channels out to Lake Charlevoix (right) and Lake Michigan (left).

  

Our good friend, Hal has been the beloved Harbormaster in Charlevoix forever. The new Harbormaster, Pat, has worked alongside Hal for several years now, so to be greeted by these two great guys when Kismet came “Home” was almost more than we could ask for.

Across from Charlevoix’s downtown marina site this little island borders the channel out into Lake Charlevoix. This has become our spot to anchor, with a fantastic view of downtown Charlevoix and the parade of boats that transit this area daily.

Boyne Thunder Poker Run (above), is an exciting event and the noise alone will make you stand at attention. We had a great view from our spot near the island. It was nice having these “go fast boats” anchored near us.

Happy Hour one night was hosted by our friends Jeff and Denise at their condo near the channel. If you look hard enough, you’ll see Kismet anchored by the island across the lake (below).

Kris Rock ferried Cindy Crawford out to meet the mega yacht, ROCK.IT when it came through the bridge one morning. The yacht eventually made it’s way to Mr. Rock’s cottage on Lake Charlevoix to anchor.

  

Friends Forever! Our good friend, Janice came to spend some time with us on Kismet while we were in Charlevoix.

  

We ran into this Ranger Tug owner one night as we were dinghying back to the boat. The full moon was amazing.

This storm looked awful. We had been off the boat in our dinghy when we noticed it approaching. The sky got darker and darker quite fast. In the end, it looked worse than it was, but it added a little thrill to our afternoon.

On our way back to Traverse City after three weeks of excellent vacation. Another brewing storm met us out by Power Island in West Bay.

Loading the boat on the trailer. The next time she will touch the water will be in Ontario, Canada for the 2018 Ranger Tugs and Cutwater Boats Great Lakes Area Rendezvous, followed by a trip up the Rideau to Montreal.