End of the line, Grand Harbor Resort Marina.

After being on the hook a lot lately, a visit to Grand Harbor Resort Marina, located where the Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama borders come together (we’re officially down south at this point), hit the spot. It has all the amenities a long-distance boater appreciates including a well-stocked ship’s store, an elegant boater’s lounge, laundry facilities located right on the dock where you can sit by the water as you wash and dry your clothes, they also have several loaner vehicles and they almost beg you to use one to explore the nearby towns. But first, we had to go through the Pickwick Landing Lock and Dam to get to Grand Harbor.

We left early in the morning due to weather reports of high winds, we wanted to get through the lock before they picked up much. Good call because we had an uneventful lock-through.

The marina at Grand Harbor provided us an opportunity to run into a few of the Loopers we’ve met while cruising the Tennessee River. There must have been about ten boats tied up by the end of the day and of course, a happy hour was organized and fun was had by all.

We met Paul and his son John (below), on Memshahib, just as we put the boat in the water at Green Turtle Marina to begin our Tennessee River cruise. We like the idea of a father/son boat trip, they will have made some great memories together while sharing the adventure of doing the Great Loop boat trip.

The Rib Cage is a folksy BBQ restaurant fairly close to the marina. We always make a point to stop there for the good food, fun decor, and friendly atmosphere.

We don’t see this very often… a sprout of a tree (below) growing right out of an old decaying line attached to an old sailboat.

We have to rate this spot as the most unusual thing we’ve seen in a while. Just a few miles down the road from the marina is this creative musician who, when not rented out for a special event, will perform for the neighbors right in his own backyard, complete with seats and a fire pit. We didn’t get to see him in action but we like this idea very much.

And then there is this “Olde Tyme” hardware store close to the marina. The thing we loved most at this store was the train track set up just below the ceiling of the store, which the staff went to great lengths to fire up so we could be amused. While out and about with the loaner van from Grand Harbor, we sure got a taste of rural America at its finest.

After a couple days’ stay at Grand Harbor Resort Marina, we had to move on downriver. Two more anchorages to visit before we arrive at Joe Wheeler State Park and Marina.

The post Time To Disembark at Grand Harbor Resort Marina appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.

Mackinaw City seemed to be the logical choice to launch Kismet for our trip to Mackinac Island.

Our son, Skyler, got married to, Sarah, on Labor Day Weekend. Most of our summer was focused on this big event; except for a few boat trips, we stayed close to home preparing and enjoying all the activities. I have to confess it took quite a toll on our blogging ability. After it was over, we needed to decompress and Mackinac Island came first to mind. This island is unique in its ability to transport a visitor back in time, one of our favorite cruising destinations; the perfect place to relax and savor the sweet memories, still so fresh in our minds, of Skyler and Sarah’s big day.

We decided to try out the new Mackinaw City Straits Harbor to launch our boat, it seemed the logical choice; it’s free, easily accessed, a strait shot across to the island and we’d heard how state-of-the-art it was, we wanted to check it out. We thought it very strange that so soon after Labor Day, the marina was, as you can see, virtually empty.

This was our maiden cruise in trying out the new DeLorme InReach, GPS satellite tracker. We were very pleased with how it performed, all we had to do was turn it on when we left home. This is an easy way for family and friends to keep track of us while we’re off cruising.

Check it out on our BoatU.S. Cruising Logs page (upper right-hand corner).

The photo (above) is a good indicator of what’s happened to the water levels in the Great Lakes. We had to climb up and down the ladder to get on and off the boat.

What a small world it is for boaters, when we arrived at Mackinac Island we ran into Peggy and Bob, on Baby Grand. We first met them in the Abaco Islands while doing the Great Loop boat trip in 2009.

The post Launching in Mackinaw City – Post Wedding Trip to Mackinac Island appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.

Rendezvous with Freedom’s Turn in Covered Portage Cove!

Doubling our pleasure comes to mind when we think of our visit to Covered Portage Cove in the North Channel. Not only was it our first time anchoring in this cove, but we also had the pleasure of rendezvousing with friends Charlie and Linda on Freedom’s Turn (above). We met them in 2008 while doing our second Great Loop boat trip and cruised several times together, including a trip to Chattanooga and even the Bahamas. With a lot of shared cruising experiences in common, we were excited for the reunion in Covered Portage Cove. We got there one day earlier, so we were ready to enjoy their company once they got there.

With the picturesque backdrop of our shared anchorage, it felt like old times having happy hour together and eating dinner on the upper deck of Freedom’s Turn. We got to laughing about all the good times we’ve shared during our Loops. The conversation was so easy, almost as if the time we cruised together was just yesterday.

We got in our dingys during cocktail hour to visit some of the neighboring boats in the cove before we met for dinner on Freedom’s Turn. Making the rounds in a harbor like this by dinghy is a great way to meet other boaters.

As you can see Charlie is a big Michigan State fan.

We had a delicious dinner on board Freedom’s Turn along with one of those “Million Dollar Views.” Good friends, good food in a little bit of paradise.

We spent the final morning together hiking up an almost sheer rocky bluff to an incredible spot overlooking the entire cove and Killarney off in the distance.

Can you see Kismet anchored in Covered Portage Cove (above)?

Sitting pretty with Covered Portage Cove as a backdrop to the photo.

The post Doubling Our Pleasure in Covered Portage Cove appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.