Our 2010 16 day cruise video

Bliss36 · **Posted:** Wed Dec 21, 2011 10:31 pm

maryannII wrote:

Ben,
I just watched your video. Professional quality work! I loved the music. You sure had great seas on day 3. Kudos on going to Gray's Reef in 4' to 6' seas. Did you get within sight of White Shoal Lighthouse? You did a lot of traveling, all via bike. Dan

Dan,
We didn't get close enough to the White Shoal Lighthouse to get any decent pics although we did see it off in the distance. We hugged the gray's reef lighthouse closely on the way there and back just trying to get through that area. We did get closer to Waugoshance Shoal and Skillagalee lighthouses. Waugoshance is a very interesting and actually sad looking structure. I read that WWII training fighter pilots used it for target practice and it's been cleaned out by vandals.
Cool website for Lake Michigan lighthouse info if anyone is interested
http://www.terrypepper.com/lights/lake_michigan.htm

Since we have been back I have read and heard of many bad experiences while traveling through Gray's reef including my friends wife laying in the fetal position for hours on the cabin floor of their 40ft cruiser heading to Mackinac Island. Is that really common up there? Maybe it's the narrowing of the lake combined with the shallow waters of the shoal?

I'm glad to hear you liked the music! Actually two of those songs were recorded live at a concert we attended in Chicago, one of which "Into the Mystic"we played as a last dance at our wedding! They are an Irish band that got their start street performing on Grafton street in Dublin. If you have seen the Oscar winning independent film "Once" the male lead in that movie is played by the lead singer Glen Hansard.

230 Mike · **Posted:** Thu Dec 22, 2011 2:34 am

Beautiful trip, and great video. Thanks for sharing it!

jnizi · **Posted:** Thu Dec 22, 2011 2:57 pm

Great Job Ben,

Merry Christmas to you and Dana! Hope to catch you out on the lake next year.

Bliss36 · **Posted:** Thu Dec 22, 2011 8:57 pm

jnizi wrote:

Great Job Ben,

Merry Christmas to you and Dana! Hope to catch you out on the lake next year.

Thanks Joe! We hope you and Pat have a Merry Christmas and are looking forward to seeing you on the big lake next year! Hopefully the locks will cooperate this time

JDW250 · **Posted:** Fri Dec 23, 2011 8:44 am

Nicely done! Great, now I feel like spending some time with my boat, even if it just winter cleaning/polishing.

ric · **Posted:** Fri Dec 23, 2011 10:10 am

Wow, I'm super jealous. All we have in Florida is the Keys to do anything remotely like that trip, and might as well be on another planet they are so far from anywhere. Day 1 of the trip would just be hauling the boat on a trailer.

BoaterDan278 · **Posted:** Fri Dec 23, 2011 10:45 am

Ben and All,
As you probably know, Skillagalee is the Americanization (is that a word?) of the French name for the island, Ile Aux Gallets. Isle Aux Gallet or "Island of Pebbles" or Island of stones, rocks. It marks the beginning of shoaling made of glacial deposits including massive rocks. Wagoshance, the poor abused and yet fascinating lighthouse, marks the original channel leading to The Straits of Mackinac. Because the larger iron ships needed a deeper passage, that channel was replaced in the early 1900’s. Grey’s Reef was created by blasting rock out to deepen and create a deep water passage. A friend of mine say you can still navigate through the old channel. He suggested I do it saying “if you look over the side of the boat while passing through you can see rocks as large as houses”. In my opinion, in an area strewn with historic ship wrecks, I only want to see water under my boat and a lot of it. When we went through we stayed in the ship channel and went just close enough to White Shoal for pictures. Merry Christmas, Dan

Flyer51 · **Posted:** Sat Dec 24, 2011 7:30 am

Great job on the video Ben. Makes me start planning again for next year. I know another trip will be on our schedule. I only hope we can make some of the places you and Dana were able to discover. See you on the big lake again very soon!

Merry Christmas

Misterbulbous · **Posted:** Mon Jan 02, 2012 7:00 pm

Awesome video...top notch, great music too. Love to see stuff like this, looks like your family enjoyed it.

www.iFourWinns.com

Our 2010 16 day cruise video

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