This online document is a means of sharing the adventure of traveling on America's waterways with friends and family. Last Dance is continuing to take her crew to historical, natural, beautiful, and interesting places. Enjoy the ride.

Thursday, August 24, 2017

The Journey on the Great Lakes Begins on Land


Last Dance spent the winter in Charlevoix, Michigan, in heated storage.  So, the first step is to remove her from the storage building and get her back in the water.

For 36 years of her life, Last Dance was always in the water, in Florida or the Bahamas.  To be so far north and out of the water is a different experience.  And, not only out of the water, but a good distance from the water.  Boatworx of Charlevoix has facilities a couple miles inland from Lake Charlevoix.  Much equipment and power are needed to move a 40,000 pound boat across land.




A low trailer was required to move her out of the building, then she had to be transferred to another, larger trailer for the trip over the roads.












And, down the roads she went.  Here Last Dance is seen after entering the city limits of Charlevoix and continuing down the road to a park on the lake.












The park has a public boat ramp, a ramp normally used for small fishing boats or runabouts.  Seems odd for a large boat to be just backed down into the water from a parking lot.










And, in the water she slides and floats off the trailer.  Actually, a quite easy launch.  A short trip to the end of Lake Charlevoix and into Round Lake, in downtown Charlevoix, took only a few minutes to have her tied to the town docks in a more normal setting.







A number of days were required for boat projects and provisioning.  Time was also made for meeting new friends in the marina and sampling many of Charlevoix's outstanding restaurants.  The journey to Lake Superior began on a sunny, blue sky day as Last Dance travels through the bridge from Round Lake to Lake Michigan.  The Beaver Island ferry would be exiting the lake on the next bridge opening.