Another First!

Traffic comes out to Lake Michigan before incoming traffic can go under the bridge.

We are now crossing firsts off our list left and right! See our first island, check! Anchor out, check. Become dingy masters, check, check, check! We have another first to check off the list... successfully going under a bascule bridge (aka a drawbridge)! This one was a bit more exciting than nerve wracking, compared to anchoring out. We arrived at Charlevoix's harbor entrance about 20 minutes before the bridge was scheduled to open. In case you were wondering, which I'm sure you aren't, the bridge opens at the top and middle of the hour, every hour, from 6 am to 10 pm. 

The channel to the bridge itself was pretty short and narrow, so we decided to bide our time and hangout near the entrance of the harbor on the lake so we wouldn't get into any sticky situations. Our motor and handling capabilities aren't like other boats. We don't have as much power and control as other boats do when it comes to turning around in one spot or reversing, so we like to be extremely cautious and stay away from any possible foreseen issues. 

Five minutes before the bridge was scheduled to open us and two other sailboats, who were also waiting to enter the channel just before the bridge raised up, formed into a nice line and slowly motored towards the bridge. It seemed as though the traffic coming out to Lake Michigan went through first and after all boats were through the traffic coming into Round Lake. Like a well oiled machine, the bridge started to close as the last sailboat was going through and traffic soon started.

We didn’t have a chance to get into the town of Charlevoix since the municipal marina was booked for the evening and we weren’t sure where exactly on Round Lake we could anchor out so we continued into Lake Charlevoix to a marina on the outskirts of the city. The next day we got to go through the bridge once again to back to Lake Michigan. We have plenty more firsts to cross off the list, and they seem to all be happening all at once!