Leaving Mackinaw City was beautiful, great conditions this day. heading out to the straits we headed west and rounded grays reef passage and taking a south east heading to Charlevoix. This is a great town! We had some good times exploring all the little lakes and canals with the Twin Vida. Charlevoix City Marina 231-547-3272 will take great care of you and Harbour Master Hal, and Dock Master Pat will give you a warm welcome to the town. They can tell you all the good things to do. The marina is in great shape and the boaters lounge is very nice. laundry for only 1$ as well.
Aerial view of the town of Charlevoix from above Lake Michigan; the small lake in the center is Round Lake and the larger one in the background is Lake Charlevoix. Charlevoix City Marina is locted just inside round lake to your starboard side.
Aboard the USCGC Mackinaw (WAGB-83) she is a 290-foot vessel specifically designed for ice breaking on the Great Lakes. She did this well for 62 years, in 1944 she was commissioned. She was built as part of the war effort during World War II to meet the heavy demands of war materials and transportation during the winter months. Mackinaw moved under its own power on 21 June 2006 from the port of its decommissioning to a permanent berth at the SS Chief Wawatam dock at the ship’s namesake port, Mackinaw City, Michigan. The Mackinaw had two props in the stern and one up front. The forward prop helped pull water from under the ice and create an air void which helped break the ice and the forward prop also helped flush the ice past the hull. It held enough fuel to run all season on one fueling. It has 6 Fairbanks-Morse 10-cylinder diesel engines. they each run a generator which powers the 3 big electric drive motors. All you needed was 2 engines to run the whole ships propulsion system. They rotated them every 4 hours. They rebuilt the engines once the officers would start to get oil stains on their white shirts from the exhaust stack. Mackinaw has fore aft and side ballast tanks, these would help the ship break ice. They could make the ship list 15degrees each direction so they could also rock themselves loose if they ever got stuck.
- Diesel fuel: 276,000 U.S. gal
- Ballast water: 121,631 U.S. gal
- Heel and trim ballast water: 345,828 U.S. gal
Pura Vida Loop 