The highlight of our trip was the Pictured Rocks Cruise - this is what's in store for us!
The second day was one of the longest days on the trip. We started out at 8 am and managed to get back to our overnight hotel just before sunset. We left Bay City and headed north to Mackinaw City, reaching the Mackinac Bridge in 3 hours. The bridge reminded me very much of the Golden Gate even though it's not the same colour. It spans the channel that divides Lake Michigan from Lake Huron.
We continued north to Grand Marais, Michigan, visiting Sable Falls and the Grand Sable Dunes which gave us our first view of Lake Superior. It was a beautiful blue.
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| Sable Falls |
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| Grand Sable Dunes |
We had booked the 5 pm Pictured Rocks Cruise at Munising so we drove non-stop from the Dunes to Munising, allowing us time to check into the hotel before grabbing a quick bite before the cruise. It was a sunny day but windy and cold. I was wrapped up in 6 layers as we had planned to stay on the open upper deck so we could take photos of the rocks. The sea was also choppy, so I was glad I had my sea-bands with me. When the captain offered a full refund to anyone with sea-sickness, I know I needed my sea-bands!
TIPS: 1. Choose the late afternoon cruises to get the most colour out of the rocks.
2. Be prepared for the weather to change so best to wear layers.
3. The word on the street is to sit on the right side of the boat but according to the captain, it doesn't make any difference as he would turn the boat around on the return trip and people on the left side of the boat would have their turn to be closer to the shore. This turned out to be true although on our cruise, there were many empty seats to choose from, especially on the upper deck!
4. Try to book a lake front hotel. Sunset on the lake is quite special.
What follows are photos of the highlights on the cruise. As you can see, it is not called Pictured Rocks for no reason. It was a spectacular display of multi-coloured rocks and the late afternoon soon brought it all out. The later photos were taken on the return trip and you may notice that the colours are more intense in these photos - we hit the golden hour (2 hours before sunset) on the way back. To top it all off, we had a brilliant sunset and the ambient light after sunset turned the lake in front of our hotel a lovely pink during the blue hour.
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| Eastern Channel Lighthouse |
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| Miners' Castle |
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| One of many painted coves |
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| Lovers' Leap |
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One of my favourites "Rainbow Cave"
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| Indian head |
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| Grand Portal |
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| Flower vase |
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| Indian drum |
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| Battleship rocks |
The most spectacular formation - Chapel Rock and Chapel Cove, the catamaran actually drove into the cove.
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| An impressive example of nature at work - see how the roots of the tree span the gap between the rocks! |
Spray Falls - this is where we turned around and see the colours have intensed with the golden hour
These rocks have no name but I just love the rainbow colours on them!
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| Sunset at the hotel |
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| Ambient light from the sun turned the sky pink during blue hour |
More great photos of that boat trip (from a wise guy: right side is starboard side). Interesting to see clear evidence of change in colour saturation towards golden hour. Thanks for pointing that out, Catherine. That blue hour colour rendition is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThanks again! I never seem to remember which side is port and which side is starboard!
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