Carp Captives in Beautiful Charlevoix, Michigan

What are Carp Captives? Carp Captives are boaters wishing to transit the Illinois River south from Chicago through a one mile stretch where the Army Corps of Engineers have set up an electronic Carp barrier in an attempt to stop the spread of Asian Carp into the Great Lakes. This river is the only option for those of us traveling the Great Loop along with many other pleasure boaters. The recent news is that pleasure boats may transit by being towed through the affected area after turning off and disconnecting all electrical systems on the boat. The back log of boats waiting to go through is beginning to work through; we plan to resume our trip this week, arriving in Chicago around the 26^th of September. In the meantime, we have been enjoying beautiful Charlevoix. On September 1^st we cruised through the draw bridge separating Lake Michigan from Round Lake and Lake Charlevoix where we proceeded to Hemingway Point to visit our friends Bob and Janet Halderman. What a wonderful visit, great food and great friends! Of course, what do boaters do when not on ones own boat? They ride on a boat belonging to someone else. This time on a tour of Lake Charlevoix and over to Little Traverse Bay to see the beautiful lakeside villages of Bay Harbor, Petosky and Harbor Springs on a Chamber of Commerce gorgeous day on Lake Michigan aboard the “Heaven Too”.

Thank you very much, Bob and Janet! After our visit, we returned to Round Lake and the beautiful village of Charlevoix with its excellent City Marina complete with dancing waters where children may “beat the heat”. We continue to enjoy this beautiful area with its lovely lakeside homes and the whimsical “Mushroom Houses” built by Earl Young between 1918 and 1973 using the areas natural elements and thousand of rocks and boulders left by retreating glaciers at the end of the last ice age. We have enjoyed the areas extensive bike trails as well while awaiting resolution of the Asian Carp situation.