Introduction

Hello everyone! Welcome to Bernie and Phil's Great Lakes Cruising blog.

We've owned Meridian, our 1982 Chris Craft 410 Commander, for over four years now. Although we pretty much live aboard in the summer (May to October), we've never taken her out of the Chicago area.

This year that's gonna change. Beginning in late July the two of us will take Meridian on a six-week journey around Lake Michigan - with maybe a little side trip into Lake Huron.

Why are we blogging about this? Mainly to share our trip with friends, family and whomever else may be interested. We'll be writing about some of our experiences as we prepare for the trip, as well as our adventures during those long-awaited six weeks.

Also, when researching the various ports and cruising points of interest around the lake, we initially turned to the internet, but were surprised at how little information we could find that provided a cruiser's perspective. We've since bought some of the cruising guides, but still poke around the net looking for first-hand accounts of Lake Michigan or Lake Huron cruises and just don't see much. So, maybe, by adding this info we can help future travelers.

Something else about us - we aren't exactly what you'd call highly experienced boaters - unless seeing all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies - multiple times - counts. Meridian is the first and only boat we've owned. (But we did recently buy a 12 ft. inflatable to use as a tender so now we have a fleet) While we've learned a lot during the last four years, we still consider ourselves to be little more than novices when it comes to boating. That means we (ok, Phil) do some pretty dumb things occasionally. And I can hear Bernie saying "Occasionally??" Maybe it'll make some interesting reading, and maybe it'll inspire others who'll think "Hey, if they can do this, so can we!"

Finally, Bernie has a culinary background and is a big supporter of local and sustainably-grown foods. Maybe there's an interesting intersection of interests here - cruising around Lake Michigan sampling farmers markets, local cuisine, and Midwestern wineries and writing about it.