Duncan Bay Boat Club

Located conveniently within the Straits of Mackinac, Duncan Bay Boat Club is 2 miles east of Cheboygan. The marina is on the west shore of the bay. Built inland, the marina provides a safe and quiet harbor in all winds. Although Duncan Bay Boat Club is a private marina, transient and seasonal dockage are available. The east side of the bay is state park land. Duncan Bay is only 14 miles from Mackinac Island, 22 miles from Les Cheneaux Islands, and just 34 miles from the North Channel. The Inland Waterway begins just west of the bay and offers passage through a beautiful chain of lakes by way of the Cheboygan River through the Cheboygan Locks.

During Michigan's White Pine logging era, the current marina site was a logging community of 500 people know as Duncan. The natural harbor allowed the lake's freighters to easily supply the community and haul away wood used to build the mid-west.

The new owner of three derelict vessels abandoned in Duncan Bay nearly three years ago is removing the vessels. The grounded tugboat William Hoey has now been removed from the sandbar and moved to the Cheboygan River.

Stephen Ball of Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., arrived about a week ago and began preparations to hire Kokosing Construction Company's Durocher Marine division of Cheboygan to dig out the tug, according to Larry Shepard, harbormaster of the Duncan Bay Boat Club. Shepard has led an effort to have the three  ghost ships removed from the  bay.

Shepard said Ball told him he plans to remove the Jenny Lynn this summer. The Jenny Lynn has been submerged for almost three years.

[Cheboygan Tribune Article]

The heavy rainfall in April had a dramatic effect on the water level of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reports that the average level of Lake Michigan-Huron rose 5.16 inches from March to April. That five inch rise is greater than the entire seasonal rise last year. Last year Lake Michigan-Huron only rose four inches from March to July.

[M-Live Article]
[Great Lakes Water Level Information]

Gov. Rick Snyder signed a bill Wednesday pouring $20.9 million into an emergency dredging program.

The money will allow 58 public bays and harbors, used mostly for recreational boating, to be cleared of the sands and sediment that are clogging them and leaving many boats stranded.

The dredging is needed to deal with the consequences of record low lake levels in the Great Lakes, especially Lakes Michigan and Huron. The original list cited 49 bays and harbors, but state officials said they are confident that they will have enough money to do all 58 sites.

[Detroit Free Press Article]

Duncan Bay Boat Club is running an advertisement in the 2013 January/February Winter edition of Great Lakes Scuttlebutt. There is an article on DBBC accompanying the advertisement.Click the advertisement to see a larger version of the Scuttlebutt advertisement.