The Fourth Annual Tortugeezer Reunion

The 2025 Tortugeezer Reunion. Top row from left: Tom, Dave, Kevin, Jerry, Scott, Diane, Charly and Scott G. Second row: Dave (in blue), Pat, Kathleen, Uli, Roy, Tamara, Marsha, Steve  Debbie, Rick and Karen. Front, seated:  Heather, Dale and Ellen.

When the COVID epidemic became obvious many of our cruisers friends found themselves in countries that were closing their borders and airports. Scott and I were in Belize and took immediate action. We checked out of the country and raced down to Guatemala and into the Rio Dulce. We and a number of our friends were just in time before they closed their border. Many of our fellow cruisers were not so lucky and had difficult times during the rest of the year in Belize and Honduras. Neither has the protection from hurricanes as we had in our mutual Marina, Tortugal. More of this and our adventures are covered in previous blog posts. But one result of all this was a weekly Zoom that united all of our Tortugal cruisers through the epidemic and in the years since. 

March 17, 2020 - celebrating St. Patrick's Day at Tortugal Marina, Guatemala in "masks". Rick & Marsha and ourselves left a few days later on a American Embassy repatriation flight home. 

We and many others returned when we could and Scott and I decided to sail north to the US and sell our boat. We did so successfully in 2022. But the ZOOM meetings continued and we've all kept in touch. The first in person reunion was in August, 2022 in New Orleans, followed by Montana in 2023 and last year here in Vermont. This summer we met again in Marquette, Michigan, hosted by Dave & Ellen on "Cordelia". They are still cruising in the winters out of Tortugal.

Scott with Karen & Charlie from
S/V Leap

Heather with her back to the camera and then, around to the
left: Ellen, Debbie, Kevin, Dave and Dale  - these were all 
taken at our first BBQ welcome dinner.

from left: Diane, Jerry, Dave, Uli, Tom, Pat 
and Steve

At every reunion a few people come early to 
help with the preparations. Jerry & Debbie and
Tom & Uli came a day early.

Our first morning we walked a trail around the
Presque Isle peninsula.

A popular jumping off place is at the end.

Our cruise to the Pictured Rocks left from
 Munising and took about
2 1/2 hours. The day was perfect!

We entered one of the narrow bays in the cliffs
and Uli snapped some photos.

Pat and Dave with Uli and Tom behind.

Ellen, Dave and Roy on the left and Marsha & Tamara on the right.

A view down the line of Pictured Rocks National Seashore. Beaches were interspersed and a trail
ran along the top with lockouts. 

They organized a wonderful schedule of events and the weather cooperated! Scott and I shared a house with Kathleen & Kevin, Dave & Pat and Diane & Steve. Our first night was a BBQ at Dave & Ellen's home. They had prepared a real feast with meat on the grill and a variety of salads and bread. The next day we all scattered doing different agendas. Dave took Scott and I on a  hike around the Presque Isle peninsula. That afternoon they arranged a cruise on Lake Superior to the Pictured Rocks National Seashore. The weather was perfect as you can see from the photos. What a beautiful spot. 

Jerry, Debbie, Heather, Scott, Uli & Tom

Ellen, Dave, Karen & Charlie

Downtown Marquette had a sidewalk festival that night with the main street closed for traffic. Lots of vendors sold gifts, flowers and food. We opted for a sit down dinner at Lagniappe Cajun Creole Eatery. We had to take two tables as it was packed. The food was great. 

The dramatic front entrance to the museum

This marvelous statue commemorates Chuck and
Jann Perkins, lifelong Vermont skiers and 
Philanthropists. 

That's the largest of the two ski jumps. One of 
the Olympic Training Centers is at Northern
Michigan University in Marquette. 

Next day we all had different plans after getting together at Dave & Ellen's for a long leisurely breakfast. Dave took us to the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame. Heather was a PSIA level II Ski Instructor at Okemo Mt. in Vermont and had been skiing since a child. She was able to lead the group around and was familiar with a lot of the exhibits and people. Afterwards we marveled at the huge ski jump nearby and found it amazing that anyone could actually go down it!!! It has hosted the Nordic Ski Jumping Tournament for 138 years. That evening was our banquet at the penthouse of the Landmark Inn. The views were beautiful, the meal delicious and the company outstanding! But the highlight was a concert by Dave and his friend, violinist Janice. They have been playing for many years and it was such a treat to hear them. 

It was Pat's birthday and we all
enjoyed the cake.

A look at the whole group after dinner, prepared for the concert

Dave & Janice in concert

A group of us toured the 1866 Marquette Lighthouse nearby, then had lunch at the wonderful sandwich restaurant downtown, Donckers, returning to see the Maritime Museum in the afternoon.  We gathered at Dave & Ellen that night for our last evening all together. Actually Scott and I had moved in that afternoon. We ordered pizzas and salads. Plans were already underway for next year's reunion. Kathleen & Kevin are hosting down in Guatemala in December, 2026. 

The  Maritime Museum

Scott and I pose in front of the lighthouse

There were a lot of stairs up!

Pizza night at Dave & Ellen's. Rick & Marsha, Tom
Tamara & Scott, Dale & Roy

Scott, Heather, Ellen, Dave, Karen and 
Charlie

The next day there were only a few of us left for breakfast and then only Scott and I stayed for two more nights with Dave & Ellen. It was a relaxing time. I made a lentil stew with the ham bone we'd had left and a Cuban Peccadillo for our Sunday dinner with them. On Saturday they headed off to a friend's wedding where Dave & Janice were playing, while we went on a canoe trip. on the Au Train River with Autrain Canoe & Kayak Rentals. What fun! It took us 2.5 hours to go 7 miles on the river - our arms were fine, but our buts were sore. It's a one way trip with lovely scenery. We were happy to have a quiet night on our own after that.

On Sunday Dave & Ellen took us around the sights of Marquette. There are lovely streets of period houses built during the heyday of Iron mining. Iron ore of the Marquette Range has been mined continuously since 1847. Scott and I went to the Cliffs Shaft Mine Museum in the afternoon and learned all about the history and the people who mined there. I loved the individual stories of the men and their wives. Some of the terrible accidents and cave ins were of course covered in detail. 

Our canoe heads down the Au Train River

It was a little overcast but warm and mostly 
peaceful. We did pass occasional big groups of
partying people and that was a challenge. There 
also lots of snags and rocks in the river so kept us
on our toes.

Scott poses with our canoe at the end of our trip.

The lovely Tiffany Window at St. Paul's Church

Ellen is a talented photographer and her works are
featured at a large coop artists store downtown,
The Gallery

An exhibit of unusual currency and coins from
around the world at the Flagstar Bank

We enjoyed a lovely dinner with Dave & Ellen that night and the next day we were off for our trip home. Both directions went very well although the time between flights on the way back was so short that we had to run to make our flight and were the last people boarded. Sean picked us up at the airport and we had a night with them before driving home the next day.