Day 87; The wind has finally subsided, so we headed out today: Tuesday, August 27 to dip our toes into Lake Michigan. We traveled under the awesome Mackinac Bridge. Both Lakes (Huron & Michigan) and the Straits are calm. We are not sure exactly where the 2 lakes merge & if the Straits are considered separate from the lakes; is the bridge the dividing point? Garry says that the 3 miles of water around the bridge are the Straits, separate from either lake.
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| White Shoal light |
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| Gray Reef light |
The S V Denis Sullivan, 138 foot Tall ship, 3 masted, pasted us in Lake Michigan on her way to Windsor. She was too far away to get a good pic. All the tall ships from the Great Lakes are to converge @ Put in Bay on Labor Day for the big 200th anniversary of Perry's victory in the war of 1812. Our gang; Cheryl, Craig, Jeri & Jerry will be there to watch & hopefully document it all. Not sure if Paul & Jess will be there. Paul is back to college for football practice.
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| Beaver Island Lighthouse |
Wish we would have had blue skies & sun for the bridge pics & it is misting now. Beaver Island has 2 marinas and the Municipal Marina had been recommended to us by one of Marty's friends. They don't take reservations but as of last nite, Joe (dock guy) said it looked like they would have space for us today. As we neared Beaver Island we called the Municipal Marina & Jim (harbor Master) said no one had left today due to the weather & he only had one slip that was deep enough for us. Looks like another Plan B day! There is a private Marina; Beaver Island Marina, so Garry called Pat, harbormaster from BI Marina & she would love to host us. The docks & facilities are not as nice but they're no Rossport or Duluth either. The dock guy "Charlie" made up for all that was lacking. He is a good looking young man who works really hard. He even found us wood for a campfire. They do have a sandbar in front of some of the docks & the depth went down to 1.7 feet on our depth meter during our approach. That is always a bit unsettling. Plus the water is so clear, it's difficult to tell how close bottom really is, so that even makes it more of a challenge.
Wednesday, we biked some of the island. It is a big island: 45 square miles. We biked 10 miles of it. It hit 90 degrees today & we are not complaining-we are loving it. Lots of sand & dunes and lots of cedar, oak & birch trees. Some beautiful big old trees. They have a coffee shop, grocer, gas station, ice cream & gift shops, couple bars, couple of restaurants & of course a hardware store. We waded in @ two of the beaches & when we got back to our boats, bathing suits went on for the first time this whole vacation & we all jumped into cool, clean Lake Michigan right off our boats. Later, we dined @ The Shamrock, which was walking distance into the main village. Guess what? Not one Irish item on the menu!
The history of Beaver Island is interesting. Native Americans were the first documented inhabitants and the Odawa tribe has 100's of graves here. In 1847 James Strang, a Mormon, who had broke away from the main group brought his followers to Beaver Island. Within a few years he had control of the island and crowned himself King. His Kingdom was the only kingdom ever to be established in our United States. All the gentiles were forced off the island. He wouldn't allow his followers to have multiple wives but he had 4 himself. In 1856 he was assassinated by some of his disgruntled followers. His loyal followers were forced to leave & the Irish Catholics took over. Hence the Restaurant the Shamrock, we thought would have Irish food!
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| Doug's Kingdom Now!! |
Happy Birthday to my wonderful nephew, Bob; wishing you a Fantastic year!!
Wish we would have had blue skies & sun for the bridge pics & it is misting now. Beaver Island has 2 marinas and the Municipal Marina had been recommended to us by one of Marty's friends. They don't take reservations but as of last nite, Joe (dock guy) said it looked like they would have space for us today. As we neared Beaver Island we called the Municipal Marina & Jim (harbor Master) said no one had left today due to the weather & he only had one slip that was deep enough for us. Looks like another Plan B day! There is a private Marina; Beaver Island Marina, so Garry called Pat, harbormaster from BI Marina & she would love to host us. The docks & facilities are not as nice but they're no Rossport or Duluth either. The dock guy "Charlie" made up for all that was lacking. He is a good looking young man who works really hard. He even found us wood for a campfire. They do have a sandbar in front of some of the docks & the depth went down to 1.7 feet on our depth meter during our approach. That is always a bit unsettling. Plus the water is so clear, it's difficult to tell how close bottom really is, so that even makes it more of a challenge. 
Wednesday, we biked some of the island. It is a big island: 45 square miles. We biked 10 miles of it. It hit 90 degrees today & we are not complaining-we are loving it. Lots of sand & dunes and lots of cedar, oak & birch trees. Some beautiful big old trees. They have a coffee shop, grocer, gas station, ice cream & gift shops, couple bars, couple of restaurants & of course a hardware store. We waded in @ two of the beaches & when we got back to our boats, bathing suits went on for the first time this whole vacation & we all jumped into cool, clean Lake Michigan right off our boats. Later, we dined @ The Shamrock, which was walking distance into the main village. Guess what? Not one Irish item on the menu! 
The history of Beaver Island is interesting. Native Americans were the first documented inhabitants and the Odawa tribe has 100's of graves here. In 1847 James Strang, a Mormon, who had broke away from the main group brought his followers to Beaver Island. Within a few years he had control of the island and crowned himself King. His Kingdom was the only kingdom ever to be established in our United States. All the gentiles were forced off the island. He wouldn't allow his followers to have multiple wives but he had 4 himself. In 1856 he was assassinated by some of his disgruntled followers. His loyal followers were forced to leave & the Irish Catholics took over. Hence the Restaurant the Shamrock, we thought would have Irish food! 
