Mackinac Island -the Wind and the Wilsons

After careful considerations, we decided to leave the North Channel and head back toward civilization.  We cleared customs at Drummond Island and overnighted in DeTour, Michigan.  The State of Michigan runs a top notch inexpensive marina and harbor system - a harbor of refuge is available about every 20 miles along the Michigan shoreline.  DeTour was our first municipal marina and was clean, quiet and welcoming.  The people are proud of their village and worked hard to preserve its identity.

DeTour Welcoming

DeTour Lighthouse

We heard the weather was going to turn nasty and we wanted to cut the trip to Mackinac Island in half so we stayed in Centerville, MI.  Fortunately for us the bad weather went to the north and south of us, again skipping us-not that we're complaining about that.  Centerville was just that- a ville-that we had to be extremely careful getting into their shallow water.  We had to get around their dredging operation to get into the marina and hoped they had dredged enough to allow us not to go aground.  The depth finder read -0.2' but we think weeds helped that reading.  Anyway, we made it in and out just fine.

Dredging in Centerville

We couldn't get a slip in Mackinac Island for Saturday night (we could for Sunday and Monday) so we went to St. Ignace, MI.  The town was busy but it seemed to be mostly the ferry stop most people catch to Mackinac Island.  We took their walking tour, finding the St. Anthony Rock, left by a glacier and were entertained by an extensive fireworks display.  We've seen more fireworks this year than in xx years!

St. Anthony's Rock

St. Ignace fireworks

 

 

The ride from St. Ignace to Mackinac Island is only about 6 miles but it felt like 6o miles.  The wind had whipped up and Lake Huron showed us her stuff. She had been placid for the past two weeks but saved up her strength until now.  Needless to say, we were very happy to see Mackinac Lighthouse and Harbor.

Mackinac Lighthouse

 

 

 

 

 

Mackinac Island (pronounced Mackinaw) is a small island that attracts tourists from all over.  They're famous for their fudge (12 fudge shops) and their Victorian architecture  but, most importantly, for their lack of any motorized vehicles(no cars, trucks,motorcycles, scooters etc).  This means the only form of transportation is bicycles and horses. The delivery people and taxi drivers all drive horse drawn wagons (the aroma is a memory in itself!).  The tourists all ride bikes-either they've taken them over on the ferry or they rent them.  It's really a pleasure to ride without the fear of a car plowing you over so MANY people of all ages and sizes hop on a bike and tour the island. No one locks their bikes either but I don't know the crime record for stolen bikes here.

UPS Delivery!

 We did the typical tourist thing and had lunch at The Grand Hotel.  It is THE must see here because of its 600 foot porch and fame as an exclusive expensive resort.  They charge tourists $10 to sit on their porch and shop in their shops but deduct the $10 from their pricey but good lunch buffet. Since we weren't having dinner there (jackets and ties/no slacks for women), we went for the lunch buffet.  The hotel was grandiose and impressive but we thought it was somewhat dated but maybe that's part of its charm.  What do you think?

The Grand Hotel

Fort Mackinac is another landmark we checked out.  Its staffed by soldiers dressed in their Revolutionary War uniforms.  They hourly shoot off canon or rifles-Buddy spends a lot of time in the shower away from the much hated gunshot noise!  The Fort dominates the hill over the city and gave us an awesome panorama view of Mackinac Straits.

The perimeter of the island is eight miles, making the ride very doable.  We rode early which was a good thing since there were many people out riding by the time we finished our ride.  From the road you can see Arch Rock.

Arch Rock

On the day we rode there were white caps on the bay from the 20-25 mph winds.  The past three days have been extremely windy with a few raindrops and a couple of rainbows.

We're hoping for calmer weather tomorrow.  One boater came in to the marina today, saying he had 9 foot waves out there- that's 81/2 more than we like them! 
Enjoy these last days of summer!