Boating Northern Michigan Post # 2

Well let’s see if my memory serves me we left off when we headed out of Charlevoix.

From Charlevoix we headed north to Mackinac Island one of our favorite islands of the north. Owned by the State of Michigan where much of the land is a state park. There are year-round folks that reside here yet the only income comes from tourism. Automobiles are not allowed on the island. Horse and buggy, trail horses & bicycles are the mode of transportation here. There are B & B’s, hotels & a few homes for rent. Some fancy others dated for the era they were built. There are many beautiful homes on the island, summer cottages where families have come for generations. They show pride in their homes, flower gardens, horse’s, carriages & barns. All of the island horses are cared for very well, full time veterinarians live on the island and are always on call. One of the most famous hotels on the island is the Grand Hotel the movie somewhere in time was filmed here. In the movie cars were shown on the island, however they were never allowed…..Really you should rent it we found it quite entertaining. Fudge is HUGE on the island if I remember correctly there are 13 fudge shops there! A few really good restaurants & many so, so ones. The island is full of history, shops, bars, entertainment indoors & out even though it is extremely touristy if you ever get the chance to view Mackinac Island….. DO IT, it is a wonderful place.

We had to leave Mackinac Island a day early (4 days in the marina are the maximum allowed) due to the Chicago to Mackinac Sailboat race. So we headed over to St. Ignace a short boat ride over to the upper peninsula of Michigan. We only plan on spending one night here and doing necessary stuff like laundry, boat washing the not so fun stuff. Once at the dock we bumped into some old buddies from the area where we use to live. We joined them at the local pub and shared stories and laughs before we shoved off in the morning. That night a terrible thunderstorm came through, packed with excessive lightning, wind & rain. So glad we were tied in a safe harbor.

We left the dock at 5:30 am and expected to cross paths with many sail boats heading under the bridge for Mackinac Island the end point for the race. As expected we met not only many sail boats but two freighters that were also headed under the bridge. The lake was flat and very little wind, so the sailboats were using their jibs to catch whatever wind they could to make forward progress, I took pictures and waved to the sail boaters passing by they seemed exhausted we could only imagine after last nights storm combined with sailing for 20+ hours straight! Our radar looked like chicken pocks with all of the sailboats heading our way.
Once we cleared Gray’s Reef we were on a different course so traffic was one or two boats, very peaceful.
We arrived at Beaver Island to a close to full marina. Many boaters were afraid to leave because of last nights storm, one sailboat at the dock had pulled out of the race. During the storm they lost a sail so they ducked into the harbor for safety from the storm. They shared with us the news that a sailboat in the race flipped in the storm and two of the crew members were lost, still tethered to the boat when she flipped. We were shocked like all that heard the news. The only bright spot was the fellow six crew members were saved by another race boat. A sad day in sailing history as in all of the years of the Chicago to Mackinac race (102 years) they were the only fatalities ever.

Beaver Island is very old school, there is police supplied by Charlevoix County however They (island folk) Take Care Of Their Own! Everyone knows every ones business too! 95% of the roads on the island are dirt. Not much to do here unless you hunt, fish, farm or drink. Entertainment is simple yet refreshing.
Music on the porch….sort of like karaoke pre-arranged “talent” of locals or family, friends or whoever may feel like sharing their gifts on the porch.
Puff the Magic Dragon…Country songs like Honey I’m home…By the time I get to Phoenix…..Family’s shared their skills on instruments like violins, cellos, guitars & even a bass…. Many shared their since of humor along with their music, it was wonderful to share in the talent of “small town USA”. Beaver Island. We stayed one night and headed for Sutton’s Bay where we anchored in the bay for one night. We enjoy Sutton’s Bay a small art town with many surrounding wineries. We only spent one night here because we enjoy biking from Traverse City to Suttons Bay.

We left Suttons Bay and headed for Elk Rapids. We were meeting a ole’ friend I went to school with, to spend the afternoon walking through the shops and going out for dinner. Elk Rapids is a wonderful small town filled with antique shops, great restaurants & a few art galleries too. We spent two days in Elk Rapids, I love walking through the antique stores & just relaxed during our visit.

As long as we are so close to Traverse City we decided to cruise into the neighboring bay and hit the bike trail and of course our stop in town wouldn’t be complete without dinner at Red Ginger. We met some friends there for a later dinner, they live in Traverse City and shared some of their local knowledge with us.

Well we hope you enjoy following us on our journey…..I really must try to post more often to keep it shorter. I will work on that.