20 August 2014

When we woke it was foggy out, but the wind had dropped. I wanted to get started as early as possible to do the 5 hour run to Beaver Island. About 10 AM the fog started to lift and we made one last run into town to get a last fudge fix. Because First Mate Pig doesn’t talk much, I’ve been forgetting him. I was able to get some pictures of him with the horses that run around town and a good shot of him posing at the marina sign.

We pushed off the dock about 11 AM and headed west. I could make out the bridge 5 miles away in the fog. Not the visibility I normally like, but not bad. As we got closer and closer to the bridge I noticed that we were not seeing things past the bridge. The fog was rolling in. I listened to the VHF radio weather forecast and they were not talking about fog, so we decided to keep on going.

We motored under the bridge but could not see the top, so our visibility was down to about 200 feet. I checked the AIS system to see what commercial boats were near us, we didn’t see any. I had both GPS systems running so we knew where we were. So other than someone crashing into us we were good to go.

The fog would lift and then drop for the next 3 hours. We kept an eye out for boats, we only saw 3 on the entire trip.

About 45 minutes the fog lifted and we could see land!!! Then it began to do that misty rain thing. Sigh. We got docked at the Beaver Island Marina in the mist without any other problems.

Beaver Island is West of the Mackinac Straits by 35 miles. The island is about 14 miles north/south and 4 miles east/west. It is home to about 500 full-time residents and about that many more seasonal guests. At the north end of the island is the ferry terminal that takes people on the 2.5 hour trip to the mainland.

We sat out the drizzle and when it cleared headed into town. At the fuel dock was Lollygagger, we had met them on Mackinac. They had left an hour after we had and the same fog we did.

As we walked through the town of St James Point, we read about James Jesse Strang who was a Mormon leader in the 1800′s He was part of a group that had splintered off. He had assumed the title of “King”. The group splintering off and his fancy title didn’t sit well with the other Mormons and he was assassinated. The killers were arrested on the island by the Mackinac police but with a “lack of evidence” they were released. History is such amazing stuff! The town still bears his name and there is a “King Strang” private club. The Mormon History museum was closed, we will have to catch that another time.

Dinner was pretty uneventful, but we had two college age waiters that were able to fill in our questions about the town. We can both recommend the fried green beans and the coleslaw, but the wings and the Irish Potato skins were average.

The next morning the fog, rain and wind were all gone. The harbor was very still and we could see down into the bottom of the basin. Very cool! It would be nice if the Chesapeake got this clear again.

I took advantage of the marina’s washer to do a load of clothing. While that was going on we went across the street and had breakfast. I had the Irish skillet breakfast which is home made corned beef hash (with onions!) and two eggs along with home made wheat toast. A great way to start the day!

We both got Beaver Island shirts at the gift shop before leaving town. Both Susan and I have shown great restraint on our shirt purchases! We also checked out the hardware store. Most things were a good deal more than at home, reflecting the cost of bringing things over by boat.

At 11 we set sail for Manistique, MI.