12 Aug 17

It was cool and cloudy with light, intermittent showers when we woke up, so it was a struggle to get out of bed. We finally got under way at 09:30. After motoring south out of Government Bay, the N wind was fair for sailing west along the coast, so we killed the engine and sailed - ah, bliss. We had to weather Goose Island, but that just meant going a bit more to weather than “gentlemen” would generally like to. On the other hand, we still know how, so we hardened up and pinched up to the north side of Goose I. After that, we eased off and had a nice close reach all the way round the north end of Mackinac Island to St. Ignace, where we tied off in the state marina at 13:15; 21 miles with only 0.9 hours of engine time - nice. Our 3 packages of mail were all waiting for us, and after an excellent lunch at Harrison’s Diner (Harrison is a very nice man from Jamaica and the jerked hamburger was spicy and brilliant) and we had a nice walk around town to check out the historical sites - mainly about Father Marquette and his explorations. Back at the boat, we showered, had dinner aboard, and at 10:30, fireworks - 3rd time this year.

45-51.975’N, 084-43.110’W; Log = 21.6, Sum (2017) = 1669.9 N-m

13 Aug 17

We tried to get up early, but sloth is too easy. So, we got moving in time to catch the 10:00 Star Line ferry to Mackinac Island. We got some coffee, enjoyed walking along the car-free streets (but you still have to watch out for bicycles and horse-drawn carriages), walked up to see Fort Mackinac, where perfidious Albion dealt yet another blow to young American pride by taking the fort in 1812 without a shot fired (mind, they did sneak up in the dark of night before the poor American commander even knew we were at war - hence, the adjective perfidious), toured the art gallery, a couple of historic houses and the (of course, very interesting) blacksmith shop. Then, we hired a tandem bike, rode out to the Arch and the Devils Tower (both interesting breccia formations), and decided to go all the way around the island - its only 8 miles of flat cycling. On the way around, we spotted “Ra” way off in the distance headed for Mackinac I. Harbor. After our circuit of the island, we went round to say hello to Jim and Travis; they are down to 2 crew now. All of this activity whetted our appetites nicely, so we went up to the Yankee Rebel Tavern, just a block off Main Street (and therefore, invisible to 99% of the tourists), and had an excellent meal for about 75% of the Main Street prices, and with no wait - go figure. We caught the 20:00 ferry back to St. Ignace, had a quick shower and crashed.