Thursday Sept. 13 – Sunday Sept. 14 Mackinaw Island

Again, always watching the weather we determined that we could cross to Mackinaw Island on Sunday. We left Drummond Island in the morning. We had to maneuver around a number of islands off of the main island itself, past the ferry crossing area, by another marina and then head out past the lighthouse and into Lake Huron. This was our first time in the open waters of Lake Huron itself and it was a little under 50 miles to get to Mackinaw Island. A lot of open water.  We came across a couple huge freighters, some excursion boats and some other recreational cruisers. It was nice seeing them on our AIS system to note course and speeds.

 

The Lighthouse just offshore of Drummond Island.

The call these ships “Lakers”.

Mackinaw Island is a place that Pam has always wanted to visit. It is especially cool doing it on our own boat. It was fun seeing the island from a distance and getting closer all the time. After about 50 miles of travel we arrived at Mackinaw Island State Harbor.

Short Vacation in her slip.

The marina is kind of wide open. We got our slip assignment of the radio and the Dock Master met us at the slip. We backed in and the guy took a couple of lines, gave us some info and then he walked away. It felt really different to us. Usually, dock hands spend more time get the boat all hooked up and secure. Of course, we always tipped them for their efforts. Here, it is a State run system that does not allow tipping so there really isn’t a reason for them to go out of their way to help.

Remember that I said the marina was kind of open? The waves and wakes for excursion boats were constantly rolling in. It took us an hour or so to tie the boat up in a way that protected it. To be honest, the first day and night, I wouldn’t have given you two cents for this place and the reason was that the waves that kept rocking our boat like crazy. The marina is open to the south so wind from that direction sent waves into the marina over and over. To make is worse, with all of the waves, the excursion skippers ignore the courtesy rules and head into the marina area and their berths at high speed bringing even more waves.

After the boat was secure Pam was really ready to get off of it due to the constant rocking. We had plenty of rocking in Blind River but this was very different. We headed ashore to see what this place had to offer. I had always heard that everywhere you went you could smell fudge and horse shit and that was fairly accurate.

This was the view right in front of our boat.

Just walk out on the street and this is what you see.

The horses are everywhere.

 

This was our dock. Don’t let the view fool you, this picture was taken the next morning, when the water was flat calm.

You can just make out the our blue Bimini top toward the end of this dock. The water here is stunningly clear. When you look down you can see everything on the bottom 20 feet down.

 

 

Star Line Ferry is a main competitor for moving people and freight to and from the island.

The ferries are running constantly from early morning till late at night.

 

At the end of the day people head over to this side of the landscape to watch the sunset.

 

We are here early for the next sunset on our visit to Mackinaw Island.

There are many old establishments on the island.

Our end of the doc is a little lonely…

 

This is one of our horse drawn carriages for our island tour. The island has many steep hills and the horse get tired pulling all day long. To help deal with that they use carriages of different sizes. They use one size of carriage to move people on lower parts of the island. Then, when they get higher on the island, the horses have a harder pull. They stop at a museum and switch the passengers to smaller carriages.

They had a little museum that had other forms of transportation and firefighting equipment used the island over the years.

Here is a sleigh for winter travel and even a Hurst for funerals in the background.

 

This is Arch Rock on one of the tours of the island.

 

 

We could see this part of the island as we cruised toward the island. Remember that I said a lot of open water. Look at the horizon on the left.

 

This is the Grand Hotel. We had to pay to just walk on the porch look inside the building.

 

The Grand Hotel has beautiful  grounds and pool.

 

The inside of the Grand Hotel.

 

 

 

This is the Mackinaw Bridge in the distance.

Other than a police vehicle and fire truck there are no cars on the island, so carriages are the main source of transportation of people, supplies, luggage, hay, garbage, etc.

Absolutely everything is brought in or leave by boat and is hauled by horses.

 

 

In our brief time on Mackinaw Island we had tours, carriage rides, shopping, fudge, meals, drinks, rocking and rolling, sunsets, crowds, bicycle rides, docktails, boat visitors, visited the world famous Grand Hotel and helped boaters in and out. We did it all. Speaking of helping boats in and out, I happened to see a boat a few slips away getting ready to leave their slip. It is always easier if you have someone on the dock to assist so I walked over and offered help. He asked me what boat I was on and I pointed at it and mentioned doing the Great Loop and starting out in Florida. He told me that he usually takes the boat he was on to Florida in the winter – but, not this year. As I was handing lines he told me his name. It was John Winn. He thanked me for the help and told me that if I was ever in Charlevoix and needed anything to give him a call. Just ask anyone and they will show you where I live. I said thanks and helped him on his way. I went back to the boat and got to thinking about his name. Then it came to me that a friend of ours mentioned the name John Winn. He told me he was one of the owners of the Four Winns Boat Company. We went onto the internet and googled his name. You should too because his boathouse is absolutely amazing.

Traveling on the great lakes is ruled by the weather. The weather report is good for tomorrow so will make the short jump to Mackinaw City. We have slip reserved next to Tom and Colletta’s boat, Greek’s Folly. Oh, I forgot to mention that we have to stay out of the way of high speed excursion boats running in multiple directions. These guys are moving at 30 miles an hour.