Mike and Kathy-Beautiful day
07/16/2007, Beaver Island, Michigan

We were up early and left our anchorage at about 5:30. It was cloudy but the forecast called for improving weather. It rained as we motored up the east side of North Manitou and then cleared into a very nice day. There was never much wind but swells from the west rolled us most of the day. From North Manitou we set a course for west side of Beaver Island and spent the morning reading. We had a bit of a rough ride for a while, sailed nicely for a while, and then the wind died. It was a beautiful day, but still pretty cool. After anchoring in St. James Bay we took the dingy over to see Larry and Carol on "Third Bird." It was good to see them. We went to the Shamrock for their excellent thin crust pizza.

It was decided that we would spend Monday here to pick up some groceries, get to the library and complete a couple of boat jobs. I noticed last week that the fuel return line was cracked a little and need replacing. We also need to re-engineer the lifting points on our dingy davits.

Weather permitting, we will head north tomorrow through Gray's Reef and out of Lake Michigan.

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Maike and Kathy-It's windy!
07/14/2007, South Manitou Island

When we got up this morning Dan and Scott were sitting on the bench above and beside our boat looking forlorn. Although they said that they were sad to see us leave, I'm thinking that maybe they more sad that they aren't really at the point in their lives where they can join us. Both of these guys are our friends. They live for two reason's: to help others and to find adventure. At this juncture it's Kathy and I who get to sail away while they wait for their moment.

We made it to South Manitou Island and anchored. This island is a State Park with trails to a ship wreck, some of the largest cedar trees you'll ever see, and the dunes on the west side of the island. There are several campsites on the island and an area where the old town used to be. This was quite a lumbering community at one time. A ferry carries people over from Leland to camp, or just to spend the day. The east side of the island makes a nice "C" shape and is a good anchorage-safe from most directions. With gale force winds from the south, we did some rocking and rolling last night and didn't sleep much. Waves are supposed to be 6-9 feet this morning, so we think we'll stay here. We made bacon and eggs for breakfast and read books for a while. The wind is now shifting to the west, which is a more comfortable direction here.

Mike is now putting up the magnets to hold our knives. Thanks to Scott and Dan for sawing the magnets to size with a hacksaw. Maybe I'll clean all the saw/magnet dust out of the cockpit today. We organized and sorted and wrote down where everything is in the boat.-another good job done.

The winds calmed down and we slept very well on Saturday night. Now we're off to Beaver Island.

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