It’s been several days since an update – all due to lack of wireless - but so much to report on. We had a pretty uneventful run from Cheboygan to St. Ignace, motor sailing most of the way. We held off leaving because of fog, and while it burned off and visibility improved to about 5 miles, it was still overcast and pretty chilly. For those who haven’t been there, St. Ignace has a great marina, very deep, very well protected, along with a friendly staff. It was a short run - taking about 2.5 hours, but one has to be vigilant because of the commercial traffic. FYI the ferry boats (and there are plenty of them coming from everywhere) are not using AIS transponders.
On the way to St Ignace, Kat suggested I call Michigan Rez to see if there were cancellations for the next night and we lucked out scoring two docks for the following night.

A quick ferry boat ride from St. Ignace later that afternoon and we got to scope out Mackinac before we docked there the following day. The 3-4 block area by the ferry docks reminds me of any resort town – Key West, Charlotte-Amalie, etc. However once you get out of the ‘downtown’ area the landscape and nature trails are awesome. The next day we docked there and it was very interesting! The harbor does have a significant surge (15 kt east winds didn’t help) and the low water presented problems getting off of the boats. Both of our boats had the only docks without ladders to climb up (about 4’) to the docks. Hmmm maybe we can use the step stool (we use on floating docks to step up to the boat) on the boat to step up onto the dock? Not! Apparently we left that one in Cheboygan for someone else to use.

I got to bike around the entire island while Vixen kept Kat company in the cockpit. Dinner at the Grand Hotel was marginal – they’ve outlived their reputation. Hah - but the bread and the pastry at Marc’s was superb. Next time a small bistro on the east side of the island for dinner!

DeTour Village was our next stop – relatively short motor sail day. Quaint ‘village’ but it did have decent docks and facilities. For those headed there, they’re closing Sept. 5 to completely redo the marina. This is definitely a stop for next year. We got there on Saturday just in time for the ‘art’ festival and chicken roast. They also had band playing that night (FYI St Ignace also had one at the docks). This was just a stop to get us into the North Channel and it served its purpose very well. Originally we were going to take the Southerly route and go through False DeTour Passage, but Paul recommended we take a more scenic route through the Islands to the North. So ‘Richard Sharpe’ was the lead boat through a very serpentine route and he did a very nice job.

Meldrum Bay hasn’t changed much, but then there isn’t much to change. The docks are new but in the exact configuration and location as the old ones. The electrical is still on land - 30’s and 15’s only and plan to bring a few cords since the harbor has not been dredged and the closest you can get to the electrical is 75-100’. No water and no pump-out but a new building which houses nice bathroom/shower/laundry facilities. And as usual the Inn did a wonderful job on dinner. Sharon was very accommodating and found us an outside table on a very crowded Sunday night.

The last several days have been relatively short 5-6 hours – it’s kind of nice getting in around 2:00 and relaxing before the next day’s journey. Now it’s off to Beardrop – we catch up with another update in Little Current.