Cruising Again- Beaver Island, Mac City and Mac Island

We’ve started off by making some short excursions to some areas we have not been to and revisiting places we enjoyed last year. Good friends, Tom and Nancy Rea, Meanders, told us about their cruising plans to Beaver Island and St. Ignace for the 4th of July and just prior and invited us to join in. We got busy making reservations. At this time of year, getting into marinas can be an iffy thing. You have to go on line to book the marinas ahead of time and since all boaters up here have been itchy to get out after the pandemic, marinas are booking up quickly. We were only able to book 2 nights at Beaver Island, but we managed to get 3 nights at St. Ignace. The run from Cheboygan to Beaver is about 7 hours and we chose to make a stop at Mackinac City to break up the trip and to start breaking the rust off our cruising and docking skills.

Many stories have been told by other mariners about Gray’s Reef. If you look at the map above, it’s in the middle of the picture. The reef juts out from the top of Michigan and hides undesirable lake conditions from those traveling on the north side. Winds from the south can create waves that build across the long stretch of open water. Boaters north of the reef may not be aware of those conditions until they come through the channel and are greeted by the rough seas. We were very happy to find gentle water as we continued across to Beaver. The pics above show the Mackinac Bridge, a iron ore barge being towed through Gray’s Reef and the Gray’s Reef lighthouse.

We’d heard a lot about Beaver Island, but had never been there. The island as two marinas, but the north marina is under reconstruction and upgrading. The south marina is pretty small with only 6 or so slips that can accommodate a boat our size. There is plenty of room for anchoring as well.

Although a relatively small island, 55.8 sq mi, it has quite a history. In 1848, James Strang, who broke from the Morman Church after Joseph Smith died, brought his followers to Beaver Island and established a church of which he was proclaimed King. He became not only a religious power, but a political power as well. The Irish immigrants who already had established a fishing community on the island were greatly displeased by his autocratic rule and Strange was shot from behind in 1856.

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The Irish fishermen from County Donegal, Ireland built the fishing industry in the area to be the largest supplier of freshwater fish in the US in the mid 1880s.

We wandered through the small town of St. James to the Marine Museum and visited the abandoned light station.

There are very few paved roads on Beaver Island, most are dirt with some gravel. Many visitors bring or rent bikes to ride to some of the parks and beaches on the island. You can also rent a well used (or very used) car to venture to some of the lesser visited sites. A friend had told us about the possibility of getting a car for free. We gave it a try. Score! We were offered a car for as long as we wanted, just put gas in when we returned it. The guy made a point of telling us not to take the key out. Everybody on the island leaves the keys in the cars (The only way to take a car off the island is by ferry). Evidently someone once forgot and left the island with the only key to the car and getting the replacement made was a royal pain. There’s a reason some things are free. This one came complete with a half bottle of Chardonnay in front and someone’s clothing in the back. Tim added some transmission fluid and we were off adventuring.

While Tim and Maggie stayed behind, I climbed to the top of the old light house. No way Maggie was going to make it up those steep winding stairs and Tim was happy to stay behind as well.

Our wandering took us to the cabin of Feodar Protar, a beloved healer who lived on the island from 1893 till he died in 1925, and a bit further up the road, we found his grave site.

We woke our second morning on Beaver Island to fog which slowly lifted.

We crossed back over Gray’s Reef and stopped for a couple nights at Mackinaw City. Tim had a hankering to tour the old icebreaker, the Mackinaw.

After touring the ice breaker, we came upon this bin. Tim dubbed it The Bin of Broken Dreams.

Leaving Mackinaw City, we spent a beautiful 4th of July holiday with great friends at St. Ignace enjoying the small town parade and fireworks.

We celebrated our 25th anniversary on Mackinac Island with two nights of wonderful dinners. Knowing that rain, wind and much cooler weather was on its way , we began our festivities a day early with cocktails at the Copula of The Grand Hotel followed by dinner at The Jockey Club which sits alongside The Grand’s golf course. On the 7th, a cold front blew in from the north and we sat inside with the heater on for most of the day. We finally ventured our for one of the best meals of the summer at The 1852 Grill Room. I cant believe we didn’t get a pic of the meal. I’d highly recommend this place over The Grand. For us, The Grand just wasn’t that grand. Very touristy and high priced for what we got. Just our opinion.

Mackinac Island Marina is known for being rolly as the ferry boats blast in and out. But as the front from the north blew more from the east, the rocking and rolling became even more bouncy.

We were anxious to get out of there despite the 20+ winds and rain, so with help from our neighbor, all lines were untied and Tim did a brilliant job of getting us to open water. Unfortunately, the open water was even less protected than waters in the marina and between wind driven waves, waves funneling through the straits and wakes from the near constant arrival and departure of ferries, well……. Things got a bit hairy. We all managed to hold on and only had one plate break when the cabinet door flew open. All’s good.

It was back to Cheboygan, where I sit as I finish this post, for us to restock and pick up packages of goodies we had ordered. Tim’s 6 year old IPad has been acting up and since we use it heavily for navigation, a new one was ordered. It should be here on tomorrow, Monday the 12th. Once Tim gets it all set up, we’ll be ready to move on. We plan to head north to Drummond Island and the Soo Locks for a week or so and then begin a slow cruise south.

Here is what we have booked so far. We have booked Kenosha, Wi for the Labor Day weekend. Then we’ll skip over to DuSable Marina in downtown Chicago until the 11th. From DuSable we will begin the trip down the Cal Sag to the Illinois River and beyond. We have chosen Subject to Change’s wintering spot. She will stay in the water at a covered slip at KenLake Marina, on Kentucky lake, an hour southeast of Paducah, Kentucky and about 1 1/2 hour from Nashville. A friend here in Cheboygan has very generously offered to store the RV for us and then drive her down to Kentucky on his way to Florida for winter.

That’s all for now. I’m ready to get this show on the road.