We got up this morning and took our time getting started; it was after 7:30 before we pulled out. It had only dropped to 68 and there was heavy dew. It was hazy but the VHF weather channel was not reporting any fog. Diana got this picture of the old C.G. station which shows the haze.
About an hour and a half out we approached the Gray’s Reef passage. This is a famous (infamous) stretch of water in northern Lake Michigan. We were coming from outside the ship channel and made a hard turn to go thru the passage to the north. The tower,
as big as it is, had not been visible until we were about three miles from it. Beyond the north end of Grey’s Reef passage is the White Shoal Light. It was not on our course as we were turning back to the east, but we cared on an extra ¾ of a mile north so Diana could get this picture though we were still far enough away that it was hazy.The insect, about the size of a mosquito, but they don’t bit are back worse than ever.
From there it was twenty miles east to the Mackinaw Bridge. On a clear day we should have been able to see the tops of the support towers from that distance, we couldn’t see a thing. We continued on with many cruising boats going by in both directions and a lake freighter on the radio coming thru Gray’s Reef behind us.
For the last three days we have been seeing large quantities of “pollution” in the lake, it first looked like a yellowish alga of some type. As with anything floating on the surface of a large body of water the wind and waves tend to concentrate it into large windrows. Talking to a gentleman on the dock last night he said that it is pine pollen blown in from the forests of the U.P.
Finally about three miles from the bridge there were the towers high in the sky. The bridge is five miles long and from the center we could barely see the ends. If you look closely at the second bridge picture, that is an eighteen wheeler just right of center. It was slightly disappointing to not get a better view of such an impressive sight.
Mackinaw City is on the south end of the bridge and St Ignace is on the north, the gateway to the Upper Peninsula. We had been to Mackinaw City so we choose St Ignace. It was a little over an hour from the bridge to the harbor entrance. We were about ten minutes clear of the main
channel when the freighter came under the bridge, too hazy for a picture.We pulled into the harbor and headed for the fuel dock. We filled and pumped out (I will do a separate fuel report). Then we headed over to our assigned slip. St Ignace has a lovely large municipal marina. Because it has been a cold spring and it is mid week they are not real busy tonight, come weekends in July and August they get very busy.
Once we cleared the bridge we left Lake Michigan and entered Lake Huron. At least to me this is a small milestone in the voyage. We were a little concerned about getting the length of the lake in a less than ideal boat for the open water. We knew we had to pick good weather and we were fortunate to have lots of it. Tomorrow we go to De Tour Village at the eastern end of the Upper Peninsula and the entrance to the North Channel. The following day we will be into Canada.
I suspect that internet access will be less available in the next ten days. I will continue to write, but it maybe sometime between postings.
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