Day 89; August 20: We enjoyed a safe arrival beverage and snacks with Tony, Shirley and Sophie followed by a walk downtown for the “best burger in DeTour.” For the price ($9.50 loaded), no one was disappointed!
Puffin was up and out early headed to St. Ignace and we were about an hour behind them, leaving DeTour around 9:00 am headed to Mackinac Island. Mackinac, pronounced MAK-e-naw, is a 4.35 square mile island with its Ojibwemowin name meaning “great turtle” located in Lake Huron in the eastern Straits of Mackinac, between the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan. Yesterday we met a couple who lives on the Straits so they gave us some great tips of where to go and what to see. Tourists are called “fudgies” since the Island is known for its fudge (18 shops on one little island) and most tourists can’t resist buying some.
We passed DeTour Reef Light as we left DeTour
Our 3.5 hour run started of sunny but we quickly found a patch of fog thick enough where we set our auto fog horn to sound every 3 minutes or so. It didn’t last long, but it’s a safety precaution particularly for small boats with out radar.
As we entered the fog, I saw Marin Reef Light. What was so cool was I could see the lighthouse from the fly bridge, but when I went to the main level of the boat to take a picture, it disappeared into the fog. The pics below show it “floating” in the fog. As quickly as the fog came up, we came out of it in about 30 minutes to see Mackinac ahead of us and the 2 lighthouses that guide the boats in and out of the harbor there.
Mackinac island was long home to an Ozawa settlement and previous indigenous cultures before European colonization began in the 17th century. It was a strategic center of the fur trade around the Great Lakes. Based on a former trading post, Fort Mackinac was constructed on the island by the British during the American Revolutionary War and was the site of two battles during the War of 1812 between the US and Great Britain. The treaty of Ghent settled the war along with the northern border with Canada where the US gained this island as part of the agreement.
In the late 19th century, Mackinac Island became a popular tourist attraction with many of the structures on the island having undergone extensive historical preservation and restoration. The entire island is listed as a National Historic Landmark well known for numerous cultural events; a wide variety of architectural styles, including the Victorian Grand Hotel; and its ban on almost all motor vehicles, with exceptions only for city emergency vehicles (ambulance, police cars and fire trucks), and snowmobiles in winter. More than 80 percent of the island is preserved as a state park. There are only 500 full time residents but more than one million people visit every year arriving by ferry, private boat or small airplane. The Governor of Michigan’s summer retreat is here and you know when he/she is there if the flag is flying.
We arrived around 12:30, got ourselves tied up in one of the best slips to people watch at Marquette Park and the Pink Pony bar/restaurant. We’ve heard many a sailing tale are told there. We also get to experience the ferries coming in and out – they do create a bit of a wake. The harbor is well protected from all winds except from the southeast; we were thankful winds were out of the west. After a quick lunch, we headed out to check out the downtown area and take a horse drawn carriage tour of the island. Learned many things including there are over 600 horses on the island in the summer, but they return to the mainland in the winter. LOTS OF BIKES and lot of tourists! Tomorrow, we have a dinner reservation at the Woods (run by the Grand Hotel but dress is casual versus jacket and tie at the Grand after 5:00 pm). We will visit the Grand Hotel during the day.
chashurley
Your Mackinac blog just caused us to add this beautiful place to our places to go! Chuck and Ginnie