Adventures of Boreas: Day 414 – Detour, MI to Straits State Harbor, Mackinaw City, MI

Today is a significant day in the Adventures of Boreas. Today we will cross our wake and become Gold Loopers! This will happen when we arrive at the St. Ignace Marina to stop and take on fuel. We were last in St. Ignace on the fifth day of our Loop on July 11, 2011. After we take on fuel, we will cross the Straits of Mackinaw and stay in Mackinaw City for a few days.

We left Detour just before 8:00am to take advantage of the light winds. The forecast is for an increase in the wind in the afternoon, so we want to be in our dock in Mackinaw City before the wind gets too strong. The beginning of the trip was very easy with almost no waves at all, in fact much of the time the surface of the water was glassy. It is very strange to be traveling in the open waters of the Great Lakes again. The North Channel felt familiar, but the wide open spaces of Lake Huron feel like home. I was surprised at how slow our usual speed of 9+ mph felt when we hit the open water. There is so much to see when you are traveling the rivers and the intercoastal that our usual speed feels just fine. I can certainly understand why most boaters who can run fast usually do when they run the Great Lakes.

We decided to go south of Mackinac Island on our way to St. Ignace, so that we could check out the harbor and take pictures of Round Island Lighthouse and the Grand Hotel. The winds remained calm and after our fuel stop our trip across the straits was easy. Soon after we were docked, John and Mary from Passport and Mary (minus John who was on a run back to their home in Shepard) from Mary Francis stopped by. They both completed their Loops earlier this month, so we made plans to celebrate our three completed Loops tonight at John and Mary’s cottage. Bob and Ivy from Karma joined our celebration. We drank lots of champagne and reminisced about our travels. It was the first Gold Looper celebration Bob and Ivy have experienced, but I’m sure it won’t be the last.

We will hang our gold flag tomorrow when it arrives with the rest of our mail when Fred III and Mark get here from Bay City. Mark will be traveling with us for the next week. We’re not sure where we are going but we aren’t ready to head back to Bay City yet.

Miles: 45.1 Bridges: 0 Locks: 0