What a busy day!  Started shoving off the dock at 5:00 AM and finally sitting down after the day's activities at 7:00 PM.  14 hours of go, go, go.

First off, notice the new title picture.  Snapped that on on the way in with the dinghy.

As I mentioned, I began the day early to try to find another fish.  I headed back to Mackinac Island and trolled toward the sun rise.

That wasn't working, so I turned and worked my way around the island.

A few hours later, we were around to the west side of Mackinac Island with one salmon in the cooler and another lake trout caught and released.

The sonar showed a few more fish on the north side of the island.  Unfortunately, it took us three hours to find that information.  There are really few boats here fishing so info isn't readily available.  Back at the docks, I found the charter boats to have similar luck so I figure I'm holding my own up here at the moment.  If you want to fill the cooler, lake trout has to be the target.  There are salmon, but not real plentiful at the moment.  I did see more on the sonar late this morning than in any other trip this year, so it looks promising...and BTW, the bugs are gone for the most part.  Yippee!!

So back at the dock, time to clean the fish.

This city has no fish cleaning facility and the marina doesn't allow fish cleaning on the grounds so the other option is the back of the boat.  I made a cleaning table that keys into the cannon ball holders and has a couple screw on legs to support the rear.  I used some hand clamps to make sure it stayed in place, but don't think it would go anywhere.

The table worked real well.  Not a drop of anything inside the boat.  It all ends up overboard.

Then on to...SHOPPING!!!

Craft show this week.  Kathy looks at the jewelry...

...while I go for the pre-dinner hors d'oeuvres at the booth with pretzels, crackers, and dips.

Done with dinner at the Dixie Saloon (good sandwiches but pricey dinners), we launched the dinghy.

I ran it around the marina fairway where the larger boats are docked.  There are some nice ships here everyday.  Lots of boats come and go here.

This is a 65' sailing yacht traveling to Chicago from Rhode Island.  Word is they're going to strip it of all the goodies (sat TV, internet, etc.) and race it in the Chicago to Mackinac race in a couple weeks.

I got the dinghy all put away.  Certainly presents a bit of a challenge with the fixed dock but the marina put in a ladder for me to climb down to it.  I'll access it off the back of the boat when I want to use it.

The rain is moving in...

...and the fudgies are returning to the mainland.

Time to rest.

Until another day.

June 21st...sunrise over a calm Lake Huron.

About 35 miles directly into that sun would be Detour and Drummond Island.  I'm setting up lines here just a bit east of Mackinac Island as an ore carrier passes through the Round Island passage to my port side.

It was about then that a lead core line started that sweet sing of line exiting the reel.  I was sure I was into a lake trout as has been common in those waters, but to my surprise...

my first Straits of Mackinac salmon!!

That's about a 10 lb. Atlantic salmon.  I've only caught two of those over the past twenty years downstate.  Atlantic salmon are much more abundant in this part of the lake.  That was a nice way to break the ice on this fishery.  Unfortunately, the euphoria was brief.  Two small lake trout were the only other fish I was able to capture this morning which I released.  Other boats are catching loads of lake trout but I don't target them so catch only a few.

After trolling east for a couple miles, I turned and crossed the channel in front of the freighter "Algo Steel".

Then trolled up the east coast of Mackinac Island on a dead calm lake.

Now the bad news...

More BUGS!!!  UGH!!!

Midge flies.  They're everywhere.  The shady side of buildings are just black with billions of the pests and the uncut wild areas just hum with swarms of flies.  They really don't do anything other than get on stuff and sit there.  More of a nuisance than anything else.  I talked with a DNR person and seems they need a little warm weather here to break the cycle of hatch/breed/lay eggs/and hatch again.  This is the 3rd hatch this year and unfortunately it's not exactly summery kind of weather so I'm not sure when that cycle might be broken.  A couple weeks of global warming would be nice.

Oh well.  We got back to the dock, cleaned up and made our way to one of the buffets down the street.  They have a soup and salad bar that is decent.  The hot food isn't too exciting so we just go for the greenery.

Time for a little rest and maybe take in the concert in the park tonight or the laser show in the Crossing.  Forecast for tomorrow is marginal so plan is for catching up on some sleep.

...but that could all change.

I need to get a new cover photo.  That Harborview Marina shot is SO last year.

Anyway, it was weekend number three in the north land.   The area shines with the “spring” flowers in full bloom.  Only problem is, according to the calendar, it’s just a couple days short of summer.  Better late than never, I guess.  The big Lilac Festival parade on Mackinac Island is this afternoon so the blooms are right on schedule for that event.

I had another session with the boat cleaner and paste wax Saturday morning.  It’s a tedious task but the results are a nice shiny boat.  The job is nearly complete.

Need to replace that worn out trim stripe on of these days.  That would probably do as much as the polishing toward making the boat look good.

The kids arrived late morning with gear in hand.  Looked like they were moving in for a week, but were just here for overnight.  Can never be too prepared and up here, seems we go through a few different climate changes every day.

So the first order of business with the kids, lunch and…

Shopping!  So many shops...so little time.

We got through all that and after a nice potluck dinner at the marina, we ventured out on to a cool, calm lake to wet a line.  After getting away from the harbor and into deeper water, we set lines and turned toward the bridge.

Fishing was slow, but we seemed to attract a crowd anyway.

Oh-oh, it's the cops.

In 15 years of boating in and around the USCG in Ludington, I never had much contact with them.  Within 15 minutes of boating in and around Mackinaw City, they were on my boat.

They were very courteous about the whole thing and even allowed us to continue trolling throughout the whole process.  We just had to clear the lines from one side of the boat.  Unfortunately, they didn’t bring any luck aboard with them.  At least we're assured there are no outstanding warrants for our arrest.  Yes, they called in and ran all our names.  That surprised me a little.  It was just a bit more than "are your flares up to date".

As they left, we were advised to stay clear of the approaching freighter.

No problem there.  Not something I'm particularly interested in playing chicken with.  

We wandered over to the north side of the channel...

and let the freighter pass to our starboard side as we passed below the bridge.

That, in a nutshell, was the extent of the evening fishing.  I didn't see anything on the sonar so apparently there were no fish there to be caught.  It's still early for that activity up there.  The fish that are being caught are mostly lake trout.  That action is over near Mackinac Island and we didn't want to venture over there for a short evening outing.

We took a Sunday morning stroll along the waterfront to breakfast.  That was a mistake.  Another hatch of midge flies overnight brought swarms of the mini pests everywhere.  That's what all the black specks are above Shanna.

I got the daily bridge shot.  Note the little boat trolling between the towers.  I'll assume he's having the same success I had in that water.

We then high tailed it inland to the restaurant for a plate of blueberry pancakes.  Seems to be the weekly "special" of one of the local eateries.

A stroll down main street on the way back, tidy up the boat and the weekend was history.

This week was all about getting the "ship" in shape.

Last week was just a bit stressful because there was a lengthy cruise on the docket with a boat that had just been launched.  Seems there are always those winter time gremlins that surface each spring, but fortunately, that didn't happen.  So this week was just a laid back kind of "work island".

I started the morning washing the deck and wiping it down in preparation for cleaning and polishing.

My toes were frozen by the time this little task was done.  It's still just a little nippy in the early morning up there.

Meanwhile, the Fudgies line up across the basin to board the Shepler ferry to Mackinac Island.

and I looked across the parking lot to a glassy Strait thinking that's where I needed to be.

It was a perfect morning.

But Kathy kept cracking the whip and said we needed to get the house cleaning done.  She attacked the cabin...

...while it was polishing and waxing on deck for me.

Well into the morning, the Shepler ferry returns as the line of island bound tourists never seems to end.

Back to the boat, Kathy moves from the cabin out to clean the cockpit.  It takes a bit of effort to clean the dash.  That's a long reach.

And finally she's reached the back of the boat with everything all shined up stem to stern.

I had an encounter with some "raw" fiberglass.

It was kind of a nasty scratch so we had to improvise to get something to stop the bleeding while I could continue working.  It wasn't bad enough to break out the real first aid material.  We thought about using duct tape at first but then decided removing the tape from my hairy arm would be worse than bleeding to death.  Rubber bands did the trick to hold the towel in place.

So the boat is well on the way to being all cleaned up.  Just a bit more polishing to be done on the rear deck and arch.

In Ludington, it was a million photos of the Badger.  Mackinaw City has the bridge.  So I might as well get at least one shot of it in each post.

We walked down to the park to watch the sights.  Unfortunately, the midge hatch isn't entirely finished and the bugs chased us away after a few minutes.  With that, we wandered back to the marina and turned in.

Sunday morning was lazy with Kathy enjoying her morning cup of coffee.

It was threatening rain (never did) and was cool, so instead of getting involved in more polishing, I rigged the fishing rods so when opportunity knocks, I'll be set to wet a line.

Maybe next weekend?

Finally...the bottom of the boat is wet and I made the voyage to the new slip at Mackinaw City.

My father-in-law came along for the ride (not sure he realized what kind of a boating marathon it was going to be).  Kathy and her mother traveled in the car and would "shop" their way to Mackinaw City.  We left Seng's Marina in Manistee and found a calm Lake Michigan with southerly breezes of about 10 knots.

In about an hour, we had made our way to Pt. Betsie north of Frankfort.

We checked in with the ladies on the phone to let them know the trip was progressing as planned.  We then learned the "shopping" was taking place inside the Manistee Casino since the real stores weren't open yet.  Fortunately, casinos are 24 hour operations so the ladies were entertained during the early morning hours.

We continued on in the boat stopping for fuel in Leland and then northward across open waters on a dead calm Lake Michigan.

Passing the Gray's Reef Light.

and the White Shoal Light.

Finally landing in the Mackinaw City Municipal marina where the shoppers arrived only 5 minutes ahead of us.

After docking, we discovered we'd been through a "bug storm".

Seems there was a midge hatch in northern Michigan this week.  The front of the radar dome and radio antenna were plastered with the little mosquito like critters.

They were swarming around the marina as well, but should be gone when we return next week...

I hope.

So the boat is sitting in the right place now.  Just have to finish cleaning up (including bugs) and rig for all the summer fun and fishing.

The real fun begins.

The trip...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCxXqG8Bl_w&feature=youtu.be