So it's already been two months since I pulled out of the Mackinaw City Marina for the last time this season...

...and left the boat at Cheboygan Village Marina.

After a trip out east for a week, I got busy in the woodshop and threw together a chimney cupboard to entertain myself for a couple weeks.

I used an antique glaze over an enamel finish.  It really turned out well.  It was a tedious process that included 6 coats in the finishing process.

I treated myself to a few new tools.  First, is a sharpening system.  I've always struggled with sharpening tools.  The machine I got seems to get the job done.  I started with a 20 year old abused set of chisels that all look something like this...

...and end up with a razor sharp edge.

Pretty sweet.

The big purchase is a drum sander.

This will allow me to sand out panels and frames up to 38" wide.  It's a big machine.  Unfortunately, my workshop runneth over so I'm in the construction phase of a workshop expansion.

I'm adding about 300 sq. ft. of shop space to handle the new machinery.  There's a new router/shaper too.  I haven't had a chance to get that out of the boxes yet.  Too many days of collecting leaves.

Florida is on the horizon with two trips in the Caribbean on the schedule.  It's going to be a busy winter.

Stay tuned.

So this is going to be the final entry in the 2015 boating season...and not a minute too soon.  It is very autumnal in the north, to say the least.

Last week we returned to Mackinac Island so Kathy could get her fix of island life.

We loaded up the bikes and headed out on a calm, hazy lake toward the island.

We were assigned to an east shore slip in front of the Island House Hotel.

It's not quite as nice as being over on the west shore but isn't terrible.  It's been a few years since I've had to complain about a low dock, but this one was a bit of a step off the boat.  It's the only dock in the marina that low.

The next morning a cruise ship arrived at the island.  The "Pearl Mist".

The Great Lakes cruises are very expensive compared to what we've experienced on the Caribbean.  It does appear to have a nice itinerary.  Starts in Chicago and winds up in Montreal or vise versa.  Unfortunately for these cruisers, they arrived on a foggy, drizzly day.

We went for a morning ride at sunrise before the weather moved in.

Over on the north side of the island, it became a little less scenic as the fog rolled in.

Once we got back to town, the place was socked in.

Not the best weather for the tourists to capture the beauty of the island.

It cleared out on our last day on the island for a stroll up to the west bluff.

The gardens of the cottages were much more developed than when we viewed them in early June.

So the sidewalk of the west bluff road conveniently...

...becomes the porch of the Grand Hotel.

We made ourselves at home.

The Grand is a beautiful place.  There probably aren't too many places in the world that can match it's charm.

On the other side of the island, an old resort called Silver Birches is being restored.

That restoration has been in process for a couple years now.  Apparently the condition of the building was so bad that all that was saved from the original was the first floor.  It's a huge project that is 4 miles out of town.  They'll need to run a shuttle to be able to compete with the downtown hotels.

We returned to Mackinaw City the following day and returned home to catch up on chores there.

Today is September 12th and I've got everything packed away and loaded up to take home.

Tomorrow morning I'll make the 15 mile cruise to Cheboygan for winter storage.

So this 2 year experiment in Mackinaw City is coming to an end.  Next year is completely open at this point.  I don't think we're going to commit to a seasonal location.  The North Channel is back in the plan and I'm really considering a better fishing port to end the season.  Time will tell.

It's getting nippy here.  Florida is calling.

Time for a bit of an update.

The fishing continues to be poor for salmon although guys that are fishing more than I am report getting one here and there.  The weather has turned back to summer like conditions and the gale force winds have eased.  With the arrival of Kathy's folks for a couple days, we took advantage of the good conditions and loaded them up for a day on the island today.

There was a bit of a chop, but nothing this cruiser couldn't cut through.

We docked stern to shore so we could sit on the boat and watch the activity on the street.

I left all the fishing equipment on the boat for the day trip which generates a lot of conversation with the passing Fudgies.  They all want to know "how's fishing?"

The west shore slips are the best for people watching.

We returned early evening to Mackinaw City.  Tomorrow we'll do breakfast with the folks and send them on their way.  THEN...pack up the bikes and head back to the island for three glorious days of butt aching bicycle riding.

Can't wait for that fun to begin.

The weather in the northland continues to be terrible for boating.  More like a perfect opening day for deer season sans the snow...but even snow isn't too far fetched.  It's been wet and cold for a few days.

So, we took a road trip today.  Kathy had never been to the Soo or seen the locks.  I thought that was appalling for a Michigander.  Kind of like a Buckeye that has never visited Cedar Point.  It was time to expand her horizon.

We arrived at the locks where a lake freighter was already being lowered the 21' to the St. Marys River and Lake Huron from Lake Superior.

A short time later the freighter Great Republic approached the lock.

It was lowered and on its way bound for Lake Michigan and Manistee a short time later.

That was the gist of the day trip outside of the obligatory stops at the quilt shops in Sault Ste Marie and lunch at Applebees.

TV reporters were milling around the Shepler marine facility next to the marina this morning when we left.  Seems they launched the new ferry "Miss Margy" this morning while we were away.  I was surprised they could handle that boat with their sling, but guess so.

There's still a little assembly required.  I noticed the array on the radar is missing.

The reports say it will still be a few weeks before it is put into service.

I noticed this mounted on the side of the pilot house.

I'm not real sure exactly what you'd use an axe for on a ferry boat...especially up on the top deck.  I'll wait to see the rust stains creeping down from the steel axe head.

Well, we're promised improved conditions tomorrow.  Maybe actually get to do a little boating.

I won't hold my breath.

We're back at the helm for the summer season finale.

Brian came to visit and we had some good conditions to search for a fish.  We went out Saturday evening and picked up a nice lake trout off the St. Ignace shore.

Must have been a warm evening.  Can't think of another reason I would have been hatless.  In any case, we trolled north for a while then turned back south where the lead core line took off.

Brian grabbed the rod and coaxed a nice king salmon to the net just before sunset.

We noticed we were over a commercial net at that point, so just retrieved all the lines and motored back to the marina for the night.

It was fortunate that we took that opportunity to get out on the lake.  Sunday morning and the storms were looming to the west of the marina.

We had lunch mid day with Brian at one of our favorite spots and sent him on his way home.

An hour or so later, the skies opened.

It's been like that since.  Off and on wet and wind...mostly on.

On a side note.  The wrapper is coming off the new ferry boat at Shepler's.

It's kind of a big deal around here.  They've been working on getting it ready for the water all summer.  Launch is rumored for Friday.

There hasn't been much to talk about the past couple weeks.  The wind continued to blow and blow and blow.  Now it has calmed down a bit and guess what...duty calls back at the ranch so I have to head south for a little while.

It did finally stop blowing this morning so I left the slip about 6 am and ran east of Mackinac Island.

The sun was rising out of the fog as I set my one man array of lures.

The fog soon burned off, but that was just a tease.

You'll notice the fog rolling in from the north (right in the picture) blanketing Mackinac Island.

I was soon in the midst of thick fog and being the Lone Ranger today, didn't want to risk boating in that stuff without someone at the helm 100% of the time.  When I started, I passed within a few hundred yards of a freighter in the Round Island channel and never saw it.  I didn't need any more of that.  Fortunately, it cleared south of the island so the trip back to the marina was decent once I passed the Round Island light.

So that's the tale of woe.  Now for the good news!

Yessiree...that's a king salmon.  I found one of those this morning before being blinded by the fog.

Maybe there's a glimmer of hope for this fishing hole yet.

I won't hold my breath on that prospect but it's always good to dream big.

Must be the first week of August in Michigan...the weather turned to crap.

We started the week hot and calm...

...which evolved into cooler and choppy...

which evolved into...

...and it's been blowing ever since.  The only thing keeping that sailboat from listing another 30° are the dock lines.  Winds were clocked at 65 mph and a trailer was tipped on it's side on the Mackinac Bridge deck.

Sure does save on the fuel bill, but I'm getting a bit tired of the scenery here.  We went to the Odawa casino in Petoskey for an awesome seafood buffet and visited family at the Burt Lake State Park for a couple side trips.  Other than that, we've been pretty close to the boat all week.

We're going home in a couple days so the weather is sure to improve.

Always works that way.

It's been a while.

A few weeks of personal matters to tend to put boating way down the list of priorities.  The latest event was tooth implant surgery.  I'm recovering from that "fun" and still in a semi-drugged state.

But now for the good news, we're back at the helm.  Arrived Sunday and took the boat for a 3 mph cruise Monday morning on a nice "fishing chop".

Action was slow, but Kathy was in her "aggressive" fish finding mode at the helm.

Maybe there's a reason we spend more time fishing and less time catching.

Did I say action was slow?  Let me be a little more specific, these are sterile waters it seems.  There was no action.

So as the morning progressed, the tug Zeus passed and was the only commercial traffic of the morning.

We used to see that tug in Ludington quite often.

The afternoon was spent trying to stay cool in the 90° heat and humidity.

Tuesday morning started a little earlier.

No fishing chop today.

As the sun silhouettes the Round Island Light some 5 or 6 miles away...

we make another 3 mph run toward the west...

in a quest for the elusive king salmon...or any other living/swimming creature.

All we found were bugs.  This part of Michigan seems to have two seasons, winter and bugs.  Today's treat was a few midge flies and a billion gnats.

So after the "Intrepid Canada" passed...

I pulled lines and headed back to the marina for "debugging".

According to reports, fishing is slow everywhere.  That's not too unusual for July but I think the salmon fishery in the Great Lakes is in a world of hurt.  There are fish to be caught, but not the numbers of past years.

Time will tell.  Hopefully, August will bring a few fish this direction.  Until then, I'll have to be happy with the boating part of it all.

Time for a swim.