Day 2 of island life.

We started out the day with, what else?  A bike ride around the island.

Brother Ken has the "iron crotch" award for riding some thousands of miles on his bike.  I've logged 24 miles now and can assure you I've earned the "broken crotch" award.

All along the east shoreline, the tourists have built cairns out of the shore rocks.  They create an interesting scene.

Around the island we went finally arriving at my favorite sign.

Mile post 0.  The end of the ride at the marina.

With the morning exercise complete, time to head into town for another of my favorite activities...

Shopping!

Downtown was a busy place today.

This is where I worked on the island back in 1972.  What was then the Orr-Kids Bike Rental.  It looks completely different now and has new ownership.

Can't talk about Mackinac Island without a mention of the Grand Hotel.

After shopping it was time to grill some chicken for dinner.

Followed by the sunset bike ride.

Then an evening glass of rum to finish the day.

Maybe not so much biking on Saturday.  I'll circle the island via dinghy.

We're Islanders!

I started the day in the dinghy pulling a couple lead core lines to see if I could snag a fish.  I ventured out into the lake shortly after sunrise.

I got into about 60' of water and putted along toward the bridge on a calm lake.

Eventually, there was a bit of a ripple on the lake but I found this slick a couple miles off the shore and worked that a little hoping to find a steelhead.

It wasn't to be, so I gave up after a couple hours of bobbing in the Straits.  I'm sure being in the middle of the Straits in a 10' rubber boat creates lots of conversation for the folks crossing the bridge.

Anyway, back at the marina, we transformed the "fishing" boat into a cruiser, loaded up the "island transportation" and prepared to leave for Mackinac Island.

So off we go with the Star Line ferry in our wake with its "chicken tail".  One of the kids named the rooster tail feature.  Since the naming by the kids, it has always stuck with us and will forever be a chicken tail.

We made a leisurely cruise across the Straits and approached the Round Island passage.

Entering Mackinac Island harbor.  I was directed to the east shore area and instructed to enter around the "large blue yacht".  Roger.

Turns out this large blue yacht is owned by Elena Ford of the Ford Motor Co. family.  It's a 131' Palmer Johnson yacht built in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.

I'd say Elena is doing ok for herself.

Around the end of the yacht and we backed stern in into slip #9 on the east shore.

This slip doesn't have the park view the west shore slips have but is away from the noise of the Pink Pony.  The view we have is of the Lakeview Hotel.

It's just a short hop down the walk to main street.

And a stone's throw the other way to the island coffee shop.  I can probably find Kathy there in the morning.

After setting the lines and getting organized, we took a walk on the docks.  I'm feeling a little behind the Jones's.  Looks like there is a group of a dozen boats or more from the Grosse Pointes.  These Vikings were all alike.

I'm sure those $5000 outriggers will never see anything more than a flag.  They all have teak "patio" sets on the rear deck.

We liked this one.

Of course one can't let their million dollar yacht get dusty and being a Grosse Pointer, you'd never stoop so low as to put a rag in your hand, so the Ship Shape crew was hired and ferried to the island to spruce up the boats of the rich and famous.

There must have been a dozen or more of those guys here working on a bunch of boats.

Kathy has her sights set on this Hatteras.

It was a bit warm this afternoon so we relaxed around the boat and were visited by Kathy's cousin Debbie and husband Darrel.  They're in the area on their Harley's.  Certainly a nice week for a bike ride.

Dinner was simple after a long day and getting settled here.  Sloppy Joes, potato salad and sweet corn.  We did the microwave sweet corn in the husk method.  Four minutes per ear, cut off the big end and squeeze out the ear like toothpaste from a tube.  That works great and is no fuss.

With dinner done, back to the fun and the first of what I'm sure will be several 8 mile treks around the island.  It's what Kathy comes here for.

Of course, this is the view I usually have.

Once we got around to the SW side of the island (mile #7).  The sun was beginning to set over St Ignace a mere 15 hours after I watched it rise this morning (see slide #1).

Photo ops everywhere.  The Arnold Line ferry passes the Round Island light with a kayak out for the sunset view.

Enough for one day.  Time for a little Bacardi rum refreshment.

Good night.

Just another day in Paradise!

I slept in just a bit this morning.  Have to ease into the vacation mode.  After cleaning up, I took the dinghy out for a shoreline troll to see what, if anything was there that might eat a night crawler.

The answer was nothing.  I'll have to work at that a little more.  I think there are some pike and bass around here, or so I've been told.  Just have to find the structure that holds them.  It was a nice relaxing way to spend a couple hours this morning.

I got back to the marina and noticed another lengthy sailboat at the end of our pier.  It's got to push 70' long.

Back at the boat, it was time for a bite to eat.  Kathy was munching on a bagel and enjoying the morning quiet of the marina.  The back deck is hard to beat for a breakfast spot.  So peaceful that time of day.  That's a big difference here vs. Ludington where the fishing world comes alive at 4:00 am and makes a commotion.  I'm about the only one that ever does that here although I try to skip the commotion part.

A bit later, Kathy's cousin Steve DeMann and wife Mary dropped by for a visit.  We took them out for a scenic cruise to...

Where else would you go here?

A freighter passed while we were out adding to the photo opportunity.

It's off to Mackinac Island tomorrow afternoon.  I'll probably be off the electronic grid for few days unless I can find internet access there somewhere.  Nothing comes without a price tag on the island so I'm not counting on any success with the search.  I'll recap the experience next week.

Finally, Kathy has gotten serious about this boating thing.

After 20 something years of boating with me, she finally bought a pair of Topsiders.

There may be hope for her yet.

Off to the land of the Fudgie and road apples we go.

Ta-ta for now.

It was a busy couple days down state which is why there was no second weekend post.  Sunday's activity began with an early morning exit from the dock.  My new red/green LED nav lights are awesome.  Shouldn't be any more issues with those lights now.

Can't see the boat in the picture, but the lights are nice and bright and that's the purpose in it all.

I fished over by St. Ignace because of reports from Saturday.  It's the first time I headed in that direction.

The closer I got to St. Ignace, the colder the water got.  So I turned around and headed back across the channel.  We fished for a couple hours and had three bites and landed one salmon.

These fish aren't big, but are the right size for table fare.  I saw several marks on the sonar near the island that I suspect may have been steelhead, but the trails of mayfly larva in the water indicated that those fish likely had plenty to eat before my metal spoon tempted them.

So it was back to the office for a couple days and I arrived back today to find absolutely perfect conditions.

Won't be much of a ripple in the lake with a wind like that.  I've rigged the dinghy and think I'm going to go basic in the morning to see if I can scare something up near shore.  I haven't tried that here yet.

I noticed a couple boats in the parking lot.  Must be they spent all their money on horsepower and don't have enough left for a slip.

The boat on the right has three 300hp motors.  The one on the left has three 350hp motors.  I think we saw the one on the left a couple years ago in Petoskey.

We took a stroll down to the bridge park and past the Mackinaw light to stretch our/my legs after the 4 hour car ride.  It's a beautiful evening.

I took a shot of the Shepler ferry turning in the marina basin.  This is why they're very careful what kind of boat goes in those slips on the north side of the pier.  I understand there's been a few incidents over the years.

It's a tight fit.  Another foot and they'd never turn the boat around.

So we have visitors scheduled for tomorrow and then head to the island for a couple days.  Looking forward to that.

Vacation time!

Today begins the quasi-vacation.  This year my time off will be a bit segmented because I need to save a little vacation time for later in the year.  Kathy is here for the long haul (2 weeks) but I'm going to take a couple trips back home mid week.  We've got plans to go over to the island in a few days and may take another short trip somewhere a little later.

Last weekend I got the davit heads mounted on the swim platform so we're all ready to haul the dinghy.  The davits will make that task a whole lot easier.

This morning I got up and gave another try at the Straits fishery.  I caught and released a lake trout by the time the sun was rising in the east.

It was another slow boat ride as there was little (actually zero) action for a couple hours.  We watched the commercial traffic pass.  At least there's some entertainment for the slow times.

This is actually a tug tied into a freighter type hull.

Followed by the freighter Alpena.

Then the freighter Robert S. Pearson.  Wonder who he is/was?

Then the unthinkable happened.  A fish attacked my diver set up and I landed this real nice steelhead.

So the outing wasn't a total bust.  I went through that area a few times with no more action then gave up.

The city water tower is being painted inside and out.  I finally saw what all the tentacles on the tower were for.

They're used to raise a "tarp" around it while the painting is done.  Looks like the project is nearly done.  It's been in process all summer.

I'm going to give the fish another opportunity to jump in my cooler tomorrow.  There is possible fog forecast so that might slow me down.  Just have to wait and see.