Like our crossing from Detour Village to St Ignace, the next leg to Petoskey involved a long open water crossing of Lake Michigan. As the weather calmed down and the last of the sailboats finishing The MAC came in we took advantage of the smooth seas to sneak our way west through the Straits of Mackinac and then south through Gray's Reef and down to Petoskey.
We had hoped to take a couple days to complete this segment with a stop either at Beaver Island or in the bay at Wilderness State Park (a Dark Sky Preserve), but after we cast off the winds forecast to pick up later in the evening clearly were coming up faster. We chose to keep moving and make the long day all the way to Petoskey.
With blustery breezes to greet us at the marina, we were lucky to land gently at the fuel dock, but by the time we refueled and got our holding tank pumped out our move to our slip was a mild calamity requiring dockhands and slipmates hauling the one bow line we were able to land and then much wrangling to get Happy Happy snuggled into her berth for the night. Whew!
Our stay in Petoskey will be a couple weeks. We need to get one of our cars out of storage here and then move it down to Chicago. Before that Pat will shuttle Terry to the Saute St Marie airport to fly back to Atlanta for a few days to take care of a few things. Good thing, the weather blows a steady 20+ mph for the first few days and we take advantage of having a car to get out and about in Petoskey.
Entering the Straits of Mackinac we pass the last of The Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac sailors coming in after 4 days of day and night sailing. We were glad we didn't leave earlier and have to confront the better part of the 300+ of them.
Crossing under the Big Mac one more time.
................ but not alone!
The abandoned lighthouse at Gray's Reef
Coming back in to the lower peninsula and the smell of money..................
Everyday involved sunny and dark days with lot's of wind
When you get lemons, make lemonade!
Finally things settle down
