Mackinac Island!

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 121 - July 30, 2017

Since check-in at the DNR Town Dock at Mackinac Island was 1:00 p.m. according to our reservation confirmation, and our Marquette Bay anchorage was about 12 miles away, with another mile to get out of the bay, we pulled anchor at 10:30 a.m. and made our way out onto Lake Huron. It was an absolutely straight line between the point we entered Lake Huron from Marquette Bay and Mackinac Island, but today we did not have following seas - we had them right on our nose. I tried zigging and zagging (technically, a series of tacks, called "beating" by sailors) for awhile to no avail. So we just took our lumps. It was not far and it did not take us a long time. We only hope Lake Michigan will treat us better than Lake Huron, but we have heard that is not likely going to happen.

Michigan has a wonderful system of state harbors. They have established "harbors of refuge" about every thirty miles all the way down the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. Mackinac Island sits on the Straits of Mackinac, which joins Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. There is a great Michigan State Parks and Harbors online reservation system, which I used to make our reservations for the DNR Town Docks in Mackinac State Harbor for tonight and tomorrow night. The entrance to the harbor was well marked, and I had a general idea of where the DNR Town Docks were from the Active Captain marina symbol in Garmin Blue Chart Mobile. 

Mackinac Island State Harbor and DNR Town Docks

After we entered the harbor, I called in on channel 9 per the Active Captain entry for the DNR Town Docks, and got a prompt response to switch to channel 14, where I was told our assigned slip was 28. The harbormaster's office very helpfully talked us in to where we needed to go. It is always a challenge trying to find your way around a new marina!

We thought we had seen the last of slips with fixed piers and pilings at Manasquan, N.J., but the Town Docks are this ugly style of slip. Most of the boats here do not tie to the pilings, although some do. For most of us, the pilings are simply an unnecessary obstacle to getting into the slip, and we tie up to the cleats on the fixed piers! I managed to get Daydream in without hitting the pilings, and two dock attendants were there to catch our bow and help us get tied up. It took us another good half hour to figure out how to fender - having the fenders on the boat does no good at all, the fenders have to go on the posts of the fixed pier, which naturally do not line up with where our fenders are normally deployed. Fendering is extra important here, since the Mackinac Island State Harbor is one end of several passenger-only ferry lines that are almost continually entering and leaving the harbor, and the Town Docks are notorious for having almost continual ferry wakes during the hours the ferries run. 

After getting tied up, fendered and signing in, we walked up town along Main Street, which is a very short walk from the Town Docks. If you did not know, there are NO CARS on Mackinac Island, only bicycles and horse carriages. Well, there are an ambulance, a police car, and six fire trucks, but that is it for motor vehicles, and you are not likely to see any of them except in some kind of emergency. Main Street was a unending steady stream of bikes and horse carriages!

First look at Main Street

Since it was now mid-afternoon, you can guess what we did next, if you have gotten to know us at all! We headed for the ice cream parlor (actually, one of many) for our ice cream fix! We both had a single scoop cup of "Cherries Moobilee," and it hit the spot!

What we like to do first in any new place is take "the tour," be it by trolley or horse carriage, so we can get the big picture and decide where we would like to spend more time. On Mackinac Island, that means a horse carriage tour! We took the two-hour tour, which involved first seeing most of the developed part of Mackinac Island, including historic buildings and the Grand Hotel (from the back, unfortunately, which is where the road runs) in a carriage drawn by two horses, and then transferring to a carriage drawn by three horses for the second part, which took us through the Mackinac Island State Park and back to Fort Mackinac, where it was a short downhill walk back to Main Street and the Town Docks.

The drivers were both very good with their information and humor, but the driver of the three horse carriage was especially good, since he had started as a carriage driver, was in the army for a while, went to college, and became a high school history teacher. He said he had simply gotten fed up, not with the kids, but with the school board and school administration, and decided to go back to where he started out!

We went by three cemeteries in the State Park, which were the Catholic Cemetery, the Protestant Cemetery, and the Military Cemetery. The Military Cemetery has the remains of 58 unknown soldiers - they were once known but a fire destroyed the building housing the records of the deceased who were buried there. The highlight of the tour through the State Park, though, was Arch Rock. The Native Americans saw Arch Rock as a place of great power, and told many stories and legends about it. Euro-Americans did not share many of the taboos of their Native predecessors, and treated Arch Rock as a curiosity. One early chronicler was Alexis de Tocqueville who wrote of the "Giant's Arch" "of extraordinary shape" during his visit in August, 1831. 

Arch Rock from State Park viewpoint

Our tour ended at Fort Mackinac. On July 17, 1812, war descended upon Mackinac Island as a combined force of British, Canadian, and Native American soldiers captured Fort Mackinac from a small, unsuspecting American garrison, before the American defenders even knew that war had been declared.

After the tour, we stopped at Doud's Grocery on Main Street. Contrary to one Active Captain review, which claims you need to stock up before you come to Mackinac Island because there are no groceries available, we found Doud's, although not a supermarket, to be a well-stocked small grocery store, and we were able to buy everything we needed. It goes without saying that the prices were astronomical, but hey, this is Mackinac Island!

Later in the evening, we had an invitation from fellow Loopers Dennis and Jan Taylor on Mother Ocean, a Great Harbour 47, whom we had met in Little Current, to join them on-board for breakfast in the morning, which we gratefully accepted! This is a gorgeous boat, and we are anxious to see what it looks like inside!

We now get why so many people have said Mackinac Island will be the high point of our Loop!