Day 11 - Island Life
The best part of today was waking up and not seeing hordes of mayflies dead on deck! It is very nice to know you don’t have to start your day that way.
I enjoyed a long morning while Captain slept. I wrote my log, took care of Kona, exchanged ice around between the freezer and icebox, and did Spanish. I took Kona to shore about 10:30 all by myself. I had a lovely walk. Denise, the grocery store owner, saw me from the parking lot and wished me a good morning. I decide to walk down to the ferry dock and let Kona have a nice walk. We stopped at the other marina here (there are two small state marinas here) and I ran into Joe. We met Joe last year. He is a retired cop from LA who moved up here to slow down. He now works at the marina and owns one of the islands here in the archipelago. Last year he encouraged us to go visit his island. It had an old lighthouse and was really neat. He also had given Kona one of her favorite toys, Squaw Bear. Named after the island. The Island is now technically called Ojibwa Island, but its old, non-politically correct name was Squaw, so that was the bear’s name. Today Joe had the cutest little ball of fluff, a husky puppy, with him. He remembers us and I told him Captain had something for him and that he would hunt him down again while we were here.
I arranged with him for some showers later and he also offered us use of the bikes here if we wanted to explore some.
I then headed back to the boat around noon when I got a text from Captain saying, “How on earth did I sleep this long?” I saw our new friends on “After Five” leaving and quickly ran out to wave goodbye. They saw me and gave me a few toots on the horn as they passed.
We enjoyed left over Shepards Pie for breakfast and decided to go for a little exploration. We loaded the dinghy with our electric scooters and told Kona to keep watch on Ciara. Once ashore I found my scooter was completely dead. Sadness! Captain’s scooter blew its main control board last summer. He was able to fix his with a lot of sleuthing and thankfully bought a second backup part, unfortunately, that part is at home. The repairs take a little time. Not sure if we will have my scooter back and running this summer. It makes me sad. Those things are a lot of fun, and sometimes very helpful too.
We loaded our scooters back in the dingy and grabbed bikes from the marina. We tried to go find Joe, but we missed him. We decided to head in the direction of the Whiskey Point Lighthouse. There is a road up there that has been closed ever since we have been coming here. The road just vanishes into Lake Michigan. However, the waters are really low this year, so we decided to see if it was clear. It was! The road had, over the years, become seabed and was all stone. We vibrated ourselves through on the rough rocks, making jokes the entire time. Thankfully the now open road connected to an old road, and we could make a loop and not have to vibrate our way back.
Not sure what to do next I decided I wanted a little snack. We want to put some money into the economy here so we stopped at the Harbour Market for a sandwich. It was okay. Not what I was really hankering for, which was of course, Ice Cream.
We headed back to Ciara and let Kona swim for awhile and read. We had a late lunch/snack so we weren’t ready for dinner around 6. We took Kona to shore and took turns playing Frisbee with her while the other person showered. That was glorious! The shower had Blue Lake Fine Arts camp vibes with the slight scent of sulfur, but I basked in the hot pressurized water as long as I could manage.
We decided to walk Kona a bit more and Captain wanted to get a drink at the Beachcomber. We would end up getting an appetizer, Comber Chips, as well. That in the end served as dinner, as it was huge.
With no dinner to make or dishes I settled in to finish my book, which I did. I played Taps. Captain and I exchanged books and on to round two!
As I threw Frisbee for Kona this evening I was soaking in Beaver Island. Sailing the Great Lakes takes us to all these small communities. Sure, we could sail her down to Chicago or Detroit and many other large cities. Each community is unique and has its own vibe. Arriving by our own vessel gives us the perspective to really feel at home in each town. The marinas are usually the center hub of town, and usually where we come ashore either by renting a dock or tying our dinghy nearby. Beaver Island is especially unique. It is the largest island in Lake Michigan, yet it is a bit of a haul to get out here. The ferry from Charlevoix is just over a two-hour ride on a much faster boat than ours. The locals are a hard weathered group, having to survive the long winters here with only an airplane to get off if they wanted to when the lake freeze. Not sure if the lakes freeze enough for them to get back via snowmobiles, although they certainly visit other islands in the archipelago that way. Most of the tourist are repeats with their families coming here summer after summer for generations. It is one of the best kept secrets of Lake Michigan. The waters are crystal clear and blue with the exception of this harbor which is saw dust and weeds :D Everyone knows everyone. Even with us returning two years in a row we aren’t really strangers anymore.
For those who have known me my entire life they know (and maybe just realizing it as I type it) that I have never really been able to settle. At least physically. Being born in a military family and moving every 4 years as a child set the stage. The last 20 years I have called Wisconsin home, and it now feels more than home then Colorado. I had 5 addresses in those 20 years, and I don’t intend on keeping my current address much longer than 2030. While I don’t settle physically, I have focused my life on connections with people, with cultures, and adventure. I have been lucky to see a lot of those goals come to fruition. Captain and I had a focus this summer of not forcing the journey but learning what it means to live aboard. Being able to visit remote or not so. To be able to stay as long as we please, meet people, learn about their little place in space and time, and just be in the world. This is a lifestyle that is well suited for us. We enjoy the Great Lakes very much and wonder how different the liveaboard lifestyle is in different regions of the world. I’m quite certain that the East Coast, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and so on all have their own type of sailors. Not to mention the differences in the folks ashore! I hope we get to see those days, but for now we are so happy to be able to do this, and I am forever grateful.
