From Whiskey Point to Whiskey Bay
That’s a neat little title. Whiskey Point is the lighthouse point on Beaver Island that we said goodbye to this morning. Whiskey Bay is where we will drop anchor tonight in Canada. Too bad I’m not a Whiskey girl. Where is my Gin Point? And Gin Bay??
We have another really long pull today. We do have a choice; we could take our time and take shorter 4–6-hour sails but we are choosing to use the good weather to push to Canada as soon as possible. Captain is still a little annoyed that it will be a lot of motor sailing if any at all but we agree that it is much nicer to get there in comfort then a 13-hour day getting pounded.
We didn’t get quite the early start I wanted as we went to bed late and needed just a little more sleep but by 7:10 Kona had been walked and the anchored weighed as we set off in the morning sun. We did have some wind and set the sails right away, but the entire day we never were able to shut off the engine.
Right before we left, we decided to see if Captains phone would be resurrected as it had been drying out for nearly 48 hours and it would be so convenient if we didn’t need to use my phone for navigation. It started right up!!! No glitching out, no speaker issues. I am impressed and we are both relieved. With his phone fixed I went down below and quickly made a little more lanyard for him. The finished product is certainly a sailor’s job but we think it turned out pretty neat! Instead of a chain wallet like he had in the 80’s and 90’s he now has a Gulf Racing colored lanyard attached to his hip.
I have decided I really do like the long days traveling like this and again reminded what a 13 hour travel day would look like in any other way. Driving is second best. At least you are on your own time and path. You can’t really walk around and need to stop for potty breaks, fuel and food. Flying is the worse and we continue to do everything we can to avoid it. Today I wrote my blog, I cooked, cleaned, I got a nap, I read my book and I thoroughly enjoyed the scenery and company.
One thing I did today that took a while was prepare our ship stores of alcohol and list any produce for customs. I have stuff on shelves, under bunks, in drawers, tables and in the bilge! Once it was all accounted for, I had to still add up the entire amount in liters and assign a value to it all. Anyone who guesses within 10L to the amount we have on board gets a Ciara Madeline Sticker! Needless to say, it shows we are from Wisconsin. In fairness, we share generously with other sailors and none of this stuff goes bad so if it is left over, it will get used over the next year, I’m sure. With that done all I had do was hope that we got a nice customs agent and didn’t have to pay too much duty. Our first year we got hit hard by them. We were pretty upset, but it can happen. In the end even with the hefty duty it was still good as the providence of Ontario that year was currently in a liquor strike and you couldn’t even buy any. When the strike ended, we found state sponsored stores with low variety and high cost. Again, this is coming from very spoiled cheese heads.
By the time I had finished the inventory the Mighty Mac was getting much bigger. We can see the towers of the bridge about an hour out of Beaver Island. It takes four more hours to get there. Going through the Straits of Mackinac is always an adventure. The water in the straits is Caribbean blue and on a day like today with nearly glass waters it is a treat to watch the land from the north and the south come closer and closer to the five-mile gap between them. Lighthouses dot the horizon, large Cargo ships appear from all directions. Big pleasure boats (Debbie boats) speed pass and leave us with just their wakes. Other sailors change course just enough to sail close by so we can wave to each other. Buoys mark dive spots of the many shipwrecks all while the Might Mac grows in dominance.
I will never bore of going under this bridge. What a treat as a sailboat to not wait for a bridge opening. The roar of the traffic above and watching the bellies of cars driving in the center lanes which are grated. I think I have driven the bridge four times in my years. We passed under her for the 14th time today.
After the bridge we are welcomed by the hustle and bustle of Mackinac Island. The ferries cause HUGE wake and we get to see-saw up and down. The worlds largest front porch of the Grand Hotel perched high on the hillside welcomes visitors and I am yearning to go watch Somewhere in Time. If you haven’t seen the movie, it really is great. Captain pulled out the looking glass as we passed and saw there were lots of open slips in the marina. That isn’t normal, we could have gotten in. I suggested that the Chicago to Mac race started today and while we could get in tonight it is probably empty because they are kicking everyone out for the upcoming insanity tomorrow.
The rest of the afternoon we glided past the last bit of Michigan’s upper peninsula and enjoyed the lighthouses along the way. By 6:30 we came upon one of my favorite light houses at De Tour Passage. Civilians can rent time in this lighthouse and today there was a large family with kids high up on the wall enjoying the early evening. We came by under full sail (still motor sailing though) close enough that after I blew my conch in greeting, we were able to yell some greetings back and forth. A treat for both us and them, I’m sure! One day I think it would be neat for a bunch of friends to experience staying in a lighthouse!
We turned to Port and headed north through De Tour passage. The Sault Ste. Marie River comes down from Lake Superior and empties shortly into the North Channel before going through De Tour into Lake Huron. One day we will make another turn to port and head there as I really want Ciara to see that lake and all her adventuress, colored rock beaches and secrets. Today we just got to see a few more freighters making their way out to the river headed down south and beyond.
Not long after we crossed into Canada. The clouds and lighting were welcoming us with highlights of land and sea. Cory and I raised our yellow (Q) flag to show we were now under quarantine and not checked into the country. We dropped anchor in Whiskey Bay just after 8pm. Captain was in the dingy and headed to the lone standing pay phone at shore amongst the camp ground. Kona looked on with sadness as she was ready for her shore leave but couldn’t leave yet. Whisky Bay feels like our little secret. We never see any other boats here other then the small crafts belonging to the summer residents here. The few folks we have ever spoken too always seemed shocked to see us anchored out. This is an official check in location; just seems no one ever uses it and heads to the small towns which, for us, are out of the way. We like it even more so because we can come in nice and late, clear customs, go to bed and be ready with no delay to continue our trip. I watched Captain with the looking glass as he reached shore about half a mile away and was so happy to see him leave the phone after 5 minutes! Clearing customs now that we are in the system is much faster. Getting an agent who didn’t ask too many questions and didn’t care about our insane “ship stores” helps too! Note. While there are limits to how much liquor you can bring in to Canada without duty the general rule is ships have “ship stores” that don’t leave the boat. It is considered our home and as long as everything stays and consumed on board, it’s all good.
With Captain motoring back slowly on the dinghy Cory and I felt a few light raindrops. A nice little rain cloud had come and gave us the most beautiful rainbow! What a welcome to Canada!!
With Captain back on board we lowered the Q flag and raised our new, bigger Canadian flag high on our new flag hoist. This is why we installed it; we wanted our friends to the north to know how grateful we are to be here. I played Last Post for the first time just a little shy of 9pm as we really wanted to get Kona to shore. Cory stayed on board to start making a very late dinner of Caper Chicken. Our raw chicken steaks were already being reconstituted in water for about half an hour.
We had a little walk with Kona on shore and when we returned, we found out the chicken still wasn’t ready. So, we put them in a bag and chill in water overnight and will eat them tomorrow night instead. We made hot spicy ramen; It is fast, and so yummy.
We settled into the night down below, the mosquitos were out in full force. Captain was willing to try and get through that jar of Cherry-tini. When I was pulling things out, I saw my jar of simple syrup and I realized that is what I forgot in making my large jar. No wonder it tasted like jet fuel! Vodka, triple sec and lemon juice. YUCK. A few shots of sugar and the entire jar was salvaged. Yay. Here I realized I didn’t bring any sugar so I will need to buy some to make more simple syrup through the summer.
We have one more semi long pull tomorrow. Eight hours seems short in comparison to 13 and it will be the last of the long pushes while we are in Canada. Everything beyond Turnbull Islands are close with hundreds of anchorages of our choosing. I know we will hit our favorites and I am looking forward to finding some new ones along the way.
