8/20/15 – 8/24/15        Back to the USA         Drummond Island and Mackinac Island

8/20/15                                    Drummond Island, Michigan

The trip to Drummond Island was cloudy and it rained some, but there was not much in the way of waves. Thank you God!

This is Sequatious following us into port

 Before we could get fuel, we were boarded by a U S Customs Agent. He checked our paperwork and asked some questions about items on board and any customs to declare. We had a very nice agent and it didn’t take long.

There wasn’t much here and the weather wasn’t real nice so we stayed on board, had dinner and called it a night.

We woke the next morning to a beautiful day and were anxious to get to our next stop. The waters are really this blue.

 

8/21/15 – 8/24/15        Mackinac Island, Michigan

This trip took us through the Mackinac (pronounced Mackinaw) Straits. It was a gorgeous day for the 47 mile trip. We passed some really cool lighthouses on the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we neared our destination the sights were so magnificent we knew we would need more than 2 days to really check this place out, so we booked for 4 days. We actually wound up having to wait for the weather to improve and stayed another day. As it turned out we only had sun for the first 2 days.



Fort Mackinac



 

Mackinac Island is not connected to land in any way. You can only get to the island by boat or airplane. They allow no automotive vehicles except emergency vehicles, like fire trucks and ambulances. The major means of transportation is bicycles and horse drawn carriages. It is absolutely amazing to see all of the streets occupied by bikes. There are at least 6 bike rental places and they have a little bit of everything. We also found out that they allow golf carts, but not on the roads.

Below are some shots of the downtown area.

 

This is a truly spectacular port. And it is State Maintained. There is a constant stream of ferry boats into port.

Pic 1589 1591 1590

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The port has its own little Lady Liberty.

 

We did a carriage tour of the island and a tour of the fort.  The carriage tour was of course a horse drawn carriage. We actually stayed aboard and watched as they swapped out horses.

 

A spotlight on the tour was the Arch Rock. This is a natural geological wonder.

View through arch of paddleboarders

View through Arch of shore line

 

 



Arch Rock from the shore



This is a shot of Little Arch which can only be seen from below

Fort Mackinac is maintained in its original state from when it was deactivated. They actually shoot the cannon repeatedly throughout the day. You can see the tourists jump!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another highlight of the Island is the Grand Hotel. It was built in 1887 and it has reputedly the longest continuous porch on record, 660 feet. We stopped in, for a fee, and walked around. It is truly spectacular. There are shops along the lower floor and at the very top there is a copula with wonderful views of the island. The grounds are spectacular also. It also includes a two story lounge where we enjoyed a taste of their hospitality. There is also no tipping aloud in the hotel. Jackets and ties are still required for dinner. They also have an 18 hole golf course and we enjoyed lunch in the Jockey Club. They no longer have horse racing or steeple chases, but they have golf.

 
 

 

Yes they are playing crocket

The weather was cloudy and cool almost every day that we were here. Temperatures only went into the 70’s. Of course they were expecting it to get back into the 80’s when we left.

 Come back next week for our next stops along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.

 Happy Birthday on the 30^th to Ken’s daughter Denise!