St. Ignace,MI

St. Ignace, MI, Saturday, August 22 - Wednesday, August 26

We headed out early this morning...hoping to grab those calm waves ASAP.  It turned out to be a rough ride for us on the first section of the trip because we were headed in a westerly direction and the wind and waves were coming from the south.  We played with course headings for a while, and then settled on a direct southerly course so that we could take the waves on our bow.  We even considered changing our destination and going to Cheboygan or Mackinaw City.  As we neared the Bois Blanc Island, though, the waves settled down and we were able to head back over west to St. Ignace Marina.

One of the many pretty lighthouses we've seen on the lakes...

Ferries leave from several different docks in St. Ignace, going to either Mackinac Island or Mackinaw City.  Some have a showy tail of water following them.

The weather over the next few days was horrible on the northern section of Lake Michigan.  I'm talking predictions of 11 ft. waves!  St. Ignace turned cold...to the point that we were wearing our "winterish" clothes and coats.  We had several days there of high winds and rain...and cold.

Still, we really liked St. Ignace!  There's a beach by the nearby park and I spent time hunting the ones that spoke to me.  We fell in love with Bentley's Cafe!  We had lunch there on Sunday and topped it off with homemade ABC (apple, blueberry, cherry) pie a la mode for $3.50!  Next day we had lunch at the Gangplank and enjoyed that...but had to return to Bentley's for our second serving of pie a la mode.  We had split the piece of pie on Sunday, but on Monday we each got our own serving!  The weather better change for the good soon or we won't be able to fit through our bathroom/shower doors!!

The water up here is so clear!! This is taken at our slip...

And at the breakwater....

 Looking from St. Ignace Harbor out to Mackinac Island...

The park down at the harbor...

From this angle, up on the hill that leads to I-75, you can see the beach by the water's edge and a couple of people walking along or bending over to see that perfect stone!  

I worked two different days in the beautiful St. Ignace Public Library....They have seating outside on the hill so you can take advantage of the beautiful view...

 You can walk out to the lighthouse from the harbor walk... It was a little windy on the day I took this shot, but there were still lots of people out looking.

From the lighthouse walkway, looking back at the marina...and the water!

 This view will make good painting or drawing material...

You know you're in the north when they ask you what kind of pop you'd like for your beverage..

During our last 2 days at St. Ignace we began to have trouble with our only head.  Wayne went through several sessions of working on it...including installing a new joker valve.  Nothing seemed to resolve the issue.  No one was available locally to work on the job, so we started calling places further along the route to see what we could arrange.  Enter our friend, Tom, who has boated on the Great Lakes for years.  Tom knew several places and ended up lining us up with Irish Boat Works at Harbor Springs, MI.  We also ordered a new pump for the head, in case that was the problem, and had it sent to Harbor Springs Marina.

The view from our slip that evening...

Mackinaw City Marina, Mackinaw City, MI - August 26, 2015