Straits of Mackinac, Beaver Island

Again I don't have enough power here to upload images. Anyway, we left St. Ignace bound for Beaver Island in northern Lake Michigan on Monday, August 13. It was a little choppy going through under the Mackinac Bridge and through the straits of Mackinac. After that though, it was a pleasant enough trip to Beaver Island. We passed the White Shoal Lighthouse which marks the northern edge of Gray's Reef Channel --I think I have a Harbour Lights replica of that one too. We arrived at Beaver Island in time to anchor for dinner. While preparing that, another couple who was also anchored out, dingied over and gave us the lowdown on the area (they were from Door County area and sailed often in this area.)
The forecast for the next day was not good with high winds and storms, so we decided to get a slip in the harbor which we did early next morning, so we had the whole day to explore the town. That's just about all the time needed to walk the area immediate to the marina. This island has an interesting history with it first being inhabited by Native Americans, then occupied by the Irish who were fisherman and lumberman.. Then a Mormon named Strang brought in his flock and grew in strength enough to evict anyone who did not join his flock, off the island. He named himself King. In his early years,he had had aspirations of marrying a princess and becoming a prince, but that didn't pan out--so when all else fails, this is what you do !) Anyway, he had some enemies and 2 of them eventually assassinated him. When word got out that he had been killed, the Irish came back and reclaimed the island, evicting the remaining Mormons.
There is still a strong Irish influence there with that flag prominently displayed. There is a school on the island with 71 students in grades K-12--kind of like home schooling I would think. Many of the homes are set back from the sidewalk into the trees which gives a feeling of being in the country but you're still in the village. There's not much there as far as businesses, couple of gift shops, one restaurant and we saw one gas station--also a hardware. But we visited the toy museum (also a toy shop), the maritime museum and the Mormon printing museum. We enjoyed staying at this out of the way place. It is serviced by ferry from the mainland, and there are small planes which fly in. Apparantly there are a couple of resorts further away from the village and we saw some nice summer homes on the beach. This would be a nice relaxing getaway vacation place....
We left early Wednesday morning for the trip to Petosky arriving about noon and then we were followed into the marina by several other "Loopers" who had come from Mackinac Island, Mackinaw City and other places. In all there were about 10 boats who came in that afternoon, so an impromptu "Looper rendevous" happened in the evening. It was really nice to hear the experiences of the others and to get questions answered. All very friendly and a fun evening.
This town Petosky gets an A+ rating from all of us. It is 2 blocks to the Gaslight shopping district via underground tunnel under the highway. The shops and restaurants are all neat and appealing. There is a wonderful park all along the marina and lake--a really pretty setting. Because of high winds and waves we are all stuck here but everyone agrees that it's a pretty nice place to be stuck. And, even better, since the forecast is not for favorable boating conditions until Saturday, we'll be here for the start of their "Festival by the Bay". Tomorrow will bring musicians, sandcastle artists, vendors, and fireworks to the parks here by the marina which we can enjoy from the bridge of our boat ! We are really enjoying our stay here even with the windy conditions but the clock tower which chimes every hour on the hour and half hour reminds us of home.....(sorry, can't upload the picture of it). That's all till next time.......