Day 5 - it's 2 o'clock somewhere — Captain Father John

We had a lumpy crossing from Beaver Island to St. Ignace. The winds were 15 – 20 kts from the NW. We had beam seas until we turned down the Straits of Mackinaw for the 17 mile run to the bridge. Then the seas were on the aft quarter and we smoothed out.

Last night a 58′ center cockpit yawl named Roxy pulled into the slip next to us. They had come from Frankfurt which must have been a 14 hour trip for them, They were tired, cold and crabby so we took their lines and let them be.

It rained over night and was chilly this morning. We turned on the salon heater to warm up the cabin for breakfast. First world problem – while underway we cannot run the heaters unless we run the generator. We decided to wear jackets instead of running the generator.

We had dinner at the Shamrock restaurant. They have a St. Patrick’s Day count down clock over the bar. It is 225 days until St. Patrick’s a Day. Our waitress was Crina from Rumania. She is completing her masters degree in Finance in the fall and is working at the Shamrock for her summer job. We asked Crina why she was not working on Mackinac Island where there is more business. She said this is where her employment agency placed her. We offered to smuggle her off Beaver Island. Just be at our boat at the marina by 10:00 AM and we will take you to St. Ignace. From there you can take the ferry to Mac. She politely refused our invitation saying she was working the morning shift the next day.

Cruising past Gray’s Reef light at 28 mph does not bring back memories of the Mac Race. The Port Huron Mac racers are on Mac Island. They raced there over the weekend. I called ahead to the St. Ignace Marina and they advised they have plenty of slips available. They said next week with the Chicago Mac Race they will be more full.

St. Ignace was founded in 1671 by Father Jaques Marquette who established an Indian mission. St. Ignace is on the west side of the Mackinaw bridge and provides easy access to Mackinac Island by ferry. Rachel Simons ran a summer camp in St.Ignace for a few years.

We fueled up in St. Ignace – 144 gallons = $600. Total fuel burn for 300 miles is $1,700. That is a lot of dead dinosaurs.

This is the clock in “downtown” St. James on Beaver Island.

A calm afternoon in Paradise Bay on Beaver Island