July 31st: Beaver Island to De Tour Village, MI

Beaver Island

After a brief thunderstorm in the early morning the day became nicer by the hour. The wind was slowly increasing from the west, and by the time I crossed though Gray's reef, I was able to run the engine in low gear and get much speed from the sails.

Gray's Reef abandoned old lighthouse

Visibility was amazing, I first saw the Macinac bridge from 20 miles away. By the time I reached the bridge I could switch off the engine and run wing-on-wing straight past Macinac Island. This was a glorious sight, first the bridge and then the shabbiest place in Michigan. I even heard a cannon shot when I passed the Mac lighthouse, but my torpedoes jammed and I couldn't meet the challenge.

Approaching the Macinac Bridge wing-on-wing

The Macinac Bridge

Shabby Macinac Island

Approaching De Tour Village

I was happy to continue under sail all the way to De Tour village. Dana was meeting me there, she had left Chicago by car in the morning and it took her 9 hours (including 2 hours for rest stops) to cover what took Caprice and me a full week. Sailing isn't the fastest method of locomotion I must admit.

De Tour Village (population 235) was my first stop in a Marina since Chicago. Caprice is now fully self-contained, with solar panels, gas heater, shower etc. I had really not missed anything, in fact I only now realized that I had lived in the wrong time zone since I reached Michigan.

It was so good to sleep next to my bunny again!