Yesterday we made the transition from a month on Lake Michigan to
Mackinac Island on Lake Huron, our home for the next 3 or so weeks.

After our enjoyable time in Leland, Michigan we spent three nights at
anchor off Traverse City. Our hopes of refilling our Pelligrino

supply at Sam's didn't work out for us. We did the 4+ miles on ourbikes expecting to take a taxi back to HD with our plunder, only to find THIS Sam's no longer stocks our favorite beverage. We did find a

West Marine along the way as well as a Grand Traverse Pie Companyrestaurant, our favorite spot for superb home made pies in TH. Cin got thelocal favorite, cherry pie ala'mode and even shared!
On our way to Charlevoix we sailed under 160% foresail surfing to hull
speed and then some around 9kts. All fun and games until it was time
to reef in the sail to enter the channel to Round Lake and Charlevoix
and the winds had built 25kts. Our experiment of using the electric
winch to reef in the sail ended with a big BANG! as our reefing line parted

mid way through the job. Fortunately, the sail that was already reefed

held firm and we managed our way into the harbour. Bad timing, however, as
we had to wait 20 minutes for the bridge to open in a strong oncoming current in a channel

so narrow we couldn't turn HD around while we waited. The first mate performed
exceptionally well at the wheel while the captain finished wrapping up
the head sail. After anchoring in Charlevoix Lake in the very
protected Oyster Bay for the night we were able to switch the reefing
lines between the two jibs and were back in business.

The only damage was that one of the reefing blocks broke so we now
have just one for the two head sails and must switch between them depending

which sail is up. We are looking at Harken's new electric furling
units to alleviate this job, which is the toughest on board.

We spent two additional nights dockside in Charlevoix, our favorite port of call 

thus far on our trip. The marina is new and located right

downtown with a park separating the two. Cin found a bike shop two

blocks away and trialed new seats for our bikes while the Captain
finished repairs. Grocery store two bocks away so we restocked the
heavy stuff mostly water. Oh, and we found a bigger grocery store 2
miles out of town that had our coveted Pelligrino on sale. Pete made
three bike trips and packed in a total of 39 fresh bottles.

Great town, restaurants, coffee shops and people.  Definitely would

come back to cruise Lake Charlevoix, which is itself some 40 or so miles long
and has many towns on its' borders. Ernest Hemingway spent time here.

Next we sailed the 20 miles to Harbor Springs... which failed to live up

to our high expectations for all the hype we had heard along the way.

Although having the anchorage in the harbor to ourselves for three nights 

was nice, the place was like a ghost town the whole weekend!There were

no people and nothing was going on!  So, we took the dingy to Petosky

across Little Traverse Bay (about a four mile trip). Marvelous town!

We coffeed and shopped around.They even had a West
Marine and we got our 48" teak flag pole to replace the one that went
missing on our rough first crossing of Lake Michigan to Sturgeon Bay. Lesson
learned (everyday we are learning new teachings!)... this one will be
secured with a safety strap. 

Oh, did I mention the lake flies are  back with a vengeance!! Back to wearing the

green hairnet bag over our heads and taking turns at the wheel, with the other going

down below where you can open your mouth and not breathe in bugs!

As we write this we are docked at the marina in magical Mackinac

Island. After tying up and going for a run and shopping bike ride (guess who did
what) we donned our best dress and took a horse and buggy ride up to
the Grand Hotel for dinner. Although very beautiful and ornate with a lot of
staff attending to you, the expensive five course dinner wasn't up to
the surroundings.

We will spend two or more nights here and then head for the Canada's
North Channel and best fresh water cruising grounds in the world.
Two notes on the crew: The First Mate is adding the nautical nuances
of docking, sail handling and navigating to her current broad spectrum
of skills. She is finding that preparing lavish and very creative
meals already existed in her latent talents and all are enjoying this
discovery.

The Captain found out yesterday that while he has not felt the need to
run more than a few times in the last two months since retirement, his
conditioning is in marathon shape. My heart rate, which used to jump to
above 90% of max the 3 times a week I ran, now stayed near the levels

experienced while training for a marathon.
Only can guess that in addition to getting more physical exercise

sailing everyday, there might be stress in caverns of enterprise.

More after we experience some of Canada