Mous'le's Travels
 Out of Michigan and into Huron One morning we were heading ashore in our small dinghy when we espied a familiar masthead coming through the opening bridge. It was our old enemies the ‘Sparrowhawks’ who having pretensions had ‘promoted’ themselves from simple friendly ‘Sparrows’ in our absence. They lured us alongside and then proceeded to capture us and attempted to tow us to their lair! Fortunately Cap’n Greg’s nottical knot came undone and we were able to make our escape! See http://jgwanderings.blogspot.com/ for their side of the story! We met again in the evening for a meal and a Final Farkle game in which the Mice failed finally to finish with a flourish at Farkle! Despite trying! A window in the weather had opened up to allow us to leave and leaving the Sparrows standing in the deck, we set off for Beaver Island in the middle of Lake Michigan’ northern half and after an overnight stay in St James’s Harbor we set sail for The Straits of Mackinac and Mackinaw City. Here we had to pick up some boat parts we had ordered and fit them. There was also a cold change in the weather coming with strong winds and rain, conditions highly unsuitable for tender folks such as us. When we had called ahead to check on space we had been told “Take your pick!” and as we rounded the jetty at the entrance we could see why. There were only 3 other yachts in the Marina and about 60 empty docks. This is a fairly new marina and it is not yet in most of the guides. Our purchases were waiting for us and we carried them back to the boat to begin work. The most irritating problem was our fresh water pump that failed to turn off properly. The Admiral immediately set to work and in short order had the old one out and the new one installed. On turning it on the torrent that gushed from the taps was a shock to us and, as it turned out, to the plumbing! Suddenly water was gushing everywhere and, in short, we had ‘blown’ the system. Worst is our water heater vent that has failed and now leaks into the bilge. It looks as if the maker has been taken over and parts are unlikely to be available in North America. At least we have the cleanest bilges around! We are now looking forward to getting back to Bayfield as the weather has taken a dive with frost warnings out for Michigan and a succession of low pressure systems swinging through the area.
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Diary Photos
| 12th Sep 2011 Beaver Island Sunrise |
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| 12th Sep 2011 Dawn Departure |
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| 12th Sep 2011 Sunset over Beaver Island |
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| 12th Sep 2011 "Can we make this bridge!" |
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