Fog! We were surprised to look out the window this morning and see that a dense layer of fog had settled on Lake Michigan overnight, limiting our visibility to just beyond the breakwater to our anchorage. We got up at 6:30 as scheduled even though one of us -- OK, it was me -- begged for a few more minutes of sleep. We started our anchor-raising routine around 7:00 and by the time we exited the harbor, the sun was up and already burning off our uninvited guest. Along with the fog came a heavy dew and I took advantage of the opportunity to give give Crossroads a good wipe-down. We are still battling a spider infestation and every pass with the chamois cleans up a bit more poop and leads to more arachnid fatalities.
Leaving Manistique we finally were able to say that we have turned south. We will now continue our southerly heading until we reach Key West, Florida, in January. At close to three months into our Great Loop journey we have now covered over 1,600 miles. That is still, however, less than a third of our anticipated total mileage.
We passed many small islands that form a barrier chain between Lake Michigan and Green Bay. The first one we passed was large Summer Island; the second was the much smaller Poverty Island. The first thing we noticed were all the dead trees and laughed about the look matching the name. This was further reinforced when we reached the southern tip and spied the abandoned Poverty Island Lighthouse. We tried to do a bit of internet research, but we had no service. Later we discovered that lightning started a large brush fire on the island two years ago, accounting for the look of the trees. The lighthouse has been abandoned and has fallen into disrepair. A nonprofit organization is trying to get the Coast Guard to turn over the property (despite the fact that the island doesn't even have a dock), but that hasn't happened. We've seen many spectacular lighthouses in Lakes Huron and Michigan over the last few days. I can only imagine that this used to be one of them. Maybe it can be saved and restored.
We continued down the string of islands, passing Gull, Gravelly, and St. Martin. At this point, we entered into Wisconsin waters just before Rock Island. A large white spot in the water caught our eye. It turned out to be a dead fish, but the seagull left a nice water splash upon takeoff. Washington Island was notable in that it was the final large island before the Wisconsin mainland and its topography was imposing with sharp cliffs topped by a thick forest.
We pulled into Garret Bay around 3:00 and set our anchor for the night. This quiet cove is lined by beautiful summer homes fronting a rocky shore. I went to Fiberglass Beach and finished my first new book since returning from Richmond. I listened to and sung along with the music coming from the shore -- a nice collection of 70s tunes. It was a happening place until about 5:00 when the music stopped, the boats disappeared and folks presumably returned to the real world.
We will get another early start tomorrow morning and head to Sturgeon Bay to ride out a frontal system that is supposed to bring heavy rains and high winds. One of the benefits of traveling the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan is that we are not exposed to the long fetch and wind-driven waves forecasted to be in the neighborhood of 10 feet high on Lake Michigan. We will hold out in a marina for a few nights, and do a little exploring of Door County, including Lambeau Field and the Packers Hall of Fame. We attended a Packers-Jaguars game here years ago, and are looking forward to seeing a bit more of the area this time around.
No comments:
Post a Comment