{"id":1396,"date":"2017-08-09T23:44:12","date_gmt":"2017-08-09T23:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sailthalia.com\/?p=1396"},"modified":"2022-10-28T20:50:21","modified_gmt":"2022-10-29T01:50:21","slug":"explorations-of-lake-michigan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifefourpointzero.com\/?p=1396","title":{"rendered":"Explorations of Lake Michigan Ep. 79"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our last post was from Mackinaw City just before we were to leave Lake Huron to pass under the Big Mac (the suspension bridge that connects upper and lower Michigan and also represents the line between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan). The waters here are called the \u2018Mackinaw Straits\u2019 and since this is a relatively small passage between two huge bodies of water the conditions must be considered before navigating through in anything other than a large ship! We passed under with sunny skies and light breezes which was just fine with me. This image shows our ports of call for this episode \u2013 our anchorage\/dockage locations are marked by the stars and the arrows show our path of transit. Facts on Lake Michigan can be found at the end of the blog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our Time in Lake Michigan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Beaver Island<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our first land-fall in Lake Michigan was on Beaver Island, the largest island in Lake Michigan located almost in the center of the northern part of this massive Lake. Beaver Island has a large, beautiful harbor that encircles boaters by a natural basin and a protective spit of land that nearly completes the circle. The harbor is adjacent to the quiet town of St. James that originally had us seeing the island as just \u2018ok\u2019 — not all that special. However, through exploration we learned that this island has a very colored past and a lot of charm! A walk to the light house took us by a small but impressive maritime museum and a grocery store and bakery that could compete on the mainland! In the afternoon, we took a bike ride to the other side of the island to enjoy a beautiful beach and a coastline of sand dunes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beaver Island\u2019s colored past has to do with religion and heritage \u2013 sounds like the pattern of disagreements that has gone on since the beginning of time. A man named James Jesse Strang migrated to Wisconsin in 1843, where he converted to Mormonism. Upon visiting the then Mormon Capital in Illinois, he was named a Saint of the church. When the church became fractionalized later that same year, he declared himself the ruler of the Mormons. While most Mormons followed Brigham Young to Utah, a few hundred believed that Strang had in fact had a vision to be head of the church and they followed him to Beaver Island. They drove off current inhabitants (mostly Irish fishermen) and began construction of a utopian community. A couple years later when the Island community was thriving, Strang traveled to Washington, DC and successfully lobbied to have the island granted to him and his followers. Through this episode Beaver Island became the only declared independent kingdom in US history! By 1956 Strang had made enough enemies that his demise was swift \u2013 cornered on a dock, he was killed by two of his supposed followers. Mainlanders quickly sailed to the island and drove the Mormons away. The Irish settlers return and for the next 100 years the island was mostly inhabited by commercial fishermen. (facts taken from \u2018The Living Great Lakes, Searching for the Heart of the Inland Seas\u2019 by Jerry Dennis; published 2003 by Thomas Dunne Books, NY)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While we were off exploring ashore for several hours, the winds picked up. We returned to see that Thalia was not where we left her. Luckily, though she dragged her anchor quite a distance, she did not go aground or otherwise get in any real trouble. Since the harbor has a very grassy bottom, we had difficulty re-setting our anchor so we moved to the outer harbor. As we lie in bed a couple hours later, I heard knocking sounds against our hull. My first thought was that we were dragging our anchor again, but we were very protected from the wind and waves so I waited and listened. I realized the knocking was coming from several sections of our hull and that I wouldn\u2019t be able to fall asleep until I solved the puzzle. Upon looking overboard into the black night water, ducks scattered away from our boat \u2013 something had attracted them to snack on our hull! We had a good laugh and were then free to fall into a deep and comfortable sleep. Oh, the experiences of having a boat as your home!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Washington Island & Death\u2019s Door<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next morning, we left early to cross the remainder of Lake Michigan and to arrive at the \u2018Door Peninsula\u2019 which is the land mass that closes in the southern portion of Green Bay. (See the image at the top of the post \u2013 all of our destinations on the left side of the image are in Door County on the Door Peninsula.) Near the top of the peninsula, there are several islands and shoals that make transiting into Green Bay tricky. The names of the geological features in the area attest to the challenging ship-going history. The best channel to use to navigate into southern Green Bay was named \u2018Death\u2019s Door Passage\u2019 between Washington Island and Gills Rock. The hill overlooking the water here is \u2018Death\u2019s Door Bluff\u2019. There were so many known ship wrecks having taken place here that a shipping canal was built so this dangerous passage could be avoided! You can see Sturgeon Bay further south on the peninsula. It is at this location that a canal was built (around 1880) at the back of this deep bay to connect Green Bay more safely with Lake Michigan. We will use this ship canal to make our way back into Lake Michigan after we finish our exploration of the Door Peninsula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we left Beaver Island, our coarse was set for \u2018Deaths Door Passage\u2019!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington Island is the northern-most piece of land that is part of the popular Door County Peninsula. After passing through Deaths Door Passage, we headed north to anchor off this Island. There is a constant flow of car ferries bringing visitors to and from the island and that is our first indication of the level of tourism this wonderful part of Wisconsin experiences. We anchored outside the main harbor entrance, tucked inside the protection of an old breakwater. Since inclement weather was predicted, we did not make it to shore for exploration but instead headed out early in the morning to arrive in Sister Bay before heavy winds were to hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sister Bay<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overnight on the first of three nights on the dock in Sister Bay, the wind picked up and the forecast worsened to a \u2018Gale Warning\u2019 for our area. Tom and I began putting out extra lines and fenders at 5:30 am. We took the fabric off our bimini so it wouldn\u2019t rip and we removed other things from our cockpit that might catch the wind. By 7 am we had everything battened down and we were hungry! We headed over to Al Johnson\u2019s Restaurant \u2013 a Swedish establishment famous for its grass roof on which goats graze during the day. We walked in with our wind-blown hair, donning our foul weather gear and I\u2019m sure we were a sight. We didn\u2019t care since we were some of the first patrons \u2026 however, an hour and a half later we left a packed restaurant! Due to the wind, the goats stayed home on this day; however, we saw them the next morning and I have to admit that I found them exceedingly cute!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Al Johnson’s Restaurant w\/ Goats on the Grass Roof<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here is a video of the wind\u2019s impact on Sister Bay:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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