Rock Island to St. James Harbor Beaver Island

Tuesday, June 25, 2013 ~ 

We waved goodbye to Rock Island at 8:45 and arrived safely @ St. James Harbor at 9:45.  Beautiful, safe and tucked away, we were hungry, tired and happy to be on the hook.  I made jambalaya with fish and scallops for a one pot meal.  We enjoyed a beautiful sunset!

Sunset on St. James Harbor

The crossing was not bad but the weather changed often, leading us to be in layers and then in bathing suits then back in layers. We passed the Rock Island Light within a half hour then headed into open water. The day started out relatively clear but became foggy. Boulder Reef marker should have been on the port side but we never saw it. We aimed for the south side of Beaver Island. We drifted North by 3-4 miles so we went around to St. James Harbor via the North end of the Island. The waves were hitting our starboard side. We had to take the auto pilot off and manually steer.  Mystic handled well. We kept the main and foresail up most of the day but reefed them both toward the end of the crossing when the wind increased to about 20 mph. The unknown is stressful but exciting and it's encouraging when we see that we can handle what we face.

Rock Island Light

Our anchorage is lovely.  We don't have time to go ashore but would love to come back and explore this Island. The water is Crystal clear; we could see the bottom. When we woke on Wednesday there were two other boats anchored nearby. We never heard them come in. We could hear people talking on shore at one of the docks. Their voices carried over the harbor and we smiled as we listened to their excitement as they counted the boats in the Harbor.

Anchorage at St. James Harbor, Beaver Island

Dave will pre-reef the main before we leave for Mackinac Island today.  Yesterday's reefing didn't go as well as we hoped. One reefing line broke so he reefed the lines on either end of the boom and left the rest. Conditions were rough and he was getting thrown around a bit.  We are learning and enjoying the process. It was a long day putting 70+ miles under our keel.

We're heading for Mackinac tomorrow hoping to stay the night on the Island.

St. James Light

Musings:

• Biting flies are the scourge of Lake Michigan
• Rock Island is a MUST SEE!!!
• Roller furling and auto pilot...don't leave home without them.
• Yelling "land ho" when there is no land in sight is NOT funny!
• Any broadcast on the VHF is interesting when you haven't seen a vessel in 5 hours.
• The right amount of wind from the right direction is good, the wrong amount of wind from the wrong direction is bad!
• The marathon sticker on my bumper applies to cruising:  "Every mile earned, never given"