Killin' Time in Mackinaw City

Well, the stories you hear about the “unpredictable” Great Lakes is true.  We arrived in Mackinaw City on Saturday, planning a two day stay.  We are still here (Wednesday night) due to weather.  Tuesday morning we thought we had a weather window to leave; in fact, we had slipped the lines and were headed out at about 9 AM.  A boat pulled into the harbor at just that time.  The captain looked a little beat up, and said we were “crazy” if we left.  He swore the seas were 5-8 feet, even though that was much higher than predicted.  We all quickly returned to our slips, and hunkered down to wait out the storms.  Good call.  Every boat that entered the harbor that day had a similarly, “wild eyed” captain and crew.  Today (Wed.) was even worse.

So, we have spent a couple of extra days here.  What to do…what to do…

Last night we had planned to have a poker night, but learned of a local “Music in the Park” show right next to the marina.  Anybody who knows my first mate well knows that she was a “band geek” in high school.  So when she heard it was a combination of marching songs and show tunes to be played…well, I knew we were going.  It was really well done.  I had no idea John Phillip Sousa wrote all those songs.  But, the Admiral did.  And she loved it, as did the rest of us Loopers.

 

The Straits Harbor Orchestra in the Park

The Rainbow was a bonus!

And the Loooper's loved it...

Today seemed to be “honey-do” day on the Looper boats.  Everyone was busy cleaning, working on their computers (bills still need paying, even for Loopers), and doing maintenance.  We took the opportunity to oil some teak on Once Around that badly needed the attention. 

 

The Admiral trusted me to do the floor of the shower...

But, when it came to the stuff that showed...she took control.

We captains got together later and think we have a weather window to travel early tomorrow (Thursday) morning.  Captain Ron says we will only get the crap beat out of us more as the day goes on, so the earlier we depart the better.  Negotiations ensued with the Admirals to see if they were amenable to a 6 AM departure.  We plied them with wine and an Italian dinner, and that’s the plan…for now.  Any luck and we’ll be in Bay Harbor Lakes Marina on Little Traverse Bay tomorrow by 1 or 2 PM.  I have it on my buddy Tom’s authority that it is 5 star marina, and awesome…I only had to tell Jan that it had a pump-out at every slip to seal the deal…