We knew two waves of storms would be blowing through over the weekend, so we booked a slip at the Beaver Island Municipal Marina for Friday and Saturday nights. The forecast predicted 17-19 knot winds out of the east on Friday morning and the wind had been building overnight at Garden Island Harbor. After one cup of coffee instead of our usual two, we decided to weigh anchor and head over to Beaver Island and the safety of a slip.
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| Motoring west out of Garden Island Harbor (wind at our stern) |
We rounded the "corner," headed east through the channel to get to Beaver Island, and were confronted with sustained 21 knot easterlies and stronger gusts. Sea state was 4-5' waves crashing over our bow and port side (no dodger yet, so we were getting drenched despite wearing our foulies).
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| Before we turned east (and before I was holding on with both hands :) Yes, we're ordering a waterproof iPad case! I wish I could have captured the waves and whistling wind, but it was impossible. The engine was humming loudly, we were going head first into 20+ knots, and Stardust was (only) making 1.7 knots of forward progress. It was sloooooooow going! |
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| Heading into St. James Harbor |
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| Safely tied up in at the North Marina (far, far end of the harbor) |
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| The flags were snapping in the wind |
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| The yacht club is built right over the water. |
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| Loved these compasses embedded in the sidewalks |
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| Inside looking out of an art installation |
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| The marina had bikes to borrow, so we tooled around town between storms. |
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| Whiskey Point Lighthouse, circa 1870 |
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| Ruby Ann has seen better days :( |
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| What's a toy museum without a scary clown?! YIKES! |
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| We hiked through the woods to a north-facing beach (looks a lot more calm than the day before!) |
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| The calm before the next storm |
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| This poor boat hadn't been well cared for and broke free of its mooring |
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| The brewery was open Th, Fr, and Sat from 2:00 - 6:00 pm (ha!) We closed the place down on Saturday. |
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| (More) calm between storms |
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| Hearty breakfast aboard Stardust...eggs, bacon, venison, hash browns |
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| Second storm rolled through on Sunday - wind whistling through the rigging - and we extended our stay to Monday. |
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| Pretty sunset after the storm on Sunday |
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| The islands are known for having many, many snakes. Thankfully, we only saw squashed ones. |
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