Hammond Bay/Mackinaw City; Wild flowers & sand beaches

So we left Presque Isle & decided we would stop @ another new place for us. We asked the bartender @ Presque Isle about Hammond Bay & he says there is nothing there & we said good, that's what we were hoping for. So we headed out Saturday morning, knowing we were headed to a spot that we wouldn't need to worry about reservations. Another beautiful day on the water. We did have to steer around a fishing net or two, thank goodness for our good binoculars. We put up with the fishing nets, because we enjoy the fresh whitefish & trout @ the restaurants. We pulled into Hammond Bay State Marina & Fred, the white bearded harbor master assisted us with docking. He said we were his first visitor of the season. There was one sailboat docked there & it had just arrived a few hours before we did, but he was Fred's only seasonal tenet. Fred said he wasn't alone though, that the resident Otter paid him a visit daily & the Bald Eagles would give Fred a fly by quite often. We settled in & then took a walk along the sand beaches that were located on both sides of the harbor. We saw signs of the Otter & deer tracks. I found my first wild flowers of the season for my little pottery wildflower vase that I acquired last year in Superior. Along the shoreline was a picnic area that had a Historic marker (see pic). It has been cool, but the sun, blue skies, moon & stars have been great. We never saw an Eagle while we were docked here, but the Otter did come by & was playing & chattering to us.

14 mile point light

Poe Reef Light

40 Mile Point Lighthouse-my cousin
Jack told me that's the Graveyard of Ships
didn't get to visit-darn it

Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw 

Day 8-we woke to an overcast sky, but the radar showed the rain was going to miss us once more. It was a bit windy; 5-10 from the North, meaning the waves would be 1-3's on our nose, which is ok. So we headed to Mackinaw City. We stayed here last fall & participated in the annual bridge walk, the bridge is a lot longer than it looks, but we finished & collected our certificates. We are docked @ the new Straits State Harbor. Three nice young dock hands helped us in & mentioned that less than a month ago there was ice floating in their marina. We also are next to the permanently moored, retired Mackinaw Coast Guard Ice Cutter, that we toured last year. My cousin Jack, that lives on Washington Island, Wisconsin reminded me this year before we began our journey about one of his experiences on a Coast Guard Cutter. It was the winter of 1964/65 and he was stationed aboard the Cutter in Detroit. They were sent out to break free a merchant vessel, caught in the ice. As they broke it free & started to break a path for it into Toledo, they were momentarily stuck on a wind roll & the vessel was too close behind them and couldn't stop in time, so the vessel they had just helped, rammed them in the rear and put a large hole in their Cutter, luckily above the water line. Well, they ended up going into the ship yard in Toledo and Jack doesn't remember how long they were there but it was more than a few weeks. How he remembers it, it was extremely cold, is his memory of Toledo and that's why he lives in Wisconsin now. I'm not sure but I think he had a more severe winter this last one than we did, he may want to reconsider!!

Great fresh fish & whitefish pate

Old Mackinaw Point Lighthouse

Mackinac Bridge

Round Island Light Near Mackinac Island