We left off at Beaver Island, so on Tuesday July 6th we set an alarm (I know, I know….) and got up at 5 am so we could leave Beaver Island and head to St Ignace. This is about a 40 mile passage and will take us about 8 hours. We are heading to St Ignace to meet our friend Camille who will be joining us aboard Painkiller for about a week before we returns home again.

This is the beautiful sunrise that we were treated to as we left Beaver Island this morning. Some things are worth getting up for.

It was a beautiful wind day today with winds directly behind us at about 10 knots. It is days like today that we wish we had a spinnaker sail. The other highlight of this passage was crossing under the Mackinaw Bridge and entering Lake Huron, our second Great Lake.

We pulled into St Ignace around 1:30 pm and got settled and walked across the street from the marina to a great little restaurant called the Gangplank. It was great food and we were already exhausted and ready for a nap. We went to St Ignace a day earlier than we had originally planned because we knew there was a weather front coming in bringing rain and thunderstorms. The entire next day and the day after that ushered in the storm front and kept us aboard the boat. We literally didn’t leave the boat for about 48 hours. It was 55 degrees, raining, windy and not fit for human consumption outside.

We spent our days organizing, blog writing, reading, relaxing, made a pot of chili and some corn bread and did some laundry.

Thursday July 8th – Camille has arrived! She flew into Chippewa County International airport in Sault Ste Marie. She was able to find a shuttle to take her the 30 miles or so from the airport and drop her off at the marina in St Ignace. We are happy she has arrived! Let the fun begin! Camille has also brought with her some nicer weather! The clouds began to break up when she arrived!

After Camille arrived we headed out to eat at the Mackinac Grill right on the water just down the street from the marina. Then we headed back to Painkiller for cocktails and some Mexican train dominos.

Next up – Mackinac Island!