DAYS 67-73 : St Ignace to Petoskey & Marion Island MI

St Ignace to Petoskey: 8.7 mph; 54 miles; 6:13 hours
Petoskey to Marion Island: 8.9 mph; 53.9 miles; 6:05 hours

The Straits through the Mighty Mac: When boating through the straits, around the top of the mitten, there is an abandoned lighthouse past the Mighty Mac Bridge. It was once there for a reason, and its presence still has weight, stay to the right of the lighthouse and give it a wide berth. I swear, the electronics and maps showed we had a clear 17-20 feet all the way around - but my eyes were telling my brain a whole different story! That is how clear the water is - I swear I could have reached over the swim platform and just touched those rocks. I was a nervous wreck but Jim was cool and calm, he knows what he’s doing, but still, he considered my nervousness and took a wider birth were the electronics read 230 feet. What if all those rocks made a small rock mountain and we hit it?! I was so nervous.



Petoskey Marina
$56/night: electric, water, showers/bathrooms, coin-operated laundry. 

The marina is pretty bouncy in the wind so we were sure to tie the boat tight. We were there for several days because of small craft advisories and fast moving storms. Great place to be stuck though.

If Bois Blanc Island was my favorite island to escape, Petoskey, so far, is my favorite town to stay and explore. It is so darn charming! Cobbled streets, gas-lighted downtown area, with a fantastic brewery and local distillery. So much to see! 

This little town of Petoskey is funded through tourism and known for the Petoskey stones. A Petoskey stone is fossilized coral about 350 million years old. The color is usually gray but rarer stones of pink and blue can be found along the water’s edge. This little older lady taught me how to find them and it’s easy when the stones are wet because they dry a boring and near colorless. I am going to put mine in a mason jar of water with a little rubbing alcohol added for good measure. You could hand polish/sand them to really see the beauty of the stone or buy one already polished. The stone’s hardness is ranked a 3, soft, but surely there has to be a way to include a tumbler in the beginning of the process to move the polishing along. Off to YouTube!

There are two other stones; the Charlevoix and the Yooperlite. The both are fossils, like the Petosky rock, BUT the Yooperlite glows at night! If you give it 8 minutes of UV light, it will glow for 12 hours. You can find them at night with a blue-light; so far, I have only found one … in a storefront for $16.00. Frankfort is another good location to hunt for those stones - so the search continues!

The Petoskey Breakwater Wall Jump is a really big deal here. It’s not illegal but ill advised. The kids do it all day long! They love it and the local stores sell shirts proclaiming a person’s successful jump!


Marion Island: ANCHORAGE
We were on our way to Charlevoix for the night when we spotted this little island north of Traverse City. Perfect anchorage with easy waters and a sandy bottom. Lots of local day boats but silent at night. Great little beaches for collecting rocks and seaglass. 

Marion Island was also called Power Island; it has had a LOT of name changes over the years. It is now owned by the state of Michigan. 

Chalevoix will need to wait for our next Loop Tour - I bet those mushroom houses are really fun to see.



SIDE NOTE: During this time, we talked to Sara and she is flying out to Michigan tomorrow! Traverse City is a great location with direct flights from Regan or Dulles. Good to know as I think I will summer in Michigan for the rest of my life. I really love this place.


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