Michigan Island |
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I've spent a good number of evening hours leaning into the corner made by the boom crutch and boom, way back on the aft deck of my schooner, just looking almost dead East from the marina, counting the seconds, waiting for each flash from over some 16 miles of water - the Michigan Island Light. |  |
| There is a comfort factor in
having the Michigan Island Light just where I expect it to be. The density of rain or the
thickness of fog can be judged by the quality of that sparkle-flash. As this is written, I have yet to set foot on Michigan Island. Sailors are like that. Their boat becomes an open cocoon, where they are in control, and they view land the same way they view strangers - from a comfort-zone of distance combined with the added security of a moat of their own making. |
| We came within two miles of
the beautiful sand point on the west end of the island once after a very slow cruise
around Madeline. We could see the lagoon behind the first pillow of sand, and the great
chunks of driftwood the beach is known for. One night, as thunderstorms rushed over the lake from the west, we rounded the east tip of Stockton bound for the comfort of Julian Bay. Twenty-five knots of summer breeze from due south sent us into a series of long tacks, down toward shallows of Gull Island off the east tip of Michigan Island, then back toward the protection of Julian Bay, and down and back again. We got to know the north side of Michigan Island very well that night. |
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| There are two lighthouses on
Michigan Island and there seems to be little human history beyond the stories of the
lighthouse keepers and their families. But what stories they have to tell! Fellow webmaster, Bob Mackreth, has a haunting tale about a very brave woman, Anna Maria Carlson, who with her husband Robert, were keepers of the light on Michigan Island. For more on Michigan Island Lighthouses click to NPS. |
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| Feel free to jump ship at
this point if you'd like. Just do the click thing to the link below.
But you are welcome to stay aboard. There is fresh beer and sodas in the cooler, the foresail could be let out a hair, and I could use some help on the tiller while I break out the anchor. Maybe we'll go for a swim if the deer flies aren't too bad. |
