Mackinaw City
The municipal marina in which we stayed is right next to the Shepler's ferry that goes to Mackinac Island (note the two different spellings, the city ends in w and the island and bridge end in c). One of the directions that the harbor master gave us was to follow one of the Shepler's ferries to get to the correct marina. There was a different marina right next door with a different entrance.
Shepler's ferry docks are by the blue striped awnings.
We were tourists a little and walked down the beach to the bridge footings. It was not very far and there is a trail with information signs describing historic facts about the Straights of Mackinac, the many shipwrecks and the bridge. There was also a lighthouse to tour but again we were too late to do it.
When we left in the morning the lake was pretty rough. We had usually had calm mornings that built up to rougher seas and higher winds that then diminished by late afternoon. We had good wind but the rough water made steering tough and per our luck of late, we were heading west which is where the wind was coming from. It made sailing under the bridge pretty tough. We went through the center span but still got close to both pilings trying to get through. It seemed each tack was only gaining a few degrees; we were almost just going straight back and forth, barely making progress. We continued to tack to the west hoping that when we headed south, the wind in our face would come over the side. It was not to be. The wind shifted from the south so we had to tack that way as well.
Heading to Charlevoix was a long leg but we spent a lot of time tacking without the motor. We eventually had to motor because as has been typical (so far anyway), the winds stopped in late afternoon and we still had a way to go. So we ended up motoring the last third or so.
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