We really enjoyed our short time on Washington Island. The forecast for yesterday was dreary and rainy all day with bursts of thunderstorms. Not to be deterred, we planned to take the 11 AM Cherry Train for their 2 hour narrated tour of the island. Here’s the thing with rain… once you accept that you are going to get wet, it doesn’t matter any more. It just is.

At about 10:30, we donned our rain gear, emptied our pockets of anything that we didn’t want to get wet, and made our way over to the ferry terminal and the ticket booth. We were informed that the train was 11 AM tour was canceled and the 1:30 PM tour was on the bubble.

Not relishing the thought of trudging through the island on foot, we walked across the street to rent a UTV from the Island Adventure Company. It wasn’t cheap, but it allowed us to see as much of the island as we wanted. And see the island we did!

We started with a visit to the Fragrant Isle Lavender Farm and resisted having lavender ice cream before noon. Why such restraint? I don’t know. I regret it. Then we went to the Stavkirke. The Stavkirke is a modern reproduction of a traditional Norwegian church circa 1150 that was built by hand. It was beautiful.

After a quick stop at the Art and Nature center and a slow swing through the cemetery (we love touring old cemeteries and learning a little about the history of a community through their markers), we stopped at School House Beach. This beach is part of the Niagara Escarpment and is one of five beaches like it in the world. It is full of perfectly smooth limestone stones. This beach holds a special place in the history of our family and we reflected on some somber moments. We also made a silly video. It can’t all be somber.

Leaving the beach, we headed for downtown. We shopped at a couple of stores and then headed to the Island Fair that was happening that day. We had some pulled pork parfaits and then drove to the lookout tower at the high point of the island. This is probably a spectacular view on a clear day, but it was overcast when we got there. We still went up the 119 steps to the top of the hill and another 65 steps up the tower to prove to ourselves that the view would have been better on a different day.

Leaving the tower we drove to the east side of the island and Jackson Harbor. We rounded the east side and made our way back home. After a quick fill up, we returned our UTV and headed back to the boat. Later, we enjoyed a traditional prime rib dinner at the Ship’s Wheel restaurant and called it a day. The forecast was looking good to sail the next day.

Today we woke up to wind that had shifted to the northeast and let up. The waves were beginning to lay down. We planned to leave late morning and go on the inside of the Door Peninsula in Green Bay to stay in the smoother water. As we were prepping the boat, I noticed that one of our bilge pumps was not working. Thankfully, we keep a spare on board and was able to replace it quickly.

At 11 AM we threw off our bowlines and set sail. It was an easy day on the water. The forecast undersold how smooth it would be! It was a beautiful and uneventful 4.5 hour cruise down the coast to Sturgeon Bay.

When we got to Sturgeon Bay we had to wait a few minutes for the Michigan Street Bridge to open. The bridge opens on schedule at the top and bottom of each hour. We made the 3:30 PM opening. As we near the end of our Loop we are taking note of the “lasts.” This bridge was the last bridge opening of our Loop. The next bridge is the Oregon Street Bridge and opens on the :15 and :45 of each hour. It has 24 feet of clearance so we could just sail under it without waiting for an opening.

Right after the second bridge we pulled into our marina for the next few days. Centerpointe Marina is a top notch facility and the crew was great helping is get into our slip. We have two more segments until we cross our wake!