August 31 at 3:45am I got up to do an anchor check and I looked out and saw stars, so I unzipped the enclosure and noticed rhythmic and shimmering light coming from our starboard side. I woke up Mary and Harold and we sat out on deck an watched the aurora for a half hour until it started to fade. The Milky Way was out in all it’s brilliance and so many stars. I even spotted a meteor.
Nearly every night I’ve look up into the night sky looking for the lights and today we enjoyed them from the middle of the Beaver Island Harbor.
Tonight we are tying up a the marina because winds are going to be gusting 30mph! Yesterday at 24 mph, we dragged anchor halfway through our first cup of coffee and had to spring into action. When we brought up the anchor there was a huge mistletoe ball of weeds that needed to be removed before resetting. It took up three tries to finally get a good set.
We spent yesterday doing anchor watch on board. It was too windy to row the distance to shore and we were uneasy about leaving the boat unattended after the events of the morning. For our peace of mind, we are tying for the big blow this afternoon through Sunday. hopefully, we’ll be able to rent some bikes to explore a little further afield on the island.