Harbor Island, Michigan

August 23-24, 2008

We had briefly visited Harbor Island back in July and were enchanted with its wooded shores. We were looking forward to anchoring there. Harbor Island is a National Wildlife Refuge so it wasn't surprising to see a deer grazing at the edge of the shore as we pulled in (just like the first time). We went to the inner harbor as it was forecast to be a bit windy and we wanted the extra shelter that it would provide. The first thing we noticed was that the inner harbor looked much bigger than the first time we were there. Guess all those smaller anchorages in the North Channel has changed our perceptions. We can just imagine how HUGE some of the upcoming places like Petoskey are going to appear to us in comparison to the bustling communities of Meldrum Bay, Gore Bay, Killarney, Spanish.

Taking advantage of the stormy-turned-summer day, we jumped in the kayak and paddled the circumference of the inner bay. We tried to go in the outer harbor but the winds were pretty strong for our little kayak. There is a clearing near the entrance that allows a short hike through the forest. We also walked along the cobbly shoreline. Many of the rocks there have fossils so we spent a little time breaking open rocks. Bernie found a very nice one on her first attempt ... then spent the rest of the afternoon cracking more rocks open. Phil finally convinced her to go back to Meridian after pointing out that it was too dark to see the fossils if she found one.

We stayed two nights at Harbor Island, enjoying the peacefulness, before heading off to Lime Island.

Harbor Island, Michigan

N46 03.080

W83 45.570