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Reefs, sprinklers and exploding sourcream
At dawn we raise the anchors. We leave Indian Bay heading for Mackinac Island -
tourist Mecca of the rich Americans. Just a glimpse on a map will tell you that Garden Island is surrounded by rocky reefs, where depth can suddenly drop to just a few feet. Since our depth sounder still waits for a sponsor (yes, it's the button on the left! :) we have to master the art of VDE (Visual Depth Estimation). Fortunately enough, the great clarity of Lake Michigan waters allows us to see the bottom even from 30 feet above. Not willing to waste our time going around the rocks, we decide to sneak through the passage between Garden Island and two small islands West of it. Since our photocopied maps well remember the times of the first war in the Persian Gulf, we smartly follow another sailboat which apparently has a similar plan. Our smiles disappear when our guide drops out choosing the safe route. Unthinkable for the crew aboard Whisper The Brave! The fact that you can read about it proves that we've made it. But still, gliding above clearly visible boulders was not the most relaxing sailing experience. (Honey, look! The water is so green and you can even see the pebbles!).
Going under the Mackinac Bridge we feel like on Lake Miko³ajskie during the summer
season (Mikołajskie is the busiest lake in the Mazurian Lake District in Poland). The closer we get to the famous island, the busier the traffic gets. Every minute, water-spitting ferries, seem to multiply around us. "Sprinklers", as we call them, hurry empty towards the island and speed back to the mainland packed with joyful tourists. Magda suspects that the fountains are nothing more but a trick for the tourists' enjoyment. Piotrek, of course, ridicules his wife's naivety, but he doesn't come up with any explanation of his own (if you know what's the purpose of the water fountains, go ahead and write us. No prize waiting, though). Expecting exuberant charges in the marina (OK, we didn't check how much we saved) we drop our anchors within the wavebreaker. The bottom is rocky again, but the weather forecast is merciful. Although there is no wake within the harbor, "sprinklers" seem not to care about it at all . To avoid getting our teeth knocked out, or being buried under our pots and pans on the boat that rocks in every possible direction, we flee to the land - colorful, flourishing and bustling with razz-matazz hustle.
Very soon we discover that we are not the only Polish people on the island (what a
shock!). Encountering Polish folks in the least expected places will become almost a rule. The next thing we notice with astonishment is a lack of cars. Those accustomed to their automobiles must now choose between a bicycle, a horse-carriage or their own feet. Only the Rescue Forces are allowed to drive theirs cars. It's somewhat funny to see chubby Americans wiggle on their freshly rented bikes, probably for the first time since their childhood years. We walk down the Main. Every other store window advertises the mysterious fudge (all right, we knew that it was a local delicacy). It looks like a block of toffee, of which a thick piece is available, but not for guys with a slim
wallet. Shortly, it's overrated. We move on dodging the horse poop. The buildings remind us of the old Westerns (anyways, you can check it out, just see the pictures).
Two Hindu guys sitting on a park bench with a laptop
share a secret: there's a wireless internet around the Library building (from now on, we check every library). We spend the whole next day working on our webpage, which you can now, hopefully, enjoy.
Now we must confess. There are two things we can't resist: sushi and Guiness. We succumb to the latter and end up in the local Irish Pub. Has sourcream ever exploded into your face?...
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