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Polar Expedition Spitsbergen 2009. |
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 Mikołajskie during the
summer
season (Mikolajskie 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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