Saturday, August 19: Left Ludington, easy run south to Pentwater (only 12 miles). Tied up at Snug Harbor Marina and planned to stay until Monday morning, once our package of parts arrived at the marina (yet another solenoid and a 30 amp splitter). Little did we know we would be here for 5 days!!! Ironic, since Pent means 5, and the name Pentwater came from the small lake being “pent up” until a logging entrepreneur in the 1800s opened up a canal to Lake Michigan.Our “front yard” looking down the main street. Reminded me of our new home town of Altamont. Lots of neat artsy shops, restaurants and no stop lights.Our “back yard” with boats from the nearby Yacht Club. The red team and the blue team head out to the Lake for an Ensign Race.Took a stroll through town and entered this candy/ice cream shop. Random! Chairlifts and old skis!!!I think everyone of our Snow Ridge Skiing friends/family members owned one of these skis at one point.Apparently space is not an issue in Michigan as it is for NYS liquor stores. So interesting to have a baby grand piano be the center of a Rose Wine display.August 20: Early morning line up of swallows.Our noisy neighbors.Took a walk out to the breakwater. Bob was amazed by these flowers.He dubbed them the Chernobyl hibiscus.Then he noticed this hummingbird (yeah Bob!).She hung around long enough for me to get this shot…and this one. Made my day!A beautiful rental with no one in it!Next door rental with beautiful window boxes, also with no one home!
One of the dock workers told me there were Monarch Way Stations along the breakwater. Cool to find them!All the necessary ingredients for attracting butterflies and monarchs in particular.Perfect sailing day.Glorious Sunday afternoon at the beach.I noticed a sand dune behind the beach….so of course we had to climb it.Looking off to the north…through amber waves of grain.Walking back down to the beach.For our diving friends – oh no – a flying lethal coral snake!!!!Walking back into town we finally realize why the electricians in Charlevoix couldn’t find the source of our electrical discharge problem – they didn’t have this handy schematic of our electrical system!Went by this bar that had a wonderful band and jib sails for sun covers. Then we noticed the sign in the background…Mort’s! What are the chances? Just learned that a dear friend from Rome, Ian Marwick, nicknamed Mort, had passed away at age 89….RIP Mort – great guy!Bob thinking about an accessory for his Dodge Magnum.Silly picture for my grandkids. OMG – I need a haircut!!!August 21 – Eclipse Day!!! Made a ridiculous viewing box out of a Triscuits box – which really didn’t work well. Fortunately a fellow looper had eclipse sunglasses which she very nicely shared with me. Got to see an 80% eclipse – so cool!!! Temperature dropped and the wind picked up at near totality. Then the birds started chirping and the world reset.For the record, my hummingbird feeder did attract some hummingbirds. I didn’t get a photo of them at the feeder but if you look to the left, there’s one leaving to the right of the sailboat mast.So we waited until 5pm on Monday, August 21 for our parts to arrive. Weather was perfect in the morning for heading south. But by 5pm, too windy to head out. Paid for another night of dockage. On August 22, I got my haircut in town. Kathrine at the local salon performed a miracle and turned my straw hair back into real hair. Walked a mile to this nature center.Turns out the nature center is actually a 3 acre private residence owned by Lee and Elaine Curtis, former teachers. Lee’s life long hobby has been developing an arboretum. He’s now 85 and loves to have visitors see all the trees he’s planted and his educational stations for kids. His wife delights in gardening (and of course has a registered Monarch Way Station). In the background are vertical wood planks. Each plank is from a different native Michigan Tree which he has labeled at the bottom.On his desk I noticed a blueberry picking device my French cousins have. You put your thumb and fingers into the holes, then swoop through the blueberry plants. The leaves fall through the tines, and viola! the blueberries fall into the wooden box.One of Lee’s teaching stations.Back at the marina I had noticed these ducks that I couldn’t find in my bird book. (Such a bird nerd!). Per Lee Curtis, these ducks are a hybrid of farm ducks and mallards.Mother duck rejoining her ducklings.All is well.August 22 – beautiful day – but winds steady at 20mph with gusts up to 30.Yeah………a no brainer, we’re not leaving port today.
Waves crashing over the breakwater.August 23 – still blowing so we did all those mundane tasks we put off to “someday.” Laundry, washing the deck, replacing the solenoid, repairing the forward flag staff, vacuuming, dusting, blah blah blah. Fun part was meeting more loopers and locals at the marina. By the end of the evening it did calm down. Looks like a good day to leave on the 24th.
Islandia Grabo's Blog 
Love the hair doo! Really love the hummers. Fun blog!
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