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We are up at 4:30 and underway less than an hour later before the rising sun, which is gorgeous.

Why? We have a long way to go today … all the way back across Lake Michigan—eastbound this time—to Beaver Island.

Two days ago, when we came into Washington Island, we passed through the Porte des Morte (Death’s Door) passage, a watery connection between Lake Michigan and Green Bay that, according to French legend, was noted as having dangerous shoals, strong currents, and often opposing winds that caused many large sailing vessels to become shipwrecked.

For the size of Torenvalk, these factors are not an issue, and we could go back out to Lake Michigan the same way this morning.

But we don’t. One reason is that Porte des Morte lies to the south of Washington Island, and our destination today is to the northeast.

So, at least to my eye on the chart, it makes more sense to leave the harbor, which lies at the south-western tip of Washington Island, and go north along the Green Bay side, then turn eastward and pass the north side of Rock Island, a shorter route.

But it turns out to be a rough direction. The winds—those prevailing winds that the French warned about—along with four-foot waves are hitting us on the nose, causing Torenvalk to hobbyhorse and our speed, even with the motor, to slow undesirably to less than three knots.

We veer off, raise the mainsail, and unfurl the Yankee foresail in hopes of gaining stability and some more speed. That, of course, causes Torenvalk to heel. And that causes a problem in the salon.

We had foolishly not stowed our counter-top appliances before leaving port: coffee pot, coffee grinder, toaster, other items. Drawers on the starboard side that Bryan had built don’t stay in place and come sliding out, endangering Cyndy who is still in the salon.

Nick and I go below, and the three of us stuff things away: galley items into the sink and the other salon items on the v-birth.

Then we all go topsides to ride out the ride. It isn’t a storm, per se, but it is rough and it lasts nearly four hours.

Then we experience the whimsy of the wind and waters. Clearing the northeast corner of Rock Island at 9:48 am, the wind lessens and the waves are smaller. With a decent breeze and flatter seas, we enjoy speeds of more than six knots and much less heel.

Then the wind goes away; for much of the afternoon, we are dependent upon the diesel engine to maintain that speed.

Approaching 4:00 pm and with South Fox and North Fox islands in sight to our starboard, the winds return, and we are able to move along at more than seven knots. This part of the day is extremely enjoyable.

We round the southern point of Beaver Island at 7:30 pm and motor-sail north.

We enter our destination, St. James Harbor, at 10:00.

After 16 hours on the water, we tie Torenvalk in the slip that Bryan had reserved at the Beaver Island Municipal Marina.

Cyndy and I had already decided to have a night to ourselves. Yesterday, we had made a reservation at the Beaver Island Lodge.

Once within reach of cell phone service alongside Beaver Island, I had phoned the lodge to report our location.

When I apologized to Johan, the proprietor, for our later-than-expected arrival, he said, “What other option do you have?” I had laughed in appreciation and replied, “If we swim from here, we’ll be even later.” With an apparent smile in his voice, he agreed.

Once ashore, I call him again. Within minutes, he’s at the marina to pick us up and take us to the lodge.

It turns out that Johan is from The Netherlands and is, himself, a sailor as well as a man of about our age. In 1977 – 1978, he competed in the Whitbread Round the World Race from England to South Africa to New Zealand to Brazil.

Cyndy and I enjoy beneficial conversations with him and his wife, T.J., who was raised in Panama and has worked aboard an off-shore fishing vessel and a dinner cruise yacht.

They met on St. Martin Island in the Caribbean 17 years ago when she, on vacation with her son, heard him, performing as a guitarist in a beach bar, sing the song “Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)” by Don McLean. “The way he sang touched my heart,” she tells us.

Cyndy and I have decided to leave Torenvalk.

We meet Bryan and Nick in what might be Beaver Island’s only restaurant and break the news, which they accept with understanding.

We retrieve our gear and galley items that we had contributed to the cruise and return to Beaver Island Lodge for an unplanned second night.

We are sad and disappointed but comfortable with our decision.

You can read Cyndy’s post about this on Facebook here. That post includes a photo of me on the deck of Torenvalk at sunrise on Washington Island and a video of the food hammock swaying in the salon.

Cyndy and I are now back in Holland, Michigan, the port from which we sailed two weeks ago.

We are grateful for the Beaver Island ferry and relatives on the mainland who helped us get back here on Thursday.

Yesterday, we pulled our trailer out of storage and repacked our sailing and cooking items back into it. In short, we’re home again.

Viewing the satellite tracking system that Bryan installed on Torenvalk, I see that he and Nick sailed from Beaver Island to Mackinac City on Thursday. There, he would have picked up a package that relates to a new Yankee foresail that he was expecting.

On Friday, they turned west and are now making their way southward along the west side of the Lower Peninsula.

They will likely arrive back in Holland a few days from now.

You can track their route at share.garmin.com/Z2MWP.

I am redirecting my time to completing the series of travel eBooks that I stared months ago.

I am grateful for the greater amount of time that I will be able to devote to them.

This series, Journey: People, Places, & Ponderings, contains some truly remarkable stories about foreign lands and cultures and outstanding people.

Some of these eBooks are currently available on Kindle through Amazon; some are still in progress.

The eBook that I’m currently working on is titled The Kolkatan Candle Lighters. It is about more than a dozen people—Indians and people from the United States and Europe—who are giving of their time and talent to present a flame of hope for others who are less fortunate.

It will be available soon, and I will announce it with pride when it is published.

Except for promos about the Journey … series, I don’t expect to blog much in the coming weeks.

Cyndy is exploring the possibility of being a campground host.

She has talked about volunteering with some cause for most of our travel time, but the Covid pandemic as well as her illness last summer, put the kibosh on that.

One anniversary that we are not celebrating will occur tomorrow, which is exactly one year after she went into a hospital in southern Arizona with the ailment of necrotizing pancreatitis.

Instead, we are celebrating her current good health and our return to whatever might be defined as “a normal life.”

Thanks to all of you for reading and caring.

To find all the blogs from this voyage, visit my web site > blog page > Great Lakes sailing.

Torenvalk photos

You can find Cyndy's photos of this sailing adventure as well as other places that she and I have visited in the past two years here.

Robert (Bob) Weir stands on a dock in front of Torenvalk's prow