Rock and Washington Islands

We closed out last night with a full rainbow to the east and a pretty sunset to the west. This morning we had a brief shower go over, with a little heavier rain that scooted around to the north of us. We were eating breakfast at that time, and after breakfast, with little wind and calm water, we chased the rains towards the northeast. Water remained fairly flat through Death’s Door (Porte Des Morts Passage), all the way to Rock Island. Saw several fishing boats out trolling for Salmon in the usual places, around the bluffs. We went around the northern corner of Rock to view Pottowatomie Lighthouse, the first lighthouse in Wisconsin. Then stopped at the Rock Island State Park Boathouse. Beautiful rock architecture with interesting history. I’ve taken our boat inside the boat house to overnight once before, but learned it’s not a good idea, due to batcrap. Met the two new rangers, who were very interested in the C-Dory boats. Spent a few minutes sharing information about our boat, and then enjoyed looking through the boathouse again and taking some photos. The island is a great place to hike, and we have walked around the island before, out to the lighthouse, including touring the inside of it. After enjoying the boathouse, we headed across the short passage to Jackson Harbor on Washington Island. Just entered the harbor to take some pictures and then came back out and headed around the north side of Washington Island, over to Detroit Harbor, and into Shipyard Island Marina. For anyone that has purchased the Permatrim or items on line from SIM Yamaha, this is the place you got your stuff from. Andy Jr. is the owner, and many know him for his knowledge and customer service. Which I made use of. Going into Rock Island dock, I was going to use my kicker, but it would not start. In speaking with Andy, he suspects a CDI unit. Basically this provides the spark for the spark plugs. I was concerned at first that maybe my Fell MOB system was not working. (A better kill switch, that requires a FOB that shuts the motors down if you fall overboard or go more than 50’ away from the boat. Great safety device for someone that does a lot of solo boating…) Andy lent me their control box, which allowed me to take my MOB system out of the picture to see if that was the issue. Motor still wouldn’t start, so hopefully a new CDI will fix it. He didn’t have one in stock, but will order one and ship it out to me. The marina has a loaner car it lets patrons use, so Rosanne and I went into town to buy some tools I needed from the Mercantile, and then a favorite ice cream place here. (Of course. Lol.) We’re in the marina here tonight.Read more