September 30, 2024 - Mackinac Island, MI

September 30, 2024 - Monday 

Mackinac Island, Michigan 

I awoke sometime during the night to the sound of the anchor being dropped. So I knew we were just off Mackinac Island. 

When we awoke, we could hear a bit of wind and the lake around us was a bit choppy. We elected an Included tour this morning that is taking a horse drawn carriage ride on the Island. Our tour group time came, and we headed for the tender. A short ride into the dock, it is a clear but breezy morning. The Island is charming with mostly white houses, many of which are Victorian. As soon as we were ashore, we were loaded onto carriages. Most of the carriages we (Viking) were using held 16 people. Our guide/driver was Haley. She was very entertaining. We had anticipated a short ride up and down a few streets and that would be it. 

What we got was about 1-1/2 hours of driving around the island. We knew that automobiles were not allowed, but we didn’t anticipate the numbers of horse drawn vehicles we would see or the vast number of bicycles (many of them e-bikes). There are a few exceptions to the vehicle rule and that is a modern fire engine, a police car, and an ambulance. All product that is delivered to the island by ferry, is then loaded onto a horse drawn vehicle and delivered. We saw a vehicle leaving the Grand Hotel loaded with garbage. We saw a horse drawn street sweeper. With all of the horses this was very much needed.

One of our draft horses

The enclosed Carriage for guests of the Grand Hotel

The Grand Hotel and it is grand. Over 600 feet long. 402 rooms. All different.

I count six stories. Massive, but perfert proportions

Delivery wagon waiting for the garbage wagon to leave,

Street Sweeper

Presidential Carriage for VIP guests of the Grand Hotel.
5 US presidents have ridden in this carriage.

The island is heavily wooded. We spent quite a bit of time in the woods, listening to stories of the Island. Frequent stops to let the horses rest for a moment or two, a stop by their barns to get a drink, it's obvious the horses are well cared for. The vast majority of horses used on the island are two breeds of draft horses. There are 3 cemeteries on the island, all in a group. A Catholic, a Protestant, and a Post cemetery for those passing at Fort Mackinac. The Post cemetery has many graves that are unidentified, so they fly the US flag at ½ mast always in honor of these Unknown Soldiers.

A touch of Fall

The protestant cemetery. "our walls are more holey than others"

The Post Cemetery - you can see the flag at half mast.

A little more color

Arch Rock

We made a brief stop at Arch Rock to take a quick look at the Arch as well as a comfort stop for anyone needing it. While we were there, the horses were watered again and given a snack. We continued to snake through the woods until reaching the Fort. Our tour included entrance to the Fort. It is quite a compound with excellent views of the town. We walked back to the town from the fort, bought some of their famous fudge (there are at least 14 fudge shops along the main street). We got back to the pier just as one of the tenders was about to leave. 

Beautiful view of the town

The wind has come up a bit so the ride back to the ship was a little bumpier than usual. Back on board, we had some lunch, then relaxed in our room and I continued working on this blog. We have been so busy with daily activities; it has been hard to get caught up. In the past I’ve also been able to easily post these blogs to my Facebook page. However, Facebook has decided that I am doing something bad and will not permit me to post. 

In the afternoon, we attended a lecture on the polar regions. This lecture was primarily for selling future cruises, but 2 members of the Expedition Team were there adding their perspective of what it is like to visit the polar regions. We didn’t learn a lot, although it confirmed a lot of the information we have gotten from other sources. 

This was followed by the Daily Briefing. We then headed to The Restaurant for dinner. We were placed at a table with a delightful British couple. It was a very nice evening. At 7:45 pm we headed to Deck 6 as we have a weather balloon launch tonight. The Expedition Team tries to release one balloon per week (weather permitting). This is in conjunction with NOAA. The Octantis and Polaris are the only two commercial vessels releasing weather balloons. All other vessels are either research only vessels or military vessels.

The smaller sphere in the middle is the balloon.

And it's away

Rising quickly. Data is already streaming in. you can barely 
see the balloon towards the top left of the photo.

The data from the weather balloon was transmitted back to the computers on the Octantis and immediately uploaded into NOAA's data banks. The data immediately becomes part of the data used to predict everyday weather forecasts. As is the case with any kind of event on board, the wait staff were milling about among the guests offering some sort of libation. 

Time for bed.