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| Day 4 (Wednesday 7/19/00) |
| Today the strong winds and big waves were seasoned with a chance of thunderstorms. We spent the day relaxing and hiking around the South island. Around 8:00pm. the weather calmed down, so we struck out on the 4 mile crossing to the North Manitou Island. We followed the course setting, which we had plotted over the winter. |
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| Gull Point is a narrow sand spit that extends out into Lake Michigan from the Northeast corner of the South island. As we paddled past, thousands of Seagulls, Cormorants and other shore birds exploded into the overcast sky in a frantic swarm. The swarm circled around us like a giant hurricane with us paddling in the eye of the storm. Eventually the birds grew tired of us and returned to their nests on the beach. As we paddled onward, the maniacal screaming from the birds became fainter, then finally grew silently out of range behind us. |
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| To the west, the clouds, which had been solid all day, lifted above the horizon like a blind being raised. The parting clouds exposed the yellow sun, which was already low. The clouds had been dark all day, but now yellow light highlighted the granite waves, and reflected against our wet paddle blades. When we finally reached the shore of the North Island, the sun had already slid into the lake. The remaining clouds glowed red and orange like the embers of a long burning campfire. We stole glances at the sunset as we extracted our camping gear from the kayaks under the scant remaining twilight. |
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