When we tried to leave Drummond Island Yacht Haven, we heard a very loud knocking sound especially when we would put our port side engine in reverse. Our mechanics at Drummond Island Yacht prioritized our work to help diagnose a broken locking tab that held our spark plug #7 in place. When our manifold (lets in water to the engine) cracked (can happen over time and especially in salt water), it happend around cylinder 7. This might have been how the case for our spark plug was cracked and would no longer secure the spark plug so it wouldn't tighten and could not fire.
See the tab next to the pipe is broken off.
With a ziptie we are good to go until we get a replacement!
We are so grateful for our new friends and mechanics Carl & Brent (not in this picture) for all their help getting us up and running.
The night after we knew we had a solution, we had a wonderful dinner at Esther's with our new and old Looper friends.
After a wonderful dinner, we knew we needed to get rest so we could have an early morning departure to Mackinac City Marina. However, our local friends told us we had missed the Northern Lights the night before and we should try again. Our first time was unsuccessful because of cloud cover.
As the sun was setting the sunset looked spectacular.
And then the sky started to slowly change.
We weren't able to catch the orange flashes which looked light lightening. We were trying to capture a picgture of the flash, and then through the camera you could really see the Northern Lights coloring. It wasn't as easy to see through the naked eye - but the pictures are very cool!
This was taken right after an orange flash.
The day we were looking to get our final fix solution, Yacht Haven had these two visitors come into the marina. The Tiara decided to go outside the channel markers and is stuck on a shoal (rocks) about 2-3 ft below waterline in this picture. When they pulled the boat, their Zeus pod propellers were chewed up. These guests had a diver who also helped us by checking our props to make sure we were OK. We had to move a couple of times to accommodate them, but we really appreciated the double check on our propellers before our final diagnosis. These high profile guests came to this resort because of the remoteness.
Overally, we enjoyed our stay at Drummond Island Yacht Haven. The staff were particularly kind and supportive of us, especially considering the timing of our visit with the tragedy.
Stay: 14 days
Review:
Pros: Excellent Mechanics, Northern Lights, Staff, Locals, Restaurants, Marina Fees
Cons: Hard to get off the island, limited cell service, courtesy car fee to get to grocery store and restaurant
Maintenance: 5 Stars
Location: 5 Stars
Amenities: 3 stars
Accessibility: 2 stars
Note: We also must mention the extensive technical support we continue to receive from our mechanic friends from our time at Prince William Marina.
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