Can you believe it? A plan finally fell into place. According to the last post, we were anticipating a Wednesday morning exit from Mackinaw City.
Wednesday morning arrived, we secured the dinghy and all gear and checked out of Straits State Harbor.
I think we were getting close to qualifying as a seasonal slip tenant there.
Anyway, we put Mackinaw City in our wake...
...and pointed the boat toward the Round Island passage.
That's Mackinac Island to the left and Round Island to the right. Seven miles and we leave Mackinac Island behind. Kathy still thought that we should maybe spend the night there.
So with the islands behind, we point the bow east headed to the Detour channel about 30 miles away. A tug pulling a barge was on the horizon headed our way.
An hour later, we had passed the halfway point near Martin Reef and had real nice cruising conditions.
Another hour or a bit less and we were approaching the Detour Channel light.
That's a welcome sight after a couple hours of open sea cruising, although this particular leg of the trip is along the Les Cheneaux chain of islands so land is in sight much of the way.
Passing the Detour Channel light...
...and heading through the channel that separates Michigan's upper peninsula from Drummond Island.
We were to meet up with Brian and Shanna who were vacationing on Drummond Island at a little resort called Papin's. So we meandered through the islands of Potagannissing Bay and anchored on the lea side of an island off Papin's Resort on Scott Bay.
We contacted the kids via the marine radio and they soon pulled up in their 16' Smokercraft.
It didn't take too long to figure out that we had anchored in a spot that seemed to be a popular fishing hole. We had lots of people to watch. Unfortunately, a strong cold front early in the week had put the kibosh on fishing and we saw very few caught around us.
Brian and Shanna invited us in to the resort for a visit so we zipped across the bay for a visit in the dinghy.
We spent an hour or so there and decided to let the kids get their afternoon siesta and headed back to the mother ship.
It was a bit of a hike across to where we had anchored. That little white speck at the point of the island is our boat. It wasn't long and we were approaching "home".
We kicked back for a few hours, ate dinner, and I drowned a worm along the island while the kids trolled to and fro.
I caught nothing. They caught a few. Hate it when the kid out fishes me, but he had a head start. I don't get to do this warm water fishing very much.
I fished until 9:00 pm and called it a day.
I caught a photo of this bald eagle. It flew past us a few times and went into a tree on the island near us. When it went past the boat, it was usually just a few feet off the water then would swoop up into the pine.
Our window to make the crossing to the North Channel seems to be anytime Thursday. We woke up to a bit of a wind shift but still a light breeze.
The boat was littered with mayflies this morning which is likely another reason fishing isn't the best.
The fish don't have to look too hard to find a meal.
That seems to be what up north is all about. Winter and bugs.
As they say in the old country, better make hay while the sun shines, so we ate breakfast, packed up and headed out about 7:45 am.
We had a 40 mile run to Blind River, Ontario across open water. Better to do that when it's a nice calm lake.
Which it was.
About two hours and we were safely docked at Blind River Marina.
Kathy exited the boat and immediately struck up a conversation with Lorraine on Chloe's Cruiser. We met her and her husband George last year when we were here for a couple days and they were the nicest people to invite us aboard for snacks and conversation, then show us around the town. We all went for dinner downtown and had a great time. Our hosts are local boaters here so I'm sure we got the "special" treatment at the Mustang Bar.
The Blind River marina is really a nice marina as many of the marinas seem to be up here. Most that we've used are built by the municipalities and have facilities that serve multiple uses.
I strolled up the boardwalk to the marina complex where I checked in with Canadian authorities.
Canada Immigration thinks it's ok if I visit for a few weeks so we were cleared for entry.
Tomorrow is Canada Day here (Canada's 4th of July equivalent). They have big plans here for the celebration with a beer tent, rib fest, music and all kinds of games and contests here at the marina. The weather looks a little iffy but we'll see what happens. It looks like someone has put a lot of effort into this.
After clearing customs, I put up the Canadian Maple Leaf. Figured I'm almost one of them now, eh?
So with the requirements all met, we looked across a beautiful North Channel...
... ate lunch while enjoying a hen duck with her chicks behind the boat, That's a duck I'm not at all familiar with. It's quite a small bird. I think it's a Common Merganser.
After lunch we had to "do the town". Blind River is a little burg with everything you need but not much more.
Hwy 17 runs through here. It's a busy road since it's about your only choice for east/west travel in this part of the planet.
My first stop was the Scotia Bank to convert a few dollars for casual needs to Canadian funds. $40 US converted to $50.25 Canadian. Then a stop at the grocery for a couple items, then...
that's the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Everything I need is right here.
Bacardi Breezers. Wish you could buy these in the States. All that kind of stuff in the USA is flavored beer. It's made with rum here.
Kathy's needs are a bit more expansive.
But we were limited to a tote bag. She ended up with a few flavors of Smirnoff Ice.
Speaking of tote bag, the marina and yacht club here provide a welcome package that includes this tote. How nice is that?
So that's the update. The weather is closing in a little here and the winds have picked up as predicted. With any kind of luck, it will be nice enough tomorrow to help these Canadians celebrate their day.
Back with more as there's a need and an opportunity.
