August 15, 2022
Well the best laid plans….we had planned on leaving DeTour on Friday, August 12th and heading to Sault Ste. Marie. Then on the 11th we got a message from a friend made last year in the Erie Canal and she was on her way to DeTour with her husband and family. We would have to stay to see them. We had missed each other at the start of the season and couldn’t miss this chance too.
We needed to move. We needed new scenery. We left DeTour and cruised over to Drummond Island about an hour from the marina. After sightseeing through the islands we picked an anchorage in Pigeon Point and put the anchor down. We’re both hoping that there’s no weed under us and the anchor will come up clean. The night was quiet except for an occasional serenade by a loon. We had a lazy morning and eventually had to pull up the anchor and head back to DeTour to meet friends Cheryl and John. I donned my white anchor-up boots and headed to the bow of the boat.
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| Tourist trip from Drummond Island |
Luckily, there was no weed in this anchorage and the anchor came up clean!! We left Pigeon Point for DeTour with plans to tour through the islands before heading in. We arrived in DeTour about 4pm closely followed by friends John and Cheryl. We helped them tie up then went to our boat to clean up and plug in.
We all went out for dinner at The Mainsail on Sunday night and caught up on our travels and future plans. They had completed the loop and were ready to head home. We still have a couple of months of cruising left. We made plans to get together in the future and enjoyed a wonderful evening and a wonderful meal with Desi at The Mainsail.
Monday dawned bright and clear and we dropped our lines and headed north up the St.Mary’s River to Sault Ste Marie. It was a pleasant ride on a pleasant day and beautiful weather, again. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. We had reservations in the George Kemp Marina, another state of Michigan facility. It was great. Located beside the Valley Camp museum and across from the US locks. The location was awesome. There was only one minor problem….no Uber. We tried and tried to get a ride and finally called Quik Cabs. Our driver was most helpful and said he’d come back and get us when we were ready. We provisioned for our up coming guests and then tried to fit all that food and stuff onto our boat. It was a major task and I really don’t mind having croutons in my underwear draw.
That night we made the acquaintance of Richard and Carolyn on Hale Moana. We docktailed together then walked up to a great little Greek restaurant in town. We haven’t had Greek food since I can’t remember when. We enjoyed conversation with new friends and learned a lot about the north channel from Richard.
Now we just had to wait for Dale and Jeanne to arrive. That was more of a hassle than expected. Their plane from Toronto was delayed, then delayed again. By the time they finished delaying they were leaving twelve hours later than expected. They didn’t arrive to the boat till 11:30pm. Good thing we had decided to stay another night. We sat up for an hour or two talking and hearing about their travel hassles then headed to bed. It had been a long day for all of us and we were hoping to leave in the morning.
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| Valley Camp Laker Museum, Sault Ste.Marie, MI, USA |
The next day dawned bright and beautiful and we departed the George Kemp Marina for the St. Joseph Channel southeast to the north channel. Our new friends Richard and Carolyn had recommended this route so we thought we’d give it a try. Richard was right. A beautiful cruise through forty or so islands with rock shores and towering pines. We had the perfect day and it was a lovely trip. We planned on anchoring in Pigeon Point, a cove off Drummond Island. We were doubly surprised when we pulled in and Richard and Carolyn were waiting for us.
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| Hale Moana |
Maneuver schlooks we’re in order so we all assembled on Hale Moana for docktail hour. We, of course, had great fun and enjoyed a beautiful evening at anchor.
The next morning Dale caught sight of an animal swimming across the cove. We’re pretty sure it was an otter but he never came out of the water where we could see for us to be sure . We put the dinghy down and Bob and Dale roared around for a bit then the kayak had to be blown up so we could go kayaking. Pigeon Point was a great place to play on all our toys.
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| Dale kayaking before he fell in! |
Our next stop would be DeTour. Hale Moana came with us to the state marina there for one last night together before they headed off to Chicago and their last leg of the Great Loop. We got our favorite slip next to Dave in the Searay 560 and all walked up to the Mainsail for dinner. Desi put on a wonderful meal - we all ordered white fish- and we all left more than satisfied. How Desi manages is a mystery but her food is excellent.
The following day after looking at charts and weather , we decided that we could not safely travel to the Benjamin’s or Mackinac so we would head back to Sault Ste Marie and head through the lock into Lake Superior. We had found a cove that we could anchor in for the night with the expected winds.
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| West Sister Light |
We had a bit of a misstep at the locks. First, when you radio you have to declare which lock you want to lock through - Canadian or US. Thus you have to call “Canadian lock, Canadian lock”. The lockmasters took pity on us and explained. Then you are told to wait in the pond before the Canadian lock and accidentally wait outside the decommissioned US locks. They once again took pity and called to let us know we were waiting in the wrong spot. Even with all this, they let us through and into the lake without much fuss.
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| Soo Lock, Sault Ste Marie, CA |
We cruised passed the Algoma Steel installation. Amazingly huge facility. We passed the Pointe Aux Pins lighthouse and carefully cruised into Waiska Bay. We made it in past the submerged pilings and thought we were clear when Dale grounded us in 4 feet of water. We were pretty hard aground but it was mud so we were confident that with a little maneuvering we could get off. Bob managed to slowly wiggle us back to deep water without hitting the pilings we had worked so hard to miss. Needless to say, Dale’s boat driving was over for the day. We dropped our anchor and settled in for a quiet evening. The weather was a bit iffy with a chance of a shower.
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| Small portion of this enormous Algoma Steel facility |
The cove we chose was perfect for the expected weather . Well, that chance of showers panned out into a full blown squall. We clocked wind gusts to 42 mph and a steady blow of 35mph for about 25-30 minutes. The lightning was intense and right on us. The flashes and crashes were happening together. Our smooth cove churned up and was throwing 2-3 footers at us in no time. I am proud to say that the anchor we had set just hours before held like it was superglued to the cove bed. We would all sleep well knowing that our anchor was not going to drag!
The following day we had a leisurely breakfast then upped anchor and headed back to the Canadian lock to head back to “The Soo”. We had a slip reserved at the Roberta Bondar Marina in the Canadian half of the Soo. We had to check into Canada using their new app called ArriveCAN. I’d been trying to fill it in but was having technical issues. You had to check in with an address which meant we had to be in a marina hence our stay at Roberta Bondar. We sent our COVID vaccination info. and documentation in then called the customs office. We were put on hold for 40 minutes and then when we got through the officer could not hear Bob so she hung up!!!!! We were not amused. Bob called again and waited for 30 minutes this time but he was heard when they finally came on. We were finally legal. We placed our curtesy flag on our bow staff and proceeded to enjoy the Canadian side of the Soo.
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| Bob cleaning off spider droppings! |
Dale and Jeanne’s final night with us so we decided to go out for dinner. We made reservations at a nearby restaurant called Fluid. We had a lovely dinner and enjoyed our last night with our guests. Their taxi to the airport was due at 8:45am so we had an early night.
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