St Ignace, MI

Day 126 … Thursday, August 24, 2017 … 51.7 miles; 6 hours

Drummond Island, MI to St Ignace, MI

Cool start to the day at 52 degrees; Rip turned on the diesel heat to take the chill out of the air this morning … and it is LATE AUGUST! Still, the wind had died down from the last 2 days; so temps were comfortable and only got better and sunnier as the day continued.

6 Looper boats & 3 locals had holed up at Drummond Island Marina during the wild winds … all were leaving about the same time this morning. We managed to get over to the fuel dock for a pump out before the others went for fuel and pump outs … we could have waited an hour or more if we’d been last in line. Without needing fuel, we were in & out quick.

Nice flat seas today. Mostly open water, except for the passage thru DeTour. We are in the land of big water and bigger boats again. We haven’t seen the large ships since we left the Hudson River back in early June. I doubt it will be much different than the big ships in the Chesapeake Bay.

We passed Mackinac Island. We do not plan to stop there nor take the ferry over to hang out. We are ready to keep moving on, for now.

So, on to the marina of choice for tonight, St Ignace Marina in St Ignace, MI. We have Mackinac Island in sight and can watch all the ferries taking folks back and forth.

Bonus, we catch back up to Firestorm! Though we are going separate ways tomorrow; I am sure we will catch back up again down the lake somewhere. We had 2 Amazon deliveries waiting for us and 3 prescriptions filled & ready to pick up at the local pharmacy. Plus, there was an Ace Hardware beside the marina … Rip needed for hose parts. That should keep us busy for today. Well, that and docktails with Firestorm! Tomorrow am we will head on to Charlevoix for 2 days.

Back in the USA; Drummond Island, MI

Day 122-125 … Sunday, Aug 20- Wednesday, August 23, 2017 … 40.5 miles; 4:50 hours
Meldrum Bay, North Channel, Ontario Canada to Drummond Island, Michigan, US
The run from Meldrum Bay on Sunday was nice. The morning was pretty, cool and calm.
Fog tried to interfere; luckily it didn’t take hold around us. Seas were calm, not flat, but very calm. A near perfect day to be in open water.
We took down our Canadian courtesy flag and raised our yellow quarantine
flag as we crossed back into US waters.


Our marina stop today is Drummond Island Yacht Haven, where a US Customs Office for checking in is at the marina.
Once docked, the customs agent was quickly at the boat for questions and paperwork (ours and Cally’s). All went smoothly, soon we were released to all leave the boat. YEAH, Cally gets to go to shore to go potty!

This marina trip is again about errands. First up laundry & publishing the blog since we have good WiFi here.
Firestorm headed out on Monday.
It would be the best travel day before their friend arrives to join them on the boat for a few days. Sad to see them head off without us, but we don’t have a schedule. It was a great day for them to travel with flat seas. Later in the afternoon, Tom & Carol on Destinations arrived. We originally met them in NY at Great Kills Yacht Club and again at Half Moon Bay. Then it was a long time until we saw them twice at Little Current. Anyway, nice to have friends around again.
Carol & I went grocery shopping on Tuesday. We had all planned on going to dinner tonight, but the winds started howling and didn’t stop until well after dark. As the winds picked up everyone on the dock started retying lines, adding additional lines and generally checking everything out so all the boats rode the storm out as well as we could. The winds were so strong, 25mph with gusts to 30mph, Rip and I weren’t comfortable leaving the boat, much less leaving Cally onboard by herself.
The winds should abate by midnight, Tuesday. They won’t be calm on Wednesday, but certainly should be low enough we can all go to dinner tomorrow instead.

Plan B-Moiles Harbour to wait out Rain & Winds

Day 119-120 … Thurs/Fri, Aug 17-18, 2017 …

Eagle Island to Moiles Harbour, North Channel

Eagles Island was not where we should be to ride out the coming winds & rain. Plan A was to get to a popular anchorage called Long Point Cove. So, another dreary, cool day in Canada, eh.

First up, a short narrow cut called “Little Detroit”. No problem for both boats to negotiate, as no one else was coming and the winds were not bad.

Good thing, because my securite call was on VHF 68, not 16 as it should have been. I hit the down arrow not the 16 button.

However, Firestorm covered my fanny and made the call … not as early as I had made it, but, not hearing us do it and in plenty of time.

After 12+ miles, radar & weather aps were telling us we wouldn’t make it before the weather system hit us. Plan B, tuck into Moiles Harbor.

All tucked into Moiles Harbor, there are 3 of us here, all with dogs to get to shore. We stayed for 2 days waiting out weather/rain/winds … catching up on rest and reading mostly.

Our Last Day in Canada; Meldrum Bay

Day 121 ... Saturday, Aug 19, 2017 ... 33.9 miles; 4:20 hours
Moiles Harbor to Meldrum Bay Marina
Time to cross the North Channel to the south side and ease our way back to the USA. Most of the run was in open water, waves were not bad but 2-3 footers and occasional 4 footer. Not a smooth ride, but not difficult. Towards the end Cally got uncomfortable; I left my seat, went back to the area with a rug (think traction) and had her snuggle in between my legs so I could hold her from moving side to side. She has been thru MUCH  worst conditions in this boat. She settled right down and relaxed the rest of the way to the marina.
Meldrum Bay Marina is a quaint little marina in a sleepy little fishing town. They have 4 nice transient docks for folks like us.

By the end of the day there were at least 5 Looper boats there and some locals. We met Mike and Marian from Midas Touch. They are Gold Loopers, having completed their Loop 4 years ago. I remember reading their posts and when they closed the Loop. They gave us a few tips about upcoming places, some movies to watch and two places for fabulous desserts not to miss. Midas was their golden retriever, he passed just 2 weeks ago ... so Cally got extras rubs and hugs from them.
Midas Touch, Firestorm and us went to dinner at the local Inn.
Tomorrow, the USA!!! A beautiful sunrise greeted us this morning, our last day in Canada.