At last we are in foreign waters. Awoke this morning to black skies, threatening clouds, west winds of 15-20 knots. Not an auspicious beginning to what we had hoped would be our last day in Thessalon. Phil checked the radar on the computer and it showed a storm front passing over the north end of Lake Michigan and then to the north shore - where we were - sometime in the morning and the wind then dying down. We had breakfast and then joined two other couples on the dock, all with our coffees in hand, and discussed the possibilities of getting out today.

Thessalon is a very protected harbour with its mile long sand spit and we could all see whitecaps out in the bay beyond the point. But of course it was impossible to tell the wave heights, but with the wind from the west, we would be taking her on our starboard side as we crossed over to Drummond which would not be comfortable, so we decided to wait for the wind to die. Environment Canada weather broadcasts up here are somewhat difficult to interpret. There is no such thing as a marine broadcast for Thessalon. Rather, there is one for the North Channel, the St. Joseph Channel, Northern Lake Huron, and northern Lake Michigan and Eastern Lake Superior. Now, these all come together in about a 50 mile radius so which do you choose to listen to as they all seem to be different.

Off for showers and by the time we were cleaned up and had the power cords back on board and were ready to go, the wind had dropped and the waters were flattening out. And so we left Thessalon behind us and made a bumpy but not uncomfortable ride over to Drummond Island, passing Thessalon and Serpent Islands about a third of the way across. The waves were about 1 ½ ft but seemed to be coming from all directions. I suppose this is because of the water flow and the wind around the top of Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and the south end of Lake Superior.

Leaving Thessalon Island behind

Approaching Drummond, we could see St. Joseph Island to the west and then the many islands of Potagannissing Bay ahead of us. We chose to approach the marina using the most easterly passage, keeping Harbor Island on our starboard side and following the marked channel into the marina.

The first thing we were reminded of is that in US waters the buoys are much smaller (ie shorter) than ours. We do travel in US waters in the St. Lawrence but because of the large freighter travel the markers are usually large and easy to spot. Canadian spar buoys stand 3-4 feet above the water’s surface. The US uses much shorter and fatter markers in low traffic areas, only about 2 feet above the water, making them a little more difficult to spot, especially if the waves are 2 ft or more. We had put the track into the GPS yesterday - it actually worked - so it was easy to spot the buoys as we approached them. The entrance to Drummond Island Yacht Haven marina is surrounded by sand and rock shoals so care must be taken to follow the markers carefully at the entrance.

Phil called in as we approached - the US uses channel 16, not 68, as a call channel - and I went to the bow to unwrap the courtesy US flag. We have to wrap it around the bow flagpole as when it blows while we are travelling it makes it difficult to see the buoys or to use the binoculars. The marina answered and we were given a slip number which was easy to find. Each dock here has a small flagpole about 7-8 feet tall at its end with a different coloured flag on it. We are on the Yellow Dock, west side. There is a black flag, an orange, a blue, etc. and it sure makes it easy to see where you are supposed to go. The finger docks have large pier posts on them, about every 4 feet, as well as cleats, so there are lots of places to tie up. We found our teardrop fender, ForWalls, most handy on these type of docks.

Part of Drummond Island Yacht Haven

After securing ourselves, Phil took the boat papers and the passports over to the office of the marina. The owners of the marina are also the customs officers so there was no problem clearing customs. The only question Phil was asked was if he had oranges on board. Even if they are US oranges, bought in Canada, they can’t be brought back into the States because of some disease that might ruin the orange groves.

We are one of the smaller boats in the transient area, the others being in the 30-50 ft range. There are several large sheds with covered slips here, in fact, there are probably 100 boats under cover, and these are mostly small day picnic and fishing boats. There are also several large sailboats, including a 46 ft Gozzard that we went and drooled over. It is owned by a young Dutch couple who had it shipped here from Europe to the Gozzard plant at Goderich, ON, where it was repainted and tidied up and they are on their way to Mackinac Island and other points west.

After a quick lunch we walked the half mile to the Drummond Island Museum which is a beautiful log building, quite new and very large. They have a nice display of the history of the island and especially of its early settlers with the emphasis being on those who came after the British left in 1828. Bought a small history book on the area and Phil has already been reading it.

Drummond Island Corner StoreAfter leaving the museum, we walked to the corner store, a few hundred yards down the road where they have quite a reasonable selection of groceries and ice cream. It was well over 30C so we opted for ice cream. I had a Yoopie Chocolate. I asked what a Yoopie was, the young fellow said it was someone who lived on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, a UP. A UP is not the same as a person who lives in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. These are LPs but more commonly called Trolls because they live below the bridge - the Mackinac Bridge which joins the UP and the LP. He said that UP’s keep Trolls for pets. When Phil asked if Trolls kept UP’s for pets, the chap said “no, because UP’s can’t be trained!”

So much for Upper and Lower Michigan’s ethnology. Anyhow while we were having ice cream another couple came in and also indulged and we were sitting around outside chatting while we ate. Tonight about 7:30, someone knocked on the boat and it was Hugh and Margaret. They are renting a cottage on the island and decided to go for a drive to get cool in the car air conditioning as the cottage didn’t have AC. Then they decided to come and invite us along for the drive. We had a lovely 2 hour tour of the island and were amazed at some of the houses and cottages we saw. Even went over to the far western end and watched the car ferry head for the mainland - the UP. Finished off with a coffee at a local establishment. A very nice evening.

There are about 1200 permanent residents on the Island and about twice that many during the summer. There are some shops at the Four Corners, a hardware store, a grocery store, a restaurant and a couple of other establishments. There is a small airport which was built by the owner of Dominoe’s Pizza who has a home on the island. There is also a very large conference centre, golf course, cottages for rent, on the north side of the island on one of the bays. These are beautiful log buildings and from the number of cars parked along the way, it looked as if they were very popular. Apparently owned by a consortium of whom the above person is a partner.

The island has an elementary school but the high school kids are bussed to the ferry every day and taken over to De Tour Village to school. That must be a long haul in the winter. The ferry is built to plow through ice so that would be quite an experience to go through every day.

It is now getting late and Phil is just starting to plot the course for our next stop which is planned to be Fort Drummond Marina on the south west side of the island in Whitney Bay. We want to check out the waters in this area and also see something of the southern area where the British actually had their old fortifications, which I don’t think actually amounted to much. We shall see.

Location