45°53′30″ N 84°33′16″ W

We left St. Ignace at 8:00am this morning & are headed to Little Shelter Bay on Drummond Island. This will be our last stop in the USA before crossing back into Canada tomorrow.

This passage is going to be very simple. After we left the marina & got out past the northwestern tip of Mackinaw Island, we stay on a straight line course for about 46 nm, then we “hang a left” into the bay where we will anchor for the night. The entire trip should take us around 6 1/2 hours. Chris is on watch for traffic & fishing nets.

Yesterday was a laid back day. It was windy & cool & there were several small rain showers. It was a good day to be on the dock. I spent part of the morning working on my laptop & Chris made another trip to the local grocery store for a few more provisions.

We had Our neighbor Bren over for dinner & Chris cooked some marinated ribs on the BBQ & corn on the cob. Delicious! While we were having our supper a local wedding party came onto the docks & had a photo shoot on the Viking ship. Now that will be something to remember through the years ahead!

After supper Chris wandered over towards the Viking ship to check them out & he saw a familiar sailboat on the same dock. Turns out that last summer we had met the owners, Ella & Bill while we were anchored in Wingfield Basin. They are from Minnesota & keep their boat “Vixen” in this general area & cruise around Northern Michigan & the North Channel every summer for their water oriented vacation.

Ella & Bill came over to Ananda to say hello & to see the boat. They have a friend who has a newer version of this boat & were interested to compare layouts. After the tour we settled down to discussing more important things. Chris introduced Bill to “the bad bird” (aka The Famous Grouse) & Ella & I discussed our ongoing battles with spiders & their droppings. I introduced Ella to the miracle of “Spray Nine” cleaner. She was not sure if the product was available in the US so I presented her with 1/3 full bottle of the stuff to take “home” & try out on their boat 👌

While we were visiting the Town of St Ignace put on a fireworks display in the harbor beside the marina. It went on for 15-20 minutes & was very impressive. Apparently the Town does this every Saturday evening during the summer. So if you are visiting or traveling through the area it’s worth staying around for.

Cheers & catch up to you again soon!