Day 82-83. 2nd year. August 11-12 Crossing North Channel to Drummond MI. Miles 48. Total miles 3770

 Woke with the sun as we have about a 50 mile trip ahead of us today.  It's 57 degrees and we are in sweatshirts and windbreakers.  Bill even put his gloves on!!

Leaving our protected anchorage at Turnbull Islands to head west.

We pass Sanford Island and the town of Blind River on the mainland, heading to South Passage which takes us into the main body of North Channel. There are now no more major islands along the mainland.

Turning west we watch the mainlands forested shores and hills go by and we begin to see the shore of Manitoulin Island to our south.

One and a half hours later, we pass Mississiaga Island the small rocky atoll 4 miles off shore, which is our first waypoint on our cruise today.

The sun came back out and we could begin to shed some layers of clothing. Yeah!  

We continued to travel west in calm seas.  To the south, we began to leave Manitoulin Island behind and approach Cockburn Island which is just west of Manitoulin.  Cockburn Island continues the island chain that separates North Channel from Lake Huron.

At 9:15 we approached the Grant Island group our second waypoint of the day.  We can see that they are much like the Turnbull Islands, except there are fewer islands and they are much smaller.  This could have been an anchorage for us in good weather, but with weather coming in this evening and tomorrow morning we opted to pass them by and continue on.

The mainland shoreline begins to disappear to our north.  We can barely see Thessalon, one of the last towns on the mainland through our binoculars.

To our south we pass Cockburn Island and get our first look at Drummond Island- the only American Island in this chain west of Manitoulin.  

Were surprised to have a bald eagle cross over our bow just as we entered into American waters.   Pretty cool! 

We then said good bye to Canada and took down the Canadian Courtesy Flag.  Next we checked in with US Border Patrol.  There is an app you use to communicate with the Border Patrol and once you've entered all the pertinent information, you get a phone or video call.  Luckily they let us back in!!!

A bit of history.  Drummond Island became part of the United States in 1814 as a result of the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812.  Ongoing border issues between the US and Canada continued til 1820, when a commission was established to survey the border to ensure the mandates set down in the Treaty of Ghent were followed in establishing the boundary. The commission recommended that St Josephs and Cockburn islands remain Canadian and Drummond  Island be given to the US.  It is interesting to note that British forces remained at Fort Drummond on the island til 1828 making it the last British outpost in the US.  Little remains of the old British fort today.

Drummond Island is located just off the east coast of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The island has more than 13 ecosystems- including 150 miles of shoreline with 30 bays and coves, 6 types of forests, 5 types of marshland and cliffs that are related to the escarpments of Niagara.  The island also has 36 inland lakes. and we assume great fishing by the number of small fishing boats.  Quite a diverse island.

Today, Drummond has a population of 1000, which inhabit the third of the island that is not owned by the State of Michigan. The rest of the island is forested hiking trails, camp sites, snow mobile trails and the largest closed loop ATV trail in the US.  

We made our way through the number of small islands just north of Drummond island and anchored in Harbor Island which is a nature conservatory.

The area looks much like Turnbull - heavily forested but much lower in elevation.  We even have our own Beaver Lodge in the anchorage.

After lunch, we completed a few chores and took a much deserved nap.  Was quite an early start this morning to make sure we got here before the weather came in.

The forecasted storm for the afternoon and evening was mostly drizzle and cloudy and breezy.  We lucked out!!

Day 83      August 12.      Lay day at Harbor Island, Drummond MI

The rain finally came in the early morning hours and the wind did pick up, but not as bad as predicted.  This day has been off and on cloudy with the sun trying to peek through.

We anticipated not so great weather so we just stayed put.  Managed to accomplish boat cleaning chores and exercised!  Yes, we exercise on the boat.  Bill has a stair climber which he has begun to use.  On last years trip he used it not once for exercise, but it was a handy step into the front V berth!  

Guess you can tell I also got caught up with the blog.  

We were joined in the harbor by a gorgeous classic sailboat.  We felt out classed!

Sorry no pictures today.  Was so cloudy that none really turned out.