This is the day that we motored back into U.S. waters and headed for a U.S. Customs check-in point, one of which is located at Drummond Island's (Michigan Upper Peninsula's farthest eastern point) Yacht Haven Marina. (Readers should not get excited at the name "Yacht Haven". The marina has few slips for long boats, has hardly any dredged depth beyond four feet, and is no haven. But, for whatever reason - probably political pull - Yacht Haven has been designated one of the only U.S. Customs check-in points in all of the U.S. part of the North Channel.)
We gassed up the Aqua RV, got the all-important pump-out, and even got a visit from a very nice U.S. Border Patrol Agent early, which was good because the weather radar screen showed we were going to be sandwiched in between two large storm systems as we raced westward toward Mackinaw City's Straits State Harbor Marina. Our three-hour race was a lumpy and bumpy one, which got even lumpier and bumpier as we entered the Straits of Mackinaw where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron's waters mix it up big time. We had rain, four-to-five footers, water splashing over the bow and onto the windshield, lots of little fishing boats out in the poor visibility (they do not show up on radar screens), the kamikaze island ferry boats roaring to and fro, and one very stupid kayaker who is lucky that we (or any other boat, for that matter) HAPPENED to see him paddling off our starboard side.
The current was raging as we entered the Straits State Harbor Marina, as was the wind but CSO got us expertly into our slip, where we spent the night in preparation for our Lake Michigan run the next day.
The next morning's 5:30 a.m. departure delivered zero wind, decent visibility, and calm conditions under which we made our eight-hour run to "home" for Das Boot. We saw nary a ferry boat or a Chicago-Mack Race boater.
We arrived safe and sound back in our slip, with a dinner invitation for that night awaiting us. Yes, it was very hard to come home to "civilization" after having eleven amazing days in the North Channel of Lake Huron. We came home to the high heat and sweltering humidity that we had briefly left behind. Perhaps we should take an extended second North Channel trip yet this year?
Ancora imparo
