Last 2 stops in Canada: Little Current and Gore Bay and getting back in U.S. waters at Drummond Island

On Wednesday, August 5 we left the beautiful fjord called Baie Fine where we had anchored at the end in "The Pool". I took some photos on the way out as the waters were so calm and so the reflections of the scenery in the water were quite stunning. We also passed Strawberry Island Lighthouse. We had a little bit of rain along the way and upon arrival. Little Current is just after a swing bridge that opens for 15 minutes at the top of each hour. Our timing was such that we did have to wait about 15 minutes for the 11:00 opening. Despite the rain, the winds were non-existent which made docking pretty easy. Later after the rains ended we walked to Tim Horton's for coffee and a donut. Tim Horton was a famous hockey player who started a fast food restaurant. Then we did some provisioning at the local Independent Grocers. Later on I did some shopping at Turner's. We had pizza at The Social Club which has a lovely view of the waterfront and then had a drink at Anchor Inn. The next morning (Tim's birthday) before leaving we had coffee and breakfast sandwiches at "Loco Beanz" Coffee House. 

Thursday, August 6th (Tim's birthday!) we left about 10 for Gore Bay since it wasn't that far. Another looper who passed us took our photo. On the Nebo app we can look up what boat is next to us and send them a message or a photo. The boat owner of Quanta took our photo and sent it and we did the same for them. On the way we passed Benjamin Islands, another popular anchorage, made from pink granite. There are a lot of flat rocks to dinghy up to and hang out on.(maybe next time?). We made it to beautiful Gore Bay around 2:00. It's v-shaped bay with steep sides full of trees. There is a boardwalk that surrounds much of the bay. We walked to nearby Split Rail Brewery and had bacon wrapped scallops! Tim says the beer is quite good, especially the IPA. In the same building is an amazing chocolate shop called Finnia. The weather was quite warm  so we opted for delicious fudgesicles.   We also explored a few shops downtown and later ate dinner at Purvis Fish and Chips. It was a beautiful setting with views over the marina and bay. We climbed to the cupola to see the view also The food was amazing, especially the fried pickerel. We have very much enjoyed Canada but are ready to head back to our own country! Tomorrow we head to Drummond Island which is on the U.S. side of Lake Huron, the North Channel.

On Friday, August 7 we left about 7:30 am to go the 68 miles to Drummond Island. It started out calm and we saw a beautiful lighthouse at the end of the Bay called Janet Head Lighthouse. Later the North Channel got 1 to 2 foot waves with short periods between them so we took it up on plane to make the ride smoother. When we got just north of Drummond Island into USA waters, we "reported in" to the USA with just the CBP app. The agent called us and asked a few questions and that was it! Drummond Island is in Potagannissing Bay and is part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. We arrived  at Drummond Island Yacht Haven in early afternoon and got fuel and a pump-out. The marina is quite nice with a great ship store, helpful staff, a good size laundry area, and car rentals for $25. They have boat houses for the locals for smaller boats and they have wooden plaques with their names on them. There are various size boats here and we were one of the smaller ones. We did not do much as we were tired but enjoyed celebrating our return to the USA by taking down the Canadian flag and putting up just ours. Canada was great but it was nice to get back to our own country. 

On Saturday, August 8, we got some laundry and other tasks done. We saw some swans hanging out in one of the boat houses we had to walk through to get to our slip. The boat houses have the names of the boat owners on them and have cranks at the top that they use to store the boats out of the water in the winter.  We then rented a blue Nissan Juke. The marina has $25 car rentals as I mentioned and they assigned us the Nissan.  Drummond Island has only a few places to visit. There is a museum but we missed the time for that. We drove to Pins Bar and Grill at the Drummond Island Resort which also has a golf course. We also went to the "4 corners" area where there is a hardware store, grocery store, gift shop, visitors center, a couple restaurants and an ice cream shop. We ate at Northwoods  and had a meat pasty, sort of like a pot pie, that the Upper Peninsula is famous for. We also stopped at TeePee Ice cream. Back on the boat we watched the tall ship called Huron Jewel take some passengers out on a charter and then saw an amazing orange sun going down.  Sunday, August 9, we worshiped with our church's livestream and rested most of the day. We are looking forward to Mackinac Island where we have a boat slip right at the marina on the island. We have never been there before so are very much looking forward to our time there!