Gemini Loop: Blind River to Drummond Island

The trip to Blind River goes through a portion of the North Channel called Whale's Back. It is a beautiful place, with islands large and small. The islands kind of look like whale's backs, hence the name. We were in this area until we left Canada.

We arrived at Blind River a little after lunchtime. There were six other looper boats there. A couple of them were lucky enough to be at marinas for the “big blow”, but most had been anchored out as we were. We shared horror stories – ours really wasn’t that bad – and took turns doing laundry. The advertised wifi only worked in the main office, and they closed at 4:00. So much for updating the blog! The highlight of the night was an impromptu cocktail party with the other loopers. We seem to do a lot of that, don’t we?

The subject of Savannah always comes up (naturally) and many of the loopers had been there. One couple had flown from Hilton Head to Savannah in their private plane back in 1996. The propeller shaft sheared (de-coupled) and they had to put down in the marsh across from the Savannah Yacht Club. No one was seriously injured and the Yacht Club staff went over to get them. They didn’t even get their feet wet! What a small world…

All the captains were discussing the weather, and whether it would hold for us to leave the next day. Everyone was bound for Drummond Island, where we would cross back into the US and clear customs. Most were looking forward to better prices on liquor, beer and groceries... in that order. I was looking forward to consistent internet.

It turned out that the weather was fine for cruising, and we had a pretty smooth trip to Drummond Island. As we crossed the border into the US, we took down the Canadian flag and put up the yellow quarantine flag for customs. After docking, the customs official came right out and processed us in. I called and switched our phones back to the US plan, and was looking forward to using my “hot spot” to go on line. Unfortunately, we were just at the edge of civilization. The phones and hot spot were intermittent.

Steve rode his bike into town and visited the local museum. They had exhibits about lumbering and fishing, and about Fort Drummond. Apparently Fort Drummond is now privately owned and is not open tot he public. It was built by the British during the War of 1812. After the war, the United States ended up in possession of the fort. The local museum had some artifacts from the fort. I would like to have seen it, but we were ready to move on. We left Saturday and traveled to Macinaw City.