Sault Ste Marie to De Tour, MI to St. Ignace, MI

Day # 686; Loop Miles to Date = 8,296

We departed the Soo on Thursday to much calmer conditions. There was a slight breeze, but the little that there was, we had was on our stern, so it was a very pleasant 44 mile travel day.

Our morning sky as we departed the Soo.
 

Our trip to De Tour was largely uneventful. We were traveling most of the day in the down bound commercial shipping channel, but we didn't see any commercial traffic at all. We were hoping to pass some of the large 1000' lakers, but they just weren't where we were travelling.

A vast waterway even though it is a shipping channel...you can see Act III way down in the left corner. The sky was really interesting this day.

And here's something that you don't see every day. This ship hull had apparently been hauled up on shore, and from what we could see it may have been converted in to a cottage or living quarters of some sort. It is rather disorienting to see this up in the woods and not on the water...

We found De Tour to be a sleeply little town with a small grocery and a few small restaurants. The marina was great...one of the newer, refurbished Michigan State DNR run marinas...very nice. But, it was just a place to stop for us, and we were off the next morning.

From our slip at Detour...a couple of the big ships crossing out in the channel.

Fridays transit was another 44 miles, all of it in the open waters of Lake Huron. We timed the weather perfectly on this one...the seas were dead calm and the skies clear. It was a wonderful day to be out in open water.

The lighthouse at De Tour Reef.

The Martin Reef Light on the way to St Ignace.

Our travels today took us right past Mackinac Island. Our plan is to take the ferry across to visit the island tomorrow. It's only about a 10 minute ferry ride from St Ignace, so that's our plan tomorrow (Saturday).

The Grand Hotel

Lighthouse at the Mackinac Island Channel

Light at Mackinac Island.

We haven't yet discovered who this is on the light...



Mackinac Island sights...



Ferry boats are everywhere...here is one that promotes their rooster tail...note the Mackinac Bridge in the background.

 

So, on Saturday, we'll take one of these ferries over to the Island and play tourist for a few hours...off to points south on Sunday if the winds allow...