Day 44
Travel Time: 5 hours
NM today: 39
NM total: 986
Locks today: 0
Locks total: 70
At docktails last night the topic of conversation was returning to the US and going through customs. What we gathered from the talk is that it is a total crap shoot as to what they will ask and look for. General consensus seemed to be that citrus fruit and live plants were problematic. That reminded me that we had clementines on board, so we decided we better eat them before we got to customs. I had also heard that meats and raw vegetables might be a problem, so for supper last night I cooked all remaining vegetables plus two steaks. We ate well and had plenty of leftovers for another meal.
Because we anticipated rough waters and a long trip, I packed a lunch to bring up top with us and peeled our 5 remaining clementines and brought the fruit up top for snack time. As we proceeded towards the US border, the waters seemed to get rougher and rougher. The VHF radio was conspicuously quiet and no other boats could be seen in any direction. Periodically we got an announcement on the VHF radio regarding a High-winds Advisory for the North Channel. North Channel??? That's exactly where we were boating. Maybe the other boaters were sane enough to stay in port, but not us!
Before heading up top we did a check and double-check to make sure that everything was stowed well and all windows were closed. Depending on the direction we traveled as we navigated towards Drummond Island, the waves got rather high (4 to 6') and broke over the bow of the boat creating a lot of splash. Several times we got hit in the face on the fly bridge with cold Lake Huron water. Thank goodness everything was closed down below.
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| Windy weather stirred up the water all day long |
Finally we arrived at Drummond Island Yacht Haven - our entry point into the U.S.A. We needed fuel so we pulled up to the fuel dock to start. A very businesslike dock hand told us that we could receive no services and we both had to stay on board until we had cleared customs, Shortly thereafter a very pleasant man in uniform came out to check us in to the USA. He was very chatty and sociable, told us anecdotes and jokes, and filled out the required paperwork. He did ask if we had any goods we bought in Canada that we needed to declare, but he never asked about citrus fruit, vegetables, or meat.
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| Yacht Haven Customs Office |
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| Live Bait Machine at Marina - sadly out of order |
All was going well. We filled up with 183+ gallons of fuel (that ought to blow my budget for the month), checked in, and prepared to move to our slip assignment. Concerned with the high winds and the slip assignment putting us in a situation where our boat would get blown into another boat sharing the slip space, we got a few extra hands to help with lines. As we started to back away from the fuel dock, one of the fenders got wrapped around a fuel-dock cleat. Foolishly I tried to reach over to release it, but it was too late, the line had been stretched beyond its limit and snapped. Something hit my left hand hard and instantly my hand swelled to 3 to 4 times its normal size and started changing colors starting with white and progressing to black, blue, and red.
I told Clark I was hurt pretty badly but to proceed with docking because I needed to see to my hand and wanted us to get into our slip. I performed my duties as deck hand with tossing and holding lines, but as soon as we were tied in our slip, I ran inside to apply ice to my hand. I could not bend my hand but that seemed to be from the swelling. I did not believe anything was broken. Thank goodness for small miracles.
That episode basically ruined my afternoon. I sat and felt sorry for myself for a while as I held ice to my hand in an elevated position. The ice worked wonders and over time the swelling reduced significantly. I decided that I could work on my blog with my one good hand, and that helped to take my mind off my injury.
Meanwhile Clark had struck up a conversation with the boater sharing the slip and learned lots of good information in preparation for navigating Lake Michigan. We had discussed it earlier and agreed that we would go into town for pizza so I wouldn't have to cook tonight. We planned to walk as only my hand was injured - not my legs. However, when he came back from his chat, we decided that the swelling in my hand had reduced enough that I could ride my bicycle since the restaurant was purportedly about two miles away.
We traveled at least those two miles plus some more and saw no pizza places. In fact we found no town to speak of. We had gotten directions from two young ladies driving by in a car, but decided we must have misunderstood as we passed through the rural countryside on our bikes. Clark thought we might have turned too soon, so we went back to the last intersection and tried a different direction. As we found no evidence of any town, we decided that we just had no idea where to go.
I saw a person coming out of the side street and flagged him down for directions. He said that town was three miles further down the road we were on. Since we were on unfamiliar roads, in the country, with dark approaching, I told Clark that we needed to abort our mission and return back to the boat for leftovers for dinner. We did not have lights with us, and I did not want to be caught out after dark. We zipped back to the boat and raided the fridge.
After dinner I worked on my blog while Clark read through the mail we had forwarded to the marina from our mail service. Tomorrow we will be in Drummond again for which I am very grateful. Clark and I have a ton of things to get done. If we were on the move again tomorrow, I don't know how we would be able to take care of them.
As usual Clark went looking for sunset pictures at the end of the day. This month we have a "blue moon" which occurs when two full moons happen in the same month. In our collection of pictures Clark captured this month's "blue moon".
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| Blue Moon over Drummond Island |
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