DeTour, MI, USA

As we left Sault Ste. Marie, with our first on-board guest of the summer, we tried to keep her excitement tamped down, as many of our cruising days are just slow and steady. We think we succeeded when we pulled in to the little municipal marina in Detour, MI. Shockingly her enthusiasm never waned, as we hopped off the boat and headed into town to walk around. The Village of Detour has a local population of 263, sits at the very eastern end of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and was originally an Ojibwa settlement for fur trading. We walked to the small market to pick up a few items, which took about 5 minutes, and then Mariann and Ann entertained themselves for an hour wandering around the isles of the Dollar General, which sat right next to the grocery store - while Will sat outside on a big rock waiting patiently for them to come outside the store. After that exciting venture was over, we headed back to the boat, grilled out on the deck, relaxed, and just enjoyed the evening and watched the beautiful sunset that most Michigan evenings offer. With a wink and a smile to each other, we closed out the night with a promise to Mariann that we would be docking at a livelier marina tomorrow - Mackinaw City, MI.

The route from Sault Ste Marie to DeTour is also the main channel for the large commercial ships we saw in the Soo. Although none chased us down the channel, we say a couple coming the opposite direction and gave them plenty of room. The channel is easy to follow and splits around Neebish Island where the channel was dredged and widened so the down bound traffic can go down the west side and upbound traffic goes up the east side. It’s a shame they couldn’t figure out something to do with the rock they dredged over 100 years ago. It’s just piled to the side.