We really enjoyed our time in Gore Bay, but with fair weather and a flight to catch in Michigan the next week, it was time to move on. We threw off our bowline at 0708 and got underway. The slips at Gore Bay Marina are incredibly wide, so it made for a very low stress docking experience going in and out.

We eased out into the bay and into the North Channel heading west. Cruising at 1400 rpm the whole way, we averaged 10.1 mph over the 95.3 mile journey. The waves picked up a little at the beginning, but by the time we got behind Drummond Island it had really flattened out. We went through the False Detour Channel between Drummond and Cockburn Islands – also between Canada and the United States, and entered Lake Huron proper for the rest of the way. Lake Huron was smooth as glass most of the way.

The immigration procedure was efficient and easy. We had downloaded the ROAM app a while back and had already entered our personal and vessel information. About an hour from the border, we declared our arrival. The app sat in pending for about 20 minutes before it requested a video interview. We did a short video interview with a delightful border patrol agent that took less than two minutes. That was it. We were cleared.

It was pretty quiet most of the way in open waters. We listened to an audiobook for a while, grazed, read the internet, and generally passed the time away.

We had chosen an anchorage in a small bay behind Boot Island in the Les Cheneaux group of islands. It’s on the north side of Lake Huron before you get to Mackinac Island. We had read in a couple of the guide books that it is a nice, but often overlooked, area with lots of nice anchorages. We chose our anchorage because it was small, relatively remote, and promised for a quiet night. The bay is only big enough for a couple of boats our size, so we crossed our fingers that it would be empty and we wouldn’t have to go to the busier backup anchorage.

When we rounded the northeast corner of Boot Island and could see into the bay, it was empty! We easily set our hook on the first try and settled in for the night. It was a long day of cruising.

There is a Nature Preserve on the island that we could dinghy over to explore, but we were a bit too tired for that. We did see a nice buck and some other wildlife come and go. There are also several cottages with some local boat traffic buzzing around enjoying a beautiful summer afternoon.

After a nice dinner, we settled in early because we planned an early start the next day.