We were in Sault Ste Marie in 2020. Moon Dance had been brought back to Canada by a delivery captain. We met them in the “Soo”. It was a joyful reunion as we hadn’t been sure we would be able to get her back from Michigan where she was stored for the winter.
We were alone in the marina as it wasn’t officially open yet due to covid restrictions. We moved aboard and started the process of organizing everything, cleaning and getting set up for cruising. The weather was unbelievably hot – above 30 C most days. We’d hide inside and refine our cruising plans for the summer between boat chores.
First on the cruising itinerary was a short cruise into Lake Superior. After all, we were here and it was just over there. Reviewing the charts didn’t create a long list of possible destinations. We opted to use a “life line” and called brother Jim who lived in Sault Ste Marie for a few years and kept a sailboat in Batchawana Bay. Jim confirmed that there were few places to go on the eastern shore of Lake Superior and nowhere to hide when the weather went bad.
After more research, a week of fog and afternoon thunderstorms, we decided that Superior was in our backyard and we could come back to explore later.
We purposely detoured to Sault Ste Marie in 2022 to stick our bow into Lake Superior to earn bragging rights. We spent four days exploring and attending to housekeeping chores like laundry, groceries and cleaning while the wind ranged from 20-37 knots. To give this some perspective, we normally don’t leave the dock if the wind is over 10 knots. Today was calm but the next fours days small craft warnings are expected. So with Gordon Lightfoot humming quietly in the background we dropped our lines and headed to Detour Village on the shores of Lake Huron.
Not enough internet here to add photos – will update when possible
Moon Dance IV 