Day 72: Kelley's Island to Detroit, MI

6 hrs. 47 miles. A deliberate early start, although I decide to sleep in and we're about to enter the Detroit River by the time I surface. The plan is to arrive in Detroit early enough in the afternoon to use some of the time to look around... get orientated... get our bearings. More on that soon.

We slip away from Kelley's Island just after 0600, and head directly west through the southern channel before turning up and heading NW for the broad mouth of the Detroit River, in calm seas and warm, humid temperatures. I might possibly have been snoring at this time.

As we close in, the river mouth is about 4 miles across but it's easy to aim for the broad, deep, fairway of the Livingstone Shipping Channel - constructed between 1908 and 1912. Each side consists of a high rock wall on which trees and other foliage has been permitted to grow. The end result is like sailing between two hedgerows in the middle of a river. Canada is to our right and the US to our left. The penalty is that the river current is strong and not in our favour. The nav screens show 6 mph ground-speed and 9 mph through the water; we're fighting a 3 mph current.

We continue into the river past Grosse Ile on our left and Fighting Island on our right. We pass a semi-derelict US Steel mill and then the mouth of the Rouge River, which once led shipping away to the old Ford and Fordson manufacturing plants in Dearborn, MI. In fact, we'll make our way out to Dearborn tomorrow.

Presently, we pass beneath the spectacular--but as yet unfinished--Gordie Howe International suspension bridge (with US and Canadian Customs at their respective ends), and displaying its now-common cable-stayed construction. This bridge has its own story to tell.

We continue upriver past heavy industry and beneath the Ambassador Bridge, a more conventional suspension design incorporating main cables and vertical suspension 'ropes'.

Downtown slides abeam and soon we're approaching Belle Isle, where we will berth at the up-market Detroit Yacht Club ('uncover' when inside the club building, which means 'take your hat off').. We're allocated a mooring against the wall outside the main building, and we're fast there by 1400.

We take an Uber uptown to the Welcome Centre only to find--against its advertised hours--that it's closed for renovations. Our driver brings us back to the marina where it's after 5, and I'm keen to mix up a margarita.

Our day draws to a close, with school kids at a swimming carnival in the marina aquatic centre just beside us.Leer más