A delightful day on the water with 75ish degrees, sunshine and a calm Detroit River and Lake St. Clair. Mark thought it was really neat that parked beside us at Grosse Ile was a 24' S2 sailboat (Miss Megan) just like we had back in 1985 (our 1st "big" boat). So a quick picture of Catrina and "Miss Megan"s sister and then we were off at 8:45. We traveled 41 miles today cruising past lots of industry, freightors, and in Canadian waters for big part of the trip.
Catrina and S2 sailboat like we had from 1985-1989
There is a bridge near where we stayed at Grosse Ile but it is under maintenance for TWO years, so the locals have to go on a different, newer bridge to come and go from the island. It costs $4 round trip each time. Since we couldn't get thru, we had to go all around the island and passed several luxuty homes. And then there was the Grosse Point Farms area - on my.....lots of $$$$$ up here. We arrived at the Jefferson Beach Marina (St. Clair Shores, MI) around 1:00. We stopped at the fuel dock to get a welcome package and map of this huge marina.....55 acres and over 800 boat slips. There's the inner harbor with smaller boats and then the outer harbor with the big boys! We met Pete and Pam Poirier, the managers of this place - both very friendly and welcoming.
We had lunch on Catrina and then went for a walk. Mark says we were in the marina next door with sail Catrina back in 2008 (I do not remember this place) and took his cousin Rita for a sail. The Nautical Mile is about a mile from here - full of shops and restaurants, etc. We'll check it out tomorrow (Mark says we did that 13 years ago???)
Here are some highlights of our day...
Passing by Detroit
Ambassador Bridge connecting Canada and US - finally traffic is flowing once again
with the reopening of the border.
As we were coming into Detroit with Windsor, Ontario on our right, we noticed these tall concrete bridge structures (2 on each side) and wondered if a new bridge was going up.....well, Mark googled and sure enough the Gordie Howe (great hockey player) bridge is underway which will connect interstates 75, 69 and 401 from Canada. The estimated cost....$5.7 billion!
Future Gordie Howe bridge which started in 2018
Beautiful clear water on the Detroit River
Grosse Point Yacht Club - very $$$$ with lots of big yachts and homes nearby
Quiet afternoon reading and little naps! All that fresh air wore the Captain and First Mate out!
We had planned to eat at the Watermark Bar and Grille here at the marina....we checked it out when we were walking earlier. They do not take reservations. We walked down there (a good jaunt as this marina is just ginormous) at 5:45 and all kinds of people standing outside....not a good sign. Mark was told a 45 min-1 hr wait. It has a large inside dining area and big outdoor seating on the water. They were only serving outside tonight!!!!! And all these people waiting, or turned away by the lengthy wait like us.
So, we left the marina and onto Jefferson Street (nautical mile). We came upon Golden Chopsticks and since we both love Chinese and haven't had it in a long time, decided tonight's the night! It was very good, service was excellent and they were so appreciative of us coming in.
Back to Catrina (got our steps today without a problem) and enjoyed the cool AC.
Drew and Davis are back in Iowa City and Raleigh to start their senior and sophomore year. Liam, Connor, Luke, Blair and Maeve go back tomorrow; Drew and Brady begin classes next week.
Where has this summer gone???
These little darlins' just returned from a "before-school-starts-getaway" in Colorado.
Tomorrow they'll be off to 3rd grade and kindergarten!
Planning to stay here 2 nights.....rain in the forecast tomorrow.
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