This year, with the coronavirus wreaking havoc on the US, Kristin and I had hoped to do some “social distancing” in much of the remote anchorages of Lake Huron’s North Channel. Unfortunately, the Canadian border is closed to us Americans, so we had to find other “wilderness” places to anchor closer to home.
We had not been to the U.P.’s Garden Peninsula in a very long time, so we figured now was the year to do it! Of course, no trip to the Garden Peninsula would be complete without a trip to Fayette State Park, but we wanted some other options. Just a few miles to the north lies Snake Island, which I considered exploring, but near to that was a cove deep in South River Bay that offered protection from most wind directions.
Our outdated, printed NOAA chart didn’t show much detail of South River Cove. Using information from Navionics “Sonar Charts” and the Great Lakes Cruising Club Harbor Reports (both of which are copyrighted material that I can’t repost here) led us to think getting in there was doable.
We had a nice spinnaker run in light southeast winds from Sister Bay, Wisconsin, and arrived an hour or two before sunset. I was hoping it wouldn’t be too crowded. We rounded the point at the entrance to South River Bay, and… nobody else was there!
There was plenty of room for us and maybe one or two other boats that might show up later. A large powerboat arrived shortly after us and anchored far away in the bay, and small fishing boats came and went, but otherwise, we had the place to ourselves for two nights! How’s that for social distancing!
The first night had just enough wind to keep most of the bugs away. It smelled like pine. Kristin set up her hammock on the foredeck and we watched the Perseids meteor shower after the sky cleared. Lying there as we waited for our eyes to adjust, counting shooting stars, the water flattened to become mirror smooth. The stars then reflected off the water’s surface, too, so as to be visible above us and below us. It was like being in a planetarium. You’d expect some New Age music to sound in the background, but instead we began to hear two packs of coyotes yipping at each other from the opposite shores around us! We think we heard a barred owl in the commotion, too.
The second day started rainy, but we still managed to do some exploring up the marshy South River in the dinghy. We had several bald eagle sightings as they (or it) soared above the treetops above us. Kristin spotted a flock of mergansers flying by. At midday, the skies cleared, and we were able to go swimming… 74 degree water is pretty warm for Lake Michigan! The excellent protection provided by the cove allowed some pretty cool views of the bottom from our stand up paddleboards, too.
We’ll definitely be back again!
