August 13th Port Huron to "Hole in the Wall"

I was up at 6:20 making coffee. Kathy was shamed out of bed shortly after and we made it to the fuel dock to top off our tank as the dock hands showed up for work at 7 am. Three blocks downstream was the only draw-bridge and ,before 9am, it opens on demand. One long blast followed by a short and then wait for traffic to be stopped and the bridge raised. I was a little concerned about the downstream drift, but as it turned out the keel kept us straight while in reverse and we had no problems.

At 2000 rpm our engine is working nicely and usually keeps us between 6.8 and 7 knots. On the St. Clair River were getting a 2.5 to 3 knot boost with the current. Later in the day the Detroit River was running at about 2 knots.

The ride south was far more entertaining than normal. The first freighter that we met knocked us around quite a bit but the rest of them ... throughout the day, were fine. Unlike a day off shore, where we usually travel, there were homes and docks and strip malls. Harsen's Island looked like a neat place to spend the summer. The channel markers continue right into Lake St. Clair and we stayed close as depth's were as shallow as 7 feet in some areas. We did , however , put up a sail and did some surfing ... small craft warnings were in effect.


Belle Isle is Detrot's first impression as you enter the city from the water. It looked a little shabby... lawns were not watered as they were on the other side of the river. Over-all though the impression was positive with lots of open spaces and playgrounds, new ball fields, and fishing docks. Downtown was crisp and clean. The People Mover was zipping around and landscaping looked like a million dollars. We learned why "down river" is not where we want to live. For miles, the post war industrial center of Detroit drags on. On the other hand, neither of us knew anything about Gross Ile. The island goes on for miles with mansions and summer estates. I thought Gross Ile was just another suburb.

As the Detroit River nears Lake Erie it widens to about 4 miles and shallows to about 4 feet. At some point in time channels were dug through this area and that tailings were heaped in perfectly straight piles that are miles long. Over time the rock tailings grew trees and so the now as you motor through the area it's like driving down a tree-lined, five mile long driveway. The "hole in wall" is literally a 100 yard area where the tailings were put someplace else and boaters can get out of the channel.....Now normally, since the water is 4 feet deep, we would stay in channel ....but the map showed a spot, out of the way, that was about 10 feet deep. We inched our way through and carefully found a weedy spot to anchor for the night. There was a current of about 2 knots from the north so even though the wind was from the south the current pushed us in the opposite direction. We had seen very few boats on the Detroit River but our anchorage, which was about 3 miles square, was hopping.

We grilled the last of our venison ...and had a nice meal with rice and a salad.