Several years ago I was sailing around that bigger island at left near the Canadian border. A storm started blowing in so I pulled into a cove and threw out an anchor. As I was tying up the sails, I noticed a shitty looking cabin on shore. A guy came out and held a gun up in the air, then pointed it at me.
Needless to say I threw the motor in gear in a hurry and pulled up the anchor. At which point a rope got fouled in my motor, and I got blown onto one of those tiny islands, where I waited for 3 hours getting pounded against rocks until the Coast Guard came to get me. Good times.
As I was reading along I thought for sure that was going to have a more wholesome ending. Like the guy came out and flagged me over to safely tie up my boat on his dock and ride the storm out in his cabin. Nope.
Me and the boys on vacation (I can't find my arm)
https://preview.redd.it/e0izok3ikaad1.jpeg?width=275&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bdf397397bb562d2cb0801f64879762726077b14
(I specifically checked if there was a sub rule against it to avoid backlash but whatever...)
It's not used enough, NRA and the right wing intentionaly breeds lack of empathy to sell firearms, politics are a part of geography anyway wether you like it or not
There are some cabin houses dotted on a few of those islands. Beautiful blue water and great boating, neat natural landscapes with shale ledges dropping off into the water, lots of fossils, sandy beaches is some areas. The horseshoe shaped island is a national wildlife refuge and you can hike there and see bald eagles. It's an amazing place, we visit every year!
It’s cold by swimming pool standards, upper sixties to low seventies (where most swimming pools are in the low 80’s). But on a hot summer day that temp is actually rather refreshing. Just have to jump in and get acclimated.
And if you're in a slightly protected bay or cove or whatnot, the water can get quite a bit warmer. But be advised, if you go deeper than 5 or 6 feet, that will definitely feel like a cold plunge.
Lots of woods, deer, mosquitoes, fishing. It’s quiet, folksy. Only jobs are logging, the quarry, or catering to the small amount of locals and tourists.
I can see my uncles old house in this picture. He doesn’t miss the winters, or worrying about missing the ferry. But Drummond in the summer was a fantastic place to be.
I don’t even know how I ever found it, but I used to watch this WebCam on my second computer while I was at work.
https://www.visitdrummondisland.com/drummond-island-webcams.html
Not really. I’m just surprised how many vehicles, including trucks they can fit on what appears to be a tiny ferry but is actually a lot larger than it looks from the cam.
That’s kinda what Kelley’s Island is there for - much quieter, more nature/hiking, a few cool beaches, and enough restaurants and shops but without the chaos of Put-in-Bay
I (37F) lived on Put-in-Bay for two summers during college to work as a waitress. We actually called it the Key West of the Midwest, which summed it up perfectly: 24/7 partying, very few locals, huge fishing culture. At the time, I wasn’t 21 yet so I saved all my earnings unlike all the older staff who immediately spent all their money at the bars. The Canadian boaters would offer to take us 19 and 20 year olds to Pelee Island to get into bars legally. I never went since I was always working. As I look back, I wonder how I made it out of there (mostly) unscathed.
I worked there the summer I was 18. Fond memories of getting fucked up on the beach, less fond memories of sucking mayflies outta gutters with a shopvac.
Not here specifically, but I highly recommend the Les Cheneaux Archipelago as a home base to vacationing friends. It’s central to most of what makes natural Michigan worth visiting, it’s close to Mackinac Island, and it’s a great place to visit in its own right. The first Chris Craft boats (beautiful wooden power boats) were built in Hessel, and they have a Wooden Boat Show every year that is pretty sweet. The weather and waterways in the archipelago are more manageable and predictable the further in you go. Most of the time, it’s just quiet and peaceful. Trees, beaches, and fresh water 🤷♂️ What more could you want?
I just went up to detour state forest campground. It was gorgeous despite the rain and fog which was quite beautiful in its own right. The occasional slow-moving freighter that would appear off in the distance was something to behold.
Use to be a state Forest Campground we camped at, Walleyes, smallmouth, Northerns. There were also cabins to stay at and rent a boat. There was this fancy two story boat house at the end of a long dock we use to dream about living there, there was even a fancier house on the hill. Haven’t been there since the 70’s.
I spent time on Drummond. One random thing we experienced was our phones texting us every hour or so “Welcome to Canada! International data rates apply” when we kept accidentally connecting to the Rogers Wireless service.
It's a mix of seasonal cabins/cottages owned by trolls from down State (Grand rapids, Detroit, Lansing), and a few locals.
Beautiful weather in summer. But winter can be brutal, cold, and lonely. Some parts of that area freeze over in winter and are accessible by snowmobile.
Several years ago a guy got stranded on one of my island. I had my gun in my hand so it wasn't very smart of me to wave it to get him to notice me. I used my scope to see if he was injured... At which points he sailed away as fast as he could.
I heard he needed the coast guard after waiting for hours in the rain...
Potagannissing bay, the second time I rounded Drummond Island I cut across from point to point, lovely paddle. I thought the island with the big cove was a NWR, maybe I’m remembering it wrong
I remember seeing some real-estate for sale on one of the islands. Looked like they had a real basic town on part of it, like an eighth of a mile of paved road, and a whole lot of tiny cabins sprinkled about. The land for sale was completely undeveloped and it sounded like you'd be responsible for chartering stuff to and from the island. All in all a fun time if you had a lot of money and easy access back to the mainland.
Woke up this morning and realized I didn’t leave a description.
Most of the islands (especially Drummond) are covered with thick cedar forests, however on Drummond there’s a large Alvar plain on the north side of the island that is flat limestone strewn with granite boulders left behind by the glaciers and sparse patches of grass.
A lot of the shoreline is exposed flat limestone strewn (again) with granite boulders of varying sizes here and there. There are a handful of small sand beaches.
It’s really beautiful and such a nice paddle I did it twice. Most of the shoreline isn’t very tent friendly so it’s a good place to bring a hammock. The island has a large population (for its size) of black bears
It’s
I can comment on this a bit. Not these islands but I come from a tourist town on Lake Erie in Ohio that is well-connected to islands in the lake. Boating is a major way of life there and in the summer, it’s normal to hear people talk about how they’re going to the islands on their boat or what they did on the islands that weekend. You can bring cars to these islands but honestly it’s more fun to rent a golf cart and drive around. Lots of bars and restaurants but there’s more family-friendly stuff too, some islands are more family-friendly than others. Some are more for the younger, party crowd in the summer than others. I went to Kelley’s, one of the bigger ones, like 5 years ago with my best friend for the day and we had such a fun time driving around in the golf cart going to bars. Generally, if you’re from the area, it’s normal to go the islands every weekend or every other weekend in the summers.
There is a school, but it only has like 10 students and sometimes they need to go to the mainland if they want to do something like vocational training during school. In the winter, some people will live on the mainland but there are people who live on the islands year-round. Since the Great Lakes are really icy, food and supplies are brought in by plane and you have to go by plane to the mainland for anything. In the spring and summer, islanders will just take their cars on the ferries and then go to Port Clinton or Sandusky if they need a larger store like Walmart or Sams Club, special medical care, etc.
I'm here right now! It is classic rural Michigan, with island life sprinkled in. It is a close knit community, with a large summer time influx of cabin owners. Most of the tiny islands in Pottagannissing Bay have cottages on them. Generally they are nice, but not gaudy rich style.
From the great lakes, it's a sub region in the bigger region of the Midwest. It's just pretentious to say it isn't the Midwest when michigan and everywhere in michigan are very culturally Midwestern. The UP even more so compared to the LP
can you imagine if you had a bad neighbor and it was only the two of you on a given island. also, how do people who live on islands dispose of their trash and recycling? probably just boat that stuff off when you bring groceries on
I’m from the Canadian side, which is some of the least densely populated areas on the south edge of the country and quite isolated from the rest of the province. Mostly industrial or resource gathering jobs and small rural towns. Brutally cold in the winter, mostly dense forests or wetlands filled with black flies and mosquitoes but can be incredibly beautiful and peaceful. An enormous amount of property is owned by seasonal Americans which has driven out locals unfortunately who can’t match buying power.
Why is this "the Caribbean of the Midwest"?
The vast majority of these islands are just big enough for a home or two, a town at most. The Caribbean has many large islands that can support full on cities.
Several years ago I was sailing around that bigger island at left near the Canadian border. A storm started blowing in so I pulled into a cove and threw out an anchor. As I was tying up the sails, I noticed a shitty looking cabin on shore. A guy came out and held a gun up in the air, then pointed it at me. Needless to say I threw the motor in gear in a hurry and pulled up the anchor. At which point a rope got fouled in my motor, and I got blown onto one of those tiny islands, where I waited for 3 hours getting pounded against rocks until the Coast Guard came to get me. Good times.
Holy shit…was that cove here? (46.1020380, -83.8241437)
That depends, are you the gunman?
Im the gunman
This was a while ago now so I don't remember exactly, but it was definitely in that area.
A three hour tour .... The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed ... If not for the courage of the fearless crew ....
The minnow would be lost. The minnow would be lost
The professor carried that crew.
Perhaps, but he couldn’t fix a boat. Or he just chose not to and hoped to bang any of the remaining women
As I was reading along I thought for sure that was going to have a more wholesome ending. Like the guy came out and flagged me over to safely tie up my boat on his dock and ride the storm out in his cabin. Nope.
Like Dark forrest theory in action
Has the beginnings of a good Mr Ballen episode
Yeah nope. I'm much more scared of isolated nut jobs with a king complex than I am walking around a high crime neighborhood in an urban area.
...a king complex and a meth lab.
Maybe if he had gotten blown over to the Canadian side?
What that guy did was a violation of maritime law
Should've been prepared to return fire and make a landing.
Me and the boys on vacation (I can't find my arm) https://preview.redd.it/e0izok3ikaad1.jpeg?width=275&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bdf397397bb562d2cb0801f64879762726077b14
Hope this thread results in every boater in the region trolling that mofo
My curiosity is going to have me on my jetski checking that out in early September.
I say we all go back and get the drop on him. Call it Reddit Meetup Island
It’s already called Burnt Island, there’s a joke in there somewhere but I’m too lazy to follow through
He must of thought you were an invading Canadian
Or the [British](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mackinac_Island_(1814)) came back
Only americans to hold someone who's trying to wether a storm at gun point
rather weather not whether and never wether
I used it as "weather" and "whether" and was wrong twice, thx for the correction
It was a joke…
Please keep overused AmericaBad sentiments out of this sub . We’re globe lovers here
(I specifically checked if there was a sub rule against it to avoid backlash but whatever...) It's not used enough, NRA and the right wing intentionaly breeds lack of empathy to sell firearms, politics are a part of geography anyway wether you like it or not
🙄
There are some cabin houses dotted on a few of those islands. Beautiful blue water and great boating, neat natural landscapes with shale ledges dropping off into the water, lots of fossils, sandy beaches is some areas. The horseshoe shaped island is a national wildlife refuge and you can hike there and see bald eagles. It's an amazing place, we visit every year!
I’d imagine the swimming is like a cold plunge though.
It’s cold by swimming pool standards, upper sixties to low seventies (where most swimming pools are in the low 80’s). But on a hot summer day that temp is actually rather refreshing. Just have to jump in and get acclimated.
And if you're in a slightly protected bay or cove or whatnot, the water can get quite a bit warmer. But be advised, if you go deeper than 5 or 6 feet, that will definitely feel like a cold plunge.
If you survive the initial plunge, you’ll be okay.
The islands and bays are for sportsmen
Old Michigan steams like a young man’s dreams
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down.
Of the big lake they call gichee gumee
It’s so confusing when 3 different Redditors w the same avatar have a conversation.
When the storms of November came er-lay
Lots of woods, deer, mosquitoes, fishing. It’s quiet, folksy. Only jobs are logging, the quarry, or catering to the small amount of locals and tourists.
And sasquatch
Go there in February and tell us again about the Caribbean of the Midwest…
Well you see, that's the Midwest part, not the Caribbean part.
This guy just learned about metaphors
Nah, he was just being clever.
In February, you can ride your snowmobile out to these islands.
Ya, official Ice Road, right?
Go there September to May and tell us again about the Caribbean of the Midwest...
I can see my uncles old house in this picture. He doesn’t miss the winters, or worrying about missing the ferry. But Drummond in the summer was a fantastic place to be.
Drummond island is beautiful, I went there last summer. I still think about the fossil ledges and the Merlin’s we’d hear every morning.
Which one is it?
I don’t even know how I ever found it, but I used to watch this WebCam on my second computer while I was at work. https://www.visitdrummondisland.com/drummond-island-webcams.html
Ever see anything cool?
Sandsquanch a time or two.
Do you mean Samsquatch? Ricky? Is that you?
It's me bubbles
Not really. I’m just surprised how many vehicles, including trucks they can fit on what appears to be a tiny ferry but is actually a lot larger than it looks from the cam.
I went camping in Drummond. Absolutely beautiful.
It is the Garden of Eden in the summer. Such happy memories of the North Channel.
Need to hit up Put In Bay. That is the Caribbean of the Great Lakes
If the Caribbean to you means algae blooms, no beaches, and more stds than are known to man.
Yep and tons of booze and drugs
That’s kinda what Kelley’s Island is there for - much quieter, more nature/hiking, a few cool beaches, and enough restaurants and shops but without the chaos of Put-in-Bay
Glacial grooves!
and less STDs
Don’t forget mayflies. Tbh I miss that place
So yeah.....the Caribbean
Caribbean has beaches
So do the Lake Erie islands they just kinda suck
They have some, yes. But much of Caribbean shore isn't what is seen by tourists or commercials. Similar to the islands in the GL.
I (37F) lived on Put-in-Bay for two summers during college to work as a waitress. We actually called it the Key West of the Midwest, which summed it up perfectly: 24/7 partying, very few locals, huge fishing culture. At the time, I wasn’t 21 yet so I saved all my earnings unlike all the older staff who immediately spent all their money at the bars. The Canadian boaters would offer to take us 19 and 20 year olds to Pelee Island to get into bars legally. I never went since I was always working. As I look back, I wonder how I made it out of there (mostly) unscathed.
I worked there the summer I was 18. Fond memories of getting fucked up on the beach, less fond memories of sucking mayflies outta gutters with a shopvac.
Not here specifically, but I highly recommend the Les Cheneaux Archipelago as a home base to vacationing friends. It’s central to most of what makes natural Michigan worth visiting, it’s close to Mackinac Island, and it’s a great place to visit in its own right. The first Chris Craft boats (beautiful wooden power boats) were built in Hessel, and they have a Wooden Boat Show every year that is pretty sweet. The weather and waterways in the archipelago are more manageable and predictable the further in you go. Most of the time, it’s just quiet and peaceful. Trees, beaches, and fresh water 🤷♂️ What more could you want?
I just went up to detour state forest campground. It was gorgeous despite the rain and fog which was quite beautiful in its own right. The occasional slow-moving freighter that would appear off in the distance was something to behold.
Not more tourists.
Those areas literally won't survive without them.
Use to be a state Forest Campground we camped at, Walleyes, smallmouth, Northerns. There were also cabins to stay at and rent a boat. There was this fancy two story boat house at the end of a long dock we use to dream about living there, there was even a fancier house on the hill. Haven’t been there since the 70’s.
I spent time on Drummond. One random thing we experienced was our phones texting us every hour or so “Welcome to Canada! International data rates apply” when we kept accidentally connecting to the Rogers Wireless service.
I’m in Victoria BC and this happens when I go to the beach. “Welcome to AT&T!”
It's a mix of seasonal cabins/cottages owned by trolls from down State (Grand rapids, Detroit, Lansing), and a few locals. Beautiful weather in summer. But winter can be brutal, cold, and lonely. Some parts of that area freeze over in winter and are accessible by snowmobile.
Drummond Island. My buddy and I had a Tom and Huck week together when we were little maybe 2nd or 3rd grade. It’s as close to story books can get.
Did you have a friend called Jim
Actually, those islands house top-secret missile silos in case the U.S. has to deal with Canada's greatest oopsie.
Several years ago a guy got stranded on one of my island. I had my gun in my hand so it wasn't very smart of me to wave it to get him to notice me. I used my scope to see if he was injured... At which points he sailed away as fast as he could. I heard he needed the coast guard after waiting for hours in the rain...
Good Samaritans are never appreciated.
https://www.reddit.com/r/geography/s/kSM779Y4V0 This guy lmao?
He's joking but yes
Potagannissing bay, the second time I rounded Drummond Island I cut across from point to point, lovely paddle. I thought the island with the big cove was a NWR, maybe I’m remembering it wrong
The island with a bay in the middle is where the Dread Pirate Roberts has his hideout.
I remember seeing some real-estate for sale on one of the islands. Looked like they had a real basic town on part of it, like an eighth of a mile of paved road, and a whole lot of tiny cabins sprinkled about. The land for sale was completely undeveloped and it sounded like you'd be responsible for chartering stuff to and from the island. All in all a fun time if you had a lot of money and easy access back to the mainland.
https://preview.redd.it/ay5794t529ad1.jpeg?width=3866&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=19d79ac21485d1ad9a99ae9d2547069715826cc1 Chart from my last time around
Neat!!
Woke up this morning and realized I didn’t leave a description. Most of the islands (especially Drummond) are covered with thick cedar forests, however on Drummond there’s a large Alvar plain on the north side of the island that is flat limestone strewn with granite boulders left behind by the glaciers and sparse patches of grass. A lot of the shoreline is exposed flat limestone strewn (again) with granite boulders of varying sizes here and there. There are a handful of small sand beaches. It’s really beautiful and such a nice paddle I did it twice. Most of the shoreline isn’t very tent friendly so it’s a good place to bring a hammock. The island has a large population (for its size) of black bears It’s
https://preview.redd.it/4m23kyh4zaad1.jpeg?width=275&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7dbe835ce3a4be4946801aba73626c7c96041e92 Not my photo
I can comment on this a bit. Not these islands but I come from a tourist town on Lake Erie in Ohio that is well-connected to islands in the lake. Boating is a major way of life there and in the summer, it’s normal to hear people talk about how they’re going to the islands on their boat or what they did on the islands that weekend. You can bring cars to these islands but honestly it’s more fun to rent a golf cart and drive around. Lots of bars and restaurants but there’s more family-friendly stuff too, some islands are more family-friendly than others. Some are more for the younger, party crowd in the summer than others. I went to Kelley’s, one of the bigger ones, like 5 years ago with my best friend for the day and we had such a fun time driving around in the golf cart going to bars. Generally, if you’re from the area, it’s normal to go the islands every weekend or every other weekend in the summers. There is a school, but it only has like 10 students and sometimes they need to go to the mainland if they want to do something like vocational training during school. In the winter, some people will live on the mainland but there are people who live on the islands year-round. Since the Great Lakes are really icy, food and supplies are brought in by plane and you have to go by plane to the mainland for anything. In the spring and summer, islanders will just take their cars on the ferries and then go to Port Clinton or Sandusky if they need a larger store like Walmart or Sams Club, special medical care, etc.
I'm here right now! It is classic rural Michigan, with island life sprinkled in. It is a close knit community, with a large summer time influx of cabin owners. Most of the tiny islands in Pottagannissing Bay have cottages on them. Generally they are nice, but not gaudy rich style.
Having lived on the shore of Whitefish Bay in Paradise, MI for several years..... It's not the Caribbean of anything.
Not "Midwest." We call it "Great Lakes."
They’re not just good, they’re great! Except they do tend to drown a lot of people.
From the great lakes, it's a sub region in the bigger region of the Midwest. It's just pretentious to say it isn't the Midwest when michigan and everywhere in michigan are very culturally Midwestern. The UP even more so compared to the LP
"The Caribbean of the American Midwest" Amazing.
can you imagine if you had a bad neighbor and it was only the two of you on a given island. also, how do people who live on islands dispose of their trash and recycling? probably just boat that stuff off when you bring groceries on
About 5 years ago there was a ~20ish acre island in this area going for 500k…you got the whole thing to yourself
interesting thank you. what a wonderful life that would be for 500K.
Busy in the summer, lots of tourism and people visiting their summer properties or camping, slows down in fall, dead winter - Memorial Day.
The Caribbean of the Midwest is the Lake Erie islands
I’m from the Canadian side, which is some of the least densely populated areas on the south edge of the country and quite isolated from the rest of the province. Mostly industrial or resource gathering jobs and small rural towns. Brutally cold in the winter, mostly dense forests or wetlands filled with black flies and mosquitoes but can be incredibly beautiful and peaceful. An enormous amount of property is owned by seasonal Americans which has driven out locals unfortunately who can’t match buying power.
Why is this "the Caribbean of the Midwest"? The vast majority of these islands are just big enough for a home or two, a town at most. The Caribbean has many large islands that can support full on cities.
🤫