I tried to sleep in but the sun woke me up.

I wanted to enjoy this last night in Canada just a little longer.

Sun said no.

I got up.

Sam kept sleeping.

I like getting up before Sam.

I read.

I write.

I do Yoga.

I make coffee.

Simple and peaceful.

Up, Up, and Away!

When I went to the bow and lifted the anchor, I could not believe my eyes.

There was no mud on the chain.

There was no mud on the anchor.

It was so clean.

After the weed monster from Baie Fine and the hunk of clay that wanted to travel with us from Long Point, I was in disbelief.

That anchor retrieval had never been so glorious.

There wasn’t even anything to rinse off!

Very cool.

But I wouldn’t appreciate the state of the anchor if not for the other two unpleasant experiences.

Weird.

Home

We left the anchorage and headed back out to the North Channel.

Today is the day we are going home.

Not Texas home.

Home as in our country.

The land that we love.

Canada has been great.

And we both have enjoyed it more than we expected to.

But, as Dorothy says wholeheartedly, there’s no place like home.

Clearing Customs

Once we crossed the International Boundary, we could check-in and clear customs.

But we’re on a boat?

There is a beautiful app called, CBP ROAM.

I loaded this app from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Agency a couple of weeks before going into Canada.

Once registered, the CBP issues a decal number and will send an actual decal to be displayed on the boat.

There was no way we were going to sit at home and wait for a decal and we didn’t have to.

It took about a week for them to process our request and they emailed our decal number.

I entered this number into the app, our passport numbers, boat registration information, etc. and we were ready to go.

They have since, sent a receipt and decal but it is at my mom’s house in Oklahoma.

We’ll get that later.

The CBP ROAM App

So, once we crossed the border, I got my phone and checked that I did indeed have cell service.

Whew!

Then, I opened the app and hit the big red button, Report Arrival.

After selecting our boat (info that I had entered), I selected Sam’s name as the Boat Master.

I think “Master” is a little pretentious but ok.

I went along.

Then, I selected myself as a traveler on this vessel.

There was a series of yes/no questions like did you buy any exotic meat, vegetables, etc. and do you have more than $10,000 in your possession.

Stuff like that.

After the questions, you are ready to submit.

We were assigned a number right away and a message that said status pending.

The message changed to processing and then approved.

At the bottom of the message box, you are informed that the agent may want to do a video call.

And our agent did.

On the screen, we could see us and then an icon for Officer Lehigh.

I couldn’t hear anything.

Checked the sound on my phone.

All looked good.

My cell rang but I couldn’t hear anyone talking.

I hung up.

Sam’s phone rang, same thing.

This has been an issue with our T-Mobile phones in some places in Canada and now the US.

Sam was in the process of sending the officer our Verizon phone number when I looked at the bottom of the app and saw little icons.

One was a microphone.

It had an X on it.

I touched the X and immediately, we heard Officer Lehigh.

Doh!

User error strikes again.

I tell you this so when you are in this situation, you run down and get your reading glasses before you use the app.

Officer Lehigh asked us a few questions like, how long were we in Canada, had we brought any exotic meat or vegetables back with us, etc.

It didn’t take long.

He emailed our Clearance Number and made our entrance official.

We’re back, baby!

Detour Harbor

We decided to stay at Detour Harbor instead of the more popular Drummond Island.

We didn’t want to fight the crowd to get back into the states.

So we used the CBP app en route and then headed to De Tour Village.

It is a very nice marina and we ran into a couple of other loopers and had lunch with them.

I love it when restaurants are within walking distance of the marina.

So convenient.

Later that evening, there was a free concert at the marina.

The music was incredible, and we had a great time.

Looking back, the water was more beautiful, the people were more friendly, the food tasted better, music was happier, and the sunset was more incredible.

Or maybe it was me.

Now that I’m home.

Our Thoughts

Our Trip

Notice the US-Canadian Border in the water.

Pretty cool.