Immigration rules while hopping along the Canadian/US border

[Saaabb]

Hi,

How do we handle the immigration while cruising the Detroit and Saint Clair river? As the channels are sometime in US, sometime in Canada.

In the eventuality of splitting the cruise over 2 days, can we anchor overnight?

Thanks,

[Mike OReilly]

If you don't want to clear in to the other country (which you currently can't due to Covid-19 restrictions), then just be sure to anchor on your side of the border. As long as you are in transit you don't have to clear in.

I did the route a few years ago. I anchored overnight about 1/2 way along, in Lake St. Clair. Being a Canadian I simply went a 1/2 mile or so away from the border, before dropping the hook. No problem.

[Gary Mc]

I live in Sarnia where Lake Huron empties into the St Clair river. They are a little fussy so tend to stay in American waters as much as possible. There are not a lot of places that I would feel comfortable anchoring at but you could go up into Anchor Bay which is the NW corner of Lake St Clair. However, especially on weekends, there can be a lot of power boats running around. For my money I would go into a marina, there are a number..



When you do get to where Lake Huron enters the St Clair river you will want to be close to the Canadian shore, there is a nice back eddy there right up to the Bridges that really helps. In the middle and along the American shore the current is about 6 knots!
Have a nice trip and hopefully the border will be open soon.


PS Mike has only gone down river not up!

[CaptTom]

Not sure about this spot, but in other border areas they (both sides) can get especially fussy about fishing on the "wrong" side of the border.

Point is, don't do anything which looks like fishing. Make sure it's obvious from your course that you're just transiting, and don't drag any trawl lines.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Gary Mc

...PS Mike has only gone down river not up!

Very true. It was a fun ride down . Going up would be slow and ... less fun . But the only place I noticed much current was just at the top of the St. Clare River as Huron entered in. Maybe three or four knots. I'm sure it can get worse at high water times.

Like I said, we just anchored off in Lake St. Clare overnight. The whole area is quite shallow, so you can pretty much anchor anywhere -- weather permitting of course. But there are lots of places to get some shelter from winds, and the fetch is not that big. I wouldn't want to be out there with an intense storm though. I bet the shallow lake kicks up some mean seas pretty quick.

The river estuary at Lake Erie offers some good anchoring spots, but you have to be careful of traffic. A bow-stern tie close to land worked for us for a lunch stop (again, on the Canadian side).

Yes, fishing is definitely not allowed while on the wrong side. The only thing that is permitted is a transit through, so no stopping, no fishing, just keep moving.