Hammond Bay Harbor is located on the northeast tip of Michigan’s lower peninsula. It’s located in a fairly remote location and my understanding is that it was constructed primarily to provide a Harbor of Refuge on the Lake Huron coast midway between Rogers City and Cheboygan. There is very little there (12 slips, a fuel dock, and restroom) – which is why some boaters (including me) like it and others don’t.

I just got home from my fall cruise. A friend (another Dave) was with me. As we approached Hammond Bay Harbor at about 3:30 p.m. last Thursday, I could see one boat – a blue sailboat – in a slip and a man wandering the docks. As we pulled into a slip, the man walked to the finger dock and Dave tossed him a bow line.

The guy looked to be in his 30s. He was wearing a camo ball cap, jacket, and long pants. Nondescript attire. We chatted as we tied up my boat.

“Where’d you come from today?” he asked.

“Mackinaw City.”

“What was your port before that?”

Charlevoix.”

“Where are you headed?”

“Bay City,” I answered. “Are you from the blue sailboat?” I asked.

“Nope. Just checking out the harbor,” he replied.

“Thanks for the help.” Dave and I climbed up the ladder onto the finger dock. They guy was still standing on the front of the finger dock, blocking our path to the main dock.

“Are you both U.S. citizens?” he asked as he reached inside the collar of his jacket and pulled out and displayed a badge that was hanging on a chain around his neck.

“Yes.”

“Where do you live?”

“Midland.”

“Have you met anyone from another country on your trip?”

“No”

After answering several more of his questions and asking some of our own, the Homeland Security Marine Interdiction Agent jokingly commented “You guys are boring.”

“That the way we like it,” I responded.

I had heard that smugglers were flying from Canada and landing at small, remote airports in Michigan. It appears they are also coming in by boat to small, remote harbors. So now Homeland Security is patrolling them as well.

The docks at Hammond Bay Harbor are high off the water. The photo is the view from the cockpit of my boat looking beneath them. Pretty reflections that afternoon.