Video: DeTour to St Ignace, MI

July 31, 2024: I leave DeTour MI, recovering from a sinus infection, and, enroute to St Ignace MI, show you how I use my Garmin chartplotter’s AIS feature to get information about nearby traffic.

This is an enroute video shot near the end of my Great Loop cruise. It’s the first I’ve published so far (I think) that includes extensive chartplotter footage to explain how I use my Garmin GPSMap 7612 chartplotter’s AIS receive feature to learn more about conflicting traffic — in this case, a large, cargo ship.

I’m starting with a departure from DeTour State Harbor marina. I travel down the DeTour Passage, where I encounter the cargo ship, round the DeTour Reef Lighthouse, and follow the southern shore of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula westbound. I pass pretty close to the north shore of Mackinac (I say “Mackinaw” throughout; sorry!) Island before cutting across the channel to the City of St Ignace Marina, where I dock the boat. I’ve cut out as much boring stuff as I could, but you might not agree. In any case, if you’re planning or doing the Great Loop, I think you’ll find some value in this. You’ll definitely find value in the AIS and Chartplotter discussions.

Here’s the video:

The chartplotter footage is something new I started collecting late in my Great Loop journey. It answers a lot of questions about my speed, direction, locations, etc. And it gives me a chance to teach folks about using the chartplotter in their own journeys. Older footage won’t have this, but newer footage will. I’ll be releasing new videos from throughout my journey in the months to come. I hope you subscribe to my YouTube channel to see them as they’re released.