Blue Water Bridge

[Married_my_love 0]

I know you've got tons of replies, but just my 2cents, when I was flying up from california and driving from Detroit airport to see hubby living in London, I had no problems entering canada, it was when I RETURNED to my own country, passport in hand, that I got crummy treatment at Ambassador.

I started using Sarnia/Port Huron after a while and always had very nice treatment there, going either way in/out of canada. I also came across there in June when I came up to be a "visitor" and wait for my PR to take affect. One of the scariest crossings for me, and turned out to be the most pleasant. (scary because I could have been denied entry being that I had a PR in process).

Anywho, I vote for the PtH/Sarnia crossing well over the Ambassador bridge.

[de_sjiem 0]

Hey.. I've gone through the Blue water bridge crossing many times and its always been fairly easy.. even when i went through with my K-1 Visa.. have gone through (tunnel i think) in detroit.. not a fun experience, but that was partly due to the fact that I was on a greyhound... they didn't like that much... Anyways... Vastly recommend the blue water bridge.. much easier.. rarely any traffic...

[CutienPurg 0]

Yeah, I can't say enough good about the Bluewater either. For the most part its been a breeze for both my husband and myself. A few odd instances but overall a super poe.

All these stories of tiny poe's reminded me of my Sault Ste Marie experience.... I swear TO GOD the same guy took my money at one booth and then changed his hat and ran to the customs booth...............I was nearly in tears laughing. Theres like 1 booth in either direction and I swear the poor guy ran himself ragged covering all the bases. I expected, with it being smaller, to be less hassle but he was an ornery sorta guy and really made me edgy.

Im sticking with the Bluewater. I told on another thread of my " random agricultural inspection" over the 2 bananas I had on my dashboard. The guy who pulled me in is a little weasel who we jokingly refer to as Barney Fife. We've gotten him a few times and he always acts like a total jerk and its only imagining him shooting himself in the foot that gets us through. Overall it's been super at the Bluewater in both directions and it's not as "unpopulated" as some might think. I have had crossing where traffic has been backed up 3/4 of the way across the bridge and I had to sit nearly an hour........lemme tell ya , it's not fun after having downed an extra large double double either Early mornings seem to be best and the officers on many occasions barely look up from their choice reading for the day.

Again , theyre just people, just like us, they have lives to live and things on their minds, so each time its a ####### shoot as to what you might get. I'm not sure there's a single key or pattern we can assume. Seems to me if we could figure out a pattern to make crossing easier it would defeat the purpose of having border protection as anyone with ill intent could do the same.......but that's just my take. I always prepare for the worst and hope for the best!!

[CutienPurg 0]

Anything we should be concerned or warned about regarding this bridge?

The Bluewater has been a backed up nightmare for the past couple weeks and not likely to get any better anytime soon , from what we heard. This past Sunday it was approaching a 2 hour wait when we got there at 1:30 pm ( so we opted for the Sombra Ferry) While chatting with another ferry goer he said it was backed up already by 8 am. We also went through on August 10 around 6:00 pm and it was backed up for about 5 miles going into the states.........thank goodness we were going into Canada and it took all of 2 mins.

Anyway, if it were me crossing again I'd definately try and plan for a late night crossing if you dont want to sit and then deal with cranky border patrol people.

Best to ya

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Don't try to use the Sombra ferry crossing to activate a visa going into the US. I had checked with them by physically going across and into the office the week before I was going to activate my K-1 visa to check that I could do it there. I was assured by the immigration officer that it wouldn't be a problem, and then verified that I had everything I needed for bringing in my pets and a few special houseplants. I THOUGHT everything was good to go. So, we loaded up the van (6 cats, 2 people, 5 houseplants and enough belongings for a week until the moving van arrived), had all of the documents ready, and drove to Sombra. We took the ferry and we parked by the Immigration Office. I went in to activate the visa and the woman officer there refused to do it. She said they didn't activate visas at the POE. No matter what I said, no matter how many times I told her about my previous conversation with her colleague, she wouldn't budge. So we had to return to Canada and drive up to the Blue Water Bridge at Sarnia/Port Huron and cross there. We had no problems processing there, but the immigration authorities there when we told them of our experience confirmed that yes, the Sombra ferry POE could have processed my visa and they had no idea why the officer declined to do so. We added an extra 3 hours driving to our already 2 day travel with 6 unhappy, caged cats in the van due to some idiot of an officer who ddn't want to do her job. So, use Sombra if you are visiting but be careful what officer you get as you may get one who doesn't want to do any actual work.

Edited August 23, 2006 by Kathryn41

[stephiejoyce 0]

The hubby and I were planning on taking this route semi early on saturday morning. We'll leave the Toronto area around 7am which means that we won't get to the border until roughly 10ish [i'm guessing]. I'm hesitant to use it, but it's either this POE or the Detroit one. I guess we'll see what happens. Thanks for the tips/advice guys.

Stephanie