North Channel

7/29/08

Today we just powered 40 miles to Killarney. This is the weather we thought we were going to get yesterday, very quiet with no wind. Beautiful!

We were backing into our slip and the guy said to go all the way to the back. Rolf expressed concern about the bottom. He said keep going we have 9 feet all the way to the dock and CLUNK, we immediately hit bottom. Good thing we were going slowly and Rolf was handling the stopping line. Also the bottom was not rocks. Then the guy says oh, I forgot about the rudder. Sometimes the people trying to be helpful/bossy are the scariest. There is a bus down the street that serves fresh fish and chips that was highly recommended. It was very good as the fishing boat was parked at the dock. It seems they catch the fish, unload and clean them there then hand them to the people in the bus who immediately cook them and hand them out the window. It doesn’t get any fresher than that.

The other thing I got a kick out of was the grocery store. It was a regular small town store with the usual staples. The funny thing was the sign on the door. I guess they don’t have to be politically correct up here in Canada. Instead of saying the usual No shirt, No shoes, No service, their sign said, “This is not a beach, For God’s sake, cover yourself up!” I guess it can’t be any more plainly said than that. They must have had some ugly, nearly naked people show up once and scare the customers.

7/30/08

Today we had a short 20 mile passage to Little Current. This is a very narrow spot in the channel so they get lots of current going through on a windy day. This morning it was light so no problem. We took our time because there were two passes we had to go through that were narrow and rocky. The depth is 3 feet on either side of the narrow channel. We have to be very careful here not to run aground because the bottom is Niagara limestone cliffs and not sand like Florida. So we go quite slowly in the narrows. The place is beautiful, very wild and rocky. There are lots of islands and protected areas so not much in the way of waves. For the next few days we will be at anchorages and out of range of any communication so I am trying to keep up to date a little more than usual. So we will catch up on the western shores near Mackinac Island.

This is the Strawberry Island Lighthouse.

7/31/08

We are leaving the metropolis of Little Current behind to head out to some anchorages for the next few days and working our way west along the channel.  The anchorage at Hotham Island is very protected. It is a bay, in a channel, off the main channel. The clouds looked as though we would be hit by quite a storm but it pretty much blew over without much trouble. There are about 10 boats here. The North Channel is primo cruising grounds for the people from both lakes. There are so many inlets that if you have a boat to get into shallower places, you could anchor in a new place every day and not have anyone with you. If you have more draft and are not familiar with the area like us, then you go to the more well known anchorages. So then there are more folks with you, but still not terribly crowded like the Chesapeake. Since there isn’t much else, we will just try to include a couple of pictures of scenes to give the idea of the looks of it.

8/1/08

Today we are on to the next anchorage at Turnbull Island. This is the northernmost point in our trip. From here we head south to home. Rolf likes to go out in the dinghy in the early morning. He went along shore looking for animals.  What he saw were some beavers swimming and diving along the shoreline. I was always on the lookout for bear but didn’t see any.  Rolf was up here about 30 years ago. One thing that has changed for the better is the charts, both electronic and paper. Plus there are many more channel markers so you are less likely to run into rocks. We had another stormy afternoon so we sat around reading.

On the way to Turnbull we had to pass through the narrow Little Detroit passage. This is the rock that was just next to the boat even though we were in 30 feet of water.

8/2/08

Today is the big push to get to the west end, through customs and back to the USA. It is a sunny, warm day with light breezes. So the 87 miles was pretty painless. We had to stop in Drummond Island to check in with customs and get fuel. It went very slick. I think we were in and out within a half hour. Then we were on to the Les Cheneaux Islands (that might be a French name) to anchor in Government Bay. Because we had a long trip, we just dropped anchor, had dinner and watched the sun go down. I do like being on this end of the time zone because the sun goes down later. I always liked that about the Michigan coast. Tomorrow, on to Lake Michigan and home waters.

 Rolf says perhaps the double rainbow portends good sailing ahead. Since I don't talk like an old English gentleman, I say yikes what a storm that was!