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Friday, May 26, 2017

North Channel and Arrival in the Great Lakes



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North Channel (click for larger)






























Well, the 2017 season is about to start so I had better get caught up on last year.

Things started to move so quickly at the end of the boating season in 2016 that I missed posting about the last several weeks. Once we had good weather in Killarney Ontario (the last town on the right along the top shore on the map above (straight north of the "O" in the word Georgian), we headed into the North Channel and towards Little Current, Ontario on August 22. Like Georgian Bay that we were leaving behind, these are some of most beautiful cruising grounds in all of North America. 


Little Current, ON


We needed to be at a place with good cell reception for Deb to do a phone call for Girl Scouts. Also, we hadn't seen a grocery store in a while so we by-passed several interesting stops to proceed directly to Little Current. One thing that boaters should know about Little Current is that the name is a lie. The current in this narrow pinch of water is not little and it is created by the water being pushed easterly or westerly between the North Channel and Georgian Bay The current can be quite large at times. It is always an adventure to dock there!
Main Street Little Current
Little Current is the hub of activity on Manitoulin Island with full services and marina staff that are very knowledgeable about boating and all aspects of the North Channel. The grocery store is about a mile long walk away up hill with the LCBO available along the way. The North Channel Cruiser's Net is operated each morning from the second floor of the Anchor Inn. Since communications around the North Channel can be spotty, the Cruiser's Net offers a radio meeting on VHF channel 72 each morning during the season to connect boaters with the news, weather, the location of cruisers in the area, the relay of messages between boaters, and the relay of any urgent or emergency traffic. 

We were lucky in our arrival in that the Cruiser's Net was holding its 2nd pot luck dinner and celebration of the season that evening at the Little Current Yacht Club (LCYC). The Cruiser's Net, the LCYC, and the town could not possibly be any more friendly.


Covered Portage and The Pool



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Covered Portage
The next day, August 23, we headed back to the east to a small anchorage called Covered Portage. This beautiful small harbor has enough room for about 10 boats to anchor. It is surrounded by tall stone hills and completely unspoiled land. On the 24th we moved to the end of a long narrow passage between the small mountains call Baie Finn to a protected harbor call The Pool.

The Pool is completely protected from the weather from all directions which is a good thing. About an hour after we anchored, a strong thunderstorm roared through. We sat calmly at anchor and took that opportunity of the break in the total silence of the place to run the generator to top off our batteries.


Window view at The Pool
The next morning we had an early start since Mike had a scheduled phone call with Navigant, his part-time consulting job, regarding a possible project to start up in the fall. The Pool is about 10 miles from the nearest cell signal so we needed to get to the opposite end of Baie Finn in time for the call. All went well and Deb piloted the boat while Mike did his call.


Return to Little Current

Little Current

On August 25, we headed back to the west and, necessarily through Little Current. We refueled, adding about 100 gallons of fuel - trying not to add too much fuel at the high Canadian prices. We took a dock in the Marina, docking with about a 4 knot cross-current. Surprisingly we saw another cruise ship stopping for the day just as we were tied-up to the dock. 

We had a great time there again. With a short trip planned for the next day, we had time to take care of a few maintenance items and to give Carousel a well deserved scrub-down. On the morning of the 26th, we awoke to yet another cruise ship docked at Little Current. We really had no idea that Great Lakes cruises had become a "thing".


North Shore 


For the next few days we anchored in several small harbors, namely the Benjamins, Hotham Island, Cleary Cove. The Benjamins were a must because we had anchored there over 20 years ago with Deb's parents in their sailboat. Once again we climbed the tall rounded pink granite rocks to the top of the island.


"Prince Arthur" approaching the exit from Cleary Cove
Hotham Island was interesting. Owners of a near-by cabin rowed out to our anchorage and invited us over for drinks at their place. They are former boaters who have opted for more stationary views of the North Channel and let friendly cruisers come to them for social interaction. What fun!

The weather was a bit unsettled with rain in the area and building winds. However, on the 28th we moved about 15 miles west to Cleary Cove. That's not where we were planning to go but the anchorage we chose was so bouncy with waves from the building winds that Mike got on the radio to inquire about better locations in the area. An accommodating boater Robbie Colwell on another Grand Banks, (Prince Arthur) responded with a recommendation for Cleary Cove, about a mile away. He told us about a very narrow entrance and shallow entry and that he would take his dinghy out to meet us and guide us into the extremely narrow channel. Thank goodness for his help! The entrance was not much wider than our boat and we bumped the bottom a bit as we squeezed between the rocks on both sides. We had a wonderful talk with the other two boats anchored there. We dropped the dinghy to explore the area and went back through the entrance on the small boat. The water was so clear that we could see where we bumped coming in. We needed to be about a foot to the east! When we started cooking a black bear came down to the shoreline to give us a sniff. Luckily, he decided that we were not worth the energy to swim out to us!


Heading back to the US

On the 29th we headed to Gore Bay, ON on Manitoulin Island for a little more fuel so that we would have a generous safety factor. We would have a few long days ahead of us before we could get to some less expensive fuel in Michigan.  The next day we headed about 60 miles to the west to the last of the North Channel islands, Drummond Island. Drummond became US land at the end of the War of 1812 and is a designated US Customs port of entry. There is not much there, but we did find a restaurant that served Lake Perch, one of our favorites!


The Best of Lake Michigan
On September 1 we moved out to the St. Mary River along with some large passing lakers and on to the big water of Lake Huron. Our trip was about 30 miles to an anchorage in Les Cheneaux Islands. The next day, we passed though the Mackinac Straits past Mackinac Islands. The turbulence there with the large passing ferries and yachts was very uncomfortable and some of the loose items in the cabin were unceremoniously rearranged.

As we passed under the Mackinac Bridge and entered the wide open waters of northern Lake Michigan, we found calm waters for our trip to Petosky, Michigan, a 70 mile trip. Once in Petosky, we settled in for a few days of provisioning, laundry, and land-based recreation.

(to be continued)

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