The North Channel

Tuesday August 10^th

Killarney is considered to be the end of the Georgian Bay or the beginning of the North Channel. Bit of fog this morning and just as we started to move to the pumpout the brigantine (a Tall Ship) Playfair took up most of the dock. When I went over to find out how long I would be there he noticed my Bayshore Discovery Tee Shirt and asked if I was involved with the A.J.Meeerwald. We talked for a bit and I found out he has met Jesse and knows Dave Leanza, one of our former mates. The Playfair is one of three brigantines out of Toronto that take teenagers for two week cruises. These 70 ft steel boats carry 28 people – 18 passengers and 10 crew – all except the captain are teenagers. He must be nuts!

The leak is still there, I tried using “X-Treme Tape” and it did a good job of slowing it to a very slow drip, but the surface is just too irregular. Tomorrow we should be near a hardware store and I can get a replacement washer. If not I will try more tape.

We traveled about 25 miles to Bay Fine, which is described as the closest thing to a Fiord on the East coast. I do not know about the fiord part, but traveling between limestone cliffs, with pine trees in every crack and notch is quite pretty. I do not understand what the trees live on. There is no dirt in some of the places, only rock, yet there are big trees growing there.

Trees will grow anywhere

We anchored at the head of the bay and took the dinghies (there were three boats) up another gorge. Serendipity could get there but the anchorage inside was very weedy and we preferred to stay on the outside. At the head of the gorge we hiked about ¾ mile uphill to Topaz Lake. A pristine blue lake surrounded by limestone cliffs. The hike was tortuous. Rocky stream beds and muddy hills to climb. Then it was almost straight down for another 200 ft. to the lake. Was it worth it? Depends on who you ask. I thought it was. Carole was happy to make it up and down safely, but the view was not worth the trip.

Another quiet night at anchor.

Wednesday, August 11^th

An easy day to Little Current. We tied up to the town dock. I spent the afternoon looking for parts and making repairs. Apparently the washers that were used to connect faucets 15-20 years ago (cone washers) are hard to find. The local hardware store had none and the clerk had never seen one. I was able to buy one of the new flexible connectors and extricate the washer from it. It worked and we have water pressure again.

Uphill to Lake Topaz

The generator fuel problem is another story. A check of the fuel line found an almost completely plugged fuel pickup. I tried blowing it clean with 60 lbs. Of air pressure and all I got was a trickle of air through. When I tried to remove it from the tank the nut molded inside the tank rotated. With no access to the inside of the tank I plugged the old pickup tube, drilled a hole in the tank and inserted the fuel line to about ½ inch off the bottom. I then sealed the tube to the tank. We now have a working generator again.

Had dinner with Randy and Barb (Lazy Dolphin) at the Anchor Inn. Wing Rating – Taste 3, Crispy -2, Heat -3, Meaty -3, total – 11. Pretty good and they served a lot of them.

Thursday August 12^th

Annie doesn't think much of my shower

A hazy warm day – got a late start. Close to noon by the time we left the fuel dock, but it is only a short 15 mile trip to Kagamond. About 3:00 we took a 1 kilometer trail to Bridal Veil Falls. Nice easy trail, lots of wildflowers. The falls was pretty, but even more fun was swimming in the pool and standing under the falling water. With a 50 – 60' drop I got a great massage. Annie refused to swim under the falling water, but she had a great swim. This is the first time since she was a pup that she swam with us. She would swim out, circle us and swim back to shore. She kept repeating it until one of us returned to shore.

Cocktails on Windsong who anchored out instead of taking a slip.

Friday August 13^th

Friday the 13^th! Woke up to find two brigantines tied up at the dock. They were Playfair and Pathfinder, the same two that we saw in Killarney. They tried to sail to the dock but the wind totally died. One of them actually kedged to the dock. (Sailspeak – Kedging is the process of rowing and anchor out as far as you can and then pulling the boat up to the anchor. Then repeating the process until you arrive at your destination. Or more commonly used to get the boat unstuck after a grounding.)

Underway about 10 AM. The other boats we have been with the last week or so are mostly ready to leave the North Channel. Lazy Dolphin Windsong and us are expecting to be back in the U.S. In three days. The Old Grouch is probably a day behind that. They are intrigued by the small towns where we have docked and want to visit more of them. As Canadians who keep their boat in Penantang (on the Georgian Bay) they will be able to see much of this territory after they complete the loop.

Cruising the North Channel

I can see why several of the boats we have met are cruising the Georgian Bay and North Channel this year and leaving their boat here or in Brewerton, NY for the winter. Next year they can do it again or continue on and complete the loop. There are certainly many more places to visit than we had time for. We want to be off Lake Michigan by mid September at the latest.

We headed back to the “Small Boat Route” through the North Channel. We found ourselves following Lazy Dolphin who had stayed in Little Current an extra day instead of going with us to Kangamond. We were headed to an anchorage recommended by Reese (Captain on the brigantine Playfair). It was beautiful, but not very good for us. It was too deep most places and the shallow areas were all flat rock with no place for the anchor to dig in. There was a rock wall we could have tied up to, but there were no trees big enough to hold us or anything else we could tie to. We had to leave there and found a nice anchorage between four islands and spent a quiet night, after I replaced the fuel filter for the generator.

Nothing to tie up to

 Saturday, August 14^th

Decided to make a long run today. We had several possible destinations in mind and did not need to pick one for the first three hours. Half an hour out it started raining and intermittently it rained so hard we couldn't see. As decision time approached Lazy Dolphin (who caught up with us in the rain) decided to head south to Vidal Bay. By coincidence – or not – it is only a few miles west of Gore Bay. Vidal Bay along with Blind River were my original destinations, but then I found the Grant Islands on the charts. They are all about the same distance, but the Grant Isles put us 10 mile closer to the U.S. customs check in tomorrow.

At one o'clock the weather cleared up some so it became an easy run the rest of the way.

Another Quiet Anchorage

East Grant Island was supposed to be the better anchorage, however at 40' deep we passed on it. West Grant proved to be much better. We went for a walk on Anchor Island, saw some nice wild flowers. I found a rock with a fossil imprint, and Annie of course got her water romp. Another beautiful clear night with no wind.

I started wondering what makes this area so special for me. Then I started thinking about what makes anyplace special or extraordinary. My thoughts of course wandered all over and I concluded that for me it is a place that I know I want to return and see more. Not very profound, Eh! (Too much Canada)

So if I want to see more, why don't we stay longer? Well one or two more weeks would not put a dent in what I want, and the weather dictates when we have to leave. Besides, I do not do cold. We also have a goal of completing the loop. So perhaps next year or the year after we can spend an entire summer in the Georgian Bay & North Channel, or maybe we will find someplace else to see. Actually next year we are considering the 1000 Islands, Montreal, and the Rideaux Canal mini loop. We shall see.

Sunday, August 15^th

Out in the North Channel

Clear and calm – about a 25 mile trip to the U.S. Customs dock at on Drummond Island. A 4 hour trip for us, over open water, so it is set the autopilot and keep watch. Scored a few points this morning. I picked some raspberries for Carole's breakfast while walking Annie.

The trip started out calm. By the time we got to U.S. waters, 3 hours later, the wind was up to 20 kts. and a two foot chop with white caps on our nose. We should be in a sheltered bay in 15 minutes.

Clearing customs was a non-event. The customs officer helped us dock our boat! We took on fuel and pumped out while there. On to Detour Village for the night. Supposed to have better facilities and closer shopping. The wind is still blowing hard, 25 kts. Docking straight into the wind proved more difficult than I expected. It took several tries, but we made it.

If this town has more facilities than Drummond, Drummond Islands must have none. We did find one restaurant that actually served dinner after 7:00 PM. Everything else was closed on Sunday. The food was very good.

Monday, August 16^th

Hung around today to wait out the weather. This gave us the opportunity to do some shopping and some computer catch up. Tomorrow does not look great, but may be doable. We can go 24 miles to Government Bay and then another 30 the next day to Mackinac Island or make one 40 mile day to Mackinac Island direct. With the wind looking poor the next day also we decide to go and decide when we get to the Government Bay turnoff.

Tuesday, August 17^th

Cool and windy again. We get an early start. It is fairly rough- 2-4 ft. waves, but right on our nose again, so while it is not comfortable it is tolerable. Six more hours of this if it does not change. When we get to the decision point it appears to be 2 hrs. to Government Bay or 4 Hrs. to Mackinac Island. The island is very visible in front of us and beckons us on. Now that we have passed the decision point the wind and seas take their revenge. Seas go to 3-5 ft. with an occasional 6 footer. I decide to burn a bit more fuel to keep our speed up and we arrive at Mackinac (pronounced Mack-in-awe) at 1:00.

We are promptly greeted by a mink sitting in the rocks at the head of the slip. It promptly disappeared as soon as I picked up the camera.

Mackinac Island is quite different. For starters it is a culture shock for us. We are coming off the Georgian Bay and North Channel where there are few people, even counting all of the boats we saw. Here there are thousands of tourists coming and going on ferries every day. We are told that the daytime population of the island is 10,000 and at night the population drops to 2000. Secondly change is the thousands of bicycles in the streets. And the third difference is the reason for the second. There are no motorized vehicles on the island (except for an ambulance and fire truck). So all commerce is by horse drawn wagons or trucks. People either walk, bike, or take a carriage.

We walked through town with Annie and you would think that she is a rock star. Almost everyone wanted to pet her, and she loved it at first, then she just ignored them.

The Bakery Truck

Not only are the tours conducted in horse drawn wagons, but the delivery trucks/wagons, garbage trucks, and even the street sweeper are all horse drawn. We watched one two horse team back the trash/recycle wagon around a 90° corner downhill on a driveway! I can not back a trailer even close to that well, and these horses have to do it every day!

The overall effect of the bikes and horses is to slow down the pace. I do not find the crowds oppressive like I usually do. The main street however is strictly tourist. Fudge Shops (17), “T” shirt shops, gift shops, and a few restaurants, OH and one food market all in about five blocks. During our walk we gathered the information we needed to be tourists tomorrow.

And the Fudge Shops!

Wednesday August 18

I have called the horse drawn wagons “trucks” since most of them, including the tour carriages have automobile or truck wheels. Some carriages have large spoke type wheels, but most of the vehicles have balloon tires which makes for a more comfortable ride. So I call the wagons, trucks.

Ate breakfast out this morning and then got on a carriage tour of the Island. We lucked out and got front row seats on the carriage. These carriages seat 24 people and are pulled by two LARGE horses. The horses are Belgian and Percherons. They work ½ day, 5 or 6 days a week. The tour takes us through town, past the Grand Hotel, the stables, and on to a transfer station where we change on to a larger wagon pulled by a three horse team – and if I thought the first horses were large these are even bigger. The back of the horses are easily over 6 feet high, and we are told that they weigh about 2000 lbs. Each. The wagons take us through the state park area with a photo (and horse watering) stop at Arch Rock. When climbing the hills the drivers stop often to give the horses a breather, and going downhill they have hydraulic brakes to keep the wagon from running over the horses.

The wrong end of a three horse team

The carriage tour stops at Fort Mackinac and allows those who want to tour the fort to get off. We get off to avoid having to climb up the hill from town. Going home downhill later will be much easier.

The restoration of the fort is nicely done. They do many reenactments and have a number of period dressed guides available. The boy and girl scouts also come up for a week or two and in exchange for quarters and a chance to see the island they act as volunteer hosts, giving directions, offering to take pictures, etc. We watched a court martial of an enlisted soldier who was drunk and disorderly. And then we stopped to watch a demonstration of soldiers drilling and firing rifles. We wound up being the drillees. I really did not need to be reminded how to drill. I gave that up 50 years ago. It was fun, however watching kids, moms and dads winding up all over the field as the commands were called. We did not get to fire the rifles though.

The drill team before the start

We were able to catch a ride on the carriage tour back to town. We did not go to the Grand Hotel to walk on the porch. The hotel has the longest porch in the world. We did not walk on it. The hotel charges $10.00 just to enter the hotel, unless you are a hotel guest, or want to have lunch buffet there. Somehow $50.00 each for lunch doesn't do it for me just to walk on the porch and have lunch.

The entire front is one long porch

While we were up at the fort we saw Windsong and Lazy Dolphin coming across from the North Channel. They also had a rough crossing.

Thursday August 9^th

We went to the Art Museum this morning. A combination of local art, native American artifacts and old photographs and paintings from the island.

Three ferries arriving at Mackinac Island

At one o'clock we left Mackinac Island to cross to Mackinaw City. It was a quick two hour trip punctuated by incessant wakes from all of the ferries running to the island. There are three ferry companies and each company has a ferry every ½ hr. from both Mackinaw City and Ignace – and they are all loaded with visitors!

Mackinaw City is also loaded with tourists. We did a bit of food shopping at the local IGA. We walked there, but gave Carole a ride back. I had to walk back since Annie was with me. We went to dinner at the local bar – the sign on the wall says “BAR” It was really pretty good. The two restaurants in town came with really poor revues from several tourists that were wandering the town.
At the marina the Mackinac Straights bridge is almost overhead.

Tomorrow we leave the North Channel and head into Lake Michigan.