North Channel

         We have spent a wonderful week exploring the North Channel.  From Mary Ann Cove we went through the swing bridge to Port of Little Current, a cute little town on Manitoulin Island, the big island that divides the North Channel from Lake Huron.  The bridge is an old railroad bridge converted to a one-way motor vehicle bridge which opens only on the hour, so fifteen to twenty minutes prior boats begin to gather and hover.  There is a wonderful town-run marina, where boats can dock for a few hours for free or stay overnight for a very reasonable fee.  VHF Channel 68 was very busy with traffic from the hovering boats requesting dock space on the other side of the bridge.  We joined the radio queue, looking for a few hours’ tie-up so we could run into town for some groceries.  How those dockhands kept us all straight is a mystery, but kudos to them for handling the chaotic arrivals as smoothly as they do, every hour.  Within fifteen minutes of passing through the bridge we were tied up at the seawall.

The Port of Little Current offered everything a cruiser needs within walking distance.  We got our supplies and had a little time to browse the shops and visit with some fellow cruisers before we took off for a nearby anchorage at East Rous Island.  

The North Channel is just as scenic as Georgian Bay and offers just as many anchorages.  From East Rous we moved to Croker Island in Baie Fine, a lovely little place where we met an older couple on a sailboat from Michigan.  Bob and Mary had lots of advice for us about where to go and what not to miss.  They’ve been sailing these waters for thirty years.  From there we moved over to Moiles Harbour, choosing that one because one of the reviews said they’d seen a bear swimming.  

We didn’t see any bears, but we did have some drama.  The anchor didn’t set well.  Dan wasn’t pleased, but decided that since there wasn’t any current, and we were protected from all directions of wind (and there’s no tide to worry about!) we would be ok.  In the morning, as we raised anchor, we found why it didn’t set:  we’d snagged a dead head.  Not only had we snagged it, we’d swung around and neatly wrapped our chain around the fifteen foot log.  Fortunately conditions were still and calm; all we had to do was poke at it and wait, and the log swung around enough for the chain to unwrap.  We discovered the area was a logging site and dead heads were not uncommon.  Good to know.

Bear Drop Harbour

        Our next anchorage was in the picturesque (in name and surroundings) harbour known as Bear Drop.  We arranged to meet up with our cruising friends Meg and Dave on Circle Lily there, and they invited us aboard for dinner that evening.  After we each spent an hour or so gunkholing around the long, narrow harbor, Dan dropped me off to cook up a blueberry crisp for the night’s dessert while he went ashore to gather replacement berries.  We had a veritable feast aboard Circle Lily - Meg and Dave served fondue as an appetizer and steak and potatoes for the main course and came up with cream to drizzle over the blueberry crisp.  Outstanding!  

Coincidentally, some Canadian friends we’d met seven years ago in the Bahamas just happened to be anchored behind us in Bear Drop Harbour.  We had cruised in company in the Exumas with Bruce and Jo of Solana, but haven’t seen them since 2016.  We invited them over the next morning for blueberry pancakes and had a great time catching up.  

Bruce, Jo, Kathy, & Dan 

        We spent last night anchored in the Turnbull Islands and tonight we are in Anderson Bay, in St. Joseph’s Channel, which leads to Sault Ste. Marie.  Our plan is to dip our keel in Lake Superior before heading back southwest to Lake Michigan.  That way we can say we’ll have been in all five of the Great Lakes.  (We briefly traveled in Lake Erie back in 2018 when we brought Willie Dawes from Grand Isle, NY to Maine.)  This will be our last night in Canadian waters - we’ll check back into the US tomorrow in Sault Ste. Marie.  

Turnbull Islands

Tommie took over the First Mate chair today when I went below for a minute…