Summer 2010 - Part 3

We are continuing to enjoy the beautiful anchorages of the North Channel. Our local source of supplies is Little Current, Manitoulin Island. We took a run in to Kagawong (Manitoulin) one day and discovered the most wonderful home-made chocolate. Manitoulin Chocolate Works is owned by a couple of young women and they sell online at manitoulinchocolate.ca if you need a chocolate fix. It is probably the best we have eaten and we plan to order some (LOTS!)  when we get home.

Transiting from Spanish to the Benjamin Islands requires passing through a narrow gap called Little Detroit. Prior to entering the gap, it is necessary to call a "Securite" on the VHF radio to warn boaters who might be approaching from the other side, that you are about to enter the channel so they may "stand off" until you are through. As you can see by the following photo, it appears alarmingly narrow and we wouldn't enjoy encountering a large boat coming the other way.

Little Detroit Channel

The anchorages here are absolutely fabulous! The water and air are clean and clear and the swimming beautiful at 79F. We are finding that boat traffic is increasing and some of the more popular anchorages were so busy that we moved to more obscure spots. This particular anchorage, Beattie Bay (following photo's), wasn't the most beautiful however we found ourselves completely alone. We swam all afternoon as God created us and later in the day, Bob was scanning the forest with binoculars when he spotted a tree house. Presumably no one was in it and we are certain that if they were watching us, they wouldn't be doing it for long. It is probably a duck blind or hunter hut. It did give us a start and reminded us that we are never far from civilization, no matter how remote we seem to be.  The sunset here was wonderful.

Spot the tree house?

The views of La Cloche Peninsula from Eagle Island were wonderful, as were the sunsets.

We tucked away into this anchorage while at least 18 boats anchored just around the corner.  Exploring our corner of the anchorage, we discovered a little river that led to an internal lake where we discovered only the sounds of the abundant wildlife and the lapping of the waves on the shore.

Favourite (so far) sunset photo

Last week we entered a couple of anchorages, Bell Cove and Sturgeon Cove and found them to be too crowded for comfort with 15 to 20 km winds.  We checked the charts and discovered Sturgeon Bay and decided to check it out.  It is a little tricky entering the bay due to several shoals at the entrance and we learned that this is why the bay is virtually empty.  There were three boats when we arrived, they left the next morning and only one other boat came in while we were there (6 days) and anchored so far down the large bay that we could barely see it.  We had one day of wind gusts up to 60 kmh and were so well protected that our anchor held us without incident.

What a beautiful greeting!

Not to be outdone by a deer, this Huey Dragonfly also came to greet us.

View of La Cloche mountains where water bombers were fighting forest fires.

Bob doing what Bob does best!

This is Saturday, July 31st and we are back in Little Current.  We attended a daily broadcast of a program called Cruiser Net that we recently discovered on VHF 71.  The "studio" is in The Anchor Inn Hotel close to the docks and the host, Roy, started the one hour show 6 years ago.  At 9 a.m. each day through July and August, he broadcasts, with an incredibly strong signal,  to boaters in northern Georgian Bay and the North Channel, giving highlights of the news and marine weather and then devotes the rest of the hour to boaters, asking them to call in with their boat name and location.  It is stunning to hear how many boaters, visiting from all over North America, are calling in each and every day.  We began calling in from Sturgeon Bay and decided to meet Roy yesterday when we arrived in town and attended his broadcast.  He connects boaters who are too distant to be heard on Channel 16, the communication channel and he passes on messages from boat to boat.  We are meeting up with the Waddell family this next week and this is a perfect means of finding each other.  As they travel north from Penetang they will listen for our location and we will listen for theirs until we finally meet.  At the broadcast yesterday, Roy had his 3000 caller of the month and was thrilled that it was a record.  He took our photo after the show and has several albums with photo's of each boat and the crew.  Incredible service and all volunteered!  Roy received a Community Service Award for this great idea that is really popular.  All boaters look forward to dropping by to meet him when in town. 

Roy and volunteers, broadcasting on VHF 71

That's it for another week!  TULAW OUT!!