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| John Harbour to the west |
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| John Harbour to the east |
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| Picking berries and rugged up at 34C against bugs not the cold |
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| Berry bushes everywhere |
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| 4 lbs picked each day for 3 days! |
Heading north-west from Oak Bay, we had perfectly flat water; a constant theme this beautiful summer, and we decided to anchor in one of our favourite anchorages from last year, John Harbour which runs between John and Downey Islands, creating a beautiful long, wide, private and very safe anchorage in any weather, due to the narrow entrances at either end. Hundreds of boats could be accommodated in this special place and everyone would pretty much find their own little bay to nestle into. This is where we found our friend the bald eagle last year....the fellow who spent the day watching over us for the day. The water is so clear that you can see to the bottom. John Island is comprised of high hills and Downey is much lower with lots of moss. Both are covered with trees. Funny enough, few boats seem to come here, preferring (it seems) to tuck in behind Beardrop where it is always filled with boats. John has now become our favourite place to hang out, explore, berry pick (yes, you did read it here first....I did say "berry pick" so you can ignore my comments in an earlier blog). The islands are filled with blueberries and the wild raspberries are beginning to ripen. We saw bear scat only once, near the water and berry bushes however no sign of the bear in person. We left lots and lots of berries for Brother Bear and probably another million boaters. So! What prompted us to pick them when I have resisted all these years? Was it my Mom's stories of staying at her cousins in northern Ontario when she was a child, rowing 6 miles each way to the islands to pick wild blueberries all day to get 75 cents per 6 quart basket? Sort of. Was it all the Americans who raved on and on about the wonderful berries? Kind of. No, what embarrassed us enough to get out there and do something was looking through our binoculars across the harbour and observing a couple who must have been in their 80's, struggle off their sailboat into their dinghy, ride to shore on Dewdney Island, then slowly and with incredible determination, hobble up a rocky slope to pick a sampling of berries. If the woman could have taken a walker up that slope, she would have done so. Bob and I looked at each other, shook our heads and said "ok....let's do it". There were so many berries that we couldn't stop picking. We are eating them every day for breakfast and dinner and a week later, we still have lots in the freezer. Amazing! We're hooked!
Once again, the harbour was filled with wildlife. Bald eagles, playful terns putting on a show for us and another shaggy looking bird that Peter believes could be either a golden eagle (lots of them up here apparently) or a fledgling bald eagle. We weren't quick enough to capture them on camera. We were blown away when a bald eagle flew directly in front of our boat at the level of our railing. We could see the eyes clearly.
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| Galley slave |
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| Visitor to Lil' TULAW..praying it's not an Asian Long Horned Beetle |
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| After a brief rain |
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| I'm suspended in 11 feet of water...so clear |
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| Mermaid grandma's do exist in the North Channel |
We spent a week in this anchorage then moved on to Blind River for some human contact and the usual stuff. The restaurant, Lil' B's at Blind River Marina became our most favourite restaurant north of Midland (where we LOVE The Explorers). Owned by Dan and Brenda, the food is simply incredible and astonishingly inexpensive. Dan spent most of his life long distance trucking for the music industry and had 3 heart attacks by age 52. Brenda insisted that he come and work for her at the restaurant and, once he'd recovered from his second surgery, he did. He is a fabulous cook and introduced us to the St. Louis Monte Cristo sandwich that is beyond belief. We are still drooling 3 days later and I have already looked up the "real St. Louis Monte Cristo" recipes and will try to recreate it sometime when my arteries are strong enough to take it.
While in the laundry room, I met Kathy and Brendan from St. Louis, Missouri (funny enough) who are visiting our waters for the first time. They love to travel the world and were fascinating people who purchased a catamaran in Australia a few years ago and replaced it this spring with a trawler-catamaran. We were invited aboard for drinks and conversation and to see their yacht. I found the following photo's on the internet and this is exactly their boat with the exception of that freaky fish thingy on the wall. A beautiful craft with so much living space. Besides the pics below, there are two full bathrooms (one with a washer/dryer) and an office. We had fun exchanging travel stories and learning about each others lives. They are in their early 60's and look years younger. We were talking about getting meaningful exercise aboard a boat and Kathy belted out a laugh, said that she just cannot swim in our lakes because of her fear of what is lurking beneath her then told us how Brendan gets his daily exercise. This guy looks like he's in his early 40's, very handsome and muscular (so is she by the way). He's kind of shy and looked at her as though he would prefer she didn't tell us but she went ahead anyway. She kayaks alongside him with a tow line and life jacket as he swims a couple of miles almost every day. Here's the crazy part. He swims freestyle one way, then on the return, he loops her kayak rope around his ankle and pulls her back on the return trip. If Bob's expression reflected mine, it would be labelled "pickerel out of water".
Next morning we borrowed the marina bicycles and by 8 a.m. were at the farmer's market a few km away at the edge of town. The heat was intense and because we really don't feel heat on the boat, this was a sweat-lodge. Felt great (especially after hearing about Brendan's routine)! After the market we stocked up at the grocery store then wobbled back to the marina.....then we had lunch at Lil' B's!!!
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| Cap'n watching his GPS as we approach Blind River in very shallow waters |
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| What Bob is looking at..the little arrow (boat) is us |
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| Navigator (me), following the paper charts |
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| Trawler-cat..identical to Kathy and Brendan's |
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| Lose the fish and it's an identical living room. The table is huge when folded out |
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| Beautiful galley in one of the pontoons |
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| Master stateroom off the living room |
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| Second stateroom in a pontoon and another in the other pontoon |
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| Living area behind captains seat can accommodate 10 for dinner |
Mid-afternoon, back out, planning to revisit The Turnbull Islands (an archipelago), a lovely anchorage we visited last year. As we entered, we saw a herd of boats and it was enough to turn us around and head back to John Harbour, where we sit today. Hardly anyone here and we still cannot believe it.
A cute story that happened a couple of weeks ago. The photo below shows you what we see when we lay on our bed in our stateroom. There is a lovely large hatch above us and in the morning we see the blue sky (or not), hear the birds and at night we can see the moon and stars. The breezes flowing in through the hatch keep us cool in the hottest weather because we are always nose into the wind. There is a screen on the hatch to keep out mozzies and other biting things. One morning, I was awakened just after daylight, to the sound of tiny footsteps above my head. I slowly turned over and peeked. It was the cutest black bird with red eyes, about the size of a robin and it was standing at the edge of the hatch, peering down at us. Bob was still sleeping and I nudged him so he could enjoy the experience. It yapped away at us for a moment then trotted away but we could still hear it. I wanted to find the camera in case it came back but didn't want to move in case it came back and the motion frightened it away. Sure enough, it came back then hopped down on top of the screen with it's mouth full of feathery shadflies...still alive! It's mouth was full and yet it still seemed to be talking to us as it peered in at us. After a moment of this, it hopped back up and flew away. I discovered after it left that the camera was within my reach and I'd missed a fabulous shot.
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| Hatch over our bed |
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| Father, surveilling his private harbour |
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| Fog in the morning |
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| Can't believe I got this picture, right beside our boat |
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| Exploring the islands |
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| Botanist Bob examining the vegetation |
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| Perfect! Absolutely perfect! |
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| Private beaches everywhere |
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| View from the beach |
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| Discovered what seems to be a man-made stone path |
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| Yikes! Is this a warning? |
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| A bbq? Couldn't believe our eyes. Seems to be a hunting camp |
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| Target for the arrow? Missed by a mile! |
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| Very cool discovery in the forest |
We are now slowly making our way back home, Blind River being our most westerly destination. We will be back in Little Current on Friday, then into the waters of Georgian Bay to meet our dear friends, Linda, Warren, Brent, Dana and Bella near Parry Sound.
Mentionable Milestones:
Belated Happy 8th Birthday to grandson Ben (June)
The passing of my cousin Louise Robson at the age of 92 last week
The wedding celebration of my cousin Jim's eldest daughter Lisa on Saturday
A very happy birthday to our cousin Ada Johnson who turned 108 on July 18th. Such an inspiration with her sharp mind, beauty, quick wit and her zest for life.
Happy Birthday to Pete's Mom (and our dear friend) Nancy today!!!
Love to all!!!
Sharon
