LITTLE CURRENT to CROCKER Anchor in the Benjamins / Friday, July 29 (Day 191)

Admiral's Log:     1:00 pm / Fri. 7/29/16
                         Air Temp:   75     Water Temp:   69
                        Winds:   5 mph
                        Speed:   10 knots

Mike and I joined a few other cruisers for the "Cruiser's Net", radio show this morning. It's a local show broadcasted on VHF radio in the summer where the host gives a little news of the day, then asks boaters to call in where they are and or where they are headed. That way their friends can keep up with them or try and find them. 

Afterwards, Mike and I hung around the boat waiting for our friends, Barbara and Joe Huber from Kentucky to arrive. 

We got underway soon after their arrival and headed to a popular anchor to meet up with the flotilla for the night. Crocker Bay in the Benjamin's, a group of islands that are some of the prettiest in the North Channel. They have lots of pink quartz rock islands.

You can barely see the pink on the lower portion, but it is very pretty.

We had an 8 boat raft up! (We tie to each other). It was so cool. We all took pot luck to Morningstar II for dinner. It was fun catching up again and sharing stories.

I gave the "Giving Plate" to Tonya. So now she has to pass on to another boater.

BAIE FINE to LITTLE CURRENT / Wednesday, July 27 to Thursday, July 28 (Days 189-190)

Admiral's Log:     9:30 am, Wed. 7/27/16
                         Air Temp:   76     Water Temp:   74
                        Winds:   calm
                        Speed:   6.7 knots

The grass was terrible on everybody's anchors. It's a lovely spot but the pulling the grass off the anchor is a pain. Some people drove around in their dingy's helping boaters cut the grass for them.

Love the name!  Haha

See the ball of grass on the end of the anchor?!

These white triangles are called range markers. When lined up you know you are dead center of the channel.  

Now you can see how far apart the markers really are.

Historic Little Current Swing Bridge

Little Current was having a big festival this weekend and we heard the marina would be filling up quickly. So we arrived a day early to make sure we could get a slip because we are picking up our friends Barbara and Joe Huber from Kentucky. He happened to have a meeting in Oshkosh so figured if they were this close maybe we could cruise together. They are parking their car here for  a few days cruising, then we will return them here and head west.

We had a nice sized docktails with Jet Stream, Over Ice, Jill Kristy, Dream Fever and Last Dance, then leftovers for dinner.

Thursday, we did laundry and grocery shopping. After 4 days on anchor the list got quite long. Mike also gave the boat a good washing while I cleaned the inside. I caught up on the Blog by sitting on a rock outside the office where the WIFI antenna was. Not the best reception from the boat. But gotta do what you gotta do sometimes.

All the above boats went to dinner at the Anchor Inn in town then went over to the bar and listened to some music by a local guy who also subs as the bar tender. Probably the largest crowd he'd had in a while. He was quite appreciative and it was fun.

COVERED PORTAGE Anchorage to BAIE FINE Anchor ("The Pool") / Tuesday, July 26 (Day 188)

Admiral's Log:     8:50 am, Tues. 7/26/16
                         Air Temp:   74     Water Temp:   67
                        Winds:   10 mph
                        Speed:   8.5 knots

Since it was too windy yesterday we did a little dingy tour this morning. We took a picture of the famous Indian Head in the mountain side and saw another boat with name similar to ours. "Ro Boat".

Can you make out the Indian face profile?

On our way to Baie Fine, we could see the windmills at Little Current on Manitoulin Island. We saw Over Ice and Snow Goose leaving as we were entering the channel to Baie Fine. 

We also heard a couple of familiar names over the radio. On channel 71 on our VHF radio there is a 30-60 minute show called Cruiser's Net, where cruisers call in and tell the host were they are, that way other cruisers can connect. So we radioed our destination and heard several other familiar Looper names do so as well.

These are 11 foot sailboats called Trailer Sailors. Really cute.

Baie Fine is a fjord with a long channel to get to the anchorage. But it is well worth it, my favorite so far! You can see why they call it "The Pool". It's just this big body of water, totally protected on all sides by huge rocks and trees. There were 24 boats there with a lot of room to spare. 

We took about a 30 minute hike up to Topaz Lake. Gorgeous! Pictures don't do it justice. The water is a beautiful blue/green. It is totally land locked and is fed only by rain or snow runoff. Nothing can live in there. It is a popular swimming hole and many people dive from the rocks. Not Me!

Crazy Canadians! 

Then we took the dingy through some grass and wound our way around to a nice little waterfall. When we go back to the boat ,Horizon Chaser had arrived. Dan and Jackie swam over to our boat and the 4 of us floated around a while until, I think I got pinched by a snapping turtle! We had seen it in the water, but did not think it would come near us. I never did see a mark, but you can bet Jackie and I flew back on the boat!

After Dan and Jackie left our boat from cocktails, we had roast I had been cooking in the crockpot all day. 

KILLARNEY to COVERED PORTAGE Anchor / Monday, July 25 (Day 187)

Admiral's Log:     10:10 am, Mon. 7/25/16
                         Air Temp:   69     Water Temp:   63
                        Winds:   10 mph
                        Speed:   9.0 knots

Another windy day, but we did not have far to go, just 3 miles, so we took our time leaving. We grabbed a couple of cinnamon rolls from the Curds and Whey Bakery and went to the lobby of the resort to check our emails because the WIFI connection seemed better from there. 

We have officially left the Georgian Bay and entered the North Channel of Lake Huron. We have been told this area is even prettier than the Georgian Bay, but also more remote. So no cell service and limited WIFI access. But a small price to pay for this experience!

We dropped anchor at 10:50. The water was a very pretty green like in the Keys. There were quite a few boats already anchored but it's a pretty good sized place so we did not have trouble finding a spot. 

It was pretty windy so we did not get the dingy down. Another lazy day, read and napped. I fixed a curry chicken dish for dinner.

MILL LAKE Anchor to KILLARNEY Mountain Lodge / Sunday, July 24 (Day 186)

Admiral's Log:     10:40 am, Sun. 7/24/16
                         Air Temp:   72     Water Temp:   71
                         Wind:   10 mph
                         Speed:   9.8 knots

We went fishing again but no luck. We did meet a Gold Looper couple on Last Dance from Jacksonville. He actually is from Tampa and went to Hillsborough High School. The boating world can be such a small world sometimes. 

The boat in the middle is from Jax.

As we were leaving we saw an eagle on a rock and I was able to snap several photos. Another awesome experience!

So lucky to be able to capture this eagle in flight!

We got to the marina at 11:30 just before the rain moved in and saw Jet Stream, Errante and Snow Goose. We were told not to provision at Killarney because it costs a fortune. We  had to get bread, milk and tonic; it was 21$ Canadian which was about 15$ US, but still crazy!

Killarney Mountain Lodge is a resort as well as a marina. They have recently added new docks, a bakery at our back door and we had one of the best meals we've had in a while at the restaurant. 

Yummy cinnamon rolls right out our back door!

Killarney Mountain Lodge, really cute.

See Rowe Boat? Did not have to walk too far!

There was a festival in town; so we checked out the art show, where I bought a lighthouse picture. We did not partake in the fish fry; still watching the fried fatty intake.  

BUSTARD'S Anchor to MILL LAKE-COLLINS INLET Anchor / Saturday, July 23 (Day 185)

Admiral's Log:     8:10 am, Sat. 7/23/26
                         Air Temp:   74     Water Temp:   67
                        Winds:   5 mph
                        Speed:   9.7 knots

I kind of hated to leave the Bustard's but we had a timing issue to get to Little Current by Friday to pick up some friends, and we still had several places we wanted to see before then.

Collins Inlet Channel was a cool, narrow gorge with more tight markers on our way to our next anchorage.

Castle Island, don't know why it needed 3 lighthouses

Approaching the Gorge

Another narrow channel

We dropped anchor at 12:15 and went dingy discovering.  We were hoping to pick some blueberries, but seems it was too hot this year and they were not ripe yet. We climbed a rock and enjoyed the view of our boat at anchor. I took a video of the aspen leaves rustling in the wind. So quiet and peaceful! 

We also did a little fishing and caught a few small mouth bass and I caught a good sized muskie. It got away at the boat but I was able to get a quick photo.

Not much else to say for some of these anchoring days. We get pretty laid back enjoying nature and the peace and quiet. I'll just let my pictures do the talking.

Blueberry hunting

One of several beaver dams we saw

Unknown Anchorage to BUSTARD'S ISLAND Anchorage / Friday, July 22 (Day 184)

Admiral's Log:     6:05 am, Fri. 7/22/16
                         Air Temp:   73     Water Temp:   69
                        Winds:   4 mph
                        Speed:   9.0

We headed out by ourselves. The other 4 boats still did not feel comfortable going in the open water. There was to be some wind but near as much as the day before. Mike and I decided we were tired of waiting, and since our boat is pretty heavy we can take stronger winds and seas, so we got an early start before the winds picked up. 

Point Au Bariel Light house, see the barrel under the flag?

We went to the Bustard's. A small group of islands that became my favorite anchorage so far. It was pretty twisty, turny and rocky getting there. Lots of rocks peeking out of the water, pretty barren, with few trees. There were several very narrow channels we had to maneuver through. 

We have to stay between the green and red markers. Hardly looks wide enough!

Some a few of the rocks we must avoid, notice the black square, DANGER!

We dropped anchor at 11:15 and found Snow Goose and Jet Stream already there. Horizon Chaser showed up soon after. We caught a couple of small mouth bass from the dingy. We all took our dingy for "rocktails" with the other boats on a large rock.  We grilled pork chops and zucchini for dinner.

Just a couple of scenery photos

"Rocktails"

HOPEWELL BAY Anchor to Unknown Anchor / Thursday, July 21 (Day 183)

Admiral's Log:     7:05 am, 7/21/16
                         Air Temp:   66     Water Temp:   69
                        Winds:   9 mph
                        Speed:   9.0 knots

Today is the half way point! If we were taking a full year to do this, today we would be half way. We think we will be home mid December, so we are really more than half way. Hard to believe!

It was pretty windy when we left. We were to go in open water to get to our next anchorage. When we got to the open water, all 5 boats decided it was way too rough to make the 18 miles we had planned. So at 7:45 we all turned around to head back to where we just anchored. When we got there, we could not get our anchor to set right and Mike did not like the wind direction.

Turning around from the rough water.

We left the group and found a different anchorage at 10:00. It turned out to be more protected from the winds we were experiencing. There were to be 30 mile per hour gusts, so we battened down the hatches. We had a pretty hard rain and gusts for about an hour. We napped, read and hunkered down for the night and hoped to head out again in the morning.

We had a drone checking us out. Not sure if it was a home owner not so happy with us or a real estate agent.

Day is done...