After four days in Killarney it was time to move on. We were kind of jammed-in at the marina in a narrow fairway with two boats behind us, but we knew that both of those boats were leaving that morning. So, we took our time, enjoyed coffee and each had a shower, and then I filled the water tanks in preparation for getting underway. By this time, the two boats had left, so I got the dingy back on the davits, and we moved the boat back about 20 feet on the docks to make sure we would have plenty of depth to leave.
After getting underway, we cruised along on autopilot following a couple of other boats, so I practiced using the radar to track targets. While underway, I experimented with various controls to try to get a feel for how they worked, and also get some experience with what various targets (islands, buoys, other boats) looked like on the radar display. It took us about two hours to reach our destination for the day, which was an anchorage at Heywood Island.
When we arrived at the anchorage, there were only two other boats there, so we picked a spot in between them and got ourselves set. Shortly after arriving, a group of sailboats and another group of power boats arrived. One of the sailboats anchored very close to us, but winds were light so we decided to wait a bit before talking to them about it.
In the meantime, Louise went swimming in the really cold water, and I rigged the dingy to go for a ride. We took a tour around the anchorage, and went down a narrow channel to look at the anchorage beside us. When we got back to the mothership, a few more boats had arrived. Shortly after we got back to the boat, the people from the powerboat next to us stopped by in their dingy. Turns out they were gold loopers who had sold their boat and were now chartering a boat out of Gore Bay. She was even a harbour host in Chicago, and told us to get in contact with her when we stopped in there.
During the day, the majority of boats made dingy trips to shore to let their dogs do their business. We have seen this a lot, as many boaters here seem to have dogs, and need to bring the dog to shore a few times a day.
In mid-afternoon the wind shifted, which brought us very close to the sailboat that had anchored near us. He asked us how much rode we had out, and he and I decided that our swing circles intersected. Since he had arrived after us, he pulled up anchor and moved a few hundred feet away. The winds died out over the afternoon, and as a result all the boats in the anchorage were randomly spinning on their rodes.
Just before sunrise. The sky looked like the Mandelbrot set (nerd warning).
Sunrise at the anchorage.
We slept-in a bit in the morning until 6, and I got up in time to see the sun come up over the trees. We then fired up the generator and had breakfast, while we planned our trip for the day. We were travelling to Little Current, which was about 13 km away, about an hour travel time. However, there is a swing bridge at Little Current that opens on the hour. We therefore had to time our departure so that we would arrive at the bridge about 10 minutes before the opening.
Approaching Little Current, we practiced some navigation skills, and used some range markers to set our course. A nautical range uses two towers, usually set on shore. The closer tower is lower than the further one. What you do is line up your boat so that you see the two towers, one right over the other. As long as you keep these towers aligned, you will track along the safe course towards the range. At Little Current there were two different ranges, one marked with green lights and the other with red. Both sets of lights used special lenses to send a very bright beam along the respective ranges.
You can see the green range lights to the right of the anchor. In this shot, we are slightly left of the range track, which is indicated by how the lights are slightly out of alignment. Bringing the boat a bit to the right put us back on track.
Little Current swing bridge.
As soon as the bridge opened, there was a bunch of boats going each way under the bridge, including this outbound tour boat. They use channel marks to create "lanes" for east and west-bound boats to pass together under the bridge. Arriving at Little Current, we got docked up and settled in. Slight bit of pucker-factor at the docks as there was a strong following current and so I had to use a little extra throttle to get the stern past a finger dock.
Our view from the docks. Kady Krogen - I like big butts and I cannot lie. An even bigger one came in later in the day. Some massive boats here, mostly from the U.S.
We walked around town, and Louise got some new walking sticks (she left her other ones at Mich's) and I got some engine oil. We got really lucky with the walking sticks. Found them at an outdoor store right beside the boat. They were actually made for snow-shoeing, and so the clerk had to search for them in storage. Turned out they were way better than the ones Louise left behind. They had a much better "grip foot", and she found that they were really good at gripping the sidewalk.
All morning it was very humid and cloudy, and we thought we would get rained on several times, but did not. As soon as we got back to the boat however, the skies opened and we were hit with a series of small showers over the afternoon. One of those days where it alternates between rain then bright and sunny.
One chore I had been putting off was to put our registration numbers on our dingy. Now that we are close to entering the U.S., this becomes important so that everything is proper when we cross the border. I had bought a kit for putting numbers on an inflatable boat that used paint and stencils. After one of the rain storms passed, it got really sunny, and when I checked the weather radar, no further rain was predicted or visible. I thought therefore that the rain had passed, so it would be safe to go ahead and paint some numbers on the dingy. The ‘destructions’ said to use the stencil to outline the number in pen on the boat, then paint between the lines, however this was a really slow and difficult process. I switched over to just using the stencil and painting which worked better and was faster. As I finished painting the first set of numbers, all of a sudden the sky started getting dark and we heard thunder. Murphy's law.
The paint was water-based, and was supposed to dry in about a half-hour, but it looked like we were going to get drenched well before then. Louise and I improvised, and covered the freshly painted letters using some masking tape and aluminum foil, using empty beer cans to support the foil away from the wet paint. We finished building our MacGyvered rain shelter just as the sky open up. When the storm passed, the radar suggested a brief break in the rain before another storm, so we took the opportunity to go for dinner.
We walked about a kilometre to Elliott's restaurant. This place had been suggested to us by Mich, who visits Little Current a lot. Her suggestion was right-on, our meal was really tasty. The restaurant was packed, with a line up to get in. On the way back to the boat we passed a couple wearing looper shirts, so asked them if they were loopers. Turned out they were on an American Tug we had first seen at Bobcaygeon, and had been seeing here and there since then.
Back on the boat I removed our protective cover from the dingy paint job, and discovered that it worked! Kept the rain off the wet paint, and it had properly dried.
We spent the evening watching Olympics on TV, and making a rough plan of attack for the upcoming North Channel and crossing to the U.S.
The next morning we had planned to stop at an anchorage at a place called Eagle Island, which was about 2 1/2 hours cruise from Little Current. We needed to get our holding tank pumped out, so we took our time in the morning before heading over to the gas dock around 9:30. We had timed it to avoid the rush that happens at the top of each hour when the swing bridge opens, but as it turned out lots of other people in the marina had the same idea. We had to hover a bit waiting for a spot on the gas dock, but eventually made it in and got the holding tank emptied.
We then set off across the North Channel. Along the way we passed a commercial fishing boat. From a distance it looked like a big inflatable boat, but as we got closer it resolved into a similar boat to the one at Killarney, fully enclosed with a big blunt bow and doors along the side. As we passed it we could see an open door on one side where they were bringing in their catch. Just in front of the fishing boat was a buoy, with a long pole and flag on top, similar to the ones used to mark the ends of lobster trap lines. Guess they are using some kind of long-line system. Shortly after passing the fishing boat, we saw a strange object in front of us. Initially I thought it was a bird, but as we got closer it was another commercial fishing buoy. We went hard to port to miss it and were then back on course.
When we were in Little Current we had spoken to a few people who had suggested we visit Benjamin Island. This anchorage was on our route, so we decided to stop in and check it out. The spot was very scenic, and well-protected, however it was also full of boats. We counted at least 17, with several more incoming - in fact one guy in a motor-yacht passed us in then entrance in a hurry to grab a spot. We poked around for a bit, but the bottom was very deep in the unused part, and we were not comfortable setting close to others with a lot of scope out, so we decided to abort and continue to our initial destination.
When we pulled in at Eagle island we found a huge anchorage with only 4 other boats in it. We easily found a spot and quickly set the anchor. Over the day the winds built up, but we had pretty good protection from some hills on the island. A sailboat arrived later in the day, but there was lots of room for everyone.
Louise wanted to swim, so I let the dingy off the davits to give her space, then hoisted it back on in reverse so I could finish applying the numbers to the starboard side. Now that I had done it once, it went fast and dried quickly in the sun. Louise enjoyed an extended swim, while we swung on the anchor in the breeze. In the evening, we watched Olympics again.
Next morning we slept in until the organic alarm clock wanted to be fed (6 am). Our alarm clock is Siamese, so her meow is pretty loud. Louise went for an early morning swim while I made breakfast. Bringing in the swim ladder I could see we were right over our anchor. The water here was super-clear, and I could see the roll-bar of the anchor above the mud. The rest of the anchor was buried in the clay.
Took a bit of tugging to haul the anchor out of the clay, and then we were underway for Gore Bay. The water was flat calm, strange to see on a body of water this big. Along the way we heard the US Coast Guard responding to a Mayday call on VHF. We could only hear one side of it, apparently the boat in distress was near Detroit.
We passed through a cloud of little bugs as we were travelling across the North Channel, about 5 km from shore. The boat was covered in them, every spider web on the boat was full when we arrived at Gore Bay.
The marina at Gore Bay is first class. We have been seeing this a lot on our trip, towns are taking over old-run-down marinas and rebuilding them. Think this is smart as you attract some tourists with money. This place was packed with huge boats, a couple of them qualified as super yachts.
We spent the day doing chores, Louise did laundry while I fixed a couple of electrical issues on the upper helm. They had a small boat store here, so we also decided to replace our Canadian flag as the one we had was really faded from the sun. In mid-afternoon the fishing boat we had passed the other day came into the harbour and tied up and they immediately began unloading. The name of the boat, Pervis, matches that of a nearby restaurant, so I guess that place specializes in fresh fish.
The boat was designed like a tank. It is completely enclosed. The doorways are sliding metal. This thing is built to fish in bad weather.
We went out for supper at a place called Buoys eatery. Interesting place, and really enjoyable meal.
This is a pizza place near the harbour that has take-out and a patio only, no indoor dining. We each had panzerottis, and listened to the live music. There was a guy playing guitar and singing, he sounded like Willie Nelson, and even played kazoo on one song.
When it is time to pay, they send you down this little hallway to the cash, where they have cheesecake-to-go. ITS A TRAP! We came back to the boat with two big slices of cheesecake for desert :)
Boat name of the day: Blasted Orifice
