North Channel

August 16, 2017 to August 24, 2017.  Just west of Killarney is a small fjord named Baie Fine (aka Bay Finn).  We believe that’s French for “slender bay”.  Anyway, it’s a “must see” when passing through Georgian Bay and the North Channel.  Baie Fine is about eight miles long and, indeed, it’s much like a fjord, narrow but plenty deep with high granite ridges on both sides.  At the top of Baie Fine there is a narrower channel that extends to the east for another two miles or so where it opens up into a small lake called the “Pool”.  This channel is wide enough and deep enough for larger vessels to pass through it and to anchor in the pool.  Because the pool can be weedy (hard to get the anchor to set), we chose to anchor at the top of Baie Fine proper and not up by the pool.  In theory, our selected anchorage would have a better breeze and fewer bugs.  The weather was sunny and moderately warm.

 Shoreline Along Baie Fine

Once in Baie Fine, the "thing to do" is to take the dinghy all the way up to the end of the fjord and then hike to a nearby lake called Topaz Lake.  The path was rocky but not that difficult and we were able to make it to Topaz Lake in about 30 minutes.  We don’t hike as fast as we used to.  Topaz Lake was beautiful; its waters were green as the name would suggest.  There were other boaters there and some were swimming in the lake.  We did not bring our bathing suits, so we were not able to take a dip.  A missed opportunity.

 Wooded Trail To Topaz Lake

 Topaz Lake

 Topaz Lake

 Tug LeeLoo At Anchor At Baie Fine

 Sunset At Baie Fine

We knew the next day, Thursday, was supposed to be windy and rainy so we decided to move on to an anchorage near the town of Little Current.  The plan was to dinghy into town and walk around a bit.  Our secondary anchorage would have been behind Beaver Island just east of Little Current.  We got up and pulled the anchor, and cruised to the entrance of Baie Fine.  Once we reached the open water at the mouth of Baie Fine, we found it a bit too rough for our taste, so we turned Tug LeeLoo around and headed back to our anchorage at the top of Baie Fine.  Part of the problem was that we did not have any cell service while we were in Baie Fine - none, nada.  So we could not get accurate information on the conditions of the open water until we were actually on the open water.  At least we had a safe and comfortable anchorage to return to to ride out the bad weather.  It rained hard most of the day, but we were safe an secure.  Just no cell service.

On Friday we were still dodging bad weather but were able to make it to Beaver Island.  There was nothing to do there except to wait for better weather.  In fact, waiting for better weather would become the theme for our visit to the North Channel.

 Waterfall After All The Rain From The Previous Day!

On Saturday, our plan was to anchor near Clapperton Island.  The weather was windy but sunny.  By this time we had given up on the idea of stopping in Little Current; we were ready to move on.  To get to Clapperton Island and further into the North Channel, we had to go through the swing bridge at Little Current.  It only opens on the hour and, unfortunately, we arrived about 30 minutes early.  So we had to engage in “station keeping” for 30 minutes.  Station keeping is nautical talk for driving a boat in circles while minding the winds and current and trying hard to not run aground or into the many other boats also engaged in this fun exercise.  Eventually the bridge opened and we and several sailboats were allowed to pass through.

Little Current Swing Bridge - Only Opens On The Hour

While passing the town of Little Current we noticed some open space on the town wall, so we radioed them and asked for permission to tie up for a couple hours so that we might have lunch and go shopping.  To our surprise, then responded in the affirmative.  I guess promising to spend money in their town helped our cause.  So that’s what we did.  We went to the farmers market, to the grocery store, and out for lunch.  After a couple of hours we departed for the anchorage at the south end of Clapperton Island.

 Dock Along Little Current

 Town Of Little Current

The anchorage we were headed to was a large bay that, in theory, would give us protection from the strong west winds.  And inside the bay there was a small island that we could get behind to improve our protection even more.  Unfortunately, a sailboat was already there.  The balance of the bay wasn’t as promising as the chart suggested, so we headed out and around to a secondary anchorage on the east side of the island.  It was called Logan Bay.  It was a fine anchorage, good holding and good protection against the west winds.  And it was six miles closer to the Benjamin’s Islands group, which was our destination the next day.

 

Sunday was a great day to visit the Benjamin’s!  It was sunny and the winds were light and variable.  It was a short trip, only 6 miles, and we arrived by 10:00 in the morning.  This was indeed a popular anchorage, by the end of the day there were nineteen boats including Tug LeeLoo anchored there.  Finally, we had arrived at the North Channel destination you hear so much about.  There are smooth rock islands in all directions, perfect for landing the dinghy on to hike and explore and swim and to party with other Loopers.  So that’s what we did.

 Views of Our Anchorage In The Benjamins

The weather on Monday was supposed to be okay for most of the day, so we decided to stay another day.  Our location was good but not great.  While Nancy stayed on Tug LeeLoo and baked cookies, Carey went for another dinghy ride to explore more of the islands.  And of course, we had to get ready for the eclipse.  This far north we did not expect to see complete totality, about 25% would be it.  We made a viewer out of the cookie box and stood on the bow of the boat and watched the eclipse.  Although we only saw a partial eclipse, it was still quite an event.

Our anchorage was more or less in between North and South Benjamin Islands, all that protected us against the strong west winds that were expected the following day were some low lying rock islands (islets?).  So on Tuesday morning we decided to move the boat to a bay at the south end of South Benjamin Island for better protection.  We thought we knew what we were doing but this decision turned out to be a bad one in retrospect.  The bay indeed provided protection against winds exactly from the west.  But the winds that day and into the evening had a northerly component and they managed to sneak around the rocky bluff protecting us and hit us on the nose.  Not to worry, we would have some bow slap that evening but we were confident the anchor would hold.  Unfortunately, the bay we were in was not that deep (long) and the waves flowing from west to east across the entrance to the bay refracted into the anchorage.  These rolling waves, in opposition to the winds from the northwest, caused Tug LeeLoo to turn sideways to the incoming swells.  So in addition to bow slap, we rolled and rolled and rolled all day and all night long.  It felt like we were on a continual roller coaster . . . it was not fun!  At all!

Early on Wednesday, like 6:30 am early, we moved Tug LeeLoo back to Logan Bay on Clapperton Island.  Bow slap we can take, rolling back and forth hour after hour, not so much.  This was the first time Nancy felt even a hint of seasickness!

On Thursday, August 24, we were ready to move on from the Benjamin’s Islands and to see more of the North Channel.  Our destination was John’s Island which is at the east end of the Whalesback Channel, about 29 miles to the west.  The weather and water and were excellent (finally) and we had a good cruise.  To get here we had to pass through Detroit Passage, a very narrow channel.  We would have issued a “securite” message on VHF Channel 16 before proceeding through the channel except for the fact that the Canadian Coast Guard was monitoring a rescue operation on Channel 16.  Apparently a catamaran overturned (hard to figure out how that could happen) and everyone on board was dumped into the water.  One nearby boat picked up a mother and two small children and took them to a waiting ambulance at the municipal marina in Spanish, just a few miles from where we are anchored.  A second boat picked up seven additional people and took them to the marina.  Unless it was a large vessel, one can suspect that it was overloaded.

Sunset In The North Channel

On Friday, August 25, the plan is to backtrack a bit and go to the town of Gore Bay on Manitoulin Island.  Except for our short visit to Little Current, we had been at anchor for nine straight days.  The holding tank was full and the liquor cabinet was empty!  It was time to reprovision and to get off the boat and to stretch our legs.  

We were hoping to find a restaurant to go out to dinner, but found only two and they were both closed Friday evening!  Talk about rolling up the sidewalks!  The good news was there was a walk-able grocery store and LBCO so we were able to do some re-provisioning.

 Gore Bay