Getting Ready to Leave Gore Bay

Today is Gore Bay Market day.  There's a Farmers' Market every Friday during the summer. More importantly, it is the only day that there is fresh fish available.

I thought that the Farmers' Market would have a fish stand but no, the fish is sold at a parking lot in town, out of the back of a truck.  I go into town as there are rumours of long line-ups and limited amounts of fish.  I got some fresh lake trout, a chunk of smoked whitefish and some smoked fish dip. When she said a chunk, either a tail or middle, I thought a nice filleted piece.  No it was a chunk.

Changed the oil yesterday. It took longer than expected.  The oil filter would not come off.  I used the oil filter wrench that I had but it would not budge.  I walked around the docks and asked if anyone had a good oil filter wrench.  Got a couple of wrenches; they did not work.  I asked Wade from Stella B and he gave me a pair of plier like tongs and had big teeth to grip the filter.  Worked like a charm and got the filter off. New one on and re-fill with new oil.  Just took the extra filter time.

We had Wade and Marie over for drinks at happy hour.  Learned a little more of Wade's career in security; very interesting.  While we had a drink, the weather changed and all of a sudden it was summer again.  They left and we had dinner, although it was a little late as I was chatting with the boat that had tied us next to us.  Power boat from Chicago.  The skipper had sailed the Chicago to Mackinac race and then joined his own boat for a cruise on the North Channel.   

The local restaurant Buoys Eatery has a singer playing in the patio on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  So we had some music for dinner.  After dinner we went over to have an after dinner drink.  Wade and Marie were there after stopping at other boats. Music was good. The guys from Chicago power boat arrived after the restaurant technically closed but they were served beer and pizza; great service.

After the market, I took the old oil into town for disposal at the local Shell station.  No problem but had to pay the disposal tax.  Another trip to the LCBO, Home Hardware (2 times).

After lunch I got the bikes out and we went for a ride out the Lighthouse Road to see the lighthouse at Janet Head.

Beach seems to be a lot larger these days, as the water levels drop.  It is very dramatic.

Talk about a small world.  The neighbours in Toronto of Rick and Wendy, friends from QCYC, were going to Gore Bay this weekend to stay with friends on a Tartan.  It turns out that we had met the people on the Tartan because they have the same model as we do. So we are all going for dinner together tonight.

Still in Gore Bay, ON

We are still in Gore Bay.  

After a fun filled weekend, Monday's forecast was filled with chance of thunderstorms all day.  So we decided to stay put for another night.  Good thing since we watched thunderheads roll by all day and had a late afternoon thunderstorm.

Gore Bay has built a boardwalk most of the way around the bay so we went for a long walk.  With the dropping water levels, the head of the bay is drying out, but still marshy.  As we were walking back through town we noticed that the power was off in most of the town.  There was a hum of generators going.  The Shell station had one going to keep the gas pumps going. Some stores closed early.  It was pretty warm so a quick swim was in order. Very refreshing.

We were walking along the dock and some guy was wearing a golf shirt with an emblem on it.  I recognized it as a Royal Canadian Curling Club Men's Invitational Bonspiel shirt.  Turns out Peter Carter (Laurie) was a long time member at the Royals Curling, got married and moved up to Gore Bay.  I actually remember a sign at the club announcing that marriage.  It turns out that he is from St. John's NL and Belinda knew several common friends and family, including Bridgette and Wayne Hamilton. Small world.

We have sampled most of the restaurants around the marina so we decided to eat in.  We thought fresh fish would be nice.  After the Valumart and the yacht charter place, we could only find frozen.  We found out that fresh fish is only available on Fridays at the farmers market.  So frozen had to do.  We got a pickerel and pan fried it in some oil, herbs and flour. Very nice.  We also discovered that it was National Tequila Day so we finished dinner with a round of tequila.

Apparently the marina receives more than just boats here. We watched a small float plane taxi out and takeoff up the bay.

Weather is forecasted to be very unsettled for the rest of the week so we decided to stay put. (mal de port?) and let the weather pass.  We also realized that this is the longest we have stopped since leaving Mentor OH back in June.  So we will take the down time and I will do the oil change and fuel filter change.

Gore Bay, ON

I was up early and started to get the boat ready for departure.  Winds are expected at about 10 kts from the south west so it would be a motor over to Gore Bay.  We hauled anchor and brought up about 10 lbs of clay on the anchor.  We were set pretty good. There was only one other boat in the bay last night as the winds were pretty heavy from the south west, but had calmed down significantly by the morning.

We meandered our way through the rocks named Sow and Pigs to get into the main channel.  Once in the clear it became apparent that the winds were not going to be light; it was blowing 12-15kts. After about 10 minutes, I noticed a dinghy floating in the channel that must have come off of the boat ahead of us.  I backed off the throttle and Belinda came up to see and I pointed out the dinghy.  We managed to pick up the dinghy and tie it off our stern and then headed back on course to Gore Bay.  By now the owner had wheeled around and was heading back.  We made radio contact.  Since we were both headed for Gore Bay, I said that I would tow the dinghy there and return it at the dock as the waves ere now 1/2 meter high.

As we approached Gore Bay, the MacMan race leg 2 was just starting.  This is an annual race from Mackinac Island to Manitoulin Island via Gore Bay ending in Little Current.

As we turned into Gore Bay, I thought that we would get some shelter and the winds would diminish.  Wrong.  Winds funnelled down the bay and were steady at 20kts. Canadian Yacht Charters runs their charter business out of Gore Bay.  As we are approaching and trying to make radio contact with the marina to get a slip assignment, there is some guy tied up at the dock on his charter boat, calling the charter office asking where they put the table cloths. Then he came back again and asked whee the cutting boards were.  All this while there are 3 or 4 boats circling in the harbour waiting to get to the fuel docks for service.We skipped the fuel docks and headed straight to our assigned slip.

We made the dinghy exchange.  Marie and Wade from Stella B came by to thank us for rescuing their dinghy and invited us to their boat later for drinks.

Once checked in we found out that it was Harbour Days festival going on.  First for us was the ions Club beef on a bun being served at the tent at the marina.  Perfect.  We went for a stroll into town and got 2 treats: the last copy of the Saturday Globe and Mail and raisin bread.

After drinks on the Stella B, we were off to the Rotary Club Fish Fry. Fresh whitefish, corn on the cob, cole slaw,  potato wedges and to top it off: ice cream, chocolate or maple walnut. The harbour master this morning said that it was one of the busiest fish fries; if there were more that 20 more, they would have ran out of stuff.

After dinner and a stroll, I stopped at Windwalker, the blue Tartan 4100 that we had passed leaving Little Current.  Margot and Alan live in Michigan but keep their boat here in Gore Bay.  We exchanged some Tartan stories and experiences.  We were not the only ones with warranty issues.

Propane refills seem to be a problem up here in the North Channel.  Tanks can only be refilled in Gore Bay or Spanish.  Spanish does not have sufficient depth in their channel for sailboats, so Gore Bay is our only option.  I dropped off the tanks at the marina office; there would be a delivery fee.  No problem.  They were back this morning.  Total cost for filling 2 10 lb tanks with delivery $15.00.  That's less expensive than Toronto and I have to carry the tanks back and forth. We can now relax as we have plenty of propane for the rest of the summer for both stove and BBQ. We have been using the little green propane disposable tanks for the BBQ, but no more.

Lazy day today.  Raisin toast and coffee for breakfast over the Globe and Mail.  Caesars. General lazing around after the provisioning trip into town.

View from the patio of Buoys Eatery, overlooking the harbour and marina.

Matheson Island and Crocker Island

While in Little Current we were sampling the food from the local bus, Buddy's by the Boardwalk.  Great whitefish tortillas wraps.

One of the great things about cruising is the people that you meet.  In Killarney, when we were circling while waiting for a pump out, a dinghy stopped and said hello as they were old QCYC members and recognized the burgee.  It turns out that Peter and Tracy Jones had told them to have a lookout for us so when they saw us they stopped to say hello.  After docking in Little Current, we finally we able to meet up and chat with the former QCYC'ers, Sue and Peter from White Rabbits.  Their son and his fiancee joined the club and are having their wedding reception at QCYC in August.

Peter gave us some recommendations are islands to visit.  One was Matheson Island and after some considerations we decided to take the advice and go to Matheson.  After a gruelling 15 mile sail and motor we dropped anchor in about 18' of water. Winds were supposed to be from the north so I thought that we would be well protected.  Most of the day, it blew from the east so we were a little exposed.

Shortly after we anchored, Sue and Peter arrived and anchored further into the bay.  They seemed to be much more sheltered by being only a few feet further in the bay. After a swim, we went over to white Rabbits for happy hour and found out that they had cruised with Wendy and Rick down south.  Peter had noted that we seem to be a bit exposed and that we should move closer into shore.  I thought that we would be OK, mostly because I did not want to move the boat.  The winds clocked north but we kept getting hit with the residual waves from the east which made it a little rocky.

In the morning, we went ashore and walked around a bit.  Great vistas.

We were trying to decide what to do.  Move the boat and stay another night or go to another island.  As we were deciding another boat arrived and went into the spot that we wanted. So we decided to haul anchor and go to Clapperton Island.  As we were headed out we changed our minds and decided to go to Crocker Island.  No particular reason.  We arrive at Crocker and there is a small sheltered anchorage where the boats are tied to shore and then the big bay.  The anchorage was pretty well full when we arrived so we checked out the bay.

The bay is 40' deep in the middle and stays deep right up to the edges, making anchoring and tying to shore difficult.  The winds are expected out of the north and we located a little nook that would be facing north over night.  We managed to get an anchor down in 20' of water and then run a stern line to shore to keep us from swinging in a west wind, which it did all afternoon at 10-15 kts.  The stern line keep us out far enough but we could swim to shore very easily. We were good for the night as the winds blew from the north all night.

In the morning, one of the boats, which was anchored in a spot that I thought was ideal, pulled anchor and left.  I rushed Belinda, disturbing her morning coffee, to get ready to move.  I pulled the stern line and we hauled anchored and moved over.  Our first drop put us too close to the shallow spot in the inner bay.  The second drop didn't hold as it was sliding on a rock face, but the third drop grabbed sharply and we were set. We dropped in about 10-12' of water and we put out about 40' of chain, not the ideal amount of scope but we did not have much room behind us to let out more.  The spot was between a sheer rock face and a small rock island, so if the wind was from the south we sat further out in the bay and if the wind blew from the north, we sat in the deep spot in front of the shallow bay.  The wind changed directions several times in the day and we glided back and forth without incident.  The winds were fairly strong so the anchor was well set in heavy clay so the scope should be fine.

Since I wanted to stay on the boat and watch how it moved in the winds, I worked on the port toe rail, sanding and then Cetol. After the first coat, we went for a dinghy ride, visited the inner basin, which by now was packed with boats tied up every 20' or so. No thanks. A bunch of boats were now anchored in the main bay in 35' of water.  It was starting to get crowded as the boats needed more swing room.  There is a reluctance on anchoring in deeper waters; several boats made several attempts at anchoring and trying to tie ashore.

Entertainment for the evenings is watching other boats anchor and watching the sunsets.  Apparently there is one every night.

We dinghied over to South Benjamin Island, which is about 2 miles from Crocker Island.  It is very popular with the power boats and boats with kids.  The island is formed on a huge granite rock so holding is not very secure as there is not much clay on top of the rock.  We walked up the rock and had a look out.  The views here were like walking through a Group of Seven painting.  Everywhere you look, its like an AY Jackson or Tom Thomson painting.

Looking out over North Benjamin Island.

Crocker Bay was pretty busy this evening.  A couple of boats that we saw at south Benjamin came over to anchor in the bay.  A power boat was trying to anchor in about 40' of water.  After several attempts, the skipper yells at his wife to let everything out; and she did.  She watched the bitter end zip out past the bow roller. The other boat graciously offered to let the power boat raft for the night. There did not seem to be any attempt to go and retrieve the lost anchor.

Another evening of sunset watching.

We had such a good anchorage spot that we decided to stay another night.  South west winds were expected all day and building at night so the bay at Crocker emptied out; a little exposed to the south west.  Our spot was secure so we had no worries.

The next day we climbed up the rock beside us. At the top Belinda can get cell coverage.

Great view of the North Channel.

Sansei at anchor with the ducklings.

Little Current, ON

We went to the Fish and Chip bus and the fish and chips were amazing.  The basic order is a 4 piece fish and small fries.  Order at one window and pick up at the next one.  They don't sell drinks but provide vending machines, which after a weekend's worth of business was largely empty. After pick up, we ate at the government docks beside the commercial fishing boats.

Killarney is a very interesting little town.  It was created as a port and did not have road access until the early 60's.  All the stores have their own docks, even the LCBO.

We left Killarney just as some massive power boats arrived.  A Hatteras was supposed to leave but had engine trouble so it still occupied a spot that had been reserved.  3 more Hatteras, greater than 53', and a Marquis 65 were arriving and had to be together. Go figure.

Our first stop is Covered Portage Cove.  A gruelling 3 mile passage.  Actually its only 1.5 miles as the crow flies but the sailboat passage to go around the rocks puts it at about 3 miles. There's and inner anchorage and an outer one.  The inner anchorage looked crowed as we approached so we decided to drop a hook in the outer cove in 15' of water.  We were probably a little close to a CS34 but they did not complain.  We could have tied a line to shore to prevent swing but was not necessary.

Covered Portage Cove

Sansei at anchor.

There's a rock at the entrance to Covered Portage Cove that has an outline of an Indian Head.

We stayed 2 nights here. Water temperature was about 23C so swimming was brisk, but very refreshing on a hot day.  Spent the day putting a couple of coats of Cetol on the starboard teak toerail.  I will do the other side on the next lazy day.

After 2 nights, we hauled anchor and headed out Killarney Bay across Frazer Bay, into Baie Fine, heading to the Pool.

We have talked to many cruisers along the way and many recommended against going into the Pool, but rather anchor in the channel going in and then dinghy in.  The Pool is very weedy so getting a good hold is tricky. We decided that we would go have a look and try to set if it was not too busy.  There were 4 boats anchored.  We managed to anchor and then tie a line to shore.

We walked the hills around the Pool in search of blueberries.  There were some but mostly picked out and the remaining ones were dried out.

After a great BBQ dinner, there's nothing to do but chill and watch the sunset.

The next day we decided to go for a hike.  There is a trail that leads up to Lake Topaz and up the rocks.

Blueberries were disappointing but the view was spectacular.

After a lazy afternoon of swimming, water temperature was 29C, cleaning the waterline, we were settling in for a relatively boring happy hour since there were only 2 boats left in the Pool.  No new boats had arrived so there was no sport in watching the anchoring in the weeds.  However, one of the local cottagers came zooming by looking at something so we got the binoculars out and spotted the plume of smoke coming from the area that we had hiked earlier.  The MNR had been called and they were sending out the water bombers.  After 16 drops of water, the helicopter landed and inspected the site. Fire out.

After dinner, I went for an evening swim, which was rudely interrupted as a school of fish came along and started nibbling on me.  I know they are not piranha but surprising and startling nonetheless.  After dinner, we had another visitor, an 18" snapping turtle, biggest one that I have ever seen in the wild.

Belinda's not getting back into that water.

After 4 nights at anchor, it was time to head back to civilization.  We pulled up anchor with all the weeds, which took extra time to clear. There have been solar flares which causes problems for  satellite signals, including GPS signals and accuracy. At the entrance to the Pool there is a spot on the chart that read 5', but the Ports Guide says that is is passable.  We got in so we can get out.  At one point, the depth sounder read 4.2' but no bumps and we cleared the channel.

We motored south to get to Little Current into a south breeze.  As we turned west we were able to put out some genoa and motor sail.  There is a swing bridge east of Little Current that opens on the hour for 15 minutes.  I did a quick calculation and came to the conclusion that we would not make the 1pm opening.  So we stopped the engine and sailed leisurely over to the bridge and wait.

After clearing the bridge, we stopped at Wally's for fuel and a pump out.  We tied up at the town docks, along the wall. The Town of Little Current has installed 4 spines and finger docks to increase capacity.  There is no longer a need to raft boats off the wall.

Little Current is across from Goat Island.  Belinda has done a lot of legal work on this island, but had never seen the place.

Note the silhouette of the goat.

Off to do some provisioning.

Killarney, ON

Well we finally made it north of Barrie. The trip up from Tobermory is about 45 miles but we stopped at Club Island which is about 20 miles north of Tobermory. Just outside of Tobermory there is Flowerpot Island.  It gets its name from the rock structures at the north end.

We had a great sail all the way from Tobermory to Club Island.  Yes a SAIL!.   We were headed north and the wind was from the west.  Nice broad reach. Sweet.  Club Island is a quiet anchorage with nothing on the island. We dropped the new anchor for the first time and it grabbed pretty quick. We were the only boat in the harbour until a small power boat came in.  After tidying up and a quick brisk swim, we went ashore for a little walk.  There are these 3 mounds of rocks adjacent the harbour entrance at Fisherman's Point.  Not sure why they are there as there is some rebar wire and a vent pipe.

I finally put on the BBQ mount on the rail.  Previous BBQ's have been onshore so tonight was out first night for a BBQ on the boat.

The last several evenings, the winds died down to nothings and normally an uneventful night.  However, tonight at about 2am the winds piped up and the rain started coming down. For the next 2 hours we had anchor watch and the winds turned north at 25kts. A C&C 35 had come in and anchored between us and the power boat.  In the middle of the night, when the wind is howling, I thought that he had anchored a little close.  The anchor held despite the wind direction changes.

In the morning, I made some perc'd coffee.  The other boats hauled anchored and were off early. We decided to haul anchor and head up to Killarney after carefully studying the Ports Guide.  We had decided that we would try George Islanders Marina.  Apparently a bad choice since they are no longer in business.  We motored half of the way and then the wind picked up and we had a second great day of sailing, close reaching at 7-7.5 kts.

We went to our second choice for dockage, the Killarney Mountain Lodge, beautiful place with a restaurant, bar and pool.   Pool was way warmer than Georgian Bay. After dinner, we walked into town; all of 5 minutes.  At the Sportsman Inn at the other end of town, we had a beer on the patio, which was great until the misquitos started carrying us away and the hurting cowboy C & W music started playing.  The Sportsman does have a Boat-In Theatre.

We headed back to the Lodge as they had a guy and his guitar playing there for his 13th season.  He was pretty good and he did a rendition of Sonny's Dream that was excellent.

Today, we went on the George Island trail, a 7km hike through the wilderness of the "western end of beautiful and historical George Island". Time 3.5 - 4 hours.  Belinda: "its only 7kms; it won't take 4 hours".  OK we took 3+ hours to complete the hike, over rocky terrain, around beaver dams, and along rocky shores.  Walking through the "mixed forest", I thought that I could never have enough OFF! on.  We saw a garter snake and a flock of pheasants.  I feel truly Canadian after that hike.

After the hike, we drove the dinghy up and down the Killarney Channel.  Typical Sunday afternoon, all the weekenders have left.  We are off to pool and then to the school bus for Killarney's famous fish and chips for dinner.

Tobermory, ON

Tobermory is about 65 miles north of Kincardine.  The route is straight across Lake Huron with no emergency stopping points.  This means that we have to pick a good weather window.  There is a small risk of late afternoon thunderstorms.  We decide to go.  3 power boats pass us early enroute north and later 1 sailboat passes us going south.  10 hours on the lake and that is all the traffic. There are light winds from the SW early and after a while we are able to unfurl the jib for a little extra speed.  A few hours later the wind strength has built enough to raise the main.  We are able to maintain 7.5 kts. With long passages, it is important to keep speed and heading so that we can arrive before dark, particularly when a rocky channel has to be navigated and enter an unknown port. The weather holds and winds shift as predicted, but we arrive and tie up by 6pm. We are almost in the North Channel.

Little Tub Harbour, reminiscent of some Newfoundland harbours. Long, narrow and a wharf at the end filled with commercial vessels.  Here the commercial vessels are dive boats and glass bottom tour boats. A couple of fishing boats are tied up. The water is crystal clear; can see right to the bottom of the harbour.

After a refreshing beverage and a shower, we walk around to the Grandview Restaurant.  The specialty around here is white fish, so that's what we order.  Great fish and another amazing sunset.

Did some boat maintenance today.  Washed the boat to get the flies off the deck.  Launched the dinghy for the first time since Put-In-Bay.  At the end of the dock, there is downtown Tobermory, which includes several pubs and ice cream stores, dive shops, the Foodland and a great breakfast place. After the wash, we went to the Foodland for some provisioning.  Hopefully we will anchor out tomorrow, but not sure where.

We did the the walk around town/harbour to shop.  Belinda wanted a pair of those strings to hold the sunglasses. Most of the shops were sold out but we finally found a store by the LCBO that still had some. As we were walking about, the ferry to Manitoulin Island came in. Kinda cool watching the cars get on and off.

We go for a dinghy ride to find some beach to go swimming. We motor over to Big Tub Harbour.  No place to land as the edge is mostly sheer rock.  Water is pretty cold so not today.

Off to dinner for some TFT's (Tobermory Fish Tacos) at the Fish and Chip Place.  (no really that's what it is called).  They did not take their trademark lawyer's advice on names. Great view from the patio though.

After some discussions with other cruisers, we are off to Club Island as a stop over to Killarney.  Club Island is about 20 miles and then another  25 to Killarney on Saturday. Don't want to stress out on another long passage.