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.
No comments:
Post a Comment