After a short walk, we went back to the Killarney Mountain Lodge for drinks at the bar. I had met a guy who used to work for Magna at the lodge. He was there with his family on a boat and had met up with another boat from Parry Sound. The whole group was at the bar and had been at the show every night, except for Monday because there was no show. They were having a great time singing along with Andy. They shouted out a title "Bottle of Vodka" and Andy proceeded to sing I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by the Proclaimers. We could not figure it out until the the background vocals on the chorus sounds like "bottle of vodka". It was a great evening of music.
In the morning we left for Frazer Bay. The destination was an unnamed little crescent shaped island at the bight of the bay. As the crow flies it is 4 miles but we have to go around the peninsula. We arrive at the island and there is no other boats there. We anchor in the middle of the bay in 10' of water and had the whole bay to swing. 3 power boats anchored in a small cove, too shallow for sailboats. The island is well protected from any direction except SE. The wind was from the SE most of the day but not very strong. Winds were predicted to go N so we were OK. Winds calmed down until about midnight. Beautiful night.
Belinda and I rowed to shore and walked on the rocks. We found 1 blueberry and brought it back for Paul. Pat and Paul rowed around one of the adjacent islands. We could hear them laughing all the way around the island.
In the morning, the wind was blowing from the SE so we had to haul anchor and head off to our next destination, Mary Ann Cove, another unnamed place on the charts. We got out to the bay and we able to sail up the bay. Beautiful.
We arrived at Mary Ann Cove and it looked pretty busy. We managed to find an open spot, drop the anchor and fall back to tie off to shore. What a team. First attempt and tied up in under 5 minutes. A thing of beauty. At Happy Hour, Paul made martinis before the pork roast BBQ dinner. Another great night and the winds calmed completely for a very quiet night.
In the morning, we listened to the Little Current Cruisers' Net since we could not get a weather report. The predicted winds were out of the WNW at between 15 to 25 kts. With heavy winds, it was unlikely boats would leave Little Current so our guess would be that it would be very crowded so we decided to stay in Mary Ann Cove. Turns out that it was a good decision as the winds were into the 25 to 30 kt range.
One of the attractions of Mary Ann Cove is a short hike up the hill for a view of Baie Fine and Frazer Bay. Belinda, Paul and I dinghied over to the dock. We looked around for the trail but could not find one so we started to make our way up the hill until we got to a rock look out point. Nice view but not really the one that we heard about.
Belinda and Paul did not like the route that we had taken up so we went another way down, along the rocks. The rocks had a steep drop off so we wandered around to look for a path down. I found a tree growing beside the drop off that could be used to shimmy down. I grabbed the tree and got some footing on the rock wall, but slipped so I did a fire pole drop to the bottom. A couple of scrapes on the belly and arm but otherwise no damage. So now I am down but Belinda and Paul are still up the rocks. They did not like the slide down the birch tree idea. I walked around the base and found an easier way down but also found the trail that we were supposed to be on, along a dried up river bed. The trail looked easy for a 20 minute walk up. Too late now so we just headed back to the dinghy.
By now, the wind had increased and shifted a little north. Mary Ann Cove is well protected but we occasionally got a gust blowing in and swirling around the cove. After a while, we decided to set a second anchor. After we dropped and set, the wind calmed down. Better having it just in case the winds come back.
In the morning, we hauled both anchors and let go the stern line and left for Little Current. The winds were picking up again to 15kts and on the nose, so we had to motor. On the way we passed Brenda and Arleigh (from curling and now QCYC) on Winter Whim. They were off to Mary Ann Cove. We slowed the motor down to time our arrival at the bridge opening. We followed the tall ship, Plairfair, into Little Current.
During Happy Hour, Belinda did a little fishing to catch dinner.
We headed off to the Anchor Inn for dinner, since Belinda did not catch our dinner, despite some expert training, direction and worms from a local first nation lad who fishes here every day.
We had dinner on the patio, whitefish special. On leaving, I noticed a guy sitting there with his wife having dinner. He looked familiar. Turns out he was the marina manager at Outer Harbour Marina in Toronto. Chris Collins was originally from Manitoulin and was staying at a friend's cottage. After Outer Harbour, he was the national sales manager for C & C Yachts just after Tartan bought them.
After dinner, we walked over to the ice cream stand but they closed at 9 pm even though it was not yet 9 pm. We had sent Paul ahead to see. He was walking back with some locals who were also disappointed at the early closure of the ice cream stand. One of the guys was with the local Coast Guard Auxiliary and was telling some local information on how the bridge was built and the reduction of buoys. More importantly, he said that there was another ice cream place over by the motel.
We walked over and found the place and had some ice cream, Farquhars, locally made. Worth the walk over.
In the morning we went to the Anchor Inn to watch the Cruisers' Net broadcast live. We had audience participation as we had to applause when the announcement of an anniversary. Lots of fun. If you are in Little Current, fun thing to do.
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