Town Marina, Little Current, ON - 7/30/12

The eight of us (Blue Heron, Queen Kathleen, Marc's Ark and Quest) met for breakfast at the Sportsman's Pub shortly before 8 a.m.

Mike and Kathy waiting on shuttle

 We were supposed to meet at 7:30 but the shuttle driver that transports boaters from docks on the other side of the harbor was apparently late which stranded Queen Kathleen for awhile.

Plans for today ... Marc's Ark and Blue Heron are going to Baie Fine to anchor for the night and Quest and Queen Kathleen are headed for Little Current.  Hopefully we can get someone to look at our dinghy there. The other two will be in Little Current on Tuesday.

North Channel

 At 10:30 we left the docks and headed out.  As soon as we hit water that was not protected by the islands it got real choppy which continued the whole 21 miles.

North Channel

Queen Kathleen

Little Current

We arrived at the Town Dock at 1:15 after waiting for a little while on the swing bridge at the edge of town that only opens on the hour.

Boardwalk

We walked into town which was next to the marina and looked around a little then while Ricki shopped I hiked up a steep hill to the super market.  We invited Mike and Kathy over for taco salad and then retired for the night.  

Tomorrow we will move to Harbor View Marina where we have arranged for someone to see if our dinghy can be repaired.  Mike and Kathy are going to the Benjamin Islands to anchor and we will join them later if the dinghy is fixed quickly.

N 45  58.854   W 081  55.454

Sportsman Marina, Killarney, ON - 7/29/12

We left our anchorage this morning at 8 a.m. with our destination of Killarney a run of 46 miles.

The weather was perfect and the water beautiful.

 We went by some more gorgeous scenery.  We have seen so many pretty sights we are almost numb to anything new.

 

One of the spots we have heard about for years was the Collins Inlet but everyone had warned us about the water being down and the entrance to the Inlet being very skinny.  In fact Marc’s Ark and Quest were the only ones of our group that attempted it.  A Nordic Tug was coming out of the Inlet and into the Northeast Passage when I called him to inquire about water depths.  He told me that he was drafting 5 foot and only kicked up mud so with our 4 foot draft, in we went.

It was a beautiful as I had expected.  The next few shots were taken as we went through it.

Beaver Hut

About 15 miles or so later we entered the North Channel and headed several miles toward Killarney.

Killarney Light

Blue Heron, Marc’s Ark and Quest had reservations at the Sportsman Marina.  Blue Heron had elected to run outside in the open water to get there and since he can run over 20 mph was already at the fuel dock when we arrived.  We had to wait almost an hour for our slip to vacate because a rendezvous that was held here was in the process of getting out.

 One of the boats that was where we were to dock hit Blue Heron as it exited the slip.

 

Queen Kathleen

 After we docked we saw many nice boats go by.  Here are some of the pictures.

Red School Bus

 After happy hour on Quest with Blue Heron, Marc’s Ark, and Queen Kathleen, dinner was at The Red School Bus for deep fried pickerel.  Has to be the best fish we have eaten.

Sundown found Marc blowing his conch shell which is a tradition in the Caribbean.

We will have breakfast tomorrow morning with our friends and decide where we will go.  Could be to an anchorage at Bae Fine or on to Little Current.

N 45  58.255   W 081  30.962

Anchorage - Bustard Islands, ON - 7/28/12

 Second day and we have decided not to move on toward Killarney and just enjoy our surroundings.  We did odd jobs around the boat, washing it and cleaning the lock smudge off the fenders today.

   

Since our dinghy is out of commission we had Marc’s Ark and Blue Heron over at 6 p.m. for happy hour

Tomorrow we have reservations at Sportsman Marina in Killarney so we will leave at 8 a.m. for the 50 mile run.

Anchorage, Bustard Islands, ON 7/27/12

We left Wright’s Marina along with Marc’s Ark after getting a pump out at 9 a.m. for the Bustards.  Blue Heron would join us later.

This trip was gorgeous, the water was calm but the air was a little chilly.  We had some open water and some very tight rocky channels to navigate.  The following pictures were taken during this trip.

 Blue Heron caught up with us as we were going through Cunningham’s Channel and Roger’s Gut which were both very slow and tight.  In fact one must issue a securite call prior to entering because there is nowhere you can pass an oncoming boat.

We anchored between Tie Island and Strawberry Island in a protective cove with very good holding.  We were the only 3 boats at 11:45 a.m. when we anchored but soon several others found spots as well.

 We all took dinghy rides through some very shallow spots and explored a little until ours started taking on water again.  We have now discovered that the sun and heat has caused many of our seams to fail and it looks like we need to find a dumpster for it.

 Rickshaw had also come into the harbor and invited all of us over for happy hour so we caught a ride with Marc and Michelle in their dinghy.

While Ricki fixed dinner I worked on the windless which had decided not to work and had to tear it completely apart.  A small pin had become partially out of a gear and kept them from turning.  Hopefully it will perform in the morning to retrieve our anchor plus we intend to anchor tomorrow night in the Bad River before reaching Killarney.

We watched a movie for awhile then turned off the genset for the night.

N 45  53.884   W 080   53.841

Pictures - 7/26/12

The Pancakes

Point Au Baril  Light

Original Marker 

Nice Water

Byng Inlet Range Markers