Anchored in Baie Fine

Monday August 13th we left our anchorage in Heywood Island and headed to Baie Fine (pronounced bay fin).  This is a large fresh water fjord.  Formed from a fast moving glacier that cut through the mountains and eventually emptied into Lake Huron.  The mountains surrounding the fjord are the La Cloche Mountain Range made of 3.5 billion year old White Quartzite and laced with 1.5 billion year old pink and black granite.  These mountains were once taller than Mount Everest but have been worn down by erosion and glaciers over millions of years.  The quartzite was the base of the mountains and as such was heated to a thousand degrees making it a very tough stone, less susceptible to erosion than the granite.  This quartzite is what remains, having largely resisted weathering for billions of years.

Coming into Baie Fine (there was a good bit of haze on Monday)

Quartzite mountains

 Southern Style Anchored in the Fjord

View from the drone

Views from around our anchorage

Looking out the fjord from our bow

View from the cockpit after the boat swivelled

  

Captain Keith and I took the dinghy up to the very end of Baie Fine to "The Pool".  Here there is a path that leads up the mountain to a fresh water lake, Topaz Lake.  We hiked up to see the lake.

Up a stream dry bed

Up over rocks

And along easy paths

To arrive at Topaz Lake

Captain Keith swimming in the lake

In addition to the hiking, the fishing was excellent here.  Captain Keith was catching small mouthed bass and pike.

Captain Keith's record small mouthed bass

The bass was 19 1/2 inches and 3 1/2 lbs.

Guess what's for dinner (fishie, fishie)

This was a great anchorage with good fishing and kayaking as well as a nice spot to swim.  We spent 3 days here.  I got off the kayak and climbed on some of the rocks in the cove where we anchored.

Kayaking pictures

Mist rising on Tuesday morning as visible from our cockpit

The moon over the fjord on Tuesday evening.  I heard what I think were coyotes during the night. (eerie)

Here is an interesting thing we learned while anchored in Baie Fine.  Captain Keith and I are listening to a local cruiser's net on VHF channel 71 each morning that is broadcast out of Little Current, Ontario.  While listening on Tuesday morning we heard some very interesting news.  It sounds like we left Heywood Island just before all the excitement there.  We pulled out of our anchorage at Heywood Island on Monday morning August 13th. and cruised to Baie Fine.   While listening to the show Tuesday morning we heard of a black bear that boarded a boat Monday via the ladder at the swim platform while the owners were out kayaking.  He proceeded to rip open every cupboard he could looking for food.  The owners returned while said bear was still on board and chased him to the bow of the boat where he abandoned ship and swam to shore.  They said there was bear scratches and drool EVERYWHERE!!.   Keith and I could not believe we had just been in that anchorage the day before.  Even more exciting is Wednesday morning a second boater reported the same bear in Heywood had tried to climb on his boat Tuesday night.  He heard him scratching at the hull and ran out and clocked him on the snout with a boat hook thus discouraging the bear.  I want to see a bear, but probably not that close and at the expense of scratches on Southern Style.

Wednesday we left Baie Fine and cruised to the town of Little Current.  We will spend 2 nights here provisioning then head back out for 4-5 days of anchoring further westward on the North Channel.