Gore Bay

After 10 nights at anchor, we left Beardrop on Wednesday morning and cruised to Gore Bay and the marina there.  Wednesday was gray and drizzly all day. 

This was what the day looked like going to Gore Bay

 Gore Bay is just around the near point

Once we got tied up in the marina, I started getting caught up on laundry etc.  It was nice to have plenty of power to run multiple appliances at one time.  In the evening we walked over to the small restaurant by the marina.  It was nothing fancy, but did the job for dinner.

Thursday started cloudy and cool with the temperature in the morning around 55 F.  We stayed on the boat until about 11:00 AM, then decided to put on some sleeves and hike to the lookout above the bay.

The sign at the trail seemed to suggest possible wild animal sightings could occur (I was still looking for bear)

We saw multiple deer, but no bear

Once at the top, the view was very pretty

View of Gore Bay and the marina from the lookout

The jetty break wall with marina to the left in the picture

Close-up of the marina 

This was where we hiked as seen from Southern Style down in the marina

Close-up of the cliff lookout

Thursday evening we walked along the boardwalk to The Inn at Gore Bay and their restaurant, "Live Edge" for dinner.  It was a nice location right on the water.  We saw more deer on the walk back from dinner.  Still no bear (disappointed sigh).

Boardwalk

We have one more overnight stay in Canada at the Meldrum Bay Inn & Marina on Friday.  Then Saturday we plan to cruise to Drummond Island and check back into the good old USA (if they will take us back).  It has been a wonderful summer.  The water and anchorages here have been some of the prettiest boating we have ever done, and we have made many new friends both American and Canadian.  We look forward to coming back sometime in the future for another summer in Georgian Bay and the North Channel.

Fall is a Comin' eh

It seems as though the season has changed.  There is a different feel in the air.  Temperatures are just a tad cooler and the winds have been higher the last several days.  There is also a pattern of more rain than we have experienced the last two months.  It makes us sad to think our most wonderful summer ever is drawing to a close.  We have had a GREAT time however, and still have about a week left in Canada as we make our way slowly toward Michigan.

Saturday August 25th we had a day of rain.  It was on and off and Keith did a little fishing while I did boat chores and some sewing.  I finished a shopping bag with some of my loon fabric.  Good for farmer's market or grocery goods.

Loon bag (each side has a loon pocket)

Sunday August 26th we pulled up anchor and cruised north and west about 30 miles to Beardrop Harbor.

Clouds lifting Sunday morning while heading to Beardrop

  This is a cool spot just along Whale's Back channel.  There is good protection from a long island to the south and east and mainland Ontario (part of the First Nation's Reserve) is to the north.  There is a bit of exposure along the channel from the west, but we got tucked up behind a smaller island and it seemed fine.  

Heading through the channel at Little Detroit toward Beardrop

Once we were safely anchored, the rest of the day Sunday we spent out exploring, fishing and kayaking as Monday and Tuesday were forecast to be somewhat rainy.  Keith had some fairly good fishing and the kayaking here was great.  There were a lot of little coves and such.  Numerous beaver houses and I even saw an otter up close (he was a bit agitated with me).  It is, however, a bear dessert (I still have not seen a bear). 

Kayaking pictures from Beardrop anchorage

It was a bit windy kayaking in the afternoon.  Pengi could not even ride on the front for fear of falling off.

The scenery here is just amazing.  Pictures just can not do it justice.  I wish everyone could be here to experience it.  While kayaking I could here the crickets and the frogs and it was otherwise so quiet.  And the smell of the fresh, cool air.  Certainly is an experience for all the senses.

Monday was pretty gray and drizzly.  I made a big breakfast with eggs, smoked bacon I had vacuum sealed and frozen from back in Maryland and blueberries from NC that I made blueberry pancakes with.  We also had real Canadian Maple syrup.  OMG  It was pretty darn yummy.

Pancakes and Bacon (Captain Keith had already eaten the eggs by the time I got the camera)

It is hard to believe we have been at anchor over a week now.  We left the marina in Little Current last Sunday. 

Monday afternoon August 27th the rain stopped and the sky cleared up.  Monday early evening was very nice with no wind and a pretty sunset.

Pengi taking in one of his last Canada sunsets Monday evening

Little did we know this was the calm before the storm

Around 12:50 AM Tuesday morning I woke up to lightening and thunder and a sudden downpour.  I went running for the open hatches up in the pilot house.  By the time I got them both closed, I was drenched and there was a good bit of water in the pilot house below the hatches.  Keith woke up when he heard me "cussing" and came to help.  We got everything mopped up and started the generator so I could use the blow dryer to get my hair dry enough to put on a pillow without being soaked.  We headed back to bed, however I had a bad feeling about the night.  Turns out I was right.  About 4:00 AM I was again woken up with lightening and rain.  Although all the windows were now shut, I got up just to see where we were in relation to the 4 other boats in the cove with us.  I was not up 5 minutes when the storm hit full force.  The wind was pushing us all over and I was just about to wake Captain Keith when he came upstairs.  We both were a bit unnerved for about 15 minutes during the worst part.  Thank goodness for an all chain anchor rode.  We held firm and also the boat just in front of us did not drag anchor, thank goodness or he would have been into us.  In the middle of all this, we actually saw a large cruise ship or tanker ship all lit up, going by out in the North Channel.  Really spooky to see just his lights against the lightening and wind.  We were lucky to have a decent mobile hot spot signal here, so I was able to pull up the radar and see when the worst of the storm was past. The next morning once it was light, we heard rumors about a possible tornado in Spanish Ontario just 15 miles from where we are anchored.  This was all a little more excitement than we needed.

Tuesday was very blustery with sun and clouds as well as drizzle at times.  There could be some more thunderstorms overnight, hopefully not as bad as last night.  Wednesday is to be a bit drizzly but the wind should improve a bit and we are planning to cruise the 25 miles or so to Gore Bay.  This will be our last night at anchor in Canada most likely.  Hopefully it will be an uneventful one.

Best Day Ever

So I thought this particular day might warrant its own post.  Friday August 24th we arrived in the cove at Eagle Island.  This is just a very short cruise from Hotham.  It is well protected from a south to southwest wind which is what was called for over the next two days or so.  We arrived early and since Friday was still supposed to be a nice day, both Keith and I abandoned ship quickly to kayak and go fishing.  It turns out, Eagle Island is a fish Mecca.  Keith was catching bass and pike, and big ones.  He brought back a bass to keep for dinner (fishy, fishy).

This keeper was 19 inches and 4 pounds (hubba, hubba)

Captain Keith caught several big pike as well, but did not keep them.  He came back to Southern Style at one point and I thought he was going to buy the island.  He eventually took the small pocket camera with him and took a selfie with another of his small mouth bass catches.

Captain Keith looks happy

Here is one of the pike

He said he must have caught 25 to 30 fish on Friday, many a really nice size.  As he appropriately put it "Best Day Ever"!

I also had a great day kayaking around the lee side of the island.  There were multiple beaver abodes and I did see one beaver.   Several loons were also about in the cove.  Although the fishing was phenomenal and other wildlife seemed plentiful, I have yet to see a black bear.  I will keep looking.

Small island in the middle of the cove of Eagle Island

Southern Style anchored at Eagle Island

La Cloche Mountains in the back round

Friends Kevin, Katie, and their Super Duper dog Kilo arrived just before noon on their boat Take a Breath.  We met them in Little Current.  They are also Looping

One of many beaver abodes I saw while kayaking

Kayaking to the point

This I thought was a really good Inuksuk

 Beavers have not gotten to these trees yet

We made the most of the day Friday, as rain is predicted all day on Saturday.  How will Captain Keith survive if he can not go fishing?

Anchoring

Sunday August 19th we left Little Current and cruised about 10 to 12 miles into Kagawong.  This is a VERY tiny hamlet on Manitoulin Island.  The marina is so small,  it was recommended that we anchor off from the marina in the bay and dinghy in.  So that is what we did.

The public docks and marina in Kagawong

Southern Style anchored in the bay off from Kagawong

St. John the Evangelist Anglican church in Kagawong is known as the "Mariner's Church".  For years it has given the blessing of the boats each year and has a nautical theme with ship's wheels and other boat oriented things within the church.  It is always left open for anyone to enter at any time.  Back in the 1970s, a family boating accident in the area resulted in the loss of several lives including two children.  The church recovered the front of the sunken boat and has made it into their pulpit as a way of honoring and keeping alive the memories of those lost in the North Channel.

Inside of St. John the Evangelist

Pulpit

After our visit to the church,  Captain Keith and I hiked the short trail in the Provincial Park in Kagawong to Bridal Veil Falls.  You can swim in the pool below the falls, but with it being a nice weekend, there were quite a few people so we just took pictures.

Bridal Veil Falls

Our stop in Kagawong was over by noon, and we pulled up our anchor and headed out of the bay and across another roughly 10-15 miles to Croker Island.  Now for the anchoring story.....  Those of you who are not boaters may find this boring or hard to follow so feel free to skip the next paragraph if you so choose.  For those interested persons, here goes.......

Everyone told us the North Channel was so remote, however when we got to Croker Island there was already some 15 boats up in the cove all around the edges.  The cove is nice and big however it is 30-40 feet deep in the cove except for around the edges.  This is deeper than we prefer to anchor.  Once you get to about 10 yards from shore you can get to about 10 feet, but then there is not much swing room.  A lot of the smaller boats and sailboats around here do a Mediterranean tie or (Med. tie),  meaning they put out an anchor off the front of their boat then run a line from the back of the boat to shore and tie to a tree.  We were just a bit unsure about the geometry of this with our boat, and so we decided to go the 2 miles across the way to the Benjamin Islands and see if there was room there.  After arriving in the Benjamins we found there were even "more" boats there with "less space".  So back we went to Croker Island.  Just around the northwest from the cove, the chart showed a spot about 20 feet deep and we thought that might work as the winds were light.  Well the spot that was 20 feet was about the size of a parking space and all around it the depth was 50 feet and over.  So back into the cove we went.  Although we do not like to anchor in more than about 20 feet, we went ahead and put the anchor out in the middle back portion of the cove in 45 feet of water.  We let out every bit of our 300 feet of anchor chain.  We could not even use our anchor ball to mark the anchor, as our line was not long enough to keep the ball above the surface of the water.  It sure does not seem all that remote here just yet.  At least we have lots of anchor chain and it seemed to set well.

After all that back and forth (probably about and hour to hour and a half) we put the dinghy down and put the kayak in the water.  Keith caught several bass and pike, but did not keep any although the pike were big enough.  We really just relaxed and chilled Sunday after finally getting settled.

Sunset Sunday from cove at Croker Island

Monday morning we took the dinghy back over to the Benjamin Islands and explored a bit.  This is a very pretty spot even with slightly overcast skies.  There are many places to get tucked up in here and explore.  We even got off and climbed on the rocks a bit.

Abandoning the dinghy and climbing around the Benjamins

More views around the Benjamin Islands

Once back at Southern Style on Croker Island, I took the kayak out and climbed some of the rocks at Croker.

Southern Style in the cove at Croker Island

Looking out into the North Channel from Croker

The Cove at Croker Island from Southern Style's cockpit

The day kept getting more cloudy so eventually I headed back to the boat.  Monday night was quiet and Tuesday morning we pulled up anchor to find a spot around Anchor Island.  This island is about a 10 mile cruise north and west of Croker and had a better cove that was more protected and shallower.  The weather was to get rainy and winds were to increase out of the northwest, so we decided to move to this new location for a day or two.  It proved a good spot as we were the only boat there and the day did turn rainy. It was a lazy, rainy day. 

                 Captain Keith multi-tasking (napping and fishing at the same time while it rained)

Even the Fish were not biting 

  Wednesday morning was bright and sunny but cool at about 55 degrees.  It had a totally different feel, like fall had arrived.  We left Anchor Island and cruised the short distance to Hotham Island.

Cruising to Hotham Island

 There are several good coves at Hotham in which to anchor.  One in particular is known because of a couple (Norm and Elaine) that have a cottage there.  They are former boaters who have "swallowed the anchor" as they say and are now spending more time on land.  They are wonderful people and very social;.  They invite boaters that are anchored in their cove to have 5 PM cocktails at their cottage.  We spent Wednesday and Thursday night at their anchorage and had social hour with Norm and Elaine and several others boaters both evenings.  Elaine kayaks quite a bit and she was kind enough to kayak with me the two days we were there.  It was nice to have company for a change on my kayak trips (no offence to Pengi, but he is not as talkative as Elaine).  We saw eagles, turtles, a beaver swimming in the channel, and an old sunken wreck on our kayak trip.

Norm and Elaine's Cottage at Hotham Island

Looking out from our anchorage at Hotham Island (we are anchored just to the side of Norm and Elaine's cottage)

Sunset at Hotham Island

Friday morning August 24th we pulled up anchor at Hotham and headed just around and south from Hotham to Eagle Island.  It was to be breezy and rain was predicted again for Saturday, so we thought this a good spot to hole up for a day or two.  Friday was pretty and since it was a short trip from Hotham we had our anchor up from Hotham at 8:30 and set in the cove at Eagle Island by 9:30 AM and off with the dinghy and kayak to explore.