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At about 2200 when I came back from the Meldrum Bay Inn after using their wireless connection to post the last three updates, it started to rain and it continued all night. The rain stopped  briefly about o800 and we took advantage of the respite to get underway at o815.  It was a day of mixed blessings. On the positive side we had our best sail of the trip. The SSW winds of 9-14knots were on our beam, and since they were coming off the land except  for when we passed the Mississagi Strait and False DeTour Passage, we had light seas. Most of the time we were making 7.4 or more knots and enjoying the smooth ride! On the negative side it started raining again at 0900 and continued until 1300. Most of the time it was pouring and we had buckets of rain spilling off the sails which are now very clean.  The rain cleared in time to give us good visibility to see the bouys as we made our way down the twisting channel to Drummond Island Yacht Haven. US Customs and Border Protection was waiting on the dock  for us when we arrived but our NEXUS cards and Customs Decal made it an easy entry. We ate a great dinner starring Kerry’s Chicken Wellington. At the moment we are playing cards on Windchaser while it rains again outside. This is our last night together as Windchaser heads off to Mackinaw Island and then home while we head to Harbor Island and then DeTour Village before heading up the St. Mary’s River to Sault Ste. Marie. We will miss Lew and Gretchen immensely.

When we left Bear Drop at 1100 there were large confused seas and a WSW wind on our nose and we had to slog it out for the first hour as we made our way across the open waters of North Channel to Meldrum Bay on the south Shore.  Happily the  wind and seas dropped and the cloudy skies gave way to sun so the last three hours turned out to be very pleasant. We arrived at Meldrum Bay at 1515 and the place has changed quite a bit since Marcy, Will, Andrew and I visited it on our first trip to the North Channel in 1984. There is a new breakwater protecting the harbor from N winds and more docks. But they still do not have potable water at the docks. The Meldrum Bay Inn is open once again and has very good food which we can attest to since we ate there tonight. My fears about the cell phone proved correct as despite two days drying it out, it will not turn on. Oh well, one more problem to solve. Tomorrow we are off to Drummond.

We departed Eagle Island at 1100 for the short trip down McBean Channel, through narrow, shallow Little Detroit Passage and then down Whalesback Channel to Bear Drop. Arriving at 1430,  wehad a late lunch and then Don and I climbed into Lew’s dinghy to go fishing. SUCCESS! Three hours later Don had caught 2 nice sized bass I had two walleye and Lew had one walleye. I had the largest fish of the day hooked, a 20 inch walleye, but it slipped the hook just as we were netting it. What a disappointment! We grilled steaks for dinner and retired at 2200 only to be awakened at 0300 with rain and wind. The wind quickly dropped but it continued to rain heavilyuntil we upped anchor at 1100.

We were at the farmers market and then the fish man, this year actually women, just after they opened. The farmers market was a disappointment because of the late spring, and I did not buy a thing. At the Purvis fish truck I bought enough Lake Trout fillets for us all and also a pound of smoked white fish. We went back to the boats to leave and then disaster struck.  When I was taking  the shore power cord off it hit my cell phone and I watched it sink to the bottom in 8 feet of water. I was able to retrieve it with a net from the marina office, but I fear the damage has been done. We left at 1100 and soon caught up to Windchaser who had been motoring slowly into the moderate N wind. So far the wind gods have not been kind to us as there has either been no wind or wind on the nose. We anchored at our favorite spot at Eagle without difficulty, dropped the dinghy and went looking for blueberries and fresh water clams. The were NO ripe blueberries and we only found 5 clams. To make matters worse the place we usually have a shore cookout was underwater. It was late anyway so we decided to cook the Lake Trout on board. The N wind died as the sun dropped, and we had a quiet night at anchor.

Our weather continued  to be warm today, and we even had 10-12 knot  W winds , but of course we were headed west  to Gore Bay.  Once again on with the iron genny. We departed at 0900 and arrived in Gore Bay at 1300, tied up at the main dock where we signed in, got dock assignments and I arranged for one of the dock hands to come over later to go up my 61 foot mast (I know I could have and in the past I have gone up it many times but not today. ) While we waited for him to arrive, Don and I “fixed” the bail on the front of my anchor roller so that we can easily ship and unship the anchor from the roller. We are good to go now. Then Bill Ackers arrived and we hoisted him up to the top of the mast to clear the spider webs which were stopping my wind instruments from turning;  tough stuff spider webbing. I gave Bill a spray container of Bug Off to take up the mast , and after removing the webs he liberally applied the Bug Off to kill all the spiders at the top and all the way down the mast. That should be the end of my spider problem.  We had cocktails at 1730 and then everyone enjoyed pupus and Lobster bisque which Kerry prepared. It was a great meal. Tomorrow we are off  to Eagle Island to anchor. After that we have adjusted plans to allow Lew and Gretchen to arrive in Mackinaw on April 29. We will go from Eagle to Bear Drop, Meldrum Bay and Drummond Island where we will split. This may be the last update I will be able to post for several days.

I am typing this as I did my previous two posts while sitting in the Anchor Inn having breakfast. I will be brief since I need to get back to the boat and start cleaning before it gets to hot. What a change in the weather; from one extreme to the next. I will update you with our activies from Gore Bay tomorrow.

After a big breakfast, we hauled anchor at 1000 to rendezvous with Windchaser in the Landsdowne Channel at 1030. They were running a half hour late , and we decided to keep going in order to make the 1300 bridge to  Little Current. We made it with 5 minutes to spare. A couple of comments are in order.  This one lane swing bridge is the only land connection between very large Manitoulin Island and the rest of Canada so opening it once every hour is a serious disruption to traffic. The bridge also spans the only narrow waterway that connects the eastern and western parts of  the North Channel. So when the wind blows particularly from the west severe currents build up as the water is driven through this narrow gap.  Someone with an odd sense of humor came up with the name of Little Current for the town. Well for us with light winds all day there really was little current. We were able to tie up on the wall in front of the all important Laundromat as there were only four other boats tied up . After 10 days it was serious Laundry time in the afternoon for us and Windchaser when they came through on the 1400 bridge  and docked behind us.  This was another hot day and the locals are saying the weather forecast is for 95-100 degrees tomorrow.  We have decided to adjust our schedule to stay here tomorrow in order to grocery shop and clean the boat. We will stay in Gore Bay on Thursday and leave at noon on Friday, after visiting the Farmers Market and Fishman, for Eagle Island and other anchorages.

We departed at 0700 under sunny, clear skies and no wind. Initially cool, the day warmed up and became the hottest day thus far as we made progress north across Georgian Bay. Lew and Gretchen made the decision to tie up at the Killarney Mountain Lodge versus anchor.  We made a brief  45 minute stop at the LCBO dock to pick up supplies and to give Don and Kerry a chance to walk the town. Their take, ” there isn’t  much here”. All in all the place was deserted with not a single boat tied up at the Sportsman’s Inn.  We were all in shorts now and it seems we have a major change in the weather taking place with sunny, warm days replacing the cool, rain and fog. We anchored at 1515 in 9 feet of water in the western end of Covered Portage, a beautiful anchorage surrounded by steep rock cliffs and wooded hills. I cooked white beans and spinach over pasta for dinner, and it was a contented crew who retired below at 2130 to escape mosquitos.

I am typing this while sitting on the boat in Tobermory’s Little Tub Harbor in brilliant sunshine after a tough day. We awakened this morning to pea soup fog. We had intended to leave at 0800 but rather than navigate the fog we delayed our departure until 1000 when most of the fog had burned off. Then things got worse when Lew turned the wrong way when backing away from the dock and promptly ran hard aground. He could not free himself. I put the dinghy down to go out and take his anchor from him so he could kedge off when one of the Tamarac Inn employees showed up and offered to tow him. Needless to say we accepted and after 10 minutes of trying Lew was free. We left the Bay without further incidents and motored out into a calm, foggy Lake. The visibility improved for a while and gave us the chance to see the beginning of the narrow Cape Hurd Channel.  Once we were lured past the first set of bouys the visibility dropped to 100 yards and we had to run from bouy to bouy using  just the chart plotter which proved to be very accurate and led us safely into Little Tub Harbor. We are having another margarita party tonight to celebrate our succeses today, and then eating on board Royal Eagle. Tomorrow we leave for Covered Portage a fabulous, well protected anchorage. Then we will truly be in the North Channel. I doubt I will be able to do a posting there so you probably will not hear from me until the next day when we go to Little Current.

It rained most of last night, and it was still raining lightly when we left the dock at 0700. We had light , variable winds all day with intermittent rain and typically 1 mile visibility which often lowered to a 1/4 mile. Late in the day as we approached Stokes Bay the visibilty improved somewhat so we were able to locate the entrance bouy and finally the range which led us safely into the Bay. Docking at the Tamarac Inn was a little “hairy”  as the reported 10 feet turned out to be more like 4.5 feet. I went in first and was aground by a wall and then Windchaser came in and rafted off me. We went up to the Inn to have a beer and make reservations for dinner at 1800. The Inn is a quaint spot but the roast beef dinner served family style and the accompanying dishes were excellent. Bill Schultz , the owner was extremely nice to us and even sold us a home made cherry pie for tomorrow’s dinner.  Kerry and Getchen picked wildflowers on the walk back to the boat . All of us were tired from the grueling day of keeping lookout and watching the radar screen so we were all in bed by 10pm. The best news was the NE wind had settled down letting more water into the bay and we were once again floating!