On Thursday, July 16th, we crossed Lake Huron from Rogers City, MI to Meldrum Bay, Ontario on Manitoulin Island. For the most part it was an uneventful passage -- two freighters, one down bound about six miles outside of Rogers City and one up bound at around 22 miles -- in both cases, we were close enough that radar had us on a collision course, and I altered my heading to go behind them by at least a half a mile. That may add to the time to cross, but it is smarter than playing chicken with 1000 feet of steel traveling at almost twice my speed.
It did get a little "lumpy" going into the Mississagi Straits but I was able to find a satisfactory heading at last, and smoothed out the ride into Meldrum Bay. I was the first of our group to arrive -- and using my brand new NEXUS card, I was able to call and clear Canadian customs from about an hour out of the dock. SWEET! So after about five and a half hours travelling, I was tied up to the dock and settled in when the others started arriving about an hour later.
By the time everyone had come in, there were more than twelve boats at this small community on the tip of Manitoulin. Meldrum has a population of less than 100, the only thing in town is a marina, a closed grocery store, and a lovely inn where we had a delicious dinner of fresh fish and finished off with home made pies. Oh, calories be damned! By the time dinner was over the winds had built considerably, and Friday looked doubtful for moving on.
The doubt turned to reality Friday morning, when rain, fog and wind came in -- not to mention this very large boat that was tied up behind me! Not to be discouraged, we all planned on happy hour in the marina lounge -- I'd guess there were at least thirty people -- some I knew, others were new faces and stories. That's a good part of boating -- you meet new people where ever you go, and make friendships for the duration of the summer (and often longer)
Saturday started off with promises of good crossings to the north side of the North Channel -- about two and half hours away in calm seas to one of my favorite anchorages -- Turnbull Island where we met up with other boats and friends for two nights of happy hour gatherings on shore. Catching up with lives that center in the summer on the charms of boating in this area. With the higher waters than last year, the beaches that allowed long walks with Sophie had turned into postage stamps, but that didn't deter Ms. Sophie who forged into the woods to find cool resting places out of the sun.
After three nights in Turnbull, the party broke up -- with boats going on to other destinations amid promises to see each other in ten days or less at the wilderness rally in McGregor Bay (part of the Killarney Provincial Park, and truly one of the most spectacular of the spectacular environments around. I crossed in horrible conditions to Gore Bay back on Manitoulin Island -- horrible because my destination required me to pick a course filled with beam seas and rollers/waves cresting around three and a half feet. The height of the waves was only one of the problems, the closeness with which they hit us managed to toss the interior of Sonador around and to get Sophie into serious panic mode. But, two plus hours of serious not fun, and we arrived at the town marina. By far my favorite marina in the North Channel -- it is well protected from the seas, very near to town, has a marvelous farmers' market, and a couple of nice eateries. And, there is a good museum and artist studios to keep one contemplating more wall space.
Saturday, I will leave for Haywood Island for two nights of anchoring out -- and then join the gang as we venture into the unmarked (yep, there are no marks in McGregor Bay but the charts are pretty accurate) waters for our rally. I'll be out of touch until the first week of August -- there really isn't any cell phone reception let alone internet.
Pictures to follow
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