It is now Saturday evening, 8 pm, as I catch up on the log. The temperature has finally gone down - it’s only 32C now - so cool enough to do a little typing.
Friday morning saw us leaving The Pool and heading into Little Current on Manitoulin Island. Naturally our anchor was covered in weed, yards and yards of it, but Phil got it off slowly with the boat hook and we had a easy departure right behind a large trawler. Just before we left I heard Phil laughing up on deck. There was a boat anchored in The Pool and when he realized his anchor was loaded with weeds, with the wife and two daughters on the bow, he started the boat moving in circles around the anchor, actually spinning on the anchor rope. There they were, going round and round, the three up front hanging on as he was not going slowly. Anyhow, he finally stopped after half a dozen circles and ended up taking the weed off just like all the rest of us. Gave him an “A” for a good theory.
The water was flat calm on the trip back through Baie Fine - where we watched the trawler cruising quickly to the wrong side of the rocks and then just as quickly slow down and find her way back again to the right channel - then across Frazer Bay, past Heywood Island and the Mary’s - east and west - and the lighthouse at Strawberry Island led us into the channel to Little Current. We heard later in Little Current of a sailboat that did the same thing this past week as the trawler, only he came into Little Current with a huge hole in his bow, pumping his bilges like crazy.

Passing Strawberry Island LighthouseThe Little Current channel leads to some interesting boating as, depending on the wind direction, the water actually changes the direction of its flow through the channel. We had an east wind behind us so the flow was “upstream” into the town dock. If you can’t tell by the wind which direction the water is flowing, just watch the slant on the buoys.

And what a surprise since 2003! A whole new waterfront is under development. Whereas before there was only a really awful wooden crib dock along the shoreline, there are now finger docks that can hold about 50 boats, and by the end of next week the electrical and water hookups will be operational. The crib dock is also being replaced with a “cruise ship” dock. So it sounds as if the townsfolk have big plans.
Our first order of the day after the usual PIPO, (gas was $1.19 L at the dock and $1.136 at the Gas Station up the street, just a little too far to haul the boat) was to stock the larder. So a quick 3 block walk up the hill to GG’s grocery store was in order. Actually, it wasn’t too quick as it was about 35C. Anyhow, loaded up the shopping basket and they provide free delivery back to your boat of both you and your shopping. What a treat that was!

But it is true what “they” say about it being a small world. At the checkout counter, after we had asked for delivery to the boat, the lady and Phil got to chatting about where we were from, etc. etc. etc. and Phil said that he actually had had an Aunt who had lived somewhere on Manitoulin but he wasn’t sure where. She said “oh?” and he said, “she used to raise bees” and she said “Bess Newsome, I knew her when I was a little girl! She lived in Manitowaning where I live.”

Now, talk about surprised! We never knew where she lived. Too bad we coudn’t chat for longer.

Stopped in at Turner’s store to pick up some US charts which we need. They have a huge chart selection there. An interesting store, lots of touristy stuff, a large section of excellent native crafts - saw a porcupine quill box that I liked but it is still in the store, only $500.00! There is a note in “The North Channel and St. Mary’s River” by Gutsche, that when the Turners arrived on a steamer as immigrants heading west and it made a stop at Little Current, Mrs. Turner turned to her husband and said “You can keep heading west but I’m staying right here!”

We have been frustrated by Bell’s lack of service up here, even though they claim they have it, so we stopped in at The Source - a part of Turner’s store - and decided to buy a WIFI plugin. They didn’t have one but the chap called the local computer shop and they put one aside for us and we had to walk there to get it - out the back door of the store, down to end of the store parking lot, and there is the other store. They had the part waiting for us. I love small towns.

Back to the main street and off to the Anchor Grill for lunch. This is a very nice restaurant - old but good food and lots of it at a reasonable price - and the owner caters to boaters. He also owns a hotel in town.

Little Current Swing BridgeEvery morning at 9 am in July and August, the Anchor supports a “cruisers net” on Channel 71. They provide the latest world and Canadian news, sports scores, complete weather for the North Channel, and then a cruisers’ check-in. Call in with the name of your boat and where you are located. “Water’s Edge, Town Dock”. And if you are looking for someone else who is cruising you can add that on as well. Then the radio controller will go to Channel 16 and make a broadcast using his much more powerful equipment and asking for whatever boats that people are looking for to please check in. Calls are relayed by other boaters and connections made. I have heard of this sort of thing in the Caribbean and south seas but this is, I think, unique to this area. And what a great idea. Somebody this morning had lost something overboard that would float and wanted cruisers to watch for it, so it has other uses than just social. Mind you we were all looking for the “Tiki Bar”.

The Anchor also has a Saturday morning lecture series, free of charge to anyone but geared towards boaters. Today it was given by a lady who has solo-sailed these waters for over 30 years and she was talking about some of the places to see. We didn’t go as we wanted to get out by noon.

Little Current WaterfrontThe Anchor also provides free WIFI service to their patrons and to boaters. They are across the street from the docks so Phil took over the PC when we went over for dinner, loaded up with the new hardware, and we able to get it working. There is also quite a WIFI network among marinas in Lake Michigan which we can tie into when we get there as well, I hope.

So this morning we left Little Current - with a west wind and 2-3 foot waves - and headed north up the Waubuno Channel from which we were sheltered from the waves after about a mile, hung a right at the tip of the channel and tucked into Bell Cove for the day and overnight.
This is a lovely spot with clear deep water to within about 10 ft of the shore. We dropped anchor and have been swinging all day in a small curve of the shore line well protected from all but directly north winds. We were soon joined by another cruiser our size and a small sailboat. We were delighted this afternoon to watch a doe on the shore not more than 50 ft away. And the water is not too cold so it was bath time for two very sweaty people.

Tomorrow, depending on the weather (thunderstorms possible) we will continue eastwards into the Bay of Islands and work our way over to Whitefish Falls and probably return here for tomorrow night as well.

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