Day dawned beautiful and calm and as we were having the first cuppa of the morning we watched the boats start to stream out of the anchorage and head on to their next port of call. Yesterday we counted about a dozen sailboats that came into the bay but couldn’t see where they anchored so after breakfast and the news we headed out for a ride in the dinghy For(e)Shore. Circled the bay in behind Hotham Island and there are about four areas which were filled with boats. About an equal mixture of sail and power. A lovely anchorage with lots of room to either swing or stern tie and possibilities of being sheltered in any wind. Phil and I discussed “best” anchorages as we cruised and decided, that after Monday’s experience, we wanted a very large stone wall on the wind side to move any winds uphill and any from us huddling down below. On our ride, we also found the seagulls again. We saw only one or two yesterday after the storm but they are all back again today. Still don’t know where they went.

We try to pick up the BBC news every morning and evening via XM satellite radio and we are disheartened by the news from the Mid-East. Maybe if they all went sailing, they might get their tempers cooled down somewhat. A sad situation and hope it soon resolves itself.

Hotham Island - Anchorages at every turnWe also managed to pick up CFNR (I think) from “The Manitoulin” which is the local usage of the word, as in - “Where are you from?” “The Manitoulin.” Anyhow, power is still out on most of the island with Little Current apparently having some outages as the radio station gave his call sign as “This is Radio CFNR in Little Current, powered by generator.” He then stated that there were so many lines and trees down that it could be another 72 hours (until Friday) before the power is fully restored. We lost the station right after they said thunderstorms for late Thursday and hot today.

So the plan is to spend today here trying to stay cool and head into Spanish tomorrow morning. We aren’t out of food yet as the canned ham is still in the hold and a new bag of Oreos under the seat.

Was doing some reading yesterday on the area and discovered that The Manitoulin is actually the Canadian end of the Niagara Escarpment. Coming from Killarney one passes Heywood Island before getting to Strawberry Island and then into Little Current. Apparently the Niagara Escarpment “the magnificent limestone spine that forms the Bruce Peninsula and demarcates the western shore of Georgian Bay, slips beneath the water and resurfaces as Manitoulin Island before continuing west through northern Michigan. .... Heywood Island is remarkable, because the seam of these two opposing rock systems (the escarpment and the Precambrian Shield) stretches the length of the island.” (Gutsche)

I expect there will be time today in our busy schedule to find out some more interesting tiddy-bits about the area.

Spanish Marina from the lookout towerIt is now 8 pm and we are sitting at the Spanish town dock, all tied up for the night and clean after lovely long hot showers. Just after lunch we managed about an hour of quiet time and while I was reading on deck I saw “Golden” enter the harbour. Phil came up from below and got them on the radio and they said they were going to anchor at the other end because of the SW winds tonight and the storms. And they were heading into Spanish tomorrow also. Hmmmm, we were not in a good spot for SW winds and the wind was picking up just a bit at that point. Hummed and hawed for about 10 minutes and decided to up anchor and head for Spanish right away. It is only about 7km from Oak Pt and the wind, from the east, would be behind us all the way, and the channel is very sheltered, so it seemed a better idea than waiting until Thursday and trying to beat the storm or wait it out. So we came in tonight and will spend tomorrow as a maintenance day.

I want to do a thorough cleaning below, vacuum up all the bug-bits, etc. And we have to do laundry again as we sweated through just about everything on board. And the outside of the boat is filthy from all the anchoring out - spider webs, dead flies, mud, disgusting. I suggested that we just throw a lot of soap on her tonight and let the rain do all the work.....

Today is the start of the Mackinac (say Mackinaw) to Manitoulin yacht race. They leave Mackinac Island this morning, arrive in Gore Bay on Thursday and then on to Little Current on Friday. At last count there were over 300 boats in the race of all shapes and sizes. So this next couple of days is a really good time not to be out in the channel. Especially the one we took today called the Little Detroit Channel which is wide enough for only one boat to get through so if one is coming the other way, you have to wait, like on a one-lane bridge. Could get interesting with 300 boats all going one way.

When we arrived here at the marina, we docked next to a sailboat from Ottawa. They were in Gibson Cove on the north side of Fox Island when “The Storm” hit. She said she grabbed her camera and started taking pictures like mad until she realized that the boat was rocking back and forth so badly that she should really be hanging on. Anyhow, they suffered no damage other than being shaken up and spent today cleaning out the boat. They also noticed the effect of the water actually being lifted up and blown away. I wish I had a better photo of that.

Will try to get this out tonight as there seems to be service here. And we'll see what tomorrow will bring.

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