Still sitting tight in Little Current

Today is nice and sunny but still cool and windy. The wind is pedicted to subside after today so we will head out for some anchoring tomorrow with a return to Little Current on Sunday. We're going to try a new area just north of Little Current called the Bay of Islands. There are several attractive anchorages as well as a resort that is rumored to have a nice restaurant. The two pictures above are of beautiful downtown Little Current and the town's swing bridge which opens on the hour and is the only way out heading east. I could not resist taking the shot below of two locals catching some rays on the lawn just outside the boater's restrooms. The temps were probably in the low 60s.

Sheri got her hair cut today and I took care of some maintenance items and continued to relax (main activity on trip). Today, Little Current hosted a cruise ship, the Clelia II, which is on its way back to Toronto after a Great Lakes transit originating in Duluth, MN. We saw this ship last year and were amazed at how expensive it was. There are 100 passengers and 50 staterooms all of which have an outside view but only four have a balcony. The bottom price is around $5K and the balcony rooms are $10K for an 8-day cruise. It's all-inclusive but still pricey in my opinion. Here's the web site in case you are interested http://www.greatlakescruising.com/ .

The passage here in Little Current is one of the few places in the North Channel that actually has a current. As indicated by the bouy in this picture it's fairly stonng in the channel and is even noticeable at the dock where our knot meter is registering about a half knot. The following link will show just how noticeable the current is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8hEp8HHmXs&feature=youtube_gdata

Sitting tight in Little Current

Today is admin day with laundry, haircuts, and grocery shopping in order. It's very windy and cool again and will get worse as the afternoon progresses. The city docks are very empty which indicates just how bad the economy is in both countries.

Spanish to Little Current

fter a quick stop in Spanish we headed off to Little Current, Ontario which is the hub of this magnificant cruising area. We're bypassing spending another couple of nights at anchor due to poor weather conditions forecasted for the next few days. We'll be back in contact later today.

The remainder of the day was windy and much cooler. Since we don't have a thermometer on board I would say it was in the low 50s.

The forecast for tomorrow:

Strong wind warning in effect. Wind northwest 15 knots increasing to 20 late this evening then backing to west 20 Tuesday morning. Wind increasing to west 30 early Tuesday afternoon.

We plan to stay here in Little Current at least until Thursday which also happens to be Canada Day. We might stay to celebrate with our kin up north, eh!! The shots below were taken from the stern of the boat. It's remarkably still right now but things will change.

On to Spanish

We arrived in this quaint little burg about 2PM after a quick 12 mile jaunt from Beardrop. The marina is quite nice but really off the beaten path. The GLCC had a rendezvous here a few years back and I think that might have been their moment in the sun. Word has it that the community of Spanish has be trying to sell the marina due to the financial overhead. The facilities are very nice and the associated restaurant was also nice since town is over a mile away. We stopped by the gas dock for a pumpout which turned into a real circus and took over an hour. A sailboat (27' Catalina with four aboard for two months) was also getting a pumpout and fuel. The dock attendant accidently dropped their holding tank cap in the drink so they spent about 30 minutes trying to fish it off the murky bottom with a dip net but to no avail. They eventually stuck a bung (conical dowel) in it as a temporary fix and headed out for a cramped, rainy, overnight in some anchorage.

We're looking at the weather to see where we will go next so stay tuned.

Out for some time on the hook

On this anchoring segment we will first stop at Turnbull Island, then on to Longpoint Cove, and finally to Beardrop Harbor before heading to a new port of call for us at the town of Spanish, Ontario. We've been to all three anchorages before and found them to be very peaceful.


We left Blind River around noon on our way to our first anchorage in the north bay of Turnbull Island. Unfortunately, this anchorage is fairly open to westerly winds and I’ll let you guess where the winds were coming from. They were predicted to subside so we did not change our plans. We arrived and put the hook down and did not have any problems although the wind did not settle down until around 8PM. When we arrived we had company with two totally gorgeous 48’ Kadey-Krogen trawlers (probably more than $1.5M each). About two hours after we arrived one of the Krogens started dragging anchor but recovered before it washed ashore. When the anchor was out of the water it had a clump of weeds on it about the size of a hay bale. In any case they re-anchored and had no further incidents. As sunset approached the wind died down and we were greeted with a beautiful full moon off our stern. The winds were calm overnight.

As morning approached so did the rain that was predicted. It was just a drip but still wet. After it subsided we pulled anchor and found out why it held so well in the high winds the day before. First of all the anchor was a little difficult to get freed and when it surfaced there was about a 50 pound glob of clay firmly attached to the flukes. A hose spray and a little nudging with a boat hook finally dislodged it and we were finally on our way to our next anchorage about five miles away in Longpoint Cove. When we arrived we found two other boats at anchor in this of which one was a Mainship like ours. It was cold and drippy all day so we just hung out and relaxed inside. The winds were calm overnight.

We awoke to some welcomed sunshine and headed off around noon on the short leg to Beardrop Harbor. We’ve been in this picturesque location before and were in the company of five sailboats and one other powerboat. After a restful afternoon of relaxing and reading we took our dingy out for a tour of the surrounding nooks and coves around this bay. The remainder of the day was very pleasant with another full moon at our stern overnight. We expect some more rain tomorrow as we head off to the port of Spanish, Ontario.

Oh Canada!!! We're off to Blind River

We headed out around 830AM for the five hour run over to the scenic port of Blind River, Ontario. We left early due to a prediction of rain and thunderstorms but only had a limited encounter. This has become our traditional Canadian entry point as they are friendly, have nice facilities, free courtesy bikes, and most shopping amenities.

We will be off in the morning for some anchoring before going into a new destination in Spanish, Ontario.

Below you will find some shots of beautiful downtown Blind River. Need a slightly used snowmobile? It's only $250.

St. Ignace to Drummond Island

After a good night's rest we left St. Ignace at 10:15 AM on a totally awesome clear and sunny morning. Our six hour trip over to Drummond was about as good as it gets with almost flat lake conditions, a light breeze, and no flies. We arrived in Drummond around 4PM where we topped off our fuel, pumped out, and headed to our slip in the marina for the next two days. This is our last U.S. port before we head into Canada on Wednesday.

We took one of the marina's courtesy cars ($12/day) and went to the local grocery store for some last minute provisions. After that we had dinner, ice cream (of course), and drove around the island a bit before dark. This is the easternmost part of Michigan's Upper peninsula and is a popular resort. A ferry connects it with the mainland. The picture at the left is the DeTour light which marks the entrance to the St. Marys River and the North Channel. Many ships pass through here on there way to and from the Soo Locks and Lake Superior.


The North Channel is finally made. The ship to the right was a fully loaded ore carrier headed for Lake Michigan and probably Gary, Indiana. The marina is pictured below.

Leland to St. Ignace

Our last leg up Lake Michigan carried us from Leland to St. Ignace which lies just north of the Mackinac Bridge. We like this marina because it's generally not crowded like Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island and has floating versus fixed docks. The trip up was again uneventfull with an arrival again around 7PM. From this point forward our transit times will be shorter with many small hops ahead of us. One nice thing is the extended daylight with sunset around 10PM.

Occasionly we will see a "Cruise Ship" on the Great Lakes. The one in the picture is the "Grande Mariner" which is 183 feet and holds 100 passengers. This one was headed for an exciting one week cruise around Lake Michigan and only costs $2000. One plus is that they have a BYOB policy.

A major milestone of this leg is that you pass under the Mackinac Bridge at the same time you cross into Lake Huron. It's a beautiful landmark that can be seen for 20 miles on a clear day. Below you will find a picture of the bridge and our boat in our berth at St. Ignace.

Ludington to Leland

With favorable conditions we decided to make another long day of it and head directly to Leland, Michigan instead of making our usual stop into Fankfort. Leland has just undergone a complete rebuild of the docks and has a spectacular boater's lounge. The town itself is quaint and still hosts a small fishing industry in the historic "Fishtown" district. The trip up was very nice with light following seas that gave us at least a half knot push. We arrived at about 7PM and had fried whitefish at the Bluebird Restaurant. Of course the customary ice cream stop followed.

Let the Cruise Begin

We departed Saugatuck at 9:00 AM sharp after a rainy and restless night. The excitement of finally leaving was in play, but once we were on our way, everything settled down and we really started enjoying the moment!

It was a beautiful day with sunny skies and relatively calm seas as the day progressed. We have found that the departure side preparation of this is way more stressful and involved than the return. Once underway, Sheri spent most of the day relaxing and trying to adapt to the sea conditions. I don't think she was quite ready for our first day at sea.

Our first day has traditionally involved a long leg to really get the trip underway. This year we decided once again to go to Ludington, Michigan on our first day. We arrived at the harbor entrance just in time to see the S.S. Badger (very oldLake Michigan car ferry) as it arrived at 7PM after a run across the lake from Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The only downside to the ferry is that it blows coal soot over the marina for four hours a day.

Ludington is a very nice town with equally nice marinas. We had planned to spend two nights in Ludington but spent a third due to windy conditions on the lake. We spent our days getting the boat setup and performing some maintenance and improvements. On the first full day in port we were given two nice salmon filets that were caught in the lake that morning. What a great meal that was.

Provisioning Day

Today we spent most of our time finalizing our shopping for our two month trip. This meant many trips back and forth to Walmart and Sam's Club in Holland, Michigan. After dinner we met up for a few drinks with Dave and Rose Kinderman who have a Morgan 38 sailboat (like our old one) in the marina in Saugatuck. The rain started coming down just as they arrived and did not quit until daybreak.

Launch day arrives

Sea Y'all is still on its cradle but is attached to a trailer that is used to move the boat to the launch site.

This is our boat as it hangs in the travel lift just before it is lowered into the water.

After we launched just after lunch we headed immediately over to our transient slip versus taking her out on a test drive like last year. The boat started right up and no leaks were found. This is our boat tied up at our departure marina in Saugatuck. We spent the rest of the day transferring stuff between the boat and the car.

Arrived today in Michigan for the pre-launch activities

As you can see our boat is just where we left it last year and it looks like new. Even though we're indoors we still put a plastic cover over the whole boat in order to keep dust off and it works. There's a sailboat to the left of our boat that has been in the building for many years and there's enough dust on the deck that I think weeds will start growing at some time. Indoor heated storage is the only way to fly as no winterizing is required versus outdoor storage.