Thomas Bay to Ojibway Docks, Beausoliel Island. June 20 to July 1, 2019.

We left for Thomas Bay on Thursday June 20.  

We launched the dinghy and went east a mile or so and then up that creek for a half mile or so.  There is a boat ramp there and we tied the dinghy to a tree and hiked the trail along the creek and then back to the starting point through the woods.  Had to move quickly on the woods portion of the trip to keep ahead of the bugs!  It was a little over an hour hike so we continued with a walk to the entrance of the Killarney Provincial Park and back.  It is always great to get off the boat for some exercise when anchored out.

 Sunset at Thomas Bay

We arrived at the Bustards Islands the next day and found our anchorage in the eastern end behind a small island empty.  We dropped anchor and shore tied the stern to a tree.  

X marks the spot

What a beautiful spot!  We took a nice long dinghy ride exploring the beautiful area.  
Lots of wild strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and black berries.  Hopefully someone other than the bears will be able to enjoy them later in the season.

We stayed two nights and did some boat maintenance one day.  This included cleaning the fly bridge area of all the dead midges that the birds had not consumed.  Yes, we heard birds almost every morning hopping around the deck pecking at the piles of midges.  An easy breakfast I guess.  We used the lake water through the wash down pump for our cleaning.  As I was spraying out one of the drains it was clogged and I could not get it to free up.  Well, one of the birds had apparently thought it looked like a good spot for a snack and died in there.  Once I pulled it out, drain ran clear….

Next up was an anchorage at Black Bass Island, again stern tied to a tree.  

And the name was appropriate as we watched bass swim by all day.  We took a wonderful dinghy excursion through the Hemlock Channel area.  Wow!

Winds are projected to be strong starting late on Monday so we looked for a anchorage with SE to SW wind protection.  Gilman Bay in the Port Rawson area looked great on paper and we were not disappointed once we arrived.  Along the way we stopped at Kilbear Marina for a pump out and a walk to the nearby convenience store/grocery store.  Hey, what a great little store…Tom’s favorite Kawartha ice cream and homemade fudge!  
Here's Julie carrying the groceries and Tom eating ice cream on the way back to the boat...

And a good little 2-1/2 mile round trip for some exercise.  We anchored way back in the cove and winds were buffeting the treetops but we just swirled around on the anchor a bit.  We spent two days here and given it was cloudy and cool, did a little maintenance aboard. 

On Wednesday we departed to meet all our Canadian friends at Ojibway Bay docks on Beausoliel Island.  A narrow channel along the way in the "small boat channel".

Map of Beausoliel Island

Dave and Sue (Manana) and Maria and Mike (Aqua Fennetic) were already at the dock when we arrived.  We met both couples on the first year of our Loop and have so much enjoyed our reunion with them the past two years as we cruised the Canadian waters.  This is the second year we have been able to celebrate Canada Day with them.  
Manana and Aqua Fennetic on the right.

We took long hikes, dinghy exploration and lots of visiting and catching up.  Thanks for getting us back to the dock after our 30 mile dinghy trip Dave and Sue.  With 30,000 islands in the area you could have left us somewhere and we would have never found our way home.  Beautiful secluded anchorages, wonderful homes/cottages, and every stop Dave and Sue knew someone!  It is so nice to have a local knowledge source. 


And of course the ice cream stop at Honey Harbor while we fueled the dinghys was great too!  

Our hiking group included Klaus and Sylvia, two Germans who reside in Canada along with Mike and Maria.  Klaus was our "leader" each day on our bush hikes.

We met lots of friendly people at the 10 boat dock and were “adopted” for the early Canada Day (July 1) celebrations. 

Sunday Julie and I got in the family car (dinghy) and headed over to South Cove Marina outside of Honey Harbor (about 3 miles) to meet Don and Marge aboard Bacchus.  Don and I “met” through Trawler Forum as he was sort of organizing a group of boats who were traversing the Trent Severn and Georgian Bay.  We met aboard their boat and swapped knowledge and information on the Trent Severn, Rideau. Montreal, Ottawa and Lake Champlain.  We learned some great tips and hopefully we left them with an equal dose of tips.  It was great meeting them and we look forward to possibly passing others in the “group” as we continue our travels in Canada. 

And in the "you are never far from your friends" category here is an image of our good friend Jim on CBS national TV.  The video his wife Mary Beth took of him being surprised with Lady Gaga tickets has gone viral and the family is being interviewed, Lady Gaga / the MGM has sent them additional tickets/hotel/air fare and the whole situation is just so "Jim"...

More soon....

Ahhh, Resuming our Cruising Travels. May 30- June 19. 2019.

Upon our return from Natalie and Brett's wedding on Memorial Day at 5AM (after a 6 hour flight delay) we anxiously starting looking at the weather and our to do list to start planning our departure from Grand Haven.  It has been a wet and cold six weeks as we await decent weather to begin our travels north.
North Shore Marina completed all the work orders assigned, the weather started to warm a bit and we untied the lines on Thursday May 30 after returning our rental car to the Grand Rapids airport.  We headed out at around 4:30 PM 

with the destination the SW corner of White Lake near Buzz’s Lakeside Inn.

It has been a wonderful 6 weeks in Michigan visiting Mom every other day or so, seeing some of our old friends (sorry we did not hook up with everyone!) and enjoying our daily walks between rain showers and cold!  We had intended to have friends out for boat rides and such had we experienced a normal Michigan Spring.  But it was just too cold….the boat left the slip for its sea trial on April 25 and one other time for a pump out until we left on May 30!  Crazy weather!  Gotta get back South I guess!

Here we are anchored in White Lake.  Still a bit chilly, but it is so nice to be travelling again.

On Friday we moved to Ellenwood Landing where we were able to see a number of boating Friends.  Mark and Amber, Chris and Lorelei, Liz and Bob (Knot Sew Easy), Wally (Wally’s World), Stella and Randy and Amy and Larry were all at the marina and we enjoyed catching up with all of them!

We took a little bike ride around the community on our folding bikes Saturday and the temperature dropped from 70 to 50 as we rode.  Winds blew and it started raining as we arrived back at the boat wet from our ride… a hot shower really felt good.

Sunday, we left the marina and anchored out in Indian Bay at the mouth of White Lake so we could get an early start for Frankfort on Monday.  We left shortly after sunrise 

and arrived in Frankfort around 2:30 PM.  A nice ride all the way.  As I was watching AIS from time to time, I spotted a target moving around 35 MPH.  I looked at the boat details and it said it was 72 feet.  Wow!  Later it was going 68 MPH.  Zooming in found it on highway 31 moving north…that semi was hauling it along pretty well!

We were having a problem with our inverter when trying to use the house bank underway (we use it as the alternator from the main engine then essentially provides our AC power for the stereo, ice maker, phone chargers, etc without draining a battery bank).  So Chris had given me the name of an individual doing business as The Boat Doctors.  Clever name.  Anyways, Scott showed up shortly after our arrival and load tested the batteries…all OK.  

So he referred me to an electrician who came out on Tuesday morning.  Long story short, it was my error in connecting the battery banks and a proper reconnection of the negative sides of the two banks corrected our issue.  Darn black battery cable against a black battery and black battery box in a dark corner of the engine room! 

After a windy day in Frankfort we were able to head out again.  Photo from a cold day walk.

It was cold with occasional rain so we had a fair amount of fog and never way Sleeping Bear Dunes or the other beautiful sights along the way.  It was a smooth day for travel on the “Big Lake” though.  

We had targeted Suttons Bay in Grand Traverse Bay but we had a NE wind predicted that would have come right down the throat of the bay.  So we snuck up into the north end of Northport Bay instead.  Look at this 18 feet deep water and the bottom of the bay.  It is so nice to be in the clear but cold fresh water.

 This is 18 feet deep water...easy to see bottom!

We then went to Suttons Bay on Thursday for the night.  A very calm and serene night.  Had lunch at the Village Pub, very good food.  Also dinghyed to shore and walked to laundromat to catch up on a bit of laundry.

Friday we moved on to Traverse City where our friends Nancy and Scott were coming to visit for the weekend.  We had a great time catching up with them.  Saturday was a beautiful day and we motored out to Powers Island for the day and had breakfast on the way.  We were able to hike the island and soak up a little sun in the afternoon.  

We had lunch and dinner anchored off the island.  Clear water, lots of fish to see swimming by along the drop off, good food and good friends.  What a nice day!

Sunset in Traverse City

On Sunday we bid Scott and Nancy good bye, took a little walk to the grocery store and then headed out for Charlevoix around noon.  

We arrived for the 4:30 bridge and settled into our slip as it was starting to rain.  And rain it did for the next 15 hours or so pretty steady and it finally cleared at 3 PM on Monday.  We took a nice walk after it cleared.  Charlevoix is always a great stop!

Next destination was Mackinaw City after three days of mostly rain and wind in Charlevoix.  

The trip was smooth and the marina was nearly empty when we arrived.  We topped off fuel tanks as the fuel was $2.95 a gallon here versus $3.61 in De tour and $4.00 at Drummond Island.  We want to enter Canada as full of fuel as possible due to prices there.  It was again cold and rainy but we were able to fuel before getting wet.  The only issue was the hatch of midges….boy were they ever thick! 

We even broke out our head bonnet nets that we purchased in Australia for the flies in the Outback.  We have not seen midges this thick since we picked up Sum Escape in June of 2014 in Harbor Springs.

The state run marina was testing waters around the few boats here for electric current leakage.  We were told they have a standard procedure to occasionally check their docks and boats for any current leakage which can lead to electric shock drowning (ESD).  We assume this could be a state mandated procedure after the ESD fatality we witnessed at the state marina in Traverse City in 2011.  All was good.

Carole and DeVere (Job Site) kindly drove up to Mackinaw City to have lunch with us.  It was such a nice visit with them.  We have missed going to the Bahamas with them the last two years after having gone with them in 2016 and 2017.  We hope to see them over there the winter of 2020!  Thanks so much for making the 2 hour each way drive to catch up with us Carole and DeVere!

Next stop was DeTour, our final US destination until we re-enter the States in New York in September or so.  

More rain in DeTour...

Just a quick overnight with a nice walk and grocery store stop for a few items.  Julie really liked the laundry facilities here.  Of course, one washer and dryer in men’s room and one washer and dryer in women’s room.  We had two loads so you can figure out the rest! 

On Saturday we noted the weather was clearing to the north so we headed to Canada to finally find the sun!  We left fairly early to beat forecasted wind increases from the NW on our way to Thessalon, Ontario. These waves would be beam seas, not an ideal thing for a trawler speed.  They did kick up a bit as we approached Thessalon so we kicked up the speed for a while to smooth it out a bit.  It was quite windy as we docked but with only a couple boats in the marina we picked an “easy in” slip.  We checked into Canada for our season of boating there at the pay phone provided to call the border agents.  After a 15 minute hold time in the freezing cold wind, it took about two minutes to get our clearance numbers to post on the window of the boat for our Canadian visit.  Very nice agent and easy process.

We took a two mile walk to Carolyn Beach Restaurant, a nice spot overlooking Lake Huron with great food.  

It was chilly walking along the shoreline to get there, so we took an inland route on the way back.  We also got to see a good bit of the community with our walk.  Hit the grocery store here as well, a Valu Land which we have frequented in Canada during our visits.

We departed early on Father’s Day for one of our favorite anchorages, Long Point Cove.  

 A nice moonrise.

We even saw one hearty soul out on their Jet Ski in the 50 something weather!  Only one other boat was anchored when we arrived, but 5 boats spent the night there, quite a number for this early in the season.  I guess this spot has been discovered!  Julie fixed a wonderful Father’s Day steak dinner and we enjoyed the day here.  One Canadian sail boater actually took a swim.  I measured the water temperature at 58 degrees Fahrenheit.  Not for us!

Our next anchorage was Hotham Island, Hidden Bay.  This is the same anchorage we enjoyed with Scott and Nancy on our trip through the North Channel last year.   But this year was much less windy, although equally as chilly, even though we had some sun.  Summer has not yet arrived here in the North country!  

We took a nice dinghy ride around and also hiked some rocks a bit.  

We collected some firewood and stacked it for a potential fire later.  But the abundant mosquitoes closed that deal for us…no campfire tonight.

Little Current town docks were next up.  

We took a walk to the grocery store and on the way back spotted “On Business” a boat we knew.  Andy and Twila are its crew and we met them on our first day on the river system SW of Chicago in September 2015 as we were just beginning our live aboard adventures.  What a surprise seeing them here!   We were able to join them for a beverage in the evening.  They left first light the next morning as they were on a Lake Superior destination deadline in a few days.  Safe travels Andy and Twila, it was so good to see you again!
Leaving Little Current.

We decided that Mary Ann Cove in Baie Fine would be our next stop.  

We had anchored here in 2009 when we took a short North Channel vacation in our 44 Sea Ray.  We thought it would likely be empty this early in the season and we were right.  We enjoyed our night there but unfortunately again could not find the trail up Frazer Hill for the view.  

And there were lots of mosquitoes discouraging much exploration anyways….  Speaking of mosquitoes, why do they hide somewhere in the stateroom only to come out and bite you at 1 or 2 AM?  They aren’t coming in the screens, they somehow get in as we enter and exit the boat and then find their way to us later.  We have resorted to reading in bed for a few minutes to “draw them in” so they can be extinguished prior to our retiring!  It just amazes us how one pesky mosquito can ruin a good night’s sleep!

More when we get decent internet again....