Go West Old Man

It was now time to focus on heading back to the USA to continue the Loop.

That didn’t mean our time in the North Channel was over. We still had some great opportunities to explore this area of Lake Huron that we’ve grown to love.

But we did need to make sure we were headed west.

After a great stay at Bad River, we spent another night in Killarney before heading to Baie Fine, a long fiord that runs east and west between Killarney and Little Current.

We had picked out a new Anchorage in Baie Finn that wasn’t too far into the fjord.

It was a well protected anchorage. A nice feature was a hike up to the top of the mountains close by.

We were going to have bass for dinner from a bass Libbie caught earlier. I had just put the fillets in the frying pan when Libbie yelled, “Get the net!!”

She pulled up another nice bass. We filleted that fish up, threw it in the pan and we had a great fish dinner that night.

The next morning we took the dinghy to a beach and did a hike up almost 1000 feet to a mountain top with an overlook of the entire area.

It was a beautiful view, and showed the area with all its bays, islands, and waterways. We took some pictures and enjoy the views, then climbed back down to the dinghy, picked up anchor, and headed out to Little current.

We continued west to Little Current, where we were going to meet my sister and her husband.

Little Current is located at the north east end of Manitou Island.

It is the only place you can cross by car without taking a ferry.

I’ve mentioned before that the bridge is an old railroad swing bridge. The town removed the tracks a long time ago, so it is cars only. One way one lane mind you, but cars only.

Manitoulin Island’s geology is typical of the area.

It’s formed by Laurentian shield granite as well as the limestone from the ancient sea bottom common in the northern Great Lakes,

The island has high bluffs and rocks by the water’s edge, as well as the associated trees and shrubs that are common in the area.

I remember visiting Manitoulin as a young boy with the family.

We took an old coal fired, steam engine-driven ferry from the south end of Manitoulin Island over to Tobermorey.

I remember wanting to see the engine room, and then getting so sick that my parents booked a berth to put me in so I had a place to lay down. I can still remember my dad grumbling about the extra fare. I remember the pain and the headache and the general feeling of unwellness, and being grateful for that berth.

That ferry was discontinued back in the 70s and now resides as a museum ship at one of the local towns in the area.

My sister and brother in law showed up in Little Current. We had a great time together.

We borrowed the use of their vehicle and went to the grocery store to reprovision. The store was surprisingly well stocked and we were able to get everything except one or two essentials.

My sister tracked down those missing essentials at a marine supply store just down from Selkie in downtown Little Current.

We went out for dinner and had a rousing card game of five crowns. My sister’s husband and my wife are well matched in their cardplaying. They won. My sister and I are also well matched in our card playing. We lost.

The next morning I made my famous almond flour oatmeal blueberry pancakes, and we sent them on their way.

Libbie and I left the dock and headed to Croker Island in the Benjamins.

When we arrived at Crocker Island, we were amazed to see that the anchorage was completely empty on a Friday afternoon. Granted it was early in the afternoon and there was stormy weather forecasted when we got here.

Sure enough before sunset three sailboats pulled in and anchored. All four of us had stern ties, and it allowed us to be safe while very close together.

The weather was for squall warnings and thunderstorms was coming down from Lake Superior across Whitefish Bay, where the Edmund Fitzgerald had sunk in the late 1970’s. The storm was headed our way and it looked like we’re going to be in for another round of high winds and heavy rains and potential of hail again.

As it turned out, it wasn’t as bad as forecast, most of the weather went south of us. Even so, we don’t sleep well in those conditions.

We are starting to become a little compressed for time because we have a scheduled arrival back into the states on September 1, Libbie’s and my anniversary.

We will be celebrating being married 39 years on Mackinac Island.

That means that our trips have to be well timed with weather.

We have an additional complication in our schedule because we have to check in face-to-face with US Customs, as we are importing our dinghy into the United States.

I spoke to a very nice customs agent at “The Soo”, the locals’ name for Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. We know what to do and should be fine checking in and getting the import paperwork for the dinghy.

In the meantime, we will continue our trip westbound.

It’s a little sad in some respects because we’ve enjoyed the North Channel and Georgian Bay so much. We may never come this way again.

But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy it now.

We plan to do so for a few days yet.