SV Inishnee: Canada

Bear Drop Harbor

Bear Drop again ...

Canada : Part One

Blind River, July 1 (our farthest point north of the adventure)

Bear Drop Harbor, July 2

Whales Back Channel, in transit …

The Benjamin’s, July 3

Little Detroit, in transit …

Little Current, Mandolin Island, July 4

Snug Harbor, July 5

Killarney, July 6

Days out: 23 days
Miles made : 454 nautical miles (+/-)
fifty / fifty sail days

Bear drop Harbor (2011)

Whale's Back ...

A little research and we discovered Blind River use to be a huge logging town. The surrounding area was logged and the logs floated in the harbor for processing and cutting into timbers. An old picture at the marina showed 10’s of thousands of logs, encircled by booms. Another picture showed plies and piles of cut timbers ready for export, stacked in cords like Jenga Blocks. Pretty impressive. The remnants can still be seen a few places around town, like an old chimney and some machinery.

Sow and Pigs ...

Atop the Benjamin's !!! we are the furthest boat right

On to Bear Drop Harbor. One of my favorite places in the North Channel. The weather was a bit overcast and threatening rain so we stayed aboard this visit. A prior trip here, we dingy’d around and discovered a passage in and around to the Whale’s Back Channel. The rocks still show evidence of the glacial actions eons ago. The exposed rock being scoured bald. Over time fissures opened up and seedling took hold, until a forest was born.
The rocks here appear to be mostly granite with some quartz. The colors range from burnt orange, grays, whites and blacks strew through out. Many have lichen growing as well adding golds to the beautiful hues already present.

The weather being chilly and ominous the next day, we headed for ‘the Benjamin’s’ via Whales Back Channel. Whale’s Back Channel is laden with numerous bald outcroppings, very large, that appear to be a whales back, as it slides through the water just before a dive. Because of the advancing and retreating glaciers, these outcroppings are oriented in the same direction, again, appearing as though whales are traveling the channel in pods.

Onward to the ‘Benjamin’s, we passed Berry Pickers rock…. must be a joke because there appeared to be no berries or bushes for that matter there. Hardy enough room for a picker… Then the ‘Sow and Pigs’ at the north end of the pass to the harbor to the Benjamin’s. You've got to love the names for these places.

The Benjamin’s are a favorite for most people traveling through here. It seems, if you haven't gone there, then you haven't really experienced then North Channel…. by some standards.

jumping for joy ...
Inishnee is in the background

Out last trip here we had a terrible time anchoring, the bottom being bald rock in some areas as well as it being so crowded with boats we gave up and went to the adjoining island, Croker where we promptly hit a rock ! We managed to come about, drop our anchor, ‘med-moor style’ with a rope to shore as well. We made sure there was no damage to the boat due to the collision and sat back in relief. So much for the Benjamin’s that trip…

Soooo, this time we (I) was determined to get the anchor set and explore the fabled Benjamin’s. Luck of the Irish intervened and the anchor set and held the first attempt! Within an hour, the anchorage went from 8 boats to 15…. some too close for our comfort especially since the wind picked up.

heading back to the dingy

We ventured to shore and took off up the rock face. It IS really beautiful here. But so many places here are. We hiked to the top, about a 15 minutes easy climb and then to the south side to look out over the south channel. On the return trip, we stopped to check out a container we saw lodged in a tree stump. It was a GeoCache. Like a treasure hunt. They can be found all over the world. People leave them more or less hidden for others to discover and leave a message or a ‘treasure’ of some sort. We left a message from the crew of Inishnee, and a U.S. quarter. * An internet search and you can discover more about these ‘hunts’. Select an area near you, read the ‘clues’, decipher them and go find the treasure…

shore from the Benjamin's

The winds died down after dark but we were perplexed with an unfamiliar sound near the anchor chain on deck…. Living on a boat, you get very in-tune to the sounds she makes and recognize them to be good, bad… or need to investigate. Jim made several trips to the bow (the pointy end) but could not detect the source…. though his thought was that our anchor chain, 150 feet of it out, was dragging across the rock bottom and reverberating into the boat…. The morning proved his theory correct. With so much chain out, it took several times to ‘knock’ the chain down in the anchor locker as it would ball up otherwise and the chain would not fall properly into the hold compartment. While, batting down the chain, Jim was able to verify the sound. The anchor chain was indeed scraping the rock bottom as the boat moved, following the anchor retrieval.

Next, off to Little Current, Manitoulin Island. Several things are interesting about this place. One. Manitoulin Island is the largest fresh water island in the world ! It has islands with lakes with islands on it…

Little Detroit Passage... requires a VHF radio call to pass through

Two. Little Current is named for the ‘current’ that flows through the pass here. There are 2 large bodies of water that are funneled through the small gap. The wind dictates the direction of flow and it’s strength. At times, it is significant, at least to us Great Lakes boaters who pretty much never experience a current. Today, unfortunately, another boat while attempting to dock near us, miss-judged the force of the current and the wind and hit head on to the pier. An inspection of his boat and pier and it seems the only damage was to the Captain’s ego, thank goodness.

A swing bridge allows auto traffic on and off the island. Boats traverse the pass on the hour after the bridge tender ‘swings’ the bridge open creating a clear path.

Three. This is the summer home for Roy Eaton. He is the host and guiding force behind the Little Current Cruiser’s net. The net (network) is a way for cruisers to communicate since phones, email, etc. aren’t available in most outlying areas. Roy broadcasts from the Anchor Inn’s 3rd floor every day during cruising season. 9am. An introduction and a request for any emergency messages and information goes our first. Cruisers call in via VHF radio to report information, concerns, etc… Roy then gives a weather report and a brief news cast then opens the net to the cruisers to report in their boat name and location. Roy and a cast of volunteers record the information for future reference. The process takes up to an hour during high season.

The town of Little Current knows what business they are in and do an amazing job of catering to the ‘cruisers’. The town dock is free all day to any boater. Tie up. Reprovision. Spend some money and come back…. time and again. Over night guests pay a fee for their slip.

We met some other cruisers today who were surprised I had a little container of herbs (my garden) on board…. they said they didn’t think we could bring plants into Canada. Jim recalled the conversation via ‘phone’ with customs upon entering Canada and they indeed did ask about plants. Jim said I had an herb garden and the customs agent wanted it clarified that it was for personal consumption…yes, ok. Jim related the conversation to the other cruisers:. It went continued something like this …do you have fire arms? no…. do you have alcohol? yes, just the the allowable amount (shhhh)…. Plants? herb garden … do you have chickens? ??? (seriously, what kind of boat do you think we have !!!!) No, we don't have any chickens… ok… welcome to Canada!

Our new friends looked at us and said…. I think they meant ‘chicken’…. there is an embargo and you can’t bring chicken (grocery store kind or other wise) into Canada… (? bird flu?) …. ohhhhh, that make more sense. jeez

Before leaving Little Current, we walked up the hill to the Anchor Inn and into the Cruisers Net studio. We were greeted warmly by Roy! Jim was asked to help with the ‘net’ for the day by recording information relayed … boat names and locations mainly. Any emergencies if applicable. 83 boats reported in today… It is fascinating to watch and listen to the live broadcast… We even got a parting gift for helping today.

Hard at work ...

We made the 11am bridge out of the harbor and on to Snug Harbor. Depths on the charts showed 2 feet but we were assured by lots of cruisers the charts are wrong and indeed they are. We kept to the west side of the entrance as instructed, I manned the bow to watch for rocks. Depths were easily 13 feet and more… no problem. The anchorage was ‘snug’ but quiet and peaceful. Another cruiser couple joined us for dinner and we swapped stories.

Roy, Kathy and Jim in the Studio

the Swing Bridge

Off in the morning for Killarney. The weather reports are for quite a blow tonight about 2am. 20 - 25 knot winds. The waters were a bit sloppy with waves and thick with traffic. We took a slip at the Sportsman’s Inn. It soon filled up with other cruisers seeking shelter. In fact, we are pretty well pinned in by other boats.

While enjoying a cool beverage on the boat before venturing off to town, a dock hand came out to the adjoining pier and started drilling in the dock… ? We all of course had to ask ‘what the heck ?’… he said due to the wind predictions, the marina decided to add another cleat and planned to lash the docks together….they are floating docks … hmmmm.… let’s hope it is unnecessary!

We took advantage of the public hose and cleaned the boat of bugs and carcasses. Nearly every day for better than a week we have had a ‘hatch’ on deck during the night… Mayflies being the only critters we can identify… I guess they have a learning disability bugs since it is July, not May.

We got dinner to go at the formerly world famous fish bus location… it has lost it’s charm… the ‘bus’ has been replaced by a nice, new, modern restaurant… fish is still good but… it’s not ‘the bus’… The story goes.. ‘the bus’ broke down many years ago near the waters edge… someone turned it into a take out fish shack… kind of like Hawaii's food trucks. It was a unique experience… glad we had the opportunity to do it last time through here… I do wish they had incorporated the old bus into the new facility though… even if it could have just been the store front. Oh well.

passing through

We just keep meeting the neatest people along the way. Wish we had more time to really get to know each there but we are ALL going in different directions making the most of the experience up here. We are collecting tons of information about what to stop and see next… too many to see I think….

The blow never happened. though we are getting plenty of rain to rinse the already clean boat from yesterday...
We will be turning the corner today (if we can get un-pinned from the dock) and heading south. going in to new territory for us.