The North Channel

Back to 2007 Travels

The time had come to lay low for a couple of days and catch our breath, so we pulled into another RV park right on the St. Marys River, and just across the water was Canada. As we sat in our chairs in the cockpit of the boat, mind you we are up six feet above the ground, we looked at the river as the huge freighters, small fishing boats, and the “Soo Locks” tour boats traveled back and forth in front of us. The locks at Saute Ste. Marie were exciting to watch, you would have thought we were little kids the way we searched to find an unobstructed area to see the huge freighters come in, tie up, and then drop twenty-one feet to be at the same level as the St. Mary’s river from Lake Superior. They have a lock on the Canadian side for pleasure boats because these freighters take up the entire lock.

The jet stream has been looping below the great lakes for some time now which has produced rain, thunderstorms and cooler weather; we had quite a lightening show after midnight last night that we watched through the hatch in the V-berth.

The gasoline on the U.S. side was a little cheaper than on the Canadian side so we filled up the truck and boat before we crossed over the bridge into Canada to start this thing called cruising. Our driving took us above the North Channel, which is the north end of Lake Huron and above Georgian Bay; it felt fairly remote. As we drove along the two lane highway, Hwy 17, we saw only small towns with farms in between. Spanish was the name of the town where we pulled off and we investigated two different marinas. This town had a grocery store, bank, hotel, restaurant, and a hardware store all on the same side of the street because the railroad ran on the other side. One marina was fairly new, beautiful facilities but only teenagers running the place and we weren’t getting the answers we were hoping for. Boris had read about another marina, Vance Marina, before we arrived, so we followed the signs on the dirt roads and pulled into Vance’s Marina listening to the crunching of the gravel under the tire. This marina was much older and also had a little RV park along the river. We discovered this is where the locals hung out and the owners and the other old guys were quite friendly. When we say old, it’s older than Boris. It worked for us. Checking out the launch ramp, which gave us a chill up our spine, was the moment of truth. Considering how shallow these waters are, their launch ramps are quite steep. As we looked at this ramp which is narrow, old cement with chunks out on the sides, steep and because the water is reddish we couldn’t see the bottom. We decided to go ahead and give it a try. In the meantime, next to this marina there was a fishing resort, little cabins, also called Vance’s, where I was told to get a fishing license. Since we would be in Ontario waters for sometime, I decided it was time to spend a little money and get a license for the season. As I walked up to the cabin on the riverfront that said office, a woman yelled, “Come on in”. We sat and have a lovely visit while she filled out the paperwork. By the time I got back, we visited longer than I had realized, Boris almost had the boat ready to launch with the help of the local guys. This place was feeling pretty comfy already. The boat is launched, she is in a slip with a small wooden dock that looks like it has been run into one too many times since it appears to be leaning a little to the left, and we are tied up on the port side, with the bow in the weeds. Boris put the side plastic curtains up, we sat in the cockpit watching the clouds form into a thunderstorm, listened to the thunder roll by and had cheese and crackers for dinner. The weather is still cool, we need to wear a sweater at least, which is fine with me. The following day the weather channel predicted small craft warnings, so we stayed hunkered down in our little slip and watched the weather blow by.

When we woke up Tuesday morning it was cold outside and we could see fog laying just inches high on the water but it soon disappeared. Today we are going to an anchorage called Moiles Harbor to anchor out for the night and we're excited to start exploring the Northern Channel. As we leave the marina and enter Spanish river we keep a close eye on the buoys because the depth is only between five and eight feet. Finally we reached deeper water, sixteen feet and then deeper yet, sixty feet. The anchorage was only nine miles away at which time we entered a small opening, careful of the rocks, and made a hard right that took us into what looked like almost a complete circle surrounded by trees and mounds of rocks. This area also included a Girl Scout’s camp. Later we found out that at one time this was a logging camp which would prove to be a problem for us. We took the dinghy for a ride and explored this enclosed protected spot, or at least we thought it was protected. There were five of us anchored here. We could hear the chattering of the Girl Scouts as they took a hike around the perimeter of the bay, through fields of high grass, over outcroppings of rocks, over the top of what looked like a beaver den and along a ridge then jumped off a rock into the favorite swimming hole. Then we watched and heard them hike back. Later in the afternoon we took another dinghy ride and went outside the cove this time and thought we heard thunder over the roar of the outboard motor, turned the motor down and verified that, yes, it was thunder and not the motor. As we headed back we could see in the water a trail of something small and white, maybe leaves. I asked Boris to stop and picked one up and it turned out to be a molted skin of a Mayfly. There must have been thousands that molted at the same time because there were so many of these things floating in the water. We could hear the thunder rumble across the sky and every so often – KA-BOOM – it would be just above our heads. Earlier in the day we had talked with a guy who had a beautiful boat, the design was between a sailboat and a motorboat. He was by himself and he had anchored European style, with the anchor out in front and two lines tied to trees from the stern of his boat. We sat in the cockpit with the side curtains up and watched the thunderstorm perform. Around 5:00 p.m. the wind picked up, the trees were bending with their branches swaying, we could hear the wind whistle through the trees, we heard the clattering of the shrouds slap against a mast and we saw wind race across the top of the water. Soon we saw the guy we had been talking to earlier starting to have trouble, his anchor wasn’t holding, his boat drug and was being pushed onto the rocks, but he was still tied to the trees so he couldn’t go forward to pull the anchor up.When you anchor, after you are sure it is holding, you tie off the line on the bow of the boat. Well, this guy is by himself and he has to put it in forward, ran up to the bow to un-cleat the line so that he can pull up his anchor with the windless and then run back to the wheel before he crashes. A guy from another boat came over in his dinghy to see if he could help but at the same time this guy is lurching his boat forward to keep it off the rocks, so the guy in the dinghy was really just trying to stay out of the way. Another dingy with two people on it, was able to put help on the boat. The lines attached to the shore finally were untied and dropped, and now he could try and pull up his anchor. Now with two aboard, they are able to pull up the anchor. Boris was in our dinghy getting ready to be pushed off when we decided that there were enough dinghies running around out there, we didn’t need any more chaos. The guy finally gets the anchor up and tries several times to re-anchor. We have now clocked the wind at 27 knots, our adrenaline is pumping. We discovered that we and the boat next to us on the other side have drug. We still have daylight and we know it would be better to re-anchor now rather than after dark. Out of five boats, three of us are re-anchoring. There was just a bee-hive of activity going on for awhile. As we sat in the boat, looking out the windows and waiting for the wind to change direction so we would have better protection, we wondered what it would be like tonight once we crawl into bed. Will the weather settle down or pipe up. We listened to the VHF radio over and over to get a feel for what to expect later and it didn’t sound good, sounded like it would be pretty windy. When we finally got in bed, with a little uneasiness, it was calm. Boris and I both got up a few times in the middle of the night and it was blowing like stink but we still seemed to be in the same location; so much for a good nights rest. When I got up around 6 a.m., I looked out and our anchor had drug again and we were getting close to a sailboat that we were originally anchored quite some distance away from. Boris immediately got up, we pulled up the anchor and a log came up with it. We were not sure if the log actually stopped us or if the log prevented us from getting a good anchor down. Something we will never know. It is still windy, 21 knots, another storm passing over us but no rain, just a sky covered with dark heavy looking clouds quickly skirting across the sky. We are becoming discouraged with the weather. It has been thunderstorms and windy weather for the last five days straight, every since we thought we would start out cruising. After listening to the weather station they said it would be windy and thunderstorms for the next two days, so we decided to go back to the marina for the next couple of days. It was 20 – 23 knots, white caps and swells on the way back to the marina but fortunately the wind was going in the same direction we were headed. There were band after band of dark clouds that rolled across the sky bringing strong winds and sometimes heavy showers. It wasn’t raining when we pulled into the marina for which I was grateful. As I sat there journaling, while Boris took a well deserved nap, I watched the dark clouds go by and saw the whitecaps rolling up the Spanish River, but I didn’t care because I knew that I would get a good nights sleep that night.

For the next several days we just hung out at both marinas because we discovered that we could get internet connection at the new marina. Trailer able sailboats were showing up at the new marina, several a day because there was going to be a rendezvous of about forty trailer sailors on Saturday. We enjoyed all the activity there plus the conversations with the other boaters. At this time in our trip we were becoming fairly discouraged; the weather wasn’t breaking, we didn’t have a good feel about the anchorages, we didn’t have a clear direction as to what we wanted to do. After chit-chatting with the new boaters who were arriving we were getting names of fun, good anchorages, places that they said were a must see, the excitement and direction returned to our journey.

It is Monday morning, seven days since our last try at cruising and we are off again. It is my mother’s birthday. Happy Birthday Mom! We are headed for Oak Bay in the entrance to Whaleback Channel. You enter the bay through a small opening and then it opens up into what looks like a lake, at least two miles long, totally surrounded by land except for another small opening at the opposite end which you cannot see. There was a lovely cove that appeared to be protected from the wind where we anchored along with several other boats. After lunch we sat in the cockpit enjoying the beauty surrounding us and I noticed a branch in the water, but instead of it going downstream it was going upstream. I went and got the binoculars and discovered it was a beaver tugging this large branch through the water and when it approached a fairly flat rock, it drug it up and out of the water. When he waddled out of the water I was shocked to see how large and round he was. He reminded me of a beach ball covered with fur. He gnawed on the bark for quite sometime, so I didn’t get to see his head except for when he was back in the water, which then that was all you did see. We also saw a bald eagle, the first one so far this year. I think we are finally cruising again.

When we woke up the following morning we sat in the cockpit with our cup of coffee and enjoyed the scenery; the water was so still it looked like a mirror. After a while we took the dinghy and explored all the nooks and crannies of this bay and we thought we found the beaver’s den tucked way back around a corner. It is hard to describe these beautiful settings; the hills rising from the water, covered with pine trees and then every so often an outcropping of a mass of rock that trees try desperately to find enough soil to plant their roots and grow. The weather has given us a couple of gorgeous days and we are loving it.

The following day we pulled up anchor and left for the Benjamin Islands. We toured several anchorages and dropped our anchor for lunch. The rocks here are spectacular. The islands in the Northern channel are made up of gray granite and limestone, but the Benjamin Islands are made up of pink granite and limestone with quartz embedded in the rock. We took the dinghy and went ashore, but ashore was so different than how you normally go ashore. There was a huge rock with an easy slant out of the water where we pull the dinghy out and tied off. This rock with the same easy slant continued up to almost the entire height of the hill. As we observed the gorgeous view in front of us, we noticed it was mostly this unique rock. As we hiked up to the top we found blueberries, picked them, and popped them in our mouths. Um, um. After lunch we pulled up our anchor and continued on our way to find an anchorage for the night. Not far we found a large bay, went in, and anchored. It was very shallow, maybe eight feet, but clear. It reminded me of the Caribbean, I think because of the sand on the bottom. Once we stopped the boat the bugs showed up and those big flies were trying desperately to get inside, there was little wind. At that time we decided to pull up anchor and to go to Little Current where there are several marinas because they were forecasting small craft warnings and thunderstorms for tomorrow. After calling all the marinas, not one had an open space for the night, we turned the boat around and headed back to Vance’s marina in Spanish because we knew we had a slip there with a dock leaning a little to the left. It took three hours to get back, the wind picked up and it rained some; we were happy to be tied in a slip again.

When we woke up Friday morning we saw clear blue skies with strong winds that were to subside. After lunch we left the marina and headed for an anchorage called Turnbull harbor. The winds were behind us so the ride wasn’t bad, between 10 and 15 knots. The anchorage was lovely but tricky to get into. Thank heavens we have the navigation system we have, which the depth of the water is shown on the chart in the area we are traveling in real time, so we know where to stay clear. This navigation has spoiled us so, I can’t imagine boating without it. As we travel through this Northern Channel, just above Georgian Bay, it is rocky with many obstructions in the water but fortunately this navigation chart, which we can use on the radar screen or computer, show in detail these obstructions and depths. It has made boating comfortable and safe. These cluster of islands are so sweet, we are thrilled to be here even through we threaded our way around some large obstructions and anchored between two small islands, more like large mounds of rock maybe 100 feet from each little island. There were other boats anchored in many nocks and crannies throughout these many small pieces of land sticking out of the water. We jumped in the dinghy and explored this precious area and ventured out to another island close by. As we came closer to a large bay we saw what looked like two otters playing in the water, tumbling over and around each other. As we got closer we realized it was a rock just below the surface and it was water swirling around the rocks so we quickly turned away, our navigation system is not on the dinghy. When we motored back to our cluster of small islands and explored all the little coves it became apparent as to how shallow some of the areas were, the dinghy motor hit mud. The water is murky so you know when you can see the bottom you are in shallow water. After we got back to the boat, while I was fixing dinner, I received a call from Bridgette, which surprised me that we could get reception in this remote little anchorage. Turned out we weren’t actually that far from the mainland, it just felt like we were. That night the wind was light which made for a lovely night’s sleep.

In the morning we sat in the cockpit with our coffee and were enamored with this gorgeous anchorage, we tagged this the best spot so far. Not far from where we anchored was a small long reef just a few inches out of the water and we could hear small waves breaking against it ever so lightly. A little later on we saw what appeared to be a line of ducklings, so we got the binoculars out and we counted between fifteen and eighteen ducklings following one mother duck. That kept us entertained for quite some time. After breakfast we took the dinghy over to the closet island to pick blueberries. Though we found no blueberries we had a great time walking around a little piece of rock sticking out of the water. There were several tide pools but because it is fresh water we could find nothing moving around.

Around lunch we headed for a place called Beardrop Harbor, which came highly recommended, just a few miles away.(Boris' note: I allow you to deal with that name.) As so often happens when something is highly praised, we were not impressed, but then again we had just left paradise.

The last anchorage we had in the Northern Channel was truly sweet, called John’s Harbor. We left fairly early from the last anchorage willingly and this was maybe four miles away, so we arrived early in the day. Turned out there was only one other boat where we were which made for a peaceful, quiet and restful anchorage. There were just a few ripples in the water, the sun was shinning, there are no clouds, the air gave us a cool breeze and we listen to the many different birds communicate with each other. After lunch we took a dinghy ride, again exploring the many different coves in this bay. At one point we pulled the dinghy on shore and we went for another hike. Today we had no pail so we saw patch after patch after patch of blueberries just waiting to be picked. Boris kept picking them and popping them in his mouth. Of course, I ate them too, they were small but tasty. Came back to the boat and enjoyed the calmness of the afternoon.

The following day gave us another calm day on the water and it is so still the jet contrails going west are reflected in the water. There is a gentle breeze slowly swinging the boat from, side to side. Every so often you see a dead tree which surprisingly gives you color, i.e., gray or orange which sticks out in the mass of greenery before us. As we sit in the cockpit, enjoying our coffee, we see a small black bear come lumbering out of the trees and starts foraging for food under the rocks along the shoreline about 200 feet from the boat. It is so quiet that we can hear the rocks tumbling against one another as he lifts them up with his paw and rolls them over for grub. As we watch him meander down the shore and over the outcropping of rocks, we see a small wake in the water coming towards us but it doesn’t look like a bird. We get out the binoculars again and see a small head and think maybe it is a muskrat, a squirrel or some other little creature. Quickly when he is not far from us he takes a fast dive and it is then that we see it is a small beaver, because we could see his flat tail as he dove straight down but he wasn’t nearly as big as the beaver I saw last week, that one must have been a grandpa beaver. It must be our morning for the locals because then three large Canadian geese came around the point and were foraging for food and you could see their white bottoms sticking straight up as their heads were down in the reeds looking for breakfast. We feel it a privilege to observe the wildlife in its natural environment, undisturbed.

This was our last day in the Northern Channel, it was time to leave and start searching out the other waters we intend to explore on this trip.