February 21, 2008

February 2008 BVI Charter

Bvi_map_3   

Monday morning, February 11th, was a frigid 5 degrees below zero in the Twin Cities as we left for the airport. Eight days later, Tuesday evening, the Twin Cities temperatures were way up to 2 degrees above, but with light snow and lots of wind. It was definitely a good time to be basking down in the Caribbean sun of the British Virgin Islands.

The_2008_bvi_crew_6 Friends Wayne and Cynthia LeBlanc from the Twin Cities, Hans and Ruth Deller from the Denver area, and the two of us did just that, spending a wonderful week together cruising the British Virgin Islands on a 41' Lagoon Catamaran from Pro Valor Charters. http://www.provalorcharters.com/index.php?pageid=29

We picked up our boat at Fat Hogs Bay on Tortola, less than 5 minutes from the BVI's Beef Island Airport. After provisioning on Tuesday we started our circuit with a SSW power reach to Peter Island (the SE trade winds strutted their stuff almost non-stop while we were there, consistently holding in the 20's to give us plenty of wind to go wherever we wanted).

If anyone tries to tell you that cats don’t sail well, or at least don’t sail well to weather, don’t believe them. This may be true of some Catamaran designs, but like Hans and Ruth’s prior Privilege 49’, the Lagoon 41 we chartered this year sailed extremely well. We were able to point as high as most of the monohulls we sailed near, sometimes higher, and always faster unless they were much larger. As we’ve often said in the past, if you’re thinking about chartering with friends in the Caribbean, don’t even think about a monohull. The performance of a good catamaran, coupled with the spacious accommodations and privacy a cat provides, offer a combination that just can't be beat.

Blowing_out_the_birthday_candles_4 On Wednesday we tacked NE up the Sir Francis Drake Channel to Gorda Sound on the north end of Virgin Gorda, picking up a Bitter End Yacht Club mooring ball and dining at Saba Rock that evening. After some make-shift sail repairs Thursday morning, we sailed a close reach in near-perfect conditions up to Anegada for Lobster on at the beach restaurant on Thursday night, followed by a day of beach exploring on Friday. Friday night we celebrated Hans' 66th birthday aboard, complete with a wonderful dinner and birthday cake with a singing candle (see photo).

Saturday we raised anchor and sailed back down to the North end of Tortola for some snorkeling off Monkey Pt., and then proceeded further eastward to Brewers Bay (opposite Jost Van Dyke) to anchor for the evening.

Sunday brought off and on rain showers, so we powered around West End to Soper's Hole and Pusser's for lunch and a few Pain Killers, followed by a comfortable beat up-wind to Norman Island after the skies cleared.

Underwater_tai_chi_3 Stingray_2 On Monday after a brisk 1 1/2 hour hike up the hills of Norman for some panoramic views of the surrounding channels (sorry, I forgot to bring my camera for the hike), we had another brisk upwind sail up to the Marina Cay area, where we anchored in one of Hans & Ruth's secret spots off Great Camanoe Island. The attached shots show Wayne checking our anchor for the evening, and a sting ray on the bottom near the boat (unfortunately I missed snapping the ray as he swam off a second later).

That evening we dingied in to Marina Cay to catch the Michael Bean "Happy Arrr" show, with dinner at Pusser's after. During the show, both Hans and Bill won shots of rum during the high-energy non-stop one man band performance. Bean's two-hour show was filled with Michael_bean_4sea stories, jokes, sing-a-longs which he led with guitar, harmonica, concertina, and the ever-present "drumming" with his feet on a case of Heineken, all liberally interspersed with audience interaction, musical participation, and his uniquely famous "pirate toasts". Wow, could that man get the crowd going. Amazing!

Unfortunately by Tuesday morning our week had all too quickly drawn to a close. Hans & Ruth dropped us off at nearby Trellis Bay at 10:00am, where we walked the block or so to the airport terminal from the dingy dock (pretty convenient, don't you say?). Hans and Ruth, ever smarter than we are, stayed in the islands for a 2nd week, catching up with the many BVI friends they made while spending nearly 10 years in the skippered charter business here.

It was tough leaving Beef Island for the Twin Cities, but hopefully we'll be back in a couple years with our own boat. At that time we luckily won't have to return to ccccold Minnesota after only week. For this year, however, we were indeed fortunate to be able to enjoy yet another fabulous week in the Caribbean ... warm weather, beautiful waters, and wonderful sailing, all in the company of some of our closest friends. Life is good!

Note: In addition to the pictures contained in this blog entry, check out the 2008 BVI Photo Album link on the main blog page for more shots from the trip.

October 24, 2007

Reflections on our 2007 Cruising Season

By all measures we would have to say this first leg of our cruise has been simply fantastic.  As we expected, we've had a chance to explore many of the special places our fellow boating friends have been telling us about for years.  But equally if not more important, along the way we've also had the opportunity to make many new friends as well as re-synch with several long time friends from years past.  It's been a very good summer.

Hauling_out_at_sandusky Up_the_stick_at_shm_2 After hauling out on Monday morning the 17th, we spent the remainder of Monday and all of Tuesday completing decommissioning projects.  The yard crew at Sandusky Harbor Marina is outstanding, which left us with a very good feeling about storing there.  The pictures at right show Jubilee being lifted out for the winter, and Bill at the top of the mast removing our wind instrument and checking the condition of all the standing rigging prior to winter storage ... just one of the tasks we perform each fall, and reverse each spring. 

As soon as we leave the boat we're having the bottom sandblasted to remove over 8 years of bottom paint build-up.  That will ready the bottom for the application of InterProtect 2000 epoxy bottom coat to guard against possible blistering of the gel coat and fiberglass when Jubilee will be sitting year-round in salt water.  Finally next spring we'll apply new salt water bottom paint over the Interprotect 2000 to inhibit marine growth. 

We've also decided to have the yard sand the Cetol (an exterior marine teak coating) off our decks and re-calk any questionable deck seams ... a somewhat expensive job, but one that realistically isn't practical for Bill to tackle himself while the boat is so far away.  This will be especially welcome once we reach the tropics, as grey, unfinished teak decks will be much cooler than our present darker stain for walking on and living under.

Overall Jubilee served us very well throughout the past 3 months.  We were particularly happy with our two new Raymarine chart plotters and our FUGAWI pc navigation software, along with the associated Navionics cartography that runs on both.  The plotters and Navionics charts were spot-on all the way, and FUGAWI in particular was so much easier to use than the typical chart plotter interface.  Other new systems that worked very well for us were our Wilson cell phone booster, our EnGenius Wi Fi booster, our Prosine inverter and our XM satellite radio.

Comfort-wise, the new "Hypervent" pad and new mattress foam we installed for our bed, along with the "Tufted Topper" we had purchased a couple of years ago and a new set of accompanying custom-fitted sheets, made sleeping on board almost like our bed at home.  We highly recommend both products.

Looking to next year, we'll need to find a better solution to phone connections while in Canada.  Roaming in Canada cost us almost $1.00 a minute, resulting in some astronomical cell phone bills.  Using the internet (e.g. Skype) will only be a partial solution, as it requires a good WiFi connection found only while in city harbors.

Everyone asks us about the weather.  Did you encounter storms?  Big seas?  In truth, on almost every day spent underway we found ourselves in relatively light conditions.  We were securely anchored or safely docked during the big blows, except for a couple of instances.  The highest seas we experienced were only about 6 or 7 feet, whereas more often than not we found ourselves in 1 to 2 footers or less.  We also saw very little rain, given the general drought conditions in the region ... great for traveling by boat, but not so great for the diminishing water levels found throughout the lakes or for the surrounding agricultural areas.

Speaking of water levels, both of us, but especially Judy, had some trouble adjusting to harbor entrances that were a scant 1 foot deeper than our keel  With our 6' draft that seems to be the nature of the beast in the lower lakes.  In the parts of Lake Superior where we normally cruise we almost never have to worry about adequate depths.  Just outside our home marina entrance in Bayfield, Wisconsin, the bottom immediately drops from over 12' to well over 100'.  That's a big change from having to consider sea conditions before winding around a silted-in 7.1'-depth (if you hit it right) entrance at Bayfield, Ontario, on Lake Huron, or at any number of similar harbor entries on the lower lakes.  On the positive side, we've come to view these experiences as good practice sessions for for when we'll be negotiating the shallow waters of the Bahamas a little over a year from now.

2007_track_2 Relative to our initial plan we went a little slower than we expected, spending more time exploring harbors along the way.  That coupled with our desire to return home at least a month before Jill, Thomas and Li An moved to Paris, resulted in our decision to store Jubilee for the winter on Lake Erie rather than Lake Ontario.  All in all we put 1581 nautical miles under the keel (roughly 1820 statute miles), or about 400 or so miles less than we had initially anticipated when we left Bayfield in June. 

It most certainly has been a great summer for us.  Those three months seemed to just fly by.  For Bill, at least, it's been a little hard to stop cruising and temporarily return to the life of a "dirt dweller", but the seasons are most definitely changing on the lakes, and colder weather is just over the horizon.  Prudence dictates it's time to store for the winter and begin prepping for our next leg in 2008, and we all know that when Prudence speaks it's best to listen closely to what she has to say.  Watch this space next spring as we resume our travels out the rest of the Great Lakes, into the Atlantic, and down the east coast to Florida and the Bahamas. Until then, have a great winter, and do keep in touch. 

September 16, 2007

St. Clair & Detroit Rivers to Lake Erie and Sandusky, Ohio

9/4/2007 - Port Huron to Detroit's Edison Boat Club - 53.8 Miles

Saturday proved a great day to head downstream to Detroit.  With the current giving us 2 1/2 knots or so boost everywhere but in Lake St. Clair, we covered our 53.8 GPS-logged miles with only 42.4 miles through the water per the knot-log.  It would have been a long day going the other way!

Mcmansions_on_the_st_clair_1_3 The St. Clair river wound through residential areas, interspersed with the occasional stretches of industrial shoreline, a few large Detroit Edison and Ontario Hydro power plants and lots of freighter traffic.  There was plenty of evidence of folks buying shore-side real estate for tear-downs, building McMansions in their place (reference the accompanying photos).  Until closer inspection some of these McMansions initially looked like multi-unit condos.

The last 5 miles before entering Lake St. Clair we took the South Channel which took us by more residential properties including areas similar to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, & Clear Lake, Iowa (very similar cities, don't you think?), with canals providing water access to homes lying a block back from the shoreline.  But the most interesting part of this channel was the huge floating party going on at Gull Island, where the Channel emerges into Lake St. Clair (see pictures).  There were literally hundreds of boats packed around this little Island for what no doubt was an almost perpetual party (and it was still Saturday morning!).  Lk_st_clair_gull_island_party_tim_4 Sheriff's boats were patrolling to try to keep things in line.  As we passed we heard every type of music imaginable (excepting classical, of course), blaring from scores of deck speakers.  And we thought Stockton Island was crowded with perhaps 25 boats on some Saturday nights!  Those Stockton boaters ain't seen nothin' like this.  By these standards Stockton's Presque Isle Bay should easily be able to handle another 2-300 boats beyond what's normally anchored there.

We motor-sailed across Lake St. Clair in a light breeze and calm seas, interrupted only by the occasional cigarette boat or large cruiser blasting by at full throttle.  We're convinced that most cigarette owners won't have any hearing left once they reach 40 (if they can still hear anything by that time).  Earlier in our trip we met an older couple (late 60's/early 70's) actually trying to "cruise" on one of these 50+ MPH boats.  Each morning before they fired up they put earplugs in ... good for them, but it sure didn't help the rest of us at all.

Edison_boat_club_1 On exiting Lake St. Clair we moored at the Edison Boat Club opposite the northeast corner of Belle Isle, where we were guests of John and Sharon Holt (Audacity).  As you may recall, we originally met up with John and Sharon in Port Elgin, Ontario, and traveled with them to Kincardine (see photo in prior posting).  The Edison Boat Club sits on property owned by the Detroit Edison company, originally home to a large coal-fired power plant.  That plant has been largely torn down, leaving only a two-stack natural gas-fired plant in operation behind the marina when high power loads on the grid dictate.  The boat club has been in existence for over 90 years.  It's open only to Detroit Edison employees and retirees (e.g. John), and is totally employee-run and maintained with the exception of their restaurant, which they sub-let to a caterer.  We ate at the Yacht Club Saturday night, and Judy used their washer and drier to catch up on laundry in air conditioned comfort on Sunday (nicest laundry facilities we've found so far on the lakes ... and free). 

Oceanis Rich_dill_dave_linsdeau_and_john_ho While at the Edison Boat Club we met Dave and Rainey Linsdeau (Dave 2nd from left in wheelhouse, Rainey below).  1st_mate_rainey_linsdeau_2 A while back they purchased the 65' work tug, Oceanis, in New Jersey, and are well along the path of turning her from a work boat into a yacht.  On Sunday evening they invited a number of marina folks to go out for a little river cruise, and kindly asked us along.  What an experience as those two big Detroit Diesels smoothly pushed us along while the sun was setting over Aboard_oceanis_4 Detroit.  As big and heavy as this workboat was, when we returned to the relatively tight (for this boat) marina that evening, Dave was able to turn her around in almost her own length, gently putting her up against the pilings.  A fine boat at the hands of a real master.

After our sunset cruise on Oceanis, John and Sharon stopped in Jubilee's cockpit to chat for a while before turning in.  We'd had a lot of fun together over the past few days, but unfortunately we'll have to part ways tomorrow as Jubilee heads on down-river to Lake Erie.  Thanks, John and Sharon, for sharing your little piece of aqua heaven here in Detroit!

Grosse Isle Yacht Club near the mouth of the Detroit River may be an option for us tomorrow, but more than likely we'll continue on to Put-In-Bay on Lake Erie.  It appears the rain has worked it's way through the system.  Monday's weather forecast is looking good at this point.  We'll have to see if the weather gurus are right.

9/10/2007 - Edison Boat Club to Lake Erie - 24.0 (GPS) - 9613.0 Log

Renaissance_cen_ter_downtown_detroi We were out of the Edison Boat Club and working our way down the Detroit River under overcast skies before 8:00am Monday morning.  The river trip to Lake Erie was a study in contrasts.  Our first views were of the large island-park of Belle Island, followed shortly by the impressive downtown skyline of Detroit.  With the imposing Renaissance Center, Detroit's waterfront has been totally transformed from what Bill remembered during his college internship at the GM Tech Center (although Cobo Hall had just opened at that time, so the transformation had started).  Just across the river was downtown Windsor, Ontario ... a smaller but none-the-less urban center in its own right. 

Ambasador_bridge Just below the two city centers is the Ambassador International Bridge, the 2nd of the two bridges crossing between the US and Canada between Lake Huron and Lake Erie. 

Putting_lipstick_on_the_pigs Shortly after the bridge we were in the heavy industrial areas in and around River Rouge.  National Steel and USS Steel had big plants there (notice how US Steel seemed to be trying to put a little lipstick on their pig (iron) plant ... the paint added color, but the whole scene remains pretty dismal).  That said, everyone can't work in the Renaissance Center ... someone has to build those Buicks and Fords.

Us_steel Opposite_national_steel_in_canada_s As drab as the US industrial waterfront was, at least the stacks seemed to be relatively clean, no doubt the result of years of pollution control progress.  We were surprised to see what appeared to be a heavy concentration of sulfur coming out of a Canadian-side plant (left-most picture is the US Steel plant on the US side; right-most picture is the Canadian plant opposite, with its yellow emissions).  Ugh.  Up to now we had been more impressed with Canada's commitment to clean air and water than the US, as evidenced by the number of wind farms, etc. we had seen on the Canadian shores.  But here things didn't looks so good.

After the industrial area the river split into branches (upbound and downbound), and flowed through some island nature preserves.  Our downbound cut turned out to be extremely narrow.  Sure glad a freighter didn't decide to pass us there.

Finally, by about 11:00 am, we began to enter Lake Erie.  Our roughly 1.5-knot current boost began to taper off as we followed the buoys well out into the extremely shallow lake basin below the river. 

9/10/2007 - Mouth of the Detroit River to Put-In-Bay - 30.2 Miles (plus 9/11 lay day to explore the island)

We were now officially on Lake Erie and heading for our next stop, Put-In-Bay at South Bass Island.  Our total day's run, including the Detroit River, was 54.2 miles, although through the water we registered only 49.5 miles due to the favorable river current.

Put-In-Bay was Put-On-The-Map by Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry when on September 10, 1813, Perry's naval fleet defeated the British Lake Erie naval fleet just outside of the harbor, thus turning the tide for the US to control Lake Erie and subsequently securing the water-based trade routes to the west.  The bay provides an extremely secure all weather Harbor among the islands of western Lake Erie. 

South Bass Island is a tourist haven, with people and car ferries arriving and departing from various ports on land, dockage for literally hundreds of boats plus mooring balls for about 80 more, bars, eating establishments and gift shops galore, more bars, activities like go carting, jet ski rental, golf, and more.  Oh ... did we say more bars?  Dogs_drive_here Note the designated driver we found patiently waiting for his master in front of a winery tasting room.  One bar was billed as the longest bar in the world, a serpentine affair that occupied a long wall in a dance hall-sized building, and another was billed as the largest swim-up pool bar in the world (with all that beer flowing we're not certain we'd care to swim up to that one). 

During summer weekends we understand the island is absolutely crazy with people, boats and partying.  We suspect that one freighter captain perhaps stopped to party a little too long one night, trying to take a shortcut to Detroit after the bars closed (see photo at leftFreighter_shortcut_2 ).  We were there on the 2nd Tuesday after Labor Day and the place was almost deserted.  There couldn't have been a dozen transient boats on the docks, and to Judy's dismay many of the gift shops were closed.  Perry and his fleet were there in the off season too, so we suspect the crowds of partying tourists were down as he prepared for battle with the British.

Perry_monument_2 Just down from the main business/party district was the Perry Victory and International Peace Memorial with its almost 100-year-old 352-foot Greek Doric column providing a distinctive landmark for navigators heading to the island.  Unfortunately the monument was closed for repairs when we were there so we weren't able to climb or take the elevator to the top, but the National Park Service visitor center had excellent displays and a film about the historic battle.  The most lasting outcome of the battle was a peace accord that instituted the longest unfortified border in the world, maintained peacefully now for almost 200 years.

We had pleasant weather for biking the entire island on Tuesday, taking stops for a winery tour (we passed up buying a case), a visit to the chocolate museum (see Judy_working_at_chocolate_factory Judy at work on the production line), and several other scenic areas.  However, later in the day the winds started to pipe up, building to around 30 knots or more in the evening (a little less than 30 in the protection of the Bay).  Lake Erie is a relatively shallow lake, and when it blows hard in one direction for any period of time, water leaves one end and piles up on the other to create a tide-like phenomenon called a seiche.  By around midnight we had dropped about 2 feet.  By the next morning the water was up again for our trip to Sandusky.

9/12/2007 - Put-In-Bay to Sandusky Harbor Marina - 19.8 Miles (plus 9/13-16 decommissioning activities)

As many of you already know, our Daughter Jill, her husband Thomas, and our Granddaughter Li An are moving to Paris in October.  Thomas recently took a new job, joining the relatively new international restaurant chain Le Pain Quotidien (http://www.lepainquotidien.com) earlier this year.  Initially it wasn't clear if he was going to work from Minnesota and commute as needed, or move to New York and their corporate headquarters.  However as it turns out his responsibilities are presently focused on Europe, and a move to Paris made the most sense for them given his travel schedule.  With their move in October we decided to shorten this year's cruising plans by about two weeks, storing Jubilee on Lake Erie rather than Lake Ontario so we could spend more time with them before they moved, as well as help out with move preparations.  We'll certainly miss having them so close, but on the other hand Paris will be a pretty nice destination for visiting them!

Sandusky_harbor_marina With the re-plan we looked at storage yards in Sandusky, Lorain, and Cleveland.  With the help and advice of several GLCC Port Captains and other friends in the area we decided on Sandusky Harbor Marina (see picture at left of a portion of this over 700-slip marina).  The final leg of this summer's cruise was a short one, less than 20 miles.  We're presently on the end of B-Dock working away at our normal fall decommissioning list before we haul out the beginning on next week.  The marina is a full service yard, which will make it handy for some of the larger projects we'd like to get done before splashing next June.

Friday morning we rented a car for a day in Sandusky so we could drive to Cleveland and rent a one-way mini-van for our trip back home.  Having the mini-van will be convenient, given all the things we're going to have to take off the boat and truck home for the winter.

Great_lakes_cruising_club_booth_3 Later on Friday we took a break from decommissioning duties to help Chuck and Joann Mead (Blue Horizon) staff the GLCC booth at the Mid-America In-Water Boat Show here in Sandusky, followed by dinner in the remodeled historic Lyman Boat Works plant after.  With the wind again blowing hard, cool fall temps, and overcast skies, the boat show was pretty lightly attended on Friday, but we enjoyed the time with Chuck and Joann.   Returning to the boat the winds were howling.  Seems that's been the nature of our time on Lake Erie this September ... one wave of heavy wind and threatening rain after another, interspersed with an intervening day or two of light wind and fair skies.  Tonight we commented that it felt like one of those ugly October days back on Lake Superior.

Irish_string_band_at_sandusky_harbo Saturday night, after a full day working on decommissioning projects, Chuck and Joann invited us to a Yacht Club barbeque ... a welcome break from our work list plus a great opportunity to meet some of the local Sandusky boaters we'll probably be seeing again next spring.  A special treat was a 3-hour performance and sing-along led by an Irish string band composed of Yacht Club members.  Several in the group play professionally.  It was a fun evening.

And so goes our final "cruise" posting for the year.  Look for a summary posting shortly, capturing some of our thoughts after having completed the first leg of our post-retirement cruising sabbatical.

September 06, 2007

Lake Huron's Canadian East Shore

East_shore_of_huron_2 The following eight days took us down the Canadian east shore of Lake Huron from Tobermory to the St. Clair River at the bottom of Lake Huron.  Leaving the anchorages of the North Channel and Georgian Bay behind, we would now be cruising a shoreline with virtually no safe anchorages, jumping from city to city and mooring in marinas.  Join us as we relive a wonderful week spent cruising down the Lake Huron shore.

8/29/2007 - Tobermory to Port Elgin - 57.0 Miles

After a simply wonderful dinner Tuesday night at the Grandview Motel and Restaurant about 3 blocks from the marina (we'd give it 4 stars but with a 2 to 3 star price), we departed Tobermory on Wednesday morning, winding our way the first five miles or so around the well-marked shoal areas until we could lay a direct path to Port Elgin (hard "g", unlike the Illinois city).  Several other boats departed Tobermory to head south that day, all like us having waited out the prior day's threatening weather.  With light westerlies (a perfect direction but unfortunately too light to get us to Port Elgin in daylight), it quickly became a motorsail day for all six sailboats running down-lake.

Thick haze brought visibility down to about a mile so we ran the radar all day to make sure we stayed out of harms way.  Early in the afternoon Environment Canada began issuing severe thunderstorm warnings for southern Lake Huron, Lake St. Clair, and Western Lake Erie.  Although we did see some menacing clouds and hear thunder to the south (Port Elgin is right on the "dividing line" between north and south Lake Huron), luckily we didn't experience any threatening weather.

Port_elgin_harbor At Port Elgin, we did experience the first of many shallow harbor approaches to come.  The outside buoy here is about 2 miles offshore.  From the buoy one follows a range (two land markers which you line up to ensure that an safe deeper water course is maintained into the harbor).  The final entrance is also marked with several buoys.  We saw a least depth of 8.5 feet in this narrow channel ... plenty of water today for our 6' draft, but we wouldn't want to be attempting this entry with 6' or higher seas running.  Once inside the harbor, depths immediately increased to about 14'.

Port_elgin_beach_3 We decided to stay a 2nd night in Port Elgin, so after some boat chores on Thursday morning we had lunch at the little beach restaurant by the marina building.  We then got our bikes out to do some exploring (the accompanying photos show the Port Elgin Marina and the adjacent beach).  The road north along the shoreline passed by several other beaches and almost continuous vacation homes, cottages and B&B's all the way to Southampton, about 4 miles to the north.  We were particularly intrigued by the sand dunes and beach opposite Chantry Island and the Chantry Island light, especially the Kite_sailing_off_chantry_is kite boarder sailing back and forth between the island and the mainland in a stiff 15-knot breeze.  Bill has tried sailboarding (not very successfully), but we could hardly imagine controlling a board while managing and being propelled by a parasail.  At times the boarder was totally out of the water for 15 or 20 feet before landing and skimming on.  When he dumped he managed to keep the kite inflated and flying in a way that re-launched him right out of the water.  We were thinking that this might be the perfect extra sail for Judy to fly while standing on the foredeck of Jubilee when it's blowing like stink.

Our turn-around point was the Southampton harbor.  Virtually all of the limited mooring space in Southampton is taken by commercial fishing boats and a few local pleasure boats, so the only effective way for cruisers to get here is to bike up from Port Elgin.

Historic_storm_signal Storm_signal_plaque In Southampton we saw a historic storm signal used to communicate forecast conditions via shapes and colored lights whenever heavy weather was approaching.  (See accompanying photos.  You may want to click the plaque photo for a larger, more readable, image.)  Hard to believe, but this method was still being used here in the early 1950s.  We've certainly progressed a long way since then, given today's continuous VHF marine weather broadcasts, as well as downloadable weather maps, GRIB files and weather projections for several days out ... all easily available on the internet (when you can get a connection).

One of the highlights of cruising is the wonderful people you meet and keep running across along the way.  We had initially met Hank and Gretta on Light Wave in the Benjamins, and subsequently ran across them several other evenings.  Marilyn_and_grant_arnold_thunder_ba Tonight, in his home harbor, Hank introduced us to Thunder Bay sailors Grant and Marilyn Arnold, who also keep their boat here.  It turns out Grant and Marilyn are friends of Dennis and Cam Raedeke who many Lake Superior sailors know (Wild Wind) & many Minnesota skiers know (Wild Mountain).  It's truly a small world.

We gave Elgin a 4-star rating.  When coming through this area definitely plan a stop.

08/31/2007 - Port Elgin to Kincardine - 24.8 Miles (Plus 9/1 Kincardine Lay Day)

Our trip to Kincardine was uneventful, sailing, motorsailing and motoring in light to lighter winds.  Bruce_nuclear_plant About half way to Kincardine we passed reportedly one of the largest energy plants in the world, the Bruce Generating Station.  Its two nuclear generators alone produce some 3 million kilowatts of power.   In addition there is an oil-fired generator and several wind generators.  Although not the most interesting landmark we've seen so far, it certainly ranks as one of the largest.  It seemed to take forever to pass.

Kincardine_entry Far more interesting was Kincardine.  The Kincardine entry follows a light-range to a narrow breakwall channel leading to a wonderful town.  With numerous boats making their way back home from the North Channel this time of year, it wasn't unusual to run into boats we'd seen further north.  Kincardine_cocktails Friday night we invited Klaas and Linda from Dutch Helm, and John and Sharon from Audacity, over to Jubilee for hors d'oeuvres.  Kincardine_lighthouse_piper We wrapped up the party around 7:30 pm as a bagpiper climbed to the top of the lighthouse to pipe the sun down, a Kincardine tradition every sunny summer evening (Legend_of_the_phantom_piper_2 click plaque photo for a more readable description of Kincardine's phantom piper tradition).

Wouldn't you know that we lucked out again, and hit a town in the midst of its 156th annual Fall Fair?  After watching the lighthouse piper, the six of us walked up to the center of town to Kincardine Cruise Night, one of the four Friday nights in the summer when well over 100 restored and customized cars convene for a 6-block-long car show.  It was hard to believe a town this size could attract this number of truly classic cars.  Sorry car buffs, we forgot to bring the camera.

Kincardine_residents_on_an_afternoo Kincardine_rock_garden_flowers_1 Kincardine_welcome On Saturday we hit some of the town's galleries and strolled some of the side streets.  If there was any doubt about this town's heritage, this sign, and the photo we took of these two strolling residents should make it clear that we were in Scottish country.  The town has a beautiful area of well restored and maintained historic homes, murals on several downtown buildings, and flowers planted everywhere.  Judy caught the noon Fall Fair parade and went to the fair in the afternoon, while Bill gave the boat a much-needed bath and refreshed the Cetol on our outside teak handrails, pinrails, and dorades. 

Later in the afternoon two GLCC boats arrived in Kincardine.  Mel Wallbank & Mariette Labrosse invited us to join them for evening sundowners on their C&C 51 Bliss, along with Chuck and Joann Mead from Blue Horizon, a Tartan 3700.  Both had been at the GLCC Rendezvous in Superior, Wisconsin, and were now on their way back home. 

Kincardine_scottish_pipe_band_1 Kincardine_band_mascot Capping off our Kincardine experience, after dinner aboard we hustled up town again to catch the last parade of the Kincardine Scottish Pipe Band for the year.  What an experience.  The band marched from one end of the town to the other, and as they passed the throngs assembled to hear them simply filed in line, creating a human parade over a city block long.  After a bit of a rest at one end of town (conveniently next to a very busy ice cream shop), the pipers started up again and marched back to Victoria park, again with over a block of spectators in tow.  Once at the park they put on a bagpipe concert.  What an experience!

We broke our rating system in Kincardine. We had been using the traditional 1-5 scale.  Kincardine blew the top out of the scale with a solid 6 ... another don't-miss port when in this area.

9/2/2007 - Kincardine to Goderich - 44.8 Miles

While our planned route between Kincardine to Goderich was only 31 miles, those miles were directly upwind.  As a result we logged almost 45 miles tacking back and forth to make the Goderich harbor.  Notwithstanding the tacking, it was good to be sailing again.  Most of the way we were comfortably making 6+ knots through the water in 4-5-foot swells & 16-18 knots apparent wind, but in mid-afternoon the wind eased to 8-10 knots ... not sufficient to maintain a reasonable boat speed for our remaining distance given the opposing head seas left over from earlier in the day. We reluctantly fired up the engine and motorsailed the last 10 miles.

Chuck and Joann on Blue Horizon had left Kincardine before us, but bound for Bayfield, Ontario (10 miles further down-lake from Goderich).  However, given the headwinds and rough seas, they decided to stop at Goderich for the night too.  We joined them on Blue Horizon for cocktails before dinner that evening.

While sitting in their cockpit we heard a loud noise, then some "Oh no's!", then nothing, so we simply thought a boat had hit a dock in the main basin of the marina (we were moored in the transient slips outside the main basin & couldn't see what might have happened there).  A few minutes later we heard and saw an orange medivac helicopter buzzing overhead.  It was only later that evening that we learned someone in the main basin had climbed to the top of their mast using only ascenders with no back-up.  Somehow the ascender came off the rope and the person fell to the deck.  Note to ourselves and all our sailing friends:  when climbing the mast always use a separate line as a redundant safety backup.  The boat was a smaller boat, perhaps 27', but nevertheless the mast truck was probably 35' above the deck.  That'd be a darned serious fall.  Unbelievably, we understand that the person, other than being very sore and bruised, only broke a toe.

On Monday we walked across and up the hill for breakfast and to explore the town, but unfortunately virtually everything was closed for the Canadian Labor Day holiday.  We found only one restaurant open, the Godrich Grill, and they had a continuous wait for tables.  It was worth the wait, though.  Great breakfast.

Goderich_lighthouse Goderich has an interesting layout, built in a star around Courthouse Square, which is actuall a 2-block by 2-block octagon with the courthouse in the middle.  The largest Canadian commercial harbor on Lake Huron, Goderich was less a tourist town and more a business and commercial center.  Like the other towns we visited on this eastern shore of Lake Huron, there were a number of well restored and maintained historic houses, but not as many as Kincardine. 

Vicki_keith_plaque Down by the waterfront and across from the commercial docks were a string of three beaches with adjacent picnic areas below a steep hill topped by a lighthouse.  In our walk we ran across this accompanying plaque (click on photo for a larger view) with a poem about Vicki Keith.  Vicki was a Canadian woman who in 1988 was the first to swim across Lake Huron.  She went on to similarly swim across all five great lakes.  But the most interesting thing about the poem and plaque was that it was written by Mary Southerland.  Mary and her husband Mike were very active members of the Great Lakes Cruising Club who we had met two or three times at different GLCC functions about 15-20 years ago.  The Southerland's boat, Scotia Blue, was well know across the Great Lakes.  Unfortunately neither Mike nor Mary are with us today, but they will be long remembered for their gregarious personalities and extensive service to the boating community, of which their personal support of Vicki in her quest to swim all five lakes is just one example.

9/3/2007 - Goderich to Bayfield - 14.7 Miles (Plus 9/4 lay day in Bayfield)

Bayfield_entry Bayfield_municipal_marina_1 We've been looking forward to visiting our sister "Bayfield" harbor for some time, but unlike Bayfield Wisconsin with its simple deep entry, there were confirmed reports of heavy silting at the bar at the end of the Bayfield breakwater As a result we held off making a decision to leave Goderich until mid-afternoon, after the winds had laid down a bit.  We were told to expect 7-8' depths at the entry if we stuck very close to the south breakwall (depths as shallow as 4' were being reported in the middle and nearer the north breakwall.  We clearly needed to negotiate the right spot in the opening and not be in any kind of heavy sea when we did it, since as little as a 2' sea could drop us on the sand in a wave trough.  The partially submerged shipwreck just off the Bayfield beach was a sobering reminder of things that can go wrong, but as it turns out we made it through just fine.

Having cleared the breakwater we discovered the mouth of the Bayfield River chock-a-block with slips and little marinas along both banks.  We had reserved a slip at the Municipal Marina, a short walk from the town.

John_kennedy_on_his_beach_2 Prior to arriving in Bayfield we had made arrangements to connect with John and Terri Kennedy, who have a beautiful vacation home on the lake shore near Grand Bend, a few miles to the south.  We first met John and Terri in 1993 and 1994 when John was Great Lakes Cruising Club Commodore (Terri is presently GLCC Port Captain for Grand Bend).  John took us for a driving tour of the area, followed by dinner at their home that evening.  The accompanying picture captures a view of their beach at sunset, with John and one of their dogs walking up to the house.

Bayfield_downtown_picture_2 Tuesday was spent exploring the town.  Bayfield_lighthouse_home_for_sale_2 Bayfield's downtown felt more like a tree-lined residential street than a city business district (see typical downtown scene at right).  Like other towns in this area, there were a number of very well restored and maintained historic homes, and even this lighthouse-style home that's currently for sale (any takers?).  Being the day after Labor Day, things were pretty quiet, so we didn't feel rushed or crowded exploring the many galleries and other tourist-oriented businesses.  John is a Federal Circuit Court Judge who happened to be working out of the Goderich Courthouse on Tuesday, so he stopped by the boat on his way home after work.  Bayfield_sunset_2 The sun was setting over the Bayfield Entry piers as he departed, first dropping us off up the hill in town for dinner.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stop in Bayfield, and would highly recommend a stop should any of you be cruising along this shoreline.  But before entering, do check with the GLCC Port Captain for current entry conditions, and plan to stop in Goderich instead, should a heavy sea be running.

9/5/2007 - Bayfield to Port Huron - 46.7 Miles

The start of the day was an unbelievable sail, beam reaching in the high 6's to the mid-7's (our theoretical hull speed is 7.2), all under a clear sky with minimal sea.  It seemed too good to be true.

And it was.

Around 11:00 am the wind had dropped to 5 or less knots true, so we started the Yanmar and motorsailed.  By noon we were motoring into a weakening 5-knot SSW breeze with a slight assist from the main and shortly thereafter we were running in 1-2-mile visibility haze with the radar (and spotted our first up-bound freighter about 3 1/2 miles off as soon as the radar came up, welcoming us back to the world of shipping channels).  So after our great start we were now settling in for a long afternoon under the motor while watching the "Raytheon TV".

Blue_water_international_bridge_at_ The dense surface haze cleared but the sky remained heavy and humid as we approached the inner buoys marking the lead channel into the St. Clair river, no doubt helped by a southerly shore breeze coming up the river channel out to the calm lake beyond.  Our passage under the Blue Water International Bridge between Port Huron and Sarnia was no where near as dramatic as our passages under the Mackinac Bridge back in July, but it did mark a milestone for us as we formally departed Lake Huron.  We knew we were now in the river, though, as we encountered a 3.5-knot current helping us along as we passed under the bridge.  The current will be a welcome assist, significantly shortening our passage through to Lake Erie.  Glad we're not going the other way!

Port_huron_yacht_club_1 A couple miles down from the bridge we turned into the Black River and tied up at the Port Huron Yacht Club's guest docks.  If you're a member of an ILYA or Yachting Club of America - affiliated yacht club (GLCC is ILYA, Bayfield Yacht Club is YCA), or a guest of a member, and if there's space available at their guest dock, your first night's dockage is free and your 2nd night is only $15.00.  The PHYC has a beautiful facility, new in the mid-90's.  It's totally volunteer-member run, including the yacht club bar, dockage and the like.  Lots of things are at cost ... for example bar drinks were running $1.50 to $2.50 depending on what brand.  Everyone we met was exceptionally friendly.  The PHYC is definitely a good stop on your way from Lake Huron to Lake Erie, particularly if you're a member of a reciprocating yacht club.

Jim Acheson's facility, the Desmond Marina, is just across the river and less than 100 yards from our guest wall at PHYC, but since Jim was out on a business trip we decided to stop at the PHYC instead.  The Desmond Marina wall would be another great choice for an overnight stop near the head of the St. Clair river.

Dinner_with_mike_kyle_2 After we arrived in Port Huron we called Mike Finnern, Judy's cousin Connie's (and Wayne's) son.  Mike and his sailor-friend Kyle drove up to join us for dinner in a local watering hole that evening.  About a year ago Kyle had taken a year's sabbatical from Ford Engineering.  He bought an Albin Vega sailboat in the Netherlands, and sailed it down the western European coast and into the Med as far as Italy.  Mike had joined up with him for a brief time aboard in Italian waters.  Kyle's also a skier, and Mike has done a little boarding so we had lots in common to talk about.  Unfortunately Mike's girlfriend wasn't free that evening to join us ... it would have been fun to see here again too.

Lake Huron Wrap-Up

Lake_huron_travels_screen_snap And so ends our Lake Huron adventures.  As you can tell from this posting, we thoroughly enjoyed our time along Huron's Canadian coast, and before that, the islands of northern Lake Huron.  After cruising the North Channel we discovered a number of harbor towns along the eastern shore that were steeped in history and proudly celebrated their heritage.  Marina hopping there also afforded the opportunity to meet more people, including slip neighbors who were often heading the same direction we were, and locals who we met along the way. 

Counting our path from Detour to the Mackinac Bridge and back, including the North Channel and Georgian Bay areas, we spent a total of 39 days and traveled a total of 564 miles on Huron, the 2nd largest Great Lake. 

The next few days will be spent working our way through the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, and finally the Detroit River on our way to Lake Erie.  We now plan to store on Lake Erie for the winter, probably in Lorain, Ohio, near Cleveland.  We'll be providing more details on those travels later as our journey proceeds.  As we always say ... stay tuned.

August 28, 2007

North Channel/Georgian Bay Wrap-up

8/28/2007 - Killarney to Tobermory - 47.0 Miles

Unfortunately our time for exploring this wonderful section of Lake Huron has come to an end.  With our arrival in Tobermory we're now essentially, if not yet technically, out of Georgian Bay. 

Monday's passage was uneventful, an all-day motor in calm seas heading south directly into a light, 3 to 4 knot, south breeze.  Tobermony is a major convergence point for boats heading to and from the North Channel/Georgian Bay and the Canadian and US harbors to the south on Lake Huron or further east on Lakes Erie or Ontario. 

The harbor has been a continuous hub of activity since we arrived.  There are two basins for pleasure boats, tour boats, and the many dive boats that also operate our of here.  Around the harbor are numerous restaurants, art galleries, gift shops, dive shops, an excellent and very convenient grocery store, a laundromat, and the busy terminal for the large car and people ferry to Manitoulin Island.  With laundry to do and a weather front moving through on Tuesday, we decided to sign up for two night's dockage.  Wednesday we're supposed to be seeing the back side of the front, with Tuesday's predicted thunderstorms and rain ending, and Monday and Tuesday's southerlies predicted to switch to a very favorable NW breeze on Wednesday.  We'll have to see if the weather folks are right.

North_channel_georgian_bay_track_2 North Channel/Georgian Bay Wrap-Up

We've heard people rave about cruising the North Channel and Georgian Bay for years.  We'll now be joining them.  We thoroughly enjoyed our almost four weeks and 280 miles cruising among the myriad of islands and coves that make up this magical area.  As seen in the accompanying chart clip, our route essentially circled the waters to the north around Drummond, Cockburn, and Manitoulin Islands.  A direct course running south of Manitoulin Island between DeTour and Tobermory would have been only about 100 miles, but what a shame to miss the beautiful cruising areas to the north.

Those who have been fortunate enough to cruise Lake Superior's eastern and northern Canadian shores would find many similarities in this area.  The primary difference we've found in cruising here is the close proximity of harbors.  The east and north shore Lake Superior harbors are equally secure and wild, but here these secure harbors are often only 5 to 6 miles apart.  We only had time to hit some of the high spots, bypassing literally scores of other harbors along the way and not even touching the area further east along the north shore of Georgian Bay.

Another difference of course is that the waters are warm and inviting for a swim off your boat here.  Swimming off the boat in Lake Superior is more often than not an "experience", to say the least.

The one down-side of cruising this area is the crowds.  On the northern shores of Lake Superior we consider an anchorage "full" if 3 or 4 boats are anchored there.  We fairly frequently find ourselves alone in some anchorages.  Here it's not unusual to find 15 or more boats sharing an anchorage.  And we've been here at the end of August ... the "off season".  Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, and other Lake Michigan and Lake Huron population and yachting centers are just close enough to make this area an attractive summer destination for many, even if the trip here may involve 150-250 mile passages from home.  During our time in the North Channel there were two nights where we began to think that we might be by ourselves in the anchorage that evening, only to see other boats arriving late in the day. 

Luckily the area can handle the people.  We haven't really felt overly crowded.  And the proximity of small towns and marinas were an amenity simply not available along Superior's north and east shores.  A day in town every week or so provided a nice break from our wilderness explorations ... and a welcome break from galley duty to enjoy an occasional restaurant meal.

For the rest of our travels this year, and until we start exiting the St. Lawrence next summer, we'll be primarily traveling between shore-side towns and cities.  Those whose home cruising waters are Lake Superior often forget that in other areas of the country boating is a marina to marina, mooring field to mooring field, experience.  Areas like our home waters in the Apostle Islands are the exception, not the rule.  We're now pretty much out of the wilderness for a while.

Our next posting will be after we reach the Port Huron/Lake St. Clair area near Detroit.  'Til then ...

August 26, 2007

Lake Huron North Channel Part 3

Little_current_to_killarney_3 This segment took us from Little Current to Killarney.  The sailing distance between the two is only about 18 miles, but between island hopping and exploring we traveled nearly 50 miles over the course of a very full week.  These few days will undoubtedly be etched in our memories for a long, long time.  As you'll read in the following description, we got to know a wonderful Canadian sailing couple during this segment.  With them we buddy boated and explored some of the most special areas of the North Channel.  We invite you to experience these days with us again, through the following words and pictures.

8/21/2007 - Little Current to Browning Cove, Heywood Island - 8.6 Miles

Little_current_bridge_on_departur_2 Before breakfast we stopped in at the upstairs conference room of the Anchor Inn where the Cruiser's Net originates.  After last night's party others had the same idea, as the 9:00 a.m. "studio audience" filled the room to capacity with 22 boaters.  When the morning net wrapped up we went downstairs to the restaurant for breakfast with Craig and Day Olney of the sailboat Toucan.  A few minutes shopping for a Little Current T-Shirt, a quick last check for emails, and a head pump-out at the service dock completed our Little Current "to do" list, leaving our timing about perfect for the 1:00 p.m. bridge opening.  Little Current again stepped up to its name, providing us with an adverse east to west current as we motored through the bridge and on to the buoyed channel beyond. 

Our trip to Heywood was directly into a brisk E to SE wind all the way to the island's beautiful little 340-degree-protected anchorage.  With only the narrow opening to the north but winds predicted for SE to SW, it proved to be a perfect spot for the evening.  A favorite for boats just coming into or leaving from Little Current, Heywood had 13 boats in the main anchorage Tuesday night, with another 5 anchored up the smaller cove to the east.

Mila_karel_cerveny_1_3 Mila and Karel Cerveny (pictured) from Brighton, Ontario, invited us to their sailboat, Quintessence, for appetizers Tuesday afternoon. Mila and Karel have sailed Quintessence and its predecessor for many years out of Midland, Ontario, at the head of Georgian Bay.  They had a wealth of information (and excitement) about the Channel and Georgian Bay to share with us.  Also being skiers, Mila, Karel and we had a great time sharing stories about our favorite ski areas in the Rockies.  It does seem that quite a few sailors are also avid skiers.

8/22/2007 - Browning Cove to Marianne Cove, Baie Fine (pronounced Bay Finn) - 9.0 Miles

Judy expressed some concerns about entering Baie Fine due to various narrow and shallow passages through some of its tighter spots, particularly given this year's water levels.  With encouragement from Karel and Mila, who departed for Baie Fine about an hour before us, we set out on a gentle broad reach to the Baie Fine entry.  During the passage we checked voicemail and found that Dave and Donna Steffens, Alona Bay, had tried to contact us.  We gave them a call, sharing our respective cruising experiences this summer.  Cell phone boosters are a great technology when off the beaten track like this!

Marianne_cove_2 Baie Fine is a spectacular harbor.  An almost 9-mile-deep fjord, Baie Fine has steep quartz walls with stands of spruce and hemlock seemingly growing out of the rock on either side.  The final two miles narrow to an almost river-like channel.  Our first anchorage, Marianne Cove, was in a small dent on the harbor's south side, protected by a private island at the entry.  The attached photo shows the view of the quartz rock outcroppings just off our anchored boat.  Opposite was the private island, with a home originally built by Zenith Radio founder Eugene McDonald, an early North Channel cruiser.  No one was on the island while we were there.

8/23/2007 - Marianne Cove and Baie Fine Narrows - 6.4 Miles

Thursday proved to be a spectacular day.  After breakfast and a listen to the morning cruiser's net broadcast, we took our dingy along with Karel and Mila in their dingy to a trailhead that would take us some 630 feet above the lake level to the summit of Frazer Bay Hill.  It was good to be hiking again, something we missed from our Lake Superior cruising.  The trails here were similar to those on the Canadian east shore, with lots of rocky sections and other areas of boulders and large rock outcroppings.  The primary difference between this and Lake Superior's east shore was that all the rocks and outcroppings in this area were beautiful off-white quartz.

Bill_judy_on_frazer_hill_summit_2_2 Kerel_summiting_frazer_hill_2 Unfortunately it was a hazy day on Thursday, so from the summit overlooks we weren't able to see as far or as clearly as we had hoped.  That notwithstanding, the views were still spectacular.  Bay_fine_entry_from_frazer_summit_3 The accompanying photos show Karel summiting the solid quartz hilltop, the two of us on the summit, Baie Fine entry as seen from the summit overlook, a rock cairn we found at another overlook on the hilltop, and a natural gate to keep those who Tight_squeeze_at_frazer_3 might be a bit too overweight off the mountain (we just barely passed).Bill_judy_at_frazer_cairn_3

An island home further down the channel had been in the Frazer family for a number of years.  Embedded in the quartz at the summit are the ashes of Stewart and his wife Ella (see plaques), Burial_plaques_at_frazer_3 who are no doubt enjoying this heavenly view for eternity.

After a swim to cool down, followed by a light lunch, we raised anchor for the 6+ mile trip to the Baie Fine narrows where we re-anchored.  With the lowered water levels we had heard that the "Pool" at the head of the narrows was so choked with weeds that it would be best to leave the boats down-channel and dingy up.  It was a good choice.  After another 1 1/4 Karel_swimming_in_topaz_2_2 Smimming_in_topaz_lake_near_north_3 miles running up the channel by dingy, we went ashore for a hike up to Topaz Lake to swim in the most stunning water we'd ever seen outside the Bahamas.  Topaz Lake is surrounded by quartz rock walls with a quartz rock bottom, no weeds, and no other growth, giving the water the most spectacular topaz color one could imagine.  Bill finally had the chance he'd been waiting for to try his new waterproof digital camera in the water.  The attached underwater shots capture some of the mystique of Topaz Lake. 

The_pool_at_baie_fine_2 After our swim we hiked to another rock outcropping overlooking the Baie Fine Pool.  A close look at the photo reveals weeds all the way to the surface on both sides of the bay.  Later we took the dinghies into the pool, and were fouling our little outboard on weeds throughout the area.  We'd heard stories of boats totally clogging their raw water engine intakes in the area, and we could see how that would almost certainly happen.  Glad we didn't take the big boats in.

The accompanying pictures, one of Mila, Karel and Judy, and another of the two of us, were taken from the Pool overlook, and highlight Judy_karel_mila_at_the_pool_overl_2 Judy_bill_at_pool_overlook_2_2 the stunning white quartz found throughout the area.

After returning to the boats and having dinner, we went over to Quintessence for some after dinner brandy and dessert.  Mila and Karel's knowledge of this portion of the North Channel, and their wonderful hospitality, had made Baie Fine more special for us than it ever could have been had we simply explored on our own.  We know we'll miss them as we part ways tomorrow.

News Flash:  Sailing Vessel EOS Launched today!

Eos_on_truck_3 Eos_in_the_water_2 Waynes_yacht Over the past 17 years in a Hugo, MN, pole barn, our good friends Sylvia and Bill Mueller have been building their own magic carpet, EOS, a 52-foot modified Eva Holman-designed FD12 sailboat.  (Test ... which boat is not the real EOS)  We caught up with Wayne Leblanc by cell phone on Friday and learned that EOS was successfully launched on Thursday, 8/23, at the Barker's Island Marina in Superior, Wisconsin.  What a thrill it must have been for Bill and Sylvia, not to mention for their many friends who attended the transport and launching that day.  We're so excited for them.  Bill_and_sylvia_2 Hopefully we'll be able to meet up with them somewhere along the way as they start working their way south next season.  (Accompanying photos of launch day courtesy of Wayne Leblanc emails)  Note also the article about Bill & Sylvia's boat in the St. Paul Paper: http://www.twincities.com:80/localnews/ci_6717469

8/24/2007 - Baie Fine Narrows to Snug Harbor - 17.1 Miles

We finally got some light but much-needed rain last night.  The skies were still overcast in the morning, so we decided not to take a 2nd hike up to Topaz due to the likely very slippery rocks and mud on the trail.  Instead, after breakfast and our goodbyes to Karel and Mila, we raised anchor and started the long trip out of Ontario's only fjord.  Simply exiting Baie Fine would constitute over half of our travel today.

Baie_finn_quartz_shoreline_1_2 Baie_finn_quartz_shoreline_2_2 The skies cleared for a couple of hours, providing better light for photos as we traversed the main bay,  As we headed across Frazer Bay to head up the relatively shallow Lansdowne Channel the skies turned gray again, making it harder to see underwater hazards as we tracked around shoals and proceeded dead slow through several areas marked less than 10 feet on the chart.  In the North Channel you don't want to touch bottom if you can help it, as the bottom is almost always rock, rather than more forgiving sand or mud.

Snug Harbor is ... shall we say ... snug.  The entrance is a little shallow and tricky, with a hazardous rock ledge sticking well out into the entrance ready to grab any stray keels that may pass its way.  Once through those narrows, however, a totally landlocked 1/3-mile long by 1/10-mile wide anchorage opened up in front of our eyes.  We dropped in 25', one of the shallower areas we could find in the bay.  Unlike Baie Fine, the shoreline here in Snug is totally covered with dense trees right down to the waterline.  A short time after we anchored the light rain resumed ... a good time to get back to our reading after the prior days spent exploring ashore.  Two hours later a boat joined us for the night.  The crowds are definitely thinning out up here.

8/25/2007 - Snug Harbor Rain Day

Friday's light rain matured into a nice steady rain through much of Saturday.  We had initially intended Snujg_harbor_looking_toward_enatr_3 to move to Covered Portage Cove this morning, but with shore-side exploring in the rain pretty much out of the picture, we decided to stay snug in Snug for another day, and forego Covered Portage.  Last night's boat had departed, but four new boats came joined us in the anchorage after the rain stopped late in the day.

The end of the rain brought welcome clearing skies for the accompanying photo of this totally secure cove. 

8/27/2007 - Snug Harbor to Killarney - 6.5 Miles

We awoke to a beautiful day, albeit with very light winds.  That said, given that out path to Killarney would take us through several narrows, motoring turned out to be the more prudent option for a good share of the way anyway.

Entering_killarney_channel_3 Killarney lies on the north side of the Killarney Channel, a roughly one-mile-long river-like cut between George Island and the mainland.  Along the way were several small marinas and tourist shops until near the east end of the channel where we stopped for the night at the Killarney Mountain Lodge.  The Lodge is a fairly large complex, complete with guest cabins as well as motel units, a restaurant, bar, pool, game room, free internet, and other amenities.  We ate there Sunday night and it was very good.  Every table in the place was taken ... a good indicatgion of a good restaurant.  Bill had two glasses of "Cat's Piss" Savignion Blanc from New Zealand ... just couldn't pass up a chance to try a wine with a name like that.

This is the first marina we've ever stayed at where they left pillow mints for us on the boat while we were out exploring the area on our bikes.  The accompanying note from the boathouse staff read:  "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray my dock lines will not creak.  And if the daylight brings a storm, my boat will keep me safe and warm ... Sweet Dreams".  Nice touch.  Phil, are you going to start that tradition at the Apostle Islands Marina?

Mister_perch_2 For lunch we had to stop at "Mr. Perch", the fresh fish stand where everyone who's goes to Killarney plans to eat at least once during each trip.  From the dock behind the converted-school-bus kitchen and serving window (similar to a MN State Fair food stand, but a little tackier), they served a continuous line of people all afternoon long (see photo).  During the days this line never stops from May to mid-September.  The fish comes in from the fishing boats behind th