About noon we headed out for the 14 mile jaunt down the 9 mile long Lansdowne Channel into Fraser Bay and on to Baie Fine, our destination for the night. We are now in the "North Channel". We motored the several mile length of the 1/4 - 1/2 mile wide bay in water depths ranging from 50 to 8'. Shear cliffs and quartz foothills, some approaching 600' high, bordered the water on both sides - it was awesome. This area reminds me of Lake Tahoe.

At the end of the bay we entered a couple mile channel that was only 100 yards wide. The channel opened to the Pool, a well known cruising destination. There we anchored for the night. We took some time to dinghy over and meet our new neighbors. Among them were a Beverly and Dick, a couple who have spent the last 3 years doing the loop. They've done the Florida to St Lawrence, Erie Canal, Lake Champaign portions and are now working their way toward Chicago and the Midwestern waterway.

After grilling brats for supper we relaxed with our books and watched the pool slip into evening while listening to the haunting calls of a pair of loons.  We're truly in the north woods!

7/22/05 - We were waken by loon calls. I laid in the berth listening to them for a while before getting up and starting the coffee. After breakfast we did a little exploring with Bradd and Maeve in their dinghy. We started to motor up the creek to Artistic Lake, quickly learning that we had to paddle. As we quietly rounded a corner Ruth excitedly whispered "Moose, moose, moose!" Unbelievably the stream was blocked by a large male moose. His huge antlers were velvet covered and glistening with water as he was feeding on underwater plants. We watched him for about 5 minutes as he ate while keeping a watchful eye on us. Finally we drifted away so we could retrieve our camera from the sailboats (yes, we'd left them aboard - dumb & dumber go exploring). When we returned the moose was gone and we had to settle for red squirrels and beaver dams. Artistic Lake proved to be a small lake of lily pads and flowers in a settling of pink quartz cliffs and pines.  Nice photo op.

We returned to the boats, dropping off Ruth (the walk would have done in her ankle) and picking up Beverly for a hike up to Topaz Lake. A climb to the lake would be more accurate... it's several hundred feet above the Pool. It was worth the climb. I'd try to describe the tall pink and white quartz cliffs and the deep crystal clear lake but I'd never do as well as the photos. We dove into the cool water. You could see rocks on the bottom 30' below you. The rocks in the photo to the right are 20' deep. We climbed higher to an outlook over the Pool and photographed the boats 400' below us. What a great hike!

At 2pm we weighed anchor and head the 12 - 18 miles to Little Current where we just made the 5pm bridge opening (the bridge opens hourly). We stopped for a pump-out, water and fuel. We're going through fresh water a little faster than normal thanks to a malfunction on the safety valve on the water heater - it's a recurring issue, we're on our third valve. We found a little pass behind Picnic Island and anchored for the night at the outskirts of Little Current. Marinated pork chops done on the grille made a fitting meal for closing a fantastic day.

7/23/05 - Ruth awoke excited, today we head for the Benjamin Islands. We quickly exited our anchorage and headed northwest along the North Channel. We had a great sail in 15-20 knot winds, tacking the 18 miles to Benjamin Islands. This was a "must do" stop for Ruth; a visit to the islands bearing her maiden name. It's also one of the most popular stops for North Channel cruisers due to the many safe anchorages the island chain offers. The scene reminded me of the crowds in the Virgin Islands. The only things missing were the mooring balls and the native kid picking up the fees and your trash.

We dropped anchor about 2pm and went exploring. We had to check out the Benjamin's. Basically they're rocks covered with lichen, stunted firs and current bushes. We found some blackberries and numerous blueberries; picking a container of blueberries for pancakes tomorrow. We had trouble getting enough berries as they kept leaking into our mouths... umm-umm! When climbing in the sun-baked rocks we kept our eyes open for rattlesnakes as they like to warm themselves on the rock shelves. Fortunately the snakes are rare. Deer flies, Seagulls and cormorants aren't - we saw plenty.

Buddy liked the anchorage. Dinghies came by to see him and he talked his head off all afternoon. We've never heard him talk that much in public.

7/24/05 - We were awaken by a fine mist falling on our faces through the screen on the overhead hatch. It was raining in the Benjamin's. Kind of fit with the drunken brawl a group of rafted power-boaters got into at 2am. They woke up the whole harbor. Shows to go yah, drunken people are drunken people wherever they go.

It was still raining when we set sail for Gore Bay, a short jaunt SW. We wanted to anchor there for the night so we could pick up our e-mail and use the cell phones (yes, Sprint apparently resolved our connectivity). The sail was great! We beat into a 15-18 knot wind (true) turning 6-7 knots over the bottom. It doesn't get much better. The rain let up, then stopped, though the sky remained gray.

We've tried unsuccessfully  to make radio contact with Ariel, Water Kraft and Master Bullfrog. They are all in the North Channel in this time period. We did have a nice chat with a different Ariel, comparing weather conditions at our respective points.

7/25/05 - We got an internet connection at Canadian Yacht Charters and caught up on the e-mails and website. We weighed anchor about 10 and headed out for Barrie Island. When we got near the end of the bay the  winds were 31 knots apparent on the nose and the waves were breaking over the foredeck. I put two reefs in the main and furled 70% of the headsail to control our heel. It was going to be a nasty crawl upwind. Sampatecho radioed to say they really didn't want to spend 5-6 hours  pounding to another anchorage and had things they could accomplish with a "down day" back in Gore Bay. We both turned around and surfed into the bay.

I started my afternoon sewing up the main sail cover zipper that was damaged during reefing in the high winds. Nice to have the tools onboard!

Bacchanalia joined us this afternoon. They'd been fighting the wind and waves and decided this was as good a destination as any (any port in a high wind).

Killarney taxi

AA in the Pool

Clear water of Lake Topaz

AA in the Benjamin Islands

Barry berry picking

Gore Bay, the first time

North Channel communications

We've found that our cell phones frequently work since Little Current. Apparently Sprint has fixed my dial-out problem and we are closer to towers. We got on the VHF Sailnet and learned the sites of 4 WIFI installations so we have destinations where we can pick up e-mail. Another boat was using their Cingular phone with a computer and getting pretty decent connections throughout Georgian Bay and the North Channel.