August 15th 2015 in Little Current, Ontario Canada

 August 15^th in Little Current, Canada

·      Current Location –

o  Little Current (town of) in the North Chanel of Lake Huron, Ontario Canada

o  Latitude – 45° 58.9' N Longitude – 81° 55.5’ W 

o  Total Miles – 1519

·      Total locks – 106 (That’s all for this year!)

·      Number of Days Away From Home – 123

We are at the beginning of the North Channel of Lake Huron heading west.   The North Channel is considered pretty wild and woolly around these parts and is often referred to as the best freshwater cruising in the world.  I saw a bear on shore when I was fishing the other day a bit south of here and the mosquitos are the size of Canada geese.  Oh, maybe those really are Canada geese. 

We still have about 300 miles to go to get to Northport Michigan where we will “winter” the boat.

August 1st through August 6^th – Finishing up the Trent Severn Waterway-

Just to recap, the Trent Severn is an inland waterway that is a series of canals, locks, rivers and lakes, that connects Lake Ontario to Lake Huron.  It is 240 miles long and has 44 locks of various sizes, shapes and engineering principles.  Most of the locks are the classic design similar to those in the Chittenden Locks in Seattle but some are giant “pans” that take your boat up or down and one is even a short railway where the boat is held up in straps while you are transited up and over a hill.  This lock is called the “Big Chute” and there is a picture below showing us going over along with another boat.

Most nights we just tied up to a lock wall but we also stayed in marinas in small towns along the way.

One night we had a raccoon visit our boat looking in the garbage but I woke up and chased it off.  A couple of days later a neighbor boat had a raccoon actually get inside his boat and cause a ruckus.  The boater ended up pinning the raccoon down with his boathook and stabbed it to death. I met him outside with a dead raccoon in a sack and he was pretty freaked out. 

I have caught a few fish along the way including pike, smallmouth bass and largemouth bass.  Considering that I don’t know much about fishing here I’m quite happy.

August 7th through August 15^th – Georgian Bay and the North Channel

I’m not sure if Georgian Bay and the North Channel are considered part of Lake Huron but they seem to be.  Georgian Bay is 170 miles long and the North Channel is 140 miles long.  The North Channel is more remote and rugged than Georgian Bay but they are both fantastic cruising grounds.  Key features include:

·      Waterways carved out of the Canadian Shield (HUMONGOUS granite cap that covers most of Ontario) 10,000 years ago during the retreat of the last ice age
·      Very dangerous rocks everywhere – you have to follow the charts and the chart plotter carefully.
·      Wildly varying water depths (even out in the open) from several hundred feet deep to big slabs of graninte lurking just below the surface.
·      No big mountain ranges but some areas where you can climb and hike on mountains made completely of quartz.
·      Warm water (70 + degrees)
·      Warm and humid weather in the summer
·      BUGS – Black flies and mosquitos abound in June and July.  By now (mid August) they have quieted down.
·      Enough dirt has accumulated on the islands to let some trees survive – Mostly fir and deciduous trees
·      Lots of birds including loons (everyone’s favorite in the evening), cormorant, seagulls, vultures, and even bald eagles.
·      Lots of small mammals including raccoons, mink, chipmunks, squirrels etc.
·      Thousands and thousands of islands everywhere.
·      Quite a few “cottages” in Georgian Bay.  Not very many in the North Channel.
·      Beautiful scenery in every direction.  You get numbed to it at times.

We cruised with three other boats that are doing the “Great Loop” for a while.  They were Ted and Joan Palango on Panchita, a 46 ft Egg Harbor, John and Genie XX on a 36’ Island Gypsy and Curt and Julie Corda on CJ, a 40’ trawler.  We all cruised together in various combinations for up to several weeks.  It is comforting to be part of a pack but now we are by ourselves again.

Below the picture gallery is our Personal Insight section.

Picture Gallery –

 

Our Party of Four Boats in Lock 39

Starting up The Big Chute - Our Boat is there too!

Nice Bass Eh?

Nice Pike Eh?

Linda Standing on Quartz

Looking NW from the Top of Quartz Mountain

100 Year Old House of the Group of Seven Artists

Morning Fog in Port Rawson

Personal Insight – The Magenta Line and Why We Love It

All of the way along the Intracoastal Waterway on the East coast and through much of the cruise we have taken this year, charts and chart plotters show magenta course lines. Sometimes there are alternate courses marked by dashed magenta lines but the main course is a solid magenta line.  When you are cruising from point A to point B, you can just follow the magenta line on the chart plotter and you don’t even need to know where you are (maybe a slight exaggeration). 

After using it a lot, how do you think we feel about the magenta line?

·      The magenta line is our friend.

·      We need the magenta line

·      It guides us for days on end.

·      Woe be us if we stray from the magenta line.

·      When it stops showing up, we are confused and feel betrayed.  We become afraid and want another fix.

·      When we take off on our own, we once again figure out how to actually navigate.  Eventually our self-confidence soars and we realize we don’t need no stinking magenta line.

·      But then it comes back on our chart plotter and we are happy.

·      All is well when we have the magenta line.

·      We love the magenta line!

Next Post

We hope to complete this year’s cruise by the first of September when we arrive in Northport Michigan.  We will put the boat away there and look forward to seeing all of you soon thereafter.  I might do another post (or not).

Bye, Tod and Linda