30 July 2014

We got up early to move over to the main dock at Sportsman’s. We needed a pump out and water filled in both tanks. Water takes about an hour and I wanted to get an early start on the trip to Little Current. We waited until we saw staff on the dock at 8:00 and called over that we wanted some help getting off the dock and would need help getting onto the fuel dock.

Ten minutes later we were on the dock. We had both had showered at Sportsman’s the day before, the showers were huge and lots of hot water. The Quo Vadimus is a great boat, but we don’t have unlimited hot water and there isn’t a ton of room in the shower. Susan headed off while I monitored tasks and tanks. I had heard about the great breakfasts at the marina next door (combination restaurant and bakery it’s where we got the butter tarts and bread from), I ordered two to go.

We were done pumping out and filling the tanks by 9:10 and Susan had our breakfasts picked up so we were on our way to Little Current. The water outside of Killarney was flat and calm and we made good time to Manitoulin Island.

Manitoulin is one of the larger islands in the Georgian Bay. It has a number of small towns and a very large First Nations population. The town of Little Current is a hub for boats in and out of the North Channel. We were headed to the eastern most marina, Harbor Vue.

It was a short run of 19 miles and we were soon at the marina basin. We were soon situated. The people at the marina were nice enough to lend Susan a minivan and she was off to go shopping. I stayed behind to supervise the repairs that needed to be made.

Susan had a good shopping trip, the store was small but it had everything she was looking for. The afternoon when by quickly as the work we needed done was done. I was very pleased with the skills and the workmanship of the team at Harbor Vue.

We spent some time talking to the crew of a sailboat from Virginia. They haul their boat from just outside Washington DC, about a 1,000 mile drive. They had been doing it for a number of years. They had started out going to Penetanguishene and then Owens Sound. They started coming up here a few years ago and really like it.

We decided to head into town for dinner. We hadn’t used our bicycles for over a week so we took them rather than walk. Harbor Vue is on the outskirts of town, so there wasn’t much traffic. We passed a weird cylinder shaped building that turned out to be where they hold the annual country music festival.

Downtown Little Current is only a few block long and a few blocks deep. It was a quick exploration of the area. The high points are two different surplus goods stores, we got some sponges and more lures to attract the fish. There were two restaurants in town, but the better of the two closed in 2013.

The Anchor Inn is a combination hotel and restaurant. Every morning it is the location for the “Cruisers Net Broadcast”. This is a program on VHF 71 that has been going on for the last 10 years. In the beginning there wasn’t cell coverage or the ability to cruise the internet. Roy, the host has been doing the show for the last 10 years. He starts off with emergency messages, this allows people to get messages back to loved ones at home. Next is a weather summary for the next 5 days. He follows it with Canadian news of interest, world news and then sports. For people in a 50 mile area of Little Current this may be the only contact people have with “civilization”. After that he makes a sweep of the area and boats check in and give names and destinations to coordinate with others they may be trying to meet up with.

We were too late to see Roy in person, so we had dinner. Susan went with a whitefish sandwich with the Poutine fries and I went with Pierogi with bacon and onions. Very good, the right amount for dinner. I got a butter tart to go and left one of my boating cards for Roy’s broadcast.

We cruised the length of the docks to see I we saw anyone we know. We did talk to one guy about his sea kayak, we will take a look at one on our next stop.

It was a short bike ride back once we were past the big hill in town. We got all our purchases together and sorted where they needed to be. and headed down to the bunks.

We both got up about 2 AM to make sure everything was fine. Susan had though she had heard a thumping sound that turned out to be a fender being blown by the wind.

By 9AM my bill was settled and we got set up to go. It was nice to have everyting working again and we headed back east (towards Killarney, but really to the north to go into Baie Fine, the largest freshwater fiord in the world. It is breathtaking with the steep walls and the pine trees clinging to the rock wall.

This is one of the shortest times we spent at a marina. The people were professional, nice and willing to work with me on how I wanted things done.

We were in the water and heading east at 10AM. Off to Baie Fine!