The North Channel

 August 26

The North Channel

The Shorebilly is getting a lot of nicknames ... Cream (as in the cream in the center of the Oreo Cookie), Beef (as in "Where's the beef?" from the old Wendy's commercials), Snaggle Tooth (because I am shorter than the others), Baby Bear (as in the Three Little Bears).  So why do I always get the hump (as in the center seat of an old car that has the hump running down the middle)?  Jolly Roger Too (Big boat on the left) vents his exhaust from the generator to the Starboard (right side of the boat).  Never Home vents his to the port (left side of his boat).  By doing it this way, I don't suck fumes all night.  

Never Home

Before I get into all the things we have done on the North Channel, I have to tell you with a very sad heart that we have lost Never Home on the trip.  Most likely, they will not be back.  Unfortunately, they had to take off to handle a family situation.  They were fantastic companions that brought great joy, friendship, respect and love to the trip.  They will be missed.

Atillio and Cathy.  Atillio caught enough fish to serve us dinner one night.

The North Channel

So what is the North Channel.  Well, let's "borrow" from Wiki again:

The North Channel is the body of water along the north shore of Lake Huron, in the Canadian province of Ontario.^[1] It stretches approximately 160 nautical miles (300 km) and is bordered on the east by Georgian Bay, on the west by the St. Marys River, to the north by the eastern Algoma District and part of the Sudbury District, and to the south by the islands of Manitoulin, Cockburn, Drummond and St. Joseph. At its widest point it is over 30 km (20 miles) wide.^[2]

The Dark Blue is the North Channel

As of this writing, we have 121 miles of the 160 that comprises this body of water.  Whereas it is beautiful, it has been a slog for the weather simply has not cooperated.  We have had multiple days laid up at marinas due to rain.  Winds have sustained in the teens with gust in the mid 20s.  We are bouncing from protected cove to protected marina trying to make progress, but it is slow.  We budgeted 10 days for the North Channel and we are largely sticking to that, but I don't think we are getting to experience all the beauty the North Channel has to offer.

But that is not to say we are not having a great time.  We are!  In those periods where the wind dies down and the rain stops, we go to islands and hike, fish, dingy and swim.  

Yudee thinks I am nuts!

We have done four significant hikes since entering this waterway.  For those of you familiar with the New Hampshire White Mountains, think that.  Giant rock formations that required careful foot placement marked only with a splash of orange was typical.  

But the views, well ... it made all the effort worthwhile. 

 

One of the protected coves we went to is something called "The Pool".  This is where Ole Evinrude of Evinrude motors had his cottage.  The cottage is still there and his grandson still owns it.  He would test his motors here.  It was perfect!  

One of the walks we did was from here to Topaz lake.  Unfortunately, the sun was not bright so the lake was not its usual perfect Topaz color.  None-the-less, it was beautiful.  Jim from Jolly Roger and I swam all the way across and back.  

One of the biggest surprises on these hikes was Yudee.  The dog transformed into a billy goat climbing rocks with speed and agility that left everyone stunned.  There was this one crevasse that was ~7 feet tall. Picture a large V of rocks.  All us mere humans struggled to get up it.  Yudee jumped and about 4 feet up spread all four paws on each side of the V and stopped.  I was running (as fast as I could but in that terrain was not fast) thinking he was doomed.  He then somehow made a second jump from that position to the top.  It was like a move off of America Ninja Warriors.  Terri and I just looked at each other and said "did you see that???".  Also, many times we could not determine the direction of the trail.  Most of those times we would look for Yudee and sure enough he was smack on it.  At one point Terri said "I think he is actually following the trail".  Sure enough, he was.

One night at a place called Croker we did a double raft so up went the drone.  The raft on the right has a giant cat (Endeavor 44) and we all met for Docktails on his bow.  What a blast.

Maintenance Time!

The Shorebilly needed some TLC and we found a great marina for the job.  They could not have been better. I called them a few days in advance and when I showed, they yanked it out of the water and turned the boat around in 4 hours.  I went to lunch and a re-provisioning and when we got back, it was back in the water waiting for us.

This work was done in a town called "Little Current".  The town was quaint and the marina was 5 star.  The name, however, was pure sarcasm.  The current ROARED through there.  A sailboat attempting to leave banged into Never Home's triple 400 Mercs scratching the cowlings and then smashed into a brand new Lagoon 51 sailing cat destroying its bow pulpit. Multiple looper boats struggled not to bang there neighbors when arriving or leaving.  Some just refused to stop.  The Shorebilly had the power to weight ratio to master the current but we were one of the few.  

Cruiser Net

One of the highlights of Little Current is a man named Roy Eaton who runs a VHF radio show called Cruiser's Net.  He hosted a pot luck for all the boaters the night we arrived and invited us to join him at his broadcast.  What a blast!  Roy is an elderly gentleman that genuinely loves boaters and works tirelessly to support us.  The show is broadcast every day at 9:00 AM on VHF channel 71.

 

Sitting around the conference room with the other guest I began to get the shakes. It was a lot like being back at work!!! (And NO, I did not have my presentation ready!)

 

Stay safe and with love,

Aubrey and Terri