8/1/18: Did a song pop into your head? 😁 If so, you might be around my age. We woke up smelling smoke. Uh oh! Of course, being at anchor in the summer time, we sleep with the windows and hatch open for fresh air. This was a wood smoke we were smelling. At least it wasn’t the boat! When I got up and looked up the channel, there was definitely smoke on the water. Apparently the winds had shifted, and the smoke from the forest fires to the east of us was now blowing our direction. Dangit! It was pretty pungent, so we decided we would not stay here another night. Boo!
The other anchor spot that I wanted to go to that we missed was Covered Portage Cove. It was just over the hill to the east from us, but to get there we would have to go out and around, and be almost all the way back to Killarney – about 24 miles. And it was to the east, which is the direction the smoke was coming from. So we decided to head back west. We would stop in Little Current again and take on some fuel – enough to comfortably get us to Michigan where the prices are cheaper. Then we’d head on to the Benjamin Islands which was next on the “must-see” list. It only took us about 20 minutes to get Stuart over to the shore and untie the stern rope, load Stuart into his cradle, strap him down, and pull the anchor. Kenny said he saw bear poop over there. 😳
We left at about 10:20, which was perfect timing to get to the Little Current bridge for the 1:00 opening. By the time we got out into the Baie, the smoke really settled in!
There is a sailboat behind us – it looks like a ghost ship coming through the mist on Pirates of the Caribbean!
Our timing was perfect, along with 15 other boats waiting for the 1:00 bridge opening. 😳We were right in the middle of quite a parade! There was a pile of boats in front of us….
And a pile of boats behind us!
We sat and waited for about 5 minutes or so, and thankfully there wasn’t much current here. But when we went through the bridge, it was like a river again! Later we talked to friends who went through at 11:00, and they said there was no current at all. So strange for a lake!
We pulled into the fuel dock wall and realized that Phanthom and SeaJamm were here! We haven’t seen Sherry and Alan on SeaJamm for a long time! We decided to see if the marina had space for us and we’d spend the night here so that we could catch up with our buddies. There were lots of other looper boats here too. We went through the bridge with Oar Knot and Recess. Already here were Gypsy Spirit, Festivus (the ones who crossed their wake back in Orillia), Float Her, Corkscrew, Miss Norma, Compass Rose, and a few more! There is some kind of festival going on here this weekend, but the marina found us a spot. It was right near the fuel dock, so Captain just pulled away from the fuel dock wall, and backed us into our spot. It was a little challenging with the current, but he got her in there with patience and good maneuvering. We weren’t there long before a sailboat tried to mate with our bow. It was trying to go bow first into a slip about three away from us. He turned to get in and the current grabbed him and he ended up sliding along our bow, the dock, and another boat. He tried three times to get into the slip and was pushed over by us each time. We stayed out on the bow with both of our boat poles, ready to defend our Girl. I told Kenny that he should be thankful that he has a good crew. 😉. The poor captain of the sailboat got the boat into the slip, but his crew didn’t know how to toss a line to the dock hands, so their lines kept just falling in the water, then he’d go sideways, and have to take another run at it. It was a charter boat – CYC – Canadian Yacht Charters. Watch out for those! There was no damage to Island Girl, but the charter boat had some scuffing and maybe some scrapes from the dock next to us. We finally got registered and went to SeaJamm to visit. Sweet Sherry had a gift for me! Isn’t this great!? She’s such a sweetie – we’ve missed them!
SeaJamm and Phanthom were right on the town wall in the middle of town. A live band started playing music at about 5:00, which was fun to listen to. Then at 6:00, the Gold Helmets did a demonstration show of precision motorcycle handling. This is a group of O.P.P. (Ontario Provicial Police) officers who are motorcycle cops. This isn’t a stunt show, but a show of precision handling that the officers have to go through to become motorcycle cops for the province. It was very interesting to watch!
It was a good show, and there were lots of people that came to town to watch. It was hard to get a good picture of the formations, but they did some great riding.
Even Stuart was here!
When the show was over, we saw Kurt & Leanne from Festivus. I had asked Leanne earlier about anchoring spots, and she said Kurt had the scoop. I figured since they’re locals, I’d ask the experts! They do know the area, and Kurt brought his maps to show me where their favorite anchorages in the Benjamins are. That was so nice of him! After that, we joined a few people on Phanthom for a quick visit, then off to our own boats. Sherry invited us over to play cards, but they still needed to eat dinner, so we just went back to our boat. Maybe we’ll see them again in the morning before we take off. It was great to see a gang of familiar faces again. That’s one thing I really enjoy about being an AGLCA member. No matter what, when you see the flag, you’ve got family.
Hi Karen. Quick query on the cradle Stuart rest in on the duckboard. I presume you don’t have a hydraulic lift. Do you have a brand name of the cradle or some pics? I saw a pic way back of it tilting, but unsure of the specifics. Certainly having a tender that’s easy to load/unload would be key to a hassle free experience. Thanks much. Cheers
It is a very easy system – no hydraulics… just me and the Captain. It is called “Trick Davit”. (Www.trickdavit.com) I will post some pictures. The arms pivot at the edge of the swimstep, and Stuart slides into the water off the rollers. It is two hard plastic arms and rollers. To put him back up, Captain pulls on the handle at Stuart’s stern, and I pull the rope at his mid-bow, and the arms rotate back up to cradle him on the swimstep. Then we strap him down with ratchets straps that are connected to the swimstep at Island Girl’s transom. (We modified the strap system that came with the Davies.) Stuart can be launched by one person, but it is a two-person job to get him back up, very easy and quick.
Thanks Karen. Safe travels! Cheers