Pics from Day ??? 14???

The dinghy master...

Swimming at Batchewana Bay

Caught in traffic in the River. This one passed us as 4 others approached

Into the Soo and beyond....

SATURDAY, August 2     Sault Ste Marie:

We woke up this morning to a great dirty cruise ship docked at our back end. It has the most annoying motor sounds.  Hopefully it will be gone from Thunder Bay when we get there. We met it in Little Current a week ago.  Wait ...only a week??? Seems like a month!

OK, so I didn’t want to admit this, but I hit the damned dock coming in here. The current is brutal and when you head into the marina, it rips the back end around and shoves you into the fuel dock. Luckily there were a couple of people who had experienced the same thing and rushed over to help us. They hit it with their sailboat, too!

We are going for groceries then heading out to go through the Lock  after we fuel up. Maybe I can get us into the lock without hitting the wall. And for those of you who are thinking, “Why doesn’t she just let Rick do it?” Because he panics!  He would lose it completely! I would rather try it myself while he’s yelling at me. It’s easier to him to apologize later than try to fix what he might do.  He ran us aground twice on the way up from Grenada without trying and anyone who has watched him in an emergency knows...he can turn into McGyver AFTER he stops being the squirrel in Over the Hedge!  I fall apart after he problem has been solved.

Once we got off the fuel dock,(it took half an hour and five people to get us across the current from the dock...about 50 feet!)we headed for the lock. Todd thought that was awesome. He likes getting right into it! Grandad, he will make you a good mate... he doesn’t try to figure out a better way to do it...YET!

WE got into Pointe Aux Pins for the night. Most boaters are afraid of this bay because it has ots of stuff on the bottom and it’s shallow, but we anchored in 6 feet of clear water on a clean spot.  No fish!

We had a good dinner, Todd did an hour of math and watched ½ a movie and went to bed at 9:30. We were in bed and sleeping at 9:45!

SUNDAY:

We were up at 7:00 and off the anchor heading out into the Lake. We passed several ships down-bound and one passed us going up into the lake. Busy highway this morning!  We are on our way to Batchewana Bay where we will anchor for the night and move on.  This may be the last post for awhile. We are heading into the north and into the past! Wilderness!  TTYL!

Meldrum Bay to St. Joe's and Beyond!

DAY 11  what day?

Another grey day but the horizon looks promising. No wind, of course.  We left at 6:45 am to get a good jump on the day, figuring it would take most of the day to get to Meldrum Bay. All of the sailboats around us were still sleeping when we left.  We could see them leaving behind us, heading for the Benjamins or Little Current as we rounded Janet Head. They popped their sails...we beat into the wind!

Today was not so bad... we made good time and and got into Meldrum Bay around 4 pm.  This is a pleasant little spot. We called ahead and got a dock. Elaine, the Harbourmaster, was a treat to deal with. The Marina building is open 24/7 with a TV /VCR , kids books and movies, a games room and showers and  and laundry. Up the road is a fabulous restaurant  (humungously expensive) with live entertainment.  We ate on the boat. But we went up for dessert and the entertainment. Todd had a piece of double fudge cake. It was two pieces!! He could only eat one!!!!

So,  Todd was bored after he ate and went back to the boat. We stayed. There were three entertainers: an American couple off one of the trawlers, who carried a guitar and cello with them.  (JimKrausMusic.com)(I was eavesdropping)   they write their own music... totally awesome! But the other guy who was advertised as the entertainer, was an American who summers in Meldrum Bay and a dead ringer for Stan Rogers. The irony is ...they didn’t know who Stan Rogers was! His name is Marty Rosen and apparently does You-Tube videos. I thought I was looking at Stan Rogers as he would look today!

DAY 12,

As delightful as Meldrum Bay was, we left early and headed for St. Joseph’s Island.  We had next to no winds and what we did have were ...on the nose! It sucks being a motor boat when you have sails! Did I say that already?!!

The sky was iffy but we anchored in dead calm in Milford Haven, a beautiful long sheltered bay at the south end of St. Joe’s. Todd and Rick went off fishing...no luck. Grampa almost got a pickerel but pulled his hook out of the way so the fish wouldn’t get hurt!

It was a beautiful night and we saw stars for the first time in a long time! We woke up to gassy water and a clear sky. No wind but sunshine all day.

We are in the upbound channel for Sault Ste. Marie and will be in Bondar Marina tonight. We could go to Bellevue.. .cheaper but no facilities... like a mall! And since no-one we know is home...

I hope today is a sign of what Superior will be like. I have truly hated the North Channel and if there was a way to avoid it coming back,  I would! I think Todd does too. This is the first day he hasn’t asked to watch a movie while we were moving. He has worn his life jacket all day and been all over the boat...outside! Of course we’ve been racing cargo ships! That helps!

Gore Bay to Meldrum BAy

DAY 8   Continued...

It’s 8:30 am and Todd has been sleeping since 9pm. And it’s getting colder. The universe must have decided we don’t want to swim today. Last night at dusk we were surrounded by hundreds of seagulls. I guess we must have been sitting on their fishing spot.

This morning a flock of grackles swooped in and attacked the sumac berries. The ground cover on these islands seems to be poison ivy. It was growing right down to the water’s edge in some spots on the beach.  Yes, Mom, we were careful. We have calamine lotion and rubbing alcohol,  just in case!

Todd just wolfed down his breakfast and headed to the front of the boat with his fishing rod.

We are still doing minor renovations... we have power and lights now. AC and DC ! the solar panel is working extremely well. In fact we met someone in Little Current with the same solar panel who told us he never turns on his wind generator because he doesn’t need it.

We decided to head out for Gore Bay. The fish have disappeared and Todd is anxious to catch some. We readied the boat for sailing. It took an hour...good to know. We need to decide at least two hours ahead of time when we want to move!

We left Clapperton Island at 2:45 pm and motored through the buoys. The water is so shallow we couldn’t risk sailing it and going aground. Once we passed the last buoy, we shut off the motor and sailed. It was rough and this time Todd felt the waves a bit. He sipped on ginger ale and sat in the cockpit. It took 2 ½ hours to reach the bottom of Gore Bay. We anchored and went ashore. The docks are expensive here too...$1.75/ft . Todd found another “favourite” restaurant and a park.  When we got back to the boat we played cribbage again. He almost beat me!

DAY 9

Ugh! Grey...misty and dead calm in here this morning. We are going for groceries and to give Todd some land time with his scooter. Rick needs to get a fuse for the radar and micro-switch for the pressure pump.  Then we’ll see how the day looks for moving on. We could try for Meldrum Bay or Cockburn Island.

Success! A fuse for the radar! No micro-switch...apparently our pump is too old. So we either replace it now or do without for a while. No big deal..we have foot pumps for the water tanks. We did some shopping at Valu-Mart and got the boat ready for morning. We left Todd at the Park at the end of the dock run so he could scooter and get some shore time.

DAY 10

It’s hard to tell the weather when you can’t see over the land surrounding the bay.  We headed out around 8:30.  All of the other boats were still at their anchors or docks.  The radio is not picking up and weather of use. The forecast is always the same:  winds North or west, chance of rain with chance of thunderstorms. How long do you wait for a chance? When we rounded the cape, the wind was directly out of the west, and the sky was menacing. We beat into the wind for about  3 hours and still couldn’t make our way point. We tried tacking out and back but that didn’t get us any headway, so we turned and went back to Gore Bay. This is the sky that followed us in...

Luckily it passed right over us in the bay, but out on the water it was apparently pretty wild! (talked to a boater who was at the Benjamins when it went through).

We waited at anchor until the next day and left.

Day 9...Rats ...start again!

DAY 9, Tuesday,

Well, today was a bust. We went for groceries as planed and got everything  ready. Even remembered ice for the cooler. We headed out at aroud 11:30 behind a few other sailboats, all of whom were heading east. We of course were heading west into the wind. We tacked back and forth for about three hours and were nowhere near being able to make a harbour, so we turned around and came back to Gore Bay. It took about 45 minutes to get back. Seems to me the same thing happened around here about 10 years ago!

As soon as we got back to the anchorage, an enormous storm rolled past the bay mouth.  Sure glad we came back! So tomorrow we will leave at 7 am. The weather forecast is for light winds and reasonable waves so we should be able to make Meldrum Bay by night fall.

Sometimes I feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz except I WANT to get to the magic land!  I‘ve made a pot of chicken soup in anticipation of the long day. Not sure Todd is looking forward to it!

From Clapperton to Gore Bay

DAY 8   Continued...

It’s 8:30 am and Todd has been sleeping since 9pm. And it’s getting colder. The universe must have decided we don’t want to swim today. Last night at dusk we were surrounded by hundreds of seagulls. I guess we must have been sitting on their fishing spot.

This morning a flock of grackles swooped in and attacked the sumac berries. The ground cover on these islands seems to be poison ivy. It was growing right down to the water’s edge in some spots on the beach.  Yes, Mom, we were careful. We have calamine lotion and rubbing alcohol,  just in case!

Todd just wolfed down his breakfast and headed to the front of the boat with his fishing rod.

We are still doing minor renovations... we have power and lights now. AC and DC ! the solar panel is working extremely well. In fact we met someone in Little Current with the same solar panel who told us he never turns on his wind generator because he doesn’t need it.

We decided to head out for Gore Bay. The fish have disappeared and Todd is anxious to catch some. We readied the boat for sailing. It took an hour...good to know. We need to decide at least two hours ahead of time when we want to move!

We left Clapperton Island at 2:45 pm and motored through the buoys. The water is so shallow we couldn’t risk sailing it and going aground. Once we passed the last buoy, we shut off the motor and sailed. It was rough and this time Todd felt the waves a bit. He sipped on ginger ale and sat in the cockpit. It took 2 ½ hours to reach the bottom of Gore Bay.

 We anchored and went ashore.

 We  arrived in Gore Bay, the spider capital of the universe around 5:00 pm. We anchored in rough seas and 5 feet of water, but it's now quiet and calm and the sky is pretending that tomorrow will be a great day.  Except that there are THUNDERSTORMS forecasted again!The docks are expensive here too...$1.75/ft . Todd found another “favourite” restaurant and a park.  When we got back to the boat we played cribbage again. He almost beat me!

We are loping along making sure that we are doing the legs as safely and comfortably as possible, so those of you who are concerned that we will miss our weather window to the sunny south this winter...not going to happen!!!!We will cut short the trip to Lake Superior if we have to.

DAY 9

Ugh! Grey...misty and dead calm in here this morning. We are going for groceries and to give Todd some land time with his scooter. Rick needs to get a fuse for the radar and micro-switch for the pressure pump.  Then we’ll see how the day looks for moving on. We could try for Meldrum Bay  or Cockburn Island.