Little Current - North Channel

From Killarney we entered the famed North Channel of Lake Huron. Here's a picture of us cruising, taken by Eschaton. We had a short cruise that day into Covered Portage Cove for our first North Channel anchorage. Note the mountains in the background.

The hills have gotten much higher and have turned to white, we are told they are quartz. Covered Portage Cove is one of the most beautiful anchorages we've ever been in. Because the water is deep to the shore and the anchorages are sometimes crowded, we anchored the boats using the med mooring style. After dropping the bow anchor, Steve brought a long stern line to the shore with the dinghy and tied it to a tree. This was the view from our bow.
Later in the day, we dinghy'd to shore and hiked up a well marked trail to the top. We were rewarded with this spectacular view of the cove.

The next day we were headed for an anchorage at Baie Fine, a 10 mile long "fiord" like gorge. After hearing the wind prediction, we decided to give Baie Fine a "drive by" and then head for a marina. A few miles up the Baie, we dropped the anchor in a small cove with this view across from us.

We hopped into the dinghy and went up the to "the pool" at the end of the Baie where we had this view. Looks like snow capped mountains, eh?
The North Channel, bordered by the mainland of Ontario on the north and Manitoulin Island (the largest fresh water island in the world) on the south, is about 140 miles long and 30 miles wide. The open water makes for great sailing and, like Georgian Bay, the beautiful anchorages are limitless. We are currently spending 3 nights at Little Current Town Marina on Manitoulin Island. Little Current is the largest town on the island and is situated in a narrow passage between the east and west parts of the North Channel. There are hundreds of boats here, all occupied by cruisers who roam the docks meeting, talking and eating ice cream all day long. The marina has a long wide boardwalk along the shore, with picnic tables, big rocks, a party shelter, yacht club, and gardens behind the boardwalk. Here's a couple of shots of the marina.

The main street is just steps away with one of the more interesting shops I've been in. Turners is one of those small town merchandise stores that sells just about everything you can think of, including quality local arts and crafts upstairs. It's been owned by five generations of Turners. I had the pleasure of talking with Debby Turner, who told me more about the history of the family, especially Barney Turner, her father-in-law. It seems that American companies have several times made attempts to cut into and mine the beautiful granite and quartz hills of the area. Thoughout his lifetime, Barney was a leader in the battle to preserve this pristine wilderness, opposing the industry and then lobbying for legislation to ensure its preservation for generations to come. He was a well loved man in the North Channel.

There's always something happening in Little Current. The Yacht Club features a Happy Hour with free snackies every day at the Anchor Inn, the Pantry offeres $5 breakfast and today there's the Mackinaw - Manitoulin sailboat race that will finish right in front of the marina ... should be exciting. Weather permitting, we should be back in the USA in a week at the most.