Hi friends and family!
We are up in Baie Fine (pr. Bay Finn), which is kind of in between Little Current and Killarney but just a bit north. We came to this anchorage last fall and knew it was a pretty one. It is beautiful and sunny, 10knot SE wind and a great day to be on the water. We pushed off the dock in Little Current just before noon today so that we could catch the swing bridge that opens on the hour coming out of Little Current. It’s a one lane bridge for cars and pretty fun to watch. This morning was the first morning with a lot of fog, and it was beautiful to see. We met a couple that was waiting for the visibility to clear up so that they could push off for Drummond Island to start to make their way to Chicago to get in line for a scheduled October 6th lock date. They told us the locks in Chicago have been down since June 1st and are set to reopen October 1st - so there are about 270 boats waiting to go down through. Surprisingly, it all sounds quite organized - they have a whole schedule of boats to go down.
Morning mist in Little Current
We arrived at this anchorage around 3:30pm and had grand intentions of going swimming and hiking immediately but have decided to have a bit of down time, do some fishing and do a sunrise hike tomorrow morning. We hiked the trail here last year and it was just beautiful. About 30 minutes uphill and just an incredible view of Frazer Bay, MacGregor Bay and surrounding area. (Casson Peak)
Since the last update we’ve had quite an adventure. It’s a bit daunting to start to write it out, so I first drew a quick map so you could visually see where we went.
Last update was on September 6th from Wreck Island in Massassauga Provincial Park. We had a great morning after waking up paddling around Wreck Island. We didn’t really intend to go all the way around, but one thing led to another and we ended up paddling the 6km in our little dingy and two paddle boards at a nice relaxed pace.
Paddling around Wreck Island
From there we sailed north taking a couple slow lazy days to get to Big Sound Marina in Parry Sound where we spent two nights visiting the restaurants, distilleries, craft shops and book stores in Parry Sound with Dave and Dani, Jeremy’s father and Jeremy’s father’s wife. It was a couple of nice days with some small jobs on the boats and lots of wandering around. We replaced the batteries in our boat as they were seeming pretty flat and not charging properly. They are GREAT now. Dave and Dani have the same boat as us (MacGregor 26X) and joined us both in Parry Sound as well as for two more nights anchored at Franklin Island visiting our friends Amy and Jean Guy at their beautiful place up there. Until this point on the trip, we had done a bit of sailing, a bit of motoring, lots of paddling and eating and really had quite a relaxed time. Well….that was about to change!
Parked at Big Sound Marina with “Papa and Nandi”
Doing some cross stitching from the craft store in Parry Sound
Ready for some fun at Narrows Island
On September 13th (no it wasn’t a Friday) we woke up with intentions of travelling about 3 hrs north to Pointe au Baril and then anchoring for the night. Buuuuuut, we had also been talking about making a crossing to Tobermory at some point during our trip and there had been much discussion as to whether today might be a good day. To cross from Franklin Island to Tobermory is about the same distance as crossing from Florida to the Bahamas, which we intend to do in March so we thought it would be a good test run of the distance for all of us. Also, we love Tobermory and thought it would be amazing to go there by water. We had been discussing making this crossing off and on, and had been checking the wind many times a day to see if there was a good opportunity. We have done a few long sails (full day, overnight) and we loved the idea of being able to sail the whole way rather than motor so we were looking for around 15knots or so of wind from the North or South.
A few things to note about our boat. It is not exactly an aggressive speedy vessel. We’ve been told by a few that it is known as the “minivan” of the sailing world. It has its advantages. For the length (26’), it has quite a bit of space. It can sleep 6….though 4 is tight enough it would be hard to imagine 6. It also has a keel that swings up and into the hull, so you can use a regular trailer to transport it around. Also a plus when you want to take the boat down to Florida for a few weeks. It has been a great boat for what we are doing. The boat’s ability to make headway into into any wind is terrible though - so that’s why we were hoping for a North or South wind so that we could use it to sail across without feeling too sea sick. Also, at only 26’, it is pretty small for big water conditions, especially without a big lead keel - we take on 1500lbs of water as ballast instead. All this just to say, it can only handle water so big and then it starts to feel a bit like a toy.
So - back to the conversation on September 13th. We sat eating breakfast talking about our plan to go to Pointe au Baril and discussed that perhaps we should consider crossing the bay that day. There appeared to be a bit less than 20kn winds from the north (NNW actually) and after texting some buoys that are out in the middle of the bay (which we learned from Amy we could do), it seemed as though there were about 3’ waves (about 1m) about 4 seconds apart. This seemed reasonable. The wind was supposed to hold steady and then slowly shift more north and decrease. All good things. We thought 20knots might be a bit strong….but it should be decreasing right?
Well, as any of you can imagine that have hung out with us much, we sat discussing whether to cross or not and finally came to the conclusion that we should go for it. We then kicked it into gear to get going. We deflated paddle boards and stowed them under the deck. We tied our dingy onto the bow. We packed everything away, filled our fuel, checked our lines and rudders, did a radio check and away we went. We snuck up over the top of Franklin Island, sneaking through some shallower islands (another bonus of the swing keel, we can go in about 18” of water) and hoisted the sails to head out across the bay. We went with a reefed main and storm jib, with the intent of increasing the jib size if we wanted to. By the time we were offshore and heading towards Tobermory it was about 1:30pm. It started off okay - it was a bit bigger than we would have liked, but we were prepared to be out for the day. We had some tuna wraps made, granola bars, other snacks, full water containers and lots of warm clothes. Pretty soon though we were all feeling pretty crummy from the waves. So….I (Kathy) went to lie down for a bit and close my eyes, as did Gavin. Robin brought her sleeping bag and pillow up onto one of the seats in the cockpit to try to get some rest and not feel too sick while Jeremy took the helm. I switched with Jeremy after a bit so that he could go and rest. The day was feeling like it was stretching way out ahead and the waves were feeling bigger every 15 minutes that passed. I was feeling like we were in over our heads with respect to amount of time it was going to take and being way out in the middle of the bay. We were trying to maintain a course to Tobermory but were heading too far south. After what seemed like a LOOONG time, I was calculating approximate times/distances/course as anyone is constantly doing while sailing, and decided that we couldn’t continue only sailing if we were going to maintain a course for Tobermory. I started up the motor, brought in the jib and changed course. You can see on the map at this point that we switched. Jeremy was asleep after having been a the helm for quite a while and I didn’t want to make him up, but he heard the commotion and came up to help out. By this point, the waves had increased significantly, there was no cell service (as expected), and looking at our position I was having feelings of “and we’re ONLY 1/3 of the way across and heading too far south!”. On top of that, I didn’t actually want to express too much doubt with Robin always monitoring us to see if we’re concerned in situations like this. We started talking about turning back, picking a new point to shoot for or other options. The wind was increasing and the waves were bigger (I think I said that already). It felt as though there was about 25knots of wind and waves were definitely closer to 2m high rather than 1m. Jeremy is trying to check anchorages along the shore to see if there is a betters spot to aim for and he finds that that there is a great anchorage shown right at the north east point of the Bruce Peninsula. It is 30nm away (approximately 6 hours). And so, we start a long slog with reefed main and motor to get there. The count down is on. The kids were amazing. When the water started coming over the cockpit every 3rd wave, we put our big rain cover over Robin’s sleeping bag as well over the legs of whoever was at the helm. Robin spent the entire time on the bench except for two quick trips below deck to use the head. Somehow Jeremy managed to eat one of the tuna wraps….the thought did not even cross my mind. The rest got thrown out the next day. Gavin spent most of the time sleeping below deck with the occasional 15 minute visit up top. Kathy and Jeremy alternated turns at the helm, which was the best place to be so as not to feel too sick. We had the same album on repeat for the whole day on the speaker since we didn’t have the energy to switch it and not much else downloaded on Jeremy’s phone. We’ve played this album a few times since and laugh at the memories it brings. The waves continued to increase as did the wind. Shortly before sun down Jeremy took on the exciting task of bringing down the main in the crazy wind. Around the same time, Robin and I both tied in to the boat as some of the waves crashing over the cockpit were a bit wild. We finally made it to the inlet to Wingfield Basin (our anchorage) at around 10:30pm. There was one other boat in there and we safely grabbed on with our anchor first shot, all of us shaking cold, exhausted and giddy to be out of the wind. After a text to let people know we made it we crashed in varying degrees of partially dry sleeping stuff. It’s quite amazing where water found its way in while we were twisting and crashing through the waves. Needless to say there were many lessons learned. Next time across we’ll choose a day with much less wind, head our much earlier….either that or have a bigger boat. Or both. We’re still feeling good about the distance and the Bahamas though….we should have chosen a different day to cross. And looking into sea sickness meds? They seem like a good idea. Though we were exhausted, everyone kept level headed the whole time, no actual barfing and the joking started as soon as we had the anchor set.
Sun going down on the bay. Pic doesn’t do the waves justice.
Phew. Well then we spent a day recovering, picking apples onshore and hanging out at a little beach. Trying to slowly get our bodies eating again and bobbing around the basin and walking to an old lighthouse. We chatted with the other boat that was there - a guy who had come up from Lions Head the night before, hiding from the wind until the last corner…where he said - “ya the wind was so crazy around that corner huh, it was a bit wild trying to even make it into the basin!” Well….yep, we agree, it was crazy….for many many hours!
Boat location in Wingfield Basin
After another night at Wingfield Basin we headed to Tobermory (Sept 15), tying off to a mooring ball at The Grotto for a couple hours along the way. The Grotto is an amazing spot to stop and swim if you haven’t been there. It is pretty crowded in the summer but was pretty nice when we were there. This was the first time we arrived by water instead of along a trail and we felt a bit guilty for the ability to tie up to the mooring ball and dingy ashore. For those who haven’t been there, it is similar shoreline to most of the north end of the whole peninsula. Beautiful clear cold water with a fast drop off and varying between large rock slabs, pebbles and boulders. The Grotto has some awesome jumping spots, a cave with a deep pool and a tunnel to swim through and a pebble beach. It was a 10-15knot offshore wind the whole day and just beautiful to sail all day along the shore in the sunshine. We did some fishing along the way and spent lots of time laughing about our crossing two days before. We spent two nights at the dock in Tobermory enjoying the restaurants and shops and live music at night.
Along the shoreline on the Bruce Peninsula
Swimming near the Grotto
Our docking spot in Tobermory
After Toberymory, we spent two days making our way to Little Current on Manitoulin Island where we visited friends. We stopped to anchor at Club Island partway, and then continued on. We visited friends that have an amazing little property up there (search for Boozeneck Farm on facebook) and have now turned to start to make our way East and then south back home. We expect to be back by Monday Sept 25th and are looking forward to many great stops along the way, most now familiar from previous trips.
Our docking spot in Little Current.