The North Channel/Back Home Again

Our next stop was Little Current, which is the only connection that Manitoulin Island has to the mainland of Ontario, other than a ferry to Tobermory. The bridge that connects the island to the mainland is a single lane bridge that opens every hour on the hour for 15 minutes. Boaters have to time their arrival properly so that they don't have to wait a significant amount of time idling around the bay before they can pass through the inlet into the town of Little Current. We had about 3o minutes to wait when we arrived and were jockeying for space with about ten other boats. Little Current is the provisioning stop for most boaters as there hasn't been much in the way of groceries since we left Midland and there won't be any stores available until we reach the US. We were there on the weekend so we sought out a church and found a Canadian pentacostal fellowship. There were about 30 people in attendance and the music was wonderful. The church was going to have an open air service that morning at the marina, but the weather kept them inside and they had special musicians who led us in great worship.

We left for the Benjamin Islands the next morning where we were going to anchor and look at rocks and trees again. We traveled with our cruising friends and had to set our anchor twice before we were comfortable that it was going to hold. We'll get the hang of this yet! We dropped our dinghys and went to visit four other boats who were in an anchorage around the other side of the island. This was the first time we had anchored since our storm experience so there was a sense of nervousness that we felt as we went to sleep that night.

Our friends were going to go back to Little Current the next morning to pick up their mail that was three weeks overdue and we were going to begin our journey back to the US. Our plan was to go to Gore Bay, which is on the northern side of Manitoulin Island, but it only took us two hours to get there and the day was beautiful, so we continued on to Meldrum Bay. Now this was the kind of place we had been waiting for! Quaint to the extreme and too small to be called a town. The only thing there was a marina office that looked like it might have been built 70 years ago, a general store that offered anything you might need, including a post office, LCBO (liquor) store and beer store. The only other building was a restaurant/inn that we had been told was an excellent place to eat. As we were getting our bikes ready for a ride around the bay, two Canadian customs officers came up and asked when and where we checked into Canada. We checked in by phone in Gananoque over a month before and had never been boarded previously. We invited them to come aboard and look around and they went through the whole boat looking for ???. I guessed we passed their test as they thanked us and left. Another boat docked beside us from Sarnia, Ontario and we invited them to visit us for "cocktail hour". We have found that this is a wonderful way to meet people and share experiences. We were blessed with a rainbow that evening so we included a picture of the marina office with the rainbow behind it. We then went to the restaurant for dinner and were asked if we had a reservation. We looked at each other a little strangely as this place was in the boondocks, but they found us a table. Within a hour or so the place was packed! I don't know where everyone came from. We met a couple who were on holiday on a motorcyle and a couple of men from Sioux St. Marie who walked in and asked the whole restaurant, "Who are the people from South Carolina?" That would be us as we have registered our hailing port as our future home in Manning, SC. The two men were very funny and kept us entertained for quite awhile.

We left Meldrum Bay on a beautiful calm morning and were headed for "the States". We were ready to be "home" again even though we had enjoyed Canada immensely. The trip was uneventful until we reached the narrow passage into Drummond Island where we had to check back into the US. The numbers on the bouys were different than those on our charts and our GPS. Our friends from PEI who are on the loop, had gone aground in this area a week before so we were a little wary. We called the marina and asked if the bouy system had changed and they told us that the numbering was different and they had added extra buoys. We carefully worked our way into the marina and marked our chart to show the changes. We docked at the fuel dock to take on diesel and have a pumpout and the customs 0fficials immediately came on board to process us back into the States again. We had been apprised of the documents that were needed so we had everything ready for them and had no problems. We still didn't have cell phones yet, but were able to use our air card for the computer. Finally a link to civilization!

Our next run to Mackinaw City was going to be a long one across the northern part of Lake Huron and we had to pick a calm day to do it. Thankfully the calm winds of the previous two days were continuing and we made the run with a looper boat called Prime Time from Huntsville, AL. We passed Mackinaw Island as we motored through the Mackinaw Inlet and the the town is incredible. In case you are not familiar with the island, there are no motorized vehicles allowed. Any transportation is accomplished by either horse-drawn wagon or bicycles. The Grand Hotel and Fort Mackinaw are the most significant buildings on the island, but there are beautiful homes all around the eight mile circumference. We could have docked our boats at the island's marina, but there was so much talk among the loopers about the fact that our boats would be rocked uncomfortably by the ferries coming in and out, that we decided to stay at Mackinaw City and take the ferry over the next day. There are about 6 ferries that make at least an hourly trip to the island holding about 150 people each trip. That's a lot of tourists and a lot of $$$! We took our bikes over on the ferry and biked around the whole island before we did any sightseeing in the town. We've included a number of pictures of Mackinaw Island, taken both from the water as we passed by and while on the island itself. We toured the fort and walked up to the Grand Hotel. They charge you $15 apiece to just walk up on the porch of the hotel and we didn't think that would be worth it, so we just took pictures from afar. It was a good experience and a place that you should visit if you get the opportunity.

Our next couple of weeks will include touring a lot of little towns along the east coast of Lake Michigan (the west coast of Michigan State). We can only go from port to port on Lake Michigan if the winds are fairly calm and blowing in the proper direction, so it is possible that we could get stuck in a port for a couple of days while we wait for the proper conditions. It is very windy today but the weather report looks promising for the next couple of days. We will be going to a Methodist/Presbyterian church tomorrow so we hope to make our next run on Monday. Our plan is to make it to Chicago by Labor Day, but time will tell. Be back with you in about a week.