Late Summer in the North Channel
 

First, a hearty thank you to those who gave pre-trip advice. Blue Oval's friend Denny was great as was f272v4 and snowhammer.



Launch in Elk Rapids was on Tuesday August 25th. And we stayed right there until Thursday the 27th to wait out some crappy weather. Thursday morning dawned sunny and warm with light breeze. Time to burn some fuel and our best friends joined us for the run to Mackinaw City.

As for the bridge, I've been over the Big Mac bridge many times. But until I'd boated under it, I never appreciated the massiveness of the structure.

Three and a half hours out of Elk Rapids, including a bit of time circling and photographing the lighthouses at Gray's Reef, found us in Strait's State Harbor. Cruising at 40mph has its benefits! We lunched there and hung out until evening. Our friends had positioned a car at the marina and they headed back to Elk Rapids. We sacked out and prepped for the morning departure to points north and east.

Entering Canada
Friday morning we pulled out of Mackinaw City and headed to De Tour for fuel. Lizzy (Lizzie?) was great and briefed us on return customs procedures in case we needed to customs-in at De Tour. We then dropped back south and headed to the False De Tour passage. We customed-in to Canada at Meldrum Bay where we got our first taste of Canadian (Manitoulin Island) hospitality. Marina staff were great and Customs was easy. Go into a small room, pick up a phone, speak with a pleasant lady gving our info and jottting down a reference number. We pressed on from there to Little Current, planning to start as far east as we planned to go and working our way back.


Little Current
We spent two days in Little Current, hanging out on a rainy day and provisioning as needed. (Can you say, "Canadian Beer?" I knew you could!) We saw that the western end of the City Dock seemed nicer, with closer and easier accessed showers. The city was a nice, small Canadian Island town. We ate at the Anchor Inn the first night and at the Edgewater Reastaurant the second night. Both offered good food. The former was a bit more polished, but we won't hold that against it! The latter had great pizza and friendly service.

The second morning at Little Current dawned nice and we struck out for points west.

Kagawong
This was a fuel and sightseeing stop. Fuel was reasonably priced and the attendants were helpful in local trails to hike and for tips on doing the Benjamin Islands. And the ice cream was delicious. We hiked to Bridal Veils Falls, took copiuos pixels of photos and then headed out

Benjamin Islands
No, we didn't anchor or gunkhole here. We idled around them sightseeing and will equip ourselves better for overnighting on our next trip. The area is absolutely magnificent. How reddish-pink granite got there is a mystery to me, but the whole area is stunning.


Stayed tuned for Gore Bay and more......

Siriusly Kai at Little Current

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Idling into the Benjamins

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Looks fantastic so far bud, can't wait to see more! I'm jealous, but hey, I have a tour guide now, right? Hope to bump into you soon, maybe over a bucket of crawfish.

Glad Denny was able to help out. Had a friend just return with their 40 Sea Ray, backing into their slip in Boyne one of the props feel off. They hired a diver and got it back, Boyne Boatyard has it pulled out of the water repairing it. Nothing like a little luck! Would have been a long ride home if he lost it out in the middle of Lake Michigan!

BlueOval, man that sucks and would have sucked exponentially more had it dropped off up here!

Sno, crawfish sounds good. Nothing like fresh-water lobster!

I forgot the important part of the report-to-date. Wifi. Little Current had lightning-fast wifi. Then it would drop off. It seemed to disconnect frequently. We didn't use it in Kagawong.

After cruising the Benjamins, we headed to Gore Bay. The marina is nice. Hailing the harbor we got directed to F dock. No slip assignment. No attendant there. I radiod again and the voice said to take any open slip. So I did. Still no attendant but none needed. In the future, I'll ask for a slip closer to the marina office for showers and such, but the walk wasn't that bad. Wifi was great. We ate at Buoys. The food was great but the kitchen was swamped and the wait was painfully long. They discounted our meal and were friendly and apologetic. All in all, we'd eat there again. The service seems to have been an anomoly. As a bonus, the musician played a Roger Whitaker song. I might have been the only person there besides him who knew the words.

The next morning we headed out and ran north to Darch ISland. We spent an hour or two floating on the east (lee) side reading, having lunch and watching a flotila of loons. There were at least 15 and maybe 20 of them; which we assume to have been two or three family groups. We'd drift near them and hear their haunting, eerie calls. Then they'd dive only to pop up a considerable distance away. Pictures might follow if I can get them from her Nikon SLR to my iPad. We could only get to within 50 yards or so floating by, so iPad photos were pointless.

Rested and with full bellies, we pressed on west and ended up at Blind River. We called in and were answered by the oft-mentioned on ActiveCaptain harbormaster, Roy. We arrived after closing, but he carries a portable radio and responded immediately to the marina, helping us tie up and checking us in. Dinner was uptown at 17 Restaurant which was very good and reasonably priced, but a good walk. Wifi was alright, not lightning fast but reasonbably good.

The next morning dawned very foggy courtesy of a hot humid air mass pushing through. I needed ice and they were sold out. I asked Darrell at the marina office where I could get some and how far it was to walk. He said it was no walk at all. He loaded me up in his van and drove me to the convenience store and back. He wouldn't taken anything for his gas. This is typical of what we have encountered here; great people who appreciate us viciting and want to help us enjoy ourselves.

The fog lifted slightly around around noon and we headed west again. Visibility was a mile or so, but we navigated by instruments, charts and time/distance. Not unlike flying on instruments but without the spatial disorientation threat. The run to Hilton Beach was uneventful and smooth, with visibility opening up to clear as we rounded the point to the marina.

Stay tuned for Hilton Beach narrative.....

Customs

Into Canada was a breeze as described earlier. The aforementioned telephone link from Meldrum Bay and then on we went. At Little Current a customs officer (David Spencer, I think) stopped and chatted with us and gave us a customs clearance form. He was thorough and professional and had a great sense of humor.

Back into the USA we stopped at Drummond Island. Again, the customs officer was thorough and professional, asked his questions and basically made the process efficient and pleasant. We hailed the marina and told them we needed customs and they called the officer for us. Once cleared, we took on fuel and headed toward the Straits.

In all, the customs process both outbound and inbound went efficiently nd was a breeze. Anyone contemplating a trip to Canadian waters should go ahead and not be intimidated with the customs process. Bring your passport and follow the directions and you'll be fine.

Hilton Beach, a Couple More Pics and Mackinac City (again)
 

Hilton Beach Marina was a great stop. Like all places we visited, it was slowed considerably from its summer pace but we like it like that. Quick answer of radio call, good help at the gas dock and then at the slip. Another friendly, competently staffed marina. We walked about for exercise and then ate at the Tilt'n Hilton restaurant which was very good and reasonably priced.

Here's the marina...

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These were taken during the hour or so of clear weather between the fog burning off and sunset!

The next nmorning we set off in mile or two vis for Drummond. Going was slow at first, using GPS, charts and time/distance once again. As the fog thinned we inched the speed up a bit. Still, it was a two and a half hour run (or would that be walk) to Drummond.

Here's a shot during a period of 'great' visibility...

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Finally, after clearing customs at Drummond we shot for the De Tour passage and left the North Channel...


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After leaving De Tour we ran to Mackinaw Straits Harbor to stay for the night, and from where I am furiously typing this. We'll see if I get any photos worth posting here tonight.

Now, I think I hear the Keyhole bar calling.......

Will you make it back to Charlevoix?

Should be back in Elk Rapids by tomorrow (Thurs) early afternoon, as long as the nastiness over Lake Michigan and Green Bay moves away. Forecast from NOAA (Never Offering Accurate Assessment) sez 1 foot or less on northern Lk Michigan tomorrow. If that holds the Formula might stretch its legs a bit on the run home!

Are you going to be running the PQ380 this weekend?

Yes, hanging at Charlevoix Marina for the weekend.