Thursday 28 July 2016

Benjamin Island to Oak Bay, North Channel - Jul 28, 2016

July 27th – I was in the man cave this morning to investigate the port engine battery charging issue and I found a ground wire that was connected to the alternator that had a loose connection between the wire and the connector.  I re-crimped the connector and it appears the problem has been fixed.  My fingers are crossed that this is the last time that I need to deal with this issue.  We went for a dingy run to the south side of the Benjamin Islands and visited a nice beach and continued on to find boats anchored in a secluded area protected by rock islands.  We pulled the dingys on shore and went for a walk on the rocks and the view was breathtaking.  We then used the dingys to check out an anchorage at Croker Island and returned back to the boats.  Donna and I went for one last snorkel before they leave us tomorrow morning to go south.  We also played one last Golf card game and Donna once again broke one of our records which happens to be her record for highest score.  The new record for highest score is 126 (previously 105).  Donna has set the bar for both the highest and lowest scores that we’ll monitor as we play this game with others during our trip.

July 28th – We were up early this morning to help both “Overdoo” and “Worth the Wake” depart for their next destination on their way back home (Baie Fine).  We really enjoyed our time with them and it was sad to see them leave.  The winds were coming from the NE and were forecast to be from that direction for the next day or two thus we decided to move since our anchorage wasn’t protected from an East or NE wind.  We moved to Oak Bay which is just 10 miles North West of the Benjamin Islands.  A few minutes after dropping anchor we were met by a woman (Elaine) in a kayak from a cottage across the bay that came to invite us to cocktails at 5pm.  Apparently most of the other boaters in the bay have known each other for years and I can understand why they would return to this bay since it is beautiful and regular gatherings are held at a cottage in the bay.  It was hot when we arrived so I went swimming - the water temperature is 75 degrees F.  We went up for cocktails at Norm & Elaine’s cottage at 5 pm with all of the boaters from the other 8 boats.  She introduced everyone by boat name and name.  She introduced us as new loopers and asked that everyone provide us with some advice. We learned a bunch at this gathering and one nice couple (Mike & Karen) offered to give us a guide book for Lake Michigan.  Such a lovely bunch!    
No monkey but find the Artist

South side of Benjamin Island

Wow ... what a view

Beach on Benjamin Island

Donna is trying to catch a snake to impress Steve ;)

Maria boating in her PJ's ... LOL

Dingy city at Elaine & Norm's cottage in Oak Bay

Cocktails at the cottage ... can you find Maria?

Maria with a close friend of boating friends of ours ... Gary & Lynn ... Small world!

Wednesday 27 July 2016

Little Current to Benjamin Island, North Channel Jul 26, 2016

July 25th – We went to the Anchor Inn restaurant last night for dinner and then we played a card game (Golf) and Donna broke a record for the lowest score we’ve ever seen in this game (20 points after 9 holes).  Our plan was to head to the Benjamin Islands this morning however it was very foggy and the winds are expected to be 30 + km/hr from the West gusting to 70 km/hr thus we decided to stay in Little Current for an additional day.  We went out for breakfast at the Anchor Inn.  I used the day to check the fluid levels on the engines and met a Looper who provided me with advice about our windless and how it should be greased which I did after my discussion with him. 
  
July 26th – We left Little Current in the morning and travelled 19 miles to anchor in South Benjamin Island.  I ran into a charging issue again on the port engine, however it doesn’t appear to be the same issue.  I’ll have a look at it tomorrow when the engine compartment is cooler.  The gang was impressed with our anchorage in South Benjamin and enjoyed the incredible scenery.  We went for a dingy ride to Fox Island, however it was a little choppy from the wind.  We swam multiple times, floated on toys and we played another game of Golf after dinner.  Donna obtained the highest score we’ve ever seen after 9 holes (105) and Steve obtained the highest score on one hole that we’ve ever seen (32).  It’s been a trip for Golf records so far ;)  Roz pulled out some Champaign to toast our “Exxxcellent” vacation that we’ve spent together and to wish us well on our trip going forward.  We were hit by a thunderstorm at 1am which was unexpected.  The monkey was hiding somewhere since he doesn’t like thunderstorms!  We were all up on our boat ensuring our anchors were holding and the storm passed after an hour.
Dinner at the Anchor Inn in Little Current

The Port of Little Current

Anchored in Benjamin Island

Relaxing

The crews of Overdoo and Worth the Wake

A beautiful sunset

Floating with Dave's toy to pull us around

Maria taking it all in

Sunday 24 July 2016

Covered Portage Cove to Little Current, North Channel - Jul 24, 2016

July 22nd – Last night we played a card game called “Golf” on Overdoo with 9 people. We battled mosquitoes at witching hour (between 9:30 and 10pm) but we all survived the 9 holes and Julie (Dave & Roz’s daughter) won the game with the lowest score. It was a hot and windy day today.  Julie’s husband Darren arrived by dingy early in the afternoon.  Dave strapped his diving motor on the bottom of a paddle board and had a couple successful runs.  We were hoping for a video that would make some money on the Funniest Video show, however nothing funny happened this time.  We were in and out of the water on floaties plus Donna and I went snorkeling.  A couple of dingys approached Naked Trawler Guy’s boat and when they saw him they quickly did a 180 and got out of there ... LOL.  Donna and Steve’s son Cam with his girlfriend Nicole arrived in Cam’s boat on time for a prime rib dinner ... Yum!      

July 23rd – We travelled 21 miles first going to Killarney to get a pump out, water and beer then we went to Mary Ann Cove in Baie Fine.  We took the dingy to the end of Baie Fine (The Pool) and hiked up to Topaz Lake.  It was the busiest that we’ve ever seen it and we had to park the dingys in the weeds.  Once we reached Topaz Lake we went for a well deserved swim before hiking back to the dingys.  When we got back to the boats Dave & Steve were cooking ribs for dinner, a 5 hour process. We never starve when we boat with this group! 

July 24th – Our friends’ kids and their other halves went home today since they had to be back at work on Monday.  We decided to travel 16 miles from Baie Fine to a dock in Little Current since they’re calling for thunderstorms tonight and high winds tomorrow.  We walked into town to shop and Maria did some laundry.  We plan to go out to dinner tonight at the Anchor Inn. 
Anchored in Baie Fine

Roz, Dave, Steve, Tom & I hanging on to the anchor line

Is Dave choking the Monkey?

The Monkey got Ship Faced ... Bad Monkey!

Our view on the way in to Baie Fine

Dingy ride to The Pool for our hike to Topaz Lake

Swimming in Topaz Lake

The water is soooo blue

Maria and Ruth relaxing as we went swimming

The gang excluding our picture taker

The Bridge in Little Current

Thursday 21 July 2016

Covered Portage Cove, North Channel - Jul 21, 2016

July 21th – After breakfast I decided to crawl into the bilge to identify my battery charging issue and found that a fitting on the cable that connects the alternator to the battery was broken.  I removed the cable and Maria and I went by dingy into Killarney to have a new fitting installed on the cable.  We had a 2 hour wait thus we decided to walk to the Killarney light house.  We walked down a few dirt roads which Maria was a bit concerned about since it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere and she thought our bodies could be disposed of very easily in the woods ... LOL!  The scenery was beautiful and after our light house visit we returned to pick up the repaired cable and went by dingy back to the boat to fix the problem. While we were away Steve and Tom had caught a few fish.  After my repair I went for a swim to cool off and then had to batten down the hatches since we were hit by a thunderstorm.  After the storm was done Donna and I went snorkeling to look for large fish that she’d later go back to try to catch.  Unfortunately it wasn’t Donna’s day for catching fish.  A boat anchored not too far from us ... Naked Trawler Guy ... We suffered enough when we saw him thus I decided not to subject the followers of my blog to the same painful sight!  Dave played with his toys.  First he flew his remote control plane and then he used his underwater motor to pull him on his floating chair.  It was such a busy day that I decided to post an entry 2 days in a row J

The Monkey was begging for Herbert's Fish & Chips ... Silly monkey ... you eat bananas!

On our way to the Killarney Light House

You can see the Light House to the right if you look closely

Do you see it now?

The entrance to Killarney is on the right

Steve caught a couple nice Bass ... Way to go!

Dave at the controls of his plane

Boss ... The plane, the plane!

Dave loves his toys!

Wednesday 20 July 2016

Echo Bay to Covered Portage Cove, North Channel - Jul 20, 2016

July 19th – We got up early to move the boats 36 miles from Echo Bay to Stairs Island. The weather was nice, however the winds picked up during the day thus we didn’t get to go on a dingy run.  Donna and I went snorkeling in the bay and didn’t see anything worth reporting.  The water is slowly getting colder as we head north.  It was 22 degrees C at this anchorage.  
July 20th – Happy Birthday to me and my daughter Amanda!  I was up at 5:30am to get ready for our 65 mile crossing from Stairs Island to Killarney, which we had planned for 6:30am. The waves were larger than what we had hoped for, however they seemed to diminish over time.  We seem to have a charging issue on the port engine, perhaps the alternator or regulator. I had to tie the battery banks together as a temporary fix until I can diagnose and fix the issue.  We anchored in Covered Portage Cove and the water was a little cooler – 21 degrees C.  We went by dingy with Steve, Donna, Dave and Roz to Killarney to enjoy Herbert’s fish & chips for a late lunch and then we returned to the boat with Dave’s & Roz’s daughter Julie and her friend.  We went swimming, had a couple of cold ones and enjoyed the great weather.
Stairs Island Anchorage

My snorkeling buddy Donna :)

Pointe au Baril light house

There is actually a Baril at Point au Baril's entrance!

We made it to Killarney

The Killarney Mountain Lodge

The picture doesn't look as good as the real thing

Anchored in Coverage Portage Cove

Monday 18 July 2016

Last Days in Echo Bay - Jul 18, 2016

July 17th – We used the dingy to get to my sister’s cottage in Spider Bay for breakfast. We relaxed for a while by the dock and then said our goodbyes to my family and headed back to Echo Bay.  We floated on blow up toys with our Lake Simcoe friends and then went on a dingy run to San Souci to get some ice cream.  A couple of Loopers pulled into Echo Bay that were traveling together and it appears that we’ll be following the same route as them going forward.  We had an early community dinner to beat the rain which hit us shortly after we got back to the boat to do our dishes.

July 18th – I woke up to high winds at 5am thus I went up to the flybridge to check the chartplotter to ensure our anchor wasn’t sliding. Once I determine that everything was OK I went back to bed with the iPad so I could monitor our position while I tried to get back to sleep.  The high winds continued all day long thus we decided not to move to Regatta Bay which was our plan for the day. 
It was an extremely windy day in Echo Bay

Aqua-Fennatic is not rafted with the Lake Simcoe boats :(

Ruth, Maria, Roz, Dave & I

Donna, Steve & Tom

The Monkey wants to GO but it's too windy today!