Baby Grand Adventure

A Necklace of Islands Summer 9-8-11

2011-09-08T14:46:00.009-05:00

As I look back on our summer cruise through northern Lake Michigan and the North Channel of Lake Huron, our GPS track threads through so many islands and forms a beautiful necklace. Grand Traverse Bay and the ports of Lake Michigan form its clasp, and Beaver Island is the starter bead. The grey and pink granite islands of the North Channel form the bulk of the necklace and here’s a picture of our last secluded anchorage in the North Channel—Long Point Cove. We will add to this island necklace every year until we have strung all the islands together.

The last bead in the island necklace is a gem—Mackinac Island. Come by ferry or your own boat and make sure it’s after Labor Day when the tourist season winds down but beautiful early fall weather prevails There are only 20 boats here in this 80 slip marina and at $38 a day, it is a real deal. The island invites you to step back to a time when walking, biking and carriage rides were the norm. There is way more to Mackinac Island than the fort and fudge. 80% of the island is Michigan State land so there is plenty of hiking and biking along the 140 miles of byways and trails and Mollie and I are logging a lot of miles. I finally took off my lucky boat hat for a picture at the Iroquois Hotel patio restaurant where we had a terrific meal at a very reasonable price.

Captain Bob has crunched a few numbers for this boating season (6/7/11 to 9/26/11):

Distance traveled: 640 nautical miles
Miles per gallon: 4.6
Nights at Anchor: 26
Generator Hours: 35
Number of Islands: 15
Number of Ports: 11
Worth of Experience: priceless

We’ve learned so much this season about what we need on board to cruise Lake Michigan and the North Channel. Our wish list will make Christmas and birthday shopping very easy. My list is pretty basic and includes a kayak, digital camera, and fishing gear. Captain Bob’s list needs a bit more explanation: a range finder (laser gizmo that accurately measures distance), portable depth sounder (Bob has been doing soundings with a measured boat pole but you probably knew he would want to upgrade), “rocker stopper” (helps dampen the motion of a boat at anchor), and a new seat for the dinghy. To take on new stuff, we’ve looked at what we don’t need now so the 2nd bike and the portable air conditioner will be offered for sale. Mollie’s list is pretty simple as the girl is crazy about sticks. We loaded up with toys but sticks are her thing to chase on land, retrieve in the water and even to chomp on. Good thing one of us has low cost taste.

We are scheduled for haul-out in Northport on 9-26 so there are lots of boat projects to do before we tuck Baby Grand back into her cocoon. We’ll be going back to the mountains of Colorado and look forward to seeing our family as well as hiking, skiing, volunteer work, city life in Denver and RVing in the West. It is a very balanced life for us divided amongst so many varied activities and people we love. It has been fun to share this blog with you and let’s stay in touch. peggy8301@hotmail.com

The Rhythm of Island Life 8-30-11

2011-08-30T16:18:00.002-05:00

Our days at anchor in the beautiful North Channel islands are drawing to a close. Many boaters have already headed back to their home ports and casual conversations now include the question, “When are you hauling out?” The days are getting shorter and it’s a little cooler at night so Mother Nature is also preparing us for a transition.

As I sit here at anchor on a late August afternoon, I want to drink in my surroundings and send it like a postcard to myself in the other season. I want my senses to absorb and remember the soft sway of the boat gliding back and forth, traveling from one impressive vista to another; the waves gently lapping against the hull and as the wind increases, pounding harder letting you know it is a force to be reckoned with; the call of the loon, the morning cry of the morning dove, the soaring wings of the eagle and the countless other voices making the woods come alive as well as the deep green forest stenciled between the blue sky with its dancing clouds and the shimmering water below. All of these visceral elements have the contradictory power to hypnotize you into a Zen state or supercharge you with an adrenaline rush. I want to box them all up and take them home.

I wake up every morning in my floating water bed as the first light pokes through my small V-berth window. I hear the anchor rode yawning as it has been awake all night telegraphing with little taps that we are safe and holding. We have not needed our large quilt for warmth yet, but it is at the ready, lumped large between us like a body that we now call “Fred.”

I embrace the day with yoga as the moving water challenges me to find a balance point. I love the daily rituals of anchor life, like making coffee on my propane stove. If it’s cold outside, I fire up the oven to make something delicious. You can’t beat the combination of instant heat and something great to eat.

Our Border terrier puppy, Mollie, watches me from her crate and is in absolutely no hurry to get up before 8 a.m. As she hears me opening cereal bags, her food alarm must engage and she finally stretches outside her crate. She wiggles a greeting to Bob and I while also sniffing around for any remnants of late night snacking—there are no food secrets from her. Mollie always wants to play, have fun and live in the moment. Dogs teach us so much that way.

While listening to the Cruisers’ Net on Channel 71 every morning, I do the spider walk around the boat. Armed with a mop dipped in lake water, I collect their nets and the nightly bug carnage. I am amazed at how clean the boat is this year compared to our travels though salt water and the dirty locks on the Great Circle Loop. We have dog hair now to chase around and I have a non-electrical way to collect it—the FlopMastr which is a flip flop that I rake over the rugs and settees. I just might Trademark this but I wanted to share it with you first.

With feet up on our his and hers settees, Bob and I talk about plans for the day, actually plans sound too definite, how about “floating possibilities.” If a wind shift occurs and we have to leave an anchorage, we discuss a list of anchorages with better protection. If we’re staying put, the agenda is which hike and dinghy ride to do first. There are no wrong choices.

Afternoons at anchor are tailor-made for reading. We each have 20+ books on board, not including cruising books. It would be simpler if we shared a taste in books but I’m a sucker for anything that’s won an award; Bob finds these too plodding, without plot and craves more action. There is nothing more enjoyable than whiling away an afternoon reading a good book with your puppy cuddled on your lap as the world revolves around you on the hook. This might lead to a little nap—all the better.

Sharing an anchorage is an easy way to meet other boaters. It’s so easy to dinghy or kayak over, introduce yourself and amazing conversations ensue. There are so many “It’s a small world” moments as we find how we’re all connected though mutual friends or places we’ve been. We get noticed with our name of Baby Grand as boaters often wonder where is the grand piano. We’re part of the North Channel cruising community now thanks to the Cruisers' Net and the hospitality seasoned boaters have shown us. We were even befriended by a Rosborough trawler couple from VT who looked to us for “expert” advice on anchoring as we’ve been here 3 more weeks than them. A Canadian cottager approached us the other night telling us there was a price for anchoring in front of his property—mandatory attendance at Happy Hour at 5p.m. on his dock.

Mealtime is savored at anchor and I love cooking in my small galley kitchen. It takes a little planning and an ability to grasp exactly what all is stuffed inside our small fridge and its tiny freezer. I like the challenge of this and with 3 towns each less than 20 miles away, provisioning is way easier than on the Loop or in the Bahamas. Bob is always appreciative of my efforts but I did burn his Norwegian taste buds lately with too much cayenne pepper.

Bob and I have been retired now for exactly 3 years and have spent 23 of those months on Baby Grand. We’ve been married for 42 years and it seems like all the work before is for the best now. We are older versions of our younger selves who dreamed of days like this. There is nothing better than ending the day together at anchor with a 360 degree surround view, watching a sunset, moon rise or stars. It puts life in perspective and the small stuff fades away.

You may have noticed that a picture of Baby Grand accompanies every blog entry. With her perfectly proportioned lines and classic look, she captures the beauty, the essence and the feel of boating for us. She has been a major player in all of our adventures and she will continue to be our island home for years to come.

South Benjamin Island Again 8-27-11

2011-08-30T16:10:00.004-05:00

This is probably our favorite anchorage so far and we did not expect to see it again this year. However, we were at Benjamin Harbour around the corner when the NE wind started building so we had to move. Just like the last time, we checked out South Benjamin and there was a space for us but all the way in towards the weedy grass.

We did see some trailer sailor boats tucked in this spot last time but were unsure with our 3’10” depth if we would fit. Captain Bob moved very slowly to the end of the anchorage with yours truly at bow watch and we were surprised to find a good 6-7 feet of depth here and only a few deadheads. Captain Bob went out in the dinghy and sounded the rest of the bay with a real “high tech” depth sounder—a boat pole.

The trails here are a little steep and overgrown but I was determined to find a way east over to Benjamin Harbour. It’s times like this that Captain Bob calls me Daniela Boone. Perseverance counts when you’re trail whacking and I am pleased to report that the trail is there and I’ve marked it with cairns and sticks.

We did a second hike of the day up the steep westside cliffs so that we could get some cell phone service to call our daughter Kate for her birthday. Wish she could be here with us to share this special spot.

The Benjamins 8-26-11

2011-08-30T16:04:00.003-05:00

This beautiful harbor is formed by the northeastern side of South Benjamin and the southwestern side of North Benjamin Islands. It is encircled by a phalanx of rocky shoals and pink granite cliffs which gives the area character as well as a mystique. The Benjamins are on every North Channel boater’s list of to-do anchorages and it’s easy to see why it makes the list as one of the most beautiful anchorages in the world.

With northeast winds coming tomorrow, we knew we would have to move so we really enjoyed today. We tried to hike to a hidden cove last year but lost the trail somewhere but were determined this year to find it. We tramped through the overgrown forest and up steep cliffs with Mollie in the lead and found it!

It was great to meet up with so many boaters we had met at the Rendezvous. Everyone is making plans to start heading back home soon which makes each of us savor the moments of today.

Cruisers’ Net Rendezvous at Little Current 8-23-11

2011-08-24T21:55:00.007-05:00

We’re here in Little Current for the Cruisers’ Net Rendezvous. Every morning at 9 a.m. we listen to the Net on Channel 71 and get the latest news, sports, local happening and call-ins from boaters throughout the North Channel. It is hosted by Roy Eaton. He is a retired school principal, an avid sailor, member of the Little Current Yacht Club and a shining example of Canadian hospitality. He watches over North Channel boaters like a guardian angel by keeping us all connected through the Net, offers his personal phone number to boaters in case our families back home have to contact us with an emergency and provides his home address so that our needed boating supplies can be delivered there.

Roy and the Net are also about having fun. The Net hosts an “Appy Hour” every Friday in July and August from 3-5pm at the Anchor Inn which even provides free hor d’oeuvres. We have not been far enough east this season to attend these but we are here for the end of the season Cruisers’ Net Rendezvous.

Roy organized a great line-up of excursions and classes for us. Roy is a lifelong resident of the area, and gave a very interesting presentation on the Trent Severn Canal, Georgian Bay and the North Channel, providing lots of local information and stories. Most boaters never see the mainland side of Manitoulin Island and Roy arranged for some tours, complete with his friends and LCYC members providing transportation. I chose to go on the Pepper Point Garden tour. As boaters, we see lots of wilderness up here but it was great to see the home garden of Jean and John Narozanski. We also visited Ten Mile Point Gallery which features First Nation art works. We learned more from a local expert on First Nation and Inuit art through a presentation about the vitality of their work. Bob went on the tour to a local fish farm, and will certainly consider buying such products now that he’s seen how clean the process is.

No rendezvous is complete without a potluck feast. There was plenty of food and good cheer and 124 boaters had a great time. There was no charge for any of the above activities, and Roy even arranged for the Little Current Municipal dock to give a 2 for 1 day price for the event.

Roy is such a modest man and always gives credit to others when praised. He is the inspiration for all of this and we are very grateful.

Covered Portage 8-20-11

2011-08-24T21:36:00.005-05:00

We’ve saved some of the more spectacular anchorages for last. Here we are at Covered Portage. We have been told that this little hide-away can hold 40 boats during the busy vacation weeks of July and early August. Imagine our surprise when we tucked past the rocky entrance to find ourselves alone in this paradise.

We were here for 3 nights and shared the anchorage nightly with only 6-7 other boats. Kids of all ages love this little anchorage. It inspires the imagination and you feel like you’re in Neverland without Captain Hook and the ticking crocodile.

This little anchorage has a lot of trails to explore. Here’s Mollie being line leader and she was doing pretty well until she veered into the woods after a pesky chipmunk. There is a great panoramic view from the top of the south trail. We noticed that some of the other trails here are now marked “Private” and we hope that this trend does not continue. There is a well-marked trail on the north side which leads you up and along the cliff tops back out to the entrance.

It’s hard to leave paradise but we know that we will be back here again next year.

Heywood Island, Browning Cove 8-18-11

2011-08-24T13:34:00.005-05:00

We’ve been in Little Current for the past two days getting chores done as well as reconnecting with boaters we’ve met at anchorages and meeting some new and gold Loopers. We’ll be back in Little Current for a Cruisers’ Net rendezvous next week so I will take pictures then.

We joined the boat parade as the Little Current Bridge swung open to allow east and west traffic. Some of the cruising books and even the bridge sign note that the bridge stays open for 15 minutes on the hour, but it is really only 3 minutes and boats really hustle or have to tread water for another hour.

Our 8 mile trip today brings us past the gleaming Strawberry Island Lighthouse. The grounds and tower is closed so the best view is from the water.

Here we are in Browning Cove on Heywood Island. It is a low well-treed island which shelters a large bird population, including eagles, but they must be napping this afternoon. Tomorrow morning should be a treat. I wish my camera could capture the teal blue color of the water here as well as the hills of Killarney in the distance. This is a great place to dinghy around 3 bays and Mollie definitely had a good time.

Bell Cove on Great La Cloche Island 8-15-11

2011-08-16T17:35:00.005-05:00

Today we decided to explore a number of islands as we head east on our way to the Town of Little Current tomorrow. Bob is a great planner and had printed lots of GLCC Harbor Reports so we might as well use them. We also use The Ports Guide to Georgian Bay, the North Channel & Lake Huron as well as the wonderfully descriptive, Well-Favored Passage, the Magic of Lake Huron's North Channel by Marjorie Cahn Brazer.

As we headed east into the Mid-Channel islands, the scenery changes from islands with towering pine-studded cliffs to low island shores covered thickly with a mixed forest and underbrush. We explored Amedroz and Bedford Islands, and although not as spectacular as South Benjamin, each offers wide harbors with sandy rock beaches. We did not stay long at either as a welcoming swarm of small biting flies greeted us on this calm, sunny day. This was a hungry batch that had just hatched in the recent rain and they were really, really hungry. I hoisted the anchor in record time and I did not even take any pictures.

As we continued further east, the west wind kicked in at 15 knots so we decided to head to La Cloche Island which has two side-by-side coves on the north side, Bell Cove and Sturgeon Cove. Bell Cove is easier to enter on a windy day, has a large harbor, but is very deep. We have never anchored in 25 feet of water with 160 feet of rode out but are holding very well.

We took our dinghy over to Sturgeon Cove to explore. This is a tougher entrance to negotiate, and notice the white range markers (2 white circles and a white can maintained by local boaters; GLCC recommends another set of markers?????) that help get you through the rocks safely if you figure it out correctly. This is a favorite GLCC anchorage and there were 10 sailboats here. We’ll come back another day when it’s calm and we can see the rock shoal below.

South Benjamin Island 8-14-11

2011-08-16T17:28:00.006-05:00

Every boater needs a perfect boating day to sustain them through the other season. Today was that day for me. It is probably more special as it occurred through happenstance and some perseverance which always sweetens the outcome for me.

We left Eagle Island as strong NE winds and rain were forecast for 8/13. We thought we would have to travel further to find a secure anchorage for the night, but luck was with us when we checked out South Benjamin harbor. It is located on the SW side of the island, is more compact than its popular sister harbor formed by North and South Benjamin Islands, and had a spot just meant for us.

But, first, we had to slog through 24 hours of rain, the non-stop kind that keeps you inside for the whole day and night. This is a test of any boating relationship, and luckily we passed—Mollie with flying colors. On any rainy day, there are nappers and nodders; Mollie and I fully embrace the decadence of the afternoon siesta; Bob does not “believe” in naps, but you will find him on the settee with his bobble head nodding and snoring over a book, and then denying it. I’ll choose a nap every time.

The next morning swept in with a clear beautiful blue sky. I do yoga every morning using the book, Yoga Onboard-a Guide for Cruisers and Live-aboards by Kim Hess. It is a unique approach that uses parts of the boat to help with the postures and combines the body’s and boat’s energy together. This was my focal point for today and it is impossible not to feel a little Zen in such a place of beauty.

We were joined in the anchorage by 3 Canadian sailboat crews and we were all like kids at recess today, meeting each other and zipping around the harbor in our dinghies. Here’s a picture of another sailboat being tied-up spider style in a shallow cove that can only be entered on very calm days with lots of local knowledge.

The pink flattened granite rock cliffs beckon you to land and climb up to find trails to the other side. You are rewarded by a spectacular view of the harbor and your boat below. Bob uses his GPS to explore trails; Mollie, her terrier sniffer, and each wanted to go in different directions. It was fun playing hide and seek with Mollie as she tried to find Bob who is hiding behind a tree at the bottom of the hill.

With a full moon and a sky full of stars, this is the life.

Eagle Island 8-11-11

2011-08-16T17:14:00.008-05:00

After the usual P’s and E’s (provisioning, pump-outs; exercise, emails) in Spanish, we headed to Eagle Island, 10 miles to the SE. The wind usually kicks-up whitecap waves at 15 knots, but we have another sign—Mollie’s ears pointed upwards. Mollie has great sea legs and our aft cockpit provides a pretty secure playpen for her.

Eagle Island is one of the largest (2.75 miles long) islands off the McBean Channel. It has a large harbor and only NE winds create any fetch. Watch out for the deadheads below marked cleverly by a GLCC boater with a milk jug. The island has a tuck away cove where trailer sailors can fit snugly and where we can dinghy ashore to explore. Mollie was swimming and retrieving sticks in the water but then spotted these frogs and wanted to play. “Watch out,” says that frog…….

There were a number of Loopers and GLCC boaters sharing the anchorage with us. I do not usually mention their names or do pictures this year but I will make an exception as Bayfield boaters will know this couple-- Dave and Sue Chase on Old Sam Peabody—no, not their beautiful sailboat that they had in the Apostle Islands, but a Grand Banks 32 just like our boat. They have been cruising the North Channel for years and had so many helpful tips about the islands and our boat. We had a regular Grand Banks 32 rendezvous and boat love fest when Catnip from Gore Bay also stopped by to chat. We all agreed that this is the perfect boat to do the North Channel. It’s a small world.

Laurier Island 8-9-11

2011-08-16T17:09:00.002-05:00

We have finally loaded in all our GPS ports and anchorage waypoints into the “Looper Locator” top section of this blog so you can get a Google Earth view of where we have been so far this summer. You’ll notice that we’ve been all over the North Channel east, then west, then east again in a seemingly confused pattern. This is partially true as we are meandering, but we’re also covering the bigger anchorages in the western area before we head east again to the very popular ones. The legendary anchorages (the Benjamins, Covered Portage, and Baie Fin) are pretty full right now with boaters on vacation and we have the luxury of time.

We have crisscrossed the beautiful Whaleback Channel a number of times. It is spectacular on a clear blue sky day as the dark pines, steep granite sloped islands and clear blue water stand out in vivid contrast. It is regarded as one of the most beautiful passages in the world. I think it’s time for another camera next year as my little Nikon CoolPix cannot capture the beauty of this incredible place. Here’s a picture of the “whale” in the Whaleback.

Our destination today is Laurier Island, located east by Little Detroit Narrows and about 2 miles from the town of Spanish. It’s not as scenic as the other islands that we’ve visited but has something very special—great fishing. The island is low and grassy which makes it a magnet for pike and bass. All the locals come here regularly to try their luck, and it was fun to meet them and get more tips on special anchorages. I think it’s time to consider adding fishing gear onboard, but Bob tells me I have to do the gutting. Some boaters anchor their boats here and simply take their dinghies into Spanish for a beer run. There is an island for everyone out here in the North Channel.

Bob may be reluctant to gut fish, but tonight he was a regular Rambo with the outside spiders. It was a cool night with few mosquitoes, so we headed outside fortified with flashlights, fly swatter, paper towels and maybe a little wine. This was a “take no prisoners” raid with me finding the critters with the flashlight and Bob swooping down with the swatter. By the end of the night, we were crunching them with relish with our bare hands and giving a commando hoot as we notched 40 kills on our belts. We are pretty non-violent folks but this was needed to take back OUR boat.

Great Lakes Marauders 8-10-11

2011-08-10T20:55:00.002-05:00

I’ve been doing a lot of entries lately about the beauty of the North Channel of Lake Huron, and you are probably wondering where is the drama, everything can’t be so great. You are right--I have not been totally honest with you, my faithful readers.

There is a lurking presence that stalks us by night and dares us to find it amongst the hundreds of hidey holes on the boat. It leaves a spun dream catcher the next morning but is long gone. It knows that we can’t use pesticides this year as we have a puppy, and sometimes I expect that they are scouting out Mollie, too.

We try to make a truce with them by suggesting that they stay outside and help themselves to all the flies and mosquitoes that they can catch, but leave us in peace inside the cabin. Sounds like a fair deal but they are not to be trusted and quickly renege on the deal and surreptitiously outflank us night after night.

We’ve picked up boatloads of these pests from Michigan to Canada. Sometimes we feel that we are running a cruise ship for them as they party night after night and are not even interested in catching a good share of the bountiful flies and mosquitoes.

Their absolutely favorite haunt is the bow pulpit and anchor locker which is located right over our bed. No wonder I go to bed at night with a flashlight to check if I am having company. Bob, was that you tickling my leg???????

Calm at the End of the Storm 8-10-11

2011-08-10T20:49:00.002-05:00

The day started pretty meekly with 10 knots of wind and partly sunny skies. Environment Canada (Canada’s national weather service) was forecasting 30 knots by the afternoon with water spouts, but hard to believe when things look so calm. Many a captain ventured out today, even a little trailer sailor family with a reluctant wife and 2 kids under age 5. Then the wind and rain hit with a one/two punch at 3p.m. howling out of the west with 25-30-35 knots of wind. The North Channel is more protected than open Lake Huron, but even the Channel was showing 6+ foot waves at the buoy.

The marine radio was alive with broadcasts of a sailboat going aground, anchors dragging in island anchorages and a powerboat hitting a reef. Canadian Coast Guard was sorting all of this out, and luckily boaters were helping other boaters. It is a small community and every boater knows that the next time it could be them in an emergency situation.

These are the same winds that we had 7/17 in Government Bay when our anchor dragged 200 feet on a very stormy, scary night. Today was a different story as we took shelter in the Spanish marina as we were betting that the EC forecast was correct. Hearing that banshee wind howling goes to your core wherever you are, but today all we had to do was take down our bimini top so that it would not get bent.

At the end of the storm, Mother Nature offers a bit of an apology by displaying a fantastic rainbow.

John Harbour 8-8-11

2011-08-09T19:29:00.008-05:00

We weighed anchor at 11a.m. on 8/6 to head east back through the Whalesback Channel for 6 miles to John Harbour, formed by Gowan, Dewdney and John Islands. The Great Lakes Cruising Club (GLCC) rates anchorages and this one gets the designation of “beautiful anchorage” and we would definitely agree. It has 2 deep-water anchorages, is very well-protected, and even has a fully enclosed cove (Cleary) for shallow draft boats.

Each anchorage has its own unique personality and feel. John Harbour stretches long and elegantly through higher rock cliffs, covered by a deep pine forest that hides blueberry patches and mushrooms. During our 2 nights here, there were only 7 other boats anchored, spread out over 2 miles so each had a more solitary experience.

Our bodies and minds are really unwinding after 3 weeks up here in the North Channel. I cannot remember a time in my adult life when I’ve been this relaxed. It’s like going back to care-free childhood days filled with swimming, reading, playing games and making new friends. Life is good.

Turnbull and Sanford Islands and Blind River 8-6-11

2011-08-09T19:11:00.005-05:00

With a forecast of rain for all day on 8/3, we decided to head further west past the end of the Whaleback Channel to the Town of Blind River. Rainy days are good for getting boating tasks done in port (provisioning, laundry, pump-outs, etc.) as well as a chance to get Wi-Fi, catch-up with boaters we’ve met at various anchorages and stretch our legs with long walks and bike rides. Blind River Marina is relatively new with floating docks and a very helpful staff who helped us dock in 15 knot winds. The marina also provides loaner bikes with big baskets which came in handy for the 2 mile trek to town. There is an M&M Meat Shop here which carries a catalog full of frozen meats—just perfect for packing our tiny freezer in our small fridge.

Fog engulfed us the next morning, but lifted by 11 a.m. so we cast-off for Turnbull Island, east about 8 miles. The u-shaped harbor is formed by Turnbull/Bassett Islands to the north, east and southeast, and a bracelet of unnamed islands fill in the west to give full protection with a mud bottom and plenty of depth.

Here’s a picture of Baby Grand at anchor. You’ll notice our riding sail which keeps us pointed into the wind and we swing less back and forth. If you zoom in, you can see our blue aft awning which we can set-up in 10 minutes with a front track, a rear pole, and side bungees. It has flaps all around that can be raised or lowered. This awning has really kept us cool all summer. Baby Grand is an 1985 boat without tinted windows but we cut the heat down by adding phifertex sunscreens. All of these, as well as our flybridge bimini, were made by Jim Wilinski of Ship Shape Products in Duluth, MN and we highly recommend him.

This small archipelago of islands is another great place for dinghy exploration. We’re told it’s a pretty good place to fish for pike and bass. GLCC developed a campsite just perfect for going ashore and having a campfire. Here we are on Sanford (“Clara”) Island looking for interesting rocks. The island was habited by a gang of marauding boars in the 1980’s but no sightings today.

Beardrop Harbour 8-2-11

2011-08-03T18:38:00.008-05:00

We decided to head west from Spanish along the beautiful Whaleback Channel, 12 miles to Beardrop Harbour. It is a mile long stretch framed by 2 unnamed islands to the south and the Ontario mainland to the north. It is entered along a course of rocky island outcroppings but with depths of 8-12 feet. Beardrop is a fully protected anchorage with a mud bottom, depths of 8-15’ and room for a dozen+ boats. The mainland is owned by the Serpent River First Nation and going ashore is okay as long as the land is respected and kept clean.

This is an island paradise complete with a loon soundtrack and eagles soaring above. There are pink bluffs and tiny coves to explore by dinghy. I need to get a 10-11 foot kayak to explore here next year so I can quietly thread through the lily pads. There is a small sandy beach to go ashore. There are dozens of small deserted islands nearby so if the weather is good, you can find a place to go ashore and explore.

We spent 4 wonderful days here filled with exploring, swimming, aqua jogging, reading, and visiting with neighboring boaters. We even had a visit from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, not on a horse, but a Titan dinghy, launched from their 74 foot mother ship in Whaleback Channel. RCMP does homeland security for Canada. We were not boarded as we had all the required Canadian CBSA Report numbers. It also helps to have a cute dog onboard.

I can report that this anchorage is solid, having been tested by a 2 a.m. t-storm, another day of 20 knot winds, and one day of solid rain. We are switching to island time as we notice ourselves unwinding and attuning to a more natural clock.

Spanish 7-30-11

2011-08-03T18:21:00.006-05:00

We intended to island hop a few more days before coming into port for a pump-out, but the darn holding tank was surprisingly full. We don’t have a holding tank gauge and use a low tech system of simply counting flushes. This led to a lively discussion of “Did you…I did” so we concluded that the holding tank trolls were at it again, and that we probably did not get a complete pump-out last time.

We set a course for the closest town, Spanish, 12 miles away and through Little Detroit Narrows. The approach to Spanish is a bit tricky as there is a 4.5 foot section between the first and second set of buoys so this discourages most boats with 5 foot+ drafts.

The harbor today was filled with trailer sailors ending their 2 week cruise of the North Channel. Spanish is a great place to launch as their ramp is deep and the marina even has a gin pole to help lift heavier masts. The trailer sailor boats are 10-26’ in length, have dagger or center boards which lift easily to beach, have iceboxes, 10 gallon holding tanks and extend their 5’ headroom with pop-ups. This is boat camping at its best. This group was affiliated with Trailer Sailor Association (http://www.trailersailors.org/ ) which had arranged potlucks at Spanish, pancake breakfast at Croacker Island, Happy Hour in their dinghies and lots of games. Camaraderie and looking out for each other is their hallmark. This was especially important when 1 boater got separated from the group for a few days, did not answer his radio, so the Ontario Provincial Police was contacted, dispatched a patrol boat and found the sailor who was having engine problems as a line was wrapped around his prop.

Spanish has a great nature trail high above the harbor with a great view. The grocery store is a mile down the road, but the Le Bel Abri B&B was not open for breakfast.

Hotham Island, Oak Bay 7-27-11

2011-08-03T18:02:00.011-05:00

It was a calm, sunny, 70 degree day when we left Gore Bay headed for Hotham Island, Oak Bay. It is an easy 12 mile cruise up through the McBean Channel with an easy entrance between Oak Point and the west end of Hotham Island. This 5-mile long island has 3 well-defined large bays with good depths, mud bottom, room to swing at anchor and protection from all wind directions.

I wish I had more pictures, but I often forget my camera as my pockets are now filled with litter bags and dog treats. Exploring by dinghy is always fun especially for checking out tuck-away gunkholes. I barely had this picture taken when Mollie almost scrambled over the side of the dinghy after a seagull.

Here’s a picture of Mount McBean on a cloudy day. We would love to climb it but were told that the surrounding land is owned by the Sagamok First Nation and a few cottagers who do not allow trespassing on their land. Lack of legal shore access could be a big problem with a dog onboard, but our little Mollie is litter box trained. The breeder started her and we’ve continued this skill, using a boot tray filled with wood pellets used for wood stoves. It does the job, smells pretty good and eliminates those early morning and late night jaunts to shore in rain and fog.

Roy Eaton in Little Current hosts the Cruisers’ Net on Channel 71 every morning at 9a.m. You can hear the weather, news, sports, local happenings and boat check-in. Since we had a pretty good radio signal, we called in that Baby Grand was in Oak Bay. It helps build a sense of community amongst boaters and is also good in emergency situations.

Gore Bay, Manitoulin Island, North Channel 7-25-11

2011-07-25T17:32:00.012-05:00

We arrived here on Wednesday, 7/20 surrounded by heat and humidity that just would not let go, so we decided to take the weekly rate option of $7.60 per foot. As attractive as the island anchorages are to us, it is more important right now to have electricity to blow 3 fans around to catch a breeze. The marina was recently refurbished with wide floating docks and a spacious bathhouse and HE laundry facility so we settled in quite nicely.

Gore Bay is a great town to visit with so much going on. There’s the Farmers’ Market on Friday and the weekend was filled with events (fish fry, rock concert) for the Mackinac-Manitoulin (MacMan) sailboat race. We attended a first rate production by the Gore Bay Summer Theatre of the Norm Foster play, Looking, which kept us laughing for days. We love going for long walks and here is a picture of the Gore Bay harbor from the East Bluff Overlook. You can also bike or walk about 2 miles on Lighthouse Road to the Janet Head Lighthouse. Jan Fletcher will regale you with tales about the keepers and how the whole Fletcher family adopted this lighthouse and has kept it going for 3 generations. The Gore Bay Museum is also worth a visit and don’t miss the air-conditioned art gallery. There was an Ecumenical service on Sunday which featured “ol’ time religion” music and camaraderie with a potluck lunch. I just love the hospitality of small towns in Canada. Even Mollie found a friend—here she is doing her puppy moves with Spike, an absolutely incredible German Shepherd/Husky mix who allowed Mollie to climb all over him.

We proudly fly our GLCC and Looper burgees and have met so many boaters though this. All are eager to share information about their favorite anchorages and tricky passages. This is a great place to reprovision at the ValuMart grocery store, the hardware store, 2 drug stores and pick up your needed charts at CYC Charters.

We would recommend Café on the Bay for lunch, but don’t even try to go to Gordon’s Lodge even though it is recommended in the Ports book and GLCC Harbor Reports. We walked over there with other boaters to inquire about dinner that evening and were met by a screaming, hysterical woman owner who demanded that we leave the property or she would call the police. Her demand was accented by a guy behind her, swinging a cane. Jack Nicholson in The Shining gave a warmer reception than we received here, and apparently the problems started when new owners took over the restaurant and resort. Just avoid Gordon’s and your visit to Gore Bay will be absolutely wonderful.

Meldrum Bay, North Channel, Lake Huron, Canada 7-19-11

2011-07-25T16:11:00.009-05:00

We left DeTour Village on Tuesday, 7/19 on a very easy 40 mile cruise to Canada and phone customs check-in at Meldrum Bay on Manitoulin Island. We subsequently learned that you can apply for a Can Pass for Remote Area Border Crossing at www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca but there is a fee.

We are now in the western edge of the North Channel, which is framed by large Manitoulin Island on the south and the mainland of Ontario Province on the south with hundreds of islands sandwiched between. Meldrum Bay is the tiniest little hamlet with a newly constructed breakwater and a marina office and showers downstairs and comfortable boaters lounge upstairs. The docks are scheduled for an overhaul late this year, but until then, the harbormaster, Peggy, and her crew will get you securely tied-up to the old long pier docks.

Have lunch or dinner at the Meldrum Bay Inn where you will see this doll house garden. The Grover family also operates the General Store and if you’re lucky, fresh croissants may be available.

Les Cheneaux Islands, Lake Huron 7-17-11

2011-07-18T19:05:00.001-05:00

There is only one picture but a story to tell. We left Mackinaw City on Sunday, 7/17 to continue through the Straits of Mackinac to Lake Huron and Government Island in the Cheneaux (aka the Snows) Islands. It was an easy 21 mile course on this hot, humid and windless day. Government Bay was recommended to us by a number of boaters as it has 4 sided protection, mud holding ground and a beach with a campsite. We are members of the Great Lakes Cruising Club (GLCC) and membership provides charts and harbor reports and Government Bay looked pretty good. We dropped in 13 feet with good holding, deep to shore, no rocks and a mile to the west shore—pretty perfect conditions.

Mollie loved the dinghy ride and had a great time at the beach retrieving sticks with a Springer spaniel. We enjoyed a lazy afternoon of reading, jumping into the 60 degree water as well as a delicious trout dinner.

We turned in early, but were awakened by a deep rumbling of thunder and a Marine Warning on our GPS. It indicated a wide band of T-storms with 30-40mph headed our way. We checked our anchor line which was solid and let out 20 more feet of scope for extra safety for an 8:1 scope. We readied our emergency equipment (headlamps, headsets, rain gear) and talked about strategies if our anchor broke free.

By 11pm, the sky was ablaze with lightening all around us, the winds began to howl and the thunder monster was getting closer. We had 2 powerboats anchored, 1 was 200 feet to port and the other, 300 feet to starboard, and all boaters were on deck in ready mode. The west wind built 20-25-30 mph accompanied by horizontal, torrential rain. We were glued to our GPS Anchor Watch, compass and wind meter and shuttered when at 33 mph and a wind lurch, our anchor dragged 80 feet!

Bob started the engine to keep us in place and be ready to reset the anchor, but not in building 40 mph winds at midnight in a bay we did not know. We danced with the savage wind for an hour with Bob going slowly forward with each wind thrust backwards. The powerboat to port broke free of its anchor and was drifting perilously close to us as the boaters struggled to get up their anchor rode and lash their anchor and finally, after Herculean effort, pulled away.

Bob maintained a steady hand on the wheel ever mindful of the danger of the anchor rode getting tangled around our propeller if he went too far forward. We continued to drag a total of 200 feet, but by 1am, our anchor had reset in 12 feet of water as the wind started to die back down to 35-30-25-20-15. We breathed a sigh of relief, tested our anchor line and it was solid. We went to bed but not really to sleep just waiting for more to come. We learned later that the Chicago-Mackinac sailing racers were caught in the very same storm with one boat capsizing, killing two sailors and we pause to remember them.

And how did Mollie do during the storm? Mollie slept in her crate and did not even stir. What a great boating dog!!!!

Beaver Island, Lake Michigan 7-14-11

2011-07-16T19:23:00.006-05:00

Here’s another island retreat where you are guaranteed to have a good time. We were headed out of Charlevoix on 7/12 to Mackinaw City about 15 miles out when the predicted winds and waves of 10-15 and 2-3 increased to 18-22 and 4+ respectively so we set an alternate course for shelter at Beaver Island and Paradise Bay. There is anchoring room in this beautiful harbor, but with a seasick puppy, we decided to go to a dock.

Beaver Island Marina is a private, bit rundown marina that takes reservations but has the phone number of the non-reservation, updated Beaver Island Municipal Marina in the official State of Michigan Harbor Guide--very confusing. Both are $1.18 per foot, and despite being duped into staying at Beaver Island Marina, we opted to stay for 2 days as the staff are very helpful, docks are lower, closer proximity to town, great local boaters and car rentals are available.

You notice immediately the Irish flags flying proudly on Beaver Island, the Gaelic surnames on the street and shop signs, the Irish music playing and everyone waving “Hello” to you. This is Michigan’s Emerald Isle with a dramatic connection to the Auld Sod and Arranmore Island in particular. An Englishman, John Charley, bought that island in 1851 and evicted his 163 Irish tenants that day, forcing them to emigrate to America and eventually to this island which reminded them so much of home.

Beaver Island has an even more colorful Mormon connection with a saga that rivals any script for the HBO series,Big Love. After the Mormon founder, Joseph Smith, died, his two disciples split with Brigham Young taking his followers to Utah and James Strang staying on Beaver Island and declaring himself “King.” It was a surreal life—dressing his second wife as a man and pretending she was his nephew, marrying three more wives and finally being assassinated.

Today Beaver Island is unspoiled, unhurried and unique with loads to offer. There are car ferries and airline service ($42.) from Charlevoix, 2 campgrounds and plenty of house rentals. The town of St. James is laid-back, not gaudy touristy and your provisioning needs are easily handled at McDonough’s Market and Powers Hardware Stores. Stony Acres is a great lunch stop.

You can tour the Maritime Museum and learn about the islands history as the greatest fishing ground for trout and whitefish until the lamprey eel in the 1950’s reeked havoc. The Toy Museum and Art Gallery was fun and we enjoyed its miniature garden and playhouse. There are miles of walking and bike trails and we liked the Gull Harbour area. We rented a Geo Tracker and toured 40 miles on narrow “boreen” gravel roads through the forest as well as Donegal Bay (see Mollie look for fish), Kelly Point, McCouley Point and the Beaver Island Lighthouse. We celebrated the end of 2 perfect days by the turquoise waters at Beaver Island Lodge.

We are putting Beaver Island on our annual Must-do ports on our way to the North Channel of Lake Huron.

Vashon Island Wedding 7-3-11

2011-07-16T19:10:00.004-05:00

What is there about an island that stirs our imaginations, encourages us to dream and even to fall in love? Vashon Island off the coast of Seattle is such a place and the site for the wedding of our nephew, Kyle, to his beautiful bride, Kate. We all gathered to witness this happy day at the Point Robinson Lighthouse which nautical Olsens just had to climb. We were lavishly entertained at a Welcome dinner at the Vashon Island Yacht Club, and following the wedding, a reception at Kate’s parent’s home with a newly constructed party barn. We raised the roof with good cheer, great food, a fabulous band and “We are Family” kinship. With great accommodations overlooking Puget Sound, and side trips to Seattle and Mount Rainer, it truly was a fantastic wedding. Thank you so much, Kate and Kyle; Kate’s parents, Mike and Sarah; and my sister and brother-in-law, Maureen and Kevin.

Elk Rapids 6-26-11

2011-07-01T20:27:00.013-05:00

We traveled 24 miles from Traverse City to Elk Rapids on 6/20 and stepped back to small town Americana at its best. In our 7 days here, we’ve had 5 days of rain and NOAA which usually forecasts weather in technical terms ran out of descriptions and simply noted “the ugliness continues.” However, Elk Rapids is a great port to be waylaid. The marina is the best of our Loop of 7,500 miles as evidenced by its friendly and very attentive staff, sparkling restrooms complete with fresh flowers, comfortable boaters’ lounge and all this for $1.18 per foot including great Wi-Fi and cable. There is yoga every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday morning at 7am in the Pavilion and Acoustic Sunset performances every Sunday night.

You can reprovision at the Village Market, and while you’re up there, have lunch at Pearl’s New Orleans Kitchen. You’ll think you’re back in bayou country with spicy Jambalaya and Gumbo, accented with Mardi Gras décor and a Blues downbeat. Siren Hall Restaurant also has a tasty and creative menu. You are bound to need something at Gil-Roys Got It Hardware store. Elk Rapids has cute shops and even has a movie theatre and we enjoyed seeing Water for Elephants on a rainy afternoon. There are great walking trails along Traverse Bay and the beaches here are dog-friendly. Mollie enjoyed racing, swimming and doing what terriers do best—digging.

We take sunny blue sky days for granted in Denver; here when the sun comes out for the weekend, everyone rejoices. We had a perfect alignment of weather, place and people. We attended the Art Rapids Art Show, the Town Hall Ice Cream Social and the Elk Rapids Yacht Club pot-luck dinner. We met so many boaters and felt so welcome here that we joined the yacht club ($20) as we will be here annually every June and September.

On 6/27, we headed back to Northport at the tip of Grand Traverse Bay. Our car is here so we can reprovision easily after we come back from my nephew Kyle’s wedding in Seattle. We love the Pacific Northwest and it will be a chance to sample another seaside area and see our family again. Mollie will be vacationing at Sun Dog Kennel which has couches and lots of TLC from Tracy.

Happy 4th of July!!!!!

Northern Lake Michigan Traverse City 6-19-11

2011-07-01T19:56:00.010-05:00

It is good to be back on the water again!!!!! After a week’s worth of inside boat projects at Northport Bay Boat Yard (we recommend them highly) and some reprovisioning and more projects at Northport, we headed off on 6/14 to explore Grand Traverse Bay. This 35 mile long bay is grand indeed with its clear Caribbean blue water surrounded by rolling hillsides filled with cherry trees and vineyards. This is cottage country where Michigan comes to play and visit the quaint port towns of Northport, Sutton’s Bay, Omena and Elk Rapids. There are plenty of anchorages but since our dink is with the Dinghy Doc trying to find that pesky hole, we will port hop for awhile.

Traverse City commands a position as the “cherry” on top of the bay which is only fitting as it annually hosts the National Cherry Festival in July. From its Clinch Park shoreline complete with beaches, pavilions, a steam engine train ride and tall ships to the walks and bike trails alone the Boardman River, Traverse City is a great place to explore. This is a small city with a lot of vitality with loads of visitors to its shops (check out the bargain book section at Horizon) and restaurants. There are plenty of dog-friendly ones and Mollie liked searching for some tasty morsels.

The locals are very friendly and rightly proud of their town and many give credit to Michael Moore, the filmmaker, even if they don’t agree with his politics. He refurbished the State Theatre for his Traverse City Film Festival and now it is open daily and run by a non-profit and volunteers. In our six days here, we saw Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris (his best since Annie Hall and who knew Owen Wilson could act), the l960 classic Fall of the House of Usher ( no one does eyebrows better than Vincent Price) for only 25 cents and an encore performance of the Met Opera HD broadcast of Madam Butterfly.

The Balloon Festival filled the sky with color and created a party atmosphere in the park. We met so many great people and even reconnected with Loopers, Pat and Ted from South Shore and Jim and Lisa from Kismet. Lots of dogs here too and here’s Mollie with a basket full of Border Terriers, Elvis and Priscilla. We even attended the Grand Traverse Kennel Club and watched dogs show their stuff on the Canine Good Citizen test—do we have a lot of work to do!

Meet Mollie, Our New 2nd Mate 6-20-11

2011-06-24T19:08:00.018-05:00

We left sunny Denver by car about a month ago with our 9 month old Border Terrier puppy, Good Golly Miss Mollie. We took a side trip through St. Paul and Bayfield to see friends and touch base on the way to our new launching homeport, Northport, on Lake Michigan. It was so good to see all of you and share the connection that keeps us close though we live so far away now.
Mollie is adjusting very well to the boating lifestyle and has staked out her favorite places: riding in the stern on her blanket enjoying the sun; stretched out on the settee and guarding the food cabinet so she doesn’t miss a meal. She loves to wake up Bob and this is no easy job. Swimming is a requirement for a live-aboard boat dog and here she is learning the basics.
Life aboard has changed some with the addition of all the doggy stuff and our 32 foot boat seems smaller but has a special chi with Mollie aboard. It’s been over 3 years since my old girl died and I am enjoying seeing life again through a dog’s eyes. I forgot how interesting the little things can be and how to live in the moment. Our boating plans are less ambitious this year (Northern Lake Michigan and the North Channel of Lake Huron) but will be filled with special little moments. Welcome aboard.

Lake Michigan Northport Coming Home 9-19-10

2010-10-03T14:43:00.008-05:00

The last cruise of the season is always special as it has to sustain us through a boatless Denver winter. I wanted to make it extra special on this 23 mile sunny and calm trip from Charlevoix to Northport so I “fired” Captain Bob and took full command for the day—docking, setting waypoints, monitoring the GPS and paper charts, helm duty (ok—monitoring the autohelm) and having Captain Bob wait on me for a change. Maybe I will go ahead and get my Captain’s license.

We visited Northport in 9/08 at the start of our Great Circle Loop and remembered it as an unpretentious, charming, hilly port town similar to our home port of Bayfield on Lake Superior. Northport Marina has a very helpful staff (Marv, Martha and Jason) and the price is right at $15 per night after 9/15—the lowest price on the whole Loop. Northport has everything we need—Tom’s Grocery store, an Ace Hardware store, Wi-Fi at the marina and library, an indoor pool up the hill at Highlands, and the real reason we came back—Barb’s Bakery for the best cinnamon twists ever. Grand Traverse Bay Lighthouse and Leelanau State Park are 8 miles away. We looped with a lot of Michigan boaters and some have cottages near here and we were able to visit with Pat and Ted (South Shore), and Deb (Catrina), and hope to see Jack and Linda (Cynthia Faye and other Loopers in future summers in this area.

We will be hauling-out on 10/1 with Northport Bay Boat Yard for inside cold storage ($4.50 sq foot). In the meantime, we have an endless list of chores for the next 2 weeks. I am the kind of project person who makes detailed lists of everything to do and then get immense pleasure checking stuff off. Logging it here would only make your eyes glaze over so I will simply note that Bob is doing the winterization of all systems and I am getting Baby Grand looking grand again by cleaning, waxing, polishing and varnishing. We also have to replace 2 cracked windows, fix the flybridge shifter and do a toilet make-over. Sounds fun---huh, but if you play, you eventually have to pay. Does that sound too Irish Catholic—I will also honor my heritage by consuming alcohol for medicinal reasons as 60+ year old bodies are not meant for some of these project contortions.

We’ve had a great season and will now be Great Lakes cruisers rather than Loopers. We look forward to exploring Lake Michigan and returning to the North Channel and Georgian Bay areas of Lake Huron for the next few summers. I will probably add-on to this blog and you are welcome back aboard in June, 2011.

Have a great winter and we look forward to following the blogs of our boating friends heading south. Let's stay in touch peggy8301@hotmail.com

Lake Michigan Charlevoix 9-17-10

2010-09-25T20:02:00.009-05:00

Waves and wind finally calmed down and the sun came out on 9/15 so we scooted the 54 miles down the Lake Michigan coast to Charlevoix. We were here in 9/08 just for an overnight, but this time with the time to spare and the 2 nights for 1 dock price sale, we are staying for 4 nights. This is a great stop with a very protected harbor that you enter through a canal onto Round Lake and can even explore further by entering Lake Charlevoix. The fountains in the foreground of the picture pulse with color and a sound track at night and I have a date with my girlfriend Terry on Tootsie to dance through the sprinkler next June. Hope it’s warmer then…..

There is plenty to do here in Charlevoix. The newly renovated harbor is right downtown so there is access to shops, restaurants, grocery store, parks and galleries. Cherries are big here and celebrated all over but the chocolate-covered, jalapeno-dipped cherry was a bit much even for me.

We took our bikes off the flybridge and used them everyday to explore---- Ferry Ave. runs along Lake Charlevoix and offers a number of parks; Lakeshore Drive goes along Lake Michigan and takes you to Boulder Park where you will find the incredible “mushroom” or “hobbit houses” designed by Earl Young. They are only found in Charlevoix and with their wavy roofs and diminutive whimsical size, they would be a perfect home for Frodo from Lord of the Rings; or take a 10 mile roundtrip bike ride out to Castle Farms. It is a remodeled 1918 model farm developed by the Loeb family who owned Sear and was used to test farm equipment. The cow barns and horse trough have now been converted to an amazing castle decked out with formal gardens, but the multi-tiered railroad caught Bob’s eye.

We went to the beach and caught the wave action on Lake Michigan. Loopers are so tired of this lake with its unseasonably early wind and weather that they are calling it “Lake Misery.” It is definitely more ferocious than when we were here in 9/08. As we prepared to leave for Northport on 9/19 with good weather, Looper friends were trying to make distance to Frankfort or beyond. I watched them leave, wished them well but are glad that we are staying here in this area. Sometimes you have to leave home to discover that the best is right here.

Mackinaw City 9-13-10

2010-09-15T13:02:00.005-05:00

With the wind and waves continuing on Lake Michigan, we delayed our departure and switched from cruising to touring mode here in Mackinaw City. This town of 900 is positioned well to handle the throngs of tourists who swarm here all summer to visit the princess port, Mackinac Island, right across the Strait. Mackinaw City is more practical, spells its name like its pronounced, and offers ferry service, hotels, shops, restaurants and has more fudge stores than bars.

The State of Michigan has developed a first class, reasonably priced ($1.03 to 1.19 per foot) marina system every 20-30 miles along Lake Michigan; Mackinaw City has two—Mackinaw Municipal Marina and the new state-of-the-art, State Harbor Marina with floating docks and wind turbines. We found lots of stuff we needed at Shepler’s Marine Store, and we are even thinking of doing inside boat storage with Shepler's Shipyard next year to be closer to the North Channel and Mackinaw City is a great place to spend a few days.

Mackinac Bridge or “Mighty Mac” is the 5 mile long suspension-type bridge which connects to Upper Michigan, Yooperland. The bridge defines the skyline and is nicely complimented by the shoreline paths and parks. You can tour the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse and/or step back in time with a visit to Colonial Fort Michilimackinac. Bob was here 50 years ago when there was only a cannon. Over the years, archeologists have unearthed and Michigan has reconstructed almost the entire fort.

Winter is long here so I thought I would include a picture of the icebreaker, USCG Mackinaw, now dry docked and open for tours. Our thoughts are now turning to tucking in Baby Grand for the season in Northport, 75 miles away. Our season is slowly coming to a close.

Mackinac Island 9-12-10

2010-09-14T22:00:00.008-05:00

Sometimes a place transports you and Mackinac Island is it. Just like in the 1979 movie, Somewhere in Time, with Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour, based here at the Grand Hotel, romance is in the air. The weather was perfect for hiking and biking the island trails for 2 days as well as enjoying the gardens and ambience of the Grand Hotel for lunch. You can explore Fort Mackinac, take a carriage ride or marvel at the blue water through the lens of Arch Rock. So much to see and do…we will be back…

Lighthouses of the Straits of Mackinac 9-10-10

2010-09-14T20:46:00.007-05:00

We left DeTour Village on a bright calm day without weather for a change. These lighthouses (DeTour Reef, Barton Reef, Mackinac Island, Round Island and Old Mackinac Point Lighthouses) dotted our scenery and served as chart markers, but have been lifelines to sailors in the past.

Mackinac Straits is the narrow passage between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, is filled with reefs and shoals; add storms and fog and it is a recipe for shipwrecks. These lighthouses marked the reefs and channels, sent out a beacon of light and helped steer ships to safety.

Life expectancy for a Great Lakes sailor in the 19th century was only 7 years, and with 6,000 shipwrecks from 1878 to 1898 alone, it proved to be more dangerous than the job of a whaler in Nantucket. Their memory is honored and preserved in the Straits of Mackinac Underwater Preserve. Check out www.michiganpreserves.org/straits.htm

North Channel Drummond Island and De Tour Village 9-9-10

2010-09-09T21:00:00.007-05:00

This is a 2 flag day for us: we come back to the USA and the red, white and blue through customs on Drummond Island; and we really earn our gold burgee for our Great Circle Loop for the 2008-2010 trip. We will not be going back into Lake Superior this year, but we were here in De Tour Village on 9/12/08 at the start of that Loop, and crossed our wake here today after logging 7,315 miles. We know we’re back in familiar waters as the ore freighters are on parade and they definitely have the right-of-way.

We are quietly reflective today compared to our other Loop milestone of technically completing the Great Circle Loop in the Chesapeake on 6-27-09 (see archive article, It's Been a Grand Adventure). Since that accomplishment, we’ve really slowed down, savored the moment and have broken-up the final leg into segments. It has been less stressful, and more fun in many ways than the fast-paced Loop schedule. Going only 300 miles in 3 months allowed us to really revisit our roots, relatives and friends in New Jersey, New York and Vermont last summer and fall, and this spring. Slowly cruising the Chambly, Rideau and Trent-Severn Canadian canals this summer, and then exiting into the Georgian Bay and North Channel areas of Lake Huron has been the highlight of our entire Loop.

We went to the De Tour Botanic garden today as we did on 9/12/08. Here are a few of the images from there: a Passage Keeper, a Sea Memorial and a Window on the World. It captures some of how we feel today—thankful that we could make this passage, and mindful that it has definitely given us a new window on the world.

North Channel Town of Thessalon 9-6-10

2010-09-09T18:58:00.007-05:00

With the trio of strong clocking winds, cold temps (we don’t have a built-in heater) and rain with t-storms continuing here in the North Channel, we made the reluctant decision to leave the town of Spanish for the town of Thessalon instead of anchoring out on this holiday Monday. There were no boats in sight as we traveled east through the Whaleback Channel and Blind River Bank. We saw lots of anchorages that we want to try next year—Bear Drop, Long Point Cove, John’s Harbour—the list is endless here.

Our boat is a Grand Banks trawler and we joined the Great Lakes Grand Banks Association (GLGBA) a few years ago but have been too busy Looping to do much with them. On a whim, Bob sent an email to Linc North, a GLGBA member, newsletter editor and resident of Thessalon, that we would be coming into the Thessalon marina. Linc was there to catch our lines and whisked us away to his stunning home overlooking the harbor. We were wined and dined with a fantastic partridge and wild rice dinner, topped off with his wife, Shirley’s amazing apple rhubarb pie. What a gracious couple and the only thing Linc is requesting from me is a newsletter article—that’s a deal.

Thessalon offers a harbor with good protection, use of loaner bikes, a lighthouse-inspired marina building with a boaters’ lounge loft with complete kitchen. There are shops, a grocery store, hardware store, restaurants (Tina’s On Main is good), LCBO, parks and an ice arena that is gearing up for some serious hockey. You can tell a country is serious about hockey when it depicts hockey on their $5 bill—not pros, but kids playing. You got to love it! Speaking of money, we have been accumulating oodles of coins as Canada does not have $1 or $2 bills, but has these denominations in coins. We are hunched over carrying all these coins around, and Canadians tell us that’s why they all use knapsacks for wallets. I took $50 in coins up to the municipal office to pay the marina bill as the boat was listing from all the weight.

The last picture illustrates our boat name better than any explanation. With a name like Baby Grand, we usually get asked—“Are you musicians?” or “Do you have a baby grand piano onboard?” “Of course,” we say, “It’s just a little hard to get it out of the rear locker.” The real answer is that our Grand Banks 32 foot boat is the smallest model made by Grand Banks, hence Baby Grand. Here that point is illustrated next to Bonnie Banks, a 49 foot Grand Banks, owned by Floyd and Maggie Lewis who also came into Thessalon to visit with Linc and Shirley.

This is our last stop in Canada. We crossed the border on 6/13 and have been welcomed everywhere we’ve travelled. It is a beautiful country, filled with amazing people who really want you to have a good time here. I’ve been reading Richard Ford’s novel, Independence Day, and could not agree more with his character's observation: “The best all-around Americans, in my view, are Canadians. I, in fact, should think of moving there, since it has all the good qualities of the states and almost none of the bad, plus cradle-to-grave health care and a fraction of the murders we generate……”

Canada—see you next summer, eh.

Blog Has New Features Finally 9-4-10

2010-09-04T22:05:00.002-05:00

You asked for a more user-friendly blog and we’ve finally had the time, high speed internet and, more importantly, got around to reading all those pesky small print instructions on Blogger to figure out how to do it. I thought that I would do this in Denver during our 5 month hiatus, but I never got around to it, or learning French either. But today, with the wind and rain howling outside here at Spanish, it was a great yin-yang activity to do together. Many of you tech heads already know how to navigate these changes but for “my people”, I am adding the following:

Starting at the bottom of the blog page on www.babygrandadventure.blogspot.com , you will notice a more useful archive. My 260 entries since 9/08 have only been archived by weekly dates which is not very helpful and I can’t even find my own stuff—when were we in Marathon??? Now the weekly dates have the blog titles noted so you can find entries by title.

Want an even easier way to find an area, subject, name etc.-- use the Search This Blog section with a keyword. I had great fun with this and was amazed at all the pirate entries. You will find this new section in the second section from the top of the blog page.

Now for the absolutely most amazing added section—Locate Baby Grand which is featured prominently now in the first section of the blog. I do not pretend to understand it, but it links my blog with Google Earth and is routed through the AGLCA (America’s Great Loop Cruising Association) Looper Locator website. You can download Google Earth if you don’t have it already and see a satellite photo of where we are.

You can also click on Track This Boat in Google Earth and see our entire trip this summer and we will be adding the track for our entire Loop. Zoom in and out of our hot air balloon icon and you will see the satellite photo as well as interesting photos of the area. I played with this for 2 hours, and even though I’ve been to all those places, it was a whole different perspective. Enjoy.

North Channel Town of Spanish 9-3-10

2010-09-04T21:54:00.004-05:00

Labor Day weekend is celebrated here in Canada also, but spelled Labour Day. It marks the official end of summer vacation, but the weather is getting quirky. We have had the most amazing summer of really hot weather but that door is slamming shut now with clocking winds forecast for 20-30 knots, +6 foot seas and temps dropping into the 50’s for the holiday weekend. Great Lakes boaters have to be very patient and wait through all of this as usually warm and calm weather does return but when?????

We really wanted to spend more time anchoring out but with the above forecast, we journeyed west and north through the islands to the McBean Channel to Little Detroit Narrows marked with a range marker and then into the Whaleback Channel and east to Spanish. The town of Spanish is at the mouth of the Spanish River and is marked with a wind turbine and has depths of 4 ½ to 5 feet due to river runoff so larger boats with deeper drafts never make it here.

Spanish has a newly developed, government-sponsored town marina with a multi-million dollar 4 season complex including a restaurant, fitness area, lounge, high-speed internet, trail system and laundry. Unfortunately, it’s losing money now and is for sale for a cool 2 million. We’re the only transients here and with the awful weather forecast, even the local boaters have stayed home for the weekend.

Here are pictures of Spanish Marina complex and the Discovery Trail taken before all the weather hit. I had time to do some teak deck work—notice that the rear cockpit decks are stained and mottled from all the tannin rivers and 100 locks we’ve transited through this summer. I was able to bleach the side decks which are now brighter and not as blemished.

When the rain, wind and cold hit for 3 days, we read, finally updated this blog site on the high-speed internet and fired up the oven for a few great meals. We’re monitoring the weather and hope that summer comes back soon.

North Channel Benjamin Islands 9-2-10

2010-09-04T21:44:00.004-05:00

It was a 14 mile easy run from Kagawong over to the Benjamins between Secretary Island and the Sow and Pigs Rocks which you can see now on our added Google Earth link. The repaired lower station shifter on Baby Grand is working just fine, but unfortunately storm clouds are brewing which will keep our visit short here in the Benjamin Islands.

Hard to believe that these magnificent pink stone islands were once bored with dynamite and scheduled to get blasted to kingdom come. Sanity and good people prevailed; the islands were saved from mining, and instead, declared a National Beauty Spot for generations to enjoy.

There are so many single-slot gunkholes here, but we chose to anchor in the harbor between North and South Benjamin Islands for our first visit. Here’s a view of the harbor and you can imagine it looking X10 on a sunny day. We took the dinghy in and hiked all over the rocks and saw amazing vistas as well as a bird’s eye view of Baby Grand.

Gathering storms have a great way of making a fabulous sunset. We’ll be back next year for a longer visit.

North Channel Fun in Kagawong 8-30-10

2010-08-31T16:07:00.006-05:00

After our docking adventure and shift repair, we relaxed, breathed deeply and explored Kagawong for a few days until the dinghy repairs dried thoroughly.

This 1894 harbor lighthouse is now automated and according to townspeople, was recently serviced by the Canadian Coast Guard on a 300 foot ship—a lot of manpower to change the light bulb. The Mariners Chapel is also in the harbor, has a “bow” pulpit made from the bow of a boat shipwrecked in an August 1965 storm during which 4 crew members were lost.

There are great hiking trails on Manitoulin Island. You can take the trail right from town to Bridal Veil Falls Park through a lattice of streams, waterfalls and shady paths. With temperatures in the 90’s, everybody is cooling off here. The island has its own ice cream plant, Farquhar’s, available at convenient dockside and park locations. My favorite flavor is Rolo which is just brimming with that flavorful candy. Serious chocoholics have to visit Manitoulin Chocolate Works for artisan creations. Kayak rentals are available at Wind and Wave, and I am seriously looking at a collapsible or inflatable version that we can use on the boat and RV.

We’ve had a front row seat for all the dock jumping the past few hot days in Kagawong. Generations of Kagawong kids grew up doing this, and we’ve met people from England who grew up here and wasted no time getting in line to dock jump. Although it was a navigational hazard to us, it really is great fun but watch out for boats first.

There is a small general store/post office where you can meet the locals and overhear the gossip. There are a few galleries and craft stores, including a beautiful African boutique. The town has a great location and a good harbor, used to have restaurants and more stores, but while other adjacent communities have expanded their marinas and facilities, Kagawong has lost ground. It is still worth a visit but make sure to call ahead for reservations as there only a few transient slips available.

The highlight of our visit here was meeting Bob, a 2004 gold Looper, who taught us how to repair our Zodiac dinghy. Thanks, Bob. We’re really ready for more anchoring in the islands now.

North Channel Kagawong Catastrophe Averted 8-29-10

2010-08-31T15:48:00.003-05:00

We had a perfectly leisurely 19 mile run from Little Current through the West Bay to the bottom of Mudge Bay to Kagawong, another town located on Manitoulin Island. We were cruising along under beautiful blue skies, with 75 degree temps and minimal wind and waves and wondering why boaters in the North Channel were already ending their season.

Kagawong is a really small town off the beaten track with only a few transient spots in this tiny town marina, but in 2000 and 2001, it hosted a Looper Rendezvous when the marina was under different management. We’re here to explore as well as get our leaky Zodiac dinghy fixed. Do you remember on 7/25/09 when the pirates of Poughkeepsie on the Hudson River stole our dinghy, took it for a joyride, dumped it and it was luckily retrieved by the Duchess County Sheriff days later and returned to us? That was the incredibly good news; bad news is that it has had leaks since then and we finally found someone to help us repair it here in Kagawong.

But first, put yourself in the first picture----we were approaching the Kagawong marina while 10 kids were jumping off the dock wall. All of a sudden Captain Bob hollered out that the transmission was stuck in forward and he could not shift into neutral. He had already throttled back, but was still going 3 mph with no room to turn away. He had to make a hard right turn into our assigned dock as there was a swimming beach to the left and a dead end straight ahead. This is every boater’s nightmare—being out of control in a small area with the possibility of injuring people. Bob tried to shift a few more times and concluded that the only safe option was to shut down the engine.

I used my Mom voice which still works to yell to the kids swimming to get out of the way NOW, told adults in the area to help with this, and alerted the dock hand to the situation. Luck was with us as the SW wind increased which helped to brake us a bit, the fenders helped cushion the impact and Collin, the young dockhand, and I were able to secure the boat to the dock. It remained a good day as no one was hurt and not even a scratch on the boat—Captain Bob definitely earned his stripes.

Captain Bob then shifted into fix-it mode. He took apart the flybridge and lower station shifting mechanisms, saw that the cable had broken, but by cutting it, the lower helm shifter worked for a quick fix (tech heads can email Bob at bob1064@gmail.com for the detailed version). Without the required special tools, it will be impossible to fix both stations until we’re at a bigger marina. Fortunately, our little trawler works just fine from below so no need for delays and expense now, so we’ll keep on cruisin’.

North Channel Little Current 8-27-10

2010-08-31T15:25:00.007-05:00

Going to Little Current on Manitoulin Island takes some planning as you have to coordinate your arrival with the hourly swing bridge opening. We expected to spend a half hour getting the anchor up at Mary Ann Cove in Baie Fine, but this time, no grass and the anchor was clean as a whistle. Since we had some extra time, we cruised over to Heywood Island, into Browning Cove, to enjoy its teal colored water and array of birds spending the summer here, and then a leisurely cruise by the Strawberry Island Lighthouse and to the Little Current swing bridge. And, the current is not so little—3 knots at times-which makes docking interesting.

Leisure is not a word we would have used in our 2005 boat delivery trip from the Chesapeake to Lake Superior in 3 weeks. We went from Port Severn at the end of the Trent-Severn Canal to Little Current in 2 days on open Lake Huron; this time, we took 30 days through Georgian Bay and now to the North Channel. We’ve met a lot of Loopers speeding through here to get to Chicago by Labor Day. Our advice: slow down as Lake Michigan is doable in September as well as the Loop rivers in October; or even better, break up your Loop and keep the boat in this area for a full season.

Little Current feels like home as we again met so many of the cruisers we anchored, hiked and traveled with, or are familiar names we’ve heard on the Cruisers’ Net. The Cruisers’ Net is a marine radio call-in broadcast with news, weather, North Channel happenings etc., is heard daily in July and August on Channel 71, and is hosted by the gracious Roy Eaton. We’ve heard similar Nets in the Keys and in the Abacos and it really helps form a community. Community is something we’re searching for—after almost 2 years, we leave the community of Loopers and now join the community of North Channel boaters.

Little Current has done a fantastic job expanding their town dock into a 140 slip modern marina. This is a boating town and you can easily reprovision at 2 grocery stores (ValuMart and Foodland), an LCBO, Turners Department store, a hardware store and a 24 hour laundromat on Water St. Anchor Inn hosts the Friday Cruisers Net Happy Hour from 3-5 pm in July and August and the restaurant does some amazing whitefish dishes. A $4.99 breakfast is available at the Old English Pantry and is guaranteed to fill you up for the day.

It’s all here, plus the most amazing scenery on the entire Great Circle Loop. We will definitely be back here again next year.

North Channel Baie Fine 8-25-10

2010-08-26T15:25:00.007-05:00

We traveled 15 miles down Lansdowne Channel towards Frazer Bay to enter Baie Fine, located between Frazer and McGregor Points. This is a spectacular fjord area that narrows 9 miles further down and forms the famous Pool anchorage.

We took our time marveling at the splendor of nature that I wish my camera could capture. We rounded the last set of rocks and were surprised to see only 4 other boats anchored. We could have found the 118 foot Evinrude Motor family yacht tied to their private island right here in the Pool. The Pool is probably the #1 pristine anchorage that everyone wants to see on their vacation and we lucked out as we are here in late August. The very grassy bottom provides challenges to get a good anchor set, but we set well, or so we thought.

This area borders Killarney Provincial Park and so has those hiking trails that we love so much. We hiked up to Threenarrow Lake, a poor steplake to the magnificent Topaz Lake. You know the hushed awe that you feel when you are in the presence of majesty—Topaz Lake casts that type of spell on you. The mood continued with a calm night with a full moon and countless stars.

We had planned to spend a second day here but with 20 knots of wind forecast and our boat neighbors hauling up tons of anchor grass enough for a whole herd of cows, we decided that we should move to another Baie Fine anchorage at Mary Ann Cove for more protection. It is located 2 miles from the entrance of Baie Fine, tucked behind another private island, looks seemingly small but by 7pm, was able to host 8 boats, most tied to shore. We got here early so are floating on the hook and spent the afternoon hiking up Frazer Bay Hill (Casson’s Peak) to get a panoramic view of Frazer Bay, Baie Fine, McGregor Bay and even Manitoulin Island.

It has been amazing to watch all the different anchoring techniques in a very small confined areas, and we are definitely taking notes. Some bow anchors of sailboats, tied with a stern line to trees, dragged at night, and other boaters alerted them and helped reset. That's what I love about boating. Wherever boaters are, a community develops to share stories, recommendations, tips and assistance.

We're headed to Little Current to reprovision and check out the nautical hub of the North Channel.

North Channel Covered Portage Cove 8-23-10

2010-08-26T15:06:00.006-05:00

We have traveled 215 miles from Penetanguishene since 7/29 on our first cruise of Georgian Bay, sampled a few beautiful anchorages and towns, and started a must-see list for future trips back here. We always thought that the Bahamas were our favorite part of our Great Circle Loop, but it has slipped to #2 now, and we still have the North Channel of Lake Huron to do. We’re finding that we prefer pines to palms; cool shady wilderness hikes to beach walks for a cruising area—that’s just us.

The North Channel is formed by the long protective arm of Manitoulin Island and the Ontario mainland at the northern extremity of Lake Huron. It is about 100 miles in length and as wide as 20 miles across. That may describe it geographically, but for many it is a cruising paradise of stunning scenery, hundreds of quiet anchorages and historic towns stretching from Killarney to Sault Ste. Marie on the north shore, and Little Current to DeTour Village on the south shore.

We left Killarney for a short 3 mile trip to Covered Portage Cove. You sneak into it through a keyhole opening by the Indian Head rock and are greeted by a shimmering pool of green water surrounded by towering bluffs of pine and white highlighted quartzite. The best part is that you can hike up the north side and get a picture of your boat floating freely, and then forge your own rock trail on top of the bluffs. Some boaters prefer to be one with the rocks and so throw out a stern anchor and tie their bow to shore.

We are indebted to the snowmobile and ATV clubs for maintaining the Portage and Summit trail on the south side—they even put in a 250 yard boardwalk leading to a deck overlooking Killarney Bay. We have enjoyed meeting sailboaters who come here every season and describe not only great sailing and scenery but a North Channel state of mind. We already feel it working its magic on us.

But beware, there is something lurking on the bottom of Covered Portage Cove amidst all this beauty. Whatever it is wrestled Bob in the lake and devoured his Crocs when we were trying to get into our dinghy. Was it just a hole of quick mud or is there something more ominous down there?

Killarney 8-19-10

2010-08-20T17:39:00.006-05:00

We left our anchorage at 11am after rain, wind and t-storms. We now know why the anchor held so well—lots of mud and long stringy grass which knotted around itself and required 2 boat poles and the washdown pump set on a fire hose setting to dislodge.
As we traveled down the Collins Inlet narrows, the sun started to shine and outlined the granite cliffs. What a difference a day makes—today we have light NW winds off land and it is an easy 14 miles to Killarney.

You are greeted by the Killarney East Light at Red Rock Point and it guides you into a bustling little harbor of marinas, a general store, restaurants, and resorts on one side and George Island on the other. There is a 2 hour trail back to the lighthouse that we enjoyed. We are docked at the Sportsman’s Inn Marina which has undergone major renovations and provides everything you need. The marina will ferry you over to George Island where you can do the 7.5 km Killarney Wilderness hike—it takes you through the forest on a well-marked trail and then loops along the coast. I hope to get better pictures, but can you see the white quartzite of the La Cloche Mountains in the distance, the pink granite shore rocks and the blue green lake water. I have to get out the Crayola 48 crayon box to match this color.

Since we walked our socks off, we were starving and stopped for a late lunch at Herbert Fisheries. You place your order at the school bus out front and the fishermen bring the fish right off the boat. It does not get fresher than this. Gateway Restaurant has a good breakfast and bakery and the General Store has a good supply for basic reprovisioning, but it is expensive.

Nobody knows why the town’s name changed from the Ojibwe Shebahonaning or “safe passage” to Killarney in the 1850s. I grew up in an Irish household where we heard Bing Crosby’s Christmas in Killarney every holiday season. Try as I may, I can not get that corny song out of my head. I expected to see lots of leprechaun Santas doing a jig down Main Street or one of those kitschy Christmas stores. None here, thank goodness, but I still can’t stop humming that silly song.

Rolling from Britt to Collins Inlet 8-18-10

2010-08-19T17:07:00.002-05:00

We’ve had a great time here at Britt with lots of boaters hunkered down due to the 20-30 knot wind on open Georgian Bay. The main conversation is weather, exchanging stories of other windy adventures and offering guesstimates about when the wind will abate. The weather gurus (Passagemaker, Environment Canada, National Weather Service and the dock boys) all agreed that early Wednesday morning would offer an opportunity for less adventurous travel.

We set the alarm for 6am, were away from the dock by 7 and all looked good with a forecast of SW 10 knots building to 15 by noon. Our plan was to take the small boat channel to the Bustard Islands, but that quickly changed when we got to the channel entrance and started having Chartplotter problems. I coasted in neutral while Bob tried to fix it but could not get a sailing line (preferred route to travel) reading at all. With all the twists and turns, multiple islands and 5 foot water depth levels in spots, we did not want to try this section without all our technology working. Besides, weather on open Georgian Bay was reportedly easy.

Wrong….very wrong. We set a course for the Bustard Islands. I wanted to go there for the name alone, but by 9:30 am, we had 15 knot wind and 2-3 building beam seas so the relatively treeless, unprotected and poor holding ground of the Bustards was not a good choice. Wind also made entrance to the Bad River area hazardous.

We continued on the same course to Beaverstone Bay as the wind increased to 20+ knots and 3-4 foot beam seas which really rocked and rolled us. We were battened down but the waves were so close and constant that it rattled the cabinets open, spilling the contents and that has never happened before. Bungees and duct tape to the rescue.

I told you that I would log the good, the bad and the ugly and we now have a new ugly—the toilet (head) overflowed. Our cruelly-named joker valve is probably wearing out and could not get a good seal with all the jarring motion. Bob and the autopilot steered; I had toilet duty—insert your thoughts here.

We turned into Beaverstone Bay at 12:30pm and had 4-5 foot rolling following seas and luckily the entrance is wide and deep as it was hard to steer. All the Beaverstone anchorages had whitecaps so we continued into the Collins Inlet through some skinny 5’1” water to get to a Great Lakes Cruising Club (GLCC) anchorage recommendation at Mill Lake. We dropped the hook in 8 feet of water and began to relax after 50 long hard miles.

Oh, and the Chartplotter problem—nothing really wrong at all except that the sailing line is missing only on the first 5 miles out of Byng Inlet west on the Garmin add-on chart. More importantly, the toilet is working fine, too.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling on to Britt (Byng Inlet) 8-14-10

2010-08-16T21:36:00.006-05:00

You know how Tina Turner starts out the song, Proud Mary, with “….nice and easy….” and then switches to “nice and rough..”, well that’s where we are today. We left the safety of the Pointe au Baril Lighthouse and the small boat channel behind and headed out to open Georgian Bay. We have been doing pretty easy protected boating on the entire Great Circle Loop and have not been out in 25 knot winds and 4 foot roller coaster following seas since we left Lake Michigan in 9/08.

Welcome back to the Great Lakes— eastern Lake Superior is only 200 miles away and has 9 foot seas and gale force winds at 40 knots. We know how to do this but forgot to batten down everything so things were flying everywhere. We were traveling with The Last Whale, a 48 foot Whaleback Krogen with a height of 20 feet and also equipped with stabilizers, but even they dipped a little. Here’s a view from our cockpit but Joe and Leila told us that our little Baby Grand would disappear in the waves and when they send us that picture, I will post it here. As former sailors, we are accustomed to following seas and surfing to the next wave—it’s those darn beam seas that we can’t do well now.

We’re safely tucked in now at St. Amant’s Marina in Britt in the Byng Inlet. We will probably be here a few days waiting for winds to go down so we can travel to the Bustard Islands to anchor. This is a great place to hang out—great dining at the Little Britt Inn, great company with the trailer sailors, Loopers in Wright’s Marina, would-be Loopers who happen by to chat and “Happy Hour” with boaters here in St. Amant’s.

Hopewell Bay, Shawanaga Island 8-13-10

2010-08-14T19:48:00.005-05:00

We continue to slowpoke along Georgian Bay and today took a 20 mile cruise to Shawanaga Island. We avoided the shoals and narrows of the Canoe Channel by taking the well-marked alternate channel past the Spruce Island shoals, the Pancakes and Squaw Island and rejoined the small boat channel at Jane Island and continued to Shawanaga Inlet. Bob and I have wondered about the lack of lighthouses in Georgian Bay, but today were greeted by the Snug Harbour Light. This area seems to have more light markers and this one was occupied by an osprey.

We were anchored with sailboaters last night, and when I saw them leave this morning to take advantage of the 15-18 south winds on open Georgian Bay, I had serious thoughts about going back to sailing. I can still feel it in my bones but realized when the open water forecast changed to 4 foot seas and 25 knot winds that I really don’t want to be out there. We instead had a perfect powerboat day of cruising the protected beautiful waters of the small boat channel, negotiating its challenges, enjoying breath-taking scenery, all with comfortable temps and humidity, and great company.

We are the only boat anchored here in Hopewell Bay on Shawanaga Island. It is another very protected, 3 sided anchorage, does have a few cottages on shore, but there is some public land to the west. We took the dinghy there to explore for the afternoon.

We have been meeting a lot of boaters from Lake Eire who remark that their Great Lake is great (like our Lake Superior) but lacks protected anchorages and a small boat channel, noting always, “when you’re out there, you’re out there and it can get really mean fast.” Truth be told, I always slept with one ear open at anchor in the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior expecting the winds to shift and have to change anchorages at 2 am. Here I sleep really well, and we now have a Canadian low-powered anchor light—a $7.00 solar-powered garden light which really saves the main boat battery.

Killbear Provincial Park 8-12-10

2010-08-14T19:15:00.006-05:00

The park name caught our attention, too. Legend has it that maybe a bear killed a logger or a logger killed a bear in the 1800’s, but the First Nation stories say that the name commemorates the seasonal water journey bears take between the islands here or that the land was first frequented by the Bear Clan and the name was mistranslated. Not sure which is accurate, but today the name was almost a reality when a car hit a juvenile bear in the park but it scampered away luckily unscathed.

This land-based park is located on a peninsula just 10 miles west of Parry Sound and offers anchorage protection in Kilcoursie Bay behind Scott Island. Be prepared to put out a lot of rode as depths here range 20+ feet but you will be anchoring in clear blue water with a sandy bottom. This is not an isolated quiet anchorage in August as Canadians are here in the 800 site campground and launching their watercrafts in the bay. But, if you get up early in the morning, you get a beautiful site, can have a quiet walk for miles on its sandy shores and then settle back with your favorite book.

When jet skis and runabouts start waking the anchorage in the afternoon, we just took the dinghy to shore and walked for hours on the hiking and bike trails. Lookout Point Trail was our favorite for the view. As we walked back to the dinghy through the campground, we were a little disorientated about what adventure trip we were taking as it was so familiar. This spring we started RVing and we would definitely come here by land as well. The park quiets down again at night for a beautiful sunset and a billion stars.

Parry Sound 8-10-10

2010-08-10T20:50:00.006-05:00

We did not expect to be here for the third day at Big Sound Marina but here we are. Nothing wrong, no breakdowns, we’ve just found Parry Sound a great place to get boat things done as well as have some fun. We arrived here on an all day pouring rain Sunday, but my philosophy is you might as well get wet and do 4 loads of laundry. I have met some of the most interesting boaters doing this as we spend the afternoon sharing machines, coins and stories and have a take-home to show for our efforts.

We have pared down our refrigerator supplies with the purpose of doing the dreaded defrosting job—not my favorite. With 2 inches of ice on the outside of our small 7x10x12 inch freezer section inhibiting opening the darn thing as well as a funky smell in the fridge, this task has forced its way to the top of the list. Armed with a hairdryer and hot water, we attacked the arctic ice and then lobbed our refrigerator icebergs into the bay which I swear lowered the water temperature.

With everything clean, it was time to do a massive reprovision so I took the courtesy van to Soobys grocery store in Parry Sound Mall. Prices are noticeably higher here in Canada but this store has great variety and selection. I am also a fan of M&M meat store as they have frozen vacuum-sealed selections which are just perfect for restocking a freezer. Canadian Tire (like Home Depot) is also in the Mall so take the van for this also. Luckily, at the end of the day, other boaters revived me with some liquid refreshment and were taking bets on how many miles I had logged in my flip-flops today (Monday).

We have definitely earned a day of fun for Tuesday. We started with the 4 mile Rotary Fitness Trail along the bay shoreline and watched young sailboaters learning to race. There are fitness components on the trail and here’s Bob catching his breath going up the bow-shaped staircase. Follow the trail even further and it becomes the North Shore Rugged Hiking Trail which will have you leap-frogging over some amazing rocks. After lunch at Christina’s on the Bay (food ok but needs more spice), we took the other end of the trail by the railroad tracks over to the Museum on Tower Hill. This small museum is very well done, has interesting presentations on the First Peoples tale of Nanibush hitting the stone beaver which then dissolved and created the Georgian Bay islands as well as how logging, Great Lakes shipping and the meager farming here led to young Canada branching out to the west and sowing the seeds of nationhood. There is a lookout tower on Tower Hill so here’s a picture of Parry Sound from the top.

We’ll have a dinner of fresh trout tonight and attend a free Bands on the Bay outside concert at the Stockey Centre for the Performing Arts which will round out our 3 days here. Now that we’re cleaned-up, pumped-out, topped-off, tossed-out and loaded-up, we’re ready for some anchoring in Killbear Provincial Park.

Massasauga Provincial Park 8-8-10

2010-08-09T06:48:00.008-05:00

Henry’s is the perfect jumping-off point for a trip into Massasauga Provincial Park in the Moon River area. It is a boat-based park covering hundreds of islands, some with their own inland lake. This is great gunkholing territory with lots of secluded, protected anchorages tucked into its many coves and bays. This is any boater’s dream, especially if you are a sailboater as you can go to the outside waters of Georgian Bay for an exciting 15 knot sail and then duck back into the park for a peaceful wilderness experience. Everywhere you look you will see dramatic landscapes of windswept pines clinging to smooth, color-etched granite and you soon become engulfed in its beauty and stillness.

With so many options, you cannot go wrong. We chose Port Rawson Bay and found some markers along the way to help us in the channel. We tied on to a mooring ball and here’s our view from the bow. I love the self-sufficiency of anchoring—you have what you have and you make do. It’s a time to daydream and my favorite time of day is sunrise which holds so much promise. We used the dinghy to explore the shoreline and also to say hello to fellow boaters, especially those flying a Looper or Great Lakes Cruising Club (GLCC) burgee. There are only 3 developed trails (Baker, Wreck Island and Moon Island) in the whole park and we tried to bushwhack a few more but it is pretty solid forest. Bob even found time to recondition our old water pump so now we have a spare.

We find that our anchoring time is limited by the 30 gallon capacity of our holding tank so after 4-5 days its time to head back to town and pump-out, do laundry, stock up on provisions and head out again. We’re going to Parry Sound for this, and then out again to explore Killbear Provincial Park.

Happy Birthday at Henry’s (Fryingpan Island) 8-4-10

2010-08-05T06:55:00.010-05:00

We only spent one night at Bone Island not really because of the snake, maybe a little bit, but more so because Birthday Boy Bob wanted more of an adventure. He is all about navigating and being a Captain so wanted to back cruising again, testing his skills on the small boat channel topped off with a birthday dinner at Henry’s Fish Restaurant.

Although the day was dim and overcast, our 4 hour ride was a very interesting mix of well-buoyed narrow rocky shoal sections (Kerr and Allen rocks, Peacock Island, O’Donnell Point) and wide open areas from Milepost 20-29 where we did get rocked a bit by 1 foot chop from Georgian Bay and powerboats passing us. We tied-up at Henry’s just as the sun was peaking through, the lunch crowd was leaving and Chris, the expert dock master, was there to help us tie-off only 2 feet away from rocks that we had been trying to avoid all day. Bob even found a propeller “cemetery” on shore.

There is a 1 mile walking trail marked by a toupee cairn rock over to LeBlanc’s Sans Souci Marina. It’s a fun place to visit, meet cottagers who come here for provisions and ice cream at the general store and they even had a copy of The Guide to Massasauga Provincial Park Facilities which will be our next stop.

Henry’s is all about service both on the dock and the restaurant. It is easy to see why they won a place on Saveur magazine’s 100 favorite places to eat with their Great Lakes fish dinners. The fish is fresh and tasty and served with Elliot family recipe cole slaw and baked beans. All of this plus a fabulous view of the harbor so we could watch the training sailors climb up the mast of Playfair to do rigging work or watch seaplanes landing passengers for the fly/dine experience. A pretty special birthday for a very special Captain.

Bone Island (Georgian Bay Islands National Park) 8-3-10

2010-08-04T21:16:00.005-05:00

We loved our anchoring experience at Beausoleil Island but it was time to push-off and explore other areas. Bone Island is just 13 miles away but is off the small boat (buoyed) channel so you are on your own, weaving through islands, hopefully avoiding unmarked rocks and shoals, but with me on the bow as look-out and Bob studying charts, we did just fine. Sometimes local boaters mark rock shoals with white Clorox bottles and this always gets our attention. We have the PORTS Cruising Guide for Georgian Bay, North Channel and Lake Huron and we recommend it as it gives aerial shots of the islands, anchorages, what to look out for as well as what to see.

The south side anchorage of Bone Island is a smaller basin than Chimney Bay on Beausoleil but it also has a dock for 10-12 boats. We always like to hike and there was just a rudimentary trail here, but here’s a picture of Bob looking at the clear water. You will notice that he is carrying his blue “Buzz-Off” shirt which he uses as a Harry Potter invisibility cloak against mosquitoes. No matter how hard he tries, they always find his sweet blood.

I am not sure what type of pheromones he is emitting but he is now attracting more snakes. We were putting up our rear cockpit bimini and I was looking for a bungee to secure it. I reached in the corner for a black bungee and it moved. Yes, it was another snake that had crawled through our rear cockpit drain. I expected snakes on the Tenn-Tom Waterway down south and someone told me they come down your stern line tied to a tree at Bashi Creek but no snakes there. Here we are in clear cold Canadian water and we have snakes—go figure.

We know the drill now—get the boat pole, get the snake to dance onto it and heave it overboard. I have a question for all you boaters, and this is something that keeps me up at night—can snakes crawl up through any thru-hull—will we find them in the sink or, god forbid-- toilet???? This is our second snake and I desperately need an answer. Please email me at peggy8301@hotmail.com with all of your suggestions. Help!

Loons, Rattlers and Bears…Oh My (Georgian Bay Island National Park) 8-2-10

2010-08-02T20:43:00.007-05:00

After six weeks on 3+Canadian canals and over 100 locks, we left the protected and predictable canal waters at Lock 45 at Port Severn after a 2 ½ hour delay to drop 14 feet to Lake Huron on 7-26. You have to start navigating right away, remember that the red buoys are to starboard, and negotiate the shallow, unforgiving, rock-filled Potato Channel with a mixture of buoys that has claimed many a propeller.

After a 14 mile trip across Severn Sound to Penetang and the Looper rendezvous for 3 days, we were eager to explore Georgian Bay Island National Park on Beausoleil Island, a mere 11 miles away but a chance for a more wilderness experience. Although Georgian Bay has 30,000 islands, there is little public land along the shoreline south of Twelve Mile Bay.

Beausoleil Island has 5 well-protected anchorages, hiking trails, beaches and our Park Canada pass covers the expense. We spent 5 days here really relaxing, reading a book per day and gently swaying at anchor in Chimney Bay as well as exploring the other bays by dinghy and by hiking—a perfect day for me. Reprovisioning at Honey Harbour is a 2 ½ mile dinghy ride away at Honey Harbour Centre and make sure to have breakfast or lunch at Honey Harbour Café.

You want excitement—we had that too. A loon couple frequents Chimney Bay. Their love song would often start at 5:30am and I could not get back to sleep until the other answered. Beausoleil Island is the last refuge for the protected eastern Massasauga venomous rattlesnake. Although it is usually timid, local boaters reported that they have seen it on trails and rocks on the hiking trails. It’s amazing how many tree roots look like rattlers when you’re on the lookout but Bob is ready.

We are familiar with black bear in our home cruising area of the Apostle Islands of Lake Superior. I even have a bear whistle—actually it’s from my kids’ Snoopy lifejacket in the 1980’s but it has scared a few bear in its time. They have a renegade black bear here on Beausoleil similar to our famous MacArthur “I will return” bear. This one has been moved but keeps coming back, probably motivated by love and food—doesn’t that motivate most of us?

Oh, Oh, I hear a scream from the campground on shore—he’s back!!!

AGLCA Rendezvous at Bay Moorings Marina in Penetanguishene 7-28-10

2010-07-29T20:29:00.008-05:00

Bob and I have never been to an AGLCA rendezvous as we were never in the right place at the right time but here we are now in Georgian Bay with Bay Moorings Marina hosting a get-together. This marina is all about service and making sure you have a good time. Amanda and Linda organized an amazing array of activities starting with a wine and cheese reception on Monday, a pre-race lunch on Tuesday before the fun cardboard boat race, and a barbeque on Wednesday with a Georgian Bay/North Channel chart presentation by Ken MacDonald. The van was available for provisioning trips to town as well as excursions to Discovery Bay and local shrines. The pool was just the right temperature for relaxing and all of this could be had for the very reasonable price of $1.50 per foot which included a free pumpout. We vote Bay Moorings Marina our #1 marina on the entire Loop!

We had a fun time building our cardboard boat with brand new Loopers, Dave and Brenda on The Old Grouch, a Nordic Tug 37, and veteran Loopers, Mark and Linda on Lolligag, a 32 foot Nordic Tug. We knew our cardboard boat would not last long and thought of it more as a dunk tank for Dave but don’t let him know that. It was great to see John on Emery El from the Looper class of 08-09 and he sends his regards. Our paths have intertwined with Lolligag along the way and since our boats are both 32 feet, we have a lot in common in living LARGE in a small area. We’ve traveled the canals with a few mid-Loopers and here is a picture of Jim and Linda from Selah (far right next to Bob) as well as Brenda and Dave (far left) and Mark and Linda rounding out the middle.

Most Loopers will be going through this area for 2 weeks as they head down to Chicago for 9/1 but we have the luxury of time and will explore the 30,000 islands of Georgian Bay/North Channel for the next 4-5 weeks. It is so much like our homeport of the Apostle Islands of Lake Superior times 100 with the addition of 3 sided anchorage protection. We may have found another home.

Ready…Set…Go on the Chute 7-26-10

2010-07-27T21:40:00.016-05:00

This is the big one…the lock of legends. We decided to wait until Monday to do the Chute justice and let the weekend traffic of 120 boats go ahead of us. We had a great night at Swift Falls Lock and journeyed down the narrow Mc Donald’s Cut with power boats that were not waking us for a change. We entered the Chute basin and circled around for 10 minutes and took our place on the blue line. Boaters here are eager for the ride, everybody is helpful moving boats up and we finally moved up to the front of the line for our turn on the Chute.

Here we are entering the marine railway on the Chute, being cradled securely with slings for a 7 minute ride of a tenth of a mile across the road and down a roller coaster track to the other side and splashing down and free into the water. We were so excited with Bob taking a movie and me taking a picture of him. Here’s the track that we traveled—pretty amazing low tech solution to forge the distance and try to keep the lamprey and zebra mussels out of the Trent. We can sense the difference as we get closer to Lake Huron—clear skies, less humidity and clear water is ahead. We are coming home…

Trent-Severn Canal to Orillia 7-23-10

2010-07-23T21:50:00.005-05:00

I know a number of you have emailed me that you would like to trade places for a day but today would probably not be the best choice. We’ve had steady rain since 4am and although it brought a welcome 64 degrees this morning, there are 25 knot winds out on Lake Simcoe, our destination for today. We decided to wait until 10 am and then slop along in the rain through 5 locks (#37-41). This canal section carves right through farmland and the cows had more sense today and remained in the barn. Luckily, the lake calmed down by noon and we had a good crossing over to Orillia.

Port of Orillia Marina offers great service at an excellent price ($1.40 per foot and 3rd day is free.) It is a chance to power up, take a really looooooong shower and explore a neat town. The town is decorated with artistic guitars to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their folk festival and also their hometown troubadour, Gordon Lightfoot. Any Lake Superior boater knows all the words to his song, Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, and we try not to focus too much on “the lake, it is said, never gives up her dead….”

Orillia has another famous denizen, Brian Orser, the Olympic skater from the 1980s who landed the first triple axle in the Olympics. My daughter Kate was a figure skater then and we watched him with awe. His legacy lives on here at the Brian Orser Skating Arena and he trained the 2010 Olympic gold medalist, Kim Yu-Na, close by in Toronto.

We will probably be leaving here tomorrow to get ahead of some more bad weather headed our way. We did enjoy the street fair but I am not really sure where Bob is---sometimes it’s like trying to Find Waldo.

PS--It's good to have a plan but stay flexible. I woke up at 6am on Saturday, 7/24 and it was a stiffling 85% humidity with absolutely no air flow. New plan is to stay here at Orillia and wait for the weather to get ahead of us. We had a great day here starting with breakfast at Zats, a long walk to the Stephen Leacock Museum and then another long walk on the Lightfoot trail. Stephen Leacock is the Mark Twain of Canada and the used book store had a copy of his famous book, Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town. It really makes small town Canada come alive with colorful characters and anecdotes.

The next 2 days we will be making our way towards famous lock #44, the Chute. You do not want to miss this one--we will be traveling by railroad track laid in the water, then over land and downhill like a roller coaster with a splashdown on the other side.

Trent-Severn Canal to Lock 37 at Bolsover 7-22-10

2010-07-22T20:21:00.005-05:00

Today’s journey took us across Balsam Lake and the highest point, 840 feet above sea level, on the T-S Canal. We’ve heard that 300 buoys have been removed since we were last here in 2005 and sometimes we question the economy of this and it increases the value of a Chartplotter.

Descriptors for today include claustrophobic narrows, dizzying heights and wide beams. The narrow section of the Trent Canal from Balsam Lake to Murray Lake is not for the faint of heart as its shale rock borders will crush you if you make a mistake. It is customary to issue a Securite upon entering so it can be negotiated safely. You are rewarded for your efforts by a chorus of songbirds and catch a glimpse of herons and osprey in the low-hanging trees.

You go from this pastoral landscape right into the upper pan of the Kirkfield Lift Lock where you quickly descend 49 feet below. Here’s a picture from the top and then from the opposite end. As the old Chicago song says, “What goes up, must come down…”

The adventure continued through Canal Lake with skinny water (4 foot 8 inches lowest) and stumps below. We draw almost 4 feet and did a bump the stump between green buoys # 405 and 403 and thank goodness for single engine keel protection. Then there’s the “Hole in the Wall” Arch which often traps debris but today was being dredged and we had 5 foot 8 inches here so no problem.

We tied up at narrow Bolsover, Lock 37, but had to move twice as a wide beam Bayliner was locking through and needed a lot of the mooring wall width to come through. This canal was built in the 19th and early 20th century at a width of 32 feet but with some modern boats having beams of 20+ feet it makes it difficult to all fit securely. The canal recommends boats not having more than a depth of 5 feet and we think a beam width maximum should also be added.

Trent-Severn Canal to Fenelon Falls 7-21-10

2010-07-21T20:16:00.003-05:00

We had a peaceful night at anchor and awoke to the call of loons. The rode and anchor were surprisingly easy to hose down and we left for the second locking through at Bobcaygeon. It was sprinkling so I did not have my camera on deck to photograph the exquisite canal front properties competing with each other for your attention with multilevel decks with coordinated flower and furniture motifs.

You will be in many photos if you lock through Bobcaygeon from 9:30 am on as boat gawking is a medal sport here. When we were here last in 2005, the crowd was 5 deep with lawn chairs and cameras and we wondered who they were waiting for, realized it was any boater locking through so I immediately developed performance anxiety, and dropped my line in the water.

We just met a boater who did $1,200. in propeller damage hitting a rock between green buoys #363 and 365 at Bobcaygeon so we asked the lockmaster if the greens were off-station. It is clearly marked on Chart 2025, Sheet 1 and buoys have not been moved. The boater may have been affected by wind and some current through here so stay in the middle of the channel.

We had a fairly easy day today doing only 20 miles and 1 lock as we stopped on the mooring wall before Fenelon Falls by 12 noon as there was space here. If you start hunting for mooring wall space any time after 1- 2pm, you might not find it in this busy area of the canal. We only had 10mph wind, but it kicked up later in the afternoon to 25mph + creating a real challenge for locking and docking.

Bob and I are voting for Fenelon Falls for best lock garden. Here’s a picture of the dam at Fenelon Falls complete with fishermen of all ages trying to catch huge bass and walleye. We’ve seen this all along the canal, and at Hastings, I thought that I had overslept when I heard a crowd outside our boat, but it was 20 fishermen heading to their favorite places on the canal at 5am. I love seafood and one of these days I am going to learn to catch my own dinner.

Trent-Severn Canal to Bobcaygeon 7-20-10

2010-07-20T18:16:00.006-05:00

As of our 35 mile trip today through Buckhorn and Pigeon Lakes, we are half way through the length of Trent-Severn and have completed three-quarters of the locks. I’m sure many of you are wondering why I have not included more scenery pictures. The grassy marshlands and flooded rivers lack definition and appear flat and lumpy with my camera. That changed briefly today as we began to see more rocky pine islands of the Canadian Shield and they give a hint of what lies ahead in Lake Huron. If you want rocks, Hell’s Gate is your place as we zigzagged through here at first light.

We did 3 locks today, each with a very different ambience. Our mooring wall at Young’s Point last night got really crowded with huge rental houseboats being wedged in everywhere. This morning we passed through the Burleigh Falls Lock and that mooring wall is smaller and more isolated and would probably have been a better fit for us. Here’s a picture of Lock 30, Lovesick, named for a jilted lover who took refuge here. This is not a problem for the Canadian geese that come here to mate and party but the park staff do great clean-up duty. It is an island lock with a bridge to another island with a walking trail to explore and would be a good stop.

Lock 31 is Buckhorn and is right in the busy tourist area with ragtime music playing, a Farmers’ Market and boats going every which way. We were hoping that the houseboats bearing down on us in this picture would slow down but then there were speedboats trying to overtake them coming up to this narrow channel. We were longing for some solitude and found an anchorage just before the hectic Bobcaygeon lock area in Pigeon Lake off Big Island in the Back Channel. The holding ground is grass and mud so you know the washdown pump will get a workout tomorrow morning but tonight we will float freely.

Trent-Severn Canal to Young’s Point 7-19-10

2010-07-19T21:12:00.007-05:00

Some days we do 5-6 locks and relatively little mileage like 14 miles to Hastings on 7-17; other days we do 40 miles and only a few locks to get to the outskirts of Peterborough on 7-18. You can’t really do both easily. The big story this week is weather—thunderstorms and heavy rains that are swelling the dams and rivers, overflowing the banks and creating 2-3 mph current against us as we head towards Georgian Bay. Imagine my surprise when there was a tornado spotted in Hastings as I was reading Wicked, the real story of the Wicked Witch of the West from Oz.

The waterway locks raise boats 600 feet from Trenton on Lake Ontario and then lowers them 263 feet to meet Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. Most of the locks so far have been hand-cranked simple locks with a 7-26 feet lift, a few double hydraulic lifts of 48-54 feet but on 7-19, we floated in a huge pan of water lifted 65 feet in the air like a ferris wheel in the Peterborough Lift Lock. This is all accomplished with the addition of a 1 foot of water on one side—amazing 19th century technology.

We continued in lock mode through 7 more locks on 7-19 and traveled with Loopers, Blue Max, Tadpole and Takitez. We had a rhythm going with the four boats entering the locks in an orderly procession, tying off lines, fending off as needed and then relaxing and visiting. We all dispersed to different lock walls for the night as there is simply no room for 4 boats traveling together on mooring walls filled with vacation boaters.

What do we do at the end of the day? Here’s a picture of Joe and Joyce on Takitez giving their dog, Rosie, a bath. We opted for special dinner out at the Old Bridge Inn at Lock 27 and the meal was fantastic. Lockside Trading Company is also located here and is a great place to browse.

Trent-Severn Canal to Campbellford 7-15-10

2010-07-18T16:01:00.002-05:00

We did another 6 locks today and the only “biting” point was killing flies on the aptly named “flybridge” as we cruised through the lower marshlands. Our destination was the town of Campbellford where we tied up on the Old Mill Park west mooring wall that has power and showers for a reasonable price. The Chamber of Commerce manages this and their tourist information staff even helped us get haircut appointments on a busy Friday.

You can do a self-guided walking tour of historic homes and churches. We made a beeline for Canadian Tire—funny name but it’s like Home Depot. There is good Wi-Fi at the wall and also at the library. If you’re here on a Thursday evening, there is a yoga class at the Community Centre; Wednesday and Saturday evenings, there are free concerts in the park and there is even a one screen movie theatre. I enjoyed a workout in the community pool ($3.00) and I cashed in this caloric burn with a tasting visit to the World’s Finest Chocolate Factory store. Locals and other boaters recommend the restaurant, Capers, and if you have to reprovision, there are 2 grocery stores, a Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning and a clean laundromat. This is not a low cal stop as you have to buy a little something at Dooher’s Bakery.

The highlight of this stop was meeting other Loopers. We have not seen any in quite awhile so it was great to spend the evening with new Loopers, Luc and Jocelyne aboard Blue Max iv; mid-Loopers Richard and Tiki aboard Tadpole and almost gold Loopers, Joe and Joyce on Takitez.

Later in the evening, Marilsnick II, a Grand Banks 36 with Washington state registrations numbers, docked. Johann and his crew are also doing the Loop and he had his boat trucked to Mobile AL by a Marysville WA company with a lowboy truck so the flybridge did not need to be removed.

I asked him why he wasn’t flying an AGLCA burgee and he told me the story of how “a lion ate it.” He was maneuvering around the construction by the Lion’s Gate Bridge in St. Augustine FL when the current slammed his boat ferociously into a bridge piling which severed the burgee mast, took a chunk out of his swim platform and demolished his davits. Next morning, I found our now retired white AGLCA burgee and presented it to Johann. We may have to visit it in the Pacific Northwest. Shall we ship Baby Grand out there to do the Inside Passage or do it by RV and ferry? Always looking to the next adventure……

Starting the Trent-Severn Canal 7-14-10

2010-07-18T15:40:00.006-05:00

The Trent-Severn Canal glides across central Canada’s rivers, bays, marshlands and lakes and then fills in the connecting pieces with the canal to link Lake Ontario and Lake Huron. It was built over an 87 year period as a commercial waterway, follows the route of many of the voyageurs and has locks ranging from simple limestone to the sublime lift locks at Peterborough and Kirkfield as well as ending in a flourish at the Big Chute. Come along on the ride.

We started the Trent-Severn Canal on Wednesday, July 14th after picking up a load of diesel ($1.10 Canadian per liter) and having a great night at Fraser Park Marina. Craig, the dock master, is outstanding and even gave us two great food tips: Tomasso’s for dinner and “You have to try Tim Horton’s (like Dunkin’ Donuts but better)—it’s the Canadian way.” I can’t believe that we’ve been in Canada for 6 weeks, toured lots of museums but overlooked this national treasure. We’ve only wimped out on one food tip so far—potine in Quebec Province. It’s made from fried potatoes with cheese curds and gravy poured over the top and guaranteed to stop your heart.

In our 2005 trip, we did the first 17 locks in 1 day; now, we’re taking 4 days. Locks are hand-cranked by a senior lockkeeper and fresh-faced summer hires who are all Canadian good will ambassadors. Each lock has a cottage with a well-tended garden. This year they are distributing lock cards with depictions of flora and fauna along the canal. This lock we got a rattlesnake card but Bob now has snake experience on his Captain’s resume from the 1,000 Islands so not to worry.

We stopped for the day along the mooring wall below Lock 7. Most boaters stay at Lock 6 for power, but this lock has peace and quiet, and with a willow tree for shade, a beautiful garden, and a picnic table, it was a perfect place to while away a hot summer afternoon. It brought back memories of long carefree summer days. Visits by locals, a short walk to Richard and Donna’s General Store for ice cream and the neon dots of lightning bugs at night made this a very memorable stay.

The Blog That Never Was 7-13-10

2010-07-13T21:23:00.002-05:00

In 2005, we bought our Looper boat, Baby Grand, in the Chesapeake and took her 1,500 miles to Lake Superior in 23 days using only a hand-held GPS and paper charts. For the past 2 days, we have been traveling to the Trent-Severn Canal and using the same charts with our old penciled course lines visible. We return here with more knowledge and technology, and if we were really nostalgic, we could have done a one day 110 mile slog at 8mph like we did in 2005 from Oswego to Trenton.

You won’t see any blog entries from that trip. We only had time to send cryptic emails to family and friends periodically to let them know that we were ok. What a trip it was…much harder than the rest of the Great Loop… fraught with challenges and excitement….

We picked up a bad load of diesel in Rosedale on the Trent-Severn Canal, our engine started shutting down in Lake Huron and we had to change fuel filters every day often in 2-3 foot seas. We weren’t sure if the engine would totally shut down so always looked for a place to do an emergency anchorage hopefully not on rocks. Our toilet broke back on the Hudson River but we were able to do a unique porta potty set-up. Our autopilot broke probably protesting the grueling 12 hour days.

Our steering mechanism hub between the flybridge and cabin steering slipped so we lost the ability to turn left just before entering a narrow rocky channel followed by building gale force winds on Lake Superior. It was even scarier as I thought Bob had also fallen overboard as their was no motion from the flybridge wheel while I tried to steer below. Luckily the waves pushed us more to the left side as we entered Ontonogon, but there in the middle of the channel, was a dredge boat which we cleared by not breathing for a few minutes. We kissed the ground when we landed and stayed put for 3 days until the gale exhausted and called our employers with a very unique excuse.

They say what doesn’t kill you, makes you strong and this is true in our case. We couldn’t believe what we had been through and what we had handled together. We developed a can-do attitude and got hooked on adventure but please not so much.

Last time we did the Trent-Severn Canal of 240 miles and 44 locks in 4 days in t-storms; this time we will take 10-12 days. Life is pretty easy right now.

1,000 Islands in the St. Lawrence River 7-11-10

2010-07-12T16:30:00.004-05:00

We were last here in 1968. Bob and I had been dating a year, lived in downstate New York and wanted a summer vacation adventure. Problem was that I was very Catholic back then, thought that a lightning bolt would surely strike me dead if I ran away with Bob, and the knowledge of it would definitely kill my Irish Catholic mother. I am happy to report that love triumphed over guilt and we headed north to the 1,000 Islands for a weekend rendezvous. I had never been camping before and brought a huge suitcase of coordinated outfits and a 20 lb. bouffant hairdryer! I can still see the wide-eyed look of amazement on Bob’s face as he was tried to figure out how to tell me to jettison the baggage without spoiling the romantic mood.

Most of the islands are now private but Parks Canada has established a 20 island park with camping, docks and some mooring buoys. The hard rocky bottom makes it difficult to anchor here so boaters are all competing for dock space and mooring balls. We entered the fray on Friday morning and finding a dock was like a quest for the Holy Grail. We found some docks being saved by jet skis and other docks completely full by 10am. We rounded the corner of Camelot Island, saw a sailboat leaving a mooring ball and quickly snagged it.

Camelot Island is a delightful spot with a hiking trail, coves for dinking around, a picnic shelter, compost toilet, regular docks and a dinghy dock. Morning is announced by songbirds and an owl heralds bedtime. Just jump in the fresh cool water and get refreshed on a hot day. We did not have to slay a dragon here but did have a snake onboard. My Lancelot deftly used a boat hook and threw it back in the water. Do we go back in the water now? I can report that when it’s hot and you do not have air conditioning, you will overcome your fear of snakes.

Bonus Kingston 7-9-10

2010-07-10T20:49:00.008-05:00

I had not expected to do a blog entry about Kingston as initially we could only get 1 night in the Confederation Basin marina due to Buskers’ Festival. This forced us to do a whirlwind round of chores in 4 hours—wash the deck and fenders, pumpout at Kingston Yacht Club, fill water tank, do laundry and grocery shopping. We lucked out after all of these exhausting chores with the welcome news that there was a cancellation and we could stay 7/8.

With only 1 day to tour and hotter than hell temperatures, we opted for the air-conditioned Confederation Trolley tour. Kingston is located at the intersection of the St. Lawrence River, Rideau Canal and Lake Ontario which gave it strategic historic naval significance. Today it has a population of 115,000 2 colleges, parks and museums, K-Rock arena, stately brick and limestone homes, a Farmers’ Market behind City Hall and lots of restaurants (recommend Wooden Head) and coffee shops (Chocolate Café). It has the lowest crime rate in the area but has a strange industry—8 penitentiaries, used to have 10 and even has a Penitentiary Museum.

We took the hop-off/hop-on bus option so that we could tour Fort Henry and Bellevue House, home of Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald. Our costumed guide in heavy wool tartan plaid gave us a tour of this venerable fort that never had to fire a shot. Bob is a big fan of C. S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower series and was dismayed to learn on this tour that officer commissions from ensign to colonel were purchased. Sir John A. is the George Washington of Canada as he united Canada from coast to coast in the 1860’s and he was a bit more colorful. You can take afternoon tea on the lawn but Sir John would consume something more spirited and once told one of his cabinet officers that he would have to sober up as the Macdonald government could not afford 2 drunks!

Here’s Bob on the free ferry over to Wolfe Island. It would be a great place to bring bikes but today it was just too hot. There is even a free tour of Kingston City Hall which is worth taking. Dinner on the patio at Wooden Head gave us a great chance to check out the buskers all one-upping each other in dare devil tricks. Our vote was for Fire Guy who did an outstanding comedy routine while skateboarding and playing with fire.

Riding the Rideau 7-7-10

2010-07-07T22:40:00.008-05:00

On 7/2, we left Ottawa on the north end of the Rideau Canal to take the full ride south and do 49 locks to Kingston by 7/7. That’s more locks than the Trent-Severn Canal in 240 miles vs. 125 miles so we hustled. This waterway is where Canadians come to play on their boats and you will be doing locks with kayaks, pontoon boats, rental houseboats, Sea Scouts in canoes and cruisers of all shapes and sizes. "St. Paul, MN" on our dinghy bottom always gets some attention and we say that we've traveled 7,000 miles just to be here. Often we meet people who are planning an adventure but are still reticent so we like to encourage them to "go for it."

Everybody is happy here on the canal, eager to give tips on the best places to stay and this friendliness is in full display with the lockkeepers who always give a welcoming smile, help with lock lines, fend-off, and even find a spot for you on a crowded mooring wall.

There are easier ways to get back to the Great Lakes but we love the canal route. Each is a piece of history forged by men against incredible odds (1,000 lost their lives building this canal) and the Rideau museum at Merrickville commemorates their efforts. It’s a chance to see small town Canada, go at a leisurely pace and enjoy the scenery. This canal is a microcosm of other parts of the Loop—the marshlands of Georgia, the narrow tree-hung sections like the Dismal Swamp of Virginia, fresh water lakes that open up and then narrow to cuts of small islands and rock like Georgian Bay and some skinny water of 5 feet 2 inches in the well-marked channels and sometimes in the down locks.

We did not have an itinerary for these 6 days and chose destinations based on boater recommendations, weather of 90 degrees with equal humidity, and space availability by 2pm. Without planning, we did a pretty representative sample by anchoring in beautiful Morton’s Bay (grass and mud with good holding but you will pull up a clump), staying on the mooring walls with power at the towns of Merrickville (plenty of shops and restaurants) and Smiths Falls (nice park), and the quieter mooring walls at Burritts and Newboro (check out Kilborn’s).

There are so many places to see and explore and we've met boaters that have been cruising here for 20 years and have not seen it all yet. Maybe we will re-do the Rideau again in the future. We are now in Kingston and will tour this town, reprovision and head out to explore the 1,000 Island area for a few days.

Happy Birthday Canada 7-1-10

2010-07-03T16:12:00.008-05:00

We have toured plenty of beautiful cities all over the Great Circle Loop but our favorite, by far, is visiting Quebec, Montreal and now Ottawa during the June 15th to July 1st time period. Ottawa for Canada Day is the icing on the cake.

This town really knows how to throw a birthday bash starting with carillon bells at 9am and going none stop to 10pm fireworks and beyond. All the museums and arts centers are free and jam packed with activities; 6 city parks also host multiple events with hundreds of dance and musical groups to celebrate the history and diversity of Canada captured in the Guess Who song refrain, “shake your hand…..share the land….”

Parliament Hill is the scene for the Changing of the Guard, the Royal Mountie Ride, 2 free extravaganza shows broadcast on national TV as well as the royal reception for the Queen. Here she is looking resplendent in a Canadian red ensemble accented with a diamond studded maple leaf broach. My outfit was an orange red REI shirt, 2 Canadian stick flags weaved through my hair, a free pin and a Molson beer. I’m guessing that I had way more fun.

The Queen is Coming…the Queen is Coming 6-30-10

2010-06-30T06:44:00.007-05:00

We are in Ottawa at the junction of the Ottawa River and the Rideau Canal which was built by the English to protect Canada from an invasion from the United States after the War of 1812. However, American boaters invade here every summer and our turn was on Sunday, June 27th. We climbed the flight of 8 locks with some effort as we had to fend off to protect our varnished teak rails and the townspeople welcomed us with open arms. What a difference 200 years makes in the foe vs. ally configuration! I wish we had a better picture to show you (this is from our flybridge at the top lock)…we were in about 50 photos today from people lining the walls and bridges and I should have asked one of them to take our picture.

We are no longer in French Canadian territory as you can tell from the architecture of Parliament Hill and the accompanying sound of Westminster chimes noting every ¼ hour. This is Loyalist territory and the whole town is getting ready for a visit from the Queen. Canada is a constitutional monarchy and they are still crazy about their connection to the UK and the Queen enough to spend millions for her visit here on Canada Day, July 1st . You know how you have to clean and polish everything when your mother is coming for a visit, that’s what it’s like in Ottawa this week with the Mounties practicing their steps, bagpipers blowing under bridges to test their wind power and workers even cleaning lampposts---really. We decided that we wanted to stay for Canada Day as we’ve been Minnesotans for 33 years which is practically a kissin’ cousin and it is going to be a great party. There is a lot of camaraderie here on the wall and we even met more Loopers, Jim and Linda from Selah.

We are having a great time. Ottawa is hosting a Jazz festival in Confederation Park which is located adjacent to the docking wall. George Benson is here on Wednesday, Dave Brubeck, on Saturday and I wish we had time to stay next week to finally hear Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. Look closely at the picture from the Peace Tower and you can see a line of boats right in the middle of town—great location for everything. We toured Parliament and the Supreme Court yesterday without advance reservations which is way less complicated than touring our capitol. So many museums (Bytown, National Gallery, Rideau Hall, War Museum, Museum of Nature, Aviation Museum, Cold War Museum, Museum of Civilization….the list is endless, and with a few rainy days, this is a good option. We did a ghost tour and learned of the spirits that frequent the Canal—does it look like there is a spirit casting a shadow next to our boat???????? How am I going to sleep tonight?????

There are plenty of places to reprovision. By Market is the oldest farmer’s market in the country and open every day, and also has great ethnic restaurants. Take the # 7, 12, 14 or 18 bus east on Rideau Ave. and you will find the Metro grocery store open 24/7 or Lablaws, open 9am to 8pm. It was laundry day again for me but less complicated at the Rideau Coin Wash at 436 Rideau also on the above bus routes. Public library at 377 Rideau has Wi-Fi, and you can also find it in the Rideau Centre Shopping Mall about 3 blocks from the dock wall. It has plenty of shops, movie complex and an LCBO store.

The big story is the Queen’s visit and I wonder what outfit she’ll be wearing and if I will get to see the famous wave. Stay tuned……….

Highlights of Cruising the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa Rivers 6-26-10

2010-06-26T21:34:00.006-05:00

We left the bustle of Montreal behind as we headed back to the St. Lawrence Seaway bound for the St. Lambert and St. Catherine locks. Cruising books and other boaters had warned us that there can often be a 3-4 hour wait per lock, but we really lucked out this Tuesday morning and locked right through with the tall ship, Pride of Baltimore. These locks are not on our Park Canada pass and are $25 each which is collected by the lockmaster with a shovel passed to us like a church usher with a collection basket. The Pride of Baltimore is headed to Oswego to begin a tall ship tour of the Great Lakes area.

We parted company at St. Anne de Bellevue, a charming town strategically located at the mouth of the Ottawa River. We retire Richardson's Hudson River and Adjacent Riverways Chartbook of 110 pages here—that’s a lot of traveling which began in 7/09. The Ottawa River stretches 360 miles to the west, was called the “Grand River” by native people and the voyageurs who used it, along with portages, to go all the way to the Great Lakes. The English put in the locks to protect their military and commercial endeavors. We will only be traveling 97 miles to Ottawa, the capital of Canada, and then will travel down the Rideau Canal—we love Canadian locks and towns!

St. Anne de Bellevue has room for at least 30-40 boats on 2 walls. The town has 10 waterfront restaurants, a grocery store, library with Wi-Fi, a marina store where we found charts we needed for the Thousand Islands and beer and wine at Couche Tard. McGill University Macdonald campus is here and has miles of walking and bike trails and the #211 and #251 bus stops are here to bring you into Montreal. The highlight of our stay was the French Canadian celebration of St. Jean Baptiste Day on June 24th. Pouring rain cast a pall on the daytime events, but then the sun burst through at 5 pm, the dancing, singing and partying began, capped by a fire show of twirling batons lighting the night sky.

It was time to move on to the Carillon Lock which is 65 feet high and is the largest in Canada. We decided to spend the night below the lock on the wall and found a half day of activities in town. You can visit the old lock and the restored lockmaster house which now is a museum complete with a café with friendly staff. Walk another ½ mile into town and you will find the D’Argenteuil Regional Museum which has an interesting historical collection. You can walk up the hill to meet the current lockmasters who take pride in being the “king of Canadian locks” and even gave us a bit of O Canada, the national anthem. We have met so many wonderful Canadians who are eager to share their country and it is really the people who make the memories special.

Next stop was a lunch stop at Hawksbury after locking through the Carillon on Saturday morning. Hawksbury has a welcome center, free dock with electric and in a ½ mile walk to Main Street, you can find a bakery,Le Petit Pain, a used book store and the LCBO liquor store—what else do you really need. We definitely would have spent the night but wanted to get further down the river towards Ottawa. We passed the Chateau Montebello at Milepost 42.2 but it charges $3.70 per foot and I am not sure heaven charges that much. A Canadian boater had told us about an excellent anchorage at Baie des Arcand located about ¾ mile sw of the Chateau which has at least 6 feet of depth and a priceless experience.

Quaint Old Quebec 6-21-10

2010-06-23T11:43:00.006-05:00

If you have the luxury of time on the Loop, consider taking the train to Quebec City for a romantic get-away. Put your nautical charts away for awhile, take a break from following the buoys and instead, tour with the aid of Frommer’s Montreal and Quebec City Guidebook. We used it to find an economical boutique hotel (Manoir Sur-le-Cap) as well as restaurant picks (Le Pain Beni for bistro French food; Aux Anciens Canadiens for traditional Quebecois; and Le Lapin Sauté for brunch). Old Quebec is a treat for your senses as you do a walking tour up and down its colorful streets decorated with ornate signs and window boxes overflowing with colorful flowers and the aromas from the outdoor cafes will entice you to check out their menu.

Expect the unexpected in this city-- a free-wheeling bike race through its hilly narrow streets, watch street performers playing with fire, listen as a carillon of bells heralds a proud Dad escorting his beautiful daughter down the aisle at the Basilica of Notre Dame, sit on a bench and people watch as you are serenaded by musicians or watch lovers of all ages strolling arm in arm.

Inclimate weather was forecast and we had museums planned, but since everyone carried an umbrella, the rain gods were bested and we stayed outside. Old Quebec has a park tucked away on every block in addition to its wide promenades (Terrasse Dufferin, Promenade des Governeurs and the waterfront area, Pointe-a-Carcy along the St. Lawrence River). The marina here has its own lock because of the 15 foot tidal swing and there is a colorful outdoor market to reprovision. You can step back in time with a tour of la Citradelle and learn how the European quest for land in this area led first the French, and then the English to fortify this strategic spot and you can now watch the changing of the Guard. We toured the opulent Chateaux Frontenac Hotel with a very entertaining guide dressed in period costume and he delighted us with gossip from yesteryear.

So much to love here…… The Quebec license plate has the phrase je me souviens or "I remember” and we will.

Marvelous Montreal 6-18-10

2010-06-23T11:16:00.009-05:00

Even though Montreal has very long cold winters and short summers like Minneapolis/St. Paul, it has a 2 million population base in the city and a French connection that gives it a vibrancy or joie de vivre. There is always a festival going on, Cirque de Soleil sets up its tents here, and the nightspots stay open until 3am.

Old Montreal is where the city was born and is more our style. We used our Frommer’s Guidebook to outline walking tours of the cobblestoned streets, open air markets, cafes, shops, historic homes and churches. Even though Basilique Notre-Dame is resplendent in glittering blue and gold tones complete with a light show at night, we were drawn to the smaller Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours, or the Sailors’ Church. Here you will find ship replicas suspended from the ceiling with lit votive candles in thanksgiving for safe passage at sea. You can tour the restored Chateau Ramezay and its sculpted formal gardens for a well-done historical interpretation of the area in the 18th century.

I had been reading about the historic Lachine Canal which was a precursor to the St. Lawrence Seaway around the treacherous Lachine rapids. Its banks have now been developed into a walk/bikeway and the canal is still operational for low clearance boats. Marche Atwater, a farmer’s market overflowing with fruit, produce, flowers and its inside space lined with bakeries, meat market, spice shops, was my destination and a mere 6 miles roundtrip west from the marina. I met an American couple there and we were all in total amazement at the amount of offerings as we tasted our way through the bakery.

We took the Metro out to the botanic garden, Jardin Botanique, located in Olympic Park. I miss not having a garden and really fell into this bed of roses. But, the highlight of our trip to Montreal was meeting 3 Looper couples, Tom and Diann aboard Noah Genda, Roy and Sandy, Dolphin and Russ and Cindy, Ladybug. This picture was taken in haste when the marina staff announced that the marina power was back on, so there was a mad dash to get tasks done and finalize tips to do the upcoming canal and Seaway sections. Au revoir..

Drip/Dry in Montreal 6-16-10

2010-06-22T23:12:00.000-05:00

You have to work a bit to get into Montreal harbor against the swirling 5 knot current by buoy #201 on the St. Lawrence. This is a little tough for a trawler that only goes 7knots especially when you are surrounded by an excursion boat and a tug with a barge. We held our own in the channel, but then the tug and barge suddenly veered 180 degrees and we had one of those uh-oh moments, fearing that we would be next. We learned later that the tug purposefully steered into the outer rim of the current which brought it perilously close to the high cement harbor wall-- that’s for the professionals, not Loopers like us.

I had no idea that the excitement was only beginning for the night. We had reservations at Port D’escale du Vieux Marina in Montreal and justified the $1.95 per foot charge with the fact that we needed to power up, do 4 loads of laundry, reprovision a bit and sightsee. Imagine our total surprise when we docked and were then told that the marina’s electric grid was being redone and there was no power at the docks or for the laundry. It’s 5pm, we don’t want to go back out through the current, so we do Plan B by negotiating a 25% off price and I set off with a map and full laundry cart. Sounds easy enough except I did not count on my map being shredded by pouring rain and wind, getting lost on one way streets, having to count on the kindness of strangers trying to understand my lousy French, and finally finding the laundromat which had already closed at 6:30 pm. Insert expletive here!!!!!!!

But wait a minute---this could be an opportunity. Think like an old-time sailor man…. What is a washing machine anyway but a mechanical way to add water and soap to clothes, agitate, rinse and spin. I was already out in the pouring rain for 2 hours so the laundry was soaked (step #1), the detergent bottle had already leaked all over them (step#2), I was agitated and had been jiggling this washload all over kingdom come for miles (step#3) so hell, the laundry was almost done except to wring it out and hang it around the boat to dry. Pretty amazing…….

Chambly Canal and Richelieu River 6-15-10

2010-06-16T09:07:00.013-05:00

We sadly say goodbye to Lake Champlain, Juanita’s omelet breakfasts at Burton Island, walks around Point la Roche State Park in Deep Bay and seeing so many of our family members here last summer and this spring, but adventure is calling. We cast-off for Canada on Sunday, 6/13 on a sunny 72 degree morning and followed the Canadian geese back to their home. We had no difficulty clearing customs, were not asked about produce and alcohol which we had whittled down to the legal entry limit (darn) but were quizzed on whether we were packing firearms.

It is 68.6 nautical miles from the US-Canadian border to Sorel where the Richelieu meets the St. Lawrence River. The Chambly Canal has 9 locks for a total drop of 84 feet as you proceed north. That’s the stats but the experience transports you to another world of picturesque hand operated locks and bridges along a narrow canal lined with bike and pedestrian pathways. We entered this quaint canal in Saint Jean de Richelieu where watching boats locking through is great Sunday entertainment. The lockmasters are very helpful, are bilingual and will give you the bathroom combo which will help save room in your holding tank. We purchased the Parks Canada Locking and Mooring (docking) Pass for $8.80 per foot each, and with the 5% exchange rate difference with Canada, we paid $535 to lock and moor through the entire Canadian lock system this summer. Such a deal!

Along the river are small villages with prominent church steeples, historic homes and lovely bistros—all with a decidedly Quebecois flair. It is like going to France without leaving North America. Chambly is a wonderful stop at the end of Lock 1. We did the entire canal in the pouring rain and this picture is from the next day. What a difference a day makes! Chambly has an historic district with markers in French, good restaurants (look for “table d’hôte” or fixed price offerings), 2 huge grocery stores (Maxi and Metro Plus (both within walking distance of the lock wall) and tours of Fort Chambly. It was built to protect the land and trade from the British and I think Bob is ready to do battle. Voyageurs loaded with beaver pelts traveled these waters from Montreal to Albany in 9 days which is amazing considering our aqua tourist speed.

We also stayed on the lock wall at St. Ours surrounded by a quiet park setting. We met so many interesting people here, including an English-speaking bicyclist who gave us tips for our trips to Montreal and Quebec, and Marc, another cyclist who only spoke French. I had purchased but had not really studied French for Cruisers by Kathy Parsons, and armed with this, persistence, a sense of humor, pantomime and our Looper burgee which shows our trip route, we conversed for 20 minutes. He has a catamaran and has also been to the Abacos—it is a small world wherever you go

Back on the Water Again 6-9-10

2010-06-11T07:23:00.009-05:00

We splashed back into the beautiful waters of Lake Champlain in Plattsburgh on 6/3 after 2 weeks of scrubbing, sanding, painting and varnishing to make Baby Grand look grand again. She wintered here in a shrinkwrap cocoon with no problems except for a cracked battery. Plattsburgh Boat Basin offered a good winter storage rate and also let us stay onboard while we winterized last fall and commissioned her this spring so that helped the budget. Staff is great and only drawback was being next to the Naked Turtle bar—easy to go over for a beer but not too much fun at 2am when the band is still blaring.

It was not all work and no fun as we had weekend visits off the boat with our extended family (Maureen, Kevin, Joan, Tom, Mary, John, Maura, Jeff and Kelly) who treated us to sumptuous meals, hikes in the mountains and a restful weekend at a beautiful Adirondack cabin. Thank you so much.

Not many boaters go to Plattsburgh but it is worth a visit. There are 3 restaurants within walking distance of the marina—Irises has an extensive menu with a French influence or try Red Pepper for Mexican and Sawatdee for Thai. The North Country Food Co-op is also in the area and there is a Farmers’ Market every Saturday morning. I enjoyed the river and lake walks which both meet at the Samuel de Champlain statue.

After a stop at Shelburne Shipyard for the best priced diesel on the lake, we’re now in Burlington enjoying cool weather and hot jazz at the Burlington Jazz festival. Then we’ll be going back to Burton Island and Deep Bay—two favorites from last year’s cruise. We will probably start heading to the Canadian border on Sunday (6/13) and are looking forward to exploring Montreal and taking a car or train trip to Quebec.

You are welcome aboard.

Going Back in Time at Mesa Verde National Park 4-25-10

2010-04-25T21:30:00.008-05:00

As you drive east on the Trail of the Ancients (Highway 160) through the Four Corners region where Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado touch, past the Ute Mountains, you see an unreal promontory stone cliff hovering on the horizon and it calls to you—what is it? It is Mesa Verde, home of the Ancestral Puebloans (formerly called “Anasazi”), who lived on top of this green mesa and in its cliffs from A.D. 600 to about 1300. Mesa Verde National Park celebrates their story and honors their history and accomplishments through an array of 400 archeological digs that National Geographic Traveler named as one of the fifty “must-see” places of a lifetime.

The beauty and complexity of these early homes and villages speak eloquently of the ancient people who built them. Ranger-led tours are available of the extensive Cliff Palace and Balcony House sites pictured here. The Cliff Palace picture with fellow hikers gathered around the central ceremonial room, the “kiva”, is appropriate as these ancient people worked hard as a community, were deeply spiritual and gathered often to celebrate. You can hear the wind whispering through these shadowed rooms and imagine their lives anchored here by this stone and spirit.

Bob was not finding it an easy life as he wiggled through one of the tunnels at Balcony House and then had to climb 2 ladders—“how did they do it!,” he asks breathlessly. These amazing cliff-dwellings held the heat in winter and were cool in the summer, provided excellent protection and defense, and had water steaming through cracks in the sandstone which was also channeled ingeniously downhill to water their crops. The park museum also holds a treasure trove of their artifacts, pottery and basket art works as well as linkages to modern Native Americans who share their story.

As we toured Arches, Canyonland, Zion and the Grand Canyon National Parks, we often wondered about the native people who came before, and Mesa Verde National Park is a great accompaniment to this canyon story of the West.

Well, that’s the end of our national park tour for this year. Denver is 450 miles from here and we will be heading back there slowly and staying at 2 beautiful Colorado State parks, San Luis and Cheyenne Mountain, for the next few nights. It’s been fun sharing this with you. See you right here in June when we turn this back to a boat blog and take Baby Grand from Lake Champlain, through the beautiful Canadian canals back to the Great Lakes. You are welcome to come aboard.

What a Boater Has Learned about RVing So Far 4-24-10

2010-04-23T23:21:00.011-05:00

We have been sailors/boaters for the past 40 years, but since moving to Colorado, we have realized that you cannot see all the scenic places of this great wide-open country by water so purchased an RV. We like living in cozy spaces, carrying our home with us like a turtle and traveling all over. If you are a boater, you already know how to live LARGE in a small space, are used to jury-rigging and fixing stuff as well as doing maintenance. If you are not a boater, all of this is much easier in an RV than on a boat.

I absolutely love boating but I am equally passionate about hiking in the mountains. I loved boating the Great Circle Loop but there was little opportunity for hiking. Beach walks are wonderful but now that I live in the West with so much proximity to mountainous national and state parks, RVing seemed like a natural choice.

I know that a number of you are considering getting an RV in the future and here are a few things that we’ve learned:

Type of RV: This is the first decision that you’ll have to make. Class A rigs look like buses, are usually diesel-powered, can carry more weight and have more water and holding tank capacity, have better suspension and hydraulics, can tow a vehicle more easily but are higher priced, are usually 36 ft ++ which is sometimes a problem finding sites in national park campgrounds.
The majority of RVs are trailers, 5th wheels which are both pulled by trucks which then can be disconnected, and the last category is Class C motorhome like ours. There are also RV vans and hybrids. Most of the above category are more moderately priced, are gasoline-powered, are made with lighter weight materials due to weight restrictions based on the engine and chassis requirements, are a good entry level vehicle and are usually less than 34 feet which make if easier to find a site in a national park. Actually a 28- 30 foot rig would be the ideal for more national park site availability but you might have to sacrifice some comfort items inside the cabin.
You can rent RVs from your local area or drive to where you would like to tour and rent them there. We have seen a lot of rental RVs in all the national parks and it is a great way to try on this lifestyle and see if you like it.

Traveling Costs: We are getting 7-9 mpg at an average speed of 55-60 mph on mountainous Western back-roads and highways which is pretty good fuel-efficiency in RV land. It helps to have some downhill sections and a following wind every once in awhile.
RV sites in a national park are around $9.00-12.00 per night with the Senior Pass (age 62 +) and you are not charged per foot. This is such a deal.

Reservations: Reservations are needed in national and even some state parks in April. This was a surprise to us. We had reservations at all the national parks initially, but then our plans changed and we lost some reservations, but lucked out at Arches National Park when there was a last-minute cancellation at 3pm. National parks do keep some sites on a first-come basis so make sure to ask about this. They also have handicap-designated sites.

Dry Camping: Dry camping is camping without electric, water or sewage hook-ups and if you are in an RV, you rely on your generator, inverter, water and holding tanks as well as propane tanks for heat, refrigeration and stove. We did this at Arches National Park but make sure to fill-up your water and dump your holding tanks before dry camping.
We always loved anchoring on a boat and there are opportunities for experiences like this in lands managed by the National Forest or the Bureau of Land Management. We look forward to trying this in the future. We’ve been told that there are also plenty of boondock places around the country where you can enjoy the solitude of a special place without cost but we haven’t tried this yet. Full time RVers are reluctant to pass this information along fearing they will be overrun but we will pursue this.

Typical Trip Day: We have found that a trip of 250 miles with fuel and lunch or site stops in about 6 hours is very doable. We start our trip with Willie Nelson’s On the Road Again to get in the mood and the rest follows easily. We follow the yellow road lines rather than red and green buoys and it is so much easier. On our boat we did 7 knots for 6 hours with an average trip of 40+ miles so we are now traveling at warp speed in the RV. Do we miss the challenge of boating—maybe occasionally. We have road maps of all the destinations and use our car GPS which is way less complicated than nautical navigation.

Auxiliary Transportation: On our boat, we had our dinghy, bikes and occasionally rented a car from Enterprise. The big decision for an RVer is whether you will tow a car. Class A motorhomes regularly do; 5th wheels and trailers can disconnect their trucks to get around, but the choice for a Class C motorhome like ours is harder. If we towed a car, it would have added more weight and we would have to eject other things; we opted to carry a motorscooter and a bicycle, can rent from Enterprise when we need a car in the future and now will have to take the motorhome into a national park like Mesa Verde when the distance is too far for the various bikes.

Driving an RV: If you can drive a car, you can drive an RV with a little practice. RVs have brakes; boats don’t so we start with a definite advantage, but there is no autopilot like on a boat. We have been buffeted by wind and storms in the RV which probably is a bit unusual, and not like a boat which has wind, seas and current constantly.
Be careful of potholes and uneven roads in an RV as these conditions can upset your cabin cargo or your tilt-a-rack motorscooter which happened to us in Denver. Go slow on all small ramps into a shopping center or gas station as everything can shift--we learned this the hard way also.

Cabin Accommodations: We often joked on our 32 foot boat that we wished that we could occasionally make it bigger; in an RV, you can with the use of slide-outs which increase your living space in various areas by 2-4 feet. We have more creature comforts in our 2009 RV compared to our 1985 boat which is more a reflection of newer vs. older.

Systems: We had to add a generator, inverter, etc. to our 1985 boat but our 2009 RV comes with these plus propane heater, AC, big fridge, stall shower, queen bed etc. which makes living easier.
Despite what you’ve seen in the comedy RV movies, grey water (sink discharge) and black water (toilet discharge) tanks are pretty easy to discharge. I find that the RV systems are more user-friendly and I understand the mechanics more easily.

Cold Weather Camping: We did not plan on doing this but have hit some freezing nighttime temps on this trip. Our rig is equipped with tank heaters which keeps the holding and water tanks from freezing and this is a good option to have. We have had occasional snow and we have found that it is a good idea to close the slide-out areas early before snow accumulates or you will have to face ice jams when you try to pull in the slide-outs when you want to travel.

Roadside Assistance: We are new to RVing and liked that our Jayco RV came with a roadside assistance plan with the warranty. We have not had to use it but it's good to know it's there. It can also be purchased through your insurance.

Social Time: We have not spent much time in campgrounds as we have been busy hiking and touring, and we have noticed that RVers in national parks are pretty transient and on pretty different schedules. On the Loop or ICW, boaters are all herding together based on wind, seas and season and migration patterns are probably more predictable. We've heard that this is also true for the FL and AZ RV snowbirds but for RVers touring the national parks in April, this is less so. We've met probably more hikers on trails than RVers in parks.

Docking: Everbody's favorite maneuver whether on land or water but it is much easier in an RV. Many of the parks have pull-through sites which are super easy. Sometimes you have to back-in which is harder for the trailer-type rigs but patience, practice, a good set of hand signals and a sense of humor helps with this.
Once you are in your site, you have to level-off your RV as the ground surface is often very uneven and you may be pitched to one side or uphill/downhill. This may create problems for your fridge, cause your doors to fly open or have stuff slide off your countertops. Class A motorhomes often have hydraulic levelers which makes the job pretty easy. The rest of us have to use devices under our wheels to prop up the offending side--we use Lego-looking levelers in varying combinations but will be looking for more efficient ways to do this.

Whew—that’s a lot of information and I hope that some of it is helpful to you. Right now we are going to continue boating and RVing for as long as we are able and enjoy the best of land and sea and we truly are a “Full House.”

Grand Canyon—South Rim 4-22-10

2010-04-23T00:19:00.006-05:00

Can you imagine being the very first person here, coming through the woods and suddenly, you are standing on the edge of a precipice, overlooking an other-worldly canyon that goes on forever—the Grand Canyon still has that power.

We are only here for 4 days and heard the weather report that snow was going to be blasting in for the last 2 days so find those boots and get hiking. Instead of climbing up mountains like in Zion, we have to climb down the canyons and save enough energy to get back up. Climbing down actually is harder in some ways as you are constantly using your knees for braking so we added hiking poles to help with this.

We had 2 fantastic day hikes of 3-4 miles each planned—Bright Angel and the Kaibab Trails. My camera does not capture the vistas around every turn—they pull you in and keep you inspired to go further. Bob is really into hiking now and we are considering coming back in the future and doing the 10 mile hike to the bottom of the canyon and staying overnight at Phantom Ranch.

As the weather started turning, we took the shuttle bus when it was snowing, but got out and walked parts of the 12 mile Rim Trail along the top of the canyon when it cleared. Hopi Point is a spectacular place to see sunset and we were there but so was the bad weather so no picture. We saved the inside activities like the visitor centers, ranger talks and galleries for the inclimate weather and had an excuse to have a sumptuous lunch with wine at the famous El Tovar Lodge.

Nothing clears a national park like snow and we were practically alone walking the rim when the snow cleared and the sun shone on the majestic rocks in the top right picture. We realized that today is Earth Day and the Grand Canyon is a perfect place to celebrate its beauty and grandeur.

Zion National Park is Heaven 4-17-10

2010-04-19T00:05:00.011-05:00

The ocean has power and fury; Yosemite National Park, majesty and grandeur; Yellowstone, raw volcanic energy, but Zion National Park has eternity. It is a place held sacred by many cultures and its mountaintops carry the names of many religious figures like the Court of the Patriarchs, the Great White Throne, Temple of Sinawava, and the Watchman. These eons old Navajo sandstone cliffs were built from 4,000 foot high sand dunes, washed by an ancient inland ocean, built up by geological forces of the Colorado Plateau and carved by the 10 million year old Virgin River—amazing.

We were last here in 1997 and the beauty remains unchanged but the park functions more efficiently with free propane shuttle buses providing the links to all the sites and eliminating the previous chaos of 4,000 cars searching endlessly for 450 parking spots. Here is a picture of our campsite under the gaze of the sentinel Watchman Mountain. It was a great place to greet the morning sun, return to rest and read after a day of hiking and enjoy a campfire under a blanket of endless stars.

There are hiking trails for every ability and inclination and here’s Bob trying to decide which trail to take. You can take the paved Pa’rus Trail, Riverside and Grotto Walks along the canyons, or medium hiking treks to the upper reaches to the Emerald Pools or the Watchman, or go all the way and defy gravity and stare down 1,400 feet of sheer cliffs from a 4 foot walkway on Angel’s Landing. Bob was not so sure of this one and told me, “Peg, I know Zion is heaven but I am not sure I really want to meet my Maker” but he did it! You will meet fellow hikers from all over the world and it is fun to share the trails, encourge each other on to the top and then share lunch overlooking the spectacular canyons.

Springtime is a fantastic time to be here as the high desert is blooming with wildflowers like the red Paintbrush especially in the Hidden Canyon area where you find hanging fern gardens, towering waterfalls and gentle streams.

One of my favorite activities was to get up early and ride my bicycle to the end of the canyon and experience the solitary pleasure of seeing the landscape wake-up to the sun with shadows giving way to light and color. There is so much to do here at Zion National Park—ranger-led hikes, ranger presentations throughout the day and evening, technical rock-climbing, backpack camping, an interpretive museum and visitor center, horseback riding, plus restaurants and accommodations at Zion Lodge. There was even a presentation on Saturday night by the current artist-in-residence, Mark Graham, about how Zion has been depicted historically by artists and his own work on trying to capture the essence of this special place. Add in the charming little town of Springdale which also provides a free shuttle service to its inns, restaurants and shops and you all have it all.

We Found Spring in Arches and Canyonland National Parks 4-8-10

2010-04-12T22:36:00.015-05:00

We left Denver on 3-31 with sunny mild temperatures headed into a wind storm and snow warnings for Wyoming as we headed to Salt Lake City for a family reunion with our kids. Brrrrr…we are trying to find spring. We are newbie RVers and unsure what all of this meant but quickly discovered that a big, square RV rig is a playtoy for these conditions. We thought that we were back on our boat being rocked by beam waves on the Gulf, 40-50 knot head seas in the Atlantic and waked by passing boats in Miami which were now huge tractor trailer trucks. Captain Bob “at the wheel” did a magnificent job maneuvering and we hunkered down in roadside trailer parks which rivaled our back country marinas in the “deliverance country” of Mississippi for ambience and comfort. My sister Joan is also a new RVer and has stayed in Wal-Mart parking lots at times like this, but in central Wyoming, there is not a big box store in sight.

We made it to Salt Lake City on Friday, 4/2 just in time for the Mormon convention. I have not seen that many white shirts and families with 6-8 children since the 1950s. Our son Brian lives here and goes to grad school at University of Utah and our daughter, Katie, flew in from Denver so missed our preceding paragraph adventure. We wanted spring but the kids were petitioning for more powder skiing and guess who won. While we walked around SLC with the Mormons who would not even let us into the Temple, the kids had a magnificent day of the finest powder skiing ever. We toasted our time together with a full-spread ham dinner and Easter egg hunt for money-filled eggs.

It is time for Mom and Dad to spread our wings and find spring and adventure. Arches and Canyonland National Parks are east of SLC so we headed out again to find them. The wind abated, the mountains rose and, with the backdrop of the Grand Canyon Suite, we found the beautiful canyons of Utah. We are originally from the east coast, have lived the past 33 years in Minnesota and were unprepared for the expansive, solitary beauty of the western landscape. It is absolutely breathtaking when you can see mountains 360 degrees and feel like you are touching heaven. It was also 65 degrees—winter’s gone!!!

Here we are in Arches National Park with our 32’ Jayco Greyhawk Class C Motorhome. It is quite comfortable and much bigger and with more creature comforts than our 32 foot boat, Baby Grand. We did not have reservations at Arches but lucked out due to a cancellation opening. Campground hosts, Dick and his wife, and Donnie and his wife, made us feel so welcomed and shared tips for full-time RVing. Here we are hiking to Landscape and Partition Arches as well as squeezing through the canyons in the Fiery Furnace. The hiker after me broke his ankle twisting through here and had to be evacuated out so be careful out there in canyonland. We have a Kymco 150 cc motorscooter that is so much fun to ride and now that I have my motorcycle license, maybe there is a tattoo in my future.

The fun and hiking continue at Canyonland National Park which is 30 miles up the road. It is a miniature Grand Canyon with beautiful vistas and spectacular scenery. Bob took my picture backed up to a cliff, urging me closer to the edge—if you don’t hear from me, you’ll know what happened.

Wait a Minute--that's not a boat???? 4-1-10

2010-04-12T22:10:00.007-05:00

Baby Grand is still in her cocoon back in Lake Champlain but we moved to Denver last fall and fell in love with the West. Being flat-landers in Minnesota for the past
33 years, our necks are always cranked upwards and our mouths in full awe position as we take in the huge scope and scale of the spectacular Rocky Mountains. It's been a fun winter of skiing and snowshoeing in the mountains and very little winter in Denver until March.

We decided to go to the Denver RV show in January to check out RVs for the future. You guessed it--one thing led to another and we closed on a 31 GS Jayco "Grey Hawk" Class C motorhome on 2/15. Baby Grand does not know yet that there's been a whole big addition to the family so let's keep it a secret for now. We still plan on continuing the boating Great Circle Loop through the canals to the Great Lakes this summer but only going as far as Northport on Lake Michigan.

I realize that putting our Grey Hawk RV trip on our beloved Baby Grand blog is kind of like posting a picture of your mistress with the family photos. We are trying out another lifestyle and do feel a little unfaithful and who knows where all of this will lead—we sure don’t but we do love adventure.

We left Denver on 3/31 on our maiden RV voyage to do the Grand Circle (what is it about circles for us?) of national parks for a month. We have always wanted to travel the US by RV after reading John Steinbeck's Travels with Charley and watching the PBS series on the national parks by Ken Burns. This trip we will be visiting Arches, Canyonland, Zion, Grand Canyon and Mesa Verde National Parks.

But first, we had to get out of Denver. During our first half hour, we rounded a corner right into a deep pothole which tilted the rig, then there was a big grinding noise in the back but we couldn't stop as we were hemmed in with traffic. Other cars kept waving to us which we thought was pretty cool until we realized they were telling us our motorcycle was tilting precariously. OK--we pull over finally, forget that we have an upward clearance of 11'3" and hit some tree tops. No damage to anything thankfully and it's good to get all your catastrophes over early in the trip.

Wrapping It Up For This Year 9-28-09

2009-09-29T07:42:00.009-05:00

Literally and figuratively, that is. We are now hauled-out at the Plattsburgh Boat Basin in northern Lake Champlain after 13 months of living aboard. It has been quite a journey but Mother Nature told us to end now by throwing us 30 knot winds, 3-5 foot seas, rain, fog but not s—w yet, but any Great Lakes boater knows that is not far behind. We will spend the rest of the week winterizing as well as the spring boating rituals of cleaning and polishing before Baby Grand is placed in a shrinkwrap cocoon until we return here next May. Sleep well, dear friend. New boating friends, Larry and Monica on Margo, are parked right next to us and will check on her over the winter. Thanks so much--it will be hard to be so far away.

I was not prepared for the emotion that I felt when I saw her being hauled. Maybe we should just put her back in the water and just head south but I had already given Captain Bob his lay-off notice. We’ve only been off the boat for 7 nights during the whole year and I am not sure I can sleep without the room moving. We have developed such a great rhythm of life onboard together and I don’t want to lose that. We’ve had such fun, adventure and self-discovery these past months, as well as the accompanying anxiety, conflict and drama that have made us each stronger. Baby Grand has been our flawless magic carpet on the ride of a lifetime and we will miss her sorely this winter. We celebrated this chapter of our story ending with a great dinner at Irises.

We will be heading west to Denver soon where another adventure awaits. We sent boxes and furniture there 18 months ago and I have absolutely no idea what I packed to make a new home. Our daughter Kate is there and our son Brian is in Utah so being geographically closer to them is the home I look forward to.

To our RV, boating and Looper friends heading south, we wish you bon voyage and we look forward to reading about your adventures on your blogs. For the rest of us who will have to huddle by the fire to stay warm, let’s hope this winter is mild and gentle, and spring is early and warm.

Let’s stay in touch (peggy8301@hotmail.com) and see you back here next May when we travel the Rideau, Richelieu and Trent-Severn Canals back to the Great Lakes. Or, we will we go to……stay tuned.

Beautiful Burlington VT. 9-25-09

2009-09-25T21:57:00.007-05:00

We have been to Burlington plenty of times by land as our son went to UVM and we always wanted to come here by water. This is our 3rd time back here this month and we’re lovin’ it. Burlington is perfectly situated right on the lake with the backdrop of the Green Mountains and a vista of the Adirondacks across the lake which is spectacular for sunset. Make sure to ask for slip #16 for the best view. Here is a view on Friday night, but during the week, we had most of the dock to ourselves, and at a rate of only $25 per night after 9/15, it is a real deal.

There is so much to do here. Take the free shuttle bus around town if you don’t want to walk up the very steep hills. The pedestrian mall is well-planned with artisan stores and apparently was designed by the same architects that did Boulder CO. Everybody here seems to drive a Prius or Subaru with a rack for a bike/kayak, eats organic (reprovision at City Market or Fresh Market) and thinks green. The food is not only healthy but terrific—here’s Bob lining up for the early bird special at Leunig’s French Bistro and we would also recommend Tiny Thai, Skinny Pancake, Single Pebble and Bueno Y Sano.

I rode the itty-bitty bike 20 miles roundtrip on the Burlington Bikeway to the Champlain Causeway where they have a bike ferry during the summer to bring you to South Hero Island. My tush is pretty sore but I loved the trip along the lake but forgot my camera so no pictures to prove that I did it. The bike was a little worn out too and we got it reconditioned at North Shore Sports.

We went to the ECHO Museum right in the harbor and were going to catch the bus down to the Shelburne Museum when Karen and Chris on Karen Marie told us about the free tour of the Lake Champlain Chocolate factory. Museum or chocolate factory—what would Peggy chose? No contest.

Bob’s cousin Maura lives here and it was so great to see her—thanks, Maura.

We ended our time here with a Bahamian sunset salute with a conch shell serenade by Bob.

Great Scenery in Lake Champlain 9-21-09

2009-09-25T21:50:00.005-05:00

We have enjoyed great anchorages and moorings the past month in Deep Bay, Burton Island, Shelburne Bay, Mallett’s Bay, Point Bay, Mile Point Bay and we have not exhausted all the great places to stay yet. We even had front row seats for the World Lightning Sailboat Championships. We have gone into Champlain Marina and North Hero Marina when we ran out of water/ had a full holding tank (wish the reverse were true) or ran out of skivvies and had to do laundry. We are beginning to wind down to our haul-out on 9/28 and savoring enough memories to get us through the winter.

Family Time in Westport (Lake Champlain) 9-21-09

2009-09-25T08:15:00.007-05:00

We have been trying to plan a weekend with my sister, Maureen, and her husband, Kevin, but wind and weather did not cooperate on the Vermont side of the lake so we cruised south again to Westport on the New York side to meet them. We enjoyed our first stop there and I know it is a favorite of gold Loopers, Jim and Barb on Golden Lily.

We were rewarded with a beautiful early autumn weekend of calm boating, spectacular scenery, great company and lots of food. Kevin even had the “Colossal Breakfast plate” at Me and My Girls Café, gave it a good try but no clean plate club here. We had tickets for the local Depot Theatre production of Almost, Maine and spent the night laughing and identifying with this relationship comedy.

The leaves are starting to change and the fall produce is lining up at Everybody’s Market. Maureen and Kevin are avid golfers, spend most weekends on the course, but really got into boating and relaxing at anchor. By the end of the weekend, Kevin looked like a pro and was helping other boaters with dock lines.

The Westport area attracts lots of birds and hundreds of Canadian geese are staging there for their flight south. This time last year we were joining them—maybe you are this year. Bon voyage.

Question #3: What Do You Do for Food? 9-19-09

2009-09-19T06:29:00.001-05:00

This takes a bit of planning due to the constraints of our small fridge and freezer but we have lots of room for dry goods. I have about 50 recipes from Cooking Light and I wish that I could say that I’ve used all of them like the blogger/chef Julie in the movie, Julie and Julia. I stock up with these recipes in mind and it makes life simpler.

Our 6,000 mile trip has placed us within the vicinity of grocery stores most weeks. The problem is how to get to the store without a car. We walk, bike, have a push cart and about every 6 weeks, rent an Enterprise car to really load up. I should have taken a picture of this as we come back with a mountain of food that has to find a home somewhere aboard little Baby Grand. We discard all cardboard to decrease the bulk and this also cuts down on the chance that we will be taking bugs on board. Our cabinets and bins are organized for paper products, cans, soda, snacks etc., but if you looked inside, it might not look too organized. I keep a list of products we’ve used just like at home so the grocery list is already done. Bread is probably the hardest thing to keep fresh so we use Joseph’s Pitas which have a longer shelf life and are only 60 calories each.

We eat out about 1X per week which is a budgetary decision. Eating out costs as much or more than docking in a marina for a night so we try not to do both. We make it a social occasion with other boaters. The boating community is big on pot-lucks and I have standard recipes (broccoli salad, party bean dip, pasta salad) for these. I will not win the gourmet award with these but I have to accept the limits of my supplies.

We have another week before we haul-out, the food supplies are dwindling and it is time for creativity to use as much in the fridge and cabinets as possible. Here I am making a Boboli Hawaiian pizza with leftover sauce, canned pineapple and ham. Pretty good. We’ll donate all our unopened non-perishable goods to a food shelf.

We have lived well the past year and sharing the evening meal together has been a highlight. There is nothing like the backdrop of a beautiful waterway and good company to end the day.

Question #2: How Do You Live in Such a Small Space? 9-18-09

2009-09-18T17:47:00.009-05:00

Most of the time, quite well, thank you. You’ve seen a lot of pictures of the outside of our boat but I don’t think I’ve shown you the inside. Even though we measure out at less than 200 sq. feet of inside space, it is a well-designed, multi-purpose space ,decked out in rich teak wood and totally surrounded by large windows which makes it light and airy. It’s redone in new upholstery/foam and the blue/beige color scheme is nautical and pleasing to us.

Picture #1 shows our main salon or our “great room.” It has his/her matching settees, a drop-leaf table used for dining, desk, or workbench (Bob, make sure to put down the quilted cover). Everything is built-in so every square inch is used. There is storage underneath every space which allows us to stock-up on provisions for at least 3 weeks.

Picture #2 shows our downstairs steering and navigation station. When we dock or anchor for the night, the nav station becomes our TV/reading lamp area. We have Direct TV, XM radio, Wi-Fi or Air Card so are pretty well-connected when we can get a signal.

Picture #3 shows our galley or kitchen. It has a 3 burner propane stove and oven, microwave, multi-use counter space, and a 18”X19”X29” fridge which included a 12”X12”X7” freezer section. How can you live with only that amount of refrigeration? It takes planning-- we can go 3 weeks if I pack the freezer with individual serving sections of meat and plan out our menus a bit. I know a lot of Loopers have standard size fridges plus extra freezers but these take a lot of power to maintain. The one thing we’re really missing is ice cubes and we have been known to walk the docks at Happy Hour, saying, “Please, sir, can I have some cubes.”

Picture #4 is our sleeping area or V-berth as it is literally shaped like the letter V. There is storage below our bed and the closet area is to the left. You cannot be into multiple outfits and coordinating accessories and live on this boat. I am more of an REI uniform gal so the closet space works quite well for me. I like the minimalist approach to clothes but this would not be for everyone. Our bathroom or head is to the left and is quite small but it has a sink, vanity, toilet, and small shower. We tend to use marina bathrooms when we’re in port and it has been quite adequate but definitely not sumptuous.

Picture #5 shows our backporch or aft deck. It offers an additional 8 ft.X10ft space for relaxing and entertaining and there is storage below the entire area.

Picture #6 shows our upper station or flybridge with our bimini down so you can see it better. We have a lot of storage up there (bikes, grill, etc.) and it is a great place to take in the view.

Do I wish we had more space sometimes? Sure. Bob would love a LazyBoy. We’ve done quite well and have shared space pretty well. A small space has to be picked-up and luckily we are both on the neat side.

On land, we have “downsized” to a 1400 sq foot condo in Denver but all we really need is the 10ftX20ft 3 season porch to feel like home.

Frequent Questions about Living for a Year on a Small Boat 9-17-09

2009-09-17T18:04:00.007-05:00

I got my hair cut yesterday and the stylist asked me the 3 questions that we’re usually asked. I don’t know if I’ve addressed these in this blog and hopefully we have some answers.

# 1 Question: How do you stand your partner for 24/7?

Bob and I have both been asked this so it’s not a male or female thing. I must admit that I kind of worried about this too. We’ve been married 40 years, get along reasonably well, but for most of those years, large segments of every day were spent working, with friends, parenting and pursuing independent activities. Now for our year on the Loop, we’re going to be shackled together 24/7 on a small boat with no escape---yikes.

We’ve been boaters on 26-30’ sailboats for 30 + years so knew that the small boat part would be less of a problem for us than other Loopers. We did a practice run with the relationship part by taking 2 three week cruises aboard Baby Grand: the first, a 1500 mile boat delivery, 12 hours per day trip from the Chesapeake to Lake Superior; the second, a leisurely 3 week cruise to Isle Royale and the Canadian north shore of Lake Superior. We noticed a pattern—we do really well with the difficult stuff, work great as a team when the engine is misfiring after picking up a bad load of diesel, we’ve lost steering from the upper helm coming into a narrow harbor, or our anchor has dragged near rocks, but somehow get irritated with each other with the small stuff.

Since most of life is the small stuff, we needed a solution. I am a former psychotherapist so, of course, thought of going to a couples group to work on our Venus-Mars communication issues. Bob would rather have a root canal than go to a therapy group and offered a very creative alternative—if one of us experiences the other as not listening to a concern that is then getting bigger, either will say the code word, “reset” to alert the other to “stop (this is important), look (at each other) and (really) listen.” I loved that this was Bob’s idea and it really distilled a lot of very effective psychological tools into a very doable plan. Try it-it really works. This is not to say that we did not each harbor fantasies of having the other walk the plank or cast them off in the dinghy and going on solo. We had to work it out as literally to leave the dock, we have to work as a team.

Let’s talk about the 24/7. The 7 is a given but is it really 24? Bob and I did our daily numbers: subtract 8-9 hours for sleeping/napping; subtract another 4 as I get up early and Bob stays up late; subtract at least 4-6 hours for reading, trip planning, TV, blogging, other independent activities, and miscellaneous and you are down to 5-8 hours--doesn't that sound easier. It helps that we’re both pretty independent, low-maintenance types ,share all of the boat duties and both really wanted to do this trip.

I think that a lot of Loopers spend more time figuring out the "perfect boat" and less time figuring out how to live together. Size really does not matter as much in this. We’ve learned to live LARGE in a very small boat, support each other more, not sweat the small stuff as much and laugh at our mistakes. I hope that we can take what we’ve learned with us.

Love Note to Bayfield, our homeport 9-14-09

2009-09-14T05:51:00.002-05:00

Hi everybody! Hope you are doing well and that you will have a warm September to continue cruising. Apple Festival is just around the corner and I can smell the apple pie from the Candy Shop.

It’s been a year since we left beautiful Bayfield to do the Great Circle Loop. We have done about 5,900 miles so far and are now anchored in Lake Champlain which is like a hybrid of a very small Lake Superior and a Colorado alpine lake but I don’t ever have thoughts like “Kitchi-gummi doesn’t give up her dead”—that was last September in Whitefish Bay with 6-8 foot seas, the most stressful crossing of our whole entire trip. If you can boat on Lake Superior, you can do anything.

This Peg will not be back in Lake Superior for quite awhile but we are sending you a new Peg, Loopers Peg Miller and her husband, Dave. You will probably notice their 44’ Tollycraft, Sea Ya, docked in the marina. We have told them how beautiful Bayfield is, how great the boating is in the Apostle Islands and how welcoming all of you are. Stop by and introduce yourselves and ask Dave to tell you about his special Navy escort out of a high security area. Anyone can make a little wrong turn.

Bayfield, the Apostle Islands and the BYC have been the benchmarks for us to measure other ports and we can report to you that you have rarely been surpassed. Even the Abacos in the Bahamas seemed to us like a turquoise blue Apostle Islands minus the bears but way more tiki bars.

It was fun to see Jill and Wayne, Frank, Phyllis and Gretchen as well as Vonnie and Erling in FL and to email with many of you along the way. I probably should have posted our website, and here it is http://www.babygrandadventure.blogspot.com/

We will be doing the Canadian canals next year and coming back into the Great Lakes and taking a few years to explore the Georgian Bay/North Channel area. We’ll keep the website going so join us on our adventure.

Wishing you fair skies and calm seas (We’re powerboaters now)

Peggy and Bob

Working during Labor Day Week 9-09-09

2009-09-09T19:37:00.007-05:00

You have returned to work—why shouldn’t we? We have been cruising for 1 year and our boat is a mess and caked in salt water. With a name like Baby Grand, there is a lot of pressure to get her looking good again so we’re working hard washing, waxing, sanding and varnishing. It’s paying off and already she has shed her scaly coating and is so glad to be back in fresh water again. Ahhhhhhh……

We are moored in Deep Bay in Lake Champlain with 3 sided protection. We are enjoying blue sky days with temps in the 70’s in the northland which is just perfect. The light is getting more golden and there are a few hints of fall with slight color change.

We are not all work and no play as Point au Roche State Park with hiking trials is just a dinghy ride away. There are miles of trails to hike and when we get hot, " just jump in the lake".

Great Labor Day Weekend 9-6-09

2009-09-06T20:53:00.005-05:00

We left Burton Island on Friday, 9/4 so we could meet up with Bob’s brother John and his wife, Mary on Saturday at Treadwell Bay Marina. They have a cabin in the Adirondacks and this was a convenient meeting place.

I awoke on Saturday to the smell of strong coffee, cigarettes and the sound of French. I truly did not know where I was and wondered if I had lost a year as we plan to travel to Montreal and Quebec next year. I learned later that Treadwell Bay is 60 miles from Montreal and that the marina is occupied by 90% French Canadians. I love the lilt of the French language but why is it that I only remember Spanish words when I try to speak French. I think that I have some work to do this winter.

Treadwell Bay Marina is an interesting place which makes you work hard to get to the pool and the good restaurant. Notice the steps to the left side of the picture—41 total and we did them numerous times with groceries and 4 loads of laundry with dock carts. I asked a Montreal boater how he copes with this and he noted, “You get used to it and can drink more wine and eat more food and still stay in shape.” Hardy people.

We had a great time visiting with John and Mary on our boat. We tooled around Treadwell Bay made easy with a crystal clear blue sky day, 70 degrees and moderate winds. John even wore boat shoes and looked more nautical than Bob.

Bob and I love this lake and had seriously thought of retiring here. In 2003, we looked at a dilapidated property in which we saw great potential but our offer was refused. We cruised up Alburg Peninsula on Sunday to see what happened to it. Somebody bought it and transformed it into the Vermont “camp” we would have created.

We spent the rest of the weekend enjoying an anchorage in LaMotte Passage. Hope you are having a great weekend also.

A Year Ago Today…. 9-4-09

2009-09-04T06:38:00.006-05:00

Hard to believe that Bob and I started our Great Loop trip a year ago today. Big events always have a time distortion—seems like yesterday/it was another lifetime ago. After a whirlwind few months of selling the house in St. Paul, finding a condo in Denver that will be our home, and retiring on 9/2/08, we started our trip of a lifetime on Friday, 9/5/08 in Lake Superior.
Here I am this morning watching our gold Looper burgee and sunrise over the Green Mountains in Vermont on Lake Champlain. It’s been an incredible year.

I asked Captain Bob to crunch some numbers to give you a rough outline of what we’ve done. My blog has been woefully inadequate in this department so here it is:

Total statute miles in 1 year: 5883
Gallons of diesel fuel used: 1462 for an average of 4.02 miles per gallon
Engine Hours: 795
Boat Travel Days: 131, avg of 45 miles, 6 hours per day
Nights in a Marina: 323
Locks: 37
Boat Parts Replaced: engine room blower, boat water pump, macerator,
impeller, inverter panel.

Some of these numbers surprise me as I thought that we travelled more days and anchored out more. We started to do our Favorites list (best beach-Clearwater; best place on the Loop-Bahamas; best anchorage-Statue of Liberty……) but then we would remember other great places and start again. It was a great way to revisit our trip and play “remember when….”

We have learned so much this year about ourselves, each other, what’s important and what’s not. We have learned to live LARGE in a very small boat. We remember the anticipation and anxiety before making a hard crossing but also the sense of accomplishment when we did it. It has made us stronger. We have appreciated the community of boaters that we’ve met along the way and shared so much with.

There is one more category. Regrets: none.