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.
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.
