Must say we truly enjoyed our extended four night stay in Killarney, ON at the Sportsman's Inn and Marina. This very lovely Inn is located on the channel that connects Georgian Bay and the North Channel. Have to say there is not much hear with the exception of the Sportsman's Inn, and it's sister resort the Killarney Mountain Resort.
We put 50 gallons of fuel in the port tank to add weight to the port side thus eliminating our little leak on the exhaust port on the starboard side. You know it's not a good thing to have a leaky boat! This marina has docks right in-front of the inn, restaurant and spa. However, their newest and larger docks are on the opposite side of the channel. So, if you want anything from the Inn or restaurant we have two options; call for their launch to pick us up and take us across or, what we did is, put our dinghy in the water and make the one minute crossing. This also allowed us the freedom to come and go as we pleased without having to wait for the launch. These new docks are really nice and can easily accommodate a 70-80 foot boat and Zoey's Adventure had plenty of room. The view from our aft-deck was delightful with an array of passing boats and several seaplanes. We had a ringside seat for all the activity on the channel.
Our sunset view across all the docks.
One of the more interesting signs we saw while on a bike ride. Needless to say, we didn't stick around.
Our first night in Killarney we decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner at the Killarney Mountain Inn. So with our better going out to dinner attire we took our dinghy up the channel to the resort for what turned out to be a very good dinner.
Day two in Killarney we decided to take the dingy on a rather long exploration trip to one of the most popular anchorages on the North Channel - Covered Portage Cove. With our PFD's (personal flotation devices) on we set out to make the 20 minute open water crossing to Covered Portage Cove. Early on I decided from what I had read about this popular spot it would not be good for a boat our size to anchor here. Once we made our entrance to the beautiful small cove with rock cliffs on one side and towering pine trees on the other we could easily understand it's draw. As we cruised around the cove there were maybe 14 boats - 12 sail and 2 power and just not enough room for Zoey's Adventure. Returning to the boat we decided to extend our Killarney stay one more day. The weather again was perfect and we both liked Killarney. After our third night we chose to again spend another night right where we were.
Oh well the time has come to move on. During our stay, there was another Looper docked next to us that was on their third Loop! This is a lot of experience and so I asked them if they would review the charts for an anchorage I wanted to visit on the North Channel called Baie Fine. The entrance into Baie Fine is marked with several buoys but after that there is nothing to follow. Barb and Dave sat with Lou Ann and I and showed us just how to navigate this 5-6 mile bay that leads to a narrow passage of maybe another 1 mile that opens up into the anchorage called the Pool. The Pool can accommodate several boats but the bottom is grassy and the anchor holding at times difficult. Some boaters choose to drop their anchor and then take a line to shore and tie off their stern to a tree or rock. This stern tying is something we have never done and really not a place to do it the first time. The Pool is again a spectacular anchorage with beautiful granite walls that line the Pool. One of the added highlights of the spot is boaters can take their dinghy to shore and hike about 20 minutes up to beautiful Lake Topaz. Boy was this a place I so much wanted to visit. However, after speaking with our fellow experienced Loopers we decided it was not a place for us to anchor and feel comfortable for the night. Once you make a commitment to head to the Pool it is usually too late to reverse and find another safe spot protected from the winds.
Monday August 20, 2018 - Killarney to Little Current
A somewhat short day with only 20 miles to cover. However, there is a bridge at Little Current that only opens on the hour for 10 minutes. As we are leaving Killarney we are following another Looper heading for Baie Fine. He's a slow boat so we are kind of stuck behind him with no chance to make a comfortable pass . Finally once we pass, it's to late to make the next bridge opening so we slow down and enjoy the calm sunny slow cruise to Little Current. Oh, one of the islands we passed today is Heywood Island. A few days earlier there was a sailboat anchored in Heywood Cove. The couple were off on their dinghy enjoying themselves and as they began to get close to their boat they saw a BEAR on the boat. Apparently, they left the swim ladder down and the bear swam out to the boat got into the cabin and absolutely destroyed it looking for food and when he heard people coming ripped thru the canvas top and jumped off the bow. This bear attempted to board boats 3 more times when we were in the area. We chose to by-pass Heywood Island. LouAnn said bad enough she has to deal with the captain being a bear on occasions.
Once we clear the bridge after a short wait we soon dock at Little Current and have a prime spot on the wall. Due to a not so favorable weather forecast for the next day we are fairly certain we will be two night in little Current. As it turned out we did spend a second night.
The Loopers Association has a Harbor Host program where in certain key harbors a member will volunteer to be a "Harbor Host" I am the Harbor Host for Mystic. These hosts offer assistance on all types of issues from boat dockage, repairs, restaurants and even doctors. A host will often take boaters to the market and just about anything else they can do to make a Loopers stay an enjoyable one. The Little Current host is Roy Eaton. He has been a host for 15 years and is very unique to the North Channel. The boating in the northern section of the North Channel is for the most part without cell service. Most Loopers will cruise these waters for a week or more going from one anchorage to another with no means of communicating other the the VHF marine radio. What Roy has done for 15 years during the summer months at 9 AM every day he host his own radio (VHF ) broadcast so all the Loopers and boaters can be informed on key world events, stock market, sports and most important weather for the North Channel. Once he's read all the news he then ask for Looper or any boater to call in and state the name of the boat and location. He makes a record of all the boats sometime as many a 100 per day. He then offers to make any calls to family and friends to give them a message such as so and so is well but will be out of cell range for x number days. As some boaters are out of VHF range another boated closer will relay the boats name and location to Roy.The North Channel is over 100 miles long and 15 miles wide. Sometimes there will be an emergency so they contact Roy and on his next daily broadcast he will ask the name of the boat and last location to contact him for an urgent message. Other boaters will hear this and if they see this boat anchored, will notify the crew to contact Roy the next day on the radio.
One of the other nice things Roy will do as he did with us or any Looper, he came down to Zoey's Adventure and sat with LouAnn and I and went over the spots in the North Channel we should consider visiting. There was one anchorage he shared with us that if we went and anchored the couple who live there would invite us to their home for drinks...so cool!
Second day in Little Current not much there except for a good grocery store. We did have to move Zoey's Adventute to make room for the little cruise ship due in on the next day.
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