Day 57-58 2nd year. July 17-18 Lay day in Huckleberry Island and on to Regatta Bay and Snug Harbor. Mile 13 Total miles. 3527

Day 57. Lay day

Woke to clear skies and windy conditions. Decided we’d wait out the wind as we will be in open water on our days journey so we stayed Huckleberry Island. I tinkered with our tentative schedule for North Channel based on the new information we got yesterday and Bill tackled organizing his stuff and the aft head. I got the better end of that deal.

Later in the afternoon we took the dinghy out to explore another shore in the bay. May find more blueberries! Well, found blueberries but not quite ripe enough to pick. We did find rocks to climb and great views of Parry Sound. Also found two new birds, a Hermit Thrush and an American Redstart.

Day 58. On to Regatta Bay and Snug Harbor

Weighed anchor on another beautiful day with 66 degrees.

Headed out past Huckleberry Island to round Killbear Point, which is part of Ontario’s Provincial Park. It’s a favorite spot for camping in this area. The Canadians were in shorts and T shirts and some even on the beach with swimsuits! We were in wind breakers.

Vacationing Canadians enjoying KillBear Provincial Park. Often the Canadians will paint the name of the island on the rocks to help with identification.

Local boaters warned us that part of Canoe Channel was too narrow for a boat our length as it has very tight turns. So we took the outside route past McClelland Rock and its range mark which helps aligns boats to enter the channel to Parry Sound. As you can see in the picture, an osprey has made it their home.

We cruised past Pancake Island, another Provincial Park for day picnicking. Here the Canoe Channel meets back up with the channel that leads us to Snug Island and it’s iconic lighthouse.

Here is a shot of Canoe Channel

Snug Harbor Lighthouse.

We anchored in Regatta Bay’s outer harbor with two other boats. The Inner Harbor was filled. Regatta Harbor got its name because of the many sailing regattas sponsored by the YMCA camp on Franklin Island adjacent to the bay.

After getting settled, we deployed the dinghy and went into the town of Snug Harbor for lunch and to sightsee. Was a two mile dinghy trip into the small town of Snug Harbor which consists of mostly cottages and their famous restaurant Gilly's.

Had a wonderful lunch of the best fish and chips so far in Georgian Bay and their famous fish chowder. Very delicious and since it was such a big meal, I won't have to cook dinner. Yeah!!

We returned to the boat via a tour of the Regatta Harbor's Inner Bay, which was filled with boats stern tied to the rocks. Also we stopped off to rock climb on Franklin Island's park land.

Bill was all tuckered out so he took a nap, while I caught up on the blog. Had a nice sunset and did some start gazing. So many stars to see!

Reflections on the Bahamas

Reflections on the Bahamas Over the past 10 weeks, we have traveled through Abaco, Eleuthera and Exuma Islands and enjoyed the hospitality of the Bahamian people. We have learned all about the islands, its unique geography - limestone, caves, blue holes and chalk cliffs; and colorful history-pirates and rum running, salt ponds and cotton plantations, boat building and wrecking/salvage. Traveling over 1300 miles through narrow cuts and wide bays to vast depths of ocean, we negotiated the islands and found safe harbors, calm coves for anchoring, bays filled with moorings and marinas large and small. This trip required us to pay close attention to the weather, the tides and currents as we traveled between and through the islands. The Bahamian people are warm and friendly, willing to give us rides, advice and directions, as well as some secret recipes!! We enjoyed hiking trails, walking the beaches, snorkeling the coral rocks and reefs, discovering ruins and ol...

June 4-5. Day 63-64. On to Cape May New Jersey. 53.4nm. Total 1534 miles.

Left Delaware City at 5:35am to be able to take advantage of the strong currents going with us while traversing Delaware River and Delaware Bay. The Delaware River goes south about 15 miles and flows into the Delaware Bay. As we travel south, New Jersey is to the east and Delaware is to our west. We are traveling just outside the shipping channel and are really moving at 10.9 knots. That is three knots faster than we normally travel, as the outgoing tides are pushing us along. Nice to have Mother Nature helps us save on fuel. The Delaware River is about 8 miles wide so there is plenty of room for the freighters and the pleasure boats. So far, we have not encountered any commercial traffic, but there is a large freighter behind us that will eventually pass us as they travel at 14 knots. The Delaware Bay proper varies from 23-29 miles wide and 26 miles long. There are five lighthouses on the Delaware marking the shipping channel. We went by Ship J...

Day 98. 2nd year. August 27. On to Manistee. Miles 25 Total miles. 3910.

We weighed anchor on a sunny 50 degree morning. So we put on our sweatshirts and drove from below as we left Frankfort. Going through Frankfort’s channel and breakwater we encountered a few intrepid fisherman and further along as we cleared the breakwater there must have been over a hundred fishing boats. Almost like playing bumper cars, but with boats. Had to negotiate a path between them as the fishing boats were all trolling fishing lines behind them. We were still seeing fishermen 4 miles south of Frankfort. These guys sure take their fishing tournaments seriously! The shoreline that we pass heading south are still sand dunes bluffs some as tall as 200 feet. As we travel, we pass the small town of Arcadia and Portage Lake, each situated on an inland lake which is connected to Lake Michigan by a dredged channel. Interesting to note that the dredged channels were originally small rivers connecting the inland lakes to Lake Michigan. As we passe...

Crustacean Travels

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