Thursday 13th June 2019

This morning we are sitting in a very pretty, sheltered bay called Macgregor Harbour there are a few cottages on the shoreline, we can see a small dingy jetty and I can see a church steeple through the trees, it’s pouring rain a steady pitter patter on the cabin roof.  There is no wind and being a lake there are no waves and no tides.  It is very still, the boat hardly moves as we walk around, she is very stable sitting low in the water.  We do swing on the anchor but if your not looking out the windows you wouldn’t know.  

You can just see the church through the trees

 

That’s this morning other days will be different, much different. 

It’s 11.30am and Craig is walking around killing flies, when we were sailing yesterday the cockpit filled with black flies, they are a little bit like house flies,  we were also inundated with tiny little flies that had been prolific at the marina, they stick to everything and make the boat deck dirty and yuk.  We thought we had gotten rid of all the bigger black flies last night but this morning there were about 20 flying around inside. That’s kept him busy for a while and warmed him up it’s 10c inside I’m sitting writing with 3 layers on, a hot water bottle and a throw rug over my knees.  But I’m snug and comfortable Craig is wearing his beanie and we both have our uggies on.  

On Monday evening we decided we were ready to go for a sail -  a real sail with a destination.

As much as we were comfortable and had made friends around the marina we had bought a sailboat and wanted to use her.  

Tuesday 11th June was the day - 

We borrowed Todd’s van, filled up the Jerry’s can with fuel for the dingy outboard, refilled the propane gas cylinder that’s used for cooking, and did a $200 grocery shop.  We also stocked up with local honey, fudge, peanut brittle and chocolate courtesy of Northern Confections.

At our dock we had a couple of items that needed to be put away, some spare timber we wanted to keep and our spare anchor had been sitting out on the dock in front of the boat for a while just one of those awkward jobs that are not hard but need some effort.  

Finally we had cleared the deck, unplugged from shore power, packed up our doormat and untied the lines.

Before we left we said goodbye to a couple we had made friends with Brian and Sharon  on Lazuli, they had been working on getting their 35ft Canadian built  yacht ready to be transported to the other side of Toronto by truck. They will follow the truck by car and hop on once it is back in the water, they are trucking it over to avoid the time it will take to sail from Wiarton to Toronto, they have sailed in these waters many many times.  They are heading to Nova Scotia where they hailed from originally.  We are planning to head that way and might be there around before they return home, so fingers crossed we may catch up.  Brian’s speciality is a rhubarb crater cake with rhubarb from his garden which we got to share a few times before they headed off.

Brian and Sharon

Notice in the picture there is no mast the mast was removed so the yacht can be transported by truck 

After motoring  until we were well clear of the marina we hoisted the sails, it was around 2pm when we left.

It was a lovely sunny day when we left 

We headed up the bay with a nice steady breeze, it was quite mild and we made good steady progress, our destination was Little Port Elgin - only 11 nautical miles away.  We anchored in a wide bay around 5.00pm.  I had peeled the veggies while we were sailing and once we were settled we popped some sausages on the outdoor BBQ, this was enjoyed with a well deserved beer.

The setting sun reflects off the escarpment 

That first anchorage was kinda open with a slight breeze so there was quite a bit of movement, Craig assured me the anchor had taken and it would hold.  He has an anchor alarm that shows on his mobile phone.  It uses our GPS position and goes off if the boat moves, and it’s really really loud.  

We read until dark, it’s close to the longest day of the year and it is not getting dark until after 9.30pm.

The next day, Wednesday, we had a very lazy morning, sitting in the sun under the dodger, while I was reading Craig made ginger muffins.  We had made ginger cordial using fresh ginger to use with our soda stream. 

Sailor Gerry with dry ginger is a bit of a favourite of ours. Craig was using the leftover sugar infused ginger in the muffins.  I might freeze a couple, ginger is supposed to be good for seasickness, they might come in handy.

After our lazy morning we set off around 2pm again and sailed 14.5 nautical miles to MacGregor Harbour where I’m sitting looking at the stunning view writing. 

Craig is still learning the finer points about Adriana and I’m getting hands on lessons. It takes time to learn what  ropes adjust what sails, when to adjust those sails. When to tidy lines and even just the best place to store the binoculars.

Our first couple of sails were not without incident -

From now on we know to put all seat cushions downstairs they really get in the way.

We need an attachment to hold the fishing rod in place !!

On Tuesday before we left the Marina Craig had mentioned to Glen (a Marina staff member) that we were heading off and that he hoped we would catch a fish, next minute Craig has a fishing rod and a handful of shiny lures “you won’t go wrong with these” says Glen. 

We had the fishing line trawling off the back of the boat, as we tacked to head around the point, Craig pulled in the rod and he put it down on the floor, while he was asking me to put it away, the 4 prong lure got snagged in the mainsail rope.  quick I need pliers - I dash down stairs to the tool bag, the only ones I could put my hands on were tiny little ones, back down I go looking for the bigger ones but Craig managed to snip the barbs, 2 were caught by this stage and he freed the lines before we had to use it.   disaster averted.

Heading to land we swung around and sailed into the calmest prettiest little bay. Wingfield Basin.  Later that day once we had set the anchor and tidied up after our sail we dropped the dingy and motored to the shore, We circumnavigated the  shoreline and found a rickety home made jetty, it was nice to stretch our legs and walk on land.  We walked for an hour or so keeping an eye on our dingy and Adriana.  Not that we were worried but it’s something we will have to get used to, motoring and then walking away from all your worldly possessions.  

Craig threw in a line just to see if he could get a bite, needs to practice his fly fishing.

We were on Native Indian community land, no one has told us we need to get permission or permits so it must be ok.  There was not much to see the road signs used native wording, we passed a school and a community centre and a Catholic Church built in the late 1800’s.

While we were walking we could see a sea mist/ low clouds covering the water just beyond the entrance to the bay we were anchored in, it sat there all day but didn’t come into where we were anchored.  

The rickety jetty, you can just see Adriana in the background 

The vegetation is so lush, there are wild lilac trees, apple and other fruit trees in full blossom, maple trees grow in abundance but apparently they don’t all produce syrup.  Even the weeds are huge.

I haven’t worked out which are the blueberry bushes yet but they grow wild and are very prolific, there are so many different wildflowers growing on the roadside everything is so lush with new growth, ok so it’s spring you’d expect that, but it’s definitely more luscious and colourful than even cooler Victoria, Australia.  It’s as if the plants know they only have a short amount of time to blossom and bear fruit before the snow comes again.  It’s the same with the flying insects, there is an abundance of tiny insects that swarm in clouds and can cover a whole boat, they seem to like white. There are hundreds of flies - that’s what Craig was clearing out of the boat, apparently they are all food for the fish, we have been told there are fish in abundance too, how the fish survive in the frozen water over Winter, I have no idea.

I am still waiting to see bears.

When we sailed from Wiarton on Tuesday we were aware that the weather was forecast to turn nasty. 

It rained most of the day Thursday except for late in the afternoon, that’s when we went ashore.  It rained all day Friday a steady downpour, we kept ourselves busy cleaning out lockers and organising safety gear and generally assessing where we want things to be when we are on the move.  We were cosy under the dodger and there was not much wave movement.

Looking at PredictWind we could see a huge low coming in, we were expecting it that’s why we bunkered down in MacGregor Harbour it was nice and protected.  

Excuse the beeping at the end, this was our view for the evening.

The wind started increasing around 9.30pm.  Craig was expecting Adriana to swing around on her anchor to face the other direction and as it’s a new anchor he was nervous about how it would hold.  It’s not very reassuring when the captain goes to bed fully dressed with the engine keys and a headlight close at hand.  We had the anchor alarm on and there was nothing else to do but wait and see.

The wind howled and the rain pelted down but we were nice and snug in bed.  Craig was awake most of the night playing solitaire on his iPad, while on anchor watch, me I went to sleep.  We reckon the wind blew around 40knots with occasional stronger gusts. The anchor held tight and if we had turned we had swung back by first light.

The predict wind app showed the storm easing around 7.30am and sure enough as predicted by 8am everything was calm with just heavy rain drumming above our heads. Craig relaxed then and fell asleep for a couple of hours. 

Around 2pm the rain stopped, the lake water was just like glass, we took the opportunity and motored out of MacGregor Harbour just around the corner to Sydney Bay, time for a change of scenery but I’m glad we were in such a peaceful little bay for my first stormy night in the boat.

We pulled into Sydney Bay and set the anchor, once that was done we rode the dingy to shore to have a walk and stretch our legs after spending the previous day cooped up onboard.  Sydney Bay is part of a caming ground and there were a few families and groups already camped there.  I picked a bunch of wild purple lilacs, saw wild strawberries growing by the side of the track and a “Bear Crossing “ sign. 

Back to Adriana for an easy dinner and an early night.  It didn’t get dark until 10pm tonight and there is an almost full moon, the moon looks different from this side of the world ...

I don’t really want to write every day it’s a lot of reading on your behalf but atm every day seems to be more beautiful than the last.  We motored out of Sydney Bay and around the point where the wind picked up and we had a beautiful sail running parallel with the coastline,  although we were out at least one km from land.  We were heading to Lions Head a little town we had driven to for a look around, when we had a car. 

When we were approaching lions head we furled the sails and  motored towards the harbour/ marina, it was the Sunday afternoon and we were planning to anchor there and maybe find a pub for dinner but it wasn’t to be.

As we came in a man was yelling and waving at us saying it was shallow and not to go there.  We had our charts out, our chart plotter on and my iPad with the same charts to double check the boat chart plotter. We actually knew what we were doing, it was shallow but deep enough for us, we did a circle and came close enough to speak to him.  Craig asked him if the wind was going to pick up maybe that’s why he was saying don’t come into the harbour, his reply was I don’t know about the wind I’ve just been watching the rain, “yeah watching the rain cause your working on your boat mate”, Craig mumbled under his breath. We decided to leave, no use squeezing in, who knows he may have had some local knowledge. 

We were going to head up around the top of the Bruce Peninsula and into Wingfield Basin the next day so we just kept going.  Up went the sails again and we flew along. We spotted a slight indentation in the coastline with a few cottages on the shoreline that our charts showed other boats had used as an anchorage and decided it looked like a nice spot to stop.  Dyers Bay 

As we are pulling down the sails we caught a huge fish on Glens fishing line, that was trawling from the back of the boat.  The fish had to wait as we needed to furl up the sails and drop the anchor. The poor thing it was caught and kept trying to swim down or to the right then the left trying to escape,  it kept looking at me it was that big I could clearly see its eye as it swam on it’s side.

In the middle of this the main sail would not roll in, the rope kept slipping on the winch, Craig had to hand winch the mainsail down.  When he checked later he found that the one point where the rope was spliced into itself to form a loop, that part was a bit thinner than the rest and not grabbing. A few manual turns with the winch handle at the mast and a good pull on the rope fixed the problem.  but there was a lot going on in just a few seconds.

We dropped the anchor then dealt with the fish it was a Salmon.  Our first fish, notice the missing head in the photo - I wouldn’t go near it until I couldn’t see its eyes, I was crying with tears pouring down my cheeks that beautiful big fish and I didn’t save it, it actually hurt my soul to see it struggling for its life. 

Craig proceeded to gut, clean and fillet the fish and we had some on the BBQ for tea but I don’t think Craig even enjoyed his after my reaction. 

 Not to mention to mess and the smell, even the next day there was a lingering smell in the outdoor area off the back of the boat. I’m feeling yuk just thinking about it again.

That night there was a full moon and the lake was so still and flat literally not a breath of wind, the moon was reflecting on the water.  The next morning was sublime it’s hard to describe how beautiful it was and the photos don’t do it justice. And there was not another person or boat in sight. 

We pulled the anchor about 9am and motored, not even bothering to put the mainsail up, there was still not a breath of wind.  

Words cannot describe the surreal seascape that we were surrounded by and not another boat or person in sight.

We rounded the top and headed into Wingfield Basin a natural round little harbour very sheltered and very pretty.  

We had showers and did some hand washing, made a pack lunch and dingyied to shore.  Finally Craig could take some drone footage.  Around Wiarton there is a drone no fly zone due to the local airport and he hadn’t been able to use the drone. 
Well we thought we had taken drone footage, turns out we just have aerial photographs.

You can see Adriana sitting in Wingfield Basin

It was a very tight entrance 

There she is from the air

There is a lighthouse and I had read that you could walk to it from where we were anchored so we  headed off along a pretty track, there are forget me knots growing wild and many other wildflowers as well as apple trees and lilac.  
We came across a big pile of poo, It was very fresh!!  BEAR POO? We tried to ask google but we had no phone reception.  

Fresh Bear Poo ?

We kept walking making lots of noise as this is what I’d read you need to do.  Apparently black bears are shy and will move away from humans but Craig wasn’t convinced, hence we ate our sandwiches back in the safety of the dingy.  The bears are waking up from hibernation and are hungry this time of year.  (Turns out Bears are really good swimmers)

We had thought about lighting a fire tonight on shore and cooking sausages for dinner but I think we will give that idea a miss. 

The water levels are really high this year, hence the sign is in the water

Access to the lighthouse was blocked we had read that they had found too much mercury in it and were in the process of removing and restoring the place but we thought that might have been old information. We hightailed it back to the safety of Adriana keeping a look out for bears.

We were under siege from mosquitoes later that evening and they were still in abundance in the morning so we motored out of that little bay, two other boats had joined us there late in the afternoon and they had already taken off when we woke up at 7.30am either the mosquitoes drove them away or they were on a tight schedule to get to their next destination.  We joined them in clearing out of there. 

We had a lovely sail on our way to check out Flowerpot Island a small island 6.5 km from Tobermory.  There are flowerpot shaped rock pillars/ seastacks that are a huge tourist destination. Lucky us were able to motor past and see them for ourselves.

We were tossing up whether to sail into Tobermory, a small tourist town where the Chi Cheemaun Ferry departs from, a vehicular ferry taking every type of vehicle over to Manitoulin Island. Tobermory is a pretty town surrounding a busy harbour with large commercial tourist boats taking visitors over to Flowerpot Island, dive charter boats, fishing boats, local tourists and then transients like us. It looked really small for so much activity. We had visited there when we had the car and at that time it was totally iced over and only the small craft brewery had been open.

Tobermory in Winter

 

But we decided to try Dunks Bay,  a little bay on the map before you reach Tobermory and we are so glad we did, It was a deep protected horseshoe shaped bay with a sandy beach right in the middle.  

A perfect horseshoe bay

Once we were organised we motored into shore and walked the 3km into Tobermory.  
Who Hoo so glad we did that, while we were in Tobermory we enquired at the Marina and it would have cost us over $100 for the night, $105 for the berth plus 13% tax plus 10% with our exchange rate. Why pay when we camped for free and had a good walk as well.  We had fish and chips for lunch and an ice cream for the walk home.  A can of insect 
repellent was top of our list from the supermarket.

Adriana from the road in Dunks Bay

Million $$ views in Dunks Bay

The next day Craig dropped me off on shore and I walked along the Bruce Trail for a couple of km over to the parks Canada visitors centre. I wanted to find out more about the native flora and fauna.  Once I knew more I realised at Wingfield basin I had seen a tree that a beaver had knawed down and the outline of a Mickey Mouse shaped head I’d seen through the trees was more than likely the bear whose poo we had found, I thought at the time it was just a funny shaped tree stump or bush.

The Bruce Trail is a 890km walk from Niagara Falls to Tobermory along the Niagara Escarpment 

We had allocated 10 days for our first shakedown sail and we felt it was time to head back to Wiarton.

It turned really cold on that sail back down Georgian Bay

We stopped in at Wingfield Basin for one night but it was raining so a bit wet and cold to go and have another look at the beaver knawed tree or search for the bear.

We had a nice sail back Dow Georgian Bay sitting on a comfortable 6-7 knots, gently keeled over except it got down to 6 degrees at the wheel.

We had spent 11 days and travelled to Tobermory which is 70km by road from Wiarton. What would be an hours drive by car.

Its going to take a long time to get home !!!