The next day we headed out towards the Benjamin’s, The Benjamin Islands were high on everyone’s suggested lists as a must see in the North Channel and they didn’t disappoint.

Close to the Magnetic Anomalies

We planned to catch up with Matt and Julia – Sea Jay – Owen Sound.  We hoisted the sails and set the chart plotter for the 21 nautical miles north west, we had the wind hard on the nose all the way, tacking our way across until we had to drop the sails and motor our way through the rock strewn entrance.  
Once we arrived at the suggested anchorage, we could see it was extremely busy with motor boats so we scouted around and chose a spot just outside the main area that was less congested.  Within half an hour of us arriving just about all the boats left but they were replaced later in the afternoon by another group of noisy partying motorboats we were happy to be away from them all. We let out 30mt of chain with only winds of 10 nm  forecast.

Look behind Craig you can see the motor boats

Matt and Julia arrived later in the afternoon and we caught up for a beer on board Adriana, we had picked up a part for Sea Jay from Wiarton Marina and we had to return the cruisers association  book Julia had lent us for navigation and also return what was left of the special UHMW plastic (Ultra High Molecular) that Matt had given Craig when he was installing the solar panels.

The next day the wind was forecast to increase in the afternoon, so we did our planned visit to Matt and Julia’s parents (Cheryl and Peter) and their friends, who were anchored at Fox Island.  It was a 15 minute dingy ride across open water, I was a little out of my comfort zone but as I had hopped into M & J dingy with Matt driving and Julia navigating I felt in competent hands these guys have been in boats on the water just about their whole life.  As we steered through the unexposed rocks close to shore. Craig followed in our dingy M & J dingy is faster and the theory is our dingy will only plane – get its nose out of the water and skims across the top, hence going about 4 x times faster - with one person whereas M & J’s will do it with 3 people onboard.  After a mosey around looking down the inlets and all the little tributaries of the main channel we parked the dinghies and had a walk around the rocky shoreline. 

Waterlilies ready to burst into bloom

Behind, where we had landed there was a huge lake full of pond lilies ready to burst into flower. We saw frogs, a different type of dragonfly and a mink ran past us, it was not worried by our presence. Everyone was so lovely Matts mum presented me with a bag of blueberries she had just picked, they were for herself but when she realised we were moving on the next day and this was my last chance to pick some, she gave me what she had picked that morning. 

So many blueberries

We headed over to Blue Corona and had blueberry muffins and coffee onboard Blue Corona is a twin hull and I was able to have a look through,  it was interesting to see inside a different type of boat, it was very spacious and all white and blue inside and the outside dining area was a great place to sit and chat.  I was also invited over to see Event Horizon, Cheryl and Peters boat, wow I actually don’t remember the manufacturer or the size of it but they had gutted the interior and had a professional refit the inside to their own design, it was very comfortable, practical and also very beautiful with stunning craftsmanship in the woodwork, it even had custom made stained glass windows. I’m just sorry I didn’t take any photos. 
These two boats were rafted up together and M & J will tie up next to them too.  Its called Gunkholing what they do is throw out an anchor then tie the stern to shore , this means they can squeeze into cute little spots totally sheltered from the wind and very secluded and private. We saw boats all over the North Chanel tied up like this.

We headed back to Adriana, getting drenched along the way, it didn’t matter as the sun was shining and we were soon dry.  Back on board I did some washing and Craig had another swim before we headed over to visit M & J for a beer. 

The water temp reached 24/25c amazing considering this whole area is frozen over again in just a few months

Sunset at The Benjamins

Craig had been chatting to Matt about the fact that we blew a portside navigation light and he thought he had a spare, but the one in the box was blown too, Matt said “oh that’s easy, we can make a light bulb”  and he was serious. These marine light bulbs apart from the fact they are really hard to source they also cost a fortune.  When we realised that we didn’t have a working bulb Craig had called all the marina shops in Little Current but we couldn't source one.
Matt instructed Craig to take the glass off the light bulb but keep the bayonetted intact, then Matt soldered a red LED globe to the contacts, filled it with hot glue and then sprayed the whole thing with a special waterproof silicone spray (conformal) coating  - Valla a functioning port navigation light.  

Julia is a research geologist and gave us the low down on the surrounding landscape and such things as the Benjamins have magnetic anomalies  – there are rocks that contain more magnetic force than the earth’s magnetic field. I believe our gps was affected - we were using autopilot when suddenly the boat swung out of control for no reason, it was easily rectified but gave us a fright.  She pointed out where there were random rocks off a different type that would have been picked up by glaciers and deposited far far away from where they originated. The landscape has been totally different in all the areas we have visited from pink granite to quartzite to basalt to sheer escarpments or steep cliffs covered in vegetation so many trees clinging to incredibly steep rock walls. 

Its time to move on and start heading out of the Great Lakes.

After a very windy night we upped anchor and headed back to Little Current.  Things can change so quickly when you are sailing, here we were sailing along averaging 4 knots, we had just tacked to change direction to keep in the wind when an alarm went off inside the boat, it was the high water bilge alarm!! 

I had to finish winching in the main sail while Craig dived downstairs – This alarm means the bilge is full and the boat is sinking-  The bilge is at the very bottom inside the hull where any overflow from water tanks, toilets or blocked sinks pours into. 

Craig could not see anything wrong, it was not full of water so he disconnected the alarm.  On coming back up to the cockpit we realised that during the tack one of the ropes had flicked the test alarm switch on !!!

The North Channel is dotted with these cute Pepper Shaker shaped lighthouses

We dropped the anchor at the same spot in Little Current jumped in the dingy and motored into town.  We walked the half km to the supermarket, we had to buy a few things that were not on the list at our last visit.  We have to stock up as we will now be heading down the other side of the Bruce Peninsula from Georgian Bay, all the way to Sarnia at the bottom of Lake Huron, where we enter the St Clair River through to Lake Sinclair, into the Detroit River, past Detroit on the USA side and Windsor on the Canadian side, out into Lake Eire, across lake Eire to the Welland Canal system probably without stopping at any towns or Marinas.

Amzing Sunset at Club Island

We are leaving Ontario it is all downstream from here.

We pass back through the Little Current swing bridge and sail back to Haywood for a planned overnight stop.  Next day we sail down to Club Island to a little alcove anchorage, this is the last night of our Georgian Bay/North Channel adventure, tomorrow we cross opposite the top of the Bruce Peninsula and head down lake Huron to Sarnia at the very bottom.  The East side of the Bruce Peninsula is totally opposite to the Wiarton side, it is all sandy like a beaches or marsh it is very shallow close to shore so there are no anchorages, there are a few Marinas slightly inland but we will be sailing well out from land so no stopping we will be doing an overnighter.

We bumped into this family a couple of times have a look at the set up !! There were 2 little boys with every toy imaginable, dad had a depth sounder on his upright sort of fishing dingy they had a big roll out square of foam that they could use as a swimming platform, Craig wont let me get one :(

This family had all the toys.

North Chanel

Saturday 13^th July 2019

By 6pm Friday evening the forecast for Saturday had changed and they were calling 25 knot winds by midday so we had to rethink our plans we decided to get up early and head over to Killarny we couldn’t be so close and not have a look around we figured it was about a 20 minute ride across and if we left to come back about 10.30am we should be fine.  The dingy ride was across open water and we didn’t want to be fighting our way back to the boat.  It’s a pretty little town very touristy but it looked lively and fun.  

A funny thing happened we stopped at a little bakery café attached to the lodge and Craig ordered a small double shot latte Take away, the service was quite slow and I had a look around the boutique next door, Craig was just being handed his latte when I got back, he was given a large cup, he questioned if it was his and the young girls said yes “we put the doubles in a large cup so the ratio of coffee to milk is the same”  was I rude in explaining that if someone orders a small double shot they want their coffee to be strong ? 

We had a quick look around, but the famous Fish and Chip shop and the famous Ice Cream shop didn’t open until 11am.  

wild iris 

From the dingy going through Killarney

As it turned out the forecast winds didn’t amount to much and we could have stayed all day but we were happy to sit back on Adrianna and watch the passing parade of motorboats head in and out of the cove, there were some real strange crafts one looked like a Melbourne tram, this area is a favourite destination for Canadian and American boaters Michigan is not too far away about 9 hours drive by car.

Sunday 14^th July 2019

We saw a bear

We were up reasonably early we have a routine going where we are up and dressed pull up the anchor and head off then have breakfast and tidy up on the way.  We decided to head over to Baie Fine  a deep fjord cut out of quartzite by ice billions of years ago it was 16 nm and we managed to sail most of the way only switching on the engine a couple of times for 5 minute spurts, we were in no hurry and smooched along sometimes as slow as 2 knots but we did pick up to around 5 at one stage.  

The scenery is amazing everywhere but this fjord is supposed to be up there with the best, and it is.  We motor sailed into the entrance for the first nautical mile or so as we had to follow the chart plotter very carefully. The entrance is extremely narrow - as narrow as 2 boat widths at its narrowest but then it opened up and we could sail straight down the centre for 6.5 nm.  

We were travelling through a deep fjord enclosed by white quartzite mountains with trees clinging to their steep sides. At the end of the fjord there is a place called the pond and you can hike to an inland lake called Topaz Lake.  We anchored just outside of the entrance to the pond as we had been told that there are lots of rocks and to be very careful, we figured we could take the dingy in there tomorrow and make it a full day trip.  After we set the anchor and had showers Craig lowered the dingy and went for a run down the last 2.5nm into the Pool, the very end of the fjord.  He was gone about an hour, stopping and chatting to an American couple who laughed and said getting in was no problem and gave us the local info on manoeuvring into this most reverend spot in the North Chanel. After a cold beer and a dinner of curry from the freezer, we escaped below in fear of the mosquitoes. The setting sun was making the cabin glow inside so we popped our heads out to witness the stunning sunset as I turned to look back at the land we saw a bear walk along the shoreline, climb over a rock and disappear I sat with the binoculars focused on the shoreline for another 10 minutes or so and saw either the same bear or new bear run on the opposite end of the flat area Infront of us.  I have since spoken to the American couple (Anne and Jim) and Anne tells me she still hasn’t seen a bear in the 7 years they have been spending their summer holiday here in the North Chanel.

Monday 15^th July 2019

Into our usual routine -  we were up and heading off into the depths of Baie Fine we motored the 2.5 nm into what is called the pool, it is another stunning protected anchorage.  I can see why it is one of the most popular destinations up here.  We dropped the anchor in our little patch of paradise.  The water temperature is now 24c its like a bath !! we jumped in for a cool down and  then gathered what we would need for our walk to look at Topaz Lake, the main item being mosquito repellent. It was a 20-minute hike mostly uphill, we saw a small striped snake, numerous frogs and chipmunks. 

The drop into the lake was over quartz rocks and was very steep. We didn’t go for a swim but picked blueberries instead, I kept close to the track as Craig kept going further and further away always finding a bigger patch in his quest to find the mother load that hadn’t been eaten by local wildlife or the weekend visitors. We had spent abut 3 hours there so headed back to Adrianna for a swim.  Our neighbours Anne and Jim came over for a glass of wine or 2, Craig had whipped up a hummus and a sweet potato dip to share. Our first cruising visitors on Adrianna tuned out to be very entertaining. They serenaded us with their music when they returned to their boat Anne plays the cello and Jim plays finger picking style on an acoustic, they travel with their instruments and love to play a few original compositions in the evenings.

Tuesday 16^th July 2019

We couldn’t decide whether to stay or move on, so we stayed and made blueberry muffins. We had a bit of a lazy day relaxing in the sunshine and after lunch (sweetcorn covered in butter and sweet chili sauce done on the BBQ) we went for a little motor around the pool. Our destination was Artist lake another inland lake this one is covered in waterlilies.  This lake and Topaz Lake were portrayed to the world in the 1930’s by a group of famous artists called the Group of Seven.  

We dropped off a couple of muffins to Anne and Jim as really we don’t need to eat them all and before we could hand over our gift we were gifted one of Jim's CDs.  consisting of  music composed and played by themselves inspired by their time spent on the lakes and is a tribute to their daughter.  It is beautiful music and we really appreciate the gift.  The other boaters had said to watch out for Snappy the snapping turtle and yay he came for a visit , he is huge with big harp claws the turtles snap as they grab their food.  After our dingy ride we were hot and sweaty and covered in insect repellent so it was with great trepidation we jumped in for a swim.

Wednesday 17^th July

Headed out of Baye Fine, such a beautiful place, we managed to sail the whole way out of the fjord.  Anne and Jim left at the same time and at one stage we were sailing parallel.  Our destination was Heywood Island on our way to Little Current,  we have had to get familiar with a whole new set of names but bit by bit the names are becoming easier and the location of the main islands that we have been told are the best ones to visit are beginning to become clear, now we are exploring The North Chanel. 

Upon our arrival at Haywood Island we had a problem dropping the anchor.  The anchor winch stopped turning, apiece of it had come off and it was jammed. We had to idle with me keeping the boat facing the right direction while Craig worked on freeing the winch. He did manage to free it and drop it.

Craig managed to undo the jammed bit on the winch and over the kitchen gas burner, he heated up the plastic part that was the problem and bent it with plyers. He also discovered all the screws were loose and when he took it apart it was void of any lubricant. , Again it was a case of Craig making a temporary work space in the kitchen.

It was still early afternoon and we were tossing up whether to just go to Little Current (which is a little town with 2 supermarkets and a few other shops) when a couple came past to tell us they had just seen a huge bear, they were out in their dingy with their Golden Retriever and I think they were just heading up to the shore to let the dog out for a run and the bear was there just in front of them, they said it looked about 200kg the biggest they have ever seen, I think they got a fright.  They are from Drummond Island USA where they regularly see bears but not as big as this one.  So we dropped the dingy to go and have a look, but with no luck.  Heywood Island was famous last year because there was a large bear getting on to people’s boats, it was a very dry year with not so many blueberries and the bears were all hungry and looking for food.  After we had had a scout around in the dingy it was too late to move on.

Thursday 18^th July

Little Current has a Supermarket not far from the town docks and we had run out of a couple of things and we were looking forward to going for a walk.  The town gets its name from the Currents that run through the channel that runs past the town the town sits on Manitoulin Island. This is where the main highway connects the Island to the mainland.  There is a 100 year old swing bridge that we had to wait until it swung open for us to pass through.  The bridge was originally built for trains, but cars use it now.  The bridge swings on the hour, every hour and boats have about 10 minutes to get through each time. 

We sailed from Haywood on a light wind that got us there just in time for the 10am bridge  opening, we had to idle for a few minutes carefully watching other boats do circles in front of us.  After all our stressing, was a pretty easy thing to do.  Little Current is another town set up for boaters, there is a town dock with showers and a laundromat, a LCBO and 2 supermarkets about half a km away. There are 3 marinas but as we don’t need a marina we motored straight through to the other side of town to a marked anchorage (the anchor winch is fixed now)  we dropped the anchor in a big bay with houses on the shore and the town park just opposite us.  

When we motor this heats up our water so once we were settled, we had quick showers and dinghied into town.  I wanted to upload my blog so after a quick look though a few gift and clothing shops we headed for The Anchor Inn.  The Anchor Inn is an institution up here in the North Channel.  At 9am every day during the Summer season Roy broadcast on the marine radio on channel 70 everyone who is out cruising listens in.  Roy gives world news, then Canadian news, then a detailed weather report, he asks if anyone out there needs assistance, he does  a “this day in history” and then all the boaters “check in” They give their boat name, their location and where they are heading.  We checked in too, what this does is gives all the boaters, yachts and motorboats a way to keep in touch, pass on information and see where their friends are  – the man who told us about the bear at Heywood he called in to let other boaters know that it was there. It was kinda cool to be a part of it.  Anyway we called in there to have a look, id also heard they had a book exchange so I did remember to take a couple with me to exchange.  We ordered a beer and I sat down with the laptop.  The pictures I put on the blog always take ages to upload, Craig got bored, so he went for a walk to the Supermarket. The internet was quite slow !! we ended up staying at the Anchor Inn and had a burger for dinner as the heavens had opened with torrential rain, it had been forecast and we had felt it building all day. It was heavy when it hit, so we decided to stay and eat. We had to pump a couple of inches of water out of the dingy before we could jump in and head back to Adriana.  It cost us $24 for 3 beers and $35 inc tip for our meal that’s almost $60 and tbh the burger was not that nice we were a bit angry at ourselves wasting our kitty money, we spent more at the Anchor Inn that we did at the Supermarket.  Our anchorage was a bit open and we swung around a lot that night which doesnt allow a very restful sleep.

I SAW A BEAR IN THE WILD

It happened when we anchored in Wingfield Basin for 2 nights. 

A very happy captain, final refuel and pump out before leaving Wiarton

After we motored out of Wiarton Marina we hoisted the sails and set our course for Kidd Bay on White Cloud Island, we tacked up Colpoys Bay the wind was on the nose, but once we travelled out of the bay there was a good breeze so we decided to keep going because pulling into Kidd Bay would have been too easy !!.  We set our sights on Wingfield Basin the lovely little round anchorage we had stayed in the last time we were out, that’s where we saw the bear poo on the walking trail.  So off we headed, we sailed through a beautiful sunset and had leftover spaghetti bol for tea.  

Our zig zag tacks up the bay 

We passed Little Elgin Bay another anchorage we had stopped the first night out last time but no we kept going and going eventually we pulled in to Wingfield Basin at 6am the winds had dropped through the night and we had to tack back and forward to keep the wind in the sails to keep moving but we got there eventually.

We had done our first night sail, it was a bit stressful for me but once it was over I realised there was no one else out there and we would have seen them miles away in the distance and really we were quite safe in the dark in our floating home. 

Coming into Wingfield Basin it is a very narrow channel, but we had been in twice before and we had a track to follow on our Navionics App.  It is also very well marked with red buoys on one side and green buoys on the other, there are 2 reflective markers that you have to line up in your sights and that is what you aim for as you motor in.  The sun was coming up and the birds were staring to sing as we climbed into bed.

Monday 

The next day we had a real lazy one, up around 9am after breakfast we took the dingy for a row, we rowed rather than used the noisy motor, also the motor was attached to Adrianna not the dingy so too hard to get it down but rowing allows you to be still and quiet and to observe the birds and the wildlife.  We rowed the full circle of the basin past the sunken wreck of an old steam tug that is very well preserved in the fresh water and we could see fish swimming around i

t the water is so clear.  We saw a small snake swim past us and the vegetation is so lush and pretty.

I had a bit of a try rowing the dingy for the first time ever, I can’t remember ever rowing a dingy before, I’m not very co ordinated.

There was another couple doing the same slow row around the basin and we were sort of following them around, they had stepped on to shore at an open flat part and had a walk around.  As we were rowing into the pebbly part where we would pull up and get out Craig Yelps “There’s a bear” and sure enough a medium sized black bear was walking along the shoreline where the other couple had been on shore, my guess is he was there all along and came out to see if they had left any food behind.  Apparently, all the bears think about is food and everyone is warned not to feed them as this encourages their interaction with humans. We started to row closer then changed our minds bears can swim really well. Unfortunately, we didn’t get any photographs but it made my day.  We stopped and had a chat to the other couple then headed along the path towards the lighthouse, but the path is still blocked.  Later that afternoon I was scanning the horizon with the binoculars and I spotted a beaver sitting on a rock, so cute.  I now know what a beaver dam looks like and they are everywhere.  You just need to watch the water around it and eventually you will see one swimming along with just its head popping out.  After and early dinner of frozen meat pie mash and veg we had an early night.

Tuesday

The forecast was for favourable winds on Wednesday so we decided to spend Tuesday doing some chores I did some hand washing – as that’s all we can do now.  

We prepared a few meals for putting in the freezer and completed some other jobs on the list.  It was very still so a perfect day to run Craig up the mast using the bowman’s chair, lucky we have an electric winch.  Our new spinnaker needed a line (halyard) put up and dropped down through the mast and Craig wanted to check a few things on his way up.  I don’t think Craig quite trusted me somehow, but all went smoothly whew.

Craig stood in the dingy and scrubbed the spiders off the outside where the deck meets the hull, we enjoyed falafels, tzatziki and tabbouleh for lunch with plenty of leftovers for the next few days.

Early Wednesday morning we lifted the anchor and headed out, it was around 6.30am – straight up and dressed and on our way.  Our destination Beaverstone Bay 43 nautical miles in a NE direction, Craig set the course and I made breakfast, the wind was light but we were moving ok

Once we had eaten and had a cup of tea Craig unfurled the new spinnaker that had only just arrived prior to our leaving, The lines were set and I was given instructions to hoist the halyard, the line we had installed the day before when Craig went up the mast.  The spinnaker is in a long sleeve called a sock, Craig pulled up the control lines and the sock slid all the way to the top.  Once the sheet was adjusted “Poof” up she went it was huge and so very red.  Success on our first attempt. 

The big red kite helped to push us along almost to the entrance of Beaverstone Bay where we motored for the last half hour.  The entrance was dotted with huge granite boulders but very well marked with the green and red buoys.  Following the chart plotter we followed our set course watching as the most stunning scenery opened up before our eyes.  We made it to our planned anchorage by about 5.30pm and we dropped the anchor in about 4.5mt of water.  The scenery is quite different, huge granite rocks with all kinds of fir and spruce trees lining the waters edge.  We anchored just in front of a small fishing hut type thing it floats and has a motor, there is a chimney so it must have a fire inside, maybe for ice fishing ??

The Little Hut we were anchored next to

All the way from Wingfield Basin we had been attacked by flies, flies that bite, they look like house flies, but they actually take a chunk out of you a bit like aussie March flies (there were those too).  It was carnage the cockpit floor was covered in dead flies and the ones that had bitten us were full of blood, so the floor was covered in bits of flies and blood.  I had bought a can of household flyspray, we had decided not to use it as its full of nasties but at one stage Craig is walking around spraying like a mad man, they were really vicious. They mostly went for our legs Zena covered her legs Craig kept bare legs and used a fly swat and jumped and danced around all day.  

Carnage dead flies everywhere

its not marks on your screen its flies

SQUALL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT !!

That night we were exhausted after being up so early and having our big sail but I think fighting the flies had really done us in.  We were in bed before it was even dark.

I woke up around midnight to intermittent flashing naïve me thought it was our mast light flashing.  Then the wind started to howl the sky was alight with lightning and torrential rain started beating down on us -  at the same time the anchor alarm went off.  We had gone to bed aware there was a squall warning coming over the Sarnia Coastal Radio Service but we did not realise that it was in the area that we were in !!

We jumped out of bed grabbed the headtorches, Craig started the engine in case we had moved.  Earlier in the day while we were on passage we had opened the front window cover on the dodger to see if the airflow would blow away the flies, and as we were not expecting rain we didn’t close it which meant there was torrential rain pouring in through the open window, and when we opened the hatch it went straight down the stairs inside the boat. The lightening was incredible, constantly lighting up the whole sky we could see the shoreline so clearly but when it stopped everything was pitch black with no light or sight reference to land.  We managed to close the front window cover then we decided we shouldn’t be standing in the wet cockpit with all this lightning, so we watched from inside the boat.  After about 20 minutes the rain stopped, the wind dropped, and we watched the lightning move off down Beaverstone Bay.  The anchor had not moved but we had certainly swung around a lot.

I learnt a few lessons from that night

1   1.  Listen more closely to weather reports

2   2. Keep Ipad fully charged at night, that was an issue as we keep track of our movements        using the Navionics App (GPS) and when we got up in the middle of the squall the ipad        was flat – oh yes I had been playing solitaire.

3   3. Always close front window of dodger

Thursday 11^th July 2019

The next day we jumped in the dingy to have a look around.  From Adriana we could see turtles sunning themselves on the rocks but even approaching as quietly as we could they would move off before we got too close.  

Blueberries grow wild up here,  it took us a while to spot them but once we did, we found them everywhere.  It’s a little bit early in the season and most of them are still unripe but we found a few to eat.  

The scenery is stunning.  

That evening we moved directly across the lake about 1 nautical mile as the wind was forecast to be gusting 25 – 30 knots and from where we were sitting the wind would push us into the shore/rocks if the anchor lost hold, so moving to the other side made more sense  Leeward to the wind Craig called it.

Dragonflies with toes for size comparison, they were huge

Friday 12^th July 2019

After an uneventful night we hoisted the anchor and set sail back down Beaverstone Bay headed for Killarney  16 nautical miles away, we had to navigate back out of the tight channel but once we were in the open we pulled up the sails and we were fortunate to have great winds all the way.  Killarney sits in a natural channel totally set up for boaters and tourists visiting the huge Killarney Mountain Lodge ..  

We motored through the channel with our heads on swivels checking it out,  The Lodge is huge and its  the first thing you pass, next is the general store then the LCBO (bottle shop) with its own jetty you can tie up to.  Next was the Sportsmans bar a huge modern pub with 2 dining areas, there were a few more shops and a marina all of them accessible by tying up at the waters edge.  

Pepperpot lighthouse at the entrance to Killarny 

we were too busy looking to take any photos

We motored through as we had heard we could anchor at Covered Portage Cove a scenic anchorage about 4 nautical miles away and that it was an easy dingy ride back to Killarny.  Once we were through the channel, we managed to sail most of the way and we anchored just out side the cove,it was a little busy/noisy in there.  After a quick bite to eat we decided to jump in the dingy and explore Covered Portage Cove and save Killarny for the next day when we would have more time.  

Adriana was anchored around the corner

Our little dingy ride was just stunning, we pulled up against some rocks and followed a marked path up through woodland to the top where there was a great view looking down at everyone anchored there, we couldn’t see Adrianna as she was just around the corner.

Looking down at Covered Portage Cove

The walk through bushland where we saw chipmunks

There were lots of blueberries we managed to pick a big bagful. We saw really tame chipmunks, bear poo and a huge turtle swimming in the shallows.  Back at our boat we followed the progress of a beaver swimming along the shoreline on his way somewhere.  In Canada they call their $1.00 coins Loonies, named after a bird, the loon the sound they make is like a lunatic laughing  -  google it its quite bizarre.