North Channel Cruise (Finally)

Well, all of that work converting the old water tank to a holding tank and installing a "flexible" water tank payed off! We finally were able to sail into the N. Channel for a short cruise. I ended up being layed up most of the summer do to a surgery I needed. So I had restrictions, which one of them was NO SAILING!! But we had moved the boat this spring to Drummond Island and I recouped on long weekends there, just lounging around on the boat. Not bad for a cabin on the water. Once my restrictions were lifted, off we sailed into the sunset for a short 10 day cruise. I have a few pictures to post. I'll start with Meldrum Bay on Manitoulin Island. This is where we checked into customs! :cool:

There is not much in Meldrum Bay, a small marina, a small campground, a general store and Meldrum Bay Inn. This gentleman drives down to the harbor and sells his wive's baked goods to the cruisers. Everything from bread, pies, tarts, muffins and marmelaides and jellies. It was good food! We had muffins and the orange marmalaide jelly with vodka for our toast for breakfast's a couple of mornings.

Our next destination was Sanford Island. We anchored here for two nights. We had the island, anchorage and a sandy beach all to ourselves. The only "visitor" we had was a kayaker, who asked us for a weather report. He was kayaking through some of the islands and camping on them

on Sanford Island

Lets try this again

Some of the other islands around us to explore by dinghy.

We sailed to Blind River for a pumpout, ice, beer and liquor. We planned on only staying one night, but the weather turned bad the day we were to leave, and ended being in Blind River a total of three nights. We were there with several other cruisers who also came in for the protection of the harbor. The facilities were wonderful and we explored the town of Blind River. We had dinners ashore and a breakfast at the marina cafe. We had a great time visiting Blind River and the harbor master Daryl was more than helpful and very friendly.

I'm having problems when I edit my message with a picture. If I upload one that is too big and I delete it to upload the correct one, I don't get the option on the bottom of the screen to add images? Am I doing something wrong?:confused:

A picture of the fountain in the river.

Since we were weathered in longer than we planned at Blind River, it was time to think about working our way back across the channel. We sailed next to Cockburn Island. This island is a popular summer vacation and hunting island. There is one year round resident who lives on the island. This building is in the harbor and you can't read the sign in this pic, but they want all visitors on the island to register before you use any of their roads or trails.

We didn't realize that our dock was the "local" swimming hole for the summer kids on the island. There was a ladder attached to the dock in front of our boat. The kids would climb on the old silver boat and dive in off of the cabin top. They would then swim over to the ladder and climb out to do it all over again. I was going to join them, but the water was too cold When one of the kids yelled it is like jumping into a bucket of ice, I knew then I wasn't going in.:p

This is the old government dock on Cockburn Island. Approaching Tolsma Bay from the water, this is the first dock you see. We thought oh no! But then once we got into the bay, we seen the breakwall and the "newer" docks. The seagulls have taken over this old dock.

at Cockburn Island

a sailor's delight and a perfect ending to a great cruise. We stayed two nights at Cockburn Island and then had a 10 hour sail back to our home port Whitney Bay on Drummond Island. We sailed a total of 145 miles on this short cruise.:p

Great pics, Liz. The "salties" out there will oooh and aaah when looking at your freshwater paradise!

Those pictures bring back fond memories of my trip from Milwaukee to the North Channel in my Commander in 1982. I spent about two weeks up there and poked into a few coves that looked unaproachable. What great fun. The North Channel surely has to be one of the world's greatest cruising grounds. Thanks for posting the photos.

Enjoyed your travelogue. I wish I had known you tucked in a Whitney Bay. On our return trip through the North Channel in 2001, we had abit of extra time and did the tour of the harbor (being surpirsed that in my bag of tricks, I did not have the Great Lakes Crusing Club Port Pilot - so we winged it. The NC is a great place. We too had problems and ducked into Blind River. Next time you should try to get East of Spanish, and if time permits, even go into Georgian Bay. The NC really starts east of Spanish and Gore Bay. Thanks for sharing your travels with us.

I'm glad that everyone enjoyed our short trip into the North Channel. Last spring was the first year that we actually made Whitney Bay our "home port". We use to sail out of the Cheboygan River in the Straits of Mackinac. We already reserved our seasonal dock at Ft. Drummond Marina for next season. We want to sail the N. Channel next season for three to four weeks for our cruising vacation and then every other weekend, we have a 4 day weekend. We hope to sail up the river to Sault Ste. Marie and visit other islands in the river on those long weekends next season. If you or anyone else for that matter are ever back up this way, give us a shout on the VHF or email me.