Thunder Bay to Rossport

We left Isle Royale on Wednesday, July 31^st, and turned north to Thunder Bay.  Thunder Bay sits in a bowl surrounded by towering granite cliffs.  On the southern tip of the Sibley Peninsula at the entrance to the bay,   a 5 mile long cliff known as “the sleeping giant” stands guard.  An equally impressive cliff borders the northern peninsula.  The dockmaster at Thunder Bay Marina, Kevin, was extremely accommodating.  He picked us up at the grocery store and took Tom to a Walmart that was a bit too far to walk.  Three Kadey Krogans ( very sturdy trawlers) were tied up at the dock near us.  Two were traveling together, and all three were circumnavigating  Superior counter-clockwise, as are we.  The two 39 foot Krogans were from the west end of Lake Erie and the 48 footer started near Charlevoix.   The windy, rainy weather continues with a clear day about one in three.

Wading fountain which doubles as
ice skating rink.  It's almost cold enough
to be skating now!

Arriving in Thunder Bay with Ontario flag and
Quarantine flag flying

Surrounded by Krogans

Friday, August 2^nd, we left Thunder Bay with several choices in mind for anchorages.  We passed close to the sleeping giant as we left, and with the clouds above him, he appeared to be smoking a peace pipe.  The water was fairly calm and the day was again overcast, so we decided to keep going, 58 miles, to Otter Cove.  As we entered the cove, we passed a one hundred foot yacht, Constellation, at anchor in the outer basin.  They didn’t invite us to tie up along -sideJ, so we kept going through a narrow passage (never registering less than ten feet depth) and anchored in the far eastern end on the inner basin.  Around dusk the wind came up in major gusts and pulled us free.  We reset, put out more line, and then stayed in place though we did some major swinging.  Saturday was again blustery and cool.  We took a dink ride around the inner basin and Tom threw out some casts, but we did not have trout for dinner!  On such days we read, clean and play games—mostly cribbage.  I cannot believe the incredible luck my husband has for drawing cards; either that or he is cheating and I just haven’t caught him.  Needless to say, my running score is rather pitiful!

Ridge on northern side of Thunder Bay

Can you believe they didn't
invite us to join them??

Sea Lion rock formation
passed just outside Thunder Bay

Sleeping Giant with peace pipe

Getting our ducks in a row

Sunday the sun was shining and not a cloud was in the sky. Mid morning, the two smaller Krogans pulled into the basin.  We visited with them by radio and then dinked up a small stream to a waterfall.  With all the rain this year, it was really roaring. We hiked to the top of the falls and then decided to follow the mile trail to the lake that fed the waterfall.  The trail was marked with orange plastic ribbons and was a bit muddy, but it felt great to stretch our legs.  We met the “Krogan couples” (Doug and Jan Martin aboard Daydreams and Garry and Jacque Nelson aboard Waterford) as we returned on the trail and they invited us to join them for cocktails that evening.  We so enjoyed visiting with them aboard Daydreams and getting a tour of their boat.  The boats were not bought at the same time, but ended up being three serial numbers apart.   Both are hoping to start the loop next year. 

Dinghy ride to the waterfall

interesting fungus
(trying out the macro setting!)

I wish it had been warmer.
I would have been tempted to get closer.

A companion on the hike

Tom crossing tree bridge over stream

Cocktail time aboard Daydreams.
Garry, Jacque, Jan, and Doug)

Roaring waterfall

Monday morning gray skies greeted us and showers showed up on the Sirius weather screen, but the water was flat so we moved on to Red Rock, Ontario—our farthest point north.  The ride to Red Rock through the Nipigon Channel winds through rugged islands and mainland—high sheer cliffs, some evergreen covered and others bare rock.  We topped off with fuel at Red Rock as this is the last place it may be available until we get back to Sault Ste. Marie—350 miles.  Red Rock is well known for a folk festival it hosts every year.    Although it would be fun to stay for it next week-end, we plan to move on.

Red sky at night!

Beautiful sunsets at Otter Cove

Tuesday we left for Rossport, traveling west across Nipigon Bay.  Since the bay is relatively shallow, it has a tendency to whip up quickly.   We fortunately drew a calm, foggy day and arrived in Rossport  early afternoon.  Rossport is another one of the marinas that was shut down just as the boating season started by the Canadian version of EPA, and being a small marina owned by the town, it did not have the money to fix the problem on such short notice.  As with Red Rock, this has seriously impacted the town’s tourist income.  Since they did not have fuel, the dock help was willing to run to a nearby town to fill up 4 five gallon fuel containers.  That was just what we needed to top off again. We probably would be okay without it, but being close to our max fuel/distance we decided to play it safe.  While at the quick shop, Tom also found lures, a stringer and cribbage pegs!  We had been playing with the matchsticks and toothpicks that Dad and Brogley left in the board many years ago.  That night we had dinner out at Serendipity, a restaurant recommended to us by Lake Superior Divers.  Earlier in the day we had been told about a family of six (parents and teenagers/young adults) traveling by helicopter that had landed on the baseball diamond due to the fog.  They were at the restaurant that evening and struck up a conversation with us.  They were fascinated by what we were doing and visa versa.  They were from Calgary, Alberta and were headed to eastern Ontario for his mother’s 85^th birthday.  On the way back they were coming via the US and planned to stop at the Black Hills.  Two of the children were piloting as well as the father.