Little Current and Baie Fine

Leaving Killarney in the company of After Taxes on Wednesday, the 15th,  we paralleled the white quartz topped La Cloche mountains.  We passed this fishing boat that supplies the red bus.  He was obviously bringing in a fresh load of fish as he was surrounded by hungry gulls.

We had to wait about 10 minutes for the swing bridge at Little Current and then we entered the harbor. The swing bridge is turning 100 next year and it is a big deal to those in the area.  A book called Bridging the Centuries has been written about it. We stayed at the town docks which are in good shape and again had 50 amp power!
Before going to our slip, we stopped at Wally's for a pump-out.  We were very pleasantly surprised to find Fred from Boreas on the dock ready to help with lines.  We had last seen Julaine and him at Columbus, MS on the Tenn-Tom in November.  Naturally we stopped by their boat to catch up later in the day.

Lighthouse at entrance to Little Current 

Thursday morning, Gary, Cathy and I went to the Anchor Inn to sit in on the Cruisers' Net broadcast.  Roy Eaton broadcasts on VHS channel 71 every morning during July and August.  He broadcasts the weather, sports, news and then has boaters call in with their boat name and location--which an assistant writes down.  This is a great way to find out where fellow boaters are and it is  reassuring to know that  in case of emergency, someone knows where we are.

Roy Eaton behind the computer

Later Thursday good friends, Jan and Bob Chastant from Hot Springs, Arkansas, arrived around 5 p.m.  Jan is a friend from high school and we also traveled to and worked in Yellowstone in '68.  Fred and Julaine came to the boat for cocktails and we all decided to head to the Anchor Inn for dinner.  Fred and Julaine are from Bay City, Michigan and have traveled this area extensively, so they had valuable advice on anchorages, weather, etc.

Friday was WINDY and rainy, so we chose to take advantage of having access to a car and went on a roadtrip to Kagawong and Gore Bay.  Jan and Bob were returning from a trip to Newfoundland and had already driven 5000 miles, but they were game to go a few more!  In Kagawong, there is an Anglican Church that has a most unusual pulpit.  I had read that the pulpit was made from the bow of a boat, but didn't realize that it had come from a boat that had gone aground in the 50's with 4 adults and 2 children aboard.  When the winds came up they tried to swim to shore by tying everyone together, but only two survived.  The windows in the church are all nautical and check out the name of the church on the life-ring.

Friday night several loopers  planned to  order pizza and have it at the pavillion, but the nasty weather continued so we went to the pizza parlor instead.  The walk was about a mile and much of it uphill.  Gary became quite winded and complained of chest pains.  After dinner  he waited for Bob to bring the car for a ride back to the  docks, but  decided it was time to have this condition checked and instead went to the hospital.   I am writing this  now on Tuesday and Gary has been in the hospital the whole time.  The doctor has told him he needs to go home, so they are putting the boat in storage here for the winter and heading home (Malone, NY) in the next day or two.  We are sad for them   that they have to postpone their dream, but this is definitely the right decision under the circumstances.      We will miss their company and all the fun we have shared these past  weeks.

Better days playing dominoes on back deck of After Taxes
Gary, Carol, Jimmy, Cathy, and Tom

Saturday morning the sun was shining and the winds had died down, so we struck out for the beautiful fiord,

Baie Fine (pronounced Bay Fin).  The run there took us about 3 hours.    

On the way to Baie Fine--Tom, Jan and Bob

  

Entrance to Baie Fine--La Cloche Mountains in background

The clouds gathered as we entered, but cleared later.

We anchored in the pool at the very end of the bay and had no problems with a set even though that area has a lot of weed growth.  After a quick lunch, we put the dinghy together and set off for the path leading to Topaz Lake.  We had read rave reviews about this lake on other looper's blogs, so we were anxious to see it for ourselves.  Jan had orthoscopic surgery on a knee four weeks before this, but she insisted she would be okay to hike.  And hike we did!

On the trail--this part was the easy section!

Topaz Lake was gorgeous as promised.  The color seemed deep blue in some parts and turquoise in other spots.  We speculated that the bottom was white quartz giving the water those amazing shades of blue.  I took a brief swim in the incredibly clear, chilly water.  Tom and Bob hiked to the top of one of the bluffs and were able to see Raydiance at anchor in the pool.

Tom by Topaz Lake

Beautiful water of Topaz Lake

View from top of bluff

View of the pool with Raydiance at anchor

Returning to Raydiance, we played Five Crowns ( a game Bob grew to hate :) while the black clouds finally broke loose with a drenching rain followed by a lovely rainbow and calm.

This was actually a double rainbow, but the higher one was too faint to show up in the photo.

Sunday after a breakfast of blueberry pancakes and Tom's infamous 4 hour bacon, we packed sandwiches and again headed for the trails.  This time we first went to Artist's Lake, a meadow lake nearly overgrown.

Bob and Jan at Artist Lake

Frog catching rays at Artist Lake

Lily pads at Artist Lake

Since that was a short walk, we decided to tackle Three Narrows Lake also, and that proved to be a test of our stamina.  Bob and Jan both enjoy geology and were very interested in the rocks in this area.  

Bob and Jan overlooking Three Narrows Lake

"Just one more little rock, Bob!"

View from top of Three Narrows Lake bluffs

Jan and Bob

Saturday and Sunday nights the sky was loaded with stars, but the temperature had dipped to 12 degrees C, so we gazed quickly and retreated to the warmth of the cabin.  Monday morning we rose early trying to make the 10 o'clock bridge opening at Little Current.  Untangling the load of weeds from the anchor took about half an hour in itself!  Tom found a way to bypass the fuse until we can find a new one, so thankfully we had use of the windless.

Early morning mist at the pool in Baie Fine

A few weeds came up with the anchor.

Traveling back to Little Current, we tuned in to the Cruisers' Net broadcast at 9 a.m.  When it came time for the boats to call in with their location, Tom called and said,  "This is Raydiance returning to Little Current from the pool at Baie Fine with a load of weed."  There was a bit of hesitation on Roy's part before Tom clarified "weeds from the pool".  I halfway expected the Canadian mounties to be waiting for us on the docks!

 

We made the bridge opening at 10 and Jan and Bob were on their way by 11.  They had a long trip ahead of them that day as they were headed to a friend's cabin in Tomahawk, WI.  We  were so glad they had made the effort to catch up with us and we enjoyed sharing beautiful Baie Fine with them.

We decided to stay two nights at Little Current to catch up on some internet business and help After Taxes in any way we could.  Also, Tuesday night, the Cruisers' Net held a potluck dinner followed by a flare demonstration using out-of-date flares.  We had a good time at both and I even won a door prize!

Linda with Roy Eaton and door prize

Ready, aim, fire!

Roy with smoke flare

Tom with signaling flare

Loopers will never go hungry!

Cruisers Net potluck supper in pavillion
at Little Current Town Dock.

Tomorrow  we say good-bye to After Taxes and head out for the North Channel islands.