Heading South

Man it is getting cold up here.  We now need the duvet on our bed every night.  A couple of times it has dropped to the low 40's, sorry still on degress F.  The marina operators are closing things up and the seasonal boaters are already taking their boats out of the water.  Some of the shops are already closed for the season.  I am told that by Sept. 15, the North Channel will be dead.

I am writing this from Little Current on the north shore of Manitoulin Island.  We spent a few hours touring the Benjamin Islands, really neat, but are afraid that the weather will not allows us to anchor out.  We had to spend an extra day in Gore Bay because there was a wind warning up here.  Man did we bounce around, even at the dock.  I had to resort to gravol just so I could get the boat ready to leave on Friday morning.  It was a little rough until we got behind some islands but all-in-all not bad.  A couple of boaters from Ohio, who were headed in the same direction but afraid to leave, wanted updates about how bad the channel was.  I was able to fill them in on the conditions by radio for almost 30 minutes.  In the end, I think that they were going to leave as well.

My main concern now is the big water of Lake Huron.  We do not want to take on the conditions that we encountered coming up.  Unfortunately, the forecast is not favourable.  We should have a window on Saturday to do the 70 miles between Little Current and Tobermory.   We have decided to bypass Killarney, unfortunately.  Word is that the new owner of the Sportsman Inn has spruced up the place real good.  It is a favourite place but we going to run for Tobermory this morning while we can.  There is a swing bridge connecting the island with the mainland and it opens for 15 minutes at the top of each hour.  We are targetting the 9 AM swing.

Hopefully, there is wifi in Big Tub Harbour because it looks like we may be there until Tuesday.  If not, not sure where or when the next update will come.

Just noticed 2 flocks of geese overhead; they are doing the same as us; heading south.
Bye for now.
Tom & Linda