Hotham Bay, North Channel

Wednesday and Thursday, July 29 and 30

Hotham Bay, North Channel, Ontario, Canada

It is absolutely beautiful here. The sky is like El Paso’s - big and open, gorgeous blue with puffy clouds. When we’re here on the water, the trees do not block the sky like they do at home in Connecticut. The harbor reminds us of Montana out west, except the base of the mountains is covered with blue water instead of land. 

A retired couple lives here during the summer months, and each afternoon around 5:00 they invite the visiting boaters who are anchored in the harbor to “docktails” on their deck. What a nice thing to do! Yesterday, after four tries at anchoring, we were quite tired, but we went to their deck and met six other pairs of boaters. Some are out for the summer, some are passing through, and we were the only Loopers. Coincidentally, all the other boats are from Michigan.

We had trouble anchoring here because we dropped the anchor into grass twice and had to start over, then we anchored a little too close to another boat and again decided to start over. We finally chose a beautiful spot and the anchor held and we are here for two nights. The winds are gusting to 30 mph today so we’re staying put. It’s not a storm or anything, just high winds. The boat swings back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, on its anchor, so that in the early morning, when the brilliant sun is still low, it shines into the starboard windows, then the stern windows, then around to the port windows, and then back again, over and over. We have to keep the shades drawn until the sun gets high enough. 

By Wednesday night, we were laughing because we had done just about everything there is to do on our trip, all in one day. Still in Kagawong, we had a leisurely morning of reading, crossword puzzles, Cruisers’ Net radio, tea and coffee. Then we rode the tandem bike back to the Esso station to buy a souvenir. From there we rode to the farmers’ market, visited the little museum and stopped at the art gallery to buy a print that we had debated about the day before. After that Brian had a long business call, and I cleaned up the boat and got rid of the trash. We refilled our water tank and bought ice cream to put in the freezer so we could have it later with our fresh raspberries. We departed around noon and traveled for about three hours to Hotham Bay. The wind had picked up and the crossing was rocky. I actually had to lie down for a while - all the biking had worn me out. In Hotham we did our four anchoring drills (ha ha) and Brian went swimming in the bay. We made a snack to take to the docktails, and I prepared everything for dinner so it would be ready when we returned. We dinghied over to the dock, and after visiting for a couple of hours, we went back to our boat and had dinner. Shortly after supper, two boaters came over to show us some excellent places to visit in northern Michigan (the mitten part) after we leave Mackinac Island. Then I just had to stop, I was so tired, although we still had to swat mosquitos for a while before sleeping.

Some of the Loopers we have traveled with are already back in America at the northern tip of Michigan. We estimate that we have another five days in Canada, including a visit to Sault St. Marie in Canada and a trip through the Soo Lock into Lake Superior. Then we plan to enter the U.S. at Sault St. Marie, Michigan. We seldom show up where we think we are heading, however, so our real itinerary remains to be seen.

A popular breakfast meat here is called peameal bacon. It’s a ham that’s been pickled and rolled in cornmeal. We had it at a restaurant, then bought some in Little Current for the boat. You grill it in a skillet and it is so good. We also had toast with homemade raspberry jam from the local farmer’s market.

An anchorage is the best place in the world to relax. Brian went back to sleep several hours ago. Another boat has arrived in our bay and I am watching them anchor. That is the usual entertainment in an anchorage.