We were having a Greta Garbo moment when we planned our trip to the North Channel for early June. No one goes before the July holiday weekend and then everyone goes and we wanted the experience to be pristine like the environment. It’s empty up there at 46° in the centre of the continent, all pink granite, pines and cold water with communities few and far between. But it is full of life, on four legs, on the wing.
The bar in the Sportsman’s Inn in Killarney tells you a lot about this tiny community. A few regulars knock back Molson Canadians in a room where every surface is varnished knotty pine and fish and game trophies give you a glassy-eyed stare. The owner comes over with his photo album to our table with a view of the near empty marina to give us a little perspective. Winter and the channel buzzes with snow mobiles, summer and these empty docks are packed with boats, some even rafted off.
Until 1962 Killarney was accessible only by water and home to a fresh-water commercial fishing fleet. Herbert’s Fisheries processing plant remains although most of the fish tugs have been replaced by pleasure craft. We buy some fresh pickerel then next door to the LCBO on the same dock to replenish our beer stock for the coming week and we’re off to explore the Red Rock Lighthouse.There can’t be more than 10 streets in this town of 700 people and we’re soon on a gravel road, the channel just visible on our right and the scrubby clearing at the end of the new airport’s runway on our left. He’s big, he’s black and he’s not carrying any luggage and he’s crossing the road in front of us like he owns the place. This is not the first bear I’ve seen in my life and it always feels too close.We head back to Phantasia, our Niagara 35, cooling her heels at the dock. I feel a little itch on my neck and my fingers come away bloody. I’ve become a feast for the black flies.‘Twas early in the spring when I decide to go
For to work up in the woods of North Ontario.
The unemployment office said they’d send me through
To the Little Abitibi with the survey crewAnd the black flies, the little black flies
Always the black fly no matter where you go
I’ll die with the black fly a Pickin’ my bones
In North Ontar-i-o-i-o, In North Ontar-i-o
from “The Blackfly Song” by Wade Hemsworth
Encounter #2 – Moose
We wait ’til thunderstorm warnings end before leaving Killarney Channel for an overnight stop in Covered Portage Inlet then out Lansdowne Channel and across Frazer Bay. Scoured by glaciers this area consists of long fiord like bays dotted with granite rocks, shoals and reefs with channels well marked but in this maze of features it can be easy to miss buoys or confuse which side they should be on.
High on our list of musts is The Pool. In summer boats thread their way up Baie Fine stopping wherever they see a possible anchorage until there is an opening in this premiere location tucked away in the white quartzite La Cloche Mountains. We encounter no traffic and have The Pool entirely to ourselves.
Out of habit we set the riding sail and in mirror-like water we watch a family of mergansers as the sun gradually sets giving way to a “mid-way” of stars. At this time of year lingering on deck requires a blanket and a mosquito coil (black flies are daytime demons while mosquitoes hide waiting for the cooler evening air).
Next morning I lift the thermometer we have dangling off the stern…58° but we rationalize that it will be several degrees warmer on the surface, especially if we wait ’til the sun gets high and if we wait ’til after we’ve gone for a hike, a swim will feel really terrific. While debating the swimming issue we hear the sound of splashing water and looking up we see a moose lowering his lanky body into the bay. These large ruminants, up to 1200 lbs for a bull, spend a lot of time in the water feeding and swim amazingly well. This younger bull paddles by just a dozen yards from the boat, only his large face, floppy hears and velvet covered antlers visible. Mike dashes for the video and still cameras.
We encounter a pair of kayakers as we maneuver back out Baie Fine and are reminded that the North Channel was once a fur-trade route allowing pelts from Lake Superior and beyond a passage, protected from the open waters of Lake Huron, eventually arriving in Montreal the fur capital of New France. Place names all through this area reflect it’s combined native, french and anglo history.
The swing bridge at Little Current is the only land connection between Manitoulin Island and north shore Ontario. The bridge opens for 15 minutes on the hour and some caution is required since there is about a 4 knot current going through. The bridge has only one lane of traffic and has a stop light to control flow. It is the only traffic light on the entire island, the largest fresh water island in the world.
Little Current provides an opportunity to reprovision, refuel and use facilities at well serviced marinas or if you are just over-nighting tie at the municipal dock. Showers are found near Wally’s Dock Service where the dock hand pumping gas or holding tanks is likely to sport a well-worn “Proud to be a Haweater” T-shirt. The bitter Haw berries were sometimes the only food left at the end of winter for white pioneers on this native homeland.
I am on a mission to find a pharmacy for calming calamine lotion for the welts behind my ears and in my hairline.
Encounter #3 – Hummingbirds
Leaving Little Current on a bright and breezy day we romped up Wabuno Channel then headed west. East is the Bay of Islands more suited to a real shoal draft boat and we had the Benjamin Islands as our destination.
It’s a lively close reach past Bedford and Amedroz Islands, duck below Fleming Bank and douse the sails as we wheedle around the Sow & Piglets, fat pink rocks lounging on the surface just off Croker Island. Croker has an excellent compact anchorage that will accommodate up to four boats and for the only time on our trip we must share. Our companions on a steel cutter do their utmost to ignore us, the interlopers. They don’t even return our greeting while we are curious about the feeder suspended between their backstays.
We have the screens on all our hatches and ports sealed and it’s a mad dash inside and close the companionway quick when you can’t stand the mosquitoes anymore. We’ll come back out later to stare at the Milky Way hoping to catch a display of the Northern Lights drawn out by the lonely call of a loon.
Next morning as we are getting organized for some dingy exploring I come face to face with a Ruby-throated Hummingbird in the cockpit. His wings buzz as he looks me over, decides I’m not an exotic flower, and then tries a red-checked yellow line, the red gas can, a sail tie. He’s programmed for colour but, unlike the steel boat, we are first timers and don’t have a feeder on board. I’m broken hearted not being able to give anything to this wee intrepid flier just returned from South America, working hard to find something to eat in the early season.
Encounter #4 – Fish
We’ve been reminded at every stop that this is prime fishing territory by lures, licenses, rods, reels and notices for guides and taxidermists so we’re game to give it a try although we think we can hear the fish laugh when we cast a line. So off we go to the Sow & Piglets, Mike with the fishing gear and me with my watercolours. A few hours later we try elsewhere.
Next day we dingy over to South Benjamin Island a spectacular slope of graceful granite. We try off a rocky point, then in little weedy bay. We try casting and trolling from the dingy. We try thinking like a fish.
Then we walk to the top to admire the “Group of Seven” view. These early to mid-20th century painters focused much of their art and lifestyle on ever more remote sites and these bare rocks, bonsai-like trees and emptiness could have been an inspiration. Mike and I are really more comfortable painting and taking photos than fishing.
But we keep up our efforts off Clapperton Island, in Mudge Bay and in Kagawong. There we buy some more lures and live bait that gets pilfered by a nocturnal raccoon. With some local knowledge, Mike gets up early to head out in the dingy for the mouth of the Kagawong River. There are a couple of fishermen out in small launches so this is encouraging. Finally, on day 12 of our two weeks in the North Channel, Mike catches a nice size bass. He brings it alongside and releases it.
That accomplished we can get back to what we really enjoy – sailing. The early season is ideal, often sunny, with winds that build during the day to around 15 knots and frequent calm nights. Some legs are just jumps from anchorage to anchorage and some allow full days under sail. Pure delight.
Chartering
The North Channel, the body of water separated from Lake Huron by Manitoulin Island, with protected water and many anchorages is among the top freshwater cruising grounds in the world. There are a couple of charter companies on the island. Canadian Yacht Charters, in Gore Bay, has 20 charter boats up to a Jeanneau 49. Discovery Yacht Charts, in Little Current, has 15 boats up to a PDQ 42.
Guides and charts
Ports Cruising Guide, Georgian Bay, The North Channel & Lake Huron. Richardson’s Chartbook & Cruising Guide, Lake Huron Edition including North Channel and Georgian Bay Canadian Hydrographic Service paper charts: Lake Huron, 2200; Georgian Bay, 2201; Beaverstone Bay to Lonely Island and McGregor Bay, 2245; Little Current, 2207; Clapperton Island to John Island, 2257 for the area described in this story. Digital charts: NDI, Region 82, Lake Huron including Georgian Bay, North Channel, US Shore. All are widely available or through Nautical Mind or Landfall Navigation.
Weather
Average daily temperature is in the low 60’s ranging from the mid-70’s to near 50° at night. Until the water warms up the temperatures tend to be a bit low but on average there is less precipitation than any other month except July and there is more wind than the high summer months. Without a heater warm bedding is important and with sunny but breezy days wind proof pants, jackets, even a hat and gloves will keep you comfortable. Because June tends to be the “bug” season insect repellent, calomine lotion and even mosquito nets can make the trip more pleasant.
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