Mer Sea

There’s a fjord in the North Channel called Baie Fine (pronounced, oddly enough, as bay fin – go figure!). It is supposed to be remarkable, and a trip to the North Channel is not complete without visiting and anchoring there. The true “Holy Grail” is way up at the end of the fjord in a place called “The Pool” – and anchoring there is supposed to be a truly sublime experience.

 

We were headed to Baie Fine when we left Killarney, and were pretty sure that we’d leave the “Grail” to others, as we’d heard that “The Pool” is weed-choked, and we’ve vowed that we’ll not anchor in any more weedy places! But we figured that if we anchored near “The Pool” we could just dinghy in. On our way into the Baie we saw a sailboat coming out with weeds dangling from all his ground tackle, so that cinched our decision. We proceeded to one of our chosen anchorages, dropped the hook, and got the dinghy ready for a ride.

 

Wouldn’t you know, shortly after we had things ready, the wind started to pick up, and the water got pretty choppy. We decided to wait and take our ride when the wind died down. It was a beautiful day, in spite of the wind, and we just sat back and enjoyed being in those beautiful surroundings. We saw one of the boats we’d been with in Killarney heading into “The Pool” and spoke with them on the radio about our apprehension about anchoring there, and our intentions if the wind ever laid down. They radioed back after they were “inside” and told us that the water was like glass there, but we decided to stay put (we felt we had the whole fjord to ourselves where we were) and see what happened with the wind. We knew that we could at least make the dinghy ride in the morning if things didn’t calm down in time in the afternoon.

 

Well, by the time things did calm down we were concerned about being caught out in the dark (we have no desire to be navigating these rocky waters, even in the dink, in the dark!), so we decided to wait until morning.

 

The next morning was completely calm, and after we’d had breakfast we hopped in the dink and took a ride over. “The Pool” is indeed a lovely spot, but VERY weedy, and there were quite a few boats anchored there. We were glad we’d stayed where we’d originally anchored! We took the dink ashore and sought out the path to the “ Topaz Lake,” which is supposedly a little lake to which you can hike that is an amazing color of blue. Well, I’m sure it’s there somewhere, but we hiked around in the woods for about an hour, following several trails, and never did find it. I felt kind of bad about that, but, oh well, what’re you gonna do?

 

We got back to Mer Sea and prepared to head out to Little Current. It was an easy, short ride, and we got there easily and with only a short moment of angst when we were deciding whether or not we really WOULD clear the bridge. We did. We had our choice of slips in the marina (believe it or not, the boating season here is practically over, and it’s definitely like fall right now!), and got settled in.

 

I headed out to go grocery shopping. The grocery store was farther than I’d suspected, and each time I asked someone, she pointed up the hill and said then you turn left…Well, when you turn left, you go up another hill for a while before you come to the store. It was going to be a long walk back to the boat with two big LL Bean bags full of groceries!

 

I was pleased that the store was a really good one, and I was able to find everything on my list, plus some great impulse buys. As I was checking out, and chatting with the checkout clerk, I somehow mentioned that I’d be walking back to the boat. Well, the lady behind me took pity on me and offered me a ride! It was so nice! And thank God she did, or I might still be walking back to Mer Sea – those bags were HEAVY!

 

We spent some time debating where to go the next day, because it looked as though the weather was going to be taking a turn for the worse, and we were supposed to be anchoring out the next day. We didn’t want to get caught waiting out several days of bad weather in an anchorage if we could avoid it, and we wanted to be positioned to move on when the weather broke, so we decided to alter our plans. The disappointing thing for me was not spending more time poking around in the North Channel, but we just seem to be here a bit late, and the weather is definitely getting cooler and wetter and windier. It’s time to move on.

 

It was an absolutely beautiful day the next day, Thursday, and we had a wonderful trip to Gore Bay. The water was beautiful and the sun was shining. We made our way into the well-protected bay and again had our choice of slips in the marina. I headed into town and found somewhere to get my hair cut (I made an appointment for the next day) and a new watch (mine had bitten the dust) and every kind of store you could possibly want. I did some light reprovisioning and headed back to the boat.

 

The wind picked up all afternoon, and we could see that we weren’t going to be able to leave Friday morning. That was OK with me, since I’d found out that there’s a Farmers’ Market on Friday mornings! The next morning I trotted over, and got wonderful heirloom tomatoes, baby lettuce, potatoes and leeks for the vegetable soup Roy was going to make, apples for my lunches, and a homemade cherry pie! Yum!! I went in the afternoon and got my hair cut, and what a great job Shirley did! I’d surely recommend her to anyone coming by this way! I’m good for another couple of months.

 

We were hoping to be able to move on Saturday morning, but the wind was, if anything, fiercer than on Friday! We settled in for a day in port. Roy got out the charts and cruising guides and planned our trip from Grafton to Chattanooga and beyond, and I snuggled up with my book. It stayed windy, with a period of rain, all day.

 

Sunday dawned calm, but foggy. Gosh darn it, can’t we get a good boating day, please? Well, we finally got out around 8:00, only an hour later than we’d planned. It was a bit choppy as we left Gore Bay, progressing pretty quickly to very choppy with a few large swells thrown in for good measure. We had 5 hours of this ahead of us, so were hoping for improving conditions. It was certainly tolerable, but not really very pleasant.

 

Luckily for us, the farther west we got the better the seas got. After a couple of hours of the chop, the seas calmed down and the sun came out, and all was well. In fact, it was beautiful! We looked back along the length of the North Channel and thought about these wonderful nine weeks in Canada and felt somewhat sad. It’s been a wonderful time in this wonderfully hospitable country, and we’re sorry to have to leave. But does it have to be so gosh darned cold most of the time??!! We’d come more often and stay longer…

 

We arrived here in Drummond Island, Michigan, and Roy went to check in with Customs. Turned out to be a painless process (thank you, God). It’s sunny and beautiful here now, and we’re back in the good old USA. Hoping that the weather holds and stays nice for our trip down the shore of Lake Michigan! Say a prayer for us in that regard!!