Into the North Channel

Hi cruisers,
We've come through the northern section of Georgian Bay where the scenery has gotten more beautiful and the signs of 'civilization' fewer. We stayed in some more beautiful anchorages
where we explored around small islands, finding remote cottages, and even some places to pick
blueberries! This don't look like many, but Steve and Liz picked and then Liz made and shared great and fresh blueberry pancakes for our mid-afternoon snack!
Simmering water as we head west about 8am.
We've been staying in anchorages often, so we treated ourselves to a night in a marina in Killarney, where there is a famous red and white schoolbus (long-parked) that serves generous
portions of fish-and-chips. That's whitefish, the local favorite! Killarney is the understood dividing point between Georgian Bay and the North Channel.
From there we went just 1.5 miles to a wonderful cove, our favorite so far-- "Covered Portage Cove" -- where it can be hard to find a spot to anchor! The shores are steep and lined with white rock (granite?) on one side, and the clearest water imaginable. You can literally see your anchor in 8-10 feet!
We intended to hike during the afternoon, (oops, naps :) but finally dinghied to shore after supper and climbed to the top of the nearby ridge. As you can see the view was fantastic.
And from the view below it looks like we were the only boats there. Don't be fooled: by dark there were at least 20 boats in the inner cover, and another 20+ in the outer cove.

We then headed for Baie Fine (pronounced 'bay-fin' we think), which has been described as the nearest to a western hemisphere fjord. We heard dire weather predictions of 'strong wind advisories' and 20 knot winds, so after a quick cruise into Baie Fine, we headed for Little Current and the security of the marina. Our friends on Shingebiss anchored, took their (much faster) dinghy, and went up into the 'fjord' area. They reported that it was over-rated, and we all
agreed that Covered Portage was the best for us.
Here at Little Channel-- which is a central point for North Channel cruisers, both for provisions and for activity. The predicted winds didn't materialize (weather forecasts are hard to get, and even harder to believe here), but we've stayed (tonight will be our 3rd night) to do laundry, get groceries, haircut, go to church tomo, meet new friends, and of course, eat ice cream.
Today these sailboats came into our marina on the pier just behind us, having just participated in the Mac-Man race (Mackinaw to Manitoulin Island). The winds are up today (just delayed we guess) but will be lower (??) tomorrow, so we'll move on after church. We are hearing all kinds of stories about the difficulty we may encounter re-entering the US (easy to get in to Canada, hard to get back home)... and what the policies and required paperwork are. So, within the next week, we'll make-a-run-for-the-border, and hopefully (and legally) be back in the US of A.

As always, we love reading your comments(please include your email address if we don't have it) and are so glad you're cruising with us.

And so, be safe, know God is with you, and keep in touch.
nan and jack