Day 26 - 7/21/24
Today we said goodbye to the Benjamin’s and made our way to Little Current in order to get pumped out and get water. Richard uses my phone as I have the navigation software so sadly I wasn’t able to get many pictures. We sailed along our new friends so it was a race. It was a very sporty sail and we made good time. I made a rather large breakfast along the way and got dishes done as to take advantage of newly pumped out tanks when we got to our destination.
Little Current is a few things. 1. The biggest town we will come across with a population of about 1700. 2. Will be our main source of groceries and services as it lands nicely in the center of all the wonders the North Channel has to offer and 3. Miss named. It does not have a little current. The town is located where the mainland meets the main island, Manitoulin Island (which is also the world’s largest fresh water island). I believe this island is what makes the North Channel the best sailing protecting everything north of its shores from the rest of Lake Huron. The passage between the mainland and the island is really the only place for 50 miles that water can flow between the bodies of water and it is narrow in comparison to the current of fresh water can flow in either direction depending on the day and yesterday it was a “calm” 3 knots of current. That was new to experience on Ciara.
The town also really encourages boaters to come allowing free day slips with amble room. So after we got the services for the boat we took a slip and got some chores done. Richard played orthodontist and fixed a retainer for our new friends with epoxy. The kids ran off and found Tim Hortons and we grabbed those much needed fresh groceries I was missing so badly.
We stopped at a store called Turners which has a large chart room and I collected some as well as a great book about the North channel to help me plan many more trips here in the future. I also got a souvenir shirt
We departed around 4:30. Trying to cast off the dock with such a strong current was quite the challenge (and it wasn’t even that strong which worries me for return trips). We went just about 8nm to Louisa island. Small, protected, has a nice little beach. We made fajitas and I devoured 3 of them. Played trumpet, walked the dog and fell asleep reading my book while I could hear everyone else laughing and playing games together in the saloon.
