Lake Huron: North Channel
Saturday – Sunday - Aug 19 – 20 Drummond Island
After clearing out of the Sault on a gorgeous sunny morning,
we headed downstream and made our way to Drummond Island Yacht Haven for a Diesel
fill and pump out. Spent one night here and then anchored inside the nearby Harbor
Island on the 20th. This marks 1 month since we departed Bayfield!
Very shallow and close quarters in Harbor Island, but we had
6 boats and some Sand Hill Cranes in there somehow! Water here is far warmer than in Lake Superior. Took
a quick dip in the lake to cool off. Unfortunately, this would be the last ‘hot’
day we would have for a while.
Monday Aug 21 – Meldrum Bay
Welcome to Canada! Meldrum is a very small settlement near
the western entrances of the North Channel and a convenient place to get
checked into Canadian Immigration. On hold for 30 minutes, then all done in 5
more. Easy peasy. Not much here but was
able to score a 30 pack of Molson Canadian. Yeah!! Price ~$40USD. Ouch…
Tuesday – Wednesday – Aug 22-23 – Gore Bay
First Canadian Anchorage? Check. Spent two nights here at anchor in the cute
little town of Gore Bay. Nice Grocery store, hardware, etc. Split Rail Brewery was
darn good. We’ve been saving our Canadian coins for several years and it weighed
a ton, so we bought our beers with small change and lightened the load. Thankfully,
they were happy to take it.
We met a great couple who are also fellow Catalina 470 owners.
Each of us had the others over to their boats for happy hour and snacks, etc.
Very fun to meet Nancy and Steve from s/v Quintessential.
 | | AndinI in Gore Bay |
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 | | New friends Steve and Nancy on Quintessential our sister boat |
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 | | Split Rail Brewery |
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Thursday – Saturday – Aug 24-26 – South Benjamin Island
An early start on our 13.2nm trip over to South Benji and we
were there by noonish. The North wind was blowing a bit, but we had good
protection from the island, so all was well. Amazing dinghy rides are available
everywhere. The rock formations are
super cool and you can dinghy through the majority of them very closely and in
very shallow waters. Also had our 1st
experience seeing multiple boats rafted up and anchored to shore. 3 large power boats and 2 sailboats. I’m guessing there was a party there.
Our new friends, Nancy and Steve decided to sail out to
South Benji on Friday, so we were all able to get to know each other a bit more
for the next two days. They are veteran North Channel sailors, so we tried to
pry a lot of info out of them while we could. We’ll be back for a full-on North
Channel cruise next year and will try to meet up with them again.
 | | Amazing rock formations. Most of island pink granite but there are pockets of white quartz like this island |
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 | | AndinI at anchor in S Benji |
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 | | Lots of small waterways to explore by dinghy |
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 | | Sister Cat 470 Quintessential at anchor with us |
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 | | S Benji anchorage filling up fast. |
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 | | Dinghy exploring in S Benji |
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Sunday Aug 27 – Fox Island
A very short hop of 3.6nm north to Fox Island and we were
tucked away in another tight, but well-protected anchorage for the night. Went
for a nice dinghy ride and a walk on shore in the back of the bay and got some nice pics of the
boat. Just one other vessel in there with us for the night.
 | | AndinI in tight quarters on Fox Island |
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 | | AndinI in Fox Island |
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 | | Dinghy ride and walk at Fox Island |
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 | | Amazing little waterways to explore by dinghy |
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 | | The rocks are amazing. You can more clearly see the pink granite as high water in 2020 washed away the lichen on the rocks. |
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 | | Trees hanging on to any little dirt deposited on the rocks. |
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Monday – Wednesday - Aug 28-30 – Beardrop Harbor
One of the larger anchorages we’ve been to, but still offering
decent protection. Winds were up in the mid-20knts from the North, so we put
out a bit more anchor chain than normal, but that’s why we can sleep well. No worries… (100’ of chain and a 60lb anchor is great
insurance) Did a little dinghy cruising around the island side of the area too.
We do a lot of that; it’s fun.
It had been cloudy for several days, so the solar farm wasn’t
providing all the power we needed. Had to fire up the generator to charge
batteries for overnight. As long as we had all that power available, we ran the
water heater and mattress pad heater too. I mean, why not? It was down to 50
degrees that night.
Met two more fun couples on their boats. Janet and Chris on s/v
Tassia, plus Lise and Kevin on s/v Heimat with their friend Bobby. Got
invited, via dinghy of course, to Happy Hour Tuesday evening on Heimat and that
had us dinghying home in the dark. Great night.
After a nice visit in the morning to Tassia where we
found out just how spacious and comfortable Catalina 400’s are down below, we
had to say our good byes.
 | | Getting ready to navigate the Little Detroit straight. It is only 100 feet wide in spots and only room for 1 boat. |
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 | | AndinI transiting the Little Detroit straight |
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 | | Beautiful scenery in Beardrop Harbor |
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 | | Narrow cut through the rocks to look into Beardrop Harbor |
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 | | Tim bringing us through cut into Beardrop Harbor. AndinI needed to take the long way in 😄 |
 | | Tassia at anchor in Beardrop Harbor |
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 | | Blue Moon on right and anchor lights on left in Beardrop Harbor |
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Thursday – Aug 31 – Turnbull Island
Headed 8nm west over to Turnbull Island and anchored there
for the evening. Wind was blowing out of the west at ~15knts, so was of course ‘on
the nose’ and 2-3’ waves. Got into the anchorage and the water was calm, but with
some wind yet, so we hid behind the dodger where it was reasonably warm in the
sun. Had a comfy evening and watched the Super-Blue Moon rise right behind the
boat.
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Was surprisingly calm back in anchorage.
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 | | Blue Moon in Turnbull |
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Friday – Saturday Sept 1&2 – Meldrum Bay
7:30 am start and 22 miles later and we were in Meldrum Bay again,
but this time on our way out of the North Channel, as we needed to get hold out
to obtain protection from strong south winds and to get moving towards Michigan
to haul out for the winter in Alpena.
North Channel 2024
North Channel, we will be back next year as we barely
scratched the surface of what you have to offer. We are excited to invite our friends to share
the experience with us at times and meeting new people in the many
anchorages.
Closing Thoughts
Our overall trip was 7 weeks and we traveled about 850 nautical miles (978 miles). Living on AndinI and traveling on her has been something Tim and I have been dreaming and planning for many years. It seems a little surreal we have actually started this journey in retirement. Like life, there have been ups, downs, and sideway turns we needed to navigate – this is all part of the experience. We do want to thank our friends and family as we could not have done this without their support. We will be back in the Lake Huron / North Channel – Georgian Bay next year. Not sure how long, it will all depend on how the wind blows.
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Andi, Wally and AndinI
(Andi n I as Tim would say)
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| Lake Superior Route |
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| Lake Huron Route |
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