North Channel

As we pass through Little Current, we say goodbye to Georgian Bay, and hello to North Channel.  We still have several stops on our ‘must see’ list, but our time in Canada is nearing the end.

Little Current is a great stop for reprovisioning, and we were in need of some fresh fruits and veggies, as we hadn’t been to a grocery store in more than two weeks.

We anchored in a well protected spot between a small island and the mainland.  The island had some type of stone wall ruins, but we didn’t investigate…we just admired from the boat.  The view was beautiful with the mountains in the background.

Next stop…Kagawong.  Several people told us to put Bridal Veil Falls on our list.

This was our first (and only) marina stay in Canada.  Our original intention was to anchor, but we found our charts were not very accurate regarding depths.  The place that showed a 20’ depth was actually 40+ feet deep.  We do carry 300 feet of chain and 400 feet of line, but we didn’t want to put out that much rode.  I called the marina and asked if they could accommodate a 50’ boat.  The guy seemed excited to welcome us (and we did make it work), but the space was VERY tight. The locals were amused to see such a big boat at their marina.

Following the well maintained trail, it was a lovely walk from the waterfront to the falls. I kept commenting how odd it was that we didn’t see any people on the trail.  It was a drizzly day, but I expected much more traffic.

Interesting art adorned the trail.  Apparently we need to up our art appreciation game, here is the artist’s description of this piece…🤷🏼‍♀️

“This sculpture rejects the separation between cultural and natural.  It rejects the division between an optimistic future and a tragic past. Instead it revels in the intersection between these forces. It is a zero sum game between a doe, a buck, a fawn, a Ford F150 bumper, the emerald ash borer and a propane tank. The work is Whitetail deer in headlights.”

Robert Cram 2017

I get the tragic interaction between the doe and the F 150, but the rest was way over my head😁

Much to our surprise, there were a lot of people at the falls.  There happened to be a parking lot, and stairs that brought many to the falls.  I don’t want to sound spoiled here, but most of our stops have been only accessible by boat, which drastically reduces the number of people at each ‘attraction’.  

I waited patiently to climb behind the falls where I was greeted by a strong, cool, misty breeze created by the falling water.

As we climbed the steps to the parking lot, we were able to get a more Instagram worthy picture (one with all of the people hidden).

Interesting art was also displayed along the road.

The small town offered a very cute museum, which mainly highlighted local history.  However, at the time of our visit they had a traveling display of the Empress of Ireland shipwreck, which took 954 lives in 1914…very interesting!

Back to our island exploration…

South Benjamin Island was our last opportunity to enjoy the rocks!

And guess what…we hit the blueberry jackpot!  Time to make ‘boat’ ice cream!  The best blueberry ice cream we have ever tasted!

This is super easy for anyone to make.  If you are flavoring with fruit, simply mix the fruit with a can of sweetened condensed milk.  Whip cream in a separate bowl then fold milk/fruit mixture into the whipped cream and freeze.

As we worked our way out of North Channel we marveled at the beautiful thistle plants along the shoreline.

We decided to anchor at Drummond Island, and hop over to Michigan the next day.  For some reason I thought the country line ran down the middle of the lake, but SURPRISE…

When I opened Google maps, to see when our unlimited cell coverage would be in effect, I was shocked to see the red line wrap around Drummond Island.  Oops…I guess we had better check into the US quickly!