Little Current Canada

We launched early and beat the start of the bad weather that was expected. There were very calm winds and no waves as we left. It didn't take long for the wind to pick up. We had anticipated the high wind and reefed the mainsail before we left. Wind climbed to the limit of comfortable sailing with small sails so it was pleasurable sailing at good speed for an hour. The experience was enhanced by the lack of waves despite the higher wind. This is likely due to all of the islands. Then the rain started and the pleasure ended. Wind conditions stayed the same so progress was still good just uncomfortable. After a while of sailing in the rain, we saw what initially appeared as waves but when the didn't move, we know they were rocks. We were headed right for them. We made a course correction to avoid them but there were rocks below the surface near what we could see. The depth of the rocks below the surface was too high and and we ran aground. None of the rocks were marked on the chart. That was quite scary but we managed to break free with the boat seemingly intact. The boat tracked straight, the rudder worked and the propeller worked. We had to backtrack and take a different route and add at least an hour to our day.

The sky did not look good shortly after we launched.

So many islands to navigate with mountains off in the distance.

More island with gaps not deep enough for a sailboat.

This island had rock faces exposed between the trees. I'm guessing this island's peak was about 150 feet above the water.

In breaks in fog/rain/clouds you could see high mountains in the distance. The afternoon brought the end to the rain but it was still cloudy. It also gradually brought the end to the wind. We eventually removed the reef in the sail and went with both full sails until the wind died altogether, at which point we started to motor to get to the marina before they closed at 4PM.

It started clearing up as we arrived so the mountains became more visible. Someone said they are about 1800 feet.

View of the marina with our boat in the foreground and the Swing Bridge in the background. The weather got much nicer after dinner.

We had been drinking Manitoulin Brewing Company beer all along our travels in the North Channel. Little Current is where they are located. We stopped there for dinner. They had a food truck that served Indian food that was very good. I had Lamb Masala at 7/10 spicy; it could have been hotter. Surprisingly for a place so far north, they only had outdoor seating. They seem to make beer for distribution rather than a restaurant of their own. 

The marina has very nice bathroom/shower facilities. Each entry is leads to an entire fully bathroom, so there is a lot of room and dry space (sometimes the showers don't have a lot of room to keep you clothes dry). The biggest surprise is that the WIFI worked at the boat, not just at the office.

This is the end of the North Channel. Tomorrow we will go through the Swing Bridge and enter Georgian Bay but still in Canada.