Days 341 and 342 - Anchoring Out — Captain Father John

Miles cruised 43, fuel purchased $0, slip fee $0 (on the hook), daily high temperature 76°f

Dinner at the St Amant’s marina restaurant was fine. Laura and Artie warned us not to order the hockey puck burger or over cooked fish and chips. Dale ordered liver and onions in honor of his late mother. It was her favorite meal. He had not eaten liver and onions in over 50 years. It may be another 50 years before he orders it again.

On Friday night as we crossed the road to return to the boat from the Saint Amant’s restaurant, a woman stopped her car and said “make sure you watch out for the bears.” Bears? I guess we are walking in northern Canada at night. Good advice. We did not dawdle heading back to the boat.

I had Googled Saint Amant to learn more about his ordination. I could not find any reference to a Saint named Amant. I asked the restaurant owner who happened to be named Saint Amant where the name of the marina came from? It is her family name. There you have it. No Pope involved.

On Saturday morning I took a walk south towards Wright’s Marina. That was our other choice. Wright’s has a nice dock but not much else. They do not even have potable (drinking) water. They have a courtesy car to go to dinner at St. Amant’s. We made the right choice to stay at St Amant’s Marina. The highlight of my walk was seeng numerous piles of bear scat on the road. I guess that answers the question regarding where does a bear go the bathroom. The lady from the night before gave us good advice.

We did not see any bears in Britt but as soon as we arrived in Killarney Andy and Dale has this encounter.

The weather forecast is for a flatter Georgian Bay on Saturday. We will have a 43 mile run to Collin’s Inlet where we will drop our anchor. The fanfare was overwhelming for us to anchor out.

Here is an example of the advice we received.

Col – My father first cruised Georgian Bay in 1930 on a 55 foot schooner. They didn’t even have a battery on board yet a generator. Toughen up god damn it. Every day you’ve been off your sailboat Blue Heaven, you’re getting weaker.

Willard (aka Peter Fisher)

We have some experience with the Collin’s Inlet. Four years ago we attended a Great Lakes Cruising Club rendezvous there. We were on our 39′ sailboat Blue Heaven. It was a fun event. We tied our stern to shore and picked blueberries. We even won the dingy race in Dale’s dingy. At this point we are in familiar territory. Ever since we entered the Cal Sag canal in Hammond, Indiana on September 21, 2015 every mile we cruised was new to us – the rivers, the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Bahamas, the AICW, Hudson River to the Erie Canal and Canada. Now we are back in our old cruising ground.

We cast off from St Amant’s at 11:00 am and had a very flat ride to Collin’s inlet. It is narrow and twisty but if you stay in the middle of the channel, all is well. We arrived at the Keyhole on the Collin’s Inlet at 2:00 pm. It was raining. We dropped anchor and enjoyed the loons and scenery. It rained until 7:00 pm. We cooked on the grill and had a wonderful dinner on the fantail. It is only six miles from the Keyhole to Killarney. It will be an easy day on Sunday.

The scenery along the Collin’s Inlet is breathtakingly beautiful.

Sunday morning was overcast and cool. We boiled water on our grill for tea and coffee and had cereal for breakfast. We hauled anchor at 9:30 am and were tied up and plugged in at the Killarney Mountain Lodge Marina by 10:30 am. We last stayed here in 2014. The lodge is under new ownership and with many improvements and updates. The docks are all new and much longer and wider with 50 amp service.

CL the three-eyed boat on the dock in Killarney.

Our favorite lunch spot for fish in the entire North Channel is Herbert’s. They used to serve fish from a red bus. A new restaurant has replaced the red bus but the fish is still as good as we remembered if not better. We ordered the six piece filet meal and received 10 filets. Wow, what a great lunch.

Herbert’s has their own fishing boat that brings in fresh fish to their restaurant everyday.

Out

Miles cruised 43, fuel purchased $0, slip fee $0 (on the hook), daily high temperature 76°f

Dinner at the St Amant’s marina restaurant was fine. Laura and Artie warned us not to order the hockey puck burger or over cooked fish and chips. Dale ordered liver and onions in honor of his late mother. It was her favorite meal. He had not eaten liver and onions in over 50 years. It may be another 50 years before he orders it again.

On Friday night as we crossed the road to return to the boat from the Saint Amant’s restaurant, a woman stopped her car and said “make sure you watch out for the bears.” Bears? I guess we are walking in northern Canada at night. Good advice. We did not dawdle heading back to the boat.

I had Googled Saint Amant to learn more about his ordination. I could not find any reference to a Saint named Amant. I asked the restaurant owner who happened to be named Saint Amant where the name of the marina came from? It is her family name. There you have it. No Pope involved.

On Saturday morning I took a walk south towards Wright’s Marina. That was our other choice. Wright’s has a nice dock but not much else. They do not even have potable (drinking) water. They have a courtesy car to go to dinner at St. Amant’s. We made the right choice to stay at St Amant’s Marina. The highlight of my walk was seeng numerous piles of bear scat on the road. I guess that answers the question regarding where does a bear go the bathroom. The lady from the night before gave us good advice.

We did not see any bears in Britt but as soon as we arrived in Killarney Andy and Dale has this encounter.

The weather forecast is for a flatter Georgian Bay on Saturday. We will have a 43 mile run to Collin’s Inlet where we will drop our anchor. The fanfare was overwhelming for us to anchor out.

Here is an example of the advice we received.

Col – My father first cruised Georgian Bay in 1930 on a 55 foot schooner. They didn’t even have a battery on board yet a generator. Toughen up god damn it. Every day you’ve been off your sailboat Blue Heaven, you’re getting weaker.

Willard (aka Peter Fisher)

We have some experience with the Collin’s Inlet. Four years ago we attended a Great Lakes Cruising Club rendezvous there. We were on our 39′ sailboat Blue Heaven. It was a fun event. We tied our stern to shore and picked blueberries. We even won the dingy race in Dale’s dingy. At this point we are in familiar territory. Ever since we entered the Cal Sag canal in Hammond, Indiana on September 21, 2015 every mile we cruised was new to us – the rivers, the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Bahamas, the AICW, Hudson River to the Erie Canal and Canada. Now we are back in our old cruising ground.

We cast off from St Amant’s at 11:00 am and had a very flat ride to Collin’s inlet. It is narrow and twisty but if you stay in the middle of the channel, all is well. We arrived at the Keyhole on the Collin’s Inlet at 2:00 pm. It was raining. We dropped anchor and enjoyed the loons and scenery. It rained until 7:00 pm. We cooked on the grill and had a wonderful dinner on the fantail. It is only six miles from the Keyhole to Killarney. It will be an easy day on Sunday.

The scenery along the Collin’s Inlet is breathtakingly beautiful.

Sunday morning was overcast and cool. We boiled water on our grill for tea and coffee and had cereal for breakfast. We hauled anchor at 9:30 am and were tied up and plugged in at the Killarney Mountain Lodge Marina by 10:30 am. We last stayed here in 2014. The lodge is under new ownership and with many improvements and updates. The docks are all new and much longer and wider with 50 amp service.

CL the three-eyed boat on the dock in Killarney.

Our favorite lunch spot for fish in the entire North Channel is Herbert’s. They used to serve fish from a red bus. A new restaurant has replaced the red bus but the fish is still as good as we remembered if not better. We ordered the six piece filet meal and received 10 filets. Wow, what a great lunch.

Herbert’s has their own fishing boat that brings in fresh fish to their restaurant everyday.

On Monday we will cruise 23 miles to Little Current. We will stay there for two days. Little Current is the home of Roy Eaton’s Cruisers Net VHF radio broadcast from the second floor of the Anchor Inn restaurant. We called in this morning from Collin’s Inlet for the first time. Roy provides news and weather updates and invites all cruisers in the area to call in by radio and advise where they are and where they are going. We will sit in on his broadcast on Tuesday morning.

Carl (Chef) Wooden – quote of the day.

“There are only two colors to paint a boat, black or white, and only a fool would paint a boat black.”
-Nathanael G. Herreshoff

Nathanael Greene Herreshoff (March 18, 1848 – June 2, 1938), was an American naval architect and mechanical engineer, was a yacht design innovator, and produced a succession of undefeated America’s Cup defenders between 1893-1920.