Day 12 - Farquhar's
Our 17 mile cruise from the Benjamin’s to the harbor in Little Current was on 1-2 foot seas. Most of the time the seas were on the forward and stern quarter so it was a pleasant ride as usual for the most part.
Little Current is located at the crossroad between the North Channel and Georgian Bay. There is a 100 year old swing bridge that opens on the hour to let boats through. We are very close to being able to go under the bridge without waiting for it to open but we have not accurately measured our boats height so we will pass under on the hour.
One of the more famous events in Little Current occurred in 1914 when a fisherman named La Pointe caught a 275 pound sturgeon. The fish was 8 feet long and yielded 57 pounds of caviar.
Many of the shops and restaurants we have visited in past years in Little Current are closed. The cold winter kept the harbor iced in until June.
One of the highlights in Little Current is visiting the broadcast room of Roy Eaton’s North Channel Cuiser’s Net broadcast. Every morning at 9:00 AM in July and August on VHF channel 71 Roy provides the latest marine weather, news and human interest stories. Lastly he takes and logs in position reports from all the cruisers who want to check in. We listened today and 119 boats checked in.
St. Ignace has the best pizza (BC Pizza) and Little Current has the best ice cream – Farquhar’s. Farquhar’s is the most famous ice cream in the North Channel. This is legendary stuff. It is like the North Channel is in an ice cream time warp from the 1950’s. The small scoop is the size of three tennis balls. You must get the cup not the cone. You cannot eat the cone fast enough even on a cold day to not have it drip all over your hand and shirt. I ordered the cone and within two minutes was begging for a cup. There are no low fat flavors.
On Tuesday we will cruise 20 miles to Killarney not in Ireland but in Georgian Bay. There is a story as to how Killarney got its name but I will leave my gentle readers hanging until Wednesday for the details. We will dock at the Killarney Mountain Lodge which has a heated swimming pool and a supper club restaurant (again) time warped from the 1950’s.
Tonight the harbor is smooth as glass. We have been very fortunate to not have had problems with mosquitoes. Our boat is fully enclosed and we zip up early to avoid the inevitable swarms. Keeping doors closed to the cabins keeps the situation under control. If we get two mosquitoes in a night we stalk them to their doom before going to sleep.
The best ice cream period.
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