To buy a new ice maker or not to buy a new ice maker that is the question.

You no doubt have heard of our ice maker "giving up the ghost". The captain has been doing some figuring on whether it is practical to continue to buy ice or to purchase a new ice maker. Here is the situation: (This may look very much like a high school word problem) a five pound bag of ice costs about $2.25 (US). We use one bag of ice every day and a half. A replacement ice maker costs about $1,100. Over the next twelve months we will use about 240 bags of ice, because we will be on the boat almost all the time. The cost of all this ice is about $540. However, after this year we will probably be on the boat about thirty days a year for an ice cost of $45. per year. The question is: how many years it will take to break even by buying the new ice maker (not counting inflation)? The answer is about 13 years. Since we may only keep the boat another few years, the answer is obvious - BUY A NEW ICE MAKER (I love my ice).

7/22 - Gore Bay

After another peaceful night at anchor we headed 15 miles across the channel to Gore Bay. The weather is expected to get showery for the next several days, so we decided to pull into the Gore Bay Marina for the night to see what happens. Shortly after we tied up, "Houlegan" with "Loopers" Ray and Caryl from Mississipi, pulled in. We last saw them on Saturday in Killarney, when they stopped by to chat. Since we never had a chance to really get to visit with them, we invited them aboard for cocktails. We had a delightful evening hearing about the experiences they've had on their trip which they began in Gulfport on 12/1/08. Ray is retired from the Navy, and Caryl is retired from the Air Force and is a registered nurse. They expect to be back home by this Thanksgiving.

The entrance to our anchorage in the Benjamin Islands

(note the pink granite)

Our anchorage in the Benjamin Islands

(Note all the trees leaning the same way. The wind blows so hard here in the winter the trees all bend from northwest to southeast.)

We had an early breakfast at the Anchor Inn, an old hotel one block from the docks. Upstairs there is a room which is the "broadcast studio" of Roy Eaton, the host of "The Little Current Cruisers Network", which broadcasts everyday in July and August at 9 a.m. on VHF channel 71.

Roy is a retired high school principal who began this service in 2004, and it has grown beyond his wildest dreams. He gives the latest marine weather, world news, sports scores, business reports, what happened today in history, and North Channel events. Following this, call-ins are made from individual boats traveling in the area. Some have messages to transmit to other boats, and most just announce where they are presently and what their next destination will be. Roy's service is now registered with the Coast Guard and Air Search and Rescue and has helped in locating many boaters. We were privileged to sit in at his broadcast with some other boaters to see what goes on behind the scenes. Today we assisted him by writing down the names and info on 124 boats in the area! In 2008 he had 4,708 call-ins! He is a wonderful man who volunteers his time and talent to helping many people and it was a pleasure to meet him.

We finally left the dock after the morning's events for the lovely Benjamin Islands, a favorite anchoring area in the North Channel. We rode around for a while among the islands, evaluating what would be the best location for "Reflection", and eventually settled on a beautiful open area where we anchored in 41 feet of water! Twenty- two other smaller boats were also anchored in more shallow waters nearby. We kept our eyes open for bears, which had been spotted on the shores in previous years eating blueberries, but we didn't spot any today.

George woke up at 2:00 a. m. to see if he could spot the northern lights we were told were visible at these latitudes - and there they were. A beautiful blue green glow in the northern sky, the aurora borealis, at this latitude it appears as a false sunrise.

7/20 - Little Current

Little Current Harbor (where there was little current)

After a quiet night at anchor, we traveled down the Landsdowne Channel past very large limestone rock islands to the town of Little Current, where the waters of the North Channel are funneled into a 100 yard passage into Georgian Bay. The town is on the tip of large Manitoulin Island and is connected to Goat Island by a swing bridge which opens up only on the hour for 15 minutes. Boats jockey in front of the bridge every hour in the swift-moving current to make it through. Because there was very "little current" today, we passed through very smoothly and were tied up at the Town Docks by 11:30 a.m. This was a good place to get groceries, and to do our final banking and laundry before we return to the U.S. They also had a Chinese restaurant that delivered dinner to the boat. This was a great preliminary to watching one of our "Charlie Chan" DVDs!

7/19 - Covered Portage Cove

"Reflection" in Covered Portage Cove Outer Anchorage

Covered Portage Cove Inner Anchorage

Inner Anchorage

Big kid at the helm of the dinghy

Covered Portage Cove anchorage

Just as we thought the scenery couldn't get more beautiful, we entered the magnificent North Channel. Though we traveled only 7 miles out of Killarney to Covered Portage Cove, it was a wonder to behold. The mountains appeared to be covered in snow, but they were really made out of white limestone rock. Some of it reminded us of the British Virgin Islands, where the islands are built on coral. These are built on stone, and the waters are equally blue/green and pristine. We decided to anchor in the outside area of Covered Portage Cove, but we eventually put the dinghy in the water and explored the inner cove which we felt was a little too small for our boat to swing comfortably in at anchor. It turned out to be a wonderful anchorage spot, and we were joined by at least 8 more boats in the outer cove, and another 6 in the inner cove.

7/18 - Killarney - The North Channel

Mr. Perch Fish and Chips

Collins Inlet

Though "Adagio" decided that they would like another night at anchor, we said "good-bye" to Beaverstone Bay at 7:30 a.m., so that we could get to Killarney Mountain Lodge fairly early in order to enjoy a full day there in Killarney. A good portion of our twenty-one mile trip took place through jagged Collins Inlet, a narrow, deep, high- walled fjord. It was breath-taking! At the end of the inlet we crossed the last section of Georgian Bay to the village of Killarney which marked our first port on the North Channel. Our slip was ready for us when we arrived, and by 11:30 a.m. we had not only scoped out the entire town, but we were on line at "Mr. Perch". This fish restaurant in a school-bus which is attached to Herbert Fisheries is famous for its fried white-fish and fries. Naturally, it began to shower just as we were about to order, but the rain didn't last long, and we procured seats at a picnic bench under a tent set up outside. The parking lot was filled by the time we left, and we followed up our low-cholesterol lunch with Farquhar's ice cream which is a product made on Manitoulin Island, the enormous barrier island that is the break-water for the North Channel from Lake Huron. The weather fluctuated widely all day, sun, then clouds, then rain - almost at five minute intervals. We had a lovely dinner at the Lodge, and then afterward we went to the Carousel Bar to hear Andy Lowe, who has sung at this lodge for ten years. He put on a great show, and even acknowledged us as "Loopers" from New Jersey, as well as Pat's singing voice which he could pick up on the "sing-alongs". It was a great night!

7/17 - Beaverstone Bay

Views from our anchorage in Beaverstone Bay

"Adagio" called us from their marina, and we initially decided to make the 33 mile journey to Beaverstone Bay together. The wind had calmed, but the skies were still overcast with very cool temperatures. Our boat, however, was placed on an inside dock perpendicular to the gas dock. Unfortunately, a sailboat came in for fuel and a pump-out and boxed us in so we couldn't leave until it left. For the uninitiated among our readers, a "pump-out "means that a vacuum pump is attached to a fitting on the boat's deck, and all the waste from the boat's toilets is vacuumed out. Usually this is a very simple procedure, but on this day a 13 year old dock hand was in charge, and inadvertently let the hose go too early and sprayed the sailboat and himself with feces, etc. We felt so sorry for the boy, who was not only embarrassed, but covered with the stuff. For him you might say that it was a "shitty day"! Though disgusted, the boat owner kept his cool, and cleaned up the mess on deck, and finally pulled out, so we that we could leave. By now, we were approximately an hour behind "Adagio", but we called them and told them to find us both a good anchorage. We operated our boat from the lower station to escape the chill as we crossed Georgian Bay, and eventually tucked ourselves into a lovely anchorage among the rocky islands of Beaverstone with the other boat nearby.