Chapter 3 – The North Channel

We’ve finally arrived in the legendary North Channel, said to be one of the best cruising grounds in the world!  We’ve heard tales of people doing the Great Loop (Loopers – more on that later) and never leaving.  Once they arrive, they are so enchanted with this place that they can’t leave.  They spend the whole summer here, haul out their boats here in the Fall and return the following year for another season for more of the North Channel.

The North Channel is the body of water between Manitoulin Island and mainland Ontario.  It begins at the west end of Georgian Bay and stretches for about 70 nautical miles and is 20 miles across in the widest section, but most is much narrower.  It is peppered with islands, bays and inlets and the La Cloche Mountain range that runs along the north shore.  In the 17^th to 19^th centuries the North Channel bustled with commercial traffic as fur traders used the water as highways to move their goods, and later European settlers came here to set up homesteads and established fishing and logging industries. It’s hard to imagine large steam ships, laden with lumber, navigating these twisting, rocky waters, heading to the many towns that prospered here. Today tourism drives the economy of the North Channel.

Someone told me the North Channel has fjords.  Yes fjords, like the ones we marveled at in Norway last summer.  I was skeptical, but as we passed the Indian Head (not sure if that’s ok to say, but that is what it is called here) that opened onto Covered Portage Cove, there they were, massive pink and white quartzite walls, soaring from the cold, clear water into the a blue sky. Maybe they are not quite as tall as the peaks in western Norway, but they are fjords none the less, right here in Ontario. 

Our first night was in Thomas Bay, just before Kilarney, so technically yet the North Channel.  A lovely protected bay to ride out some strong winds and do some kayaking. Several other boats shared the anchorage and we met our neighbors, Mike and Roberta from Echo Beach, shared sundowners (more on sundowners later) and swapped sailing stories and tips well into the night.  We would have considered another night there, but in the morning the big John Deere on the cliff behind us began digging a foundation for a new cottage.  Time to move on.

Kilarney is the gateway to the North Channel.  The town consists of a few marinas, a couple resorts, a general store, a famous fish & chip restaurant and of course, a liquor store.  What makes this town unique is all the businesses have docks for water access because that was the only way to get to this village before 1962, when the first roads were built.  We cruised through on our way to our anchorage, but later returned in the dinghy – how can I pass up a boat-in LCBO?

Covered Portage Cove (the emphasis on the second syllable, as it is a por-TAGE from this cove to the Frazer Bay, under a forest canopy).  I need a thesaurus to describe Covered Portage Cove as I have run out of adjectives: breathtaking, awesome, magnificent, spectacular….the list goes on…Allen and I rate it a 10/10. We anchored in a very protected cove (winds were still gusting on the main channel), with still deep, clear water surrounded by fjords on one side and forest on the other.  However, we were warned this cove can have up to 40 anchored boats, but fortunately the two nights we spent there with only about a dozen other boats, including our new friends, Echo Beach. 

As we moved further west, the landscape flattens out, but remains heavily forested.  Each anchorage is a little different than others, but all have something unique.  Snug Harbour is a deep water cove (40 -50 feet deep), surrounded by a cedar forest that appears to have been uniformly pruned from the ground up.  The pruning is not a result of human forest maintenance, but from deer munching on the trees.  It’s called a “browse line” – the highest point a deer can reach to feed while browsing for food. 

The deeper we travel into the North Channel the less stable our data/internet connection. In some spots we are totally off the grid, no cell phone, no data, no VHF, and then, sometimes in the most unexpected places, full bars. Allen enjoys the solitude, and I like it in measured amounts and need to get back to civilization every few days. Next week – the BIG city of Little Current and friends visiting from Toronto!

Great Loop – this is a long water journey that takes boaters from Florida, up the US coast, through the Erie Canal, across Lake Ontario, through the Trent Severn Waterway, then Georgian Bay, North Channel, Lake Michigan and then somewhere it joins up with the Mississippi River and goes all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.  People who do this are called Loopers, and they are primarily power boaters, although we met a family doing this on a 42’ Beneteau sailboat. I hear it takes about a year to complete. 

Sundowners – meeting your neighbors in an anchorage, going to one boat and sharing adult beverages and snacks as the sun goes down, sharing tips and stories.  It’s the equivalent to checking into a hotel room, knocking on the door of the next room and asking them if they want to come to your room for drinks and snacks.  Except it’s not creepy when you do that on a boat.