Travels of Ocean Explorer

2006 - A Cruise to the Western Part of

the North Channel with a new Crewmember

Ocean Explorer News – August 14, 2006, 1600 EDST – Hilton Beach, Ontario

I have not written as often as I have in the past for two reasons. First of all, the weather has been very good and we have been on the move either on or off the boat almost constantly. Today we are riding out a gale while tied up at a dock in Hilton Beach, Ontario at the far west end of the North Channel. Thus, we have time to carry out a variety of chores including laundry in addition to catching up on correspondence.

The second reason for not writing more often has to do with having an eight-year-old aboard. Like most kids, Tristan wants to go go go continuously, and it takes both Donna and me to keep up with him. While we initially had some reservations about having a child of his age accompany us, it has turned out to be a delight. For the most part we have traveled what is a well-worn path for Donna and me. Having Tristan along and seeing all these places from a child’s perspective has rekindled a lot of our interest in stops that had become a bit stale for us. This takes us out and about more and leaves less time for writing and other things.

We spent all of August 6 anchored in Oyster Bay on Lake Charlevoix because of high winds. We did quite a bit of swimming off the boat and that activity occupied most of the afternoon. We awoke early on the morning of Monday, August 7, weighed anchor, passed through Round Lake and by the town of Charlevoix, and went under the bridge and out into Lake Michigan. Lake Michigan was still very rough as a result of the previous day’s winds and it rapidly became apparent that my crew’s stomachs were not going to tolerate these conditions very long. We turned around and headed back in to await the half-hourly bridge opening. There was a strong current passing through the channel leading to Round Lake and this, combined with the residual wind, made it difficult to maneuver Ocean Explorer in the channel. By turning the boat around to face the current, it would be a more controllable situation for us, so we proceeded to do so. I thought for sure we would hit the wall at one point. But, it all worked out, and we were able to make the turn successfully. Eventually the bridge opened and we passed into tiny Round Lake where we anchored in 55 feet of water with all 250 feet of anchor chain that we had. Round Lake’s depths give us little choice in the matter, and we usually avoid anchoring there. Fortunately, there were only a few other boats anchored in the lake, so I wasn’t too concerned about swinging into someone like I normally am in that anchorage. With lots of boats anchoring with different lengths of rode and various combinations of chain and nylon anchor line, they can easily swing into each other in a normally-crowded, deep anchorage such as Round Lake. We spent the day dinghying into the town docks and visiting the town of Charlevoix.

On Tuesday, August 8 we arose at 0500 and departed Round Lake for St. Ignace, Michigan in the Straits of Mackinac. We sailed about two-thirds of the way, but then had to go under power for the final third due to winds dying away to nothing. We spent two nights in St. Ignace doing laundry and stocking up on groceries and then went to Mackinac Island on the morning of the 10^th. To our surprise, we had no trouble getting a slip in what is normally a very busy dockage. We spent two nights at the Island, using our days to take horse-carriage tours and visiting the Fort. The Fort has been nicely restored and is staffed by reenactors who play roles of people as they would have been a hundred years or more ago. We also spent time touring the downtown area, which is 110% geared toward tourism. Donna and Tristan visited the Haunted Theater, which so fascinated Tristan’s dad nearly thirty years ago. They also visited the opulent, $600 a night (starting price) Grand Hotel.

We arose at 0500 on Saturday, August 12 to depart Mackinac Island for DeTour Village, Michigan. Donna and I were able to get out of our difficult slip (they are all difficult there) thanks to no wind. However, a nice wind came up soon after we left and we had a very pleasant sail to DeTour Village, Michigan.

I should say a few words about our sleeping system. Basically, we all go to bed at about the same time, somewhere in the vicinity of 2200. Donna and I get up at whatever hour we need to and Tristan generally sleeps in until 0930 or so. His berth is actually a settee in our saloon. The settee is equipped with a leecloth that holds him in place when we are healed in a manner in which he would normally fall out of his berth. Thus, we are able to keep on some sort of a schedule and still give Tristan the opportunity to get the amount of sleep that an active young fellow of his age needs.

While on Mackinac Island, we saw two of the so-called thousand-footers (the largest ships on the Great Lakes – there are only seven of these) pass through Round Island Passage. As we entered the St. Mary’s River at De Tour Village, we saw two more. Upon departing DeTour Village the morning of August 13, we saw another two, so unbelievably we have seen six of the seven in this short trip. The only one that we have not seen is the Paul Tregurtha, the granddaddy of them all at 1013 feet. As a matter of fact, we saw a total of eight freighters of varying sizes either going up or down the St. Mary’s River at the same time as we departed.

Yesterday, we travelled from DeTour Village to our present location at Hilton Beach, Ontario. Hilton Beach is on the St. Joseph’s Channel and is on the north side of St. Joseph’s. Like most of the Canadian marinas, this one has been very well done. The docks are first class, as are the showers. They have a very large library of sailing books and magazines. The people who keep their boats here are very welcoming. This is our first visit here and it has been a very positive experience.

Tristan has made friends all along the way and this place is no exception. He is playing with a group of three other boys, all between the ages of seven and thirteen. They have been having a great time together. They swam off of our boat for a while this afternoon.

We are approaching our turnaround point. We hope to get two or three more days anchoring in the islands of this area, but then we will have to begin the trip back to Manitowoc in order to have Tristan home in time for school.