The World Cruise of Veleda IV

Tobermory to the North Channel, Lake Huron

We left Tobermory at 0945 July 13, 1998 and had a lovely sail before anchoring at Club Island for a lunch break The weather was clear and sunny. We had the small cove in Club all to ourselves. An exquisite summer lunch anchorage. On leaving Club we were able to sail up the east side of Manitoulin Island, dropping the sails and motoring into a comfortable anchorage at Snug Harbour. It was relatively crowded with about 15 vessels at anchor or tied off along the shore, but there was still lots of swinging room. I put the dinghy into the water and enjoyed exploring the shoreline. There was a majestic, jagged, white granite rock projecting about four feet out of the water, and the base of it was an emerald green image beneath the surface. The water was calm and its reflection was mirrored on the glassy surface. I took a picture of this iceberg-like mini mountain and its reflection. We talked to some other boaters who were flying the Great Lakes Cruising Club pennant, as it was  a GLCC rendezvous in Gore Bay that was to be our first destination the following week.

The next day we motored up the Badgly Channel north above Strawberry Island and through the swing bridge into Little Current. We stopped at Boyle's Marine to say "Hi" to Pat and Marlene Boyle who are old acquaintances of ours, as we kept our boat there when we lived up in Espanola before coming to Toronto. We had lunch at the Anchor Inn which is owned and run by Peter and Trudy Bolduc, again old friends we haven't seen for over ten years. In the evening we motorsailed up the Wabuno Channel to watch the sunset over the North Channel and then turned into Mosquito Cove (no mosquitos) to anchor. The next day we proceeded straight to Gore Bay, unfortunately motoring all the way. We arrived at the GLCC rendezvous with about 200 other power and sail vessels.

This was the main GLCC rendezvous for the summer, and lasted for 4 days with a variety of social and business events. Judy and I were awarded a John Paul Jones decanter for being the vessel that travelled farthest to the rendezvous (576.5 Nautical Miles). It was an enjoyable get-together with other GLCC friends we had met before and new friends we made there. We met John and Venitia Moorehouse who own Trillium V, another Ontario 32, and who made a similar trip last year up the lakes and down through the Mississippi. We spent quite a bit of time picking their brains about the trip we are about to make.

The GLCC is an extremely good organization to belong to for people who sail around the Great Lakes as they produce a very detailed log on virtually every port and anchorage in all the Great Lakes. We have used their materials extensively for our cruises into Lakes Huron, Superior and Michigan. It is a worthwhile organization that we would recommend to serious Great Lakes cruisers.

After the rendezvous we returned up the North Channel to the justifiably famed Benjamin Islands and other beautiful North Channel ports and anchorages.

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GLCC Burgee