Meldrum Bay to St. Ignace

Had a good time at Meldrum Bay but was glad to get out of there since it was costing me a lot of money.

Departed Meldrum Bay for the good old US of A!  Glad to be home!  Left with the commercial fishing boat before sunrise.  Had to run full lights for awhile.

First Night At Anchor - Meldrum Bay

Commercial Fishing Boat Arrives With Load

Old Main Dock Building

Hotel Restaurant View - Spent Too Much Time Here!

Yours Truly-Upon Request

Food Arrived, Now I'm Really Happy! 
That's Whitefish In A Wonderful Coating With Garlic Mashed

Had To Go To The Dock After Anchor Dragged Three Times Due To Heavy Weeds On Bottom

Fishing Boat Resting
Designed To Work In Adverse Weather

Early Morning Departure - Meldrum Bay
 

 Meldrum Bay to Harbor Island, USA - 08/19 - 35.2 NM

Wind Against Me, But Not Bad
Made Good Time To Harbor Island, North Of Drummond Island

Tug Towing Disabled Vessel To Thessalon, ON
 

Anchored Harbor Island

Customs check in was via phone since I have a NEXUS card.  Not required to check into a port of entry unless requested to do so. 

Anchored at Harbor Island one night then moved on to Les Cheneaux Islands.  Anchored one night in Government Bay, the next Musky Bay, and the third night in Wilderness Bay.  Slowly moved to the west so I could keep the distance short to St. Ignace in case the winds turned against me.   

 Harbor Is. to Les Cheneaux Islands - 08/20 - 28.0 NM

Car Ferry On Drummond Is. Side Of Channel At Detour Village

Detour Reef Light

Rounded The Light And Headed West To Les Cheneaux Islands

Early Morning Sunrise In Fog - Government Bay
Les Cheneaux Islands

Les Cheneaux Islands

Government Bay to Musky Bay 4.1 nm 08/21

Musky Basin to Wilderness Bay 5.4 nm 08/22

Fog Obscuring Island
Les Cheneaux Islands

Area Is Known For Wood Boat Restoration - They Hold One Of The Largest Wooden Boat Shows In The Country.

Unique Cottage Design - If You Can Call It That?

Sunset Muskellunge Bay - Les Cheneaux Islands

Now This Is Really Unique!
Located On A Small Island In The Channel

Anyone For Breakfast Coffee On The Water?

Early Departure From Wilderness Bay En Route St. Ignace

Sun Coming Up 45 Minutes After Departure
 

 Les Cheneaux Is. to St. Ignace - 08/23 -15.2 NM

Beautiful Sunrise
And Thankfully, Adverse Forecast Wind Did Not Materialize!

Mackinaw Bridge - One Of The Longest Spans In North America

Approaching St. Ignace Harbor 0900

 Arrived today at St. Ignace.  The wind was supposed to be southwest 10 kts on the bow, but turned out to be calm.  I got up at 0400 and departed the anchorage at 0615 about 45 minutes prior to sunrise.  Wanted to be sure to keep adverse bow wind to a minimum.  Made good time and arrived just after 0900. 

Harbor Entrance Light - St. Ignace, MI

Little Current to Meldrum Bay

Waited for four days in Little Current for the weather to lift.  Got expensive, but I enjoyed my stay.  Did major resupply there.  Lots of fellow GLCC members in harbor. 

Most of the folks left the day before I did, but there were a couple of other boats waiting so we had happy hour on board Dash the last night.  Most of the others went out just a few miles to escape the cost of the slips. 

Next stop for me was South Benjamin Island, a beautiful spot, but popular.  I think there were nine or ten boats each night.  I stayed two nights.  Great place to climb around on the rocks. It is said to be the quintessential North Channel anchorage.

 Little Current to Benjamin Islands - North Channel

08/12 - 16.2 NM

Anchored - South Benjamin Islands

 Benjamin Islands - Quintessential NC Anchorage!

Beautiful Anchorage

Looking NW Along The North Side Of The Channel

Looking South Over A Nice Ketch

Nestled Into The Pines

Dash Looking Her Best 

Interesting Rock Formations

Looking Down On Dash

Climbing Around The Rocks Is Fun!

Fleet At Anchor - South Benjamins

Ships Boat - Little Dash

Next I moved on to Long Point Cove, another great anchorage, this time only one other boat was in the anchorage.  This is extremely unusual since it is very popular.  However, even now folks are heading home with school starting soon. 

Did a little kayaking in this location, wanted to hike up to the top of the cliff the kids and I climbed in the late 90's when I was here last, but ran out of time. Originally I planned two nights but it looked like I would get stuck for with adverse weather so I moved on to Meldrum Bay, after just one night. 

 Benjamin Is. to Long Pt. Cove - 08/14 - 22.4 NM

Kayaking Around Long Pt. Cove

Long Point Cove

Peaceful Evening - Long Point Cove

At Anchor - Long Pt. Cove

Of course I knew I would be stuck somewhere so I picked Meldrum Bay instead of Thessalon since I knew I could anchor at Meldrum Bay, to supposedly save some coin. 

Early Morning Departure - Long Pt. Cove

 Long Pt Cove to Meldrum Bay - 08/15 - 24.1 NM

Outer Islands Heading Southwest Across The North Channel

Calm With Fog In Distance

At Anchor Meldrum Bay

I ended up holed up for four days again!  Got really expensive because I enjoy the restaurant and got to know the folks there.  Plus I needed to use their Internet.

I anchored the first night to save money but the next day the wind came up and my anchor dragged.  I tried to reset three times but each time I just brought up big bunches of bottom weeds, finally I was so tired out I gave up and took a slip for the next three nights which added to my expenses.  Finally made it out of there!