North Channel to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Monday, August 23, 2010

046-30.480 N
084-20.160 W

Ahoy from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario!

We're now at the most northern part of our journey, which is at 46.5 degrees N and is about 300 miles north of where we started in RI and 650 miles to the west. So far we've traveled about 1500 miles and have another 500 to go. We're also at about 600' above sea level, which is has high as we've ever been.

It's amazing how much cooler it is when you're this far north. The other morning I had the heat on to warm up the boat and this is in contrast with record setting heat elsewhere in the country. You can tell that we need to get moving south, as the doldrums of summer have departed and the winds of fall are stirring, even in mid-August.

One of the interesting things that we've noticed is the migration of the Monarch butterflies. The other day we were sailing on Lake Huron and we suddenly realized that the air was filled with Monarchs headed on a SW course. And what was really impressive was how fast they fly. We were moving at 7-8 MPH and they were passing us! They were also making 30-40 mile over water passages and none of them even stopped for a moment on the boat to rest. I guess that they know that they need to get out of here as winter is coming.

When I last wrote we were in an anchorage named Bear Drop in the North Channel of Lake Huron. From there we headed SW to the small town of Meldrum Bay, which is on the western end of Manitoulin island. We had a great sail until the winds from the NW to the SW (which wasn't forecast) and started blowing 20+ kts. That makes for a bit of a rough ride, but when we pulled into Meldrum bay you would have thought that we were in a different world as the water was flat and there was no wind. We pulled into the marina as we needed water, only to find that the marina didn't have potable water and we had to haul 5 gallon jugs from the local inn. Next year they'll have potable water, but it certainly was a pain this year. Meldrum Bay, with a population of 41, isn't exactly a roaring metropolis, but the inn has good food and they have a beautiful view over the bay.

From there we headed to an anchorage named Sandy Point on the western end of Lake Huron. We were very limited on where we could stop, as this is the border between the US and Canada and we needed to stay in Canada so that we would have to clear in and out again. We had a bit of an exciting evening when a line of intense thunderstorms moved through, but happily we were spared the damaging winds and hail that pounded other areas. Still, when you've got a 62' high mast sticking up and there's intense lightening around you, it's worrisome!

From there we headed 50+ miles up the St. Mary's River to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. You can't believe how much freighter traffic there is on this river. We easily had a dozen freighters pass us, in a very narrow channel, as we were moving along. I read somewhere that there is more freighter traffic on the St. Mary's river than the Panama and Suez canal combined! This is all raw ore and minerals being mined on Lake Superior. It's impressive.

Sault Ste. Marie (pronounced Soo Saint Marie), is split between the Canadian side and the US side by the St. Mary's river. There are locks which raise and lower ships by about 18'. The big locks, which are used by the freighters are on the US side and there are smaller locks on the Canadian side. We decided to stay on the Canadian side as the US side is quite industrial and there's relatively more to do on the Canadian side.

One of the big attractions on the Canadian side is the Bushplane museum where they have quite the collection of planes. I never realized what a major role these planes have in fighting forest fires in the remote forests of Canada. I had always thought that they were just used to ferry fishermen to remote camps, but no, they're used to fight fires.

Another major attraction is a tour train which takes you 141 miles into the Canadian wilderness to the Algoma Canyon. This is really wilderness as there aren't any roads up there and the train is the sole method of transportation and provisioning to many of the tiny towns along the way. I must admit that I had expected to have lots of vistas along the way, but instead we typically had trees right along the tracks, blocking most of the views. It takes 4 hours to get rise 1000' and then descend 500' into the canyon. Then you're given an hour and a half to hike the trails which provide a great views of the canyon and the surrounding waterfalls. While I'm glad that we made the trip, but I wouldn't do it again.

From here we're headed S to Mackinac Island, MI. I had wanted to stick our nose into Lake Superior, but there's no place to anchor for at least 50 miles and Lake Superior has some very changeable and rough weather. It's just too late in the season for heading there.

-- Geoff & Sue

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For the cruiser:

Meldrum Bay: Very nice anchorage just off of the town docks. We would have anchored if we didn't need water. Dockage was $1.25/ft with power.

Sandy Point: We anchored in 12' of mud, but LOTS of weeds. Great protection from winds other than SSE.

Roberta Bonard marina in Sault Ste. Marie: Dockage was $1.15/ft with power. Nice docks and facilities. Small grocery store in mall. Quite a few restaurants in area, but eat early. Can't recommend Docks, which is next to the marina. Bushplane museum is about a mile away.

Log ID: 1382