Sailing in God's Country

Ahoy all - I'm finally back in Lake Huron's North Channel. Picture this - protected fresh, deep waters, with hundreds if not thousands of beautiful anchorages, no tides or currents, nothing in the waters that will bite or eat you...although the mosquitoes are literally teeth with wings. And the black flies can be far worse, although this time of year, thankfully, they're over with.
Getting up here was a bear. The winds did not co-operate on Lake Huron, so I listened to the drone of the diesel for the entire distance to Tobermory. From there, the winds were predicted to be favourable - but believing the weather forecasters is about the same as believing politicians and car salesmen....
So of course, the day I get to Little Current - where there is actually the sole strong current in the North Channel, and it reverses too - don't the winds just go wild? Thirty knots no less, and because it's Haweater Weekend, a big festival, in Little Current, there's not a slip or spot on the face dock to be had. One boat anchored out had already been blown onto the rocks - yes, we have rock up here, not sand, and lots of them.
I decided to try the small bay beside Picnic Island, where two other boats were anchored. I anchored with 100+ feet of line in twelve feet of water and went below for a moment. When I came back up, the boat was dragging, very quickly, towards a broken-up crib - one that would do serious damage to the paint job Doc and I did last summer. And if I missed that, I'd be aground in front of the beach, so things were not looking real good. Racing to the bow, I managed to get the anchor off the bottom and pulled away from the danger, raced back to the bow, raised the anchor another few feet, raced to the helm and pulled ahead again - the boat was going backwards nearly as fast as I could get it to go ahead with the engine. Am I having fun or what?
Giving up on this little adventure, I returned to Little Current to look again for space at the dock - and lucked out, when Wally's - no relation, honest - opened up one space for me. Now this was so much better...

Gypsy Wind in Tobermory, entrance to the North Channel

Strawberry Island Lighthouse, near Little Current

Little Current Swing Bridge at sunset...

I come home for sunsets like this one...

An hour later, one of my closest chums whom I've known since high school showed up with a bottle of wine. All is good. And here are a couple of photos of the North Channel for you...