Day 47 - Thu 14 Jul 2016
Docked – Little Current, ON (North Channel)

[photo: lots of PDQs at Little Current (courtesy of Golden)]

Diane woke me about 0100 during her nightly head (bathroom) call to come up and look at the sky. She thought maybe it was the Aurora Borealis, but it was lightning in the distance. There was a significant probability of a thunderstorm and although our anchor was well set, they are always concerning. I elected to stay up in the main cabin, where it was cooler, and keep a watch. Fortunately, nothing materialized.

I was awake by 0500, but without any Internet connection, I could not be checking weather or email or posting the blog. I read my latest novel for a bit until Diane awoke and then we weighted anchor just before 0700. We had anticipated a lot of weed all over the anchor chain and anchor, but we had very little. The sun was at our back, but the wind in our face as we headed W out the long stretch of Baie Fine. We surely enjoyed visiting here.

There were only a handful of boats out and two of them besides us were heading for the Little Current swing bridge for the 1000 opening. We did our best to time it, but we still had to wait about 10 minutes. I had tried to call several marinas to inquire about dockage, but the first one said no to our size boat, and the second rang with no answer twice and busy once. We figured we would just hail them on Ch 68 when we got through the bridge.

We were surprised to see 5 PDQs already there and a space for us right in line. The staff was a bit busy, but eventually we were told we could tie against the wall in line with the other PDQs, and several PDQ captains helped us in. Before too long, PDQ Golden came in and we now had 7 on the wall in line. From all reports, we were the talk of the town for the day.

Connecting to Internet for the first time in 2 days, I had almost 100 emails to sort through, a bank statement to reconcile, some postal mail to view via scanned images, a blog to post, etc. I also got to call my Mom, check the engines, and then we walked to the grocery store. Beforehand, Diane did several loads of laundry and found a hair stylist who cut her hair (for $15 and it turned out nice). She was happy with all that. At the store, we knew we were paying high prices, but sometimes you just have to forget about the cost and get what you need and want. At least they had just about everything we were looking for.

We had decided to make a few meals in advance since we had access to “unlimited” electrical power her at the marina. I started with a beef stew in the crockpot at 1330 and it was done about 6 hours later. In the meantime, I started butchering the small, whole turkey we had bought for the other crockpot meal. A small turkey breast would have been ideal, but I decided I could make the whole bird work. Well, it was work to cut it up such that I could cook it in two batches. Only after all that work did I realize we could have roasted the bird whole in the convection oven. I guess I was focused on the particular preparation with all the delicious juice/gravy and forgot about alternatives.

The showers were just a short walk away and they felt good. Of course, as we were walking back, it started raining for a brief spell (a shower) and we got wet again. At least it was not cold. At 1700, we walked down the dock to Heron for the evening’s cocktails and appetizers. Diane wisely ate a small portion of the chicken pesto pasta that I made yesterday to curb her appetite for snack foods. That’s why she looks the way she does and I look the way I do.

The honored guests were Roy and Margaret Eaton of Little Current. Roy is the net controller for the local Cruiser’s Net (radio communication) that broadcasts at 0900 every morning. We all had a wonderful time exchanging stories and hearing some of Roy’s tales and then it was time to break up for supper. Afterwards, whoever was interested was rounded up to watch the photo slideshow of Cat Daddy’s Looping adventure so far. That was also very nice, especially getting others’ impressions of places you have visited.

My determination to get this turkey cooked in two batches meant setting my alarm for 0100 to take out the first batch and start the second. I then had to clean the meat from the skin and bone and get it refrigerated before going back to bed. At 0600, the second batch was done and I had to work on that. Like I said, roasting it whole would have been the better way.

Tomorrow, I plan to wash the boat rather thoroughly and take on water. The flotilla is heading for somewhere in the Benjamin Island group. We are not sure where we are headed yet.