Mike
08/07/2007, Wingfield Basin

Monday....August 6

We left Cave island at about 8:00 am with Cheroka and motored south along the west side of Franklin Island. We set sails once we cleared the channel and headed southwest across the Georgian Bay. The wind was from the west and built as the day progressed but was never a real problem... bumpy. but not uncomfortable. With the wind on our nose we motored sailed most of the day winding up in Wingfield Basin at the very end of the Bruce Peninsula. There is nothing here except a light house and 17 boats at anchor.

The chart plotter worked , but since we are in Canadian waters, they really don't have the detail that I had hoped . Once we get back to US waters the detail will improves dramatically. It's just nice to have it working.

We are heading to Tobermory tomorrow morning for fuel and supplies and will probably stay there for the night.

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Mike
08/07/2007, Cave Island, Ontario

Saturday, August 4th....Britt, Ontario & Sunday August 5, Cave Island.

This is the second of Canada's two long summer weekends. The first occurs during the first weekend in July and the second, during the first weekend on August. It is my understanding that almost everyone gets a four day weekend. The trailer park on the other side of the dirt road from the marina was full and I can personally verify that some its inhabitants celebrated until at least 3:15 am. By then it was odd that they were down to only one adjective.

We did not get an early start today primarily because the folks on the dock behind us, the same folks who put their sailboat on a rock the day before, didn't get back from breakfast until 10am. We said good by to our new Bayfield 40 and 29 friends and headed for open water nine miles away. Our destination was Cave Island where a friend of ours lives during the summer months. We met John last winter in Stratford at a small get-together of Bayfield owners and invited ourselves over for a visit. John's cabin has been in his family for a long time and is the only residence on the smallish (two or three acres ?) rock island. It is beautiful.

We had a nice sail down to The Parry Sound area where we called John to come out in his work boat and guide us the last couple of miles through the maze of rocks...large and small....visible and not.

We tied of to Cheroka, his Bayfield 36, which was moored just in front of his cabin, and after getting things put away on Sapphire, headed for shore and a wonderful steak dinner. The cabin reminded me of the old Douglas Lake cottage. ...open ceiling, no insulation, and a wood stove. John's cabin was carefully positioned so that every room has a perfect view of the water and surrounding islands. We headed back to Sapphire well after dark with no moon but a sky full of brilliant stars.

After coffee the next morning, I went to shore and left Kathy for some personal time.

I need to explain here that last October we purchased a new GPS and with all of our running around this spring, it didn't get installed. While in St. Ignace, waiting out some weather, I spent the better part of a day trying in vain to get it up and running. The antenna would not communicate to the computer so the maps were there but the location of the boat was not. I called the support number and was told that it was possible that my version of the system could be the cause of the problem and that I needed to purchase a newer version of the system. I was a little unhappy since the equipment was brand new, but there wasn't much I could do from the marina in St. Ignace. He also said that if I had a Garmin card printer attached to our computer, I could download the system from their website. We were leaving for Canada the next day so I decided to worry about it when I returned to civilization.

Cave island... the night before John had mentioned that he had the necessary card printer and might be able to help. John spent much of the morning working his way through the directions and eventually had the updated system on one of his extra cards. Neither of us was very optimistic, but when I slid the card into its slot, the GPS updated itself and started searching for satellites. After about 30 seconds, it was operating like a charm.

After lunch John took me for a boat ride around the Franklin Island to see the sights. We did not go all the way into Parry Sound but were reasonably close. Meanwhile, Kathy spent the day sewing, reading and cleaning. She is working on sides for our bimini to increase the amount of shade. We had another fine meal with John and got back to the boat about dark where we prepared for a morning departure.

We can't thank John enough for his hospitality and his help with the GPS.

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Kathy
08/04/2007, Britt-on the Bying Inlet

8/4/07 Britt

We started out yesterday and went out about 3 miles and turned around and came back. Mike called and said we'd been out for a nice boat ride and could we come back in to the marina. They said, "Sure, just pull into your slip." I worked on sewing another section of our sun shade and cleaned the boat. Sometimes it's good to have a day when you're not traveling.

We had a nice chat with 3 other couples who are all Bayfield owners. While we were chatting, a car pulled up in the parking lot and opened their trunk. Tim from "Mutual affair" jumped up and asked for his billfold. Lynne said they didn't need anything, but he just had to go. We found that the woman in the car sells baked goods from her trunk and he came back with some nice looking muffins.

We had a nice walk this morning and will be getting around to leave soon.

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