Great Lakes Sailing

7/5/08

Pilot Harbor

We had been reading about Brad Buck's Marina near the mouth of the Michipicoten River in our cruising guides and based on that information, we were certain that we couldn't get in with our 7' draft, however, the guides advised that on the water fueling and pumpouts might be available. Could this be possible we wondered? Well, our curiosity was peaked, so since it was a windless day and we'd have to motor anyway, we decided to go there, anchor off of the mouth of the river and check it out. Sure enough within a short time, out came Brad Buck himself with his two capable helpers with jerry cans of diesel fuel and pumpout system rigged on top of a 55 gallon drum. He worked with us for well over an hour while we transferred fuel and pumped out both of our holding tanks. Moreover, he had lots of friendly advice about the area and even advised us that he could get us inside the protection of the river if we needed to. He informed us that they are undergoing a study of the river that may make it possible to keep it dredged in the future which would make this an even more important port of call. Even as things stand today, we cruisers owe a huge debt of gratitude for the "on water" service that Brad Buck supplies. Also of note was that we were able to receive excellent cell phone feed in this area and were comforted by the fact that we could check our messages once again as prior to this, we have had no feed since Batchawana Bay.

Around 1200, we raised anchor and continued on to Pilot Harbor with a light wind directly on the nose. As the wind began to die completely, Deanna and I joked about getting a trawler as we have yet to have a full sailing day since we left Lake Michigan. Eventually the wind died completely and then came back directly on our stern. We sailed the last coupled of miles just to say we did.