Cruising in The Great Lakes
We began cruising in 1977, sailing down to Lake Erie and the islands around Put-in-Bay, Ohio. Nearly every year after that through 1992, when we took Encore I to the Caribbean, and then from 2002 until now, we sailed from 2 to 8 weeks each summer in the Great Lakes. The chart below shows the route we sailed in 2005, over 1000 miles, starting in Detroit, sailing around Michigan and then over to Wisconsin. After crossing back to Wisconsin, we continued past the Straits of Mackinac into the northern most part of Lake Huron (known as the North Channel), before sailing down the Canadian shore back home.
In order to get to Lake Huron, we motor up the Detroit and then the St. Clair rivers. Among the busiest waterways in the world, it isn't uncommon to have to move aside as two freighters pass each other as they go by you.
While we're used to these close encounters with ships in the Great Lakes, on ocean passages, we try to stay miles away to avoid any chances of collisions.
In particular we cruise the North Channel nearly every year as it has hundreds of idyllic anchorages and protected sailing conditions. In fact, after nearly 20 voyages to this area, we still find new places to visit and explore each year.
Bounded by the Canadian mainland to the north, and Manitoulin Island to the south, the North Channel is about 90 miles long. On the north shore are the Great LaCloche mountains (shown on the banner for this page) and among the oldest rocks in the world.
The water is very deep, clear, and unfortunately pretty cold. We believe that this area is about the best cruising in the world. We compare other spots we've been to, such as Va'vau, Tonga, in the South Pacific, saying its "just like" the North Channel, except the water is warmer ... and there are none of the biting black flies.
We've collected too many photos to show, but perhaps these will give a feel of the North Channel and Great Lakes Cruising.
The region around Tobermory has literally hundreds of shipwrecks from the 1700's until recently. The Five Fathoms Underwater National Park is world famous for SCUBA diving.
The Sweet Shop is the place to get your Maple Walnut ice cream cones after dinner
From Tobermory, you can take the car ferry named Chichimaun (means big canoe) to Manitoulin Island. Otherwise, it is another 4-5 hour drive around to the one bridge to the island at Little Current. Manitoulin is allegedly the largest freshwater island in the world. It has many lakes which have islands as well.
A few miles northeast of Tobermory is Flowerpot Island. These strange columns of eroded rock give the island its name.
At the east entrance to the North Channel is the town of Killarney. Once you get here, there is not much civilization all the way to the North Pole. Just to the west of Killarney is perhaps the premier anchorage of the region, Covered Portage Cove. Almost totally land locked, on the north side is this sheer rock cliff. The height is deceiving, being over 100'.
This
photo of Jennifer and Nancy from the top of the cliff shows the view to the
west.
The narrow entrance to the east of Covered Portage Cove requires careful navigation. Throughout this area, buoys are relatively rare (although better today than 20 years ago). With rocks just below the surface, and depths that can rise from several hundred feet just offshore from an island, you rely upon specially published cruising guides that tell you to turn after the white rock or line up with two different islands. Few people navigate at night.
In many anchorages, you drop an anchor and then tie your stern to a tree on shore, as shown in this picture.
Rumor has it that the actor Tom Selleck owns this "cottage" just around the point from Covered Portage Cove. For many of the cottages in this area, the only access is by boat.
Sailing southwest from Covered Portage Cove through the Landsdowne Channel, you can then head back north to Baie Finn, a fiord that runs about 20 miles between two mountain ranges. Near the entrance, Baie Finn is only a hundred yards wide, and you hug the cliffs. Most of this region has rocks that were sculpted by the ice age glaciers that passed overhead.
Continuing further west, toward Little Current, is Browning Cove, in Heywood Island. Perfectly calm and isolated as dusk approaches, we keep an eye out for the families of loons we've seen here before.
West of Heywood Island, just going into Little Current, we sail by the lighthouse on the north end of Strawberry Island.
At the end of Oak Bay, west of Little Current, it is amazing to see the pine trees growing out of the crevices in ancient granite, worn smooth by the glaciers.
The horizontal stripes on the rocks show the changes in water levels over the years. In this picture, the water is at the lowest it has been in years. In spite of our experience, we still managed to run aground three times in 2005, and there are no tides to help you get off.
Just another fantastic view and anchorage, John Island Harbor was one of our "new" finds in 2004. As we were leaving, a family of Bald Eagles, flew overhead, and one swooped down and caught a fish in the water just off our bow. Better than any nature film!
A favorite pastime for cruisers in the North Channel is collecting blueberries. Keeping an eye out for the odd bear (we were told one was seen on this island a few weeks earlier), Nancy has her hands full.
Once you have the blueberries, you then have to make pancakes for the next morning's breakfast.
Notwithstanding tropical storms and potentially huge seas while crossing oceans, the Great Lakes have serious weather. During high winds, the waves on the Great Lakes are steeper, and thunderstorms are common.
This picture is of an impressive storm with a solid wall of rain about to overtake the sailboat off our stern. We managed to just get ahead of its path by tracking it on radar.
After the storm comes the sunset, which on the Great Lakes during summer, approaches 9 o'clock. At right, we are heading back from Lake Michigan.
Oak Bay in the North Channel
Leeland is on Michigan's "West Coast", as the sun sets over Lake Michigan.
This site was last updated 01/04/06