Day 349: Monday, August 19, 2013

Port to Port: Clapperton Island to Blind River, Ontario

Underway: 7:11 am      Motor Off: 2:10 pm      Miles Traveled: 48      Stayed At: Marina

Mile 34 to Mile 82: As the bright orange sun rose over our quiet little anchorage, we motored out and around Clapperton Island and headed straight west. Our original plan (our original plans hardly ever end up being used so why bother – just start the motor and see where you end up) was to anchor out one more day but, as we motored on, everyone simultaneously decided that we should keep going a few more hours to Blind River Marina (we would have been done before lunch had we stopped at our original anchorage). Blind River gives us the option of going across to Drummond Island and getting back in the US tomorrow or having a short day and heading up to Thesselon before hopping over to the US. We shall see which “plan” wins out.

We had an uneventful voyage today – the forecast winds did not materialize. We only saw ripples across the water. The wind we did see was…can you guess?… right on the nose the whole day. Conditions were ideal for sailing except the wind direction. Hopefully we will have better luck on Lake Michigan.

Spiritus caught up with us early afternoon – they left the cove over an hour after us – and led the way into Blind River Marina. We stayed here in 2002 and we met an older couple on the sailboat Odyssey who adopted us and showed us around the North Channel. It was a highlight of our trip.

After finishing some boat projects (what else is new), Cindy and I rode the courtesy bikes into town to get gas and a few groceries. We had three different people ask if we wanted help getting the gas cans back to the marina. We finally said yes after they tipped over just past the station while full. A guy we had said no to at the station stopped again and this time I took him up on his offer (ok, I’m a slow learner). I put the cans in his SUV and he drove them to the marina and actually dropped them off at the boat. Can you believe that? What a nice thing to do – thank you again.

When we shared this story at docktails, we heard another story about one of the other boats while they were in the locks. They were chatting about what they were going to make for dinner – tacos – and they commented that they didn’t have any nachos. Some women just watching the boats lock through happened to hear the conversation and, when the boats arrived at the next lock, there she was with two bags of nachos. She wouldn’t take anything for them. Canada had been an amazing place.

We enjoyed maybe our last docktails together for a while – Eddy and Linda are planning to go straight across tomorrow and we are “planning” to go to Thesselon. That could change before morning, though. Except for the fact that Cindy tried to knock me out by doubling the amount of alcohol she normally puts in our margaritas, we enjoyed sitting at a picnic table just enjoying each others’ company. We fully expect to cross paths somewhere again – there are still a lot of miles to cover before we finally head north up the Mississippi again for home. Plus, it’s not that much fun to play Quiddler with two people. (By the way, I won again tonight even though I was still feeling the effects of Cindy’s double shot magaritas). One day at a time.