Leg 14 of our 2022 cruise up north
(to read my previous post about Little Current, click here)
We are back in the wilderness again! We are anchored and stern tied to a tree in Maryanne Cove on Baie Fine this evening.
This morning we HAD to make a run to Tim Horton’s for doughnuts (newly opened since we were last in Little Current five years ago). Otherwise, we only really needed to stop at the fuel dock before getting through the swing bridge.
Unfortunately, despite good service at Wally’s Gas Dock (we got 45 liters), we missed the bridge opening by three minutes. It only opens on the hour, so we had to wait 57 minutes for it to open again. The alternative would be to sail around Manitoulin Island, which could take… several days?
Eventually we made our way eastbound in very light air once again. We managed to sail about 5 miles of today’s 13 mile journey, though.
I noticed on AIS the Viking cruise ship Viking Octontis was in Killarney, Ontario, just a few miles away. The Octontis makes frequent stops this year in our home port of Milwaukee, WI.
Maryanne Cove is located on Baie Fine (pronounced “Bay Finn”), which is probably the longest freshwater fjord in the world. Maryanne Cove is only about 2 miles up the fjord, but Baie Fine runs about 8 miles long and is at most 1 mile wide. Much of the depths are 50-75 feet, except in the entrance (figures!) where we saw as little as 9.5 feet in the marked channel. Priorities draws 6 feet, so we have to pay attention.
Speaking of depth, the cove has only one charted sounding: 5 feet. We know from several cruising guides, as well as the Harbor Report from the Great Lakes Cruising Club that the depth is more like 20 feet in the entrance and for much of the cove.
The cove is pretty small with not a lot of swinging room for boats at anchor. Since it’s mostly round, though, boats tend to set a bow anchor and then stern tie to a tree to significantly reduce swinging. We squeezed into our “usual” spot, with a new shore line and retrieval system that I have been hoping to test. Kristin went ashore in the dinghy as I set the bow anchor. It’s a little bit of a fire drill, but with little wind in a very protected cove, handling the boat isn’t too hard. If it works well we should be able to release from the tree without going ashore when we depart, and it should be friendly to the bark on the tree. We’ll find out when we leave!
The weather keeps getting warmer and remains sunny. Air temperatures are now in the upper 70s (Fahrenheit, or should I say upper 20s since it’s Canada) during the day with the water temperature here in the cove at 71. Tomorrow we plan to hike up Casson Peak just above the anchorage.