Saturday

July 15, 2017

USA

After 25 days in Canada, today, we've returned to the United States.

We spent 3 nights in Little Current and then drove to Meldrum Bay, ON.  We heard from local boaters Meldrum Bay had an excellent restaurant.  Yes, it had great food and a relaxing environment.  After spending a night in Meldrum we headed to Drummond Island, MI for gas and customs.  

At Little Current, Mike and Michele walked two little cute Bichones, both from the Bichonie tribe.  Elwood and Reef got along really well.  Michele was one of those who told us about the Meldrum Restaurant and Inn.

On the way to Meldrum we saw fog roll in on the land.  It was really cool and we wanted to try and show you what it looked like.

Waves started to increase on our way to Meldrum and Elwood hid under Mike's arm.

Joell didn't know Mike was sleeping while driving 

This is the outside our the Meldrum Bay Restaurant.

Mike and Joell enjoyed martinis' before dinner.  The room was very relaxing.

Of course Mike got to meet and befriend one of the restaurant owners.

This is our appetizer.  Smoked trout, cheddar cheese and very sweet grapes.

Joell had locally caught whitefish.

Mike had a steak.

Mike really liked this granite stone wine holder.  The owner wouldn't let him have it.

Mike even got to know the waitress Christina...

This is Meldrum Bay.  It includes a marina, Inn, museum and church.

Entrance to the marina...

Drummond Island Yacht Haven resort and marina.

Here are pictures of the resort, if you ever want to come here.

There is a play area and a sand beach.

Sitting around the fire at night is always peaceful and fun.

A nice old steal hull boat..."Glen's Sally"

That's a tall trawler...

Mike found two snakes in the grass.

Yuck....

Thursday

July 13, 2017

We are currently at Little Current, ON in the North Channel.  We have been here for two nights and intend to stay one more.  The winds have been gusting to 25 knots and that's not good travel.  We have also had a lot more rain and cold weather.  You would think it should warm up in July.

We were driving across Georgian Bay, when we developed an electrical issue.

Found a 15 amp fuse behind the AC/DC Panel that took care of the problem.  Turns out an adapter for the MacBook Air was causing the issue...

Spent a quiet night all by our selves at Squaw Island.  We had a very good nights sleep.

Never saw one Squaw... 

We woke up in the morning, at Squaw Island, to complete fog.  Decided to have a nice egg breakfast and left in the fog about 10:30am.  The above picture shows the fog finally starting to lift about 12:30.  We came into Little Current harbor under beautiful sunny skies.

Gotta love radar and GPS navigation (we also had our fog horn go off every few minutes)...

Here is the lighthouse just before Little Current.

When we arrived at Little Current, there was a cruise ship docked.  Customs was here so there was a wire fence around the ship dock area 

While getting ready to leave Squaw Island we noticed that the anchor windlass was operating slowly and when trying to start the Starboard engine it wouldn't turn over... Pressed the "Parallel" switch and it fired right up (Parallel switch is like using jumper cables)

When we arrived in Little Current, again the starboard engine wouldn't start at the gas dock...hit the Parallel switch again and got it started....

After about an hour of troubleshooting the problem we determined that the two #29 house batteries were the issue...took them to Napa where they were checked.... as you can see they are both rated for 675 Cold Cranking Amps and they were only putting out 72 to 72... 

Time for new batteries...replaced the #29 with #31 which are slightly larger...

$207 Canadian each plus 13% sales tax...it's a boat...

Sunday

July 9, 2-17

Evening Edition

Today we left Meaford, ON and headed to Lion's Head Marina at Lion's Head, ON.  Yes, there is supposedly a high cliff, seen from the water, in the shape of a lions head.  We didn't see it.  We did go to town and enjoyed a nice Irish meal and some England ice-cream.

Cape Croker light house along the way today.

Just before Lion's Head there were huge cliffs.  notice the home on top.

The  Lion's Head lighthouse.  It was the last manned lighthouse on the Great Lakes.

Elwood and Mike had to take a nap after arrival.  

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Can you see the Lion's Head in the distance?  Neither could we 😁

Here is a closer look, but we still can't see it.

Look at the beautiful clear water.  Now this is the Great Lakes!

The Milwaukee harbor needs some large cut stone like this and waves wouldn't wash the break wall away.

A very large rudder.

Yea, that's it....not much here...

Tomorrow we head towards Little Current in the North Channel...

Sunday

July 9, 2017

 We spent 3 wonderful nights in Meaford, ON.  It was a fun historical town.
It started as most with a sawmill for industry, but became known for it's apple orchards.  Many of those orchards were destroyed by the Canadian military during WWI.  They displaced the citizens, chopped down the orchards and used the land for military drills.  It is still under military control today and the Canadian Department of Defense uses the area as a firing range.

We visited the local museum and saw the below marine speed devise.  We have a smaller one stored on the boat.  Mike purchased it from an antique store.

This Coast Guard boat was on display at the marina.

Elwood was impressed by the coastguard prop.

We went to a beach and Elwood met another Bichon.  He was a little more shy than Elwood.

 Which on is Which?

It was amazing watching this fog roll in.

There was a festival going on in Meaford this weekend.  This is the longest portable water slide.

They also had this jump.  It must be scary when you are standing on the platform.

This is a picture of the Meaford town.

This is the Meaford townhall.

Views of the harbor.