GLORY DAYS ON THE GREAT LOOP: THE POOL IN BAE FINE

THE LONGEST DAY

DAY 63 THURS. AUG 4, 2011

WRIGHT’S MARINA TO KILLARNEY (SPORTMEN’S INN)

AM, CLEAR, COOL SUNNY, PM SUNNY COOL WIND <5k L57/H76

D. 65.22SM/1185.2

I just noticed that Tues we broke the 1,000 mi. mark. Hooray, only 5,000 more to go. The original plan was to anchor out at the Busterd Is. yesterday, but due to the weather we stayed in port. What a good decision that was. Not that anchoring out in rain is bad, but with yesterdays wind we would never have been able to navigate safely through some of the channels we went thru this AM. Soon after we departed we encountered the Cunningham Channel, and shortly thereafter Rogers Gut. Both of these channel required very tight maneuvering, through narrow spaces between boulders, sometimes no more than 20’ wide, and sharp turns, sometimes 120 degrees. If that isn’t bad enough, don’t look down! The water is crystal clear and you may have 10’ under your keel, but the rocks look like inches deep. You really have to focus on what you are doing, and then later go change your shorts. The scenery gets even more spectacular than before. The islands are getting taller, the cottages fewer and further between and the temps. lower. After these challenges things get easier. For the next 20 miles we are offshore in much deeper and open water. Here we can set the autohelm and take a break from intense hand steering. What a relief, but 2 hours later we are back into Collins Inlet where we remain for the next 20 miles. This is characterized by even taller steeper banks and shallower muddy bottoms. In one narrow spot we show 3.7’ under the boat. After 2 hours of this we are down to the last 5 mi, mostly across open water into Killarney Harbor. Seven and one half hours and 65.22 miles in what so far is our longest day.

Tonight its dinner out with friends, and tomorrow we lay over a day to rest and plan the next week when we go through the NORTH CHANNEL of Lake Huron after which we will finally reenter the good old US.

CUNNINGHAM CHANNEL

COLLINS INLET

BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

AWESOME SCENERY

KILLARNEY, ONT. CA

WORK ON THE BAY

DAY 64 FRI. AUG.5, 2011
KILLARNEY TO BAE FINE “THE POOL”
WARM SUNNY DAY
DEP KILLARNEY 11:00 ARR. THE POOL 2:30

D. 26.4 sm/1093.1

So much for a day to rest. Weather is beautiful, but the forecast for the next day is not so good, so we decide to depart for “The Pool.” It’s about a 10 sm run to Bae Fine, and about another 9 sm to the pool. The Bae is a narrow fijord like body of water about one quarter mi wide at the entrance and 40’ wide at the end, surrounded by tall granite cliffs, ending up in a pool that is about 300 yards in diameter surrounded by high granite walls mostly covered with trees. One of the pictures shows Francis Langford's and husband Ralph Evinrude's Bae Fine house. They used to cruise their 100' yacht CHANTICLEER to here from Stuart, FL.