Sunday August 26- Wednesday August 29 Little Current
A very popular stop over for North Channel cruisers is the small town of Little Current. Oh, and the name little current does not stand for little current it means just the opposite Big Current. To add to the adventure, the current may change direction a number of times each day depending on atmospheric conditions in the North Channel, Lake Huron or the Georgian Bay. As we came into Little Current the current was really running against us as we went under the bridge. Trust me, that really gets your attention trying to maintain a straight course past the bridge. We got to our marina and were able to take a slip on a T Head. And, once again, there was Aurora. Great Fun!
The afternoon that we got there, we walked around the town and ate lunch at the famous Anchor Inn.
As we were traveling for the last week or so, at 9 AM every morning we would turn on our marine band VHF radio and hear a Cruisers Net radio program that is located on the 2nd floor of the Anchor Inn. This program informs boaters of the local weather, current news reports, locations of boaters in the area and reports of any boater hardware or boating emergencies. Roy Eaton, the announcer, has been doing this broadcast as a volunteer for the last 15 years. We were excited to be able to attend a few of the broadcasts and meet Roy.
Sometimes he will ask for volunteers to be his scribes as he conducts the Cruisers Net. Sometimes it is a little difficult to hear or understand people who call in on the radio, so with multiple people listening and writing the information down you have a better chance of getting it right. Roy starts off his broadcast by asking if there any boaters out on the water that have any emergencies. If yes, he provides advice or helps make arrangements the help. What a great service. He was always very respectful and positive. Thank you Roy for this great service.
On Monday after the program Roy had scheduled a tour of the local Fish House where we got a chance to see up close and personally how they process fish from their local fish farm.
That evening we went to the monthly potluck dinner held by the Cruisers Network. At the dinner Roy was presented an with a prestigious award called Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteering. This award was given by the North East town mayor on behalf of Her Excellency the Right Honorable Julie Payette, Governor General of Canada and Queen Elizabeth II’s Representative.
Pam and Colletta even got their pictures in the Manitoulin Expositor newspaper. It was fun to be part of the celebration. A well deserved honor to a really nice man.
Not a lot to do in Little Current so we were surprised to see cruise ships come in two of the days that we were there.
Our last night were were there we went out for dinner at Anchor Inn. Steve and Diane had won a $25 gift certificate at the potluck and decided that they wanted to share it with us.
We got back to the boat one day and discovered that we had a visitor.
Even Steve got in on being a scribe one day for the Cruisers Net.
We had to stay one day longer than we planned at Little Current because John had ordered a part for our dinghy motor and we had to wait for it to arrive. The shaft seal had been leaking oil and there was a Mercury dealer close to the marina and we wanted him to look at it. Ultimately, the mechanic decided that he couldn’t get it apart to fix it because the shaft was twisted. They put it pack together, filled the gearbox with grease, sold me the parts that they ordered and away I went. One more project that we need to fix before we put the boat away for the winter.
It was time to leave Little Current.