Aug 18-19 Little Current to The Benjamins

Aug 18 – 19

We had a fog issue at Little Current that kept us in port until it burned off at 10 AM.  Odd fog, it would start to burn off and then 5 minutes later we were fogged in solid again.   Repeated that process several times before the sun finally broke through for good.   First time so far on the trip we’ve had it create a travel issue but I expect we’ll see more of it as we get into cooler weather down the rivers.

Our late departure Sunday wasn’t a big issue as we were only headed about 20 miles away to an area called The Benjamin’s so we  set about eating  hearty breakfast of homemade granola and our freshly picked blueberries.  

Several islands make up the area and it’s a favorite anchorage due to some   very smooth rocks that go right to the waterline and offer a great opportunity when a cluster of loopers are there to have “rocktails” on the shore instead of the usual “docktails”.  The forecast the next few days called for winds to pick up to 10-15 mph and change directions.   We scouted out the main anchorage but with several boats already in place we weren’t satisfied with the anchoring arrangements as the wind shifted. 

Approaching the Benjamins Islands

So, we moved on to another anchorage on the back side which looked promising and was   completely empty.   We dropped anchor in the middle of the small cove and figured we could live with the SE wind exposure until it swung around to the W where we had protection from the shoreline trees. 

Yup, anchored and open to the winds!! Mistake!!

  Well, the wind picked up with gusts well over 25 knots giving us a very uncomfortable night. We bounced around like a rubber ducky in an infant’s wash basin.  Even once the wind changed direction the waves continued rolling in from the SE giving us am uncomfortable bean sea.  Not much sleep and it continued to blow most of  Monday keeping us at anchor.   We could see whitecaps on the open water which at least now weren’t rolling into our cove and the weather report had waves of 2-3 feet with a short period. The boat could easily handle it but it’s uncomfortable cruising for us. So we sat on the boat, did a little reading, and caught up on a little sleep.  The wind finally abated enough late in the day so that we could safely launch the dingy and head over to South Benjamin Island, climb the rocks, and do some additional blueberry picking.

Very nice afternoon once the wind died down.

Nice stash of blueberries. 

   This is considered one of the “don’t miss” anchorages of the North Channel and I can see how on a warm, flat calm evening it would be ideal, but for us it has been a memorable stay for a lot of wrong reasons  with bad winds  and a rocking boat and a few good ones once we finally got to climb the rocks and pick blueberries. .

Journey for Aug 18