North Channel - Georgian Bay - Lake Huron

E

El and Bill

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Nov 8, 2003
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C Dory Year
2000
C Dory Model
22 Cruiser
Hull Identification Number
Sold in 2012
Vessel Name
Halcyon
Anyone familiar with the North Channel who would care to share knowledge about launch ramps, favorite anchorages and places to visit, special cautions for cruisers? We are considering this area for our cruising next week.

C-Brats shared some great ideas about the Apostle Islands of Lake Superior and we just completed a fine navigation of the islands thanks to their ideas.
 
Hello El and Bill,
This topic is too big. Gunkholer's paradise. I have spent more time in the St. Mary's River system than in the NC but all is good. Recommend most highly the Ports Cruising Guide. This is much better than the Lakeland Ports of Call which is okay. The Ports Guide tells you lots of great places to anchor and fiords to explore and waterfalls and ice cream. The Navionic's chart is good for this area but some US elec charts fall short. If you travel as far east as Spanish you can avoid some of the bigger water at the W end of the channel. Spanish has newer marina with lots of parking, good lauch, etc. They charge for parking but I forget how much.
Google on this topic will give you reams but the Ports Guide is the best. In August the crowds of boats will have thinned quite a bit, in any event you have seen much busier places and you can always find a private anchorage. On Manitoulin Island you will be impressed by the "trust" factor. They expect people to behave and everything isn't under lock and key.
Hey Bill, can you say isostatic rebound? Pre-cambrian rocks galore.
I have the guides above and would be happy to send them to you, I won't be up that way until Sept or Oct but I do hope to do some Lk, Mich fishing in the next three weeks.

Mark
 
Hi El & Bill,

Mark summarized his experience in the North Channel very well as only an attorney could. The North Channel is among my favorite spots to cruise and I highly recommend it. The town of Spanish, Ont is a great spot to launch from as it is centrally located and has excellent accomodations. When you are in the area the Straits of Mackinac, Les Cheneaux Islands, The St, Mary's River and Drummond Island are also great cruising areas. Please see my photo album to get a flavor of the areas I mentioned. As Mark has offered, I also have charts, cruising guides, other reference materials, and Navionic Electronic charts of the area that I can send to you. I will not be need them this year as we won't be going up there but instead will be visiting the 1000 Islands In New York in August. If there is anything I can do to help you please let me know.

Best regards,
Rollie/C-Batical
 
Last year we launched in Spanish and parked our truck there. Great location to reach any of the anchorages in the North Channel. Be sure to listen to Roy on channel. 71 (I pretty sure it is 71) in the mornings.

Some of our favorite anchorages - or like we did with our CD22 - bow on shore spots.

Porcupine Island (tight entry but great spot that non-cdory's can't make)

Fox Island

Pot Hole Portage Mcgregor Bay - by far our favorite only smaller boats can get up there. We had the spot to ourselves.

The pool

Probably the best cruising guide is from the Great Lakes Cruising Club - amazing info but pricy.

Have a great time.
 
In two weeks we will be doing the St. Mary's River - Drummond Island area... I ordered a NOAA chart of the waters to compliment my Garmin Blue chip MFD just in case the magic smoke leaks out of the chart plotter... (belt and suspenders, eh)
I am not likely to spend money of guide books as I figure I will find things out for myself in any case...
This will be the first trip on this boat, so who knows what will happen...
 
The Benjamins, Oak Harbor, the abondoned mill town on Cockburn Island. Gore Bay & Meldrum for provisions and dinning ashore.
 
Baie Fine and the Pool offer beautiful scenery, places to hike, etc. A little further East and Killarney, Ontario is a nice little town with fuel and supplies, and great fish at the Red Bus. From Killarney you can travel a few miles out Georgian Bay to Collins Inlet and follow it to Mill Lake and Beaverstone Bay. Beautiful, protected, plenty of private anchorages. Burnt Island cove in Beaverstone Bay is probably our favorite place to anchor of all the places we've been. But then you can't find a bad place to stay in that whole part of the Great Lakes. Have a great time!
 
Hi El & Bill,
Back Again. I have a DVD that you can have of Lake Huron and the North Channel. It is full of information and great to have aboard to prepare your float plan. Unfortuntely, I live about 300 miles south of where I think you will be coming across but I will express mail it to you if there is a way to do it. Please let me know through this forum or email me @ rdittmer@chartermi.net.

Best regards ,
Rollie/C-Batical
 
Thanks all for the great suggestions and offers. We have charts of the area and with your suggestions, who needs a guidebook? Hmmm!

It would be difficult to receive anything sent but with your comments we know the right guides.

We plan to head over to Spanish in the next few days. Thanks all.
 
Thought I'd refresh this thread. There is a possibility we might spend a week in the North Channel this summer. Sounds like Spanish is a good place to launch if we get that way. I like Robert Meyer's list of suggested places to visit on the water then, but wondering if there are any updates to the information presented earlier here. My wife and I have passports but have never towed or floated a boat across into Canada. You all know what the basic set up is for the 22' C-dory in regards to living facilities, and we don't plan on changing that. I assume we shouldn't have any problems crossing into Canada from Wisconsin or Michigan, towing our boat. Thanks for any more info. Colby
 
I was surprised, but the entry and exit from Canada towing a boat is a lot less formal than arriving by water. They just wave you in and there's no paperwork. Appears you're just towing a trailer, eh? And they don't care about the boat when you exit. Not to say the USA doesn't scrutinize the boat coming back, but no more than any RV. Unless its for clams.

One word of caution, as you probably know. Play it straight with the Canadian Customs Officials. No jokes and especially no smart remarks. My fault.

Boris
 
I've driven into and out of Canada numerous times, and have also flown in and out. But it's been a while. They don't have a sense of humor. No problem as long as you don't try to be funny. Most interesting experience, in the motorhome with our young twins, the customs guy spent a minute or so with some odd questions of the kids...think they wanted to make sure we weren't kidnapping them... Colby
 
We've done it a few times and it was like they didn't even notice the boat in tow. We took our Sundowner Tug by water and two customs agents came to the boat and went bow to stern looking in every spot on the boat. Later we saw one of the customs agents in Little Current and she gave us a ride to her favorite pizza place in town.
 
We launched our previous 22 cruiser from both Spanish and Little Current last summer.

I prefer Little Current as a base of operations for several reasons:

1. Good ramp with plenty of vehicle storage at Spider Bay Marina. Numerous anchoring and dockage options close by if the WX is poor on launch day.

2. Good place to fuel and provision immediately prior to launching.

3. Central location to get back to the vehicle if necessary (medical issue, sick doggy, mechanical problems, etc.). The central location is also valuable as Environment Canada's North Channel forecasts are not the most useful and you may wish to change plans with the wind and waves. Little Current provides C Dory access to 75% of the popular destinations within reasonable time, (e.g. about 18 NM to Kilarney). You are going to need more food, wine, ice and so forth...Little Current has it.

Water levels were recovering nicely in 2014, and they will be better this year.

Please contact me via PM if you want to trip-plan via phone. I also have a 5 year old Richardson's chart book that you can have if desired. Most of the rocks are in the same place. I also have a chart of MacGregor Bay available...it's an entirely different piece of the trip.

We lived on the border with Ontario for many years. I crossed the border many times per month, on average. Canada Border Services Agency was ALWAYS professional and efficient, whether in a camper van, car, plane, or boat. I wish the same were true coming back to the U.S.

The North Channel is a magical place. Find time and make the trip. Stop in as many anchorages as possible. You will go back.
 
I'll have to take a look at Little Current on the map to see where it's at. We'll be driving up from Madison Wisconsin area, around the west side of Lake Michigan and over the top. Never been to the North Channel, so I'm sure any part of it we get to see will be an experience. I do have both the charts and port book (not in front of me so don't remember which one), and garmin vision chip for the area, so we're good there. I may PM you later tho to get your thoughts on any trip planning. But I may do no more trip planning than deciding where to launch, and knowing we will spend about 5 days on the water, and kind of head out from there. :-) (Of course, I may have some areas in mind to head towards or see, but nothing too defined.) Colby
 
Spanish, Ontario is a nice place to launch, since it's at the entrance to the North Channel. We launched at Vance Resort. A nicer, friendlier group of people would be hard to find. The town's launch ramp was steeper that I was used to and the kids in charge didn't have a clue about what was going on. Vance's solved both problems. Their ramp looked sketchy, but was easy to use. And since our truck is 2 wheel drive, they had their 4-wheeler standing by when we pulled out. Didn't need it. Also, Vance's marina is further upstream and more protected, cheaper and you get to talk to the locals. Ask the owner about his trapping experiences (if it's the same gentleman.) Some guys have been coming there for a number of years and they'll spend a lot of time telling where and how to go.

While we were cruising the North Channel, we tried to spend a day or 2 in Little Current, but they were booked full. Make sure you have reservations.

Here's a picture of Vance's launch ramp. I loved it. And one of Journey On in the slip.

vances_Launch.jpg
Vances_Dock.jpg

Boris
 
Time to bring this thread more up to date! :-) Our plans are now to spend 6 nights in the North Channel on our C-22, towards the end of this month. Planning to launch at Spanish, unless we hear of reasons not to and of better launch location. I have the charts mentioned earlier. So now just looking for any advice, suggestions or experience using 6 nights as a guideline. (We'll launch mid afternoon on the first day, and take out mid morning on the last day. Possibly staying at the Marina that first and last night, possibly..... :-) We'll tow our boat up and both my wife and I have passports. Not planning on making any changes to the stock porta potty, and plan on taking much if not all of our food from home. (Both dry and cold, with the cold packed in our 100 qt cooler.) SO would appreciate hearing of any recent experience with customs regarding food, and boat inspections for invasive species.... Thanks in advance. Colby P.s., 550 mile drive, so we'll probably take two days both ways, just for a more comfortable and relaxing drive. Escanaba may be a good rest stop. Any recommended campgrounds in that vicinity, or somewhere halfway between Madison, Wi and Spanish, Ontario? (Or if we push on going up, we'll have an extra day on the water and will definitely spend the first night in the marina!)
 
Beautiful area! I've been up there numerous times on the hard but the only boating I've done was on the Chi-Cheemaun ferry. You will enjoy!

You can google the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for regulations on food imports. Also the Canadian Border Services Agency.

All food items must be declared.
All packages must identify contents.
Country of origin may be required.
Root vegetables must be washed.
10pds. of potatoes per person - must be US#1 and commercially packaged.
Some restrictions on game meat - because of wasting disease.

Some Provinces have different restrictions - for example BC restricts certain fruits.

Have fun, Rob
 
Ok, some more questions as we get closure to our drive up to the North Channel. Seems to be various answers on meat and produce crossing the border into Canada. (We are crossing near Sault St. Marie). So we've decided we will just buy our groceries once we get into Canada. Any suggestions on where to stop on our way to Spanish, or any reasonably priced grocery stores in Spanish?.
Also, do most folks anchor bow out, stern tied to shore, or bow onto shore? (We do not have a dingy, and like to be attached to land if possible.)
We have some floating lounge chairs, but I just checked one of the North Channel Buoys and it shows the water temp at 17C. (63F) Being wusses, we won't be using our floating chairs at that temp, but is it warmer along the shore? (Otherwise, I'll leave the chairs home, allowing more storage space on board. ;-)
What about fuel while we are on the water? I'm arriving with full tanks, and don't think I'll be needing to fuel up, but are there enough marinas located throughout the area to get fuel if need be? (Or to empty a porta potty?) Thanks again in advance for any more info. Colby
 
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