July 23 – I wrote the following yesterday out on the water and had planned to post it last night but we had an unexpected change in plans. When we got back to Thunder Bay Marina we phoned into Customs and Boarder Protection to clear back into to Canada only to find out that we could not do it from our marina. We needed to take the boat back out on the water to tie up at a dock at Prince Arthur’s Landing Marina and then call back to clear in. Such a process but we did or best to make it fun! It was a gorgeous, calm night so we motored the two hour round trip. We picked up a pizza and Alex pulled out his guitar for the ride back. It all worked out and this was just an example of situations we need to do our best to prepare for and expect during the Big Trip. We have now just said goodbye to Alex with a few tears and big hugs. I am writing this with a heavy heart after seeing him head off to the airport. We loved having our guy aboard with us these past two weeks. He was invaluable the first week as we worked hard at getting the boat ready and then we had a blast with him on our trip to Isle Royale!

July 22 – Today is our last day out on the water with Alex before he flies to Winnipeg tomorrow afternoon. As sad as we will be to see him go, we have had an amazing time sailing Isle Royale with him the last several days! This past week has been exactly as we had hope and expected it would be: fun family time exploring sprinkled with more boat issues we need to continue to resolve.

I have so much to say about these last several days but not everyone wants to read a blog that goes on for forever and a day…I will try my best to keep it reasonable but you might want to buckle in and get comfortable.

We did not actually end up leaving Thunder Bay on July 17 as we had hoped. We tried. We are having issues with our VHF radio so that day we had Alex go to the top of the mast to do some soldering. After that we still just had so much to organize and the winds kicked up quite a bit. We found ourselves rushing to get off the dock and it just did not feel right. That day ended up being another full work day but it was a very good decision to delay the extra day. The next morning, July 18, we woke up to an organized boat and much nicer weather as began our journey to Windigo Dock on the west side of Isle Royale. That was when we discovered the alternator crapped out on us. It is now on the ‘to do’ list to resolve but fortunately we have five solar panels keeping our batteries charged.

With the new sails finally full of wind we all had smiles on our faces! We had a terrific first sail, crossed into the United States and got into Windigo at about 6:30 PM. The area was so beautiful! We had a nice dinner on the boat followed by the boys bringing out the guitar and ukelele to play as we watched the sunset.

The next day we set our course for Siskiwit Bay on the southern side of the island. Shortly after getting off the dock, we dropped anchor so that the boys could check out the SS America Wreck https://www.superiortrips.com/America_Shipwreck.htm . The plan was to snorkel it as it is really not too far down but here’s the thing about Lake Superior – the water is crazy cold! Our friends at Thunder Bay Yacht Club warned us about that and they weren’t kidding! It’s so deceiving though as the water is crystal clear, like the ocean. You can see so far down and it looks so darn inviting. They certainly gave it their best effort – Alex got in the water briefly but Dylan changed his mind at the last minute. Anyways, it was an interesting stop and back on the boat I had hot chocolate waiting and the furnace cranked for them to warm up!

Cold seemed to be the theme for that day as our travels to Siskiwit Bay that afternoon found us in chilly temperatures and rain. It certainly did not feel like mid-July as I put on my toque and foul weather gear. Starship does a great job of keeping us comfortable with the dodger, bimini and furnace so the trip was not miserable at all. Siskiwit Bay was nice but the weather dampened any plans to do much exploring. That’s okay as the next day had a huge surprise for us – the clouds had given way to endless blue skies and hot, summer temperatures! What a drastic and welcomed switch in weather!

Our next task on our journey was to find Chippewa Harbour by traveling northeast for about four hours. We arrived in paradise – wow! Chippewa is an absolutely beautiful spot and with a four o’clock arrival we had lots of the afternoon and evening still to enjoy it!  It reminded Jason and I of Rice River on Lake Winnipeg for those of you who have had the opportunity to go to Rice. As soon as we were tied up to the dock, the lawn chairs, fishing gear and paddle board came out! Shortly after, we saw a beautiful boat making its way into the slip behind us along the dock. Dylan lit up when we all saw a ton of little arms waving at us from inside the boat! Kids! Five of them! It was a lovely family – the grandpa with his son’s family onboard. The steel hulled tug was quite impressive and the grandpa had built it himself!

Just before that boat came in, we met a woman, Morgan, who was backpacking across the island solo and was using one of the cabins just up on the rocks. Alex was happy to have someone his age to hang out with so after supper he went off with the cribbage board, cookies and a few beers to hang out with her. She had hiked 11 km that day on her own and her trip overall was about a week. I admired her to take on a solo trip like that. Doing that hike and being entirely reliant on yourself for all your needs and safety must be so challenging at times. Still, I can only imagine how incredible it would be to be able to clear the mind of all of life’s complexities and focus only on putting one foot in front of the other for hours on end. A close friend of ours refers to this as ‘mentally unfolding’ when he spends time in the backcountry. On our trip I will search out as many opportunities as I can to mentally unfold.

Dinner that night was a treat! When Alex was on his sea phase on the CCGS Earl Grey, he had gotten a delicious fish marinade recipe from the chef. Alex is always a fan of my cooking but the ship chef was so good that he at one point was on the show Top Chef Canada. Yikes, I have my work cut out for me to keep up with cooking talent like that! We thawed salmon and together Alex and I whipped up the marinade. Just then Dylan caught a trout so we filleted it and tossed it into the marinade as well!

Whenever we spend time sailing either on Lake Winnipeg or down south, my favourite way to start the day is to go for a swim with the soap off the back of the boat. That is always followed by sipping my coffee on the bow wrapped in my towel as the morning sun dries me. Despite how cold the water is, I was determined to start the next day like that. As the first awake on the boat, I lit the stove and got the coffee going. Putting on my bathing suit I hesitated for a minute but told myself that I would not regret it after. Off the stern ladder I go and the cold water took my breath away. Immediately back up on the ladder I soaped up knowing that the second plunge would be a tiny bit better. It was but as fast as I could, I was up on the bow, wrapped in my towel happily soaking in the warmth from both the sun and my tightly clutched coffee mug.  See, no regrets!

Once everyone was up, no one really wanted to leave the little paradise we had found. That’s okay as little did we know how much fun our trip to Rock Harbour would be! Again, enjoying clear skies and summer temperatures we set off for a very short trip. There was not much wind at all unfortunately so again we needed to motor. That’s the other thing our friends at Thunder Bay Yacht Club warned us about – inconsistent winds and a lot of motoring!

After only about an hour, we were entering the channel towards Rock Harbour on farthest east side of the island. Alex had read that there was an abandoned lighthouse on Caribou Island close by so as soon as we spotted a dock we decided to stop, dingy over to the lighthouse and checked it out. We weren’t even sure if we’d be able to go inside so we were quite surprised to see it so well kept! It was filled with artifacts and stories about the many shipwrecks on the island as well as information all about what life living on the island was like many, many, years ago. We all found it very interesting and spent a long time reading and taking it all in. After that we had not intended to go on a hike but behind the lighthouse a trail opened up and we could not resist following it and we are glad we did! We are also glad Alex had the foresight to bring mosquito spray! We followed the trail meandering through the forest along the water’s edge. After a while we found a place called Edisen Fishery (named after its last fisherman, Pete Edisen). It is a well-kept little fishing heritage site with a few buildings and all the gear still there that was used to fish many years ago. A tour guide, Donna, was happy to fill us in and answer our questions. She also encouraged us to continue on the hiking trail to an area dedicated to studying and displaying moose bones and antlers. At that point we were a bit concerned about leaving the dingy back at the lighthouse so Alex went back to get it. We then hiked up to check out moose area and were ready to get back to the boat to continue on to Rock Harbour.

Arriving at Rock Harbour we found that there was no room at the docks but we were kind of expecting that. These were the first docks on the island we had come to that charged a fee and we had yet to spend a night at anchor so we motored around to a very well protected channel a bit north and found a perfect spot to drop the hook. We were on a mission! Rock Harbour is quite nicely developed and they had a few resources we were anxious to treat ourselves to = a restaurant and laundry! As soon as we felt comfortable that we were securely anchored we told the boys to put on their cleanest dirty shirts (as Johnny Cash would say) and we set off! I really do love cooking on the boat but it sure was a treat to have a break and we had no dishes to wash after. Before bed I managed to get a load of laundry done and I am so happy about that. Laundry day on a boat is always and exciting thing!

That brings us to today, Saturday, July 22. At the moment I am typing below (obviously) and after starting out this morning with no wind, we currently have both sails full and then engine off. It’s a gorgeous sail and we have a long ways to go to get to Thunder Bay tonight so let’s hope these winds stay.

I am so thankful that this week turned out the way it did and we could have so much fun with both boys after all the hard work from recent weeks. Some of my favourite moments were listening to the boys play music and watching Alex take his little brother under his wing. Alex worked with Dylan on things like helming skills, dingy driving and practicing knot tying. I can already tell that Dylan is really going to miss having his big brother on the boat. We all will miss him and will be really looking forward to him joining us in Key West, Florida this Christmas. After all the work he did this trip, we have promised him that Florida will be all fun and no work!

We are settling into our new life on the water and doing our best to roll with all the inconveniences and issues that unfortunately go hand and hand with living on a sailboat. I also really don’t feel like the Big Trip has begun yet. Despite now living on the boat, we have not yet started our journey across Lake Superior so I expect that is why I feel this way. We have no regrets though as the plan to have Alex fly out of Thunder Bay instead of Sault Ste. Marie saved him so much money. We also have some boat issues to sort out before we start that crossing so this was a good decision. After seeing Alex off we will work at resolving our list of issues. We will also need to provision again which means a car rental expense for a day or two. 

Hopefully we will be back on the water as early August as possible so that we can start lining up with where we are to meet our cousins Candace and Matt in Georgian Bay. They are planning on jumping on board for a couple weeks late August to see what it’s like. We have talked with Matt and Candace about them crewing with us when we do our Atlantic crossing next summer so we are excited to do some sailing with them to get a feel for what that would be like. It will be a packed boat that’s for sure but having them crew to help us with the night watches would be really helpful. They are outdoor enthusiasts, adventurous and fun and it will be a pleasure to have them on board later this summer.

I have been downstairs for too long so it’s time for me to get up on deck and continue enjoying this gorgeous day and savour the last bit of time we have with Alex before he sets off. I just heard the guys say that we crossed back into Canada and we now have cell service again. It’s been lovely being ‘unplugged’ from the world but at the same time it will be fun connecting with friends and family now that we have service back!

Day 4 of life on a boat – Handwashing laundry. ‘This is nice, the soap smells good, I can take my time and I love the feeling of accomplishment having it all clipped onto the lifeline to dry in the sunny breeze.’

Day 14 of life on a boat – Pick up towel. Sniff test it. Cringe slightly as I clip it to the lifeline, spray it with Febreeze and walk away.