We left Killarney late morning to being our crossing of Lake Huron's Northern Channel. After fueling up, we decided to build in an excursion to Baie Fine (pronounced "bay fin", no French intonation) to our itinerary to the Benjamin Islands. The weather was clear and bright and the passage up through the Frazer Bay to Baie Fine was smooth. Baie Fine is a majestic fjord, accessed by a very narrow channel at the Okeechobee Lodge (once a mob controlled hideout). The Baie extends more than eight miles and is variably a half to 1-mile wide with 500-800 foot quarzite cliffs hemming it in - it is one of the few inland fresh water fjords in the world accessible by boat. Some boaters go all the way up to the end to access a small lake called the Pool and anchor there.
Baie Fine - View to the West and the East
After touring the Baie Fine, we headed out towards Little Current - the main town on the eastern end of Manitoulin Island, the largest freshwater island in the world. Along the way, we passed Heywood Island, the place where recent news of an aggressive black bear boarding boats anchored in the harbor were making a lot of boater very nervous (https://www.manitoulin.ca/hungry-black-bear-boards-four-boats-over-three-days/). It made us think a lot more about bears!
To pass to the western end of the Northern Channel, you have to pass by Little Current and its swing bridge, which opens on the hour every hour. Because this is the only substantial waterway from the Georgian Bay to the west, there is a substantial current (about 3 knots), hence the name of the town.
After a relatively short wait, we proceeded past Little Current to take advantage of the favorable weather and anchor for the last time in Lake Huron - and headed for the anchorage between the South and North Benjamin Islands.
Little Current Lighthouse; Little Current town view; Little Current Town Docks
Despite not having seen hardly any boats out on open water that day, we arrived to the anchorage already populated with 5 boats! We dropped anchor in the little cove on the north side south of the North Benjamin Island. The little atoll is made up of mostly pink granite and contrasts well with the dark fir trees and blue waters. The trees are shaped by the prevailing west winds that force them into bent-over and twisted postures.
The wind picked up and we began to get nervous about our anchor - the wind that afternoon and evening was from the west, but forecast to turn to the north overnight and then become easterly by morning. We pulled in as much rode so that we wouldn't hit any rocks (above and below water) as we'd likely be put through all directions of the compass that night.
Wind picking up from the west; View towards the east.