This is the largest town on Manitoulin Island (Spirit Island in the Ojibwe tongue) and many boaters provision here before heading out to anchorages. Manitoulin is a very large and unusual shaped island. It forms almost the entire southern shore of the North Channel. We walked up the hill for a few groceries. Here’s the view on our walk back down to the dock.
We were on the town dock directly in front of the federal building which houses the “Bureau de Poste” (post office) and the Customs Dept. So it’s very easy for the agents to spot the boats with the American flags and pay them a visit. They mainly wanted our Canadian Customs report number, to see our passports and answers to a few questions: what did we declare to Customs when we entered Canada, how long did we plan to be in the country, etc. They filled out a form for us to display along with our customs report number.
We only enjoyed civilization for one night and were off to anchor in Clapperton Harbor. We headed that way to be closer to our destination of Kagawong, in Mudge Bay, also on Manitoulin Island. There were two items of interest that took us on this little side trip. Here’s the first, St. John Anglican Church, also known as “The Sailors’ Church”, dedicated in 1938.
Here’s the interior. The pulpit is actually part of the bow of a cruiser that was wrecked in a storm in 1965. Many other nautical touches were donated by members of Kagawong.
The other point of interest is Bridal Veil Falls, from which Kagawong actually got it’s name. It’s Ojibwe for “where the mists rise from falling waters”. We were told the water volume is down right now, at times you can walk behind the falls and even swim here. It was still neat to see as was the half-mile hike through the woods to get there.
We anchored that night in the South Benjamin Islands, a really well-known anchorage with interesting rock formations. You can go ashore here, unfortunately it was rainy when we got here and when we left in the morning.
We did a security call on the radio while traveling on Sunday. This narrow passage is the Little Detroit Strait and it’s best to let other boats know you’re coming through so there isn’t a problem.
We anchored that night off John Island, this is about 2/3 of the way across the North Channel. We decided since the weather wasn’t exactly cooperating and we would probably be back this way again sometime, we’d make a little more progress and head for Thessalon. This will be our last stop in Canada. It’s a pretty quiet little town but the marina is very nice and has bikes for boaters to use. We actually talked to three other boaters here who are either doing the Loop or planning to. It’s always fun to exchange information and experiences. So that’s all from the public library in Thessalon, Ontario.
We were on the town dock directly in front of the federal building which houses the “Bureau de Poste” (post office) and the Customs Dept. So it’s very easy for the agents to spot the boats with the American flags and pay them a visit. They mainly wanted our Canadian Customs report number, to see our passports and answers to a few questions: what did we declare to Customs when we entered Canada, how long did we plan to be in the country, etc. They filled out a form for us to display along with our customs report number.
We only enjoyed civilization for one night and were off to anchor in Clapperton Harbor. We headed that way to be closer to our destination of Kagawong, in Mudge Bay, also on Manitoulin Island. There were two items of interest that took us on this little side trip. Here’s the first, St. John Anglican Church, also known as “The Sailors’ Church”, dedicated in 1938.
Here’s the interior. The pulpit is actually part of the bow of a cruiser that was wrecked in a storm in 1965. Many other nautical touches were donated by members of Kagawong.
The other point of interest is Bridal Veil Falls, from which Kagawong actually got it’s name. It’s Ojibwe for “where the mists rise from falling waters”. We were told the water volume is down right now, at times you can walk behind the falls and even swim here. It was still neat to see as was the half-mile hike through the woods to get there.
We anchored that night in the South Benjamin Islands, a really well-known anchorage with interesting rock formations. You can go ashore here, unfortunately it was rainy when we got here and when we left in the morning.We did a security call on the radio while traveling on Sunday. This narrow passage is the Little Detroit Strait and it’s best to let other boats know you’re coming through so there isn’t a problem.
We anchored that night off John Island, this is about 2/3 of the way across the North Channel. We decided since the weather wasn’t exactly cooperating and we would probably be back this way again sometime, we’d make a little more progress and head for Thessalon. This will be our last stop in Canada. It’s a pretty quiet little town but the marina is very nice and has bikes for boaters to use. We actually talked to three other boaters here who are either doing the Loop or planning to. It’s always fun to exchange information and experiences. So that’s all from the public library in Thessalon, Ontario. 
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