Kagawong, Gore Bay

We left Little Current around 8:30 and headed to Kagawong, ON. It was a hot day but it was a beautiful cruise into Mudge Bay. Kagawong is a very unique place in as much as the marina is up against a sandy beach. There were children and adults jumping into the water from the break walls and decks all day, right up to 10pm. The water was cold and very deep but these kids just kept jumping in and out. There was even one young boy who would ride his bike off the 10' high wall right into the water!

We hiked up to Bridal Falls. There were many people swimming in and under the falls. It was hot- but beautiful!

Dave wishing he would have worn his suit! I think the little guy on his daddy's back photo bombed our picture

Sharing the same dock with the marina was a beautiful Anglican Church. I had read the story about a young family and their friends who were out in the North Channel off Mudge Bay when the wind and the waves caused their boat to break apart. The young mother and her two daughters strapped themselves together and because of hypothermia they perished. The husband of their friends also died in the accident. The father and friend's wife survived. The boat was salvaged and the bow restored and now serves as the pulpit in this beautiful church. There are nautical items throughout the church- but my favorite were the fenders on each pew that stood for your protection from God. I just wish we would have been there on a weekend to attend their service. I just wanted to stay and enjoy the peace that I felt there but it was over 95 degrees inside. 

 Things are a little different up here. The young kids are generally swimming un-supervised. The ones in this picture are on a platform 100 yards off the beach.

 FRYEDAZE at the marina from the beach.

 We left the next morning at 7:15 for Gore Bay trying to get ahead of the predicted 20-25 knot winds.The winds were predicted to get stronger as the day went on- and boy was that forecast correct! They were manageable until around 9:30 when they really picked up (15-20 knots). The waves soon followed and we felt like we were back in the Chesapeake Bay off the Potomac River! It was manageable though and other than a few things rearranging themselves in the galley it really wasn't that bad. The 6 foot seas did come up over the bridge glass but we both smiled at that as it isn't salt water and we didn't have to worry about scrubbing the boat back down! After checking into the marina, we decided to walk over to the Buoy Restaurant which is beside the marina. We had a wonderful lunch outside, and a couple and an older woman sat down beside us. I recognized them from Kagawong. After we finished eating, I asked them if they had been in the water at Kagawong Beach the previous evening and they said that they had. I told them how impressed I was because after the rain that evening it went down to 65 degrees and they still went swimming. We talked about different parts of the area and Beatrice's grandson asked if we would be interested in going for a car ride around the Gore Bay area to see the sights. We agreed and spent a very enjoyable afternoon listening to Miss B tell us about the place where she grew up and where her friends now live. She recently lost her husband to heart transplant failure and has since moved into an apartment near the beach in Kagawong. We really appreciated the drive as it would have been impossible to hike up to the overlook where they took us.

This is the jetty that is being built beside the Gore Bay Marina. Dave has been fascinated and I think he wants to take this big excavator up to the Bering Sea to look for gold!

 Can you find Fryedaze? 4th from the left

Two shots of our marina from the overlook.

This morning we had a quick cup of coffee and a "sweet" with the locals at the gazebo outside the marina. We then went to the Farmer's Market at the marina and bought beautiful produce and fresh whitefish. We rode our bikes into town to get a few things to cook with our whitefish and went to the local hardware store (we seem to hit them in every little town we visit!) Dave got some more fishing tackle and a tackle box. He is now convinced that he will have great fishing success because the fish could sense that he was not a professional without the proper gear! It just tickles me all the different things he buys for fishing!  After our morning ride and some protein shakes, we got back on the bikes and started riding north of town. We saw a sign for the lighthouse that we saw the way into Gore Bay. The road provided a safe ride! 

The lighthouse was not open for visitors until later in the afternoon. It is occupied and maintained by a local family who has lived there since 1967. We saw it when we rounded the corner from the North Channel.

It amazed me that we rode our bikes out way faster than our boat was able to the day before. Even though it was still windy- it was nothing compared to the day before. Hard to see in this picture but beyond this point there were still lots of white caps on the channel.

After our ride we went to the local brewery- the Split Rail Brewing Company. We tasted and really liked the Hawberry Ale. On Manitoulin Island in Canada, some red-fruited species are called hawberries. They are common there thanks to the island's alkaline soil. During the pioneer days, white settlers ate these fruits during the winter as the only remaining food supply. People born on the island are now called "haweaters".These were our rewards at the end of our ride! Tomorrow we leave for Beardrop Harbor an anchorage in the Whaleback Channel.