45°55′29″ N 83°6′53″ W

We spent yesterday on the dock in Meldrum Bay. It was a good day to rest a bit & to also catch up on some chores.

The starboard winch was turning very stiffly so Chris took that apart, cleaned & lubricated it. Works like new again. Repeat on the port side winch.

We also set up the mizzen & main sails & I washed the boat. Now we are ready to head to the USA.

One of the things I really like about sailing is the people we meet. When we ate at the restaurant the night before we met a couple from London – Jeff & Chris – who were touring Manitoulin Island as part of their journey to visit friends in Winnipeg. Then they will head back to London via Chicago They are doing it in style in a beautiful red Corvette! They joined us for dinner on Ananda last night. Chef Chris Cavanaugh cooked us up a fine meal. A bit of wine was consumed & many stories were told. We agreed to connect up again in London this fall & share more stories of our adventures.

This morning we will set out for Drummond, Michigan as our point of entry into the USA. I called US Border Services in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and they advised me that we could use our NEXUS cards at this location.

45°55′34″ N 83°6′51″ W

We arrived in Meldrum Bay last night about 7:00 pm. Our original destination was Gore Bay but we were making such great progress that we decided to keep going for a few more hours. That brings us closer to Lake Michigan.

Meldrum Bay is a pretty small & quiet place. The marina is nice & we had a great meal at the local restaurant – the Meldrum Bay Inn.

The deck there has a beautiful view & it has many humming bird feeders that are well visited buy “the locals”.

We will stay here for a couple of days resting up & organizing the boat.

46°0′10″ N 82°50′14″ W

We are about 15 kilometers (1 hour) away from Meldrum Bay & have only met two boats in the past four hours.

There’s not enough wind for sailing but the water is flat & it’s perfect for motoring. Chris & I are not sure if we can keep this hectic pace up much longer – but we’ll give our best try.

45°59′45″ N 82°27′58″ W

A beautiful day today & the waters have flattened out like a piece of glass. We are making great time. As a result, we have decided to go past Gore Bay & head to Meldrum Bay instead. As you can see in the photo below, Chris is quite stressed about our life at sea.

Cheers mates!

45°56′0″ N 81°46′8″ W

Here we anchored in Browning Cove on Heywood Island. We dropped the hook at 8:00 pm – 8 hours after we left Tobermory (at noon) earlier today.

Our trip from Tobermory was pretty easy & we even got the jib out for a few hours. Average speed with sail & the engine assistance was about 7 knots.

There are about 15 boats anchored in this spot & there’s lots of room for everybody. Loons greeted us as we set our anchor.

Chris is making pasta with meat sauce for us tonight. It will go well with a big glass of red wine (we have a bit of that on board).

Cheers everyone!