Sailing the Great Lakes: Heywood Island to the lower Baie Fine Mary Ann Cove

Monday July 26 – Got up around 8:15am and made coffee. Kathi got up just before 9am to listen to the Cruiser’s Net on VHF channel 71. We checked-in from Heywood, heading for Mary Ann Cove. Mary Ann Cove is the first anchorage inside Baie Fine. We hauled up anchor around 9:50am and were on our way. We pulled up the mainsail in the anchorage and once out the entrance unfurled the Genoa (aka headsail). We were able to hold a 4 to 5 knot speed up to the entrance to Baie Fine where the wind died. We pulled in sails and motored.

The channel is mostly fairly deep, but there are a few passages that are pretty narrow and shallow. We almost passed the entrance to Mary Ann Cove, but swung around and headed in. We are anchored and tied off to the shore by 12:30pm. Everyone here was anchored off the bow and tied back to a tree so we did the same. The chart show 5ft of water, but it is really 20+ feet until you are very close to shore. One guy we met said he thought the hydrographic surveyors probably looked in the entrance and just said “it is probably only 5ft” and never actually measured depths. We all laughed.

We met him at the top of Frazer Bay Hill, the highest point on the south ridge that forms Baie Fine. It was about a 35 minute climb up a pretty steep trail (reminded us of hiking in Colorado, but back there we were also carrying 40lb packs!), over broken quartz boulders and a rough trail. We just had to follow the orange tape markers tied to trees and bushes. At the top you stand (or sit) on a large quartz outcropping and have a view of Lansdowne Channel, Frazer Bay, and Heywood Island to the South. To the North is McGregor Bay. It was a little hazy from the humidity, but the view was still great and there was a nice breeze. We met a bunch of people at the top, some of whom we already knew from other encounters.

On the way down my left knee was bothering me, but it eventually cleared up, or was silenced by the pain in my Achilles’ tendon. We made it safely back to the dinghy and back to the boat. I had been sweating like a horse run hard and desperately need a swim to cool down. I was in the water for at least 20 or 30 minutes. Kathi swam too, but not as long as I did. We dried out in the sun and the constant breeze. It was a clear blue sky and a wonderful day.

Tomorrow it is forecast to rain, but if it does not we will probably venture up to the “Pool” at the far end of Baie Fine. If the weather is bad, we will probably just stay were we are. We had cheese, beer, wine and Caesars for dinner, along with some crackers and fruit. We put some Key Lime juice in the remaining whitefish to marinate overnight and will have it tomorrow in the grill again – probably with canned green beans and rice.

And yes – tomorrow is another day…