Exploring New Inlets While “Hooking” Our Way to Fort Lauderdale!

It’s a very rewarding experience, for us, when we have an opportunity to explore new inlets, coves, and potential anchorages while cruising AND we end up throwing the hook for the night. The previous times we’ve cruised north or south between Stuart and Fort Lauderdale we’ve always traveled past Peck Lake, Lake Worth, Lake Boca Raton, and Lake Sylvia without ever stopping let alone anchoring. We’ve either been in too much of a hurry to get somewhere else or didn’t have the time, all that is different this trip south on the East Coast ICW.

Peck Lake is not so much a lake than it is a very large indentation off of the ICW south of Jensen Beach/Stuart area, it is separated from the ocean by Jupiter Island. We spent a windy night on the hook there with eight to ten other boats, with the crashing sound of ocean waves shifting their way over the sand dunes that protected the anchorage, it was a wonderful place to call home for the night.

The next day we worked our way only 20 miles south to anchor in the northern reaches of Lake Worth. We were looking forward to meeting up with our friend Rick on Wishing Star. Much to our surprise, our paths crossed while we were heading south and he was taking guests north for a day trip. This did give us an opportunity to take photos of his new boat underway. We’ve shared many boating experiences with Rick over the years and were looking forward to seeing him for a short bit as we made our to the anchorage in Lake Worth, close to Old Port Cove Marina where Rick was docked.

We arrived at our anchor spot in Lake Worth and were treated to a beautiful sunset.

Thirty-four more miles, still moving south towards Fort Lauderdale the following day, found us at Lake Boca Raton. My research showed that Lake Boca Raton is a nice little anchorage, it typically has only four or five boats anchored overnight. Like Peck Lake, Lake Boca Raton is an indentation off of the ICW except there is an inlet to the Ocean here. When we arrived, much to our surprise, the cove-sized Lake was filled almost to capacity with anchored party boats, it was a perfect sunny Saturday afternoon and everyone who had a boat seemed to have migrated to Lake Boca Raton. We found a spot to drop our hook and settled in for a very entertaining afternoon and early evening. By nightfall nearly everyone had pulled anchor to go home – in the end, there was only a handful of boats anchored with us for the night.

Last, but not least, on our “hooking” expedition, we continued our southerly journey on Sunday morning and traveled another 17 miles to throw our hook into Lake Sylvia, a very nicely protected body of water off of the ICW in the heart of Fort Lauderdale, the boating capital of the world – only three miles from Cooley’s Landing Marina, where we stayed for a week.

The post Hooking Our Way to Fort Lauderdale appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.

Two Ranger Tugs on the Rocks – North Channel, Canada

Coffee tasted extra good high up on the granite rocks this morning. Jim and I discussed how long we should stay in this spot at South Benjamin Island before we headed to the Ranger Tugs Rendezvous in Little Current – we both agreed, it might be one of those long three-day stays. We only have five days before we need to be in Little Current for the rendezvous and sometimes it’s just not as relaxing to move every day or two to cram several spots in. We figured it doesn’t get much better than this and we should stay put.

We are anticipating the arrival of another Ranger Tug, Illusions. We have been corresponding with friends Mike and Jess for several months planning where we’d meet while we were both in the North Channel for the rendezvous. It’s a good thing we agreed on South Benjamin on August 2nd ahead of time by email because we had no phone reception and could not raise the crew of Illusions on the radio. Soon there will be two Ranger Tugs at South Benjamin Island.

Finally, Jim was able to get Mike on the radio this morning and we heard they were just a few miles away. We hopped in the dinghy and went outside the channel to greet them.

Jim guided Illusions into a spot right next to Kismet with the dinghy and helped them secure their lines. It was funny because during the process a crowd of people showed up from over the rock near their boat, they all hopped into the water and swam between our boats to the rock behind us. We had to remind ourselves about the Canadian Civic Holiday is in full swing and it would probably just get busier.

The first order of business was to dinghy, along with Mike and Jess, over to the island across the channel for a view of our boats tied up below.

The equivalent of our Coast Guard is outfitted in all black and while we were on top of the island across the way they cruised through the channel checking to see that everyone was staying safe and had the required number of life jackets etc.

Mike and Jess cooked dinner on their grill for all of us the second night they were there. It was fantastic.

The post And Then There Were Two… Kismet and Illusions appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.

Rocking On the Rocks

We left Eagle Island early so we would have the best chance to secure a place on the rocks at South Benjamin Island. We anticipated a lot of boating activity in the North Channel this weekend due to the Canadian Civic Holiday falling on Monday. We wanted to get in early in the day to snag a good spot.

Kismet On the Rocks!

We had previously anchored in a small cove near the southwest entrance to the channel. Although that spot was free when we arrived, we soon spotted another location further in where we had seen boats tied up before, it looked interesting and it was empty. Only one other boat, a sailboat, was tied up in the channel when we arrived so we made a quick decision to try the new spot – we were glad we did.

At first, we tied up side-to the rocks, but just didn’t like the looks of that for our boat so after a few minutes we rearranged and dropped the anchor and motored back to tie two lines, off the stern, to the rocks. Much better. Later on, Jim took a bow line to the rocks in front of us and we were good for the duration of our stay.

Just over the big rock, we were tied to is this other inlet. Over the course of three days, we saw several boats tie up there too.

Coffee in the morning, cocktails at happy hour, all on the big rock behind our boat. Time to reflect on the astounding beauty of nature while relaxing together. This is a great opportunity for a lively debate on future cruising destinations for the crew of Kismet.

Shortly after we got tied up to this rock we saw a muskrat swimming around our boat, later in the day we saw these two minks crawling out of the water. No other wildlife sightings at South Benjamin, but we did have a mouse on board a few nights and he was noisy.

The post On the Rocks – South Benjamin Island appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.

Little Norway on the Fjord – Poulsbo, WA

Poulsbo, sitting at the edge of Liberty Bay, is a delightful, highly Scandinavian-influenced, community. This quaint, picturesque, little town has a strong Norwegian heritage. Its founders came from Norway via Michigan and Minnesota to settle in a landscape that was similar to their own snow-peaked mountains and fjords. Other Scandinavian immigrants soon followed.

On a prior visit to Poulsbo, we had docked at the city marina, so this time we decided to anchor out in the protective confines of the bay and dinghy into town for our on-shore leave. We arrived late afternoon, so we hung out on the boat and enjoyed a nice sunset and a peaceful night at anchor.

The next morning we dinghied over to the city marina to tie up so we could have lunch and shop. We were surprised to see Teddy Bear (above) docked at the marina. We first encountered this interesting yacht in Anacortes, WA when we took possession of our Fathom 40.

Poulsbo has an array of gift shops, galleries, and stores with unique and unusual items to look through. We found a Mexican Cantina-style restaurant for a tasty lunch which in hindsight is about as far away from Scandinavian food as I guess you can get.

Thinking back to our first visit to Poulsbo, we remembered a nice bakery in town, although it was late in the day, we tracked down Sluys Bakery. We each made mental notes to decide what we wanted to pick up the next morning for breakfast when I would return by dinghy for a pastry run.

Something seemed to be amiss in the water in the bay, especially in the marina. Not sure what it could be, can only imagine. Wouldn’t want to accidentally fall into the water in this area.

The next morning we awoke to a pea soup-type fog; it took forever to lift.

The post A Taste of Scandinavia in Poulsbo, WA appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.

The Anchorage at Hardy Island is Located at the Base of Jervis Inlet

We were somewhat protected by Texada Island as we cruised 21 miles southeast from Powell River to Hardy Island. The anchorage at Hardy Island is located at the base of Jervis Inlet. We are positioning ourselves for the cruise up to Princess Louisa Inlet, Malibu Rapids, and finally Chatterbox Falls. Entering Blind Bay we found calm waters ideal for anchoring in a narrow, well-protected, cove within Hardy Island Marine Park. As we were scouting for a spot to drop our hook we came across a small black bear strolling by the water’s edge. The bear was just as startled as we were. He immediately hightailed it up the rock cliff and into the woods never to be seen by us again. This would end up being our only bear sighting during our PNW cruise.

The real reason for anchoring at Hardy Island was to position ourselves for the 46-mile run-up Jervis Inlet the next day. We were pleasantly surprised with the beautiful rock boulder island setting with several protected coves, suitable for our late afternoon dinghy exploration cruise.

On our way in this wolf-shaped image jumped out at us (above) as we made our way deep into one of the coves to anchor.

We don’t have a photo of the bear we saw. He was just too fast to run up the rocky cliff and out of our view. The photo above shows the spot where we saw him.

We especially enjoyed seeing these rock sculptures during our dinghy cruise.

The post Positioning Ourselves at Hardy Island for the Run Up to Chatterbox Falls appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.

We cruised the length of the gorge all the way down to the Flaming Gorge Dam and checked out Cedar Springs Marina. The canyons are not as prominent in this area, mostly lowlands and scrubby brush. Then we headed back to the canyons to a spot we scouted out earlier in the day for our second night anchored in the Flaming Gorge Reservoir.

Our second night at anchor was in Carter Creek. A busy little creek but other than a boat that beach anchored and camped on shore by the creek, we were the only ones anchoring in Carter Creek canyon that night.

Reflection in the Gorge…

Back at the marina Saturday night the day closed with a beautiful rainbow and dark skies. Since it was the weekend, many of the seasonal slip holders were at the marina and it was party time on the dock. We met so many friendly boaters we felt like we were at our homeport (previously Charlevoix, Michigan).

The Flaming Gorge Dam and Reservoir…

The post Flaming Gorge Dam And Back To Carter Creek appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.

Diamond Island welcomes Kismet back to its beautiful anchorage.

A beautiful fall day presented itself to us as we headed out, from Clifton Marina early the next morning, with a plan to anchor out at Diamond Island. With bright blue skies and a pleasantly warm day, we basked in the scenic beauty along the Tennessee River during our cruise. Lots to see with many boats on the water, some Loopers passing us, and people fishing or relaxing along the sandy shoreline of the river.

The houses along the river are interesting to look at and we enjoyed seeing this herd of cattle grazing along the river. (Above)

We met Bill and Bonnie, on Elissa II (above) during our stay at Clifton Marina, they are from Northport, Michigan, not far from our hometown. Small world isn’t it?

This was our third time anchoring at Diamond Island. We knew there was a number of boats leaving Clifton the same day, so we were surprised to find we had the entire anchorage, on the east side of the island, to ourselves.

Diamond Island (the entrance to the anchorage – above), and the surrounding area, are called Pittsburg Landing where, in 1862, a large force of Union Soldiers stationed themselves for the Civil War’s Battle of Shiloh. On this day, however, it was hard to imagine anything so horrific as a war taking place in this serenely beautiful spot.

As we settled in for a peaceful night on the hook, fellow Loopers, Joel and Debbie, on Watermusic (below), arrived just before dusk and dropped anchor downstream, behind us. The weather the next morning had changed and high winds were expected. Since we had the Pickwick Lock to negotiate, we decided to leave early before the wind had a chance to build, and, as luck would have it, we were relieved to have gotten through the lock without a problem. By the time we made it to Grand Harbor Marina, with the weather quickly deteriorating, we were happy to be tied up to a dock. We were more than pleased to see a lot of Loopers there already, with more headed in later in the day. Of course, a happy hour on the dock was organized and we got a chance to meet several more of this year’s participants in the Great Loop boating adventure.

The post Returning to Diamond Island to Anchor appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.

Marianne Cove anchorage, is a popular spot among boaters cruising the North Channel.

We returned to Marianne Cove anchorage to spend another peaceful night in Canada’s North Channel paradise. The view off the back deck of Kismet at sunset (above).

Coffee in the morning on the back deck of Kismet while in the Marianne Cove anchorage. Don’t I look relaxed?

It’s a guy thing (above). Early morning chores getting done.

I love trying to capture the reflections of the trees on shore in the water (below). Okay, I think I have about a hundred of these photos, all different of course, I kept snapping them as the sun slowly made its descent over the cove. The reflections continued to change as the sun set to the west.

Flying all our burgees in Marianne Cove (above-left). This boater stopped by for a little chat, and never a lack of social interactions while boating in the North Channel. There is a definite ongoing community action everywhere we stop to anchor.

Kismet’s nose is pointed toward the entrance to Marianne Cove. The rocks in this cove just glow catching that last ray of sunshine of the day.

The post Back to Marianne Cove Anchorage appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.

Lots of Room in Marianne Cove Tonight!

On our way up Baie Fine, we saw this marker on shore (above). It’s a marking for the red buoy – the channel through this area is so narrow they had to mark it on the rock instead of a red buoy.

On this day we chose to try a new anchorage (new to us) at Marianne Cove. We’ve anchored at the Pool (located at the furthest end of Baie Fine) before and enjoyed that area, but we’ve heard so much about how well-protected and beautiful Marianne Cove is, we decided to stop short of the Pool and try something new. It’s a favorite of cruisers in the North Channel.

Jim is preparing the long line he’ll soon tie to a tree on the shore behind our boat. Stern tying takes some time, but well worth the effort in the end. By the time Jim is done on shore, he will have taken the rope, that is looped around that tree, to the dinghy and back to the boat. It will be tied securely to a cleat. To untie we just have to untie the rope on the cleat and pull the line into the boat. That’s the easy part.

Just after we got our anchor set and line tied to shore, we met Emily (above). She’d stopped by to say her grandparents were also anchored in the cove on the sailing vessel, Ritual. We know Lisa & Fred because we are both members of the Grand Traverse Yacht Club (GTYC) in Traverse City. It’s always nice when we bump into boaters we know while on our cruising explorations.

We dinghied around the cove one evening to meet some of the other boaters. We met the couple on this sailboat and had a nice chat. How could you not be all smiles and serenely happy spending the night on the hook in a quiet Canadian cove?

The post First Time in Marianne Cove appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.

Keyhole Island on the Northwest Side of Georgian Bay.

Georgian Bay is on our cruising bucket list, a trip like this deserves a dedicated stretch of time to explore properly. With that said, we decided to get our toes just a little wet. After we left Covered Portage Cove, we passed through the channel in Killarney for a short, one-day, cruise and anchor in the northwest side of Georgian Bay.

Four miles or so east of Killarney is the western entrance to Collins Inlet and a 10-mile run to Mill Lake. It was Collins Inlet, a narrow channel, where we spent time cruising, enjoying the sights of the small summer cottages dotting the rocky wind-swept, tree-lined shores.

Collins Inlet runs between Philip Edward Island, to the south, and mainland Ontario, Canada to the north, making the narrow channel a favorite of boaters because of the well-protected, safe passage from possible rough waters of Georgian Bay and all the good anchorage sites available.

We went as far as Mill Lake, cruising around the lake, scoping it out for future, potential anchorages. On our way there we made note of an anchorage called Keyhole Island, we eventually made our way back to that spot to settle in for a serenely quiet night on the hook.

After pulling anchor the next morning we poked around some more on our way back to the North Channel. Just a short distance west of the westerly entrance to Collins Inlet is where we found Thomas Bay. To enter you need to have good charts, an accurate GPS, and/or good local knowledge because if you make the wrong turn you could end up running aground on some rocks. Once inside we found a paradise of a cove, large enough for up to maybe a dozen boats.

Based on our short visit to Georgian Bay on this day, we are excited to return for a more thorough cruising experience in the near future.

The post Keyhole Island – A Little Peek Into the Northwest Side of Georgian Bay appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.

On the Torch at Last!

We enjoyed a relaxing day floating on the hook on Torch Lake, as the day unfolded, we had done a few boat chores, caught up on some reading and before we knew it we were getting ready to join our friends, Jim and Cindy, at their cottage for dinner. We brought up the anchor and had a nice cruise down the lake, back towards the bridge on the west side of the lake, right across from the famous sand bar which is always a big party scene.

Although Jim and Cindy have a nice dock in front of their cottage we decided it might be a little shallow so we anchored out a little, in front of their cottage, and Jim rowed out in his boat to fetch us. We spent the whole evening catching up with each other, grilling brat kabobs. The delicious dinner was followed by a cruise on Kismet to enjoy the setting sun.

After we dropped Jim and Cindy off we headed back up the lake to our favorite anchorage and we still had some daylight left. We were sitting in the cockpit enjoying the perfect weather when a pontoon boat stopped by. Larry & Jeannie told us they were one of the newer cottages that now line our anchorage. We were warmly welcomed to their neighborhood and invited to stop by their cottage if we had time before we left. Boaters are such friendly people.

The post Dining with Friends On the Torch appeared first on Trailer Trawler Life Blog – Cruising USA & Canada.