Lots of sights to see on the water today
as we made our way to Pass-A-Grille.

We anchored in a big well in Pass-A-Grille, just behind the beautiful Don Cesar hotel (above). It was a quiet anchorage, well-protected from the elements, and had a little boat launch and dock where we could tie our dinghy up.

We passed two “Rangers” today. The one above looked like an interesting yacht. During our night at anchor, we met the crew on Tortuga, the Ranger Tug below, while they circled the anchorage during an evening cruise. Frank and Salma had just recently bought their tug and we would meet them later at the Ranger Tug rendezvous in Palm Island.

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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…

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Croker Island – Rocks, Bears, and Blueberries!

As cruising trips go this one ranked up toward the top of our list, but like all good things they must come to an end. We left Little Current to make way for one of our favorite anchorages in a popular cove at Croker Island; this will be the last real stop of our North Channel trip.

The cove at Croker Island has a high rocky bluff that protects anchored boats from high winds and/or foul weather from the big waters of the more exposed North Channel. While we were there, for our last two days, there were indeed high winds from the south, but we were almost unaware of these conditions until we took an afternoon hike up to the top of the rocky bluff. Once there, we saw nothing but big white caps. It felt good knowing how cozy we felt anchored inside the protective confines of the Island.

We spent the last two days of our trip at anchor in the cove at Croker Island, reading, taking dinghy rides around the anchorage, meeting other cruisers, hiking around the rock cliffs on the Island, and playing games, one of our favorite pastimes. It was a great way to wind down our North Channel cruise.

On our second day at anchor, we had a little excitement, we noticed a Tiara boat trying to get into the cove but getting dangerously close to the rocky point that encircles the cove. As we watched, almost wanting to scream a warning (but we were too far away for them to hear), they ended up aground on top of a big submerged boulder. It wasn’t long before all the men, anchored in the cove, were dinghying out to see if they could be of assistance.

It was only twenty minutes or so, with a lot of pushing and pulling, and the boat was freed from the rock and on its way, without any visible damage to the boat. We think they lucked out big time.

Our last beautiful sunset (above) in the North Channel.

Jim retrieved our stern line from the tree it was tied to onshore (below).

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We arrived back at Goodland yesterday afternoon and anchored in the basin next to the marina and hauled the boat out early this morning and tried to clean the bottom up a little. We’re hoping to get to Marathon early enough to relaunch and get settled at the marina.

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