Fox Island Provided a Beautiful Rocky Hiking Trail Lined with Berries

When we left South Benjamin Island we headed for Fox Island, located only about four miles from South Benjamin. We had anchored here once before with our Silverton and remembered how beautiful it was. The landscape is rocky all around the anchorage’s perimeter, offering good hiking and photo opportunities. When we anchored here previously, we were the only boat on the hook in the channel, this time there were several boats already at anchor. Our boat has a very shallow draft, about 2.5 feet, so we can usually get a spot where bigger boats don’t dare. In this case, it was way up almost to the reeds at the tip of the inlet.

We were looking forward to our afternoon hike on the island. Some parts are just challenging enough, we had to figure out how we could continue along without wading through water or climbing up the steep side of a smooth rock. Just over the crest of the rocky shoreline, we were surprised by this little landlocked natural pond (below). It looks like it is home to some very lucky birds, animals, and aquatic life.

Next, we followed the eastern shoreline around the anchorage to see how far we could get before turning back.

We found lots of berries on the island, so we picked handfuls of blueberries and raspberries and ate them while we walked.

When we were anchored off South Benjamin with Mike and Jess, we all took a walk on the outer island, the one that protects the anchorage from the open channel. One thing we noticed while there was an abundance of spiders clinging to the evergreen trees, EVERYWHERE. That is where Mike and Jim procured a few aptly coined “spider sticks” to forge ahead while swiping the air in-between trees for spider webs. Even though we noticed the absence of spiders and webs on the trees, Jim found a spider stick anyways, saying he was protecting his “woman.”

We ended our stay with a dinghy ride through some reeds and rocks, the little channel opened up into a little well that we decided we’d keep in mind for a future anchorage.

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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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