Over the winter, we enjoyed more activities within our apartment block.  Andy had another surgery scheduled in November, and spent a few days in hospital,  due to an infection, he spent another day there in early January.  We celebrated some milestones in April, the old guy turned 75, and I had previously turned 65 in February, so we had a small gathering in the lounge to celebrate with family and a few friends. We also purchased a new vehicle as our 14 year old car was beginning to show its age. We wanted to buy prior to tariffs being imposed on vehicles, so we ordered it in January for an April delivery.

  On May 27^th I fulfilled my Eastern star commitment, as chair for one of the luncheons during our annual session.  Once that was done, we started packing up the SUV for our trip to the boat.  We arrived in Thunder Bay on  May 30^th, the boat was in the water, repaired props were on, keel had some new fiberglass and bottom paint, and they thought we were ready to pull out of McKellar Marine. But not so fast! We ended up staying 10 nights with our friends Teresa and Maureen, as we had an electrical issue, and kept tripping the shore power breaker.  Aaron, an electrical technician spent 17 hours on the boat, trying to solve this issue.

We finally left on June 9^th, in the fog, and went to an anchorage we had been to the previous year—we were able to follow our tracks on Garmin.  We then moved to another anchorage in Otter cove and spent a couple nights there.  I saw these two moose at the end of the bay where we were anchored.

The following day we went to Red Rock Marina, and plugged into power, topped up our fuel and water. Our next stop was Rossport, and we stayed at the dock which we had frequented last year.  We went to the Serendipity restaurant in town for their Friday night special- prime rib.  On leaving Saturday morning, one of the engines wouldn’t start, Andy started the generator, and put the battery charger on for a few minutes to get it going.  We travelled about 30 miles to the Slate Islands, and stayed in two different anchorages, in hopes of seeing the caribou that inhabit the islands—however none were seen. 

Upon leaving we once again had an issue starting the starboard engine.  Andy was in contact with Aaron from Thunder Bay, we travelled to Marathon, where we knew there were docks, and friends that would be able to help.  Mitch Donaldson, came down to the boat, and when linked in with Aaron in Tbay, determined that either the Starboard Alternator, or Battery charger was not charging the starter battery.  We went to Napa and bought another Battery; we also bought a trickle charger to keep the battery topped up.  Aaron said he would order parts, and come down later in the week to assess and figure out a way to keep us charging as we were moving the last 300 miles across the north of the lake, with no services.

It has been really cold on the boat,  we were getting warnings on our GPS system, that the water temperature was between 35 and 39 F.  Also there has been several nights with frost warnings- so I had to cover my tomatoes.  While here in Marathon,  we have been staying with Mitch, to get out of the cold boat.  To keep busy while we wait, we topped up the fuel tanks, using Jerry cans, some of which we borrowed from the town office.  Typically,  they do not allow overnight docking at the town dock, but when we told them we were broken down, they made an exception.  We have also frequented the Legion, going for drinks most days, and wing night on Thursday. Aaron came to Marathon on Friday with a new battery charger,  and other supplies. 

He determined that the battery charger had  stopped charging our starter battery, and the external regulator also needed replacing.  The battery charger was 20 years old , so actually amazing that it had lasted this long.  We couldn’t get a replacement regulator, so Aaron figured out a work around.  Aaron returned to the boat on Saturday to finish up. 

On Saturday night we slept on the boat, so we could get away early Sunday.  We left around 7:30 and travelled 48 Statute Miles to Old Dave’s  Harbour near Otter Island.  To get to the deep water in the anchorage, we had to travel over a shoal, but the captain maneuvered over, in 6 feet of water or more. We stayed at this anchorage, which was near the old light keeper’s house for 2 nights as the winds on the lake were fairly strong, we kept busy reading, cleaning,  playing cards and puzzles. 

I was on the look out for caribou again,  but once again did not see a single one. On Tuesday morning, we left, and had fog  for most of our 64 mile trip to Oakes Cove in Michipicoten Harbour. Andy checked in with Brad Buck at the marina here, but we couldn’t get there as the river is silted in.  On Wednesday, we had a sunny day and left around 8:15 for Sinclair cove, which was 48 Miles away, arriving around 1:30. ( Brad sent us this pic of our departure on Wednesday)

  We saw people on the beach, and one person actually was walking in the water, as well as several kayakers and later in the evening a fishing boat.  We left early (6:30) on Thursday morning headed for the Sault, which was about 80 miles away.  There was very little wind, and sunshine for the first 5 .5 hours, until we approached Ile Parisienne and Whitefish Bay, then the wind picked up and we had a good chop, and waves hitting us on the beam. 

We arrived at the lock  around 2:30 and locked through with  one of the tour boats.  We got to the marina around 3:00 and filled up with fuel.  Andy calculated that we had gone 444 statue miles from Thunder Bay and had used 848 Liters of diesel.  We  plugged in, to shore power for the first time in 2 weeks. Today it is raining so we are staying in the Sault another night, will catch up on laundry, reprovision and have a visit with Pat and Marcia. 

We left Bondar Marina on June 26^th, 2024 for our Circle tour of Lake Superior, and arrived back on the same day one year later June 26, 2025.   I am happy we did it and got to spent extra time with friends in Thunder Bay and Marathon,  but after all the boat issues of the last year my mantra has become:  GMOOLS—Get me out of Lake Superior!

Our plan is to spend some time in the North Channel and Georgian Bay, before returning home for a family wedding later in July. We will continue our adventures in August.