Moving Along and Hunkering Down (July 22nd – 28th)

We left Battle Island for the Slate Islands and again found lumpy seas and contrary winds. We had been told about “the sisters” of Lake Superior which are occasional groups of three waves that are larger than the rest. With the seas on the beam we got to know the sisters well as we rolled our way to the Slate Islands. The Slates (48°40.3’N, 87°00.5’W) are closer to “civilization” so we did see some people there. While it was a beautiful stop, we only spent one night before moving on due to some expected high winds. We did get to see our first caribou as we were leaving. He swam across the bay and went ashore just ahead of us as we passed. Sorry, no pictures.

Next up was Pic Island (48°42.3’N, 86°38.6’W). The stop at Pic was not planned but we needed shelter from the 20 knot south winds that were in the forecast. Pic was kind of a neat place and it did have a little sand beach for fires and some quick dips in the lake. Pic provided shelter from the worst of Lake Superior’s weather but there was a very uncomfortable swell that rolled in around the point. The swell was from a different direction than the wind so Noodin did a lot of pitching and rolling. There’s nothing like random 3-dimensional motion while you try to sleep. We ended up spending three nights at Pic waiting for weather suitable for travelling.

From PIC Island we had a crossing back to a different Otter Cove (48°05.2’N, 86°00.0’W) on the mainland. It was another beautiful and well protected spot but the windy weather kept us from exploring the area as much we would have liked. We did see one of the most beautiful sunsets while we were there.

Quebec Harbor (47°42.7’N, 85°48.9’W) on Michipicoten Island was kind of a neat stop but not worthy of more than one night as long as the weather was good for traveling. Phebe’s extraordinary hearing picked up the sounds of a Caribou on shore so were able to see our second caribou. It was probably the first time that we were able to look over the expanse of Lake Superior from our anchorage. Beautiful, but if the wind changes direction…..