Brule Harbor/ Day 75/ August 15, 2013

Day 75, Thursday, August 15 pulled up anchor, the strong wind warning over, almost. Waves 2-4's to occas 6's but the thermometer says 61 degrees. It has been 48 degrees in the early mornings when we get up. So 61 looks good to us. Under way 7 hours, we arrive to Brule Harbor. We are anchoring close to mainland Canada, in Lake Superior Provincial park. Thank you Canada for making most of your beautiful Lake Superior coastline, park area, so it is still wild & rugged. Yes, I could become a tree hugger with a little encouragement!! 

Our view out of our back deck

We are anchored in a beautiful snug spot, which took some maneuvering to get secure. The water is pretty deep in here which makes it tougher. We are tied to shore & Garry has a stern anchor out, both to keep us from swinging. Garry is in the same cove but not close. We have a huge beaver dam in our area. Jacque made a nice meatloaf for dinner for us all, Thank you for feeding us, Jacque.

During dinner, a small sailboat sailed into our cove & proceeded to tie up very close to us. There were five 20 something's on board. Wouldn't you think they would like some privacy?  They got settled, ate a quick dinner, then they donned rain gear, it wasn't raining but it was cool out. All 5 of them hopped in their dinghy without lights & took off.We don't know where they went & it was after dusk.  There are no public places anywhere near, only the open waters of Lake Superior. We didn't hear them return but the dinghy was tied up in the morn when we awoke. Thank goodness! They left that afternoon.

Water clarity, can you believe it?

Friday, turned into one of the nicest weather days we've   experienced. We took off in our dinghies early while the Lake was calm & checked out the Pukaskwa pits, we had read about. They have been studied & researched. It is thought they are thousand of years old, but no one knows what they were used for. 

Garry in his hot tub Pukaskwa pit

   Of course there are theories. Garry's theory is that this one was a hot tub for their tired achy bodies after a long day of hunting & gathering. Hot rock therapy. We then checked out Old Woman's Bay.  The cliffs are high & majestic. We walked along a sand beach, found a spring fed small pretty inland lake off the sand beach & the guys had to skip some stones in the calm water. 

In the afternoon, it actually got up to the mid 70's. We kayaked our cove & around the near by islands. We walked around the rocks on Entrance Island. This is another beautiful, quiet spot. We heard loons last night but haven't seen any but we have watched Eagles soaring & one flying down to a beach to grab a fish. 

We were able to sit up on the bridge & read our books & I even went for a quick dip in the water behind the boat. 








We kayaked after dinner, the moon rose brightly @ about 3/4's full.

Everyone says HI, wish you were here!!

Otter Head/Waterfalls/lLighthouse & Fish.

Cascade Falls

On Monday August 12, we pulled anchor in the rain and cruised along the rugged eastern shoreline and the Provincial Pukaskwa Park.  We are anchored now in the Otter Head area, there are other boats in the anchorage but it's big enough for all of us. There is a lighthouse on a nearby island that we attempted to dinghy to the first day, but we aborted the mission due to rough seas. There is also a series of waterfalls we passed on our way into the cove that we hope to get to, with Cascade falls dropping right into Lake Superior. The falls are located in an open area without much protection & the wind is blowing towards them so we'll see. We are secure in a big cove with 2 sailboats & 1 Nordic tug; ConnieB (Bill & Connie from LaPeer, MI.)

Tuesday, made it in our dinghy's with rain gear & explored Otter Island lighthouse & grounds. the blueberries are ripe & we don't think there are any bears

Now do you believe we've had cold weather?

around so we picked a container full-yum. If there were bear, I wouldn't want to take their food away from them. Didn't see any caribou, which are the only inhabitants on the Lighthouse island.  Paddled up a stream in our cove & found the hidden unnamed waterfalls in our cove. We could hear the falls from our boats. The waterfall is very pretty & bigger than we expected. 

Garry had bought a Canadian fishing license so he was making good use of it.  He trolled along in our cove & was awarded by catching 3 northern pikes, releasing the 2 smaller ones   & giving the 32 " big boy to a sailboat anchored nearby. He didn't keep it for us, because Northern Pike are very hard to prepare & get the bones out.  We are picky you know. But Garry had fun catching them. 

It has been a bit windy & wavy, so we were not able to dinghy & hike the Cascade Falls. We actually have been weathered in an extra day here due to a strong wind warning, so it is Weds & we (Waterford & us) are all by ourselves in this big cove. Doug & I kayaked the perimeter of the cove & it is over 4 miles around. We went up a stream & saw evidence of Moose & a busy beaver but did not see either. We did see 2 Eagles soaring & perched among these high rock bluffs around us. 

On our weathered in day, Jacque & Garry hosted a Movie matinee. Doug read a Jack Reacher novel this trip written by Lee Childs & is hooked.  Jacque & Garry were already fans & have read many of lee Child's, Reacher series. They even had a Reacher movie in their library on the boat, so we watched the movie "One Shot"  with Tom Cruise portraying Reacher.  Even though Jacque & I agree that Tom Cruise was not the perfect pick for Jack, it was a good flick. We even had popcorn! We don't rough it.