Little Current to Browning Cove (Heywood Island)

Little Current - Browning Cove (Heywood Island)

10NM

We departed Little Current with clean laundry, freshly showered bodies and a full galley. The weather today was delightful…blue skies, temperatures in the mid 70’s and light winds from the southeast. Our eastward route took us through the swing bridge and very nearby the beautiful lighthouse on the tip of Strawberry Island.

As Heywood Island grew larger on the horizon, we read up on its’ geography in our guide books. The low wooded island is know as a haven for many species of birds, including nesting bald eagles and loons. As a side note, it’s taken us a while to get use to calling the Canadian one dollar coin a looney like the locals do because of the loon pictured on the back. Heywood Island has one large and well protected bay on its’ northwestern edge with a small (~100 feet wide) channel stretching east behind tiny Browning Island into Browning Cove. This is where we chose to stay because of the privacy and the amazingly beautiful setting. The larger harbor had about 5 sailboats and 5 powerboats anchored as we entered and veered east down the tiny channel. It didn’t take long before we picked out our spot and dropped a bow hook. The water quickly drops to 20 feet at the shore’s edge so we were able to take a stern line to shore and also tie off to a tree. This kept the boat stopped the boat from swinging and kept the stern within feet of the forested shore. It was like a floating wilderness campsite!

Within minutes we were all in our bathing suits and enjoying the topaz colored water. For the second time on this trip I was forced to don my mask. Izzy dropped one of her Littlest Pet Shop toys in and it quickly sank to the bottom in 17 feet of water. The little kitty named Oreo stared back up at us through the clear water and my daughters pleaded with me to play Coast Guard rescuer…so what choice did I have? After our swim we took the dinghy into the larger harbor and visited the other boaters and enjoyed some time at one of the few sand beaches in the North Channel. While at the beach we saw two different water snakes.

When we finally putt-putted back to Island Bound, we cooked a great taco dinner. Erin sautéed the ground beef on our trusty Origo stove while I grilled mushrooms and onions on the rail mounted grill. The great grub was only surpassed by surroundings of our favorite anchorage to date. After dinner we were visited by a Canadian solo-sailor and his two wiener dogs, Penny and Elvis. Elvis came aboard and gave the girls their canine fix while Erin and I chatted about some out of the way gunk holes in the North Channel.

As the sun began to set, the four of us enjoyed some quiet reflection in the cockpit while listening to the loons call to one another. Their call is eerie, lonesome and mesmerizing. As dusk to turned to night and we were tucked snug in our bags, the loons continued to serenade us. Before shutting off the cabin lights for the night, we played a round of Jenga and had the highest tower any of us have ever built. Isabel’s deft hand and arbitrary pulls of the blocks without toppling the tower brought smiles around the table. But alas, the evening wasn’t perfect as bald eagle-sized mosquitoes pecked away at our flesh and screens. Oh well, such is life in the north woods!