Sail Far Live Free

"You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality." - Walt Disney I've been pondering favorite sailing locations and am finding it difficult to narrow the list to a reasonable number. I'm beginning to realize that the problem isn't necessarily that the Great Lakes are an amazing cruising ground (they are!) full of "best locations", but rather that my true favorites are usually the last place we visited or the next place we're planning to sail to. The reality is that the memories of quality family time spent  getting there  and being there make just about any place we've sailed part of my "best" list. Old Walt had it right when he singled out people as the key ingredient. Still, I'll give it a shot to identify just one location in response to LOOK's quest to find the world's best/most exotic sailing locations (see here ) based solely on places ...

"And there's this one particular harbor, sheltered from the wind Where the children play on the shore each day, and all is safe within A most mysterious calling harbor, so far but yet so near I can see the day when my hair's full of gray and I finally disappear" - Jimmy Buffett from One Particular Harbor Playing on the shore in the cozy harbor at South Benjamin Island We all have "one particular harbor" where we go to get away from it all, where all is safe within; a place of peace and comfort. Some of us only ever physically visit that one particular harbor a single time, but revisit often in spirit. Some are blessed to live life in the shelter of their one particular harbor for as long as they please. Others must share time away from the harbor, but find a relaxing sigh in the memory of a past visit or a smile in planning the next. For me, a tiny little gunkhole on the south side of South Benjamin Island in Lake Huron's North Chann...

South Benjamin Island July 8, 2010 The day before had been so picture perfect that we decided to stay two nights in our cozy anchorage on South Benjamin Island. The Benjamins are the jewel of the North Channel because of the many perfect anchorages, the crystal clear blue water, the superb blueberry picking and most of all the breathtaking landscape. So instead of blogging about how beautiful it is here, I thought I’d let some pictures speak a thousand words…

South Benjamin Island - Little Current 16NM The day broke with an overcast sky but the winds from last night had subsided. We pulled the anchor around 8am and began motoring east towards Little Current, the largest town in the North Channel. The wind was light enough that the bugs were out for most of the 3 hour trip. We carefully rounded our way past the Sow and Pigs (rocks just south of the Benjamins), Croker Island and then south of Amedroz Island. As we entered the channel leading to Little Current, we hailed Spider Bay Marina on VHF channel 68 and reserved our slip. Spider Bay was about a ¼ mile walk from town but the marina has free wi-fi and coin laundry facilities on site, so we decided to make it home for one night. After safely docking next to several chartered sailboats, we began cleaning Island Bound . Next it was off to town for a stroll through the gift shops and a stop at The Pantry Café for lunch. I was treated to the special of the day, a Texas brisket sandw...