The Fabulous Grand Hotel

The famous, and fabulous Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island

Open each summer from early May until late October.

When it opened in 1887 you could stay here for only $3.00 a night! Wonder what salaries were back then?

The World's Longest Porch

They call this the world's longest porch

Taxi!

We loved the flags!

Grand Gardens

What a view! I could get uses to this, especially if someone else

was doing the mowing and deadheading

The mane is Daylily!

The Grand Rose Walk looks more like a cottage garden.

Welcome to the North Channel

This is the lighthouse that greeted us as we came into Killarney Channel from Georgian Bay. Killarney Channel is generally considered the Eastern end of the North Channel.

The recently reopened Sportsman's Inn at Killarney

Herbert's Fish & Chips is the best meal deal in town, although I wouldn't exactly call $13.00 for a box of fried fish and greasy fries, er, excuse me "chips", and some packaged condiments a "deal". The fish is fresh & tasty and the lines are always long.

The water is really so clear that you can see the bottom. This shot is right beside our boat in the slip at Sportsman's; the water is at least 12 ft deep and you can see the grass and timbers littering the bottom of the harbor.

The town of Killarney, Ont. has been here since the early 1800's but they didn't have a road until 1962!

Our anchorage in Covered Portage Cove, I have observed that some locals say Portage the same way we do in St. Louis (por-tij) and some use the French pronunciation (por-tazh).

The entrance to the anchorage at "Covered Portage Cove", not the easiest anchorage we have ever entered. These rocks are a lot less forgiving than Chesapeake Bay mud! We didn't make the climb to the top of the rocks and take pictures.

More of those blasted rocks that lie in wait, hoping to ruin a nice day.

Beautiful Bay Fine (Fin)

Bay Fine (pronounced Fin) in the North Channel of Lake Huron which our cruising guide tells us is the only fjord in North America. The white you see in the photos is not snow (although I have generally been wearing a fleece jacket or vest several days a week), but the white quartz stone from which the mountains are formed. Geologically the area is part of the Precambrian Canadian Shield, please don't ask me to explain that little factoid because geology makes my eyes glaze over. I'm sure you can Google it and find a great explanation by someone who knows what they are talking about.

These pictures were shot early, well, early for me, on a clear morning from our anchorage in the area at the end of the bay known as the "pool". Once in the pool a boat must reverse course and follow the same nine mile course back out of Bay Fine to the North Channel

The rocks you see in the center of this shot are just a few of the millions of rocks that lie in wait for boats. For every one that you can see there are thousands lurking just below the surface.

Playing in the dinghy near our anchorage in
the"Pool". You may notice the jeans and
long sleeves.
Larry has on short sleeves and his shorts but
if you look closely you will see the windbreaker
tied at his waist.
These shots are of a snapping turtle that was swimming near our boat. The water is about 12' deep and so clear that you can see the weeds
growing on the bottom. It took forever to get
the weeds cleaned off of our anchor chain when we were ready to leave.