6/12/17: The Turnbull Islands are a group of Rocky islands about 35 miles east of Thessalon. This was our first of two anchorages planned before a marina stop at Little Current. The anchorage was beautiful, but maneuvering in caused us both a little anxiety.

Many of the islands were just rocks sticking out of the water, with a few having sparse vegetation or trees. But others were actual islands, with trees and bushes (but no beaches). We had to follow a winding channel around and through the islands and rocks, to find the anchorage, which was tucked behind a tiny spit of land. We didn’t go all the way in to where the anchorage was marked on our chart, as it looked to be quite confined, so we stayed a little more towards the lake. Even here, we only had about 500 feet of bay, and our anchor swing diameter is, on average, about 200 feet. There wasn’t much room for error dropping the anchor.

The winds were supposed to be 5 knots, but in actuality, blew up to 16 knots (right into the bay, exactly opposite of what was predicted). Needless to say, it was a little rolly, and we watched our anchor radius carefully in case we dragged, as we were really close to the shoreline. We hoped the winds would shift and calm slightly, as that would point our boat towards more water, and ease our minds a little.

The scenery was stunning. There were several tiny, rocky islands within a quarter mile of us, and we could see outside the bay, right across the North Channel to the other shore. There were no homes, no cottages, no buildings at all, not even another boat. It was quite remote. We watched several eagles flying around – it looks like they use these islands for nesting. Of course, there were also the obligatory seagulls and loons as well. All in all, with the exception of the wind and waves at anchor, it was quite an enjoyable anchorage.

Pics of The Turnbull Islands