6/14/17 – 6/15/17: We left the sheltered bay of South Benjamin Island, and made our way towards Little Current. Not only was the journey there windy and wavy, we never expected that we’d spend two nights there, trapped in a slip!.

The distance was about 25 miles, and we had 20+ knot winds (1 knot = 1.15 mph) right on the bow the entire way. The waves were easily 5-6 feet, and we took spray over the bow many times for most of the way. Bu we arrived safely to a beautiful, but windy, afternoon. We pumped out and got diesel at Wally’s Dockside Service (WOW – expensive! $116 Canadian for 21 gallons of fuel and a pumpout). We then moved to a slip at the town docks.

We were warned about the current by Wally, and also by the cruising guides. We never imagined that we would be “trapped” in our slip due to the wind and current. Little Current is not a good name for this town; it should be named Lotta’ Current. The current here changes direction several times a day, and is greatly influenced by the wind. With the 20 knot east winds, the current here was ripping. It had to be running at least 2 or 3 knots (it was fun watching gulls land in the water and then float past us backwards, only to fly forward again and repeat the performance. Our live entertainment for the evening). Little did we know, the current flow plus the wind would effectively lock us in our slip for the entire evening, and most of the next day. The current eventually reversed, but not the wind, so we decided to stay another day, but move to a wall location later in the day, when the wind and current were favorable. That would allow us to leave the following morning without worry of a repeat of the previous day and night (hopefully).

The town itself is tiny, only about 3 by 5 blocks, with most things being on a single main street. It’s a tourist town, so many of the shops are gift shops. The entire channel has a boardwalk which was heavily used by tourists and locals, but was really a nice feature for this town. Grocery was a short walk up a hill (why is everything in these towns that you really need always on the top of a hill?). We stopped there after having dinner at Elliot’s, which was similar to a diner/cafe. On our second night we ate at The Anchor Inn, which was a bar/restaurant/motel that served some interesting sandwiches. We both had the BBQ Pulled Pork Montery Jack Cheeseburger with a side of sweet potato fries served with chipotle mayo. They were really good!

Our first day here was met with a little frustration, as we heard both the water pump and bilge pump kick in several times within a few minutes… Leak in the fresh water line somewhere, but where? With a quick look under the sink, we immediately discovered the issue. A trickle of water was coming out of the pressure relief valve of the hot water heater (maybe a tad more than a trickle). So began the unpacking of tools that were so neatly packed away, and the disassemly of the water lines under the sink. If you’ve ever owned a boat, you’ll understand the contortion it takes to do some of these things. We finally got the valve removed and taken apart, and discovered that the rubber gasket that creates the pressure seal had hardened, and would not stop the flow of water. We looked online, found the hardware store, and headed towards it, only to find out on our way that it had moved 2 miles out of town. Ok, stop at NAPA then. They had nothing that would work. Ok, stop at another service station. Nothing there, either. Stop at the full-service marina next door. Again, nothing. Ok, time to sell the boat and quit this adventure. Actually, we remembered we had a sheet of silicone rubber stashed away, so we (crudely) cut a gasket out of it (with scissors). Put everything back together, turn on the pump and Voila! It actually worked! Leak stopped, boat is being kept, adventure continues…

Pics of Little Current