On the east side of Clapperton Island in Logan Bay we awoke to this beautiful sun rising over Amendroz Island. It was nature's way of making up for the worry she had caused us the previous night.
The afternoon before, we entered Logan Bay with a strong west wind blowing and anchored in the lee at the SW end of the bay. Overnight, the wind veered to the north and increased to over 30 knots, leaving us exposed to a half mile fetch. At 1 a.m., riding little whitecaps with our anchor rode bar-taut, we awoke to find ourselves rather uncomfortably close to the southern shore of the bay, just 100 yards to our stern. We were still holding, but I estimated that should our anchor break out we would be driven on shore in a matter of a few seconds.
We warmed up the engine --just in case-- and kept an anchor watch until about 2 a.m., when the wind eased back to just 15-20 knots, and we dropped back to sleep. We used the logic that if the anchor had just held for over an hour in 30 knots, we'd be alright in 20 knots the rest of the night!
Another strange thing about that sudden wind shift: it brought with it the smell of burning wood, which we later learned was produced by a rather large forest fire that was being fought near Wawa, Ontario, about 150 miles to the northwest.
As for Logan Bay: it's a nice anchorage with 6-7 feet of water over most of the middle portion, and shoaling towards the shores. On the western end a notice was posted on a tree on shore, and we rowed over to read it. It proclaimed the island an Indian Reserve and warned of fines ($50) and jail sentences (30 days) for trespassing. This is the only such notice we have ever seen in the North Channel. Apparently Clapperton Island now belongs to the local Indians and boaters are not welcome ashore. According to some other boaters we talked with about this, the posting may have been the result of an incident in July of 1995 between some yachtsmen anchored there and Indians visiting the island.
This article first appeared in 19955.
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 by James W. Hebert. All rights reserved.
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Author: James W. Hebert