Some lightning overnight but lots of stars. We wake up to light wind and everybody but Cakaro is gone. We listen to the final Cruisers Net broadcast of the year and then set back for the day.

We motored over to join Cakaro, Fairy Tale and Westwind at Killarney Mountain Lodge to celebrate our anniversary and their birthdays. We caroused Killarney, swam and showered at the lodge, had a cocktail party at the boats and finished up with a great and fun dinner at the lodge.

There was a light rain but we went out for breakfast with Cakaro and Fairy Tale at the Gateway Marina. Seeing as there were strong winds forecast for the evening, we left for Covered Portage. Cakaro anchored inside while Fairy Tale and Toucan anchored outside in the protection of the bluffs.

With the winds blowing the west (where we wanted to go) we stayed put and enjoyed ourselves. We had cocktail parties on Cakaro, Fairy Tale, Westwind and Toucan; hiked the hills around Covered Portage Cove, and tried to stay warm. Even with the great neighbors in the anchorage, the rain, wind and cold got old. Westwind left first but had to duck into Snug Harbour for a night to wait out a storm. Fairy Tale left next but had to duck into Browning Cove to let a storm roll past before finally making it to Little Current. We stayed put and rotated between Cakaro and Toucan for commiseration sessions.

Finally we got a decent forecast both for Cakaro's trip down Georgian Bay and for Toucan's trip west toward Little Current so we took off for Little Current, motoring some and sailing some. We made it, and then the weather got worse.

The weather was rotten, we got a deal for the slip and we stayed put getting Toucan ready to be pulled September 15th.

After pumping out and filling up, we left Wally’s at 13:45 intending to circle until the 14:00 bridge. However there was a strong tail wind and much more than a little current. Craig almost had the engine in full reverse just to keep from being swept down into the bridge. He was leery of turning broadside to the current to go back upstream so he just struggled to stay in position using reverse. Soon a catamaran joined us and struggled with the same combination of wind and current. Fortunately the bridge opened on time and we both swept through.

It was then that we found out that the catamaran was heading toward the same slip at Harbor Vue that we were. Being faster, he got there first and we "sat" outside the harbor while they figured out where to put us. It turned out to be a slip where we would have to make a tight 180 degree turn in the harbor in the strong wind and make a downwind approach into a very narrow slip. Everybody there lined up on the dock as we came flying in and caught us before we hit the wall.

Toucan was pulled on the 15th. We spent the days preparing Toucan for the winter and the evenings in IRV, our RV. All was not work, we went out to eat, did some touring and as is our custom attended the Manitoulin Islanders opening home hockey game.

Once again in Irv. Heading back to life on the hard.