Extend your Rendezvous cruise at Baie Fine

By Rear Commodore David Spencer

If you’re coming to the Rendezvous this summer, Little Current isn’t the only place you’ll want to visit in the North Channel. The North Channel is legendary for offering the best freshwater cruising anywhere in the world.  

The Great Lakes Cruising Club was founded in 1934 by several brave explorers who enjoyed spending their summers gunkholing around the beautiful, but unsounded waters of the North Channel in their wooden yachts. No charts. No GPS. No radios. No networked instruments. Just a compass, a lead line and a strong desire to explore beautiful but uncharted waters of the North Channel and then the rest of the Great Lakes.  

Some of the spirit of those early explorers can be found only 12 nautical miles east of Little Current in Baie Fine (pronounced “Bay Finn,” but never spelled that way). Baie Finn is French for “Narrow Bay.” It’s well-charted now with CHS Chart 2205 offering the best detail. It even has some creature comforts available at Okeechobee Lodge. But most of Baie Fine offers even a timid cruiser boundless opportunity for exploration.  

Baie Fine’s entrance is well hidden behind Frazer Point along the north shore of Frazer Bay. The safest approach is to head toward McGregor Point west of the small group of islands and run parallel to the shore equidistant from the shore and the group of islands. Ahead you will see a prominent boathouse and a single red spar buoy that must be left to starboard. 

Hold your speed down and watch your wake as you pass Okeechobee Lodge’s attractive buildings and property. This was the site of the 1992 GLCC Rendezvous. Some 350 members were somehow able to dock, beach or anchor their boats at the lodge for several days of GLCC fun and camaraderie. Okeechobee is now in private hands. It is not open to the public and does not accommodate drop-in boaters. However, if you want to stay at the lodge or tie up at their docks, you can do so by preregistering well in advance of your arrival. Details can be found at https://okeechobeelodge.ca. 

After passing Okeechobee, a short series of buoys guides you through the shallowest part of the approach with about 8 feet at chart datum found just off green spar buoy EH5 placed to guard against an islet charted at 3 feet high. In high water years, this can be a nasty hazard lurking just under water where more than one boat has come to grief when making the mistake of leaving the green buoy to starboard instead of to port.  

The first anchorage in Baie Fine is unnamed on the chart but is locally known as Marianne Cove. This is one of the most attractive and popular anchorages in the North Channel.  

Marianne Cove is along the south shore behind an island on CHS2205 with a charted depth of only 5 feet. This is nonsense; our Harbor Report NC-83.2 correctly shows the center of the cove is more than 20 feet deep. The preferred anchoring practice is to drop an anchor in the deep water and back down to shore taking a line to a convenient tree or rock. Much of the cove is deep right up to the shore so you can almost step ashore off your transom.  

Once you’re settled in Marianne Cove, you will enjoy perfect protection from all winds, lovely scenery and great swimming and dinghying. You are unlikely to be alone though. At the peak of summer, 20 or more boats can be found enjoying this attractive place. The island guarding Marianne Cove is private property; tying ashore, hiking or walking your dog is not permitted. 

One of the “must do” shore activities at Marianne Cove starts by beaching your dinghy only a few hundred yards east of the cottage on the unnamed island where you will begin the Casson Peak hike. Casson Peak is named after the Group of Seven painter A. J. Casson who painted this area in the 1940’s. A 45-60 minute hike takes you more than 600 ft above Baie Fine for a magnificent and memorable view to the west toward distant Little Current and to the north into McGregor Bay. 

The safest path to head deeper into Baie Fine from Marianne Cove is to run about 150 yards off north shore. The brilliant white quartz contrasted with the pine trees clinging to the towering north shore cliffs is a breathtaking sight on a sunny day. 

The gorgeous cliffs along the north shore can be admired all day from the comfort of your cockpit if you do some gunkholing and find an anchorage along the south shore. There are a few hazards once you depart from your safe course 150 yards off the north shore but they are well charted.  

Depending on the wind forecast, you can drop an anchor almost anywhere along the south shore. Launch the dinghy and find a spot to pick blueberries or have a campfire. Keep your eyes peeled for eagles that are plentiful in the area.

Our final destination in Baie Fine is The Pool, accessed through a narrow but deep 1 ½ nautical mile channel. Just like the entrance to Baie Fine, the entry channel to The Pool is well hidden. As you approach the east end of Baie Fine, you will pass an island with a cottage and a unique suspension bridge linking a smaller island to the east. These are locally known as The Birthday Islands and you can pass them on either side but if you stay to the north, take care to avoid the shoals just before the narrows entrance. Many cruisers head south of the Birthday Islands to admire the suspension bridge and line up cleanly with the southeast point that should be favored as you enter the narrows. 

Baie Fine is blessed with two of the prettiest and best protected anchorages you’ll find anywhere, Marianne Cove and The Pool. The scenery at The Pool is unrivaled. There are a couple of well-kept cottages at The Pool but rather than diminishing the attractiveness of this anchorage, their presence adds to the character of this beautiful spot. The most prominent building is the Evinrude cottage built many years ago by Ralph Evinrude, the son of Ole Evinrude who founded Evinrude outboard motors. If you think perhaps Baie Fine and The Pool is too tight to cruise with your boat, think again. Ralph and his glamorous wife, the singer and actress Frances Langford, accessed their remote hideaway in The Pool aboard their 118-foot yacht named Chanticleer. When Chanticleer was docked in The Pool, Ralph would power their cottage from the boat.

Ralph always carried a broad range of the latest Evinrude outboards aboard Chanticleer and would challenge his grandson Chris and friend Jib Turner of Little Current to test the newest engines in the open water of Baie Fine. After a day of teenage fun roaring around with the newest Evinrude outboard, they usually returned with a perfectly functioning engine only to receive a scolding from Ralph that they weren’t driving it hard enough. The cottage in The Pool is still in the Evinrude family and, although Evinrude outboards are no longer made, the Evinrude flag still flies proudly over the island. 

Once you round the Evinrude island, The Pool offers safe and spectacular anchorage for at least 20 boats. Here, you have the option of swinging at anchor or tying to shore. In recent years, seaweed has become more prevalent in The Pool, especially in the late summer. Be sure your anchor is well set in the weeds and plan some extra time to cut the weeds off your chain when hauling up your anchor. 

The tall ships of the Toronto Brigantine have cruised this area in past years and the Brig’s 72-foot sail training vessel Playfair still makes the journey to The Pool with its crew of 10, plus 18 trainee sailors, each summer. 

A trip to The Pool wouldn’t be complete without beaching your dinghy along the north shore and taking a 20-30 minute hike into Killarney Provincial Park and up to Topaz Lake. Although this idyllic mountain lake is technically “dead,” it is an attractive spot for a picnic and a swim.  

Throughout the 1900’s up to the late 70’s, the lake was badly affected by acid rain from the smelters surrounding the nearby city of Sudbury. The lake will recover in time but right now, there isn’t any aquatic growth or fish in the lake, which makes the water crystal clear. The water is not at all tainted and is perfectly safe for swimming which is a real treat. One benefit of Topaz being a lifeless lake is the underwater rocks are completely free of adhering slime making it easy to climb out after jumping off the surrounding cliffs into its refreshing clear water. 

When you’re at the Rendezvous in Little Current, you have the whole North Channel at your doorstep. It’s worth your time to study your harbor reports, chat with experienced North Channel cruisers at the Rendezvous and make Baie Fine’s stunning anchorages and rewarding hikes part of your summer cruising plans.