Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Life is but a Dream
The most striking feature of The Georgian Bay is its topography. There is land both above and below. They call this the land of 30,000 islands. Some say it should reflect the other 70,000 islands and rock formations that you cannot see, because they are under the water.
Our first and second day on the Bay was spent at Queens Cove Marina in Victoria Harbor, Ontario. We spent two days here. It was nice respite after putting our finishing touch on the Trent Severn Waterway. This is a very looper friendly marina and one of the gals in the office gave us the keys to her car and we went to Food Land! Big adventure of the day! These towns in the Bay are very small. Mostly cottage dwellers. There are some brave souls who live here year round, which from what we have seen and been told is an icy, cold sort of, what I’d call a big nope!
We are well into our journey on the Georgian Bay and it is beautiful. Beautiful and treacherous! Being in unknown waters has been a challenge for our whole trip obviously, but here, one wrong move will literally sink our boat. Back in Florida, running aground might entail calling BoatUS and have them tow you off the sand bar. Up the East Coast, smacking a log, which we did a few times, might cost you a pretty penny in bent propellers. But here, hitting this hard granite rock, could put a hole in your boat and render you, absolutely done!
THE GEORGIAN BAY
As you can clearly see from this arial photo, just the top of the rocks and islands are showing. Not staying in the marked channels, which sometimes are just a boat width across, will ruin your day. Jim is doing a fabulous job getting us around dangerous areas. I watch diligently for wave forms breaking in the water because I know, white caps, and water movement equal submerged obstacles. The water in the Georgian Bay is chilly right now and the air temperature the same. Winds whip through the bay and channels. Interesting, the trees on the islands have been beaten by countless years of winds. They lean in one direction!
Our third day outing, took us to Henry’s Fish House, where we stopped for lunch. This evidently was the be all, end all, stop for Loopers. They serve fish and chips, which we heard were amazing. Pickerel is the fresh Canadian fish they serve a lot of here. In the states, this is what we would call, Walleye. It’s what we ordered. It was pricey, and yes it was good, but I guess the experience is also what you pay for. There are not a whole lot of eateries on the Georgian Bay! The only way to get to this restaurant is by boat or sea plane. We found out that people pay for air rides from local water strips. They fly in for lunch and then fly back to where their cars are parked. We catch glimpses of mainland here on the Georgian Bay. We’ve seen it a few times on our travels this past week.
From Henry’s, we looked for an anchorage to spend the night. Marinas are few and far in between here, but there are gorgeous hidey-holes to toss your anchor. We have not anchored on our trip yet. Anchoring comes with a skill set. Jim has anchored many times in his past boating experiences. We have anchored the Mei Wen Ti a few times in Long Beach, but most of our experience is on mooring balls, like in Catalina. We have a good anchor on the Happy Destiny and we have 150 feet of chain and rope. We just haven’t done it yet. Anyway, as we left Henry’s for our first time at anchor, a storm rolled in super fast. The sky turned black! I mean BLACK! As we rounded a corner we saw a dock in the water. It was located In Massasauga Provincial Park and it had cleats on it. No one else was there, so we pulled in and got tied up, just in the nick of time. There was a storm a brewin, and I was so grateful that we weren’t trying to set an anchor at this time.
We got in a bit of trouble around 9:00 pm. Beacause we were tied to the dock, the Conservation Police, on their boat, with their flashlights and guns, knocked on our door. We evidently were not allowed to tie up to their park dock. We told them of our plight to seek refuge from the storm and they allowed us to stay for the night. They could have made a stink, but they didn’t.
From Massasauga Park we headed to our next destination, Parry Sound, Ontario. We are seeing more Loopers in the last few days and a few of the boats we run into often. Hoot Owl with Mona and Nolan, Sea Tiger with Kay and Keith who are the first Loopers we met back in Delaware Bay, and Sandy and Keith on Koastal Karma, are among the few. We had a potluck at the picnic tables for dinner at the marina. We also were able to walk a ways and go to a meeting. Getting to meetings are always a highlight. It’s fun to seek and find them. Also, difficult. These little towns are small and we tend to miss things that happen on certain days. Like, there’s one meeting a week on Monday, but we arrive on Wednesday kind of thing. That being said we usually miss the Farmers markets, the town Sandwich and pickle day, the free ice cream day. You get the picture.
PARRY SOUND
As we travel, the plan is to have an ending point. Usually, for us, that point is a marina. The Georgian Bay is best known for its beautiful anchorage spots. There is a fire burning in this area now and that has closed off a big part of the small boat channels. Marinas for a boat our size are limited. The anchorages are where you find most big boats like the Happy Destiny. Most boats on the bay are small watercraft. Summer boats. Local people. Our plan was to meet up for lunch at a place called Gillys with the people we were with at the last marina, have lunch, and figure out where to go for the night. We got there, pulled into a dock, and walked to the restaurant, which was closed. Imagine that. No fish and chips for us today.
We ventured off to a place called Point Au Baril. As the day progressed, the wind whipped up, the skies turned dark again, and we were navigating around shallow waters with big rocks in it. I was a bit frazzled on this day. I called several marinas that could not accommodate a 42 foot boat. We made the decision to enter the Point Au Baril channel and try their Municipal Dock which was reported not to be able to take a boat our size either. We figured if that didn’t pan out we would find an anchorage. As we got to the end of the channel we saw the docks and Lauren, a cute young dock mistress, led us in, and welcomed us with open arms. BEST dock ever! No power or water, but at 55 cents a foot, and rain about to pour, we were both glad to be tied to a dock and safe for the night. This town is so small that the only restaurant was in the gas station. It did have a pretty good market, though.
We left the following morning with a reservation at Wright’s Marina in Britt, Ontario. This is one of the marinas that most Loopers stop at. It was a 29 mile trip from Pointe Au Baril and we rolled in around 1:45 in the afternoon. This place was fun and the marina staff very kind. We were able to get to the only meeting in Britt for the week. It was at the Firestation. There are only 160 people who live in Britt, and 7 of us sat around a table and shared our experience, strength and hope. A few of the folks drove from Parry Sound. That’s how few meetings there are on the Georgian Bay. It was fabulous!
Next stop, Killarney, Ontario. A big water day. It was snotty on the water most of the trip. 48 miles of bobbing like a cork!
Not much to see out here but water, but today, we were in deep water. We saw over 250 feet deep at one point. You still must stay in the channel markers because when you least expect it, even in the deep blue water, a submerged island will pop up! It’s crazy!
Killarney Mountain Lodge was our marina stop. A beautiful marina, with top notch amenities. This is also a hotel. There is a pool, a restaurant, an airport for sea planes. The docks are wonderful and the scenery, spectacular. It’s not a very big town. We wandered down the path and we had fish and chips for dinner. This was a nice stop.
22 miles from Killarney is Little Current, Ontario and our marina stop. The water today was like glass!
This was a stark contrast to the waves we’ve been pounding. We tried to time our arrival to the opening of the swing bridge which only opens on the hour. Jim did a pretty good job. We arrived just 20 minutes early. We stayed at the Municipal Port. A bustling little town compared to our past several days! TWO markets to choose from! It must seem like we go grocery shopping a lot! Well, we do! We are always looking for fresh fish. Very hard, almost impossible to come by in Canada. We are both surprised by this. The cool, fresh, waters here seem like they would produce plenty of fish to be sold somewhere!
The town of Little Current hosts the Viking Line Great Lakes Cruise Ship. It’s pretty impressive seeing such a huge ship in this little channel!
At this point in our Canadian Adventure, Jim and I are anxious to get back to the United States. We have just about had enough of locks, rocks and spiders 🕷. Have I told you about the spider populations here in Canada? They are industrious little mother fuckers! Every day it’s a new surprise on the boat. These spiders have spun webs and reproduced over night. They hang from the ceilings and the dingy propeller. They make webs on the fender holders and take up residence in the corners of everything. Everyday I have to clean up after them. Ugh!
We are on the countdown to our arrival back in the United States! August 10 takes us on a side trip to Bridal Veil Falls in Kagawong , Ontario. This was a great little hike up a poison ivy lined trail! Just like in the water where we stay in the channel - today on land ,we stayed in the channel!
Bridal Veil Falls
From here we traveled another 20 miles to Gore Bay, our marina stop for the night. I gave the boat a good wash down, ( bye - bye spiders) . We barbecued hamburgers and had a relaxing evening.
Tonight is August 10, 2018. We are at Meldrum Bay Marina in, guess where? Meldrum Bay! It’s been a beautiful day and we are looking forward to maybe seeing the Perseid Meteor Showers tonight. Tomorrow will be our last tour here in Canada. We will travel 46 miles to De Tour Village, Michigan. Here we will clear customs and be safe and sound in the USA 🇺🇸
What an amazing adventure we have had. We were in Canada for 28 days. We conquered 45 locks. We traveled over countless lakes, bays, rivers, creeks, inlets and canals. We’ve battled rainstorms, heat, humidity, spiders, aches and pains, ( I took a tumble into the bilge). We’ve seen so many beautiful sights and learned a lot about each other. We worked as a team most of the time, and we always said “ I love you” at the end of our day, no matter what.
We are 2,722 miles from where we started in Osprey, Florida. We have been in 9 different States (tomorrow will be 10), and through 1 country (Canada) and 20 different villages and municipalities in Canada. We have been on the water for 81 days. We have burned 1,788 gallons of diesel fuel. We have laughed and I think we both have had a few tears. This truly is an adventure of a lifetime, and I can’t wait to see what the second half has in store for us and our Happy Destiny!
See you on the flip side!🇺🇸
peace and our love♥️
