Georgian Bay

Deb has been posting pictures along the way on Carousel's Facebook page. So far that has been updated more frequently than this blog. I hope that the delay in updating the blog is not too confusing. We've decided to create one entry for the entire time we were in Georgian Bay - 13 days.

Please note, you can click on most of the anchorage names to see a map of the area.

Tuesday, August 9th we resumed our cruise after the trip to Galena and then the engine repair. For a safety margin, we added 400 liters of fuel at the US equivalent of about $3.60 per gallon. Ouch! We had originally planned to get all of the way through Canada without buying fuel-  but then we were only going to spend about 12-15 days in Canada! Once we slowed down our pace, added more traveling, and more nights at anchor (more generator run time), we increased our planned fuel usage. However, with Deb working about 10 hours a week, we didn't feel a hit to our budget.

Beausoleil Island Revisited

Dinghy Ride

On the 9th, we made a short 1.5 hour trip over to Beausoleil Island. The first time that we were here we stayed at the Cruisers Dock. This time we sought out a more isolated dock at Ojibway Bay. It was pretty hot and we could have used more breeze but we had a great time hiking the island and exploring some of the other nearby islands in our dinghy. The trails in Canada can be a a challenge and we probably don't have the right footwear so we had to be extra careful with the uneven surfaces.We also made the mistake of underestimating how far we might walk so we didn't bring along any water. Mike did remember bug spray but in many places, the bugs seemed to be more attracted to it than repelled..  We also encounter a large creature that we later found our is a fisher or fisher cat.  Anyway, we had fun.

Deb and Mike on the trail

Fisher Cat Sighting (far tree in center)

Bone Island

On the 10th, we traveled about 2.5 hours to an anchorage on the north part of Bone Island. The anchorage can hold several boats but there were already 3 boats there when we arrived. We had started to observe that many boaters leave early enough in the morning to get to their new location mid-day. Later arrivals take a little risk that the best spots are already taken or that there may not be enough room. In any event, we slipped past the first two boats, one of which was a Grand Banks 42 Classic,  and set our anchor in a narrow spot between two islands

At anchor at Bone Island

The area that we picked was small enough the it would seem that we might swing around too close to the islands if the wind would switch direction. But that was really only an illusion and we were safely anchored. This was a beautiful location but not much to do there.

Indian Harbor

On August 11th we traveled about 3 hours to Indian Harbor, a small protected area between several

Our anchorage view at Indian Harbor

islands right on the main part of the recommended route. The first time that we tried to set the anchor we heard the scraping sound of the anchor dragging across bare rock. Deb looked down and there was the rock, as big a a bus, right under the boat! She was a little concerned about the rock being right under us but the depth gauge read 9 feet. It only appeared closer because of the clarity of the water. Anyway, we moved over about 50 feet and set the anchor in the mud bottom.

We kept ourselves pretty busy for the afternoon. We explored several narrow and tight places in dinghy and took a swim off of the back of Carousel. Mike managed to bump a submerged rock with the dingy's prop but no harm was done.  We were joined by a group of college age girls anchored beside us to swim in the warm water for part of the afternoon.   It got much quieter when they left ahead of the little rain storm that blew though late afternoon. Our late afternoon/evening entertainment was watching the boats traveling along the main channel.

O'Donnell Point and 12 Mile Bay

The next day brought a stiff breeze, more moderate temperatures, and a sunny sky. A portion of the

One of those narrow spots

trip to 12 Mile Bay was out in the open water where there were some waves up to about 3ft. We had been so used to cruising in calm water that we didn't take all of the proper precautions in stowing items in the main cabin so some thinks got rearranged a bit because of the rougher water. This trip also had another of those spots where there is a sharp corner in the channel between two buoys that are very close together. As we were approaching that narrow spot, we heard the radio warning from on-coming boats so we spoke with them over the radio and we agreed to let them come through first. One of them actually bumped one of the buoys as he passed it!

The anchorage off of 12 Mile Bay is large enough to hold perhaps 10 boats comfortably. However, it

Water Fight!

has a large rock in the center of the anchorage that must be avoided. When we arrived, there were four other boats already there. We picked a nice location close to land and we were soon anchored and exploring the area in our dinghy.

Several of the regular cruisers in the area know each other very well as they share some of the same anchorages year after year. In this case, a water fight broke out between two sail boats anchored behind us. It was fun to watch and we were happy that their hoses could not reach as far as Carousel.

Port Rawson

On the 13th we traveled to an anchorage at Port Rawson, The route to Rawson is pretty complicated

Carousel in her private cove

so we had to keep a sharp watch on our charts. Once in the bay, we saw perhaps 30 boats rafted up in the south end in the normal anchorage area. Fortunately, a local that we spoke with in 12 Mile had told us about a few nice anchorages in the north part of the bay. We found a nice, secluded spot in a small cove beside a wilderness camp site. Fortunately, nobody was at the camp site so we were not intruding. If we are ever back this way we will keep that location in mind and we will take advantage of the fire pit at the camp site. We were anchored pretty close to shore again and we were able to explore the entire bay by dinghy. We investigated the raft-up at the south end and came away happy that we would not be part of the ongoing free-for-all that was going on there.

Party!

Parry Sound

Henry's

On Sunday the 14th we traveled to Parry Sound for a schedule re-supply stop but not without stopping at the world famous (according to them) Henry's Restaurant on Frying Pan Island for lunch. Henry's has been around for decades and is an old fish camp type of building. The employees live on the island for the summer with very little time off. We had a smoked trout appetizer and we both had Pickerel (Walleye) and it was delicious. Seated right by the front window we cold watch the comings and goings of other boats. We saw seaplanes drop off customers who pay $160 per person to fly over from Parry Sound. It was a fun stop.

Sea Plane at Henry's

The canals to Parry Sound have three of those narrow spots where boaters should radio ahead before entering. It was all very scenic. As we were docking at Parry sound, we heard on of the local day-trip cruise ships calling out his way through the narrow channels - we would NOT have wanted to be there then!

At Parry Sound, we did all of the typical town activities; a cab ride to the liquor and grocery store,

pump out the holding tank, eat ice cream, give Carousel a bath, fill the water tanks, and do laundry. They have developed a beautiful walking trail along the Sound and we walked along it for a while until the sun started going down. We turned around to get out of the wooded area in anticipation of an onslaught of nighttime bugs. We also enjoyed watching the seaplanes arrive and depart from the nearby town dock.

The town of Parry Sound (witch Apple spell correction keeps wanting to change to Party Sound) has an interesting rail trestle going right over town. It really looks like something our of a model railroad.

The marina had about 4 other Loopers at the docks, but everybody seem like they were getting caught up so there was not much socializing.

We also had the pleasure of borrowing the marina's printer to take care of printing the signature pages for the contract for the sale of our New York house. We were able to get all of that taken care of very quickly while in port.

The paper charts that we bought in Midland only covered us this far so we bought the Canadian  paper charts for the rest of Georgian Bay and the North Channel.

Snug Harbor

 On Monday, August 15th we motored about 2.5 hours to a small harbor just beyond the open water entrance to Parry Sound called Snug Harbor. We had been told about another fantastic fish place there so that helped us make our anchorage choice. We were anchored in a small protected area but there were cottages on the shores that made us a little uncomfortable in running the generator for the morning and evening battery top-up.

We did our normal dinghy exploration and then headed over to the fish restaurant only to find out that they were closed on Mondays! Bummer. We had a great meal on board instead - Jambalaya.

On Tuesday we were rained in so we kept ourselves busy with small projects on board and Deb got a full day of revenue paying work in for Estee Lauder. Thinking there would be a bright side to our being stuck in the harbor an extra day, at dinner time we went over to the fish restaurant only to find out that they had run out of fish earlier in the day and they had closed early. Eating fresh fish in Snug Harbor was just not meant to be.

Well, we had another great meal on the boat with a full rainbow during a small shower, and a wonderful sun set and moon rise.

Rainbow at Snug Harbor

Sunset at Snug Harbor

Moon Rise at Snug Harbor

Cambria Island and The Ojibway Club

On Wednesday we traveled onward to an anchorage behind Cambria Island. This was a very nice isolated

Ojibway Club

anchorage and one of the first of many we encountered where it was so quiet that you could hear everything with great clarity.

We took the dinghy over to the nearby Ojibway club for lunch and to fill the dinghy's gas tank. It started to rain just as we arrived so we ended up hanging out at the club until around 5pm when the rain quit. Between showers, we were able to hike the trails on the small island and tour grounds. The club was holding a day camp for the cottagers' children in the area so there was plenty of activity.

Bad River

We had originally planned to travel to the Bustard Islands on August 18th, but we dropped that stop in order to get ourselves to the next planned marina stop in Killarney a day earlier. The weather report was promising rain in a few days and building seas on the Bay. Each of the next two legs of our journey would take us out to the open waters of the bay.

In fact, we had pretty lumpy water for the passage so we used a little more of Carousel's speed to smooth out the ride a bit.

Bad River is a very difficult anchorage to navigate into as it has uncharted rocks in the main entrance. We entered VERY slowly and made the safe passage. There are a few locations in the harbor where the drop is so steep that boats can tie to the rock face on shore and safely dock at the rock.

The dinghy ride at Bad River was unique and special. There are navigable rapids just a short distance away. We were lucky enough to encounter another boater who guided us right to some of the best rapids; one of which, when going up stream, our dinghy motor was just powerful enough to get us through the swift current. On the way back down, there is a sharp dog-leg double 90 degree turn that must be negotiated by over-steering the dinghy which actually speeds up the boat in the sharp curves. Great fun! 

Deb Driving From The Flybridge

Collins Inlet to Killarney

On the 19th our planned trip to Killarney would take us into the open bay twice. The winds had been blowing pretty good for a few days and the waves were 3-4 feet. Carousel got pushed around a little which rearranged some items from the counter tops to the floor in the cabins (again). The largest part of the trip, though, was through the beautiful Collins Inlet behind the protection of Phillip Edward Island. This is a fairly narrow passage with steep rock walls on both sides in many places. There are a few hunting clubs along the shores and a few cabins. We were told that there is an abandoned logging town up one of the tributaries but all that was visible were some rotting pilings where steamers may have docked back in the day.

As we exited the calm of the Inlet, we entered the open bay again and the full fetch of waves that had built for the entire length of Georgian Bay. Mike decided that shortening the remaining  four miles would be the best best so Carousel accelerated to a solid 16 knots and we comfortably covered the distance in about 15 minutes.

Killarney

Killarney is just a little village in the protected space between the mainland and George Island. But, it has the Killarney Mountain Lodge where there is a new, modern marina and another famous fish place - Herberts. The weather forecast underestimated the high winds and the rain so we ended up staying there for three nights. The resort was a lot of fun. On the first night we went to the Carousel Lounge - Yes, Carousel Lounge -  for a few drinks and to listen to the live music. We met some locals and got to talking about what there might be to do for a few days and whether we could ride our bikes to the nearby Provincial Park. One of the people said not to worry about that, we could just borrow her truck! How nice!

So, on Saturday (August 20th) we did that hike, once again learning that we probably do not have the right hiking gear

The Hikers

for these trails. We hiked about 7 kilometers up and down rocks and through the forest around lakes and bogs. We really enjoyed it and really wore ourselves out.

On Sunday morning, as we were cleaning up around the boat, a gentleman came up behind Carousel in a skiff to give her a complement. He owns a Grand Banks 36 Classic which was at his dock just down the canal. He asked us to lunch in his beautiful waterside home overlooking the town and canal with the mountains in the background. They served Mike's favorite food group. Pizza.

 What a nice time. He let us know about the Great Lakes Grand Banks Association which has a rendezvous each summer. He and his wife have interest in a boat like ours so we invited them aboard later in the day.

Well, we had a great time showing them Carousel and opening a few bottles of wine and putting some of that cheese and sausage that we carry around to good use. In the  morning, just before we were getting ready to leave, he brought us some fresh baked bread!

A View Along the Hike

Killarney was a lot of fun. It was a great way to end our Georgian Bay segment and begin the North Channel.