Georgian Bay & North Channel

Last post was from the southern end of the Georgian Bay and this one is being written at De Tour Michigan upon our return to the US of A. We have a lot of ground to cover and a bunch of pictures in this installment so lets get started...

We were in Midland ON during a Canadian "Civil Holiday". Not quite sure what that is other than boaters don't have to act civil over a long weekend so we decided to stay in port until Tuesday when everyone was back at work (we thought). First order of business was a haircut which was long overdue and not to be found over a holiday weekend. Lucky for me I had a set of clippers and a wife who is willing to try....what's the worst that could happen??

Well, Tuesday morning we got underway up the Georgian Bay. We were very excited since we've heard so many stories about how beautiful it is. The protected channel up the bay twists and turns it's way through narrow passes lined with granite boulders and you have to keep on your toes. Things are well marked along the way and started out easy enough.

There are always interesting sights along the way. Below is a helicopter delivering a log somewhere...did you see the one in the above pic?

Just a few hours into our trip up the bay I realized we were still too close to the holiday weekend. There were boats everywhere zooming past at full speed just a few yards between us and the edge of the channel. I thought all rude boaters resided in south Florida but maybe they come to Canada for the summer?

During this stretch I realized why gun laws are so strict in Canada...you can have a gun or a boat but not both!!

By the end of the first day I realized that I hate Georgian Bay!! There...I said it...I feel better. It's really not much fun to boat when you can't enjoy the sights and this was one of those places. To top it off we pulled into a secluded (sarcasm) anchorage for the evening only to find our windlass was acting up and we couldn't get the chain out. This was completely my fault since I didn't check it earlier and we hadn't used it since Georgia (the state, not the bay). We told our friends to enjoy the stay and pushed on to a dock in Parry Sound. The only thing that made it better was the fact that Parry Sound was a very nice town and they had a car show too.

It's always interesting to have to time your approach to a dock with the taxi pattern of the local float plane delivering fresh fish.

Next day our friends caught up and we spent another day exploring town before moving further up north. We passed through Pointe au Baril along the way and I wondered where the name came from. It was very nice of them to post a sign for us!

Pointe au Baril

Next stop was the small town of Britt where we got weathered in for an extra day when the winds picked up on the bay. It was here that another question was answered for me. Where to the construction workers go when they are building a house on one of these remote islands???

Island Honey Dipper

As we got further up the bay the boat traffic thinned out and the scenery changed to more rugged. This was what we had been hoping for all along! Turns out we just had to endure Georgian Bay to get to the beauty of the North Channel.

After a night in the little town of Killarney we spent an afternoon exploring Baie Fine before going to Little Current for a couple of nights. Baie Fine (Bay Fin) is spectacular and you feel like you're in a fjord in Norway. At the upper end we took a hike up to Topaz Lake which reminded Jill & I of a mini Lake Tahoe.

The Batan Death March

The Reward

Happy Hikers

Everyone slept well at Little Current that evening!! I hiked up one more hill to get some sunset shots before turning in early.

Next morning a cruise ship pulled into port. A good thing we didn't meet him in a small channel!!

While in Little Current we met up with friend and fellow retired firefighter Bill Browne and his family, who have a place up here and have summered here for many years. We were invited to enjoy a nice birthday dinner with the family as Bill's wife and mother share the day. It was a great visit and for once we traveled to friends...not the other way around.

They even let the new pup try driving the boat....maybe next time it'll be tall enough.

After Little Current our little flotilla split up and Knot Sew Easy and Moondance returned to the US while we continued a bit further north to visit more friends, this time at Hilton Beach on St. Josephs Island. Unfortunately we let them get away before we were able to get a nice shot of the family. I did get one candid shot of Greg making killer margaritas...Casey's shoulder is there too...Glad the next day wasn't a travel day after those drinks!

So that's about it for now. We are back in the US and back to our regular cell phone numbers. The plan from here is to spend some time traveling down Lake Michigan toward Chicago. Should be in the Windy City sometime before Labor Day. We'll keep you posted.

On a sad note, our friends on Knot Sew Easy had to put their first mate down while in Little Current. It it always hard to loose a beloved pet and they had really hoped she was going to make it home to Michigan. We've followed Knot Sew Easy for many miles during this trip and I'll leave you with a picture of Brandy as we got used to seeing her.