Since my last posting, we anchored for the night next to Dead Island in Georgian Bay. Great name, huh? Well, it wasn’t so dead, because right away Janet spotted this bear swimming between the little rock islands and then hustling across the length of a larger island and finally over the top and out sight. All four of us watched his entire journey in our binoculars. It was my first bear sighting on this boat adventure!
I mentioned in my previous blog posting about having the Sibling Rivalry wine for our happy hour. Well, I just HAD to show you this photo of the wine “coming between” the two primary rivals. LOL
The next morning (last Thursday), Rick and Janet both took kayak rides and hiked around on Dead Island while I did a bike ride on the trainer. After departing, we had to cross a 17-mile open-water ROUGH ride. Luckily, the strong winds and 3-4 ft swells came straight at us instead of from the side, so we did ok bouncing up and down during the two-hour adventure.
We finally turned north behind the protection of islands, and anchored for a calm lunch. Continuing, we got to navigate one of the prettiest parts yet, an 8-mile narrow channel bounded by tall cliffs. Here’s Rick at the bow as we were cruising through this channel, called Collins Inlet.
It actually started raining on us, and the strong headwind picked up again, so halfway through the Inlet I decided to try to find protection for the night. We dropped anchor in a pretty spot, but just as we were about to depart for a dinghy exploration (the raining had stopped), we realized we had dragged anchor and were about to hit the rocks behind us. Rick and I jumped into action and got the heck out of there! I decided to just go on to the village of Kilarney, which marks the end of Georgian Bay.
We got a mooring in Kilarney, which is on a narrow passage between Georgian Bay and the North Channel. It’s like a river, with the mainland on one side and a large island, George Island, on the other. We dinghied the 100 yards to the mainland, and in 10 minutes had walked the entire length of this quaint village. We hadn’t planned on it, but could not pass up eating dinner at Herbert’s World Famous Fish and Chips, operated out of this old school bus. Even vegetarian Janet agreed to eat the fish because they promised her it was local and fresh. It definitely had a good reputation judging by the throngs of locals and tourists lined up at the bus window waiting to order or pick up their feasts.
We were moored against George Island, and the next morning we climbed in the dinghy and went all of 60 ft to a little dock behind the boat and embarked on a five-mile, five-hour hike. Here’s a photo of Janet reading to us from the nature-guide brochure about what we were seeing along the way.
It was a very beautiful and interesting hike, with varying terrain through woods, rocks, tall grassy meadows, shoreline, bogs (no moose though), and wild blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, which we ate with glee! This picture shows when we reached the far side of the island, with Manitoulin Island across the water. Manitoulin Island is the largest fresh-water island in the world, and run most of the length of the North Channel. It’s what makes the North Channel a channel, separating it from the open Lake Huron.
We later ate sandwiches in the village and did some shopping, and Rick and Janet went on another hike to the lighthouse while Cheryl read and I napped.
That night at our mooring we enjoyed a World Famous Mercurio Pasketti dinner on the flybridge. Cheryl has been our primary cook and sandwich maker. It was a perfect evening!
We departed early the next morning (Saturday).and went a little ways across calm open water to a special destination recommended in all the cruising guides – Baie Fine, an actual fjord! It was a 7-mile-long channel with mountains or cliffs on either side, and ending in a small bay called The Pool. This photo shows part of the shoreline as we navigated through the inlet.
When we reached The Pool, we were surprised to see only a single boat anchored there, so we quickly grabbed a spot in the beautiful setting surrounded by tall forested or rocky hillsides. We later found out why no one was there – a heavily weeded bottom that entangled the anchor like never before.
But first things first. We ate a scrumptious salmon-tacos lunch, and then Janet, Rick and I dinghied to the shore for a steep hike to Topaz Lake. Many boating visitors were swimming and diving off the cliffs into the crystal-clear water, and Rick and Janet joined them. It was all SOOO cool!
Back at Breaking Away, this HUGE snapping turtle appeared next to us, apparently begging for food for about 20 minutes. Loads of fish accompanied him. We realized they probably were asking for seconds on the leftover salmon I had tossed into the lake earlier. Cracked us up! We had chummed for turtle!
That night we anchored all by ourselves in a cove off one of the many islands out here. After Janet and Rick took kayak rides and I rode my bike (trainer), it began to pour. And it didn’t stop. We cruised in the downpour to the town of Little Current, where we wanted to get some fuel, which I had not gotten since June 27 at the beginning of the Trent-Severn Canal.
Before we arrived at the fuel dock, however, we had to wait for a swing bridge to open for us. I had forgotten that this was new to my siblings, to have cars stop and wait for little old us. I’m used to it now, but they marveled at how it swung open and we passed through, still in pouring rain.
I had to wait a long time for the rain intensity to lighten before I could pump my fuel so that water would not enter the tank. Even then, we had to hold a rag over the nozzle to block the rain. I could stand to add only 49 gallons since the cost was – get this -- $4.36/gallon! I wanted only enough to get me to, I hope, lower prices in the U.S.
With it still raining, we headed to the quaint village of Kowawong. As luck would have it, the skies cleared just before we arrived. We hiked to this wonderful Bridal Veil Falls, where we could swim directly under the falls and stand up behind them. It was a hightlight of the trip so far! We also toured a local museum and generally enjoyed seeing the local charm of this historic mill town.
We then cruised to this quiet anchorage on Eagle Island for last night, and this is the scene we awoke to. There are 13 other boats in this cove, with total glass and no wind. Last night we had a wonderful happy hour, macaroni and cheese dinner, and All in the Family reruns on DVD. It’s been fabulous, and we still have nine more days with the four siblings!
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