For the last week we have been traveling with 21 other boats through the 30,000 islands of Georgian Bay, Lake Huron. The weather has been beautiful and the scenery is gorgeous. The landscape is a lot like Penobscot Bay, Maine - Granite Islands covered with mostly pine trees with camps and homes throughout. The water is quite different however as it is fresh, not salt, warm enough to swim, has no tide, and is very clear. One can see bottom in 20 feet of water.
The navigation is different also. We have been following the small craft channel through the bay. This has taken us through some very narrow spots with the sides of the boat just about touching the navigation marks on each side and the rocks very close and clearly visible.
Our first stop last Friday was an anchorage at Port Rawson Bay where we made a raft of the 22 boats in one corner of the bay. Quite a sight! The water was warm and we were able to swim off of the boats. The following day we took a dinghy excursion to moon river falls – 11 miles one way. It was quite a sight to see 15 dinghies in convoy. We knew our 4 HP engine would be too slow so we rode with Larry and Lola from Lola Marie with their 40 hp engine. The falls was beautiful as was the scenery on the way in.
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| Moon River Falls |
Sunday and Monday were spent at Parry Sound. Parry Sound was the home of hockey great Bobby Orr and we visited the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame as well as the local museum. We also climbed the fire tower which is now open to the public and provides as great view of the surrounding area. Our leaders, Karen and Bob, put on a wine and cheese party that evening and a good time was had by all!
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| Kaos, Time Out and Transition underway |
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| Dinner at the German restaurant, Killbear Marina |
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| Honga is lead boat - The rocks were left to starboard |
On Tuesday we traveled only 12 miles to Killbear Marina, stopping for a swim along the way. That evening we had a group dinner at the German restaurant located at the marina. The next day we wound our way through various channels through the islands to Byng Inlet where we stayed at Wrights Marina. The entertainment that evening was a pot luck dinner. We definitely have a lot of good cooks in the flotilla.
Thursday was the longest day -65 miles, much of it through open water. Our destination was the village of Killarney where we stayed at the Sportsmen’s Inn and Marina. Many of the boats had dinner at Mr. Perch – a restaurant in an old school bus that does several million dollars of business each year. We walked around town and had an ice cream.
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| More scenery from our bow |
On the way to Killarney we passed through some of the most dramatic scenery yet as we went through Collins Inlet. Collins inlet was more like a canyon than any other place we’ve been and went on for about 10 miles. It was good traveling however, since except for the inlet the water was generally deep from shore to shore. We all kicked up a lot of mud on the way in as that was very shallow- plus or minus 5 feet!
The next day was a short 20 miles to Little Current where we are staying for the weekend. This is their Haweater Festival weekend and there is a lot going on. Yesterday we went to the Farmer’s Market, then watched the cardboard boat races which were a hoot. After that we went to a classic car show. Most of the cars were from the 50’s and 60’s and we enjoyed them very much. Last evening Bob ans Karen put on another wine and cheese party and we followed that with desert and coffee on Lola Marie. Today we are getting a bus tour of the island (Manitoulin Island) and there is a big fireworks show scheduled for tonight.
The week before this we spent in Penetang, Ontario at the AGLCA Rendevous. This included classes on what to expect on Lakes Huron and Michigan and the Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee rivers as well as numerous social events. We also toured Discovery Harbor, which is a recreation of the British Navel base of the 1800’s in Penetang and we also took an evening dinner cruise on the Georgian Queen.
In all its been a fun two weeks!
3 comments:
From CHRISTiNE: Getting to know you has been our pleasure. Our dinghy cruise from the Benjamin Islands to Fox and Croker Islands was a hoot! The cook-out with other loopers + one fox is quite memorable as we worked together gathering wood & blueberries! We From CHRISTiNE: Getting to know you has been our pleasure. Our dinghy cruise from the Benjamin Islands to Fox and Croker Islands was a hoot! The cook-out with other loopers + one fox is quite memorable as we worked together gathering wood & blueberries! We look forward to future rendousvous!
From CHRISTiNE: Getting to know you has been our pleasure. Our dinghy cruise from the Benjamin Islands to Fox and Croker Islands was a hoot! The cook-out with other loopers + one fox is quite memorable as we worked together gathering wood & blueberries! We From CHRISTiNE: Getting to know you has been our pleasure. Our dinghy cruise from the Benjamin Islands to Fox and Croker Islands was a hoot! The cook-out with other loopers + one fox is quite memorable as we worked together gathering wood & blueberries! We look forward to future rendousvous!
Please delete duplicate posting and correct spelling for us: rendezvous. Thank-you.
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