Again, we have been days between ports with reliable cell service and no internet access. While we were "away" we completed our journey across Georgian Bay and entered The North Channel. It took us 14 days to transverse Georgian Bay-we spent 8 nights in marinas and 6 nights anchored. If I ever do this again I definitely want to anchor out more often in quiet coves and pristine bays, the likes of which, seen this past week, as close to heaven as I have ever been...
Here are a few highlights of what we've seen and where we've been since I was last able to blah blah blog!
Day 1- On Sunday August 3rd we headed out of Britt early and headed to The Bustards. We snaked our way through a very precarious inlet off the Gun Barrel Channel, around Pearl Island and into a lovely spot...once set we took off in the "dink" to explore only to return a little while later to discover Ithaka had crept a bit closer to the rocks. We pulled up the anchor and decided to find a spot in the center of the small bay. Several tries later (it was nearly 5pm) she finally stuck! The bottom was mainly rock so it was tough to get the anchor to snag...Once we felt confidant we made a wonderful dinner and watched a gorgeous sunset. It was very windy all night. (I am beginning to get a little bit homesick).
Day 2- Awake before dawn, a pink sunrise...coffee made, anchor up by 7:30 am..and we were off to our next destination...Mill Lake. We entered the first half of Collins Inlet through Beaverstone Bay- a beautiful, narrow waterway...well marked with low water warning buoys; we went slow, watched the charts, I stood bow watch and we got through it without any problems. We arrived early and spent the entire day fishing in the dinghy up and down the rock walls along Mill Lake. I really liked this anchorage a lot...still no phone and no computer...just the two of us and our fishing poles lounging in the dinghy catching the warm rays of the sun...but not catching any fish...it didn't matter. We relaxed all day. --And even though we weren't "connected" to the rest of the world, we were very connected to "our" world.
Day 3- We are now in The North Channel. The trip from Mill Lake to Killarney took 2 hours. We are not out to set any speed records, that's for sure. We cruised through the second half of Collins Inlet. The channel averages about 150' across with 75 to 100' rock walls on either side creating the feeling like we were travelling through a gorge. I wish you could see the size of the evergreen trees growing right out of the cracks in the rocks! We stayed at The Sportsman's Inn & Marina which was a sweet place, but their advertisement in one of the guides proclaimed they'd have free wireless...Not true...another couple of days without contact from the outside world. Shucks!
Day 4- It is now August 6th...there are 24 loopers in Killarney today! Yikes! I will download a few photographs of the sunset party we had on the dock across from the Inn...It was fun to share appetizers and stories with so many other like-minded cruisers! Earlier in the day we took the dinghy over to Covered Portage, an amazingly beautiful cove only 2 miles from Killarney Channel. There is a rock formation there which strongly resembles an Indian's profile which I will also post on the blog. Killarney is a tiny village with very little to offer in the way of provisioning. They do have a "chip truck" (except it's in a red school bus). We ate lunch there...and the fish and fries were pretty good, but nowhere near as awesome at Joscelyn's in Nelson, British Colunbia which are still THE best in the universe! (Go BITE)! In Killarney there is an artist's studio, a church (of course), a small grocery store, a post office, a couple of gift shops, an ice cream parlor where you can also purchase bait...and that's about it!
Day 5- We knew we would be cutting it close stopping at the pebble beach on the way through Baie Fine to "the pool", but we are so glad we made sure to leave early enough to wade our way through the multi-colored stones at the entrance to Bay Fine...the weather was about to turn, but we had a rainbow onboard. A rainbow of stones and pebbles collected at this not so secret beach just as you leave Frazer's Bay and turn into Bay Fine. The entrance is well marked, but once you decide to go for it, you must trust your chart plotter and your eyes! There were times when we only had a foot under the keel...a few boats have been known to kiss a few rocks making there way back to the pool. I sat up at the bow with my binoculars and counted islands and shoals as I kept track on my chart...Chip did a great job getting us back through this 9 mile fjord. We anchored in the pool, a small body of water at the end of Baie Fine accessed only by a 2 mile narrow cut. We cooked steaks on the grill, watched a movie and slept like two babies in this very calm and protected anchorage. We would suggest that everyone who ever does this trip put this stop and Covered Portage on their list of "must see"!
Day 6- Before leaving Baie Fine we hiked up the beautiful white quartz ridge to Lake Topaz. We also found the cliff that overlooks the pool. We picked blueberries...more homemade cobbler is guaranteed! This hike was possibly the highlight of the entire trip so far! It is 08/08/08 and I knew that something phenomenal would happen today! The view from the vantage point above the pool was spectacular. I will attempt to put a few on the blog, but I'm afraid it's probably going to be one of those times when you just had to be there! We cruised to the small town of Little Current, population 1,500. We met several other loopers at the marina and we went to dinner together at The Anchor Inn. It was a very nice dinner....good to eat out and not cook. A treat! We will do all of our provisioning here so that we won't have to worry about anything but ice for the next week...
It looks like we may be heading off into the Canadian wilderness again where laptops are pretty useless and where you're lucky to get one bar on a cell phone. I'll try to keep you posted...In the meantime, sorry for the lengthy blog entry...yeah, yeah --blah! blah! blog!
Here are a few highlights of what we've seen and where we've been since I was last able to blah blah blog!
Day 1- On Sunday August 3rd we headed out of Britt early and headed to The Bustards. We snaked our way through a very precarious inlet off the Gun Barrel Channel, around Pearl Island and into a lovely spot...once set we took off in the "dink" to explore only to return a little while later to discover Ithaka had crept a bit closer to the rocks. We pulled up the anchor and decided to find a spot in the center of the small bay. Several tries later (it was nearly 5pm) she finally stuck! The bottom was mainly rock so it was tough to get the anchor to snag...Once we felt confidant we made a wonderful dinner and watched a gorgeous sunset. It was very windy all night. (I am beginning to get a little bit homesick).
Day 2- Awake before dawn, a pink sunrise...coffee made, anchor up by 7:30 am..and we were off to our next destination...Mill Lake. We entered the first half of Collins Inlet through Beaverstone Bay- a beautiful, narrow waterway...well marked with low water warning buoys; we went slow, watched the charts, I stood bow watch and we got through it without any problems. We arrived early and spent the entire day fishing in the dinghy up and down the rock walls along Mill Lake. I really liked this anchorage a lot...still no phone and no computer...just the two of us and our fishing poles lounging in the dinghy catching the warm rays of the sun...but not catching any fish...it didn't matter. We relaxed all day. --And even though we weren't "connected" to the rest of the world, we were very connected to "our" world.
Day 3- We are now in The North Channel. The trip from Mill Lake to Killarney took 2 hours. We are not out to set any speed records, that's for sure. We cruised through the second half of Collins Inlet. The channel averages about 150' across with 75 to 100' rock walls on either side creating the feeling like we were travelling through a gorge. I wish you could see the size of the evergreen trees growing right out of the cracks in the rocks! We stayed at The Sportsman's Inn & Marina which was a sweet place, but their advertisement in one of the guides proclaimed they'd have free wireless...Not true...another couple of days without contact from the outside world. Shucks!
Day 4- It is now August 6th...there are 24 loopers in Killarney today! Yikes! I will download a few photographs of the sunset party we had on the dock across from the Inn...It was fun to share appetizers and stories with so many other like-minded cruisers! Earlier in the day we took the dinghy over to Covered Portage, an amazingly beautiful cove only 2 miles from Killarney Channel. There is a rock formation there which strongly resembles an Indian's profile which I will also post on the blog. Killarney is a tiny village with very little to offer in the way of provisioning. They do have a "chip truck" (except it's in a red school bus). We ate lunch there...and the fish and fries were pretty good, but nowhere near as awesome at Joscelyn's in Nelson, British Colunbia which are still THE best in the universe! (Go BITE)! In Killarney there is an artist's studio, a church (of course), a small grocery store, a post office, a couple of gift shops, an ice cream parlor where you can also purchase bait...and that's about it!
Day 5- We knew we would be cutting it close stopping at the pebble beach on the way through Baie Fine to "the pool", but we are so glad we made sure to leave early enough to wade our way through the multi-colored stones at the entrance to Bay Fine...the weather was about to turn, but we had a rainbow onboard. A rainbow of stones and pebbles collected at this not so secret beach just as you leave Frazer's Bay and turn into Bay Fine. The entrance is well marked, but once you decide to go for it, you must trust your chart plotter and your eyes! There were times when we only had a foot under the keel...a few boats have been known to kiss a few rocks making there way back to the pool. I sat up at the bow with my binoculars and counted islands and shoals as I kept track on my chart...Chip did a great job getting us back through this 9 mile fjord. We anchored in the pool, a small body of water at the end of Baie Fine accessed only by a 2 mile narrow cut. We cooked steaks on the grill, watched a movie and slept like two babies in this very calm and protected anchorage. We would suggest that everyone who ever does this trip put this stop and Covered Portage on their list of "must see"!
Day 6- Before leaving Baie Fine we hiked up the beautiful white quartz ridge to Lake Topaz. We also found the cliff that overlooks the pool. We picked blueberries...more homemade cobbler is guaranteed! This hike was possibly the highlight of the entire trip so far! It is 08/08/08 and I knew that something phenomenal would happen today! The view from the vantage point above the pool was spectacular. I will attempt to put a few on the blog, but I'm afraid it's probably going to be one of those times when you just had to be there! We cruised to the small town of Little Current, population 1,500. We met several other loopers at the marina and we went to dinner together at The Anchor Inn. It was a very nice dinner....good to eat out and not cook. A treat! We will do all of our provisioning here so that we won't have to worry about anything but ice for the next week...
It looks like we may be heading off into the Canadian wilderness again where laptops are pretty useless and where you're lucky to get one bar on a cell phone. I'll try to keep you posted...In the meantime, sorry for the lengthy blog entry...yeah, yeah --blah! blah! blog!
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