Henry’s

Tuesday, June 30

We awoke early at anchor and after our usual cereal, banana, and juice breakfast and had the anchor up before 7:30. Last night Diana got pictures just before sunset of the anchorage and the colors in the clouds from the sunset.







We rounded the end of the island we were anchored behind and were back on the inside small boat passage headed southeast down beautiful Georgian Bay. There are many light houses that the Canadian Light Service used the same blueprint for.

Many of the islands on Georgian Bay are beautiful pine covered and many have cabins on them. But all of them are accessible only by boat. I have included pictures of a few of them. Not the one all alone on a baron piece of granite. Others of the islands are just big granite pancakes, and each has many cousins that are lurking just below the surface. It is very important to find each buoy and round it properly. The more buoys the more important to be careful and slalom through them.

Many of the channels are marked with ranges, a range is a pair of markers one behind the other, that if you keep them lined up, you are in the channel on the right course. Many on the inside passage are simple day ranges with white backgrounds and an orange or black strip down the middle. For the channel into major ports from the open portion of the bay they use lighted ranges such as this one at Pointe Au Baril.

Pointe Au Baril received its name because early fisherman but a barrel on a stake and placed a lantern on top to help guide them in. The picture is of a replica barrel on the original site. It is just in front of the front light of the range pictured.

The day started overcast and not really pleasant, during the late morning we had a light drizzle then it cleared and by the time we got close to our destination we had moderate rain for half an hour; that stopped just fifteen minutes before we docked. Note the different sky conditions in the pictures, often it was a matter of looking right or left.

We have seen very little boat traffic in Georgian Bay, an occasional cottager running in and out of the channel since they know the water well, an occasional fisherman and very occasionally another cruiser. Just as I made a turn to line up a couple pairs of buoys I had two cruisers coming at me. In watching them and staying clear of them I failed to watch the chart as carefully as I should. By the time we pasted the second cruiser we were through the second pair of buoys and when I went back to the chart I realized I was on a plot route, but not the one I wanted. The one I wanted had done a 90 degree turn to port just before the second set of buoys. We stopped, did a 180, went back 200 yards and made the turn to follow the channel we wanted.

The course we were following lead to a section call Canoe Channel (describes how big a vessel fits). We headed in and took it real slow. As the picture looking back shows, we made it. The depth finder in the narrow stretch never showed less than 9 feet. A little later it gets done to 7.

We were now getting close to Parry Sound, the largest town along this side of Georgian Bay. We did not plan to go into Parry Sound since it is ten miles each way from the small boat passage, but with tomorrow being Canada Day (like our 4th of July) there was a lot more boat traffic. We were now along a section where the port shore was mainland not an island. One cottager decided it was easier to build a foot bridge then get there by boat.

Finally after a run of almost 70 miles we pulled into Henry’s Fish Camp on Frying Pan Island. Henry’s is famous for their fish dinners and provides transient overnight dockage for dinners also. We had heard several other boats calling on the VHF during the last hour and when we had Henry’s in sight we called the harbor master/manager (owner??) told us were we should dock and to hold, the dock boys were helping two other boats that were just coming. They have eight docks perpendicular to shore, each about 120 -150 feet long.

Soon he radioed that he would come down and help us in. We headed in and he indicated we should pull right into shore, as we got there he kept on just a little more, there is good water right to shore. The pictures show we had the bow only 5 or 6 feet from shore, the depth finder still said 19 feet.

It was about four, the rain was gone, the sun was trying to come out, and we settled back to unwind after a long day on the water. Finally about 6:00 we walked up and had a delicious pan fried white fish dinner. In addition to the 14 or 16 boats that spent the night there were maybe half a dozen (probably locals) that came for dinner then left. Since it is an island you have to come by boat or you can fly in. The plane in the picture brought four people, plus pilot, for dinner then left again. I understand that later in the summer there can be three and four planes at a time in.

After a long day we were both ready for an early night. All in all it was another very good day.

Georgian Bay

Monday, June 29

Georgian Bay is a large body of water that has a marked small boat passage running along the NE shore. Parts of it are exposed to the open water of the entire bay but much of it runs behind islands. Parts of the passage are very tight and buoys must be followed carefully. Water depths go from 20 – 50 feet down to only inches in a matter of a boat length.

It started to rain this morning before dawn. When we got up there was still a light drizzle and the visibility was marginal. We tried to relax and just wait; the good news was the winds were less than ten. It was quiet around the Sportsman Inn. It is an old in with new management that is totally rebuilding and enlarging the Inn. They hope to be open in two more weeks but there is a lot of work to do. They have a brand new fuel dock and are rebuilding the other docks. They have slips on both sides of the channel and in the busy season they run a pontoon back and forth to the other side.

Final about 9:30 the drizzle had ended and the sky was lighter so we decided to get underway. We had a short run of three miles of open water to get to Collins Inlet. This is a natural deepwater channel behind Phillip Edward Island. It is twelve miles long. It is relatively straight and narrow, with lots of wilderness scenery. Shortly after entering Collins Inlet we saw a group of about a dozen canoes and nearby two kayaks. I will let the picture tell more.



After Collins there is an open passage of about ten miles before heading back in at the entrance to the Bad River. We then wound around through the Northeast Passage which has a lot of flat granite rocks; here is where navigation depends on counting the buoys as you pass them and following the chart exactly.

About 5:30 we had completed 57 miles for the day and we pulled in behind Golden Sword Island. The small boat passage goes by one side of it and there is good water on the other. We got the anchor down and Diana got a couple last pictures of our home for the night. The bottle in the picture is on an anchor trip line. I tie a line to the front of the anchor, should it foul and not want to come up the trip line can be used to try and free it.

We had hamburgers on the grill, listened to the loons calling, and watch a lovely sunset. Note the change in the pictures from overcast this morning to clear sky in the last ones. After a slow start it was a near perfect day.

Killarney

Sunday, June 28

The plan today was to go to Killarney with a side trip on the way to the Baie Fine. Baie fine is one of the few fjords in North America, deep narrow water with mountains on either sides. It is about ten miles long and ends in an area called the pool, a popular anchorage for cruising boats. Direct to Killarney would be 20 miles with Baie Fine it would be about 45.

The morning dawned warm, 65, low overcast and a bit windy. By 7:30 it had started to rain and the wind was picking up. It didn’t look good so we took our time, had blueberry pancakes for breakfast and hunkered down for a slow day. Diana crochet and I caught up on some paper work.

By late morning the rain was easing up but the visibility was down to a couple of miles and the wind was from the SE at 15 – 20 gusting to 30. We decided to walk a block to the Anchor Inn for lunch and internet access. We had their soup and sandwich special, the turkey dumpling soup was excellent.

By the time we got back to the boat the wind had lightened and gone around to the west, the visibility was improving. By 2:30 the wind was dying and the sun was breaking trough, so we decided we would do the 20 miles to Killarney. We got off and Diana got pictures of the little boat buoy, I mentioned yesterday that show the direction of the current, the town dock behind us and the bridge as we approached. By lowering our bimini all the way we cleared the bridge without having to wait.

From the Little Current channel we headed for Strawberry Island and its attractive lighthouse. From there it was on to the Lansdowne Channel, a famous passage in this area. Diana got lots of pictures. We saw loons and a bald eagle on the passage. This marks the official transition from the North Channel into Georgian Bay.

Soon we were turning into the Killarney Channel. The channel separates the mainland from George Island. Killarney has been an active boating center for a long time but there was no road access until the 1960s. We tied up on the inside of the fuel dock in the photo. Once we got settled we walked along the main street. Diana got a picture of this church build in 1950, before the road.

We had dinner at Herbert’s Fishery. They serve only fish and chips but the fish is fresh caught white fish cleaned and cooked in the building pictured and served out of an old red school bus. The fish was excellent and they do a big business.

We walked back to the boat and spent an hour chatting with a couple that had come in right behind us. They are headed the other direction, doing the Great Loop. They have a 26 foot Bayliner that is trailerable and spent 5 to 6 weeks doing a section of the loop. This is their third year. We exchanged notes on was ahead for each of us.