Leaving the Trent Severn Waterway at Port Severn, we started the second leg of our cruise. Behind us was 330 miles, 45 locks, canals, lakes and rivers, a marina or two, several towns, twenty one days – fourteen of them overnight at locks, four of them “weather days” when we didn’t move on because of wind or thunderstorms or rain, or all three.
Now we were going to make our way up Georgian Bay of Lake Huron, following the small craft channel north as it hugs the east coast of the Bay, with many twists, turns and convolutions to avoid the lurking granite rocks, but also giving protection, most of the time, from the prevailing westerlies which, with a prolonged blow, can make the open water rough indeed. It would be about 175 miles or so to Killarney, the entrance to the third leg, The North Channel.
The afternoon of Thursday, July 6, we arrived at South Bay Cove marina in Honey Harbour and tied up for the night. Dave arrived from Toronto, with Liz following him the next day, and he met us there, where we had pickerel at the very good restaurant. All very civilized.
The next morning, Andy Cobie’s mechanic, Geoff, arrived and fixed the generator in an hour, removing the exploded impeller and fitting a new one, cleaning out the heat exchanger, and replacing the spare impeller with another.
Filled up with diesel at the fuel dock (we had used less than I thought over the season so far), and fresh water, we moved the boat over to the dock at Dave and Liz’s cottage, so now their Bayliner, “Boiler Maker II”, was joined by our Canoe Cove 41. We were going to be off the following morning to try a couple of anchorages together.
Late that afternoon, we headed off in their little speed boat for cocktails at the cottage of their friend Peter in his delightful old Georgian Bay cottage of great character, and there met quite a few of their cottage crowd.
Back to Honey Harbour, for dinner and a game of Euchre. We are leaving the next morning in our flotilla of two…
We have decided on an anchorage off Bernadette Island, and we “raft” there, with Dave dropping his anchor first and then us tying up to his boat. We splash around in dinghy and swimsuits, Peter arrives in his speed boat for a cocktail, and then we dine together and play Euchre.
The next day, we up anchors and move on to another spot a few hours away – between Derbyshire and Novinka Islands and close to Parry Sound – for another night. Again, we raft, and kayak around and swim and play Euchre.
Next morning, Dave and Liz leave us, while we two stay for another day of relaxation. (This is after some drama in untangling our anchor chains in the morning, since they had ridden over each other overnight.)
Tuesday June 11 and we up anchor and leave for Parry Sound, where we will reprovision, walk around the town, browse and, as a nice surprise, have dinner with Catherine, who is up from Toronto and in the area to shoot another TV episode. And of course it rains. We dock at the Town Dock, and we have some pretty impressive neighbours.
Thursday July 13 is Day 28, and after two nights at the dock and a wet morning we decide to get a jump on the next day’s trip and get to an anchorage at Killbear Provincial Park, about 10 miles away. We leave at noon (after a pump out), and by 2:30 we have anchored, on our second attempt, in 21 feet of water off the park beach, with a sailboat near by. While the weather is grey and brings more rain, it is a cosy spot to be. And we try out our Bell internet hub we purchased in Parry Sound, and it works – we watched an episode of Bloodlines on Netflix on my laptop.
Friday July 14 and we have a relatively long leg ahead of us – 52 miles – to a safe harbour at Wright’s Marina in Byng Inlet, and the weather is fine in terms of wave height, but the “showers” forecast are more like serious rain squalls. But we make it to this funky, out of the way marina and meet some good people, such as Robin and Suzanne on “Baby Boomer”, in the rain.
Then next morning, Saturday, was exactly as we had hoped: wind light to 8 knots, no rain, blue sky, and off we went – as did everyone else. Our destination this time would be The Bustard Islands, off the mainland at The French River, where we hoped to find room in a favoured anchorage for two nights.
We arrive at Bustards Harbour by 1 pm, joining half a dozen other boats already at anchor. While we have to be a bit close to the rocky shore, we are still in 24 feet of water just a few feet away. We set the anchor (and unfortunately lose the windlass cover to a gust of wind) and have a delightful afternoon, with a dinghy ride round the many inlets, and when M later takes the kayak out, she sees a Black Bear lumbering away over the granite.
The next day the weather is not as delightful for most of the day, but that doesn’t stop Michel from taking the kayak out again.
By the afternoon, weather has improved, and we meet another nice couple – Marcel and Beverley – on their boat “Hideaway” and they visit us for drinks later on. We settle in for the second night at anchor, with a move on to Killarney looking good weather-wise for the morning (light Northerly winds). Sure enough, the morning brings the sun, and Michel can’t resist one final swim before we pull up the anchor.
We set off in perfect weather for Killarney, and the next leg of our cruise: The North Channel.
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