We entered Georgian Bay on Monday, June 25 and spent the first night anchored behind Beausoleil Island. On Tuesday we went to Penetanguishene to reprovision and meet with Karen and Bob Jantz, who lead the loopers on a floatila through Georgian Bay at the end of July each year. They gave us lots of information on some of the better spots to see in the 30,000 islands of Georgian Bay. So on Thursday we started up the small boat channel, stopping at seven small bays for either lunch or the night. In places we were running 10' off the face of rock walls in 40' of water, or running through channels that were only 30' wide, no room to meet an oncoming boat.
Typical waterways in Georgian Bay.On Monday, July 2 we pulled into the town of Parry Sound to do some reprovisioning and laundry. We will leave on Wednesday to visit some more islands on our way to Britt.
We did leave Parry Sound on Wednesday, July 4, and motored through more narrow channels between the rocks. Ended up in Regatta Bay, anchored out for the night. We'd meet a group of boaters in Parry Sound and they were rafted up together in Regatta Bay also. They invited us to their camp fire that evening, so we celebrated the 4th with new Canadian friends around a camp fire in one of the most beautiful places in North America.
Thursday we meandered around some more rocks and dropped the hook in Hopewell Bay with some Canadian "loopers".
Friday we went to the town dock in Point Au Barrel Station where we met son Will and his two kids, Evan and Chloe. We have the kids alone for five days while Will flies out to Portland, OR to interview for a job opportunity when they return from India. This is with a company he has been doing some consulting for now in India, so he knows them quite well. Point Au Barrel has no services so it essentially like being on the hook. The name of this channel comes from the days they marked the entrance with a barrel, and yes, the barrel is still there with a new modern light house behind it.
Today, Saturday we wondered through some of the narrowest channels yet, one only being 16 ft wide. We got through with out a scratch, but I was steering the boat with the engines and not the wheel. We couldn't have made some of the turns with a single screw unless it had a bow thruster. We had one engine in reverse for several of these turns to spin the boat.
As we entered "Hang Dog" Channel, Evan and Claria were standing on the bow looking for rocks. Evan looked at Grandma and said, "how is grandpa going to get past this rock?"
Claria responded, "he'll follow the bouys one at a time and follow the red arrow, you watch!"
As ODYSSEE rounded the last corner of the rock and was heading for the left turn at the next green bouy Evan replied, "you were right grandma, grandpa is really a good boat driver."
We are at Wrights Marina in Britt where we will pump out and fuel up. Once we leave here we'll be on the hook for four nights before we met up with Will again at Little Current, at the start of the North Channel.
We had some interesting nights out on the hook in some beautiful places.
We will again be out for several days, keep checking!
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