We left the marina on June 9th and spent our first two nights at one of our favourite anchorages at the top of Twelve Mile Bay then cruised the 4.5 miles up to the lovely Moosedeer Point Marina where we caught up on all news from the staff. It always feels like coming home when we are received so warmly. We filled up, pumped out and drove an hour and a half to the secluded and perfect Port Rawson, nestled in 13,000 acres of Massassauga Provincial Park. Not another boat in sight, either on our trip so far, nor when we entered the anchorage. To make our entrance even more special, (although we couldn't see them),we did hear our favourite greeting. You can too! Just click !
We thought we would moor instead of anchor and here's how it's done ....by us. It is doubtful that anyone else does it this way! I had already secured one end of the rope to the mooring pin and to the boat. Bob is taking a second rope to the pin.
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| Finally our friends come right by the boat to check us out |
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| Exploring a tiny piece of the park |
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| What on earth did that?? |
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| Shad fly drying our acetate in the morning dew |
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| HUH??? |
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Full moon rising
Four days later, we cruised on to Parry Sound. Walking from the marina to downtown, we passed this tribute to a famous hockey player. |
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| After shopping, lunch at this great new restaurant |
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| On to Kilcoursie Bay where we were delighted and surprised to find Shelley and Greg, new friends from last year, aboard their beautiful sailboat "Mast Transit". We boarded and had fun catching up on a years worth of news. |
We decided to go ashore and have a nice long walk through Kilbear Park, where I spent time camping with Jan and her family when Darla and Steve were quite young. As we walked along the road, past many campers, we noticed little fences running beside the road and only 6 inches high. Curious. I joked that they were probably snake fences, only to learn when we picked up the Kilbear newsletter, that indeed, they are snake fences. In all the years we camped, I never once thought about the abundance of reptiles in our northern parks, and now I learn that to prevent the snakes from being run over on the roads, tunnels have been dug under the roads and little fences built alongside to prevent the death of threatened species. We also learned that Fox snakes, that can grow as long as 6 feet, slither up trees to catch unwary birds and that King snakes do not cohabit with Rattlesnakes.
After two nights at this anchorage, we moved on to the town of Britt, four hours north and on the east side of Georgian Bay, in Byng Inlet. We took the outside route (referred to as "deep blue") and as we were nearing the marker that would direct us into Britt, something caught my eye. I could see a huge boat on the inner channel, moving at a terrific rate of speed and immediately in it's wake, two much smaller boats, keeping up with the larger one. I got the binoculars and couldn't believe the size or the speed of the big yacht and could see them all take a right turn and head up Byng Inlet. When we got to St. Amand, our marina of choice, guess who was docked beside us? The owner was sitting on one of the smaller boats (32 foot Searay and 28 foot Chriscraft) that housed his "crew" and he engaged us in conversation immediately. He even invited us to join his wife and his entourage of 10 people for dinner at the Britt Inn (another favourite) that evening, however, because it was Father's Day, we had decided to have dinner on our own at the Inn and think and talk about our kids. The boat is a 60 foot, custom built jet-powered yacht and it lives at Thunder Beach, Georgian Bay. We still don't know who the owner is, however have our investigator friend who lives in that area on the case.
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| Lady Helene alongside her "crew" boats |
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| Neighbours at Heywood Island |
Off again toward Manitoulin Island..a four hour cruise to refill at Killarney then to another favourite anchorage at Heywood Island for three nights...and then the rains came. We decided to move on to Little Current where we are now. Dinner last night at the Anchor Inn, drinks with the sailboaters behind us on the wall, hearing stories of their eight years of travel, sailing across the Atlantic and to the Caribbean, after they retired. They too keep their boat at a marina in Penetang although they moved to Halifax a few years ago, to be near their daughter and her family. There are so many reasons that we love boating and travelling and this is probably our favourite, meeting people who are living their dream. It is all perfect!!! Love and light to you all!!!
