Canada - Georgian Bay - August 2006
The Georgian Bay runs along the northeastern portion of Lake Huron. It stretches from Port Severn up to the town of Killarney on it's western end.
We had been very spoiled navigating along the eastern Intra-Coastal Waterway, the rivers and canals of New York and eastern Canada. The channels are well-marked and if you do get a bit off course, your only really danger is landing in some soft mud or sand. While there is a small craft channel marked in the Georgian Bay - we found it at times confusing, and very unforgiving. There are LOTS of big rocks, some just below the surface of the water - many just slightly outside or adjoining what at times was a very narrow channel. We often had to slow down and wait for other boats to pass before we could proceed. We followed the local practice of making 'Securitay' calls on the radio before moving into a narrow channel with restricted visibility. On top of that, there are section of the Georgian Bay that have not been charted - in some cases including some preferred anchorages. Whenever we came into one of those, we went VERY slowly and I stood at the bow a la George Washington performing rock lookout duty.
Having said all that, the Georgian Bay is quite spectacular. The rocks, which make for tricky navigation, also serve to create amazing breathtaking scenery as you slowly pass by.
We spent our first night in the Georgian Bay at Beausoliel Island. We tied up at the dock (using our Parks Canada pass). Heart Tug followed us in and anchored in the Bay. This is a picture of them entering the Bay at Beausoliel.
The island is part of the Canadian National Parks - and has many great marked trails running around and across it. We took one of the shorter trails (about 3 KM) around a portion of the island. These are some of the pictures I took as we walked around the island. I love the second one with the house and the slide perched on a rock ready for kids of all ages to slide into the clear and cold water for a swim.
This was a windswept cove on the eastern side of the Island.
Partway around, Jeremy was lamenting that there was no Starbucks on the island - he decided on this spot as the perfect site. It looked out over the lake shown in the second picture.
Leaving Beausoliel, we navigated a short way over to Henry's Fish Restaurant. We had heard rumors that this was some of the best fish you could get in the Georgian Islands. It really was wonderful - although we were to discover a 'fish bus' in Killarney a bit later in the trip that may have been even better. As I mentioned earlier, navigation in the Georgian Bay can be a bit tricky. It sometimes took both of us to find all the right markers and identify which of the thousands of islands we saw were which. Fortunately, some folks provided helpful hints by painting the names of their island on the rocks. We were always very appreciative when we saw these as it helped to confirm where we were on the chart.
We got a little lost at one point and weren't sure which way to go when I spotted this helpful arrow painted on a rock. Guess we weren't the first ones to get a bit disorientated.
This is a picture I snapped of Heart Tug following us from Beausoliel to Henry's.
Henry's proved to be a very popular spot. I think everyone stops by here at least once on their way through this area. We had even heard that folks hired float planes just to fly over for dinner. Talk about your expensive date - $120 pp for Fish and Chips. We saw many planes come and go. They came in - tied up on the docks next to the boats - dislodged their passengers long enough for dinner - and then flew back out again.
This is a picture from the pilot house taken as we came through one of the narrow cuts.
There are many small lighthouses scattered throughout the Georgian Bay including these two shown below.
We saw this little sailboat come by as we were making our way up one of the cuts.
Rocks to the right of us...
More rocks to the left of us...
Entering a channel...
Tardis anchored in Mill Lake.
Took a spin in the dingy at Mill Lake. We hadn't used in in quite a while - didn't really need it in the canals since we tied up to a lock wall most nights.
Coming into Collins Inlet on the way to Killarney.
The lighthouse on Killarney Point.
We stayed at this neat little marina on Georges Island - right across the canal from Killarney. The marina is run by a neat older lady - Ann and her dog, Molly the manipulative malamute. The second picture is a close-up of their home. It's a log cabin built in the 1800s and was the first school-house in Killarney.
The marina had a really cool 'crow's nest' lookout area which we took advantage of for happy hour. That's Jeremy taking in the view across at Killarney. The second picture the view of the town of Killarney from the crow's nest.
We rowed across the town - where we found this interesting couple sitting on the front porch of one of the houses.
The local catholic church in Killarney.
This is THE place to be in Killarney in the afternoon. They have, we think, the best fish and chips we've ever had. That from Jeremy - who's had more than his share when growing up in England. They're served up from a red and white bus permanently parked on the waterfront in Killarney.
This is the view out the cut in Killarney. It was taken at the top of the town float plane ramp. I've seen almost as many float planes as I have boats. Kind of reminds me of the San Juan and Gulf islands in the Pacific Northwest.
Updated August 18, 2006