Georgian Bay to Byng Inlet

After leaving the Trent-Severn Waterway we headed into Georgian Bay. This bay is in the northeast corner of Lake Huron and is a very popular cruising area. After being here for a while, I understand why.

We stopped for the first night at Beausoleil Island. This was a great anchorage and since the island is a Provencial Park we were able to hike over the island on designated trails. Other islands are owned by the Indian tribes and we are not allowed ashore without permission. We have left most of the weeds and mud bottoms now and are mostly in rock. This is a more primitive view and also more treacherous. Touching bottom here is exponentially more problematic. I found our first rock with the dinghy as we were exploring the coves around Beausoleil. Luckily I did not do any damage to the prop.

Leaving Beausoleil, we headed for Beckwith island. We anchored there but experienced what I have later learned is called the "Beckwith Roll". Apparently the swells in the bay bounce into this apparently protected bay and roll your boat while at anchor. It reminded me of being back in New York on the Hudson River. While we were here we borrowed Bill and Gail's kayak and went exploring.

The waters here are very clear and remind you of being in the Keys or Bahamas except for the water temperature (much colder).

After our time at Beckwith we crossed back over part of Georgian Bay to go to Frying Pan island and visit the famous "Henry's" restaurant. This restaurant is on an island and is only reachable by boat or float plane. Henry's is a federally registered airport here. We anchored nearby and had dinner at Henry's. They are famous for the Pickeral (Walleye) so that is what we had.

Having our fill of Pickerel for the moment, we headed for our anchorage at Dunroe Island. This small island is just off the Small Craft Route and was a beautiful location. Here is where Stacy had her first real experience with Loons. These birds have the most beautiful haunting calls that echo from the rocky shoreline. We found a pair with two chicks while in the dinghy so we cut off the motor and paddled closer. As we approached the male put on a mighty display that we surmise was to draw our attention away from the female and chicks.

Thy allowed us to get very close and we just couldn't get enough of them.

We had a picnic on a nearby rock island. Stacy and I had bought some charcoal earlier in the trip so we made a rock grill and cooked hamburgers. They just seem to taste better over a charcoal fire.

From Dunroe we went to Parry Sound where we went into the marina for a night. Along the way we had been noticing these foundations of docks and some houses made of timbers filled with rocks. We asked someone local about this and he said that there was no way in the rock to put in pilings as we do in the south. They build these timber frames and fill them with rock to support whatever structure is being built. It still somehow seems a temporary measure to me.

We were able to re-provision here and tackle some maintenance issues. Bill had noticed his anchor line thimble rusting through so we cut the old one out of his line and Chuck spliced in a new one that I had as a spare. Later we had a planning session for our future routing. It is so nice to have others to discuss routes and locations. We are truly blessed in having these traveling companions.

From Parry Sound we stopped in anchorages along the route we had planned. There are anchorages around every rock here. The course here gets tight in some places. We went through a cut called Canoe Channel that was rather narrow. I guess the name should have been a clue.

When we stopped in Hopewell Bay we found four other boats already anchored there. Stacy invited all the women aboard the boats to a "Tea" in the afternoon. Some of these women were local so they provided local knowledge of some of the area.

We passed through an area called Hangdog Channel and noticed that we were now in a more rocky landscape. While we are traveling in the dinghy exploring or passing through narrow areas in the boat we generally post a bow lookout to find any rocks that may not have been charted.

With our next stop being Byng Inlet, we headed out for some open water cruising. Part of this route is outside the protection of the small rock islands and is exposed to all of Georgian Bay. The wind was up and we were rocking and rolling a bit and then just before we got to Byng Inlet Bill radioed that his engine had quit. He quickly deployed his anchor and EssiAnna and SEASEA turned around to assist. Chuck went back to take Bill under tow so they prepared bridles for towing. The seas were about 3 feet so the boats were bouncing around a good bit. Chuck was able to get a line to Bill and tried to pull him forward so he could retrieve his anchor. He could not pull from directly in front for fear of catching Bill's anchor line in his props so Bill could not get the anchor free. With the wind pulling them sideways and with Bill's anchor pulpit being overstressed, the decision was made to sacrifice the anchor and Bill cut the rode.

We led the way back through the channels, some of which were barely wider than our boats while Chris towed Bill and Gail through. These were not easy maneuvers considering the conditions but Chris did an outstanding job.

Once inside Byng Inlet we found an anchorage location and put our anchor out. Chuck and Chris pulled Bill along side and we rafted their boat to ours. We determined that the shutdown was probably due to a plugged fuel filter so we changed it and were able to restart the engine.

We then tried to find a new thimble and shackle to splice into Bill's anchor line (the one Chuck had just spliced at Parry Sound) and attach a spare anchor that Chuck had. We were able to find shackles at the nearby marina but no thimble. For the time being, we just installed our spare anchor rode on Bill's boat with Chuck's anchor and all is well again.

Reflecting on this incident, we realized that it could have been a real disaster. The location was the only location that day or the day before where there was enough water around clear of rocks for Chris to maneuver her boat and not so deep that the anchor quickly set for Bill. If he could not have set the anchor or we had been in a narrow channel area he would have quickly been blown onto the rocks and done severe damage to the boat. The decision to cut away the anchor, while heartwrenching, was the correct decision to keep from having two boats disabled. We had enough spares between us to solve the problem for now and we will get a new thimble and re-splice Bill's rode when we get to Killarney or Little Current in a few days.

We have been held up here in Britt (Byng Inlet) for a couple of days because of high winds and rain. The winds are forecast to diminish by tomorrow morning so we will listen to the weather early in the morning and make our decision on whether to leave.