North Channel - Killarney & Bye to Essi Anna

We are now in Killarney, Ontario. This is the beginning of the North Channel. We traveled to Beaverstone Bay after leaving Britt. All boats ran smoothly and we anchored inside the bay. Some other boats anchored there as well and "Miss Hospitality" went around and invited everyone to our boat for a get-together.

We had a traffic jam with the dinghys tied behind our boat. These were mostly locals so we could get local information for our travels in the North Channel.

We went exploring in the area and found some interesting things. We saw a cabin that looked like it had not been occupied for a while so we went to check it out. We found places on the back wall where a bear had been clawing the wood apparently to get in.

We hiked in the area to find some ponds we saw on the charts and did, in fact, find them after hiking through a bog and stopping to pick wild blueberries that are everywhere here.

It seems that we ended up eating more blueberries than we kept but we did get enough for blueberry pancakes.

Because of Bill's bad ankle, he elected not to join us on the hike but, instead, he and Gail kayaked to the base of the rocks we were climbing on. All of this area is large granite rock formations.

We headed out to Mill Lake the next day and anchored again. We took our dinghys out to go exploring the area.

We found a den of Minks and was able to finally get one to hold still for a photo.

While out we are always watching for shallow water and deadheads (logs floating just under the surface).

We left Mill Lake and proceeded through Collins Inlet toward Killarney. This inlet is a few miles long channel from Beaverstone Bay to Killarney.

We stopped at an anchorage behind Keyhole island just before Killarney. We had reservations for Killarney at a marina on Thursday so we stopped just close enough to get cell phone coverage as Chuck needed to check on his mother who just had very risky surgery.

Here we went out looking for wildlife again but only found a snake swimming across in front of us.

We pulled into Killarney where Bill is to pick up his brother on Friday. We explored the "town" and at lunch at a famous bus where fish and chips are served.

Chuck received a call from his Dad that has completely changed their plans. His mother did not do well after the surgery and he and Chris are leaving their boat in storage in Little Current until next year and heading for California to be with his parents. We unloaded their boat last night of all food and clothing items that we will carry for them for a while and then we all went to the lodge for the evening. It was interesting that we were next to a fire on July 19.

This morning Gail made blueberry pancakes with the blueberries Chuck and Chris had picked and we had breakfast before our tearful goodbyes.

It has been a very sad morning. Chuck and Chris have cut their trip short that they had planned so long for and we are saying goodbye to a couple that have made our trip so much more enjoyable. It is rare to find someone that you immediately feel comfortable with and that has a similar travel style and value structure. We are lucky indeed that we have found two couples that fit this criteria and we feel that we have formed a very good friendship. We have a strong sense of loss at their early departure.

We will continue our travels with Bill and Gail and his brother. We look forward to meeting him and spending the next two weeks traveling in the North Channel and the north of Lake Michigan. Once we are back in U.S. waters I will be able to use my Verizon air card for internet and not be looking for these few and far between hotspots. We will also be able to use our cell phone again so that will be a relief.

The waters here are more clear than the Georgian Bay and are very blue. Everyone has said that this is the best part of the trip so we are looking forward to seeing this area.