In Georgian Bay

Midland, ON
July 15

We hand pulled the boat around to the blue line to get ready to go.  The guy on the next boat seemed pretty unfriendly and did not respond to our standard, “Good Morning”.  When they got ready to go thru the lock, the lock tender asked that we stay back because of lack of space in the lock and a houseboat in the narrow rough current filled channel below.  He had a little tubby bimbette with him.  There was a green marker in the middle of the channel that looks like it has moved, but we kept right to it.  Our unfriendly guy and bimbette were sitting on the rocks as we went by. 

We chose Waubushene instead of Potato Cut because of rumors that the lake levels were down this year and we may find thin water.  The Richardson Charts are inadequate for either direction.  In fact the channels were well marked, contrary to charts, and after much anxiety it was a pleasant trip.  

 

One of our favorite murals in Midland, ON

Another favorite mural in Midland, ON

We docked at the marina in Midland, ON.  It is a nice little marina and has a laundry with groceries and all other errands including a fax.  We scurried around like ants in the rain.  We ate out at a nice Cajun place called Scully’s.  Had a great hamburger and muffelatta and a pitcher of beer while we did our laundry.  Met a nice oriental girl and Caucasian husband with a baby who just learned to walk last week.  She was a character and they worked hard to keep her quiet.  The husband had taken a year off from work to help raise the little girl. 

 

July 16, 2003 

Midland is a nice little town.  I spent the day copying disks and then we went for a walk around town.  We went to the Chamber of Commerce and a nice girl took us on a free walking two-hour tour of the murals in town.  They have a collection of over 30 murals and we really enjoyed the walk and the tour.  They offer the tour from Tuesday thru Saturday, but only have had 3 tours go this year.  

We had Sue and Larry Anson from LANOKA over for tea and cookies in the afternoon. 

We are sure getting the mosquitoes.  I have dozens of bites.  Guess I should start using mosquito repellent. 

 

Beautiful mural, but needs repair

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Beausoleil Island,  Frying Pan Cove, ON
July 17

We left at 7:30 from Midland and went to fuel at Bay Port Marina.  We left there at 8:45 and anchored at 10:45.  Weather reports tell us that the day will deteriorate, so we decided to stop early.  We have to come up with primary and secondary stopping places, because you never know what you will find when you reach an anchorage.  I really wish we had the electronic charts for Georgian Bay and a delta Anchor.  When you go on this trip, though, you had best take everything you can imagine that you need because it just doesn’t work to think you will be able to find things along the way.  It took us about 2 weeks to find a VHF antenna when ours got broken.

 

Don & Louise hiking and having a great time

July 18 

We took a great walk around Fairy Lake.  It was a well-marked trail with lots of ferns and different kinds of trees.  We saw places in the moss where some animal, possible a raccoon was rooting up the plants for something.  

We had visitors from the boat with the two boys who helped us while we were in the locks.  They were tied on one of the docks. 

The anchorage filled up and several boats were rafted together.

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Monument Channel, Bernadette Island, ON
July 19, 2003

We traveled to Bernadette Island and stopped, as most of the trawlers did because of the bounce.  Everyone seemed to be stopped by noon.  We made the side curtains for the salon then we put the dinghy in the water and had a little ride around.  After that Don did some fishing and caught several Large Mouth Bass.  He had fun with that.  I was pretty cold and mosquito bitten, so I stayed inside and did some reading. 

We went to visit the people on Bravo, a Nordic Tug 37.  I don’t know their names, but we had seen them at Swift Rapids lock. 

The flags snapped and flapped all night, so I didn’t sleep that well because I kept thinking that we were leaving and that the weather would be bad.   

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Killbear Island, Kilcoursie Bay, ON
July 20

We left at 7:30 from Monument Channel and traveled up thru Parry Sound then to the Provincial park at Kilcoursie Bay.  We had only one rough spot and the rest of the ride was very nice up thru the islands.  That was more of what I had expected up this way.  You really can’t look away or even go down for a drink while underway.  The first couple of days in Georgian Bay I was about ready to turn around and go back because we were really having problems with understanding the charts and reading the markers.  Things have gotten much better now.  It is a gorgeous place.  To have a boat here permanently and learn the area would be fabulous, but to travel thru like we are doing is a little difficult and you tend to stay right on the beaten path.

The anchorage at Kilcoursie Bay is kind of open and loud.  There were 15 sailboats and 20 powerboats overnight.  It is on a big campground there.  We saw the people on Lanoka (Sue and Larry) entering the anchorage as we were leaving it.  They asked about the anchorage and I told them it was a little noisy.  They looked around and turned around to leave.  It think they went up around the corner.  It would have been nice to stay and visit with them, but the day was pretty and time for traveling.

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This is where we saw the four bears.

Hopewell Bay, ON
July 20 

We tried several anchorages to find a place where we would not be on bottom.  Looks like we have found a beautiful quiet isolated spot to stay.  It is quite protected and very wild and primitive looking.  The wind picked up to about 20 mph, but we were in a nice protected area, so had a great ride over from Kilcoursie Bay.  Two huge raptor birds have been flying around.  Sure hope we can watch them a bit. 

We went fishing and caught a nice bass at the same time we went aground on a rock.  We don’t know if we caught the fish before or after we went aground, or if we caught the fish when we stopped trolling so fast.  It spit crawfish and something that sort of looked like a clam all over the place.  We took the dinghy all over the bay and it was lots of fun. 

Don was fishing off the deck and called me outside in a very excited voice.  A Mama black bear and 3 baby bears were on the shore having a drink of water.  She wasn’t all that huge and the babies were of 3 distinctly different sizes from one about the size of a beagle to one a little larger than Ginny.  They foraged around the area and climbed trees for about 15 minutes then left.  What a thrill. 

 

July 23, 

We spent another day at Hopewell Island, which was just the perfect anchorage.  We were traveling around in the dinghy and met a lady from one of the cottages.  She was very nice and said the bear had been watching us that morning.  She said they don’t usually tell people about the bears.  

We also saw something that could have been a mink, but was so much bigger than the minks it might have been an otter.  It had a large head and a fluffy tail.

 

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Caper anchored among the rocks

Bustard Islands, ON
July 24

Traveled out in Georgian Bay because of some shallow water and a place we were told we were too big to go into.  We went thru some very rocky turtle back type islands with no vegetation on it.  It looked like the moon on water.  Much of what we saw was mainland and there were more cottages than we had seen in a while. 

We anchored up in a very tight cove in the Bustard Islands.  We put down 2 anchors then tied 2 lines to trees.  I was very uncomfortable with the arrangement because we were getting side winds.  

 

July 25 

We took the boat out of the cove and back into the basin area just as 2 sailboats were coming around the corner.  We were lucky to get a larger anchoring area as the day before it had about an 18 ft. sailboat in the center and no space for anyone.  It is quite windy here and the wind seems to come from whatever direction you are trying to go in. 

Don caught one bass.  We did get to do some exploring on the dinghy.  We had talked to some people on one of the express boats and when they left, they tangled a line, so decided to tie up to us while the husband went back in the dinghy to get the line – pretty gutsy I think.  They were loosely tied to us and kept surging out and then flapping back onto us.  

We had heard that there was a mama bear and cub at the end of the cove the night before, but had no luck in seeing them.  

We had a day of pouring rain and stayed inside to read, then another day of high winds.  Don helped a couple on a CS 33’ sailboat, Serenity.  They were having problems with the winds and anchoring.  Later they brought some Antipasto she had canned as a thank-you gift. 

Two couples on 2 different Searays invited us over for drinks and they supplied the digital charts for Georgian Bay and the North Channel.  I could have kissed them.  What a gift.  

On our last day in the Bustards we were able to go in the dinghy to pick blueberries and do some fishing.  We got enough berries for Karin’s gramma’s Blueberry Buckle.  Yum.    

 

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Dear Friends and Family,

We are currently out of email range and weathered in at Bustard Islands near the northern end of Georgian Bay.  We will be in Canada another few weeks.  Canada is much the same and as much different from the US.   

They have Language Police here.  From what we can understand, since the French language is now required on all public places along with English, there is a large concern for size and typeface.  There seems to be a lot of trouble associated with how this is handled even in areas where no French is in use at all.  

Now that we have time to be more observant, we have noticed that most of our fishing lures are cross-eyed.  We will keep studying, but it looks as if the cross-eyed ones are catching more fish.  We have found other anatomical differences I am not at liberty to discuss in a public note.  

 

This was an artist's home

Rocks close to each side and only about 5 1/2 ft. below the surface of the lake

Some of you may have heard that the Great Lakes are low.  We did call the appropriate authorities and they are actually 1 - 3 inches above charted depths.  However, we can see from the markings on the rocks that the water has been at least 3 ft. above what it is now.   

We have heard from two different Canadians that there is a real problem.  They both confided (at different times and rather quietly) that the reason the Great Lakes are dropping in depth is because the Americans are taking the water out in Chicago and sending it down the Mississippi River.  Don hasn't calculated the square mileage of the Great Lakes, but it is tremendous.  We can only imagine that three feet of water in a year over the size of the Great Lakes would flood the Mississippi area.   

 

We have heard that you should "Sail like a Kiwi, Anchor like a Canadian and Live like a Texan."  Of course this has been quite a source of confusion for us.  We hear from our e-mail boating groups that Texans live loudly and joyously and that the Kiwis are great sailors, but no one had any idea how the Canadians anchor.   

We have seen it and are beginning to figure it out.  There are 2 methods.  Sometimes they raft several boats together and one boat puts down an anchor.  They don't set the anchor by backing down on it, but do put out a short scope (length of line) and if it doesn't catch they untie and move.  We have seen them do this up to 4 times.  The other way we have seen them anchor is to drop an anchor and tie the boat to shore.   

Anchoring in some of these very remote areas reminds you of what darkness really is.  What a sight to actually look out at night and see no lights except those from the sky.  It is an undreamed of luxury in many places just to see the sky as naturally as it was created.  

 

We thought we were winning the "Deer Fly Wars".  We had so many fly carcasses on the deck we had to hose it down.  We had learned to enjoy the 30 minutes between when the flies left and the mosquitoes arrived.  Then one night their schedules overlapped and we realized that we had lost the war.  

There is a natural canvas colored hat made here in Canada called a Tilly Hat.  I have always kind of liked them.  We ran into a Canadian the other day who said that "Anyone who would wear a Tilly Hat would sleep in his underwear."  We still haven't quite figured that one out.  

Don is being most helpful.  Just yesterday I was trying to figure the mileage that we have traveled (1167) and he was there with his dividers trying to help out.  He stuck me in the fingers twice while I was marking places on the page with my hands.  All in all, though we are managing pretty well in such close quarters.  

We have had our flag saluted 3 times now since we have been here, which I really appreciate.  We fly our Texas flag and most people seem to recognize it.  

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