Covered Portage Cove"You find all the best anchorages" the locals say, when we list the nights that we have spent at Beausoleil Island, Parry Sound, Regatta Bay, Byng Inlet, The Gun Barrel, Mill Lake on Collins Inlet, Killarney, Covered Portage Cove (two nights because the kids wouldn't leave), Snug Harbour, Mary Ann Cove and The Pool at Bay Fine, Little Current, The Benjamin Islands and so on...
We have been winding our way through the pristine landscapes of the Georgian Bay and North Channel on a route known as the Small Craft Channel. The channel takes boaters through sheltered and scenic waters along the northern shores of Lake Huron. The water is deep and clear right to the edge where it meets steep cliffs and granite outcrops. The area is known as the '30,000 islands' but it seems as if there are a hundred thousand of them. Some are just below the surface and these are the ones that give the most trouble. They have names like 'The Spoiler', 'Hangdog Reef' and 'The Bustards'.
"Where are you?" was the cry from home at one stage when we had been out of cell phone range for weeks and only occasionally able to hook up to email. This is a remote area with few ports. Our food supply was supplemented by fresh fish and wild berries. The locals had told us that when we ran low on water we could take it straight from the lakes. I thanked them but said that I didn't think that would be necessary but after a week at anchor we did indeed start filling the kettle from the lake. Our companions were the Loons (Canada's national bird), non-descript snakes, chirruping frogs, bristley-faced beavers, bears (crashing about in the bushes) and coyotes that howled in the night. We climbed the hills above Frazer Bay for a breathtaking view of the region and followed the forest trail to swim in the blue waters of Topaz Lake above Bay Fine.
We have been winding our way through the pristine landscapes of the Georgian Bay and North Channel on a route known as the Small Craft Channel. The channel takes boaters through sheltered and scenic waters along the northern shores of Lake Huron. The water is deep and clear right to the edge where it meets steep cliffs and granite outcrops. The area is known as the '30,000 islands' but it seems as if there are a hundred thousand of them. Some are just below the surface and these are the ones that give the most trouble. They have names like 'The Spoiler', 'Hangdog Reef' and 'The Bustards'.
"Where are you?" was the cry from home at one stage when we had been out of cell phone range for weeks and only occasionally able to hook up to email. This is a remote area with few ports. Our food supply was supplemented by fresh fish and wild berries. The locals had told us that when we ran low on water we could take it straight from the lakes. I thanked them but said that I didn't think that would be necessary but after a week at anchor we did indeed start filling the kettle from the lake. Our companions were the Loons (Canada's national bird), non-descript snakes, chirruping frogs, bristley-faced beavers, bears (crashing about in the bushes) and coyotes that howled in the night. We climbed the hills above Frazer Bay for a breathtaking view of the region and followed the forest trail to swim in the blue waters of Topaz Lake above Bay Fine.
