Saturday June 29: The Wonderful World of Georgian Bay

 Just before we left Port Severn, Steve spotted a mother hooded merganser duck with her brood of babies. They were so cute!

We see this type of duck every so often but they either don't like to be around where people are or there just aren't that many of them.

The chicks are able to swim and feed themselves 24 hours after being hatched!

It wouldn't be Georgian Bay without the granite rocks all over the place - it's really beautiful to see but deadly if you aren't watching the buoys and chart.

We did spot a very teeny cottage that seems to have a front door and window and that's it. Hey - what more would you need?

The narrowest and shallowest spot along our path was Potato Channel. One of the hot topics on the listserve is the water levels in Georgian Bay so we really didn't know what to expect (water levels are supposed to be quite low due to dredging in Lake St. Clair).

But it was a non-issue going through with water a minimum of 5 1/2 feet although I will say we raised the outdrive when going through 'just in case'!

This is a chart of the first place we were headed. On the right is Frying Pan Bay. It's a great place to anchor as the protection is crazy good. Plus if it's not a busy time, there is a dock that our pass for the Trent-Severn allows us to stay at for free.

Steve did the circle hike (in yellow) around Fairy Lake and then later in the day we fought the wind and kayaked around to Goblin Bay (in burgundy).

The story of Fairy Lake is kind of interesting. I think if you right click on the picture to the right and then click on "open image in a new tab" you can read the writing on the sign.

The lake itself is really pretty with the granite rock typical of this area.

Left: Steve's idea of kayaking :-)



Frying Pan Bay itself has high sides of granite with trees growing wherever it is that the root system can get a grip. Below is Guppy at the dock with 4 other boats that were in for the night.

We then backtracked a bit and headed back toward Port Severn. A number of years ago we anchored off of one of the government islands (seen on the chart to the right as a darker brown in color). It was very quiet and we were the only ones around.

This time was much the same. We were off of the channel but with the chart plotter it's pretty easy to navigate among the rocks which are marked on the chart. Of course, Steve rides on the front as a lookout anyway!

It was a very peaceful night - totally alone. The wind laid down at dusk and kayaking in the morning was nice.

The water is so clear and it was totally calm in the morning.

These abandoned cabins were really neat.

We saw them on our kayak around the area.



Rain and possible storms due in on Thursday - must be time to head into Midland - a short 8 miles away!