Wednesday August 29: Arriving Midland

We spent the night with just 3 other boats – unusual for 12 Mile Bay anchorage. Definitely we were the first ones up! The alarm rang at 6:30 (sunrise was 6:34) and the anchor was up and we were moving by 6:50.  

Perfectly calm in the anchorage – not so much once we were out of the protection of the island! As we turned west out of the opening I happened to glance back to the east and there was the sun greeting us :-)

Waves in the marked channel toward Honey Harbor were not so nice – but this early in the day were definitely doable. Cruising was in order – the plan was to take just more than an hour on the mostly open water to make it to there.

It was a dual effort – me driving using the chartplotter and Steve referencing the charts. Cruising around this area at 20 mph and working to stay in the channel is definitely a challenge :-)

The rain held off for us and there was even time to stop at Honey Harbor for breakfast and for Steve to pick up a few groceries.

Then we headed for Beausoleil Island and then ended up at the docks at the Wana Keta site (circled in yellow)

 Steve of course was off quickly on his bike as the rains were due in by noon. The paths were sometimes shaky so I stayed back and caught up on lost sleep :-) His path is the yellow lines around the island. The lighthouse point was really nice.

Sometime we anchor on the side of the island that is calm and kayak around the area, but no luck today. Maybe next year!

Wildlife was around – a toad and a couple of frogs. No Massassauga rattlesnakes though. It's Ontario's only venomous snake but is definitely not aggressive.

Steve saw one last year but sadly did not have a camera with him. Maybe next time!

Meantime, the rains finally did arrive – about 4 pm! A far cry from what was predicted ….

We'll stay a couple of days and then move on to Midland. A real city :-) Time for some more plug-in! And real showers :-)

A view of Fairy Lake. For info on hiking on Beausoleil Island, click here.

Sunday August 26: Twelve Mile Bay – 30 miles from the Trent

After 5 nights of being in Parry Sound, we finally tore ourselves away from the dock! It's definitely addictive being tied up in a town with power and places to ride bikes.

Most of the days were nice but we decided to stay so long to wait out a few days of just not nice weather – like rain most of the day!

This cruise ship was in port when we left. Interested in cruising from Chicago to Toronto? Check it out by clicking here!

We were up and moving pretty early (so no breakfast out!) as the winds were again building as the day wore on. The destination was Killbear Provincial Park.

As we passed by the park in previous years, we always said we need to stop there one of these times – and this was finally the time. The plan was to just stay at the marina there as we thought the access to the park would be easier. Well, at least it seemed like it should be ….

Steve ended up on a 7 mile bike ride (plus a hike along one of the trails) to the visitor center and back. Plus he checked out Harold Point Rocks. Very reminiscent of the Benjamin Islands in the North Channel – that's where we'll anchor next time around.

The most fascinating thing he saw at the visitor center was the bear that followed you as you walked by it! Check out the video below!

The moon is almost full and looked huge as it rose to the east of us. The sun had set in the west shortly before …

The winds on Georgian Bay were predicted to gather strength throughout the morning so it was a really early morning rise and on the water by 7.

The sun was just topping the trees as we pulled out. And the weatherperson was right on as it was getting more windy as the morning wore on! Cruising was definitely the way to go. It's so nice to be able to go fast when the occasion arises – unlike on the trawler where you are traveling at 8 mph no matter what!

We did slow down when in the protection of an island – like when we went by Henry's on San Souci Island. Apparently it has reopened (at least some days of the week). So nice that it is back – my dad would have been particularly disappointed if he couldn't have stopped here on the few trips we made this far with them :-)

The destination was back to Massasagua Provincial Park – it was going to be not great weather for Saturday so we were going to return to the same well protected spot we stayed last week.

Except there was a boat already there! You can just barely make it out behind the island right of Steve's head. So we had no choice but to anchor in the pike hole!

Well, it wasn't a pike but rather an 18” bass! Turns out it was a good thing someone was in 'our' spot :-) Guess what was for dinner :-)

By late afternoon the winds had died and it turned out to be a nice afternoon – but the rains were coming tomorrow so we settled in for two days here.

The boat behind the island left but since Steve wanted to still be able to fish, we just stayed put. Later we were joined by a large boat that for whatever reason did not continue on and anchor behind the island. Maybe they didn't know they could?

Regardless, they were there for Friday and Saturday as well. And it did indeed rain all day Saturday!

Up and out fairly early on Sunday. As has been the case lately, winds were picking up throughout the day. We were headed for Twelve Mile Bay and cruised when not in the protection of an island.

The rocks were their usual threatening selves but somehow with the waves breaking on them, they just seemed more ominous! Definitely rougher than the day before yesterday but the skies had cleared and the sun was out. Temps in the high 60's.

Fred underwater - circled in red.

Close to tipping over :-)

Once at Twelve Mile Bay we proceeded to get in and settled. 

After anchoring for the second time (first time the anchor was dragging), we found 'Fred' our anchor buoy was underwater! This buoy is used to show other boats entering the anchorage where our anchor so thet can stay clear. If Fred is underwater, he doesn't do us much good :-) 

So Steve decided to take his kayak out and see if he could attach 'Fredrica' – our second anchor buoy (compliments of Liam and Mea!) to Fred.  

I watched and with great interest was wondering how this was going to going to go! Could he do it without tipping over???

Success :-)

Tomorrow? We'll have another early morning leave time as winds are again rising throughout the day. It's about 22 miles over mostly open areas so we'll cruise along (at about 20 mph) and expect to arrive in the Honey Harbor area within an hour and a half. Not sure yet where we'll stay!

Tuesday August 21: Parry Sound

Georgian Bay - off of Lake Huron

We pulled into the marina at Parry Sound last Friday - it was definitely time to be in a marina and plugged into power for a change.

It was 8 days of anchored or tied to a lock wall using a combination of solar power and generator to keep the batteries charged. I really like anchoring out but it was enough :-)

Besides we needed to do laundry!

Parry Sound is 80 miles north of the Trent Canal - less than half of the distance to the North Channel if we continued traveling north.. Perhaps going further north will be on the agenda next year but for now it's time to turn back and go south to the Trent.

This is a panoramic view from the top of the tower to the southeast of the town of Parry Sound - one of the many places Steve visited this week. The marina we're in is barely visible in the center left of the picture.

Probably the best thing we found this week was a "new" bike as his was on it's last legs by the time we arrived.

He just happened to find a bike shop and asked the owner if he happened to have any folding bikes. To Steve's surprise the guy responded in the affirmative!

These little things are hard to find used and to have one from a bike shop was great as the guy tuned the bike up, swapped tires with Steve's old bike and adapted the fenders to fit on the new bike.

The handle bar is kind of weird and it doesn't fold the way the newer ones do but it rides and stops well. What more does Steve need?!!

And it cleaned up REALLY well! With some metal polish and a lot of elbow grease made the handlebars and the rims shine like new :-)

What a huge difference it made in the looks.


Check out the difference in the two sides of the handlebars!!

Plus it was an excellent thing to do today as the rain came early and stayed most of the day.

Still is raining tonight with more due in around midnight. We didn't intend to spend 5 days here but the with the wet weather predicted for today it just made sense to stay put.

A small bowl of War Wonton Soup!

Besides there is a very good Chinese Restaurant downtown :-) And a good breakfast place - Orr's Restaurant. Owned by the family of the hockey player Bobby Orr who grew up in this area. Check out his story by clicking here.

There's a nice bike trail near the marina that follows the shoreline for a couple of miles that is easy to ride.

Lots of rocks and cliffs as well as the town beach.

The shoreline is very similar to much of the area in which we've been boating recently - granite rocks that are very unforgiving :-)

There's a unique mural on one of the buildings downtown which celebrated the history of logging in the area.


This rail trestle built in 1941 was also very needed by the logging industry.













Amazing that it still stands. And trains are going across it every day - I think most of them when it's still dark in the early morning when most people are still sleeping - including us! It's fairly close to the marina :-)

There was an antique car show over the weekend with the main street line with a wide variety of cars and trucks. Some not so old - this is a 2013 Prinzing Roadster.

2013 Prinzing

For sale if anyone is interested!!

Tower overlooking Parry Sound

Native art on display at the tower

So ends a pleasant 5 day stay here at Parry Sound on a not so pleasant weather day.

It's good to be inside today :-)

And DRY thanks to Steve fixing a number of leaks which showed themselves during the rain and thunderstorm last Thursday night.

No pictures, but good job Steve :-)

Tomorrow we'll stop at Killbear State Park for a day and then back toward the Midland area and see if we can find friends Peter and Cheryl!