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!