WEEK 19 - Killbear, Ontario to Covered Portage Cove, Ontario

This week we broke away from the pack of other loopers a bit and struck out on our own over to the west side of Georgian Bay. Our stops this week were two nights in Tobermory (marina), Club Island (anchor) Killarney (marina) and two nights at Covered Portage Cove (anchor).

We had an early morning departure from Killbear for the long trip over to Tobermory. The weather was great, a 10 knot wind from the east that set up a gentle following sea for us the whole way. After being in the tight quarters and crowded waters of the canals and the 30,000 islands, it felt great to be out of sight of land with no boats on the horizon for a couple of hours. Tobermory is at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula and is home to two different Canadian National Parks, the Bruce Peninsula National Park and the Fathom Five Marine Park. The water here is clear Mediterranean blue and rocky cliffs and steep sided islands rise vertically from very deep water. When we pulled in to the municipal marina, the town was packed to the gills with tourists from Toronto there to hike on the Bruce Trail or to ride the glass-bottom boats to see historic shipwrecks and tour the unique geological formations of Flowerpot Island. We stayed two days to take it all in – the girls took the ferry over to Flowerpot Island, and I did some snorkeling on the wrecks in Big Tub Harbor.

Heading out to Georgian Bay from Killbear

Beautiful morning for a crossing

Ahhhh the open water again

Bella keeping a watchful eye for dolphins

Flower Pot Island shot from BellaGatto. See the old man's profile?

Flower Pot Island

Big Flower Pot shot while visiting Flower Pot Island

Hiking the Bruce Trail

Overlook from the Bruce Trail

Bruce Peninsula Provincial Park visitor center

 By the next day we could see the weather was fixing to close in a couple of days with 25-30 knot winds and some rain, so it was time to git while the gittin’ was good for the North Channel. It is about 50 miles from Tobermory to Killarney and about half way there is an anchorage at Club Island where we headed for the night. The bay at Club Island is roomy and well protected from every direction but the east. The holding is a bit iffy with a gravel bottom with muddy patches, but we managed to get a good bite in time to do some exploring before dinner. In one corner of the cove we found an old wood shipwreck and did a bit more snorkeling. The only good landing spot on the island is the remains of an old gravel mining operation, mostly just rock piles and poison ivy, but good enough for a landing spot for Bella.

Christy and Jonathan returning from snorkeling the wreck

Chicken Marsala on the hook

Mining spoils

The next day we had fair skies and light winds for the 30 miles to Killarney, the gateway between Georgian Bay and the North Channel. We were still pretty well provisioned up and pumped out from our stay in Tobermory, but we got a slip for the night anyway at the Sportsman’s Inn Marina, had a great fish and chips lunch at Herbert’s Fish Market, and got tucked in to our slip for the coming rain squalls and wind tonight.

Killarney General Store

Just a float plane cruising by

Touring Killarney

The next morning the rain let up around 9:00 and the wind was not forecast to really start blowing again until the afternoon, so we got squared away and beat feet a whopping three miles over to Covered Portage Cove (CPC). CPC always ranks in the top ten when some cruising magazine ranks the best anchorages in the world, so we didn’t want to miss it – and with good holding and 360 degree protection it is also a great place to ride out the next couple of windy days. CPC is indeed SPECTACULAR….surrounded by towering white quartz cliffs and pine trees. The wind is howling, and all we get is a little gust now and then. There are some hiking trails that go up the cliffs for sweeping vistas and blueberry picking, and Bella is in dog heaven. I think this is the first anchorage where we have ever spent more than one night on the trip, and I could stay forever.

Bella approved anchorage

Top of the world selfie

BellaGatto at anchor

Hiking at Covered Portage

Simply beautiful

Next week we will hit a couple other must see spots in Baie Fine, and probably finish up in the town of Little Current for the next round of pumpout and re-provision.

WEEK 18 - Midland, Ontario to Killbear, Ontario

After three days at the marina in Midland and with the help of our guest crew Christi, we got the boat all prepped and re-provisioned for Georgian Bay. Both engines got their oil and filters changed, fresh Racor fuel filters and clean sea strainers. We scrubbed the boat from stem to stern and did countless loads of laundry. Having fun is hard work! Our stops as we explored the 33,000 Islands area of the eastern shore of Georgian Bay were Bone Island (free dock), 12 mile Bay (anchor), Wreck Island (anchor), Port Rawson Bay (anchor), and Killbear Marina (marina).

The Bay Port Marina in Midland was the perfect jumping off point to Georgian Bay. We were able to provision, take in a little sightseeing, meet up with looper friends we had not seen in a while, and most importantly get some local knowledge about secluded and picturesque anchorages during this stopover.

Touring the S/S Keewatin, 5 years older than the Titanic

Midland farmer's market for lots of local goodies

Dino's Deli

Mile high house made corned beef on rye. YUM!!

Ken MacDonald conducting seminar on Georgian Bay

Dinner at the Boathouse with Gregg and Sonia from Golden Daze

The trip to Bone Island was a short 12 miles or so from bustling Midland, but it was a whole different world. Just a couple of miles off the small boat channel was a little secluded bay with a provincial park dock that we had all to ourselves. The only catch was that the shore end of the dock stopped 15 feet before it hit land (due to high water damage I guess) so we still had to launch the dinghy to get ashore. We all had a nice swim in the fairly warm water and took dogs ashore. There wasn’t a trail or anything, and we did some bushwhacking, but the deer flies were pretty bad and we soon gave up. In the early evening we spotted a beaver foraging for dinner behind our stern and we had a beautiful clear cool night with the milky way on full display.

Leaving Bay Port marina for Bone Island

Hiking on Bone Island

Bella cooling of with a refreshing swim and of course a stick 

Jonathan & Bella on shore leave

Stillness of the morning at Bone Island

The next morning was only 10 miles or so to 12 mile bay, where we shared an anchorage with a dozen or so other boats, including some great loopers on the big brother to our boat, an Endeavour 44 named 9 lives. We did some serious hunting for wild blueberries on the shorelines around the anchorage and were rewarded with enough for a batch of blueberry pancakes in the morning. After the hot buggy berry hunt it was time for (what else) a swim, and then cocktail hour on the 9 Lives.

Exploring nooks and crannies in the dinghy

Bilberries!

Dinghy cut in the anchorage with 9 Lives to the far right

The next day was even shorter, maybe all of 5 miles to Wreck Island, named for a hundred-year-old ship that was driven on shore here. Here there was a day use dock and a nice nature trail. After a long walk and another swim, we moved off the day use dock and around the back side of the island to a well protected little anchorage we shared with a couple of Canadian sailboats. We added to our stash of blueberries on the evening dog walk and had plenty for another round of blueberry pancakes.

Hiking Wreck Island

Rocks are part of the ancient Canadian Shield and have been worn smooth by glaciation during the Ice Age

More beautiful rock formations at Wreck Island

The water is so clear

DeeO'Gee on the hike

Our last night we were very near Frying Pan Island and the famous Henry’s fish restaurant, so we delayed our departure to be there in time for their famous fresh pickerel fish and chips. We got there early, and as opening time approached people started streaming in by boat, jet ski, and even a couple of float planes. I’d been reading blogs for years where people gush over a Henry’s lunch, and it definitely lived up to the hype. After lunch we headed up well off the beaten track to Port Rawson Bay where we had sort of planned to hole up for a couple days to avoid the crowds on the big Canadian holiday weekend. Most of Port Rawson Bay is inconveniently deep for anchoring, so the park service installed a bunch of steel pins in the shoreline rock so you could anchor the bow in maybe 20 feet and pull the stern right up to shore and tie it off. It took us a couple of tries to get it right.

Henry's is very quiet upon our arrival

Lunch at Henry's with The Lower Place and Nomadic Spirit

Henry's is a popular place for float planes

Port Rawson Bay (Photo Credit, Christine Ambrose)

Can't get enough of these fresh blueberry (bilberry) pancakes!

Secured with a stern line to the shoreline in Port Rawson

Sunrise at Port Rawson Bay (Photo Credit, Christine Ambrose)

The next morning we reconsidered our plans. We needed to pump the holding tank and fill the water tank, which we could not do in the back country where we were, so we decided to brave the holiday boat traffic after all and head to Killbear Marina. It turned out to be a pretty good call. Killbear is a nice low key little place near a big provincial park and after we pumped out and filled up, I asked if they had any dock space for the night. I was surprised that they did (with no notice on a holiday weekend) so we jumped on it. The girls launched the bikes and trekked over to the nearby park and beach while I did a few boat chores, including replacing our LED anchor light bulb with a new one from the marina’s well stocked ships store.

The threatened Massassagua Rattler in captivity at the Killbear Provincial Park Visitor Center

Killbear Provincial Park campground beach on Kilcoursie Bay

 After checking the weather, we determined that tomorrow would be a good day to jump over to Tobermory on the other side of Georgian Bay, a 70 mile open water run right across the middle of the Bay. Stay tuned for next weeks blog for that adventure!