Bad River

7/29/14

It was really really cold this morning! It feels like winter is coming. It was overcast, but calm. We traveled through two difficult and narrow channels, Cunningham's Channel & Roger's Gut. We went up the Bad River & instead of anchoring we tied to the flat rock wall. The water is deep right up to the rock. We found a section where we could step right off the boat to explore. There were blueberry bushes all over. There was also a fire pit right next to the boat. A little later in the day fellow loopers, Linda & Rob on Errante, came in and tied to us. We first met them in Midland, Ontario.

We went to explore the area by dingy. There are several small rapids in the area. We were told that if you have a powerful dinghy motor, you can pound through the deep water up Devil's Door Rapids. We went for it, and it turned out to be a wild scary ride, but lots of fun. Rob & Linda had a 5 horsepower motor & didn't have enough power to go up the rapids.

Next we plan to head to Killarney.

Cool looking house in Britt, Ontario

Another narrow rocky channel

Bad River anchorage

We tied up to the flat rock wall

Devil's Door rapids

Fellow loopers, Linda & Rob on m/v Errante, a 42 Nordic Tug, rafted up to us

Going to the rapids with Linda & Rob.

 

Their motor wasn't powerful enough to go up the rapids.

There was a fire pit right next to the boat. Al made a fire to keep us warm & also keep the 

mosquitoes away.

Killarney

7/30/14

We woke up to a beautiful day. We traveled the inside passage through Collins Inlet to the town of Killarney. Killarney was first settled in 1820 as a fur trading post. The town wasn't connected to the rest of the world by road until 1962. It was once a quiet fishing town, now it is a major destination for boaters. We stayed at the Sportsman's Inn Marina.

Collins Inlet

Killarney Lighthouse

Parry Sound to Britt, Ontario

7/27/14

It was rainy & windy so we were very undecided about leaving today. The forecast was for the wind to be even worse tomorrow, so we knew that if we didn't leave today we would be here for at least 2 days. The wind was from the west, and all the guidebooks say not to travel on Georgian Bay in a west wind. We spoke with fellow loopers, Sara & Jack, on m/v Ithaka , who we always seem to end up in the same marinas with. We all decided to take a chance & head out today. It was 50 miles to the next marina that we wanted to stay at. There was an inside route, and an outside route. The inside route is only recommended for boats under 40 feet because the channels are so rocky & narrow. They were going to head out into the deep waters of Georgian bay, and we decided to stay on the inside as much as possible and run through all the narrow rocky channels. There was one 10 mile stretch where we were in the open waters of Georgian Bay. 

We went through the resort area of Pointe au Baril, wich means "Point at the Barrel". The name comes from the days when fishermen placed a barrel on shore with a lantern on top to guide them into the harbor. We went through Hangdog Channel, which is considered to be one of the most difficult passages. We went through and I really didn't see why everyone thinks it's so terrible.

We went into Byng Inlet and into the town of Britt, Ontario. We stayed at Wright's Marina. Ithaka is here, as well as several other looper boats. It took the same amount of time to travel the inside route as the outside route, but we had a much smoother ride, although we had do do a lot of navigating.

We'll stay here an extra day to wait out the wind. Al has another boat project in mind. He plans to reroute the discharge hose for the washing machine.

It was stormy leaving Parry Sound

Narrow channels

We had to go through the middle of a sailboat race

Pointe au Baril's lighthouse, built in 1889

Byng Inlet lighthouse

More rocks, but it looked like a shark fin from a distance

Range markers, when the lights are lined up you know you're in the middle of the channel

Fancy wooden runabouts

Canadian Coast Guard