PENETANGUISHENE TO FRYING PAN BAY – AUG 6 We left Bay Moorings Marina about 11:15 in the morning. We fueled before we left the marina and the young boy who was putting in the diesel got distracted and let it run over, so we don’t know how many liters we put in the starboard side! It was a beautiful sunny day, not much wind and pretty, puffy, white clouds. We were traveling with “Double SS”! Hooray!! We went to Frying Pan Bay and arrived at 1:30. We rafted to “Double SS”. It was a lovely, protected anchorage with big granite rocks and rock hills on the shore. There were lots of other boats at anchor. There were no homes or cottages visible on the shore. Woody and Ellen came over for drinks on our boat and we had dinner on “Double SS”. At sunset Ellen blew her conch shell, which she got while in the Bahamas on their boat last winter. FRYING PAN BAY TO PORT RAWSON BAY – AUG 7 At 8:45, we were ready and left our beautiful anchorage. Rain was predicted, but the skies were blue with a few clouds. “Double SS” was in the lead. As we got out into the channel, a boat, “Barbara”, called Woody and Ellen on the radio. They had met them, Ken and Barbara, at a marina earlier in their trip this year. So, the three of us, a 49 foot Marine Trader, a 44 foot Endeavor power cat and our 41 foot President, traveled to our anchorage together. The "Harmony" was almost always the biggest boat in the Trent-Severn, but in the Georgian Bay, the "Harmony" was nearly always the smallest! We cruised through an area that was part of the Canadian Shield, granite islands and rocks, both above the water and below. They call it the 30,000 Islands. It is the most beautiful place that I have ever seen. The blue skies, the blue, blue, clear water, the green tall trees, the high granite cliffs and the different layers and colors of granite all combine to make this an unforgettable place. I feel very blessed and I am thankful that I have gotten to see this. We have taken many photographs, but it is impossible to really capture the beauty and the pristine feeling of this area. When we arrived at our anchorage in Port Rawson Bay, “Barbara” anchored and “Double SS” and “Harmony” rafted to her. It was 1:30. It stormed after we arrived, wind and rain. We had a “covered dish supper” on Woody and Ellen’s boat. Ellen got her conch out to play at sunset and so did Barbara! Then we played Quidler. The wind really blew during the night and there was a lot of noise caused by the water slapping the bows of the boats. It was difficult to sleep for some of us. Phil and I went to the back cabin and slept for half the night. The next morning was cloudy and a little windy. We decided that it was going to clear up and that our planned dinghy ride up Moon River to Moon River Falls was a go. We usually carry our dinghy on the bow, but it is not very convenient to get it down and, as a result, we have not used it as much as we would like to do for exploring the area around us. Since we were through all the locks, we decided to tow it behind the boat for the rest of the summer. Phil, Ken and Woody got it down in the water. We debated about not taking our dinghy because the other two boats have bigger dinghies and they are not inflatables like ours. Phil really wanted to try ours, so we decided to take all three. We all took rain gear, a picnic lunch, etc and cruised away. After we had been gone about fifteen minutes, Woody and Ellen’s engine quit. The boys worked and worked on it to no avail. Ellen rode with us and Ken and Barbara towed Woody in his dinghy to Moon River Marina, where the guys worked on it again. Woody Being Towed Let's Try This AGAIN! Once again they had no success. We left their dinghy there. Woody rode with Ken and Barbara, Ellen with us and we were off to Moon River Falls. Ken and Barbara’s engine quit a few minutes later and they drifted into some rocks. Let's Try This One Last Time, AGAIN, AGAIN!! The wind was really blowing and it was raining. We went out around the rocks and docked our dinghy on the rocks in a safe place. By that time, Ken had his engine running, the rain had stopped for a little while, so we decided to eat our lunch there on the rocks. It was not quite the picturesque picnic we had intended, but we were safe, dry for the time being and hungry! The skies were getting darker and the wind was getting stronger, so we decided not to go to the Falls. We went back to the marina to get the dinghy. We headed back to the boats, dinghy in tow. By this time, the sky had opened up and the rain was coming down. We were wet and cold. There were many little islands and twists and turns to maneuver around on our way to the boats. We were glad we could remember the way back to the boats! The skies cleared by sunset and Barbara and Ellen blew their conch shells. PORT RAWSON BAY TO PARRY SOUND – AUG 9 We left Port Rawson Bay about 11:40. We were going to Henry’s on Sans Soucci Island for lunch. Henry’s is a well-known and very popular restaurant that is only accessible by boat or sea-plane. It is open for lunch and dinner and is usually crowded. We arrived on our boats about 12:30. We docked with help from the dock workers at Henry’s and walked up the hill to the restaurant. We had a great lunch and were on our way again by 1:45. It rained on us on the way to Parry Sound and we arrived about 4:30. We went to the town dock, a big concrete pier with a gazebo in the middle of it with purple twinkling lights. We were on one side and the other two on the opposite side. Ken had to rewire the electrical power pedestal by our boat in order for us to have power. Phil told the town dock people and they gave Ken and Barbara a free night’ s stay. It rained again, cleared at sunset and the girls blew their conch shells… Because we had not been in a marina or town in several nights, we had laundry to do, so Sunday morning, while Ellen and Phil went to church and everyone else met them for breakfast afterwards, Barbara and I took a taxi to the Laundromat. We each had a lot of laundry to do and we met a lovely English lady who has a “cottage” on one of the islands who was also doing her laundry. We taxied back to the boat. Later, I walked into town and browsed through some gift shops, called another taxi, went by the boats to pick up Barbara and Ellen and we went to the grocery store. Ken and Phil went bike riding and found a pretty little stream and beautiful flowers. Graffiti on Bridge Over Stream The taxi that took us back with all our bags of groceries drove right down the dock all the way to our boats! It was great. We saw many seaplanes. A company that provides seaplane serving many inhabited islands nearby and to Henrys' restaurant was located near the town dock. For many of the people who live in the area seaplanes or boats are the only way they can get around. The six of us had an early dinner at a cute little restaurant near the town dock. It rained again, cleared by sunset, which was spectacular and the girls blew their conch shells. |
Penetanguishene to Parry Sound
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