Georgian Bay anchorages to Parry Sound, ON

I am so happy to be back on the Independence. Larry was so sweet to pick me up at the Toronto airport and sit in a total of four hours worth of traffic. Midland Bay is beautiful and hot! They are experiencing a heat wave and it is easily 30 degrees warmer here than when I left San Francisco, spiking today in Midland at 87 F. We spend the next day at Bay Port Marina provisioning and doing odd jobs to get ready for a few days at anchor in Georgian Bay ‘land of 30,000 islands’ (Lake Huron, Ontario, Canada). Larry is fortunate to get some time with Ken McDonald the harbor master and former owner of the marina. Ken is a great wealth of local knowledge and that is very important in these parts, as well as having detailed electronic navigational charts and paper charts. The next day we depart from Midland Bay and get our first taste of some of these super-narrow channels/cuts that head up to the pretty island-filled pockets. The channel is maybe twenty-five feet wide and maybe that deep. We are about to enter this cut after waiting patiently for an opposing sailboat to clear. As we enter, we are flat-out shocked to see a group of five boats quickly rounding the sharp elbow of the cut in the opposite direction. We are certain they will back down on their speed as we have already entered the one-way channel but no, they just barrel right on toward us making us back out of the channel. Wow, not the best boating etiquette or safety performed by these ‘locals’ but a true testimony to Larry’s incredible boat handling skills. After collecting ourselves we proceed on toward a bay that we have been told is great for anchoring. We arrive at Browns Bay (14NM) and anchor more than 200 yards from shore. As we anchor we hear a child scream “Go away!”. We don’t. The anchorage is lovely and we are not surprised when we are joined by another boat. They are ready to put down their anchor when a woman from a cottage on shore screams “No!” and her husband races out in their aluminum skiff to chase the boat out of the cove. He comes to our boat and tells us that we can’t anchor here that it is a navigable channel. Well, we know this is not true from our charts and stand our ‘ground’ and have a lovely night in the gorgeous little cove. The next day we navigate a few more cuts, this time without incident. We anchor near the top of 12 Mile Bay (21NM) and are greeted, this time, by a friendly ‘cottager’ on his seadoo welcoming us to the area. How nice after the previous night! Our transit to the top of Spider Bay is a shorter day in mostly deeper water with a few skinny spots and some chart watching (16NM). After anchoring we hop into the tender for a dinner cruise to Henry’s. A must if you are in the vicinity as it said to have great fish - and it does. The real skinny stuff comes into play the next day as we head toward Parry Sound. Larry squeaks us through several cuts that are no more than 22 feet wide and 13 feet deep as they twist and turn through glacier carved granite. We play it safe and announce ‘securite’ calls on the VHF radio so that opposing boat traffic will know we are in these channels. We are very happy when we make it to the swing bridge at Parry Sound (13NM). We dock at the Big Sound Marina and walk into town. The history here at Parry Sound is all about logging and the future is all about tourism. The marinas are full, cruise boats are packed and the Georgian Bay Airways seaplane charter and tour company is doing a brisk business as their planes lift off all afternoon. We walk over to the new Trestle Brewery and enjoy some cold ones and then have a final, final at the Wellington, which is worth a visit just to take a peek at their old photos - a great glimpse into old Parry Sound’s past.

Little Cottages like this are on almost every one of the 30,000 islands in Georgian Bay

If you don’t follow the channel markers in these cuts you will run your boat aground onto granite rocks

This is how you get to the grocery store

Just a joke on our little cruise to dinner

Henry’s fish house…on an island all its own called Frying Pan Island

Pickerel with basmati rice and Steam Whistle Beer…we visited the brewery in Toronto

Looking aft at the channel markers…we came through that small cut in the distance

Perhaps you get the idea of how narrow it is now…

There were quite a few slim channels today followed by blind turns like the one ahead

Finally the swing bridge the leads to Parry Sound

A Trestle Beer in front of the trestle while you await your seaplane tour

Parry Sound was all about logging back in the day

Had to check out the new Trestle Brewing Company

Great beer and my sushi salad was really tasty too…Larry’s ‘Dirty Bird’ sando was a bit spicy for him.

Trestle Brewery has a nice beer garden. This was a three-point toss - no kidding!

The old court house had a second floor courtroom and main floor jail.

Check out the old photos in the Wellington Pub

This is our itinerary! Not sure about that ‘Venice of America’ part …