Ocean Explorer News - June 30, 2005  - 0900 EDST - Hockey-Stick Harbour, Bone Island, Georgian Bay, Ontario       

        Right now we are anchored in an incredibly beautiful, long, narrow bay called Hockey-Stick Harbour.  We are in the Thirty-Thousand Island area of Georgian Bay.  The islands make up the entire northeast shore of the bay.  We arrived in the Thirty-Thousand Island area at about noon yesterday.

     Since writing you from Wingfield Basin, we have visited the towns of Lion's Head and Wiarton.  These are both small towns on the east side of the Bruce Peninsula, the latter of which makes up the southwest side of Georgian Bay.  The east side of the Bruce Peninsula is formed by the edge of the Niagara Escarpment, the tectonic plate which forms Niagara Falls, the cliffs on the west side of Door County, Wisconsin, and extends all the way down to the Chicago area.  The area from Tobermory all the way down to Wiarton, and south, have large, up to 600-foot cliffs along the shore.  It is quite a sight from the boat.  We did some hiking of part of the Bruce Trail in the Wiarton area, climbing the face of one of the bluffs in the process.  The trail utilized a spiral staircase for part of the climb.

     While in Wiarton we had our engine-knocking problem evaluated.  It is thought that we have a couple of bad engine mounts and that there is enough engine motion under a load that the prop shaft strikes the shaft log.  An attempt was made to locate new engine mounts, but there is at least a two-week backorder on them.  After consulting with our mechanics from the Wiarton Marina, we decided to continue the trip and run the engine only at lower rpms and avoid motoring into headwinds.  We think that this is doable and should avoid aggravating the situation.  As usual, we will try to sail as much as possible.  We'll plan to have the problem addressed when we return to Manitowoc.

     We crossed the southern end of Georgian Bay from Wiarton to Christian Island on Tuesday, June 28.  Christian Island and its neighboring islands are inhabited by First Nation (as they say in Canada) peoples that are of Ojibwe (Chippewa) extraction.  We anchored off of the main Christian Island community, which is substantial.  There was a lot of ferry traffic between the island and the mainland.

     Yesterday, we entered the Small Craft Channel, which meanders its way up the entire northeast shore of Georgian Bay through the Thirty Thousand Islands.  If you look at a map of the area, you will see that 30,000 is probably not an exaggeration.  The Canadian Coast Guard has established the Small Craft Channel as a way to get through the islands with a least depth of six feet.  The water is 8 inches higher than the level at which the least depth is based on, so we theoretically have a minimum of six feet, eight inches to work with.  OE draws 5' 10" so we should be OK.

     This area would look very familiar to those of you who have spent time with us in NE Minnesota.  There is lots of exposed granite, and it is covered with a typical boreal forest of pine, spruce, birch, balsam, etc.  The animals are much the same, as well, with deer, bear, and the usual smaller critters.  There has been quite a bit of development in the area we have seen so far.  People have "cottages" here rather than "cabins" as we have in Minnesota and Wisconsin or "camps" as they have out east.

     We will depart our lovely little anchorage this morning and head further up the islands.  We are looking forward to somewhat cooler weather forecasted as temperatures have been in the 80's and, a couple of times, low 90's.

Lion's Head Marina with Bluffs in Background

Lion's Head Inn - A Pleasant Little Pub

Spiral Stairs going up Bluff on Bruce Trail

Ocean Explorer News - July 5, 2005  - 0900 EDST - At anchor, Shawanaga Island, Georgian Bay, Ontario

        It has been a long weekend for us.  Canada Day was Friday, the first, so, as you might expect, it was a busy weekend here with lots of people getting out on their boats and to their cottages for the first time this year.  Canadian schools don't start their summer vacation until the end of June, so people are eager to get out into the nice weather when their kids do get out of school.  The Fourth was a bit more subdued since the Canadians are all back to work and, in general, there are not many Americans here.

     I could describe all the different anchorages we have visited, but it may not really mean much to you.  Rather I will describe the area in a more general way.  To call the northeastern side of Georgian Bay an archipelago would be to not do it justice.  Donna tells me that the Thirty Thousand Island area actually contains 85,000 islands according to her readings.  The area has been heavily glaciated right down to bedrock, and the bedrock has been markedly fractured, producing all the water filled channels that are here.  What soil remains supports a blanket of old growth pine plus all the other plants and animals of a boreal forest.  There are no moose here, but there are bear (we have not seen any).

     There are many cottages over these islands.  Most of the owners come from the Toronto area, which is only a three-hour drive from here.  We are coming close to an area in which the cottages have traditionally been owned by people from Cleveland, but US owners are otherwise apparently relatively uncommon here.

     There is so much rock that, years ago, with the exception of certain entry routes from offshore to some of the cities, the entire area was considered "foul ground" - i.e. not navigable.  Then, back in the nineteen-fifties I think it was, some private individuals along with the Coast Guard decided to try to define a navigable route through the length of the area.  Thus evolved what is now known as the "Small Craft Route" which we have been following.  This route has a minimum depth of six feet and is marked with buoys and documented with special charts.  To stray, even a few feet, from much of the marked channel is almost guaranteed to result in grounding sooner or later.  In other areas, such as where we are right now, it is relatively safe to leave the channel for an anchorage, but all the written guides are filled with caveats that there are no promises that there are no uncharted rocks one might hit along the way.  It is best to go slow and be watchful in such places.

     We spent two nights in Parry Sound, a major city of 6,000 souls.  We used the time to do laundry and get supplies.  There were two large grocery stores.  We went to Scobeys, which is a large, modern grocery store with as good a variety of food as one might find in any mid-sized US city.  While in Parry Sound we did a lot of walking and went to a play, "The Importance of Being Ernest.”

     We had some pretty heavy rain last night, our first since leaving Manitowoc.  Donna has spent the last hour defrosting and cleaning our freezer/refrigerator.  The sky is starting to break up a little, and we will probably hoist anchor in a while and travel on.  It is important to have good light, and preferably sunshine, in order to watch for rocks as we go along.  Polaroid sunglasses really help.

At Anchor in Hockey Stick Harbour, Bone Island

Henry's Fish Restaurant in Small Community of Sans Souci on Fryingpan Island

Rose Point Swing Bridge at South End of Parry Sound

Downtown Parry Sound, Ontario

Parry Sound Harbour Area with Railroad Overhead