Sailing the Great Lakes: Byng Inlet to Killarney

Friday July 16 - I set the alarm for 7am as requested, but Kathi said "wasn't that supposed to be 7:30am?" I reset my watch for 7:30, but got up myself by 7:15am, made coffee, and then Kathi was up by 7:30am. Time for showers, filing the water tanks, and meeting with John to review his anchoring suggestions. More later...

Well, after John's visit we have changed our float plan. We will not be going directly to the Bustards, but will continue up the Small Craft Route to an anchorage a short distance from here at Golden Island - maybe an hour or so away. Then after that we will stop at some interesting places that he pointed out around the French River area. Finally, we will eventually head to the Bustard Islands in a few days.

We made our way out Byng Inlet to our turn to the right and up the Small Craft Route towards Golden Sword Island. On the way we passed a smaller sailboat sailing under mainsail. Well after we made our turn to the right and then to the left on the other side of Clark and Bigwood Islands we saw the same sailboat coming down the “short-cut” out the other channel from Byng Inlet that is not buoyed! He was obviously a local. We put out our headsail and followed him - off came our motor and we sailed, keeping about 2 to 3 boat lengths behind him. I don’t think he liked us following him after we passed him in the inlet. We followed him through Cunninghams Channel, which was a pretty hairy – very narrow, shallow and with twisty turns. We had a small powerboat come up behind us and follow at least part way through the channel – he jumped past us just before the last hard left (always in a hurry). But we sailed the whole way (headsail only)! The wind was a constant 15 knots with a few gusts up to 20 knots. We did miss our turn into the Golden Sword Island anchorage and had to proceed up the Small Craft Route a little further into a wider and deeper spot to turn around and take the opportunity to furl in the headsail. We motored back and into the anchorage. There was already a trawler anchored there and of course in the prime spot. We circled him and pulled up parallel as close to the shallow rock area as I was comfortable with to give him his maximum room. He did not seem to mind – Kathi said he gave her a friendly wave (but with her vision these days, it may have been a bird sign as far as I know). I eventually swam over near the trawler and said hi. It turns out they are from Mulberry, Florida. They seemed nice. Later in the afternoon “Don” came by in his dinghy and we talked and traded boating business cards.

The trip was less than 5 nautical miles, so it was short and quick. It is still blowing pretty good from the Southwest and is expected to veer West and pump-up to 20 knots, so this may be another multi-day anchorage. We will see tomorrow if we move on to Obstacle Island near the French River. John told us about a good anchorage and a little dinghy trip to a wooden boardwalk along where the French trappers use to travel. We will see… Tomorrow is another day...

Cunninghams Island Channel

Golden Sword Island first and second anchorages

Seabourne (Don and Pat) at anchor in the first spot

Saturday July 17 – I woke up around 7am; Kathi is still sleeping (8am). I started reading the “PORTS” book about the French River Eastern Outlet, which is where we were planning on going. That is where Obstacle Island is situated and up the outlet is where the boardwalk is. The French River area is a provincial park (with a smattering of private “cottage” islands where were sold prior to the park’s creation). In this section of the book it mentions that Parting Channel on the eastern side of the route in is of concern to the Canadian Coast Guard as near impassable with less then 5ft depth is some places. They are constantly moving buoys around to mark the deepest passage. I am having second thoughts about going through there!

What did come to my mind is going to The Bustard Islands first along the main route (Parting Channel is on a side route), and go into Obstacle Island from the western side of the side route. I have plotted out the trips from here (Golden Sword Island) to the Bustards and the Bustards to Doiron Island anchorage next to Obstacle Island. There is only one spot where the depth is 6ft, otherwise we will have a minimum of 10ft depth. We are looking at the weather and will decide if we stay here another day or head to the Bustards – it is only 13.5 nautical miles.

We swam around a bunch and I went ashore on Golden Sword Island. Just before a bunch of kayakers came by who were camping across the Small Craft Route on Cunninghams Island – all women. I asked them about what they slept on expecting some thick blow-up mattresses, but they use “Therma-Rest” pads. That is a little too thin and narrow for me if I were sleeping on bare rock! They also mentioned that they saw a bear cub on an island near them. So, when I went ashore on Golden Sword, I kept saying out loud repeatedly “Just walk’n here boss, no trouble boss.” We did not bring bear bells and you also need to make your presence know to the local rattlesnakes. I crossed the island – “Just walk’n here boss…” – to the other side to see the view to the South. I also noticed some wild blueberries that I started picking – “Just walk’n here boss…” – and eventually collected a palm-full that I put in my swim shorts’ zippered pocket. I swam back to the boat and shared my find with Kathi. Some were not quite ripe yet, but they tasted good.

We saw Don and Pat again and they invited us over for drink and snacks around 4:30pm. Sometime between 3pm and 4pm, the wind really piped up and shifted to the West (as expected). We moved up closer to the shore of the island, hoping it would give us some protection from the building small waves. Don and Pat moved their trawler up the little channel behind us into another anchorage and reported back to us on VHF as to the depth along that back channel. We followed shortly and were anchored in a more protected spot around 4:15pm. We measured the wind at 23 knot gusts with a constant speed above 15 knots. It continued to blow like that until shortly after midnight.

We took our short dinghy trip over to their boat and enjoyed rum and cokes for me and some wine for Kathi, with crackers and cheese. We brought our “PORTS” book with us for them to examine. They actually had a scanner onboard and scanned pages they wanted. They were under the impression that one did not exist for the North Channel, Georgian Bay, and the Canadian portion of Lake Huron. We told them they might be able to find one in Killarney, but it might be expensive. We stayed and talked until almost 8pm. We headed back and made dinner of hamburgers on the grill and leafy green salad with chopped tomatoes and chopped raw carrots.

Golden Sword Island anchorage, our first spot

Golden Sword Island, our second spot

Sunday July 18 – I woke up in the middle of the night to calm waters and a beautiful clear sky. Jupiter was up in the East and the Milky Way was very visible across the sky. Back to sleep and up around 7:30am. I made coffee and got Kathi up at 8am and we started getting organized to go to the Bustards. Looks like it is going to be calm until around 3pm when a chance of thunderstorms is predicted to start. Rain and thunderstorms are predicted for overnight. Off to the Bustards it is, but we will have to motor the whole way. More later…

On our way to The Bustard Islands… We arrived before 1pm. We found the anchorage we wanted in the lower part of the Bustard Islands Harbor. We thought about moving to the next lower pool, but I was skittish and we dropped the anchor in the center of the lower entrance to that lower pool and tied off the rock wall behind and to starboard. I assembled the Fortress anchor (this is a stowable aircraft aluminum Dansforth style anchor) and took it our on the dinghy to port and dropped it about 60ft out. It dug into the clay-mud bottom (I checked it out with a goggle swim and it was dug in well). I also checked the Bruce anchor off the front and it was set well also. I have been looking at tying off the rock wall shore differently also to eliminate the need for the second anchor.

Today was my birthday if you had not noticed. I am 57 today. I got a nice “Happy Birthday” text message from Jenessa. I walked the dinghy out the starboard tie-off line to the “rock wall” and went for a little hike. I collected a pocketful of wild blueberries and climbed around the rocky island where I found what looked lie a grave site for “KIM”, which was carved into a granite slab about 6”x9” and imbedded in a concrete pile with a hole at the top for a post that might have formally contained a cross. Who know what “KIM” stands for Kim, or Ken Ian McDonald, or what? But it looks like a burial site for someone who wanted to be here in the Bustards in a remote area. Hard to visit for family, but maybe he or she did not have any? I collected a good pocket of wild blueberries while walking around talking out loud – “Just walkin’ here boss, no problems boss…”, but I did not see nor hear anything except a noisy squirrel or chipmunk. Maybe I will make blueberry pancakes for breakfast.

We did meet an interesting gentleman who came by in his dinghy. Kathi correctly noted the MD numbers on his dinghy and asked if he was from Maryland – he was. He had a real Northeaster accent. It turns out he was originally from Rhodes Island. He is 75, has sailed the East Coast, Bay of Fundy, Bahamas, the Great Lakes, the Great Circle route, and this was his last trip. They bought a trawler to make it easier for him as they use to be sailboaters. It started to rain, so he headed back to his boat and we ducked under our bimini enclosure.

After the rain stopped, Kathi came back out to the bow and cleaned the mud-clay off the front of the boat and herself from pulling-up the anchor at Golden Sword Island anchorages. We had a dinner of chorizo sausage and Jumbolia rice with green beans. I sat in the cockpit until the mosquitoes started invading. We were hoping that the rain, cooler air, and breeze would hold them of, but of course no. It is 10pm so we were ready for bed anyways.

Depending on the weather tomorrow we will either stay another day or head to Obstacle Island or Killarney… Tomorrow is another day… older...

Bustard Islands anchorages

A'Ghrian anchored and tied up to the rock wall to the left

Bustard Island Harbor anchorage

What looks a ashes burial site for KIM under a concrete mound with a carved granite plaque

Monday July 19 – Got up really late this morning, like at 10am. Yesterday I went ashore and picked a bowlful of wild blueberries, so this morning I grilled up some peameal bacon and made blueberry pancakes. When we were done with that and cleaned up, we went for a short dinghy ride to the end of the little harbor passage we were in. No one else dared venture down as far was we did to anchor. We say Don and Patty pull up anchor and leave – they were at the extreme opposite end at the head of the possible areas to anchor. Kathi hailed them on the radio and Don told us about a 50 powerboat flotilla that had anchored overnight in the Strawberry Island anchorage on the eastside of the Bustards that was heading currently to Killarney. Don told us he was headed for the Bad River anchorage. We decided we would try out Macdougal Bay, which is at the head of the French River main channel. Around 2:30pm we decided to way anchor and get going.

Well easier said than done. It was easy to untie from the rock on the rock wall, but getting up our Fortress Anchor was another story. We tried winching it in from the rear of the boat – bad idea, it just dug it in deeper. I went out in the dinghy and got right over it and pulled straight up, but it would not budge. Kathi tried diving down 19ft to dislodge it – no luck. Then I tried diving down to do the same – no such luck. What we ended up doing was to pass the anchor line forward and through the bow roller along with our Bruce Anchor that was off the front. Kathi then hauled up the Bruce while I maneuvered the boat to assist and keep is off the rocks. We then let the boat get blown back out of the section of the anchorage we were in (thank God the wind was assisting us). I had to be very careful not to fowl the anchor line in the prop or go under the boat. We were finally then had the Bruce pulled up and were anchored on the Fortress. Kathi used the manual windlass we have up front to pull up on the anchor. I had to assist, but ran back and forth to the helm to keep the boat in appropriate positions. I finally had to haul the Fortress Anchor up the final few feet and get it into the second bow roller next to the Bruce. Once we were back in the larger anchorage and out of the narrow pool I had Kathi take the boat in large circles until I could get all the anchor lines and chains untangled and in order. I brought the Fortress Anchor back to the cockpit and then sent Kathi forward to drop the Bruce Anchor in this larger anchorage area. Whew, what an ordeal! I will have second thoughts about putting the second anchor out to the side, at least not as far as I did and I definitely will not try to winch it in until I am right over it.

While Kathi was circling, we noticed that a boat anchored here was from Collingwood and seemed to be from CYC. The couple had come by earlier when we were struggling with the anchor and offered assistance. We were just to the point of succeeding so we thanked them and they headed out. After we were anchored for maybe 20 minutes we saw them come back in their dinghy and waved them over. They did happen to be from CYC, so we asked them if they could take the key we still had and return it. They obliged.

We spent at least a half hour cleaning this nasty dark gray clay mud off the Fortress Anchor. I had to take it apart and put it in its storage bag so we could stow it. What a mess, and we had to clean up the cockpit after that too. It was finally 4pm when we headed out for Macdougal Bay. It was only about an hour or so to get up here. We went to the famed Camp Macintoch fishing camp where the “PORTS” book recommends that you can get a home cooked dinner with 24 hours notice. We were hoping they had ice as we were low. Nope, but we did meet a guy on the dock who was from Toledo, Ohio.

Macdougal Bay is not worth the trip and unless the weather is really bad, we will be out of here tomorrow. We do need to eat up everything that can go bad in the ice box as the ice is almost gone. We can run the refrigeration unit, but it sucks the life out of our batteries, so we have to run the engine for an hour or so if we want to use it. The solar panel outputs only 20 watts, so it is only good for compensating for our normal daily usage of electricity sans refrigeration. We are really down to a couple pieces of peameal bacon, four hotdogs, and some milk. I think everything else won’t need the ice and we can run the refrigeration while we motor, or just run the engine a few times a day to cool things down. We will be off to Killarney for a resupply in a day or two anyways.

Kathi is already off to bed and I am tired, so I will provide more updates tomorrow…

French River Macdougal Bay anchorage

Camp Macintosh "we don't sell nothing to nobody" fishing camp

Tuesday July 20 – Got up around 8am. Our ice is really low and we needed to finish off some of the perishable items, so I made myself the last of the peameal bacon and two eggs over easy. Kathi had her usual milk and cereal. After breakfast we took a little dinghy ride up to the head of the French River to some interesting pools and a set of rapids. It was pretty, but I left my camera back at the boat. After that, Kathi decided we should make one last attempt to get some ice out of the guys as Camp Macintosh. We dinghied over to the docks again and unfortunately the same guy came out again. We pleaded with him to allow is to have some ice and we even brought our own ice bag. “We don’t have cubes only blocks, but my dad says we cannot sell anything to anybody.” I was about to say, “well then why don’t you just give us a half block…”, but I know this was futile by the guy’s attitude. “Can’t you make an exception?”… “No.” This guy also did not have a Canadian accent. They fly both the Canadian and US flags off a flag pole. His accent made me think of Michigan. I think if they were Canadians, they would have given us a break. So to Hell with that place (they were even poor fishing guides, as we spoke to a couple fishermen on our dinghy exploration). We were off for Bad River and would run refrigeration and the engine the whole way. Maybe we could beg for ice from some fellow boaters in the Bad River anchorage.

When we go to Bad River around 1pm, the anchorage already had four sailboats rafted up together, and about five powerboats. These numbers increased during the afternoon. Our friends on Seabourne, Don and Pat, were here. We beg a tray of ice off of them. After getting the ice into the ice box, we headed out on a dinghy ride. First up the eastern side channel (where I of course was talking to some people on the shore and ran the outboard into a rock) where a canoeing couple was relaxing on the rock wall, a small Nonsuch, and two larger powerboats were tied up to the rock. We talked to all. One of the powerboats was from Duncan Bay, Michigan.

Then we crossed the anchorage and ventured up the “Devil Door Rapids” and the Cross Channel where we saw all kinds of inlets and more rapids. We even suddenly saw a guy in a dinghy about the size of our come flying out one of the rapids over a little waterfall. He told us this was his second time shooting the rapids. He instructed us to go up the next rapid to the west, but you had to start a little further east and get the dinghy on plane and then navigate at high speed a few hairpin turns. Ah… no not us. I had already smacked the outboard prop and lower housing on rock a couple of times and the last thing we need is outboard repairs. It did look like fun. Maybe another day and time…

Back at the boat we finished up the last few pieces of bread and made liverwurst, onion, and mustard sandwiches – yum! – and drank our Extra Spicy Clamato juice. We plan to go and visit Don and Pat later with our bottle of Beaujolais Village and I am bring him my MAFOR translator html page on a memory stick.

Kathi swam half way across the anchorage to the big rock wall and back. I am heading for a dip and examination of the outboard’s lower housing… more later…

While I was relaxing in the cockpit, a small sailboat, maybe 25ft, started anchoring right in front of us. It was powered by an outboard and they were very bad at anchoring. At least five attempts and then they were 50ft or less off our bow and we could swing into them at night if the wind shifted. I shouted to them that I was a little nervous with where they were anchored. The husband seemed pissed, but the wife was nice and said she was nervous also. They pulled up anchor again and finally ended up behind us and in a position that was finally spaced properly from us and other boats. The funny thing is the way he anchors. He speeds towards where he wants his boat to end up and on the way yells to the wife to throw the anchor over. The anchor hooks and yanks the boat 180° around. He then reverses his engine just to make sure the little Dansforth anchor is hooked good. It was like watching a cartoon!

Bad River anchorage and Devil Door Rapids and beyond

Panorama of Bad River anchorage

Devil Door Rapids (with low water, pretty easy, but very narrow)

More rapids above the Devil Door

Rapids waterfall in an nice basin that you might want to swim in

More rapids

We followed kayakers up his narrow channel for awhile, but finally turned around

Wednesday July 21 – I got up around 6am. Told Kathi that we should get going soon. Maybe around 6:30am she got up and we started getting our act together to head to Killarney. It was a beautiful morning, but there were still 26+ boats at anchor in Bad River anchorage. We had our breakfasts and coffee and eventually pulled up anchor. We headed the reverse route out of Bad River and out into Georgian Bay, back to the entrance of the Bustard Islands "Gun Barrel" Channel and then west towards Scarecrow Island and Killarney. We talked to Don on the VHF on the way and he shamed us into raising the mainsail (the wind was on the nose until we turned the corner around Scarecrow Island).

We arrived in Killarney around 11:45am and were docked at Sportsman's Inn marina by 12:30pm (we had to wait for them to tie-up 3 or 4 powerboats in front of us. They did assist us with docking and eventually got water out to us to fill up our front water tank.

Funny thing, as we entered Killarney we passed the LCBO and guess who was tied up there! - Mast Transit (Greg and Shelley Harvey) that we know from Leamington. We waved at each other. They were having fish and chips at the fresh fish place. Later as while we were at the Sportsman's Inn dock they came past heading out to anchor with friends on board. They yelled "text us" and we did so later. They went to Snug Harbor and will move to Little Current after that. We will meet up with them sooner or later.

We hooked up to electric and the "internet" and I went through my emails and checked out my account statuses. We tried to call Seabourne (Don and Patty) to let them know the price of dockage by foot and that of the diesel by the liter. I ended up sending Don an email.

We went to lunch at the Sportsman's Inn bar and grill. Kathi had her usual "turkey club" type sandwich and I had a whitefish wrap, both with salads instead of fries. Of course it included beer and I had a few shots of "Jack" to go with the beer. I noticed a guy on a laptop with a "Kelleys' Island" T-shirt and spoke with him. Like us, he was from the "sailing club" in Sandusky Bay not far from Cedar Point. Their boat was named "Loma Lisa" and they headed out to the West as a major thunderstorm seemed to be heading in. I would have stayed put.

Afterward we dinghyed over to the LCBO (liquor store) and bought some wine, vodka and a mini bottle of Scotch. We forgot our returnables and went back to the boat and unloaded, grabbed the empties and headed back to the LCBO. Turned in our returns and then went next door to "Herbert Fisheries" and bought some fresh whitefish and lake trout. They were actually trimming the fish as we watched. The clerk weighed the fish and vacuumed sealed it for us. And the price was very reasonable for fish the caught today!

We intended to head over to the grocery store in the dinghy (they all have pull-up docks for shopping), but that very nasty thunderhead looked like it was heading our way. Actually, it went to the north of us and we only got wind, but no rain nor lightning.

Kathi decided she needed a nap, I decided I needed some Scotch... finished off the little $10, 200ml Johnnie Walker Red bottle pretty quick (am I writing this OK?)... I may head up to the Bar & Grill later for a snack, beers and some more shots... come-on we were out at anchor for quite a few days!

We plan to stay here a couple of days, but they may move us as the Canadian 50 boat "flotilla" is heading back this way tomorrow, and then this weekend another from the US on Saturday, July 24th. We are low on the "totem pole" as a sailboat... we will see what they do with us tomorrow. We will hit the grocery store then and explore the town... If I can find a barber I will get a haircut. If not, I will wait until Little Current, which is supposed to be a larger town with better and cheaper supplies. But I do really need a haircut! and a trim of my beard... More later...

We had the greatest evening! We went back to the Sportsman's Inn bar and grill and I ordered the Whitefish Wrap again, but this time with fries. Kathi had a bowl of soup and a salad (she is being good, but)... The barmaid was kind of not too friendly at first, I think because she was too over loaded with the dinner rush, but when she had time she really perked up and talked with us. She was originally from Sudbury, but has lived in London GB, Vancouver BC, Toronto, and loves coming back to the small towns. She suggested that we follow the main strip through town and across a foot bridge to the Carousel Lounge to listen to the performer there. He was great! He noted my "Put-In-Bay" shirt and sang a couple Pat Daley songs. His name is "Andy Lowe" and he was great. We closed the place down with him. He gave us one of his CDs and a business card (Andrew 'Andy" Lowe - andielowe@msn.com). He is as good as Pat Daley or better. We told him to come down to PIB and just sing in the park there - all he needs is a passport and an open guitar case! We may move over to Killarney Mountain Lodge tomorrow if Sportman's Inn tries to move us for the "flotilla!" Kathi had a few Merlot glasses and I had a couple beers. Believe it or not, Kathi spilled a little bit of red wine on her shirt and shorts and decided (at midnight) to do a wash. She is off now looking to get a few "loonies" change for the dryer! Well, I cannot complain, I am on the internet writing this! I think this was one of the best days we have had!