Day 296 – 7/26/24

Starting location: Frying Pan Bay, Beausoleil Island, Ontario, Canada

Weather: 59 am, 74 pm, sunny

Ending location: Anchored in Pittsburgh Channel in 30,000 islands area of Northern Georgian Bay, Ontario, Canada.

Statute miles: Approximately 15

General summary: We had had lengthy discussions with two different very friendly and generous Canadian couples who had given us tons of local information, including favorite anchorages, best places to provision along the way, and various things to avoid. Armed with this knowledge, we headed out from Beausoleil Island. First, we went to the Southwest area of Echo Island, which is another Parks Canada space. There used to be a public dock, but it had been destroyed in a storm a few years ago and never replaced, so people anchor nearby. We anchored briefly, but it was getting crowded (typical for a weekend there as it is relatively close to the bigger cities) and there were no hikes. Next, we checked out a cove that was supposed to be near a hike, but it appeared to be surrounded by cottages and there was no visible trailhead. We have heard locals really don’t like you anchoring in front of their homes – some reports of yelling at you, using loud music, or shining bright lights in your direction to encourage you to move. We decided to press on to a remote channel off of (hopefully ironically named) Go Home Bay and went to the very end where we saw a single occupied cottage, so backtracked a bit where there was a rock outcropping where we could safely bring Cocoa without trespassing on private land. Herein lies the Georgian Bay challenge for us – finding a remote place with permissible shore access and hopefully hiking trails. Also important to be very careful to follow the small craft channels or the well charted passages. We were warned about the risk of motoring onto submerged uncharted rocks otherwise. Many stories about damaged boat bottoms or engines/propellers as this land surface is solid and unforgiving. But it is lovely here, picturesque, not too hot compared to more Southern locations, and very swimmable most places as there is little current and no jellyfish or alligators.