Georginn Bay 2 Tight channels

Georgian Bay – 2

There are over 30,000 islands in Georgian Bay and our charts no longer show a magenta line on the chart plotter (GPS) or the paper chart for us to follow– so we are having to work out where we are going & what we want to see, which islands we want to anchor in according to the wind direction and how many other people know of this favoured anchorage, & other alternative anchorages if it is too crowded & wind direction has changed, rocks to avoid, then throw in distance and time factors and it becomes a challenge - & I thought this was a holiday.

Georgian Bay is large with so many choices it is difficult to know what to choose. Because all of the bay is clear water, pine covered and many rocks we decided to add to the adventure by choosing the narrow, tight spots where the the advisory books state “not recommended for large boats with drafts of over 5 ft, or 42ft long or first time boaters to the area”. Sounded like a challenge to Ted & Colin so we have done these areas and although you had to be careful it added some great adventure to the routes for the days. The main fear of course are the sides of the narrow channels and the bottoms which are all granite rock – solidly keel & prop crunching. Colin has photos of most of these OMG spots.

Most of these were alternate routes to the main one – Monument Channel had a couple of U turns & a right angle one. Starvation Bay had a tight squeeze at north & south ends with the warning “channel is very narrow & congested with many boaters not bothering to slow down”. We have been surprised that the polite & courteous Canadians have been the worst offenders of any state during our whole trip, at waking other boats – it has been rare to find a boater slowing to pass others.

We stopped for lunch at Henry's World Famous Fish Restaurant on Frying Pan Island then continued to a popular anchorage for the evening ( Echo Bay) but it was too crowded so found our own in Spider Bay – just the two boats – calm & quiet.

Next day we headed up to Parry Sound via the South Channel with warnings to call on VHF to warn other approaching traffic before entering narrow channels & 7 mile narrows, 5 mile narrows & 3 mile gap. We went through a “Hole in The Wall” in Parry Sound unlike the one in NZ it was a natural slit forming a channel. We also passed an “Aussie Island”. We dropped anchor for lunch in Kilcoursie Bay & then found anchorage further on in Snug Harbour for the night. We dinghied into the village brought an ice cream & watched the huge number of people queueing up for their Sunday meal at the only restaurant there. On weekends these small places have many boaters visiting and it's best to stay away if possible.