Hi All... Ben here in the Georgian Bay and North Channel,
As you must realize if you have been watching our route, sometimes our location is just not that easy to find for our visitors. Most have to use two or three modes of transportation to get to our boat. Well, our friend Dennis Garbutt (“OD” to us) gets the award for the most complex route to the “Izzy R”.
OD's Travel Schedule:
OD's Travel Schedule:
On August 7th at 8 AM, OD left Bend, Oregon by plane arrived in Vegas for a 6 hour layover, then to Chicago, and then to Toronto, followed by a bus to downtown, then another bus to the side of the road somewhere, followed by a hitch hike ride in a truck with an old toothless guy, before being picked up in a wet dinghy in the rain for the last mile run to the boat, arriving in Byng Inlet in the Georgian Bay on August 8th – a mere 35 hours later.
He must have really needed a vacation! I’ll bet he didn’t know that Jeff will put him to work right away. I hope he got a nap on one of those legs of the trip. (Probably not with the old toothless guy.)As OD he got out of the dinghy and climbed aboard the Izzy R, tying the dinghy line to a cleat on deck, it mysteriously came untied from the other end, leaving the dinghy free to float away in the current. Guess it’s just going to be one of those visits! I'm sure to be blamed for something this time. If I'm lucky, OD will take the heat off me for a while. You know, I have to keep an eye on that Jeff all the time.
Jeff didn’t even give OD a chance to shower or rest, but whisked him off to dinner at the Little Brit Inn. By the time we got back to our anchorage in the shallow river, surrounded by marsh land,
we were being attacked from all angles by the Canadian Corps of Mosquitoes. I think Izzy and Jeff have found that a good antidote for the mosquitoes is called "wine", because they always seem to get it out when the mosquitoes start coming out. OD has opted to try something called "Glenlivet". Sometimes Jeff uses another one called “beer”.
The first day with OD – like the first day with many of our visitors – was a rainy, foggy one as Jeff steered the Izzy R through rocky waters to an anchorage called Gun Barrel Channel in the Bustard Islands on the north side of the Georgian Bay. Some of the trip was a little scary in the fog with all the rocks around. The water was shallow with only hard granite beneath our hull.
The first day with OD – like the first day with many of our visitors – was a rainy, foggy one as Jeff steered the Izzy R through rocky waters to an anchorage called Gun Barrel Channel in the Bustard Islands on the north side of the Georgian Bay. Some of the trip was a little scary in the fog with all the rocks around. The water was shallow with only hard granite beneath our hull.
Some rocks were real big and real close to the sides of the boat as Jeff moved us around slowly like a snake in the water between the markers and the rocks.
Jeff and OD took turns putting out the fire in Izzy's hair, and we made it safely into a pretty cove with several other boats anchored in the fog in the early afternoon.
As soon as we were anchored, Jeff and OD took the dinghy down and went for a spin. 
After a while OD took me for a spin too. I think he misses his dog, Lincoln. That worked out well for me, because during his stay with us he took me on lots of dinghy rides and walks! We became real "buds".
The fog lifted just in time for a beautiful sunset in Gun Barrel Channel.
We were a little concerned that our anchor might move on the rocky bottom as the wind picked up later in the day,and we were in a narrow channel with other boats around. But the chart plotter showed an nice donut shaped pattern of our boat around the anchor all night as we swung in a circle along with our neighbors. 
The Loons liked this cove too and their songs awakened Izzy early in the morning so she could take pictures of them. Here are a couple of babies waiting for a ride on their mother's back.
Loons are lucky like that...they get to ride on their mom's back in the water until they get bigger. I tried that with Sandy in the river last week, but I slipped right off.We avoided the little narrow channels the next day and went out in the open water to Killarney, where we had a lunch of fish and chips at the famous Herbert’s Fisheries.
It’s a red school bus converted into a take out style eatery with lots of picnic tables around on the water’s edge, right beside the fishing boats that are bringing in the fresh catch to be immediately put in the fryer.
Can’t get much fresher! In the afternoon Izzy and Jeff sat in the sun and swam in the chilly water of the pool at the Killarney Mountain Resort. I watched the boat while they all went to dinner and then to the Sportsman for drinks, and music by a piano player named Frank and his sidekick George who sang “oldies”. (apropos, eh?)Not much going on in this little town, but there were some interesting critters playing on the dock in the morning. Izzy called them Otters.
They were having a lot of fun until I started barking at them, then they jumped back in the water and swam away.The other interesting spot here apparently is the city dump, where visitors go to see the black bears. . That explains the sign that Izzy saw in town warning that loitering at the dump was not allowed. We didn't want to visit the dump, so we just pretended this bear was real and then checked off "bear sighting" from our Must Do list for Kilarney.
After a confusing conversation about the lack of our mail arriving at the right place and the right time, we decided to continue on and have the mail catch up with us at another harbor. Mail, and most other things, happen more slowly here in this remote location. Internet and cell phones are pretty useless here. We left Kilarney and the Georgian Bay and headed for the North Channel the next morning to a town named Little Current. Sounds ominous. I was hoping that Jeff had been brushing up on his docking techniques for the "little current" we might be experiencing at the next stop. We took the outside route that day to take a break from the shallow rocky channels we had been in the past few days, and bypassed many pretty coves and anchorages that many people come here to see for the whole summer.
When we arrived at Little Current, we saw the swing bridge that opens only on the hour. It turns around a post in the center so boats can pass. This picture shows it partly opened.
We were a little early, so had to float around in the water and wait for the opening. We found the town to be very boater friendly, with lots of stores, ice cream stands (of course), parks for me,
and even a local cruisers net broadcaster named Roy, every morning at nine on the VHF. There was a grocery store up the hill where we stocked up on supplies. It's handy taking the guys to shop, because they carried the heavy groceries home from the store up on the hill overlooking the harbor, while Izzy and I just enjoyed the view and walked empty handed.
Jeff busied himself fashioning a screen for the side doors while we waited for our friends Hank and Ann from “Queen Ann’s Revenge” to arrive at the harbor. We had a cocktail party with them as well as some new friends on the boats near us in the marina, followed by dinner at the Anchor Inn. Izzy made a peach pie for desert. Yum!
After talking to the rest of these boaters, we decided that by taking that big open water route from Kilarney, we had missed a nice little section called Baie Fine, so we went back to see it the next day.
We were a little early, so had to float around in the water and wait for the opening. We found the town to be very boater friendly, with lots of stores, ice cream stands (of course), parks for me, and even a local cruisers net broadcaster named Roy, every morning at nine on the VHF. There was a grocery store up the hill where we stocked up on supplies. It's handy taking the guys to shop, because they carried the heavy groceries home from the store up on the hill overlooking the harbor, while Izzy and I just enjoyed the view and walked empty handed. Jeff busied himself fashioning a screen for the side doors while we waited for our friends Hank and Ann from “Queen Ann’s Revenge” to arrive at the harbor. We had a cocktail party with them as well as some new friends on the boats near us in the marina, followed by dinner at the Anchor Inn. Izzy made a peach pie for desert. Yum!After talking to the rest of these boaters, we decided that by taking that big open water route from Kilarney, we had missed a nice little section called Baie Fine, so we went back to see it the next day.
Our route took us back into the rocky shallow water, but it was real pretty with clear water, making the rocks easy to see! There were several police boats patrolling in the Northern Channel stopping boats looking for drinking and driving and for polluters who might dump their holding tanks overboard.
The water here is crystal clear and they want to keep it that way. We didn't get stopped. I wasn't allowed to bark at them. Izzy told me to just look "cute" and be quiet. OD got a front row seat looking for rocks in the narrow channel leading into the fiord called Baie Fine (pronounced Bay Fin).
It's about five miles long and leads to a "pool" at the end where we anchored. Here's the Pool with a few sail boats anchored.
After we got settled in our anchorage in the pretty pool, we put the dinghy down and took a ride to the shore and hiked up the rocky hill to the hidden Topaz Lake. Izzy was looking for blueberries, Jeff was watching for bears, and OD was on the lookout for snakes. We didn't see any of the above. I felt like a pup again as we followed the river trail up the hill in the woods,
then climbed a bunch of granite boulders (I needed a little boost on the butt for that part) then down the other side over the rocks to a beautiful clear lake. There were some other people jumping off the rocks into the clear water and having fun.
We were all hot by then, so we all had a beer (well, actually I had some water from Jeff's beer can)
and took a dip in the cool lake.
After we were all refreshed we headed back to the dinghy. My furry paws were pretty dirty after that walk, so OD got the job of lifting me into the boat after I rinsed off my feet....pretty embarrassing - for both of us.
We dinghied back home across the "pool" and OD took some pictures of Jeff and Izzy on our boat.
I guess I was taking a nap at the time.
The water here is crystal clear and they want to keep it that way. We didn't get stopped. I wasn't allowed to bark at them. Izzy told me to just look "cute" and be quiet. OD got a front row seat looking for rocks in the narrow channel leading into the fiord called Baie Fine (pronounced Bay Fin).It's about five miles long and leads to a "pool" at the end where we anchored. Here's the Pool with a few sail boats anchored.After we got settled in our anchorage in the pretty pool, we put the dinghy down and took a ride to the shore and hiked up the rocky hill to the hidden Topaz Lake. Izzy was looking for blueberries, Jeff was watching for bears, and OD was on the lookout for snakes. We didn't see any of the above. I felt like a pup again as we followed the river trail up the hill in the woods,then climbed a bunch of granite boulders (I needed a little boost on the butt for that part) then down the other side over the rocks to a beautiful clear lake. There were some other people jumping off the rocks into the clear water and having fun.We were all hot by then, so we all had a beer (well, actually I had some water from Jeff's beer can) and took a dip in the cool lake.After we were all refreshed we headed back to the dinghy. My furry paws were pretty dirty after that walk, so OD got the job of lifting me into the boat after I rinsed off my feet....pretty embarrassing - for both of us. We dinghied back home across the "pool" and OD took some pictures of Jeff and Izzy on our boat.I guess I was taking a nap at the time. Then they took some pictures of OD in the dinghy,
I think Jeff was making OD go in and check the anchor or something in this picture. 
Here he is after he got a surprise face-full of weeds with that dive! Poor guy. I'm glad I'm not the low man on the totum pole anymore!
In the morning the water was real still and Izzy got a bunch of pictures like this, that look the same right side up or upside down.
When we pulled up our anchor that morning, we found it had been attacked by weeds during the night, and we needed to cut them off the chain and anchor before we could go anywhere. As usual, the captain assigned that job to OD since he's the newest crew member. He had a real sharp knife and a hose to clean all the stringy stuff off.
Somehow he got confused and cut his leg too, so Izzy got out the First Aid kit and cleaned it up, then super glued the cut back together again. OD didn’t even yelp like I would have done. He sat real still the whole time. I think I’ll give him one of my treats. Jeff said he was glad he didn't poke the dinghy.
I think Jeff was making OD go in and check the anchor or something in this picture. Here he is after he got a surprise face-full of weeds with that dive! Poor guy. I'm glad I'm not the low man on the totum pole anymore! In the morning the water was real still and Izzy got a bunch of pictures like this, that look the same right side up or upside down.When we pulled up our anchor that morning, we found it had been attacked by weeds during the night, and we needed to cut them off the chain and anchor before we could go anywhere. As usual, the captain assigned that job to OD since he's the newest crew member. He had a real sharp knife and a hose to clean all the stringy stuff off. Somehow he got confused and cut his leg too, so Izzy got out the First Aid kit and cleaned it up, then super glued the cut back together again. OD didn’t even yelp like I would have done. He sat real still the whole time. I think I’ll give him one of my treats. Jeff said he was glad he didn't poke the dinghy.Near the Benjamin Islands in the North Channel, we anchored in a place called Croker Island and had to tie our stern to the shore to keep from swinging into the other boats near us. The captian decided that the newest crew member had to take on that job, too. Here is OD in the dinghy tying the rope to a tree on shore.
Because mice and rats can crawl across the rope to get into our boat, Izzy insisted on putting these paper plates on the ropes to keep them off. Of course, OD got that job too while Jeff supervised.
Pretty soon it looked like we had a party boat! 
We took a short dinghy ride a couple of miles to South Benjamin Island to see the anchorage there and the famous pink granite rocks.
There were lots of small boats anchored with people climbing on the rocks here and there looking for blueberries. A funny pontoon party boat was cruising around with a whole bunch of people having a good time. It didn’t have a bathroom on board, so it had to stop here on this giant pink rock to let the girls off the boat to “go”.
I guess the guys just lift their leg off the side of the boat while they’re riding.…?
I haven’t tried that yet.
That night we had a BBQ on the sundeck back at Croker Island and saw two snakes swimming by the boat. I’m glad we didn’t decide to swim here.
One day as Izzy and OD raised our anchor they were surprised to see that we had hooked onto something that looked like a cable. They quickly stopped pulling on it thinking it might break and create a big problem.
As it turned out, the "cable" was actually a long, straight, water-logged tree branch that had been resting on the bottom. It took us a while to figure out how to dislodge it from our anchor,
but soon we were on our way to Bear Drop Bay to find another anchorage for the night. Here is the view from a rock island where we dinghied to find blueberries. We didn't find any blueberries(again) but we climbed around on the rocks for a while and enjoyed the view of the anchorage and other rock islands around us with a snack and a beer.
This bird was drying his armpits for about two minutes just like this.
Our last stop in the North Channel was at a place called Meldrum Bay. It's a nice protected bay if the water is unfriendly, but there is NOTHING there. The marina is quite dilapidated with remnents of an old pier poking out of the water that Jeff had to avoid when getting in or out of the slip.
Well, there is a small hotel with a restaurant called the Meldrum Bay Inn where we had a quiet dinner on the front porch. 
They have a cute rain spout that Izzy liked made out of little copper buckets without bottoms all hooked together leading from the upper spout to the ground.
That afternoon we saw a big Sea Ray there named Prime Time V, and it was flying a Looper flag, so Jeff went over to introduce himself and invited Randy and Nancy Whaley over for drinks. Jeff and Izzy and OD hit it off well with them, and we all had a nice time, so we made plans to travel for the next few days together as we headed toward Lake Michigan. Nice to have traveling buddies.
Because mice and rats can crawl across the rope to get into our boat, Izzy insisted on putting these paper plates on the ropes to keep them off. Of course, OD got that job too while Jeff supervised. Pretty soon it looked like we had a party boat! We took a short dinghy ride a couple of miles to South Benjamin Island to see the anchorage there and the famous pink granite rocks. There were lots of small boats anchored with people climbing on the rocks here and there looking for blueberries. A funny pontoon party boat was cruising around with a whole bunch of people having a good time. It didn’t have a bathroom on board, so it had to stop here on this giant pink rock to let the girls off the boat to “go”. I guess the guys just lift their leg off the side of the boat while they’re riding.…?I haven’t tried that yet.
That night we had a BBQ on the sundeck back at Croker Island and saw two snakes swimming by the boat. I’m glad we didn’t decide to swim here.
One day as Izzy and OD raised our anchor they were surprised to see that we had hooked onto something that looked like a cable. They quickly stopped pulling on it thinking it might break and create a big problem. As it turned out, the "cable" was actually a long, straight, water-logged tree branch that had been resting on the bottom. It took us a while to figure out how to dislodge it from our anchor, but soon we were on our way to Bear Drop Bay to find another anchorage for the night. Here is the view from a rock island where we dinghied to find blueberries. We didn't find any blueberries(again) but we climbed around on the rocks for a while and enjoyed the view of the anchorage and other rock islands around us with a snack and a beer. This bird was drying his armpits for about two minutes just like this. Our last stop in the North Channel was at a place called Meldrum Bay. It's a nice protected bay if the water is unfriendly, but there is NOTHING there. The marina is quite dilapidated with remnents of an old pier poking out of the water that Jeff had to avoid when getting in or out of the slip.Well, there is a small hotel with a restaurant called the Meldrum Bay Inn where we had a quiet dinner on the front porch. They have a cute rain spout that Izzy liked made out of little copper buckets without bottoms all hooked together leading from the upper spout to the ground.That afternoon we saw a big Sea Ray there named Prime Time V, and it was flying a Looper flag, so Jeff went over to introduce himself and invited Randy and Nancy Whaley over for drinks. Jeff and Izzy and OD hit it off well with them, and we all had a nice time, so we made plans to travel for the next few days together as we headed toward Lake Michigan. Nice to have traveling buddies. The next day we said good bye to Canada and left for Drummond Island - our entrance back into the USA.
When we arrived it was real windy and we were being pushed around getting into the dock in their shallow water. The young guy that was sent out to help us was pretty new and he got a few lessons from Jeff during the process of tying up.
At the same time the customs agents were right there trying to check us in, and didn't want anyone off the boat until the paperwork was done. They wouldn't let Izzy take pictures of them...security, you know! After all the excitement, we got together with Randy and Nancy from Prime Time V for cocktails. They had already arranged for the marina car to go to dinner at a place they knew called Bayside Resort, where Izzy and Jeff and OD joined them for a great dinner. I was the OWD (Official Watch Dog) and kept the boat safe while they were gone, and got treats when they got back. Well, I'm about done for this segment, so I think I'll just rest up for the next post and enjoy being back in the good ole USA.
Love,
When we arrived it was real windy and we were being pushed around getting into the dock in their shallow water. The young guy that was sent out to help us was pretty new and he got a few lessons from Jeff during the process of tying up. At the same time the customs agents were right there trying to check us in, and didn't want anyone off the boat until the paperwork was done. They wouldn't let Izzy take pictures of them...security, you know! After all the excitement, we got together with Randy and Nancy from Prime Time V for cocktails. They had already arranged for the marina car to go to dinner at a place they knew called Bayside Resort, where Izzy and Jeff and OD joined them for a great dinner. I was the OWD (Official Watch Dog) and kept the boat safe while they were gone, and got treats when they got back. Well, I'm about done for this segment, so I think I'll just rest up for the next post and enjoy being back in the good ole USA.Love, Ben
No comments:
Post a Comment