Georgian Bay – what a beautiful area

From Midland, Ontario we traveled the small boat canal through Georgian Bay.   We visited a few of the many anchorages available in the area.  Each time we came to a new anchorage, we thought it must be the most beautiful one. Then we visited the next one and thought the same thing.  Mike, Manager and Harbor host in Midland at Port of Midland Yachting Center, gave the loopers at the marina a virtual tour of Georgian Bay via slides and charts.   This allowed us to have our charts marked up and planned destinations reviewed in advance.  He pointed out the best locations and routes to follow.  If you are in the area, be sure to stay at Port of Midland Yachting Center which is a very nice facility.  Leaving Midland, we are back with our looper group of Moon Shadow (Dave and Colleen), Southern Cross (Pat and Cathy), and us on Sanctuary.

While at anchorage in Longuissa Bay, we toured the area up the river looking for a water fall.  The river was very high and fast due to all the recent rain. After running up the first rapids, we decided to skip the water fall and take a break on shore.  The girls spent time looking for interesting granite, quartz, and fool’s gold rocks on shore.  Longuissa is a pretty bay. There were 12 boats in the bay and still room for a few more.  We had fun swimming in the bay and fishing.

From Longuissa, we traveled to 12 Mile Bay and stayed at the Wani Wani Anchorage.  We used the Med Mooring style of anchoring in that bay.  For Med Mooring style, you drop your anchor and take a line from the stern of your boat to shore and tie it to a tree.  This allows you to get close to shore and not swing around the anchor, providing more usable space for other boats to anchor.  There are lots of islands and bays to explore in 12 Mile Bay.  We discovered a number of beautiful flowers growing along the shore lines.

Snug Harbor/Snug Haven is an anchorage just off the small boat canal waterway near Gilly’s Restaurant—a great place to go for fish.   The other advertised place in the area is Henry’s Fish Restaurant, but it was closed since the staff all walked out (don’t go there; go to Gilly’s).

The Bad River Anchorage is found at the end of a long narrow rocky route.   It is truly worth the trip traveling back to the anchorage.   From the anchorage, you can explore many other rivers, rapids, and waterways.  It stormed the second day we were there, so we did not get to explore as much as we would have like to. We did pick blueberries and used the blueberries to make a cobbler and put them on cereal.   The wild blueberries are small, but they make up for their size in extra bold flavor.

From Bad River, we passed through Collins Inlet on the way to Killarney.   The route is extremely picturesque and well worth the extra mile to take that course.

After a few days at anchor, we arrived in Killarney and stayed at the Sportsman Inn Marina.   It is a very nice facility split by the water way going through Killarney.  To get to the main lodge and facilities, they provide a water taxi called TinkerBell.  Many times in a day you will see float planes going by the marina and stopping in town.   The marina has a movie screen on the hill over the docks, and we watched a movie from the upper deck on Moon Shadow.   The sound for the movie is broadcast over the FM radio, so it is a like a drive-in movie for boats.

Light Houses of Georgian Bay

Georgian Bay Crossing

Gilley’s at Snug Harbor

Collins Inlet

Georgian Bay Anchorages

Killarney

Sometimes you look at the chart, sometimes it looks at you……..

Killarney begins the North Channel and the next blog will provide details about our experiences there……..