7/14/2015
"Henry's Fish Restaurant" on Frying Pan Island
Reflection "on the Rocks" at "Henry's"
After a quiet night at anchor, we were on our way at 8 a.m. for a 14 mile trip to Frying Pan Island to “Henry’s Fish Restaurant” which is not only a famous eatery in Georgian Bay, but also a marina, and a seaplane landing area. We were expertly assisted into our slip at one of their many floating docks with our bow in to the amazingly–close rock ledge that surrounds the island by Paul, the owner, and his efficient dock staff. Paul has owned the premises since the early 1990s was immediately able to identify Reflection” as a Symbol, which really surprised us, and then he also said that he remembered us from our trip here six years ago, and that he still has our boat card from that time! Though the internet service is this area continued to be problematic, we did our best to send out and receive e-mail messages when possible. We made sure to get here early in the day, because a front was predicted to come in with strong winds blowing hard from the north, and by 4 p.m. this indeed did happen. The floating docks were particularly susceptible to the waves with white caps that developed, and now a number of boats attempted to come into the docks for dinner, but also for safety. It was quite a scene with boats trying to get fenders over their sides while waves pushed them about, and anxious boaters tried to gun their engines and bow thrusters while aiming at the floating docks which were bouncing, moving targets! Again, Paul and his staff did an amazing job of catching lines, and fending boats off the docks at the same time. Afterwards, we finally went in to dine and George had “Henry’s” famous Perch Dinner, and Pat opted for Hot Roast Beef, which was so huge, she took most of it back to the boat, so that she would have room for ice cream, her favorite dessert!
7/15/2015
Parry Sound, Ontario
Paul came to our boat this morning so that we could get any
up-dates on his marina that we needed to include in the 2016 “Waterway Guide”
for this area. He is a delightful and
gracious gentleman, and is very proud of his historic restaurant, and the fact
that they have never had to turn a transient boat away. After saying our “Good-byes!”, by 9:45 a.m.
we were on our way to Parry Sound, a town some 16 miles away. Our journey took us again through some very
tight spots, and we continued to use our GPS chartplotter in conjunction with
our paper charts to spot important nuns and buoys. We also had to time our speed so that we
could make the 11 a.m. opening of the parry sound Swing Bridge. All went well
and we arrived at the floating docks at Big sound marina a short time
later. Despite having a special antenna,
our internet connections were intermittent, and again there was no local T.V.
available. In the afternoon, Klaus and
Elizabeth Loehr aboard “Chinook” docked nearby, but when George went to their
boat to invite them over for “docktails”, no one was aboard. They returned sometime later, but Elizabeth
was exhausted after their extensive hike into town, so they did not join us,
but we enjoyed our Meatball Parmigiana inner with salad a short time later.
Chores were on our schedule today: bill-paying, sending out
our weekly blog, and food-shopping. We
got the “scoop” from some local boaters on the dock that “Wellington’s Pub and
Restaurant” was one of the best places in town to eat, and in addition, they
would send a car to pick us up at the marina to take us to there, and would
then return us back! So we decided to take advantage of this offer. Not only was this a great place, but the food was terrific, and
the portions were more than generous.
The owner, Michael Reeves, came over to our table and spoke with us
extensively about the town and its history, and George got to admire the model
trains which were used as part of the restaurant’s décor along with a multitude
of historical photos. After our lunch,
we asked our driver, to take us to “Sobey’s”, a large supermarket in town
instead of the marina. There we did some
extensive shopping, and returned to the boat by cab. After loading up the boat with everything, we
relaxed for the rest of the afternoon, and because of our hefty lunch, we had
snacks while watching “MASH” DVDs, in lieu of dinner.
7/17/2015
On the way to Hopewell Bay
Killbear Point
Kilbear Light
House on a rock
Pointe Au Baril Lighthouse
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| The Barrel at Pointe Au Baril The sign reads: (Site of the original barrel denoting safe passage through turbulent waters)
With rain predicted, we left Parry sound at 6:50 a.m. for a
32 mile trip to Hopewell Bay. The winds
were out of the southeast, so we hoped to get tucked in to one of the two
anchorages there. As we moved on, it
began to drizzle, and we donned full storm gear.
When we got to Hopewell Bay, we at first chose a narrow
anchorage, but on further investigation, we weren’t really happy with how close
we would be to the rock edges there, so we moved to the same anchorage we were
in six years ago. Then there were nine
other boats anchored there with us, but today there were only two other boats, and we just got there in the nick of time,
because as soon as we turned our engines off, it really began to rain!
7/18/2015
Byng Inlet
  
Yesterday’s rain was replaced by fog over-night, so we had
to wait for it to dissipate before we could safely leave. We picked up anchor at 8:30 a.m. and headed
out on a 34 mile trip to Byng Inlet on Georgian Bay with sunny weather and
gentle seas. Our destination today was
Wright’s Marina in the village of Britt. Since we were one of the biggest boats
coming in to the marina, we were greeted by two dockhands along with a number
of other boaters on the dock to assist us.
Pat thanked everyone for all of their help, and said that they should
win an award as the most helpful dock neighbors in Canada! Once we were settled, we were disappointed to
learn that one of our favorite Canadian restaurants from our first “Loop” trip,
“The Little Britt Inn”, had closed.
George was, however, able to book the marina’s courtesy car for the
early evening so that we could go to the small upstairs restaurant at another
nearby marina, the “St. Amant’s Waterfront Inn”. The inside décor and service was very nice,
and the food was quite good. Afterwards,
we went to the combined general store, butcher, and hardware store below the
restaurant to check out what items they had.
It included all the basics, and then some, but we sure knew that we
weren’t at home in the U.S. anymore! We
were very much in the outskirts of beautiful Canadian cottage country!!! Hunting, fishing, and camping are the norm
here!
7/19/2015
We left the dock at 7 a.m. for a 23 mile trip to the Bustard
Islands, but though the skies were blue above us and the wind was calm, by the
time we reached the Byng Inlet entrance to Georgian Bay, we were socked in by
heavy fog! Even though we have AIS,
radar, and GPS, we really also want to have a certain amount of actual
visibility around us as we travel, so we turned around in the inlet, and came
back to Britt and anchored. We waited
for a number of hours, and we even spoke by radio with some boaters out on
Georgian Bay who were not happy about the conditions out there. Around noon, however, the fog appeared to
lift again, so we picked up anchor, and made another attempt at leaving, but
the same thing happened – the fog came in again, even heavier than the first
time! Now we headed back to the same
slip we had last night at Wright’s Marina.
Later in the afternoon, George got the marina’s courtesy car and went to
the general store at St. Amant’s and returned with the ingredients for his
fabulous Chicken Fricasse for dinner that evening.
7/20/2015
Beaverstone Bay
   
At 6:50 a.m. we left Wright’s Marina under clear skies with
temperatures in the low 60s for a 38 mile trip to Beaverstone Bay. The wind was scheduled to be blowing out of
the west around 10 knots with 1’ waves early, but would increase to around 15
knots and 2 ‘ waves later. As we started to make our way through the open
waters of Georgian Bay, we started to take the waves on our port beam, and this
uncomfortable rocking motion continued for about 24 miles until we made our
turn into beautiful Beaverstone Bay.
After we were anchored at about 9:30 a.m., the only boat in the vicinity
picked up their anchor, and then motored over to us. We noticed that they had a “Looper” pennant,
and they yelled over to us, “Welcome to Paradise!” The boat’s name was “Harmony”, and after
seeing our stern with Seawood Harbor, New Jersey as our home port, the woman
aboard called out that she was originally from Carteret, New Jersey! What a small world. After a late breakfast, we both took early
naps, since we had been up since 5 a.m.
In fact, we took it easy for the rest of the day with George watching
his “Sherlock Holmes” DVDs, and Pat finishing off the novel that she had been
trying to read for the past several days.
Steaks on the Barbecue with Baked Potatoes and Salad were on our dinner
menu.
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