The Georgian Bay

August 2, 2010

After completing the last lock on the Trent Severn Waterway, we entered the Georgian Bay. The first thing you notice is the topography-the land above and below the water consists mostly of granite outcroppings.  The surface on many of the islands is a very thin soil over hard rock yet many cottages are built on them all over this region.

typical cottage on island

This area is called the 30,000 Islands but , in reality, it should be called 100,000 Islands because there are so many pieces of land just below the surface.  The channels are well marked but they are very narrow and are used by the many boaters.

traffic jam in Hangdog Reef

Rocks too close for comfort!

Anchoring out has been fun.  We stayed at Frying Pan Bay which is part of Beausoleil Island -part of the Canadian Parks System and had a great hike through their boardwalk trails.  The boardwalk keeps the fauna from being destroyed.  The beware of bears warnings were a little unsettling - but they were here first.

Beausoleil Island

 We woke up this morning to a stunning sunrise over Sandy Bay.  How much better could this get!

Sandy Bay

Backyard view!

Henry's Fish Restaurant is a must for anyone visiting in the Georgian Bay so as the typical tourist that we are, we stopped there for lunch.  The placed was packed which surprised us since the only way to get there is by boat or plane but the place was jumping!  Pickerel and whitefish are their star attractions so, of course, we had some-good but nothing we'd go this far out of our way for!

Canada has been wonderful-the people, the food, the scenery but their bugs have been a nuisance.  They have chosen us as Prime Rib and have feasted well on this American meat!  We are now at war!  A Canadian woman we met in a lock introduced us to a product that we walked all around Orillia looking for one until we found.  It is an electric flyswatter and it works wonderfully, if not, sadistically-it fries those deer flies and mosquitoes.  If you don't own one yet, go find it!

Hope this finds you all enjoying your summer!