Tuesday, July 14
We woke up early, trying to chase down the mosquitoes that found their way into our stateroom. By the time 2 out of the 3 were dead, we were awake anyway, so were up at about 5:30. The third one got lucky and lived to bite another day. The weather stayed quite pleasant, no high wind as was forecast, and we left Echo Bay to wander through the islands, via the South Channel, up to Parry Sound. Parry Sound is both a large bay and a large town, so we went to Parry Bay, the town. It was a very pretty cruise, although it only took a couple of hours. We went even slower than our regular cruise speed because we knew we would get to the Parry Island Swing Bridge early, and it only opens once per hour, on the hour. We got there early and I called the bridge tender on the VHF radio, just to let him know we were wanting to go through when it opened, and he informed me, gruffly, that I’d have to wait another 15 minutes until 11 AM (which I knew anyway). After getting through the bridge, we tied up on the Town Pier in Parry Sound (the town) and were able to get power and water for the night at the same charge as being at the marina, but it was closer to town.
We got the bikes down and took off for the major shopping center. We didn’t need all that much, but Elaine found out that there’s a Starbucks there and she had a coupon, which expired today, for a free anything coffee. Well, the Starbucks was just a drive through in a gas station that was incredibly difficult to get to anyway, so we gave up on that. We did stop by a store to buy a mosquito killer recommended to us. We’ll be ready if that third guy ever shows up again!
We stopped by a farmer’s market for a few things and wandered around the downtown area a bit before getting back to the boat. Although Elaine had some steaks defrosting, we decided to take advantage of being at a dock and near restaurants and go out for dinner. We went to the Bistro by the Bay and had one of the best meals of the trip so far.
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| "Hole in the Wall" channel in Parry Sound (the bay) |
Wednesday, July 15
Elaine took a hike. There’s an old fire lookout on a hill overlooking town, and a museum nearby, so she decided to visit them. I stayed at the boat, getting some maintenance done and getting ready to depart when she returned. A very strong north wind had come up last night, and was still blowing this morning, but most of our planned route today was in protected areas, so we left the dock around 1:30 in the afternoon.
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| Lighthouse at entrance to Snug Harbor |
A couple of spots had us exposed to Lake Huron and were a bit bumpy, but it was only for a short distance. We had searched out some likely anchorages on the charts, but when we got to the one we had decided on, it had a lot of boats in it. Instead, we found a slightly less protected area nearby and dropped our anchor. I have a great deal of confidence in this anchor (a 20 kg Rocna) and although it is windy, the water is still, we have plenty of room to swing on anchor (the wind is supposed to shift 180 degrees tonight) and the scenery is better without so many other boats.
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| Our anchorage in Regatta Bay |
I positioned the barbecue in the most sheltered place I could on the boat, and we’ll cook up those steaks that were defrosted last night. No need to worry about having to make do for dinner. On the menu: fresh pea and feta salad with walnuts and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, the bacon-wrapped filet medallions, mashed potatoes with garlic and a bottle of Beaulieu Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s a tough life…
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| Our Bistro setting, with a view... |
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