BEAUSOLEIL NATIONAL PARK

Wednesday July 29

Beckwith Island, with all of its boats, was actually a nice island. The water was cool enough to be “refreshing,” but warm enough that Elaine actually went in swimming. It was also very clear. When we weighed anchor in the morning, I could clearly see it dug into the sand at over ten feet deep.

There were a couple of places east of Beausoleil Island which we had passed by on our way north a few weeks ago, so we thought we would explore a little bit. We cruised up the Musquash Channel, looking for a nice protected anchorage to wait out the 20+ knot winds forecast overnight. We went into Brown Bay, even tucked way past the big rock at the end into a cove only big enough for our boat. It was an idyllic spot, totally protected from any wind, but the water was brown - clear, but brown the color of tea. It was still early afternoon, so we got the dinghy down and went exploring around the top of Bone Island. Since we were out and around, we dinghied over to the Beausoleil National Park dock on the southern side of Bone Island and were surprised that it was almost empty. Elaine had read that there were things to do there, so we went back to the boat, weighed anchor and moved over to the park cove. It ended up that what she had read was for a different part of the park, on a different island. Oh well, we were there, so stayed anchored for the night. It was very warm, the wind that was supposed to come, didn’t, and we spent a fair amount of time in the water trying to cool off. As still as it was, we weren’t overly bothered by bugs…

IMPROV at anchor, Bone Island

Thursday July 30

The wind picked up a bit this morning, but there are so many islands, so close together, that it really isn’t bad getting around - you just have to be very aware of the forecasted wind direction when you go looking for a place to anchor for the night. With the winds at 10-15 knots, we went over to the Cedar Grove dock on Beausoleil Island. There was an empty spot on the dock, so we pulled in. This is the place Elaine had read about. There were trails, beaches, camping areas and a visitor center complete with nature talks.

Colorful frog on Beausoleil Island

We spent the day there, even getting the bikes down and biking a path which went down to the southern tip of the island. We were almost to the end when we were attacked by swarms of mosquitoes and decided to turn around. The dock was very exposed to the wind and the wakes of passing boats, so we left and went up to Chimney Bay, close to where we had anchored our first night a few weeks ago. The entertainment for the evening was watching boats coming in to the bay anchoring and those already there re-anchoring after dragging their anchors in the 20+ knot wind.

Elaine is convinced we are wind magnets. The forecast is for 20 knot winds tonight, dropping to 15 by midnight then back to 20 tomorrow night and through the weekend. May do a little more local exploring, then head back to Midland within the next few days…