Author Archives: JH

So, we are sitting here in Britt, waiting for the wind to die down so that we can leave. I thought that I was suffering but it is obvious that from the following pictures, that I am not suffering! Take a look at Dustin from Toronto and his boat. He had to bail a lot of water today while getting here.

We stopped off in Parry Sound for a couple of days and enjoyed our visit. However, we were happy to get underway again as the train, tour boat, airplane, and 4000 boats running back and forth in the harbour, got to be a bit much! Plus our boat, at the water line, was filthy for the first time this summer. Dennis had to scrub it off (I did two feet of it and gave up…)

We are now at a very nice anchorage at Shawanaga Inlet. It is very quiet and more what we like. We did some swimming, fishing, kayaking, and now Dennis is taking a nap (maybe he’s tired from all that scrubbing!).

Tomorrow, we will head up to Britt and stay overnight there and then off to Killarney one more time. It is surprising how quickly the summer has gone by. We are finally in a nice routine and getting used to the boat, and we’ll have to leave soon. Oh well, we met a couple of people who only have two weeks holiday, so I shouldn’t be complaining!

Tonight we are going to keep our eyes out for the Northern Lights. Apparently, there is a solar sunburst (click this link for the details) and we should be able to see the Northern Lights. Cool!

Here are a few pictures of Nick on the Ucky Lady!

A new pic of Old Pink!

A really interesting anchorage that we stayed at is Wingfield Basin. It is near Cabot Head on the Bruce Peninsula. On the right-hand side of the anchorage is an abandoned burned out ship, half submerged in the water. Nature is taking over though and grass, shrubs, and critters are turning it into their homes. Dennis spotted a big black snake in the stern.

In addition to the ship, there is a trail to the lighthouse which is now a bit of a tourist attraction as it is no longer used as an aid to navigation. We went inside the lighthouse and climbed to the top of the tower. Very impressive view!

We had an uneventful time (this is a good thing) at the anchorage and relaxed, especially after being in the carnival atmosphere of Tobermory! We went to bed fairly early but at midnight, the wind picked up and changed direction. It was coming from the northeast. By three o’clock, it was pretty much howling and all the boats had swung around on their anchors. This led to a powerboat dragging its anchor and getting within fifteen feet of our boat. Dennis had already been up several times, checking things out, and by five o’clock, he was ready to go and wake the powerboat owners up. He waited until 5:30 and then quite politely knocked on the stern of their boat. Of course there was no answer, so he dinghied around in the anchorage trying to figure out what to do. We couldn’t move our boat because the powerboat was right on our anchor, so if Dennis tried to pull our anchor, he would have pulled our boat onto buddy’s boat (very complex!).

Finally at 6:15, he went back over to the powerboat and banged on their hull until somebody answered. He told them the problem and they came on deck, surveyed the situation, and pulled their anchor. They then moved to another spot. We though, were we ready to leave, so we pulled our anchor, and headed out of the harbour to be greeted by six foot waves within minutes of leaving!

The crossing from Wingfield Basin to Parry Sound was rough for the first three hours and we had to motor the whole way. The water settled down though as we got closer to Parry Sound and by 3:00, we were anchored at Killbear Park.

We are heading into town for a couple of days and then we are going back out for our second loop for another couple of weeks. Last night the temperature dipped to 9 degrees!

Check out the pictures below of the burned out ship.

Sharon, the lady on Somewhere, is a really good photographer. These are two pictures that she took.

Old Pink has been updated!

Tobermory is a very busy place! Boats are rafted all over the place (including us). Tour boats, kayaks, sea-doos, and tourists all in one very congested area. Lots of fun! We are waiting out the weather. Currently the winds are strong and a storm passed through last night so we want to wait for a while and see if things settle down.

We are rafted onto the sailing vessel Somewhere (the people we’ve been traveling with). Yesterday was an absolute zoo coming in. We had to circle in the harbour for an hour while the harbourmaster jockeyed the boats around. Little Tub Harbour has a policy that they don’t turn anyone away, so because of the predicted bad weather, everyone was coming in. Boats were piled up three deep in some cases. One sailboat had to back into a very narrow spot and tie up to the fishing boat. I was impressed with the his skill!

Tobermory has many little shops – nothing too practical except for the exceptional grocery store, so I think I will go shopping later on if we are not leaving for a while.

Nothing new and exciting to report!

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