Friday, August 2, 2019

Big Sound Marina, Parry Sound

The weather was good on the morning of August 2, so a few other boats were also pulling out of Bay Port Yachting Centre. We waited for the first wave to depart, then made our way to the fuel dock to take on fuel and pump out. We were underway by 9:35am for our 56-mile trip to Parry Sound. 

We followed the Georgian Bay Small Craft Route. What is the Small Craft route? Well, it was established to provide a path through the thousands of islands along the north and eastern shores of Georgian Bay. It is meant to protect small boats from exposure to the open waters of the bay which is considered part of Lake Huron. This route is not your average navigation channel, as described in the follow cruising guidebook excerpts:

The Small Craft Route along the east and north coast of Georgian Bay is a stunning route through the 30,000 islands. This part of Georgian Bay rivals the sailing grounds of the Greek Islands for its beauty and challenge. The scenery is breathtaking, and the sailing is arguably the most challenging in North America. That challenge comes from the navigation demands … plus the added element of weather.

The Small Craft Route runs from Port Severn to Little Current … through a maze of islands. It offers access to simply beautiful anchorages, hidden coves tucked out of the way, small villages off the beaten path and endlessly changing vistas. This Route has many narrow passages. The shoreline and bottom are unforgiving granite.

The following was repeatedly emphasized in the cruising guides:

NEVER exchange a known, safe position for an unknown position. If you are uncertain about your position, STOP. Take off ALL way (speed) and cease any forward motion. Then, take the time to accurately locate your position and then plan a course forward.

The cruising guides were right, the scenery was amazing! Their emphasis on navigational awareness was also on the mark. One missed turn or lack of attention to the channel markers could easily put you onto unforgiving granite, that can be seen in some of our photos. With no muck or sand to cushion a bump, running aground here would result in the sound of the boat's hull going crunch! There was one point where we took heed that sage advice by coming to a complete stop in order to orient ourselves with our location and path forward before proceeding. The result - no bump or crunch!

After a short jaunt northward from Midland to the Small Craft Route, we passed by one of the larger islands in Georgian Bay, the five-mile long Beuasoleil Island. We traveled along it's north side (short side, only about a mile wide) where we obseverd a rarely seen work barge headed in the opposite direction.  By 11:25 in the Muskoka Landing Channel, we saw tiny Cupid Island with its 8-foot high stone monument and plaque commemorating the visit of Samuel de Champlain in 1615. It appears that the Small Craft Route has a name for every channel (Whalesback, Freddy, Devil’s Elbow…), bay (Alexander, Go Home, King…) point (Cognashene, Wabena, Bushby…), island (Waubanoka , Burnt, Aberdeen, Pig …) and rock (Hotchkiss, Bakewell, Turtle, Red…), though it’s difficult to understand what distinguishes large rocks from small islands. Even many banks along the shorelines have names (Monkhouse, Bernard, Judd…).

We were at Big David Bay at 12:30. It was amazing to consider that in a short distance, we'd be in water 80-feet deep in the narrow space between some islands, and then only 6 feet deep between two islands a little further along.

We took the South Channel approach toward Parry Sound where we began to see more cottages, boats and people along the route. It almost seemed to be a “requirement” to have a dog on every paddle board around here. The high-water level in Lake Huron was easily noticeable with some of the fixed docks completely underwater. Several of the cottage owners were creative in adding various layers to the docks to get them above the water level.

Toward the end of our day, we had to go through a swing bridge at Parry Island. It only opens on the hour and we hoped to make the 3pm opening. Unfortunately, we missed it by about 10 minutes, so we floated around for 50 minutes and admired the scenery. 

We finally arrived at Big Sound Marina in Parry Sound at 4:25pm. Bo was thrilled to get to some grass and experience the new smells at the marina. We checked in at the marina office and found out they had lost track of our reservation. They had room for us to stay one night, but not two as planned. Good thing, bad thing, who knows... We made a quick call to our next stop at Wright’s Marina in Britt, ON, and found out they had no problem taking us a day early. 

We had a quick but so-so dinner at the Fly Deck Grill, then stopped by the ice cream shop for a delicious and generous scoop of local ice cream. By the time we returned to the boat, the engine room had cooled down a bit so Brian could do his pre-departure prep for the next morning. After a review of our plans for the next day’s travel, our day was complete!