With our guests having only a week aboard, the need to keep to a schedule dictated our cruising itinerary. We wanted to travel a bit north, but decided it would be more enjoyable to spend time at anchor and exploring by dinghy or kayak rather than travel, so we headed for Wreck Island, a Provincial Park. The anchorage at Wreck Island is delightful, and we anchored close to the dock access to the park for convenient access by dinghy. The park provides self-guided easy hiking tours, with printed handouts at the docks. Barb stepped up as our tour guide, providing interesting factoids at the marked locations along the hike. It was very interesting, and lots of fun. I don’t think, however that she came away with a tip; it seems there was a station on the tour that may have been missed, unfortunately. We had a great time, and Molly got to go along and swim at a number of stops! Life is good as a boat dog!
Following our tour of the island, we dinghied to other unoccupied islands to do a bit of exploring; the weather was cooperative so the ride was dry and the hiking was most pleasant. Several cottages dot the islands in the area, again, from rustic to stunning. We enjoyed a spirited game of Mexican train that ran way past our bedtime, and a very peaceful, cool night at anchor. Morning offered a leisurely breakfast, and we lifted dink and anchor and headed south. Our route took us on the small craft “main channel” toward Honey Harbor through prime cottage country. Lots of boat traffic, but an easy ride through well-marked channels. Our destination: Beausoleil Island, since we had a nice preview of the park the previous week and had enjoyed it. We were not as fortunate in snagging a slip, instead anchored off and dinghied in to the park. We decided a hike of one of the park’s numerous trails would be interesting, and packed bug juice and water. The mosquitoes were intent on having their dinner, the bug spray came out, and we did about a 5km stretch. Plenty! We returned to the boat for a swim and dinner, later another round of mexican train. Lots of fun, no sore losers. Right?? We ended up happy with having anchored in favor of the docks, the portable generators were out in force, and not all of them were quiet! There’s no prohibition against using them on the docks; since there’s no shore power available, many of the weekend cruisers have no other means to recharge batteries. Unfortunately, the portables are noisy, smelly, and dangerous to anyone swimming. And noisy. Fortunately, they are prohibited at night.
As our guests’ time aboard drew to a close, the weather forecasts became cloudy, and our return to Penetang was timely. We were able to return to the marina, get pumped out and docked before the shower activity started. We had lunch at the local dockside grille, and made a provisioning run while we had access to wheels, and bid our good friends farewell until the next cruise. We floated some scenarios about a winter cruise when hopefully the weather will be a bit warmer. (Yes, it’s been cool here- in the high teens- that’s the low 70’s in real degrees). Bill, never at a loss for words quipped “the coldest winter I ever had was the summer we spent in Canada..” True, that! Well, we sure had a great time!
