Heading southeast along the small craft route took us a more scenic route. The scenery is quite stunning, and the trip was very pleasant in spite of lots of twists and turns around lots of rock! The chart is well-marked, and the channels are well-bouyed. Not always the case; early mariners and explorers marked hazards in innovative ways. Point au Bariel is named for a barrel, legend has it that a barrel marked the entrance to safe water, the barrel sometimes contained fire, and the modern aid approximates a barrel. The original barrel has been reproduced and stands near the lighthouse that stands as one of many along the shore.
Probably our favorite anchorage on the trip up Georgian Bay was Echo Bay. Our timing on the return trip put us in position to revisit that anchorage, and we did. We arrived just after 1400 hrs, plenty of time to drop the dinghy and do some exploring. A month makes a huge difference in activity, and while our previous visit had us hunting for a spot to anchor, this time we just headed to the middle and dropped the hook. With staying only overnight, a shore tie seemed a bit overkill. We found some unusual rock formations, with the typical striations from glacial abrasion, but more unusual were the color striations that are the result of molten rock of different mixture creating layers. Very fascinating!
With the weather turning cooler, evenings are less a fight with the bugs, although after dark they come in hordes attracted by the cabin lights. Mosquitos seem never to relent, but they’re not as plentiful. A very calm night in Echo Bay, not a ripple on the water, and a brisk morning with steam on the pond as we lifted anchor and continued our movement back toward Penetang.
