Had a great visit in Parry Sound. It was a fairly busy hub with a lot of sea plane traffic, which is always so fun to watch.

As is the glamorous life of boaters, got laundry done, walked a few miles to a grocery store and taxied the booty back, pumped out our head and filled up our water tanks. It was not all work and no play…we also found a great brewery!

Parry Sound was a charming town (notice a similar theme here) with a smattering of restaurants and shops, and some cool buildings.

Parry Sound is most known as the hometown of hockey great Bobby Orr. He has his own museum and hall of fame here. (I was quiet about my strong opinion that Gretsky was the superior player.)

Departed Parry Sound on a beautiful day and the Sound was wonderfully calm and gorgeous.

We were expecting some high winds the next few days, so were in search of a really protected anchorage. We dropped the hook in one, but weren’t comfortable with it. Checked out another, but it was too rocky. Like Goldilocks, the third one was it! No Name Bay in Hopewell Bay was our oasis. We were all alone, and had plenty of room to lay out a lot of scope (anchor chain).

The next day, the winds were up, but still mostly under 20 knots, so we took the dinghy to Ojibway Island about 4 miles away. Super cool island and building that was a hotel built in 1906. It is now a “Club” for the locals and camp for kids. We were able to tie up the dinghy and walk around the islands beautiful paths.

We had lunch at the cafeteria, then braved the winds which were mostly at our back on the return to the mother ship. That night and the next day, the winds were blowing about 35 knots. We contemplated going out into the Bay the next day, but heard folks getting beaten up the radio, so stayed put for another night. We were starting to feel like this was “our” anchorage. We dinghied about, did a lot of reading, and Mike threw his pole in the water. He caught a little fish which he threw back. The next one was a bit bigger, so he kept that one to filet.

The following day was still a bit sporty out in the Bay. That said, we would have gone out as we felt like we needed to move. We got word, however, that our friends on Scaliwag were doing a long run in some crappy seas to have Pizza on Forever Friday. So, we stayed another night. Also got a note from Jay on The Blessing that they, and 2 other boats, were going to come in to our anchorage. It was a party! Rick on Seabatical had his drone out and captured some awesome shots. Jay and Barbara’s daughter, Alyssa, had flown in from Winnipeg for a visit. Golden Daze, a beautiful Flemming, was also there.

The following morning, we finally left No Name Bay and ran the ~27 nautical miles to Byng Inlet to the little town of Britt, population 350. Again, needed to pump out, do laundry and provision.

Departed Britt around 11:00 the next morning waiting for the winds to die down a bit. They continued to do so during our ~25 nautical mile run to the Bustard Islands. By the time we turned off the Bay, the seas were a mill pond. There was a lighthouse and 2 out buildings that were simply stunning!

Thankfully it was calm, because it was rocky all around. We slowed and payed super close attention to our charts.

Parker of Scaliwag came out to meet us in his dinghy and we followed him beyond Pearl Island to a gorgeous anchorage.

The Bustard Islands were absolutely beautiful. The next day, we hopped in our dinghy along with the crews from Scaliwag and Subject to Change and hit the lighthouse we passed on the way in. Tied up the dinghies to a pin in the rock and walked around the granite.

Spent 2 nights at Pearl Island. We saw a couple coming and going from and to the island in a big canoe with an outboard. Mayor Mike finally met them. We brought them fresh-baked zucchini bread and they gave us a bottle of pure maple syrup from their other cottage in Ontario. They took us on a tour of their island and cottages. The views from there were amazing. Really nice couple.

After 2 nights, we departed Pearl Island and made the short run to Bad River anchorage. There were a number of boats in here, but we found our own nook near some gorgeous pink granite rocks.

We got here early, so had all day to explore in the dinghy. There are rapids and tons of little fingers to play around here. To get to them, you go through Devil’s Door.

““`insert video–***Note from Mike: So sorry, I attempted to upload 3 videos to this latest post–but, alas…there is simply not enough connectivity to do so. One short video showed an upload time of 3 hours…not happening! We will be back in US waters very soon & we’ll be able to fire up the Mofi ATT router with no limits or speed caps…Mk

We went exploring with Parker and Leslie with a cooler full of beer, fishing poles and worms (Jackie Romaine…I thought of you all day). A ton of fish were caught. Leslie was the only one who caught one big enough to keep. I caught my first fish, which was the size of a candy bar. It was a beautiful day and our surroundings were simply stunning.

We were going to stay two nights at Bad River, but had perfect conditions for traveling the next day, so took off out in the Bay which was gloriously flat. Headed up and through Collins Inlet which was one of the prettiest legs we’ve had on this trip. I took pictures, but they don’t do the scenery justice.

Had a planned stop, but the conditions were so good, we trekked a bit further, past Killarney and to Covered Portage Anchorage. Wow! This place was awesome. Rendezvoused with Heartbeat who had family aboard. Always great to see Kent, Heather and Penny dog.

Departed Covered Portage yesterday and went back into Killarney to the Mountain Lodge which is a beautiful property. Mike walked to the lighthouse which is really pretty.

I took a kayak out and paddled around the cut. Made me miss my kayak a bunch as we sold them before this trip. Yesterday, two sea planes and a helicopter came to the lodge to have lunch. Pretty cool.

We hadn’t been out to dinner since Parry Bay, so made reservations at the lodge’s swanky steakhouse. Had an amazing dinner with Parker (who ordered two bottles of PlumpJack cab which were so damn good!) and Leslie. The restaurant is in what we were told was the biggest log cabin in North America. It was impressive for sure.

After dinner, went to the carousel bar, watched live music and drank too much. A fantastic evening. Mike is out doing laundry. When he is done, we will unplug from our swanky marina and head back out to anchor like the boat trash we really are! The Northern Channel is absolutely stunning. Put it on your bucket lists!

Cheers! M&M