NOTE: If there are no pictures it is because I ran out of
time in the short Internet opportunity in Killarney! I will load them later. We
have some beautiful photos to share!
Gore Bay is in the back of a bay (duh) on the south side of
the North Channel on the north side of
Manatouline Island, the largest island in fresh water in North America,
or something like that. We stopped here with Just BilEve to wait for Ron,
Julie, Jim and Karen who were chartering a trawler from Canadian Yacht Charter
in Gore Bay. They had a very long drive to get to Gore Bay. The traveled about
6 hours over two days including a 2 hour ferry ride to Manatouline Island. They
arrived about 4pm.
We visited the grocery store again, taking advantage of
Karen’s car to purchase cases of water just in case. Other than the grocery
store we did not visit much in Gore Bay.
The views here are downright spectacular. When we arrived
the fellow across the dock came over to say hello. He was on the Sloop John B
sailboat. He was a tall gangly fellow with a craggy face and twinkly eyes, a
dead ringer for Stephen Gifford, a friend from Canton now relocated to Racine
WI. I said as much. His name was Skip, no relation to Stephen or anyone in
Ohio. Then he doffed his hat and asked if Stephen had the same top, revealing a
bald head with a little short silvery hair. Yes, the resemblance was complete!
Everyone we met at the docks was similarly pleasant. Skip said he enjoyed it
here so much that he and his wife are relocating from Erieau ONT on Lake Erie
to Gore Bay, building a house in the hills for their retirement. They were a
little concerned about the winters but willing to take a chance. Interesting
because the folks we met in Kilarney said the ice on the North Channel’s
shallower waters was over 46 inches this past winter. The ice in Gore Bay did
not go away until mid-May. I can’t imagine what the winters are like.
Maeo and I hosted dinner that night. Maeo made fried rice
and we offered a salad with watermelon from Karen and Julie. We ate on Just
BilEve since it has the largest salon. It was nice and friendly start to the
journey together. I can’t remember everything because Eve’s Cosmos slide down
so smooth. I thought I had two but Eve reminded me I had three. I had the
hangover to match the next morning. I do remember Bill showed us the beautiful
LED lighting he installed on the back deck.
We waited for Ron, Julie, Jim and Karen to attend a
Captain’s meeting for Canadian Yacht Charters the next morning.. At about 11am
we heard Ron call on the radio that he left the dock and was headed out into
the channel. We scrambled as best we could to close up, start the engines and
head out but we were quite a ways behind him. We caught up eventually and
followed him to Kilarney, arriving about 6pm. It was a long ride. The other
group chartered a trawler that moved at about 7mph pushing 1800 rpm. We kidded
that the butterflies were passing us. That translates into absolute idle for
the rest of us. It was a long day.
We passed Little Current, a popular stop for loopers. The
name is a misnomer. There is lots of current in little current. At Little
Current we picked up Dave and Nancy on Miss Nancy. They are from Chattanooga
but love boating so much on the Great Lakes that they leave their boat on Lake
Erie over the winter and take off from there for the summer. They left
Vermillion in mid-May for the North Channel. They are great people with a fast
smile and a good laugh. I think we will get along just fine.
Few other boats except at the swing bring at Little Current.
We saw a flotilla of very fancy boats going the other direction. We heard later
that these yachts were chartered by a company for a customer rewards trip. That
would be nice!
Kilarney is at the far eastern end of the North Channel
between the North Channel and Georgian Bay. So we have traveled the entire 200
mile distance between DeTour Passage on the west end to Kilarney in three
travel days.
Kilarney is essentially one street with a few buildings on
it. This is by far the smallest town we encountered. It makes Thesselon look
cosmopolitan.
We stayed at The Sportsman Inn. The lodge has about 20 fancy
suites, a nice but expensive dining room (Dave and Nancy ate there one night.
Their 2 filets and 3 drinks cost $199), and a marina with slips on both sides
of the water. We stayed on the opposite site of the water, using the pontoon
boat water taxi to zip to the other side.
We had use of the bathrooms and laundry facility if we wanted to use
them. This convenience cost $2 per foot per night!! Remember how I complained
about Grand Isle Marina in Grand Haven? Well I complain no more.
On our side is a sign for the old Our Lady of Lourdes
shrine. Bill tried but could not find it. Our side also has a bunch of cabins
leased for vacations by the Sportsman Inn.
Awesome cinnamon buns and bread – we ordered the bread in
the morning about 9:15, it was just out of the oven, we walked around and did
some laundry, came back to pick up the cinnamon buns right out of the oven and
bread was cool enough to bag.
They show movies at a big billboard screen on our side of
the river! That night it was The Lorax but technical problems delayed the movie
past my bedtime.
We had fish dinner at The Bus – used to be a real school bus
the fishery used as a food ruck serving only fried whitefish caught that day
and fresh cut fries. Even Kermit enjoyed it. We bought our fish to go and ate
on picnic tables along the river. The Bus is so popular that they ditched the
bus and now serve out of a trailer next to the construction site of the brand
new restaurant to replace both the bus and the trailer.
After dinner we walked over to the Kilarney Mountain Lodge
for drinks. A singer with a guitar showed up at 9am. He was from Sudbury and
played at this lodge every summer for the last 15 years. After accessing the
crowd he opened the first set with Pat Daily’s Great Lakes song. We all sang
along!!
Over drinks we all read the brochure about bears. They run
all over this part of Canada. Here are a few fun facts of bears we discovered
from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Bear Wise:
·
Carry a whistle and consider a long handled axe
·
When you encounter a black bear, stop. Do not
panic. Remain calm. Talk to the bear in a quiet, monotone voice. Do not scream
or turn your back on the bear. While watching the bear slowly back away until
the bear is out of sight.
·
If the bear advances and is getting close, stand
your ground. Find something to distract the bear.
·
Do not play dead except in the rare instance
when you are sure a moth bear is attacking you in defense of cubs.
·
Black bear attacks are extremely rare.
The next morning we borrowed the Sportsman’s Inn’s pickup
truck and ferried people over to the municipal dump to see the bears up close
and personal. Now, I can hear you now. After reading the brochure warning about
the dangers of interacting with bears, why would we go up close and poke them?
Good question. Not sure I know the answer but it is a good question. Kermit,
Paul, Maeo and I let the first group go ahead of us. They pulled up and saw two
bears, Ms. Big Bear and Mr. Bigger Bear, right away when they walked in. By the
time we got there our two bear friends evidently settled down for their mid-day
nap. We wandered all over the dump looking for them, calling “here beary, here
beary” but no such luck. As we were walking back to the truck Ron stopped cold
and said, “HOLY CRAP”. I scooted up, because why wouldn’t you. After all, in
for a dime in for a dollar. I saw a big bear sitting calmly in the road between
us and the truck. I pulled myself together and snapped a picture of the bear’s
hind end as it lumbered into the woods. Kermit, Paul, and Maeo did not see the
bear. All they saw was the dump. You haven’t lived until you walked around a
dump. Remind me to use less plastic.
The next day 7/18 we left Kilarney headed east into Georgian
Bay after filling the water tanks and getting a pump out. We plan to anchor out for the next 4 nights.
The first night is a night anchorage at Mad River.
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