Parry Sound (Georgian Bay)

[Kyle]Our next leg to Parry Sound weaved a sinuous route through dozens and dozens of islands along a channel that varied in size between deep, wide sounds and narrow, rocky passageways barely big enough to fit a boat the size of Begonia. Even though it was blowing pretty hard in the main expanse of Georgian Bay, we had light winds and flat seas the whole way. We set anchor in a quiet bay just out of the main traffic zone fed by the towns and marinas around the tourist center of the village of Parry Sound.

Passage was via 7 mile narrows

Rain moved in for the night, covering the area in a gray blanket of gloom. It lightened up in the morning, so we boarded the kayak for an extended paddle of the area. We might have jumped the gun a bit because as soon as we were too far from Begonia to sprint home, the rain started again. Kayaking can be a wet way to get around anyway, so we weren't too bothered by it as the temperature was still quite comfortable.

The weather probably helped keep most of the leisure traffic out of the main channel. That kept us from having to deal with dodging too much traffic or having to ride out many wakes while we were transiting it to get to the more protected little inlets. Our favorite part was an unplanned side trip up the Boyne River. It was just wide and deep enough for a kayak as it wound over a mile between the main channel and the head of navigation at a small, rocky rapid. Along the way, we slid past flowers and reeds topped with cattails.

We did our usual thing of poking into each of the little channels and coves we could find. By the time we made it back to Begonia, we had been out long enough that we were both well past our limit for sitting in the one position.

Kayaking about off Victoria Island, finally a decent Loon picture. We had to share one short stretch with much bigger boats (picture is of the tour boat Island Queen V.

Since we were unusually near a population center, the next morning we decided to dig out the electric dinghy motor for the longish trip to the public dock on the outskirts of the village of Parry Sound. This gave us a chance to do “town” stuff. We visited a museum, had a long walk along the waterfront trail lining the harbor, and then treated ourselves to a pub lunch. Then, of course, we topped it off with another half hour of walking, which took us to the store where we could load the empty bags we had been carrying around all day with heavy provisions.

Visiting the town of Parry Sound, and its museum, and gardens, and a tower to climb for the views

Ordinarily, I prefer using my own human power to get to shore, resorting to the electric dinghy motor only for longer distances or if we need the extra power to fight strong winds or currents. After lugging our haul another half-hour back to the dinghy, which to be honest probably weighed twice as much as we could have easily handled, I was glad the trip to town had been long enough to be worth the trouble of digging out the motor. Now, at least, I didn't have to face the prospect of a two-mile row back to Begonia.

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Anchorage location On google maps