A lovely passage - on a busy traffic day
Of course, being a nice weekend meant we weren't the only ones out there. There was a constant stream of powerboats ranging from big cruisers to cottager's small tenders, plus two or three sailboats. Whether we were sailing in the light winds or motoring on one engine, Begonia was the slowest of them all. This was generally not a problem, except for the few pinch-points in the channel where there was not enough room for two boats to pass if one of them was a catamaran. At these narrows, we were like the RV lumbering upward toward the mountain pass, trailing a long line of single-file traffic that was just dying to get past; we obviously pulled over and slowed down when the waters allowed for it. One guy in a home-built catamaran that was just barely faster than us made a point of cutting us off at the last tight spot before a wide, five-mile-long straightaway. Most made their displeasure at being delayed a minute or two by flooring it and throwing huge wakes before they were clear of us, just as soon as there was enough width to do so.
People were being testy everywhere. We heard several heated radio exchanges between one party who clearly didn't know the rules, and another who clearly didn't know the rules either. One guy's argument was that he didn't care what the rules said, he wanted right-of-way and he was taking it because he was the first one to say so on the radio. Ah, the little-known Dibs Rule…
Passing Frying Pan Island, we got a glimpse of Henry's, the only restaurant for miles. They were doing a booming business. They even had three floatplanes docked out front, with more coming and going almost constantly.
We had originally thought we might anchor in Echo Bay, just to the north of Sans Souci Island. The closer we got, though, the more we noticed a whole string of boats going in. We decided instead to anchor with only one other boat in the little bay south of the entrance to Echo Bay at Hare Point.
There were a handful of cottages there. Only one seemed to be occupied and the residents were a pretty laid-back bunch who didn't appear to mind us at all.
The next day, both the wind and the traffic had died down to practically nothing. We decided that, instead of just pootling around in the kayak in the local area, we'd take it for a more ambitious circumnavigation of Sans Souci Island.
A lovely exploration, every new turn opened up another bit of great scenery (helped that the sun was shining). And birds - some area easier to find and photograph than others so we were quite amused to come across this giant inflatable duckling. The other birds are a Bald Eagle and a Loon
We started on the main channel side, just to be sure to be clear of it before any potential afternoon traffic started. We made a point of poking into every inlet deep enough to float the kayak before we finally joined the Garden Channel for the back route into Echo Bay.
This route is appropriately named and it is very pretty. The shallow water is covered with lily pads and their flowers. At the far end, just before Echo Bay, we saw three Bald Eagles. They seemed accustomed to people and let us get pretty close before they started to act nervous. There is a park dock there, where we gave our backsides a rest from the kayak while spending a happy half-hour enjoying the eagles.
Crossing over the ridge to get a look at Echo Bay, I was glad we had anchored where we did. It wasn't by any means full, but it wasn't empty either. All the boats had a stern line run to shore. Most were powerboats rafted to each other as well. Almost all of them sounded like they had generators going that blended in with the echoing sound of dinghy motors. One outlier had a dinghy with a Honda four-stroke that was quieter than our Torqeedo. He made up for this by cranking up his sound system.
Yeah, the guy has a dinghy with a sound system. Why go to nature for peace and quiet when you can crank Def Leppard and scare away all the animals in the Garden Channel instead?
Sunset arrives and brings pretty skies
We had intended our next day to be a milder one, circumnavigating much smaller Echo Island, to the north of our previous day's loop. Once we got to Echo Bay, though, I proposed we just go down the Garden Channel and back, since it was so nice. The eagles were gone from their perches, soaring high overhead, but it was still a nice paddle down the channel.
At the other end, Maryanne remarked that, if we wanted to go to Henry's for lunch, it would probably be slightly quicker for us to get there by continuing the rest of the way around Sans Souci again than by retracing our path. Plus, we could poke into some inlets that hadn't been on the way last time. That made the day's kayak about the same length as yesterday's.
We ate at Henry's. It was good, with generous portions, but they definitely charge you like they know they're the only game in town. Henry's is on Frying Pan Island, which isn't completely private. This means they have a couple of short walking trails. These are surprisingly rare in Georgian Bay, so our policy is to always have a walk when we can. Despite having already had a long kayak and currently suffering from food comas, we set out for the other side of the island.
Scenes from a Walk across Frying Pan Island (from Henry's Restaurant)
The walk wasn't far or strenuous. After only one kilometer, we were already standing on the rocky shore opposite Henry's. Just before we got to the end, we passed a little pond. I reflexively had the thought, "Ooh, we could have a fresh-water swim!" Then I remembered. We decided to put it off until we got home, where we could have a clean, dry change of clothes waiting.
Anchorage location On google maps
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