Unlike the other trips we have done in Georgian Bay so far, this one started with a transit through a swing bridge that was right around the corner from our anchorage. It only opens once every two hours, which didn't allow us the luxury of waiting another half-hour for the last wave of rain to pass if we wanted to get through before the morning was gone. By the time the bridge was swinging closed behind us, the rain had stopped and the building wind was swinging to the northeast.
Starting the trip via the Rose Point Swing Bridge, and then seeing plenty of sea-plane traffic (some closer than others)
We were now out of the wind shadow of the narrow channel and in the wide part of Parry Sound. We shut down the engines and unrolled the jib, leaving a reef in, which raises the foot of the sail to make it easier to see any fast-moving traffic approaching from that side. Even way under-canvassed, the sail was propelling us faster than the engines would have. The only problem, for me especially since I was the sucker at the helm, was that the wind was cooold.
Actually, it wasn't that bad. The front had brought the air down from the Arctic, but by the time it got to us, the objective reading on our outdoor thermometer was already up to 16C. That was still five degrees less than we have been used to seeing and with the wind chill thrown in, it was hard for me to keep warm even though I was bundled up in layers. When the sky rapidly cleared at noon, the sun offered little relief as it was now high enough in the sky to leave me completely shaded by the bimini. By the time we pulled into our anchorage at Snug Haven, just south of Snug Harbor, I was actually shivering.
Of course, after pulling out of the wind and with the help of the bright sunlight coming through the windows, we were back to having a proper summer again after twenty more minutes. Our anchorage is surrounded by cottages and a couple of lodges, which all provide enough water-toy traffic from people enjoying the place to give it a quiet, lived-in feel without being too busy to relax.
Since Snug Harbor is on the mainland and has a tiny marina fed by a road, we took the opportunity to go ashore. Most of the land around here is private, so there are no walking trails, per se, but we were able to exercise our legs by doing a reasonable-sized walk on the lightly used end of the ever-narrowing road.
Afterwards, we decided to treat ourselves to lunch at Gilly's Restaurant. Almost all of the reviews we have read compare it directly to Henry's, since they both offer similar fare and both seem to be on the regular seaplane route. The consensus seems to be that Gilly's portions are smaller, but the food is much better. After the walk, we were really looking forward to it.
Despite the lunch rush ramping up, we were able to get a table immediately. We got our drinks and then had to apologize to our server on her next few visits for not yet having figured out what we would like to order. Maryanne and I promised each other to focus and the next time our server paid us a visit, our order was zapped to the kitchen from the iPad slung over her shoulder.
That concluded the table service portion of our visit.
Maryanne and I tend to be very patient in such situations. After all, it's not like we need to be rushing back to the office. Still, even though we could see our server (one of many) going back and forth between other tables and the bar, we hadn't been checked on for what was starting to seem like an inordinate amount of time (well over 40 minutes). We scanned the room and noticed that very few other tables had food either, so it wasn't just us. One poor couple still looked like they were waiting for menus.
We decided to continue being patient, but we're in Canada, so that hardly drew any more attention to us. We then started a campaign to flag our server down, but it took Maryanne fifteen more minutes to get her attention to ask about the status of our food. By then, it had been an hour since we had finished our waters. She said she would go check.
A few seconds later, she popped back to say they were working on it, which we understood to mean the kitchen had just heard about it. A few minutes after that, she came by again to say that the cook had gone off-line, the owner was making our food. Well, let's hope the owner has been keeping their hand in and still remembers how to cook.
Within the next ten minutes, all the occupied tables in the restaurant were covered with plates full of piping-hot food that left trails of steam behind the waitstaff as they emerged from the kitchen.
Our portions were not as small as we expected, but it would also be a stretch to categorize the flavor as "amazing" as many have. I had the same thing at both Henry's and Gilly's, allowing for a direct fish-wich-to-fish-wich comparison. In a blind taste-test, I believe both versions would be tasty, but interchangeable. Their recipe for tomato-based french-fry dipping sauce was even almost identical down to the red squeezy bottle dispenser.
That's when I figured out the thing about Gilly's reviews. Maryanne and I once ate at a restaurant in Scotland that had a Don Quixote quote painted on the wall: "Hunger is the best sauce in the world." By the time anyone at Gilly's gets their food, bread and water would taste like ambrosia. I don't mean to say their service is slow, but by the time we got back to our boat afterwards, it was the Google Earth picture for that spot. Some of the cottages had their Christmas lights up.
Okay, that last one probably doesn't mean that much. A lot of the cottages up here seem to have their Christmas decorations on permanent display. It seems to be less an abundance of the Christmas spirit than a case of the last owner putting them up, then not surviving the winter. At any rate, if you want to go to Gilly's for a nice dinner, do what we did and go for lunch. Otherwise, it's very charming.
{Maryanne:Gilly's also had a splendid icecream shop AND sold smoked fish AND a selection of basic provisions all of which we enjoyed. But mostly it was so nice to get ashore and have a reasoanble length of walk to stretch the legs and give us a half-decent bit of exercise}
We also spent a day kayking aroud Snug Haven where we found some great skinny 'kayak' channels.
Anchorage location On google maps
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