Gemini Loop: Echo Bay to Parry Sound

Our last night at Penetanguishene, the Beacon Bay folks had a wonderful barbecue for us. We got a chance to meet both fellow loopers and some of the locals who cruise Georgian Bay and the North Channel. The food was fabulous! In addition to Ryder and Gigi (from The Cooper), there was a gentleman making the loop by himself with his two shih-tzus. Apparently that is a popular breed with loopers.

We left a little late, around 10, under overcast skies. This area of Georgian Bay is known as 30,000 Islands. It is more like 100,000! The islands are pretty rocky, in fact some are purely rock. The rock formations are beautiful. Just before arriving at Echo Bay, we docked for dinner at San Souci Island at a place called Henry's. Henry's is famous for their fish dinners - and ours were fabulous. So much food that we had it again for lunch today. After dinner, it was only two miles to Echo Bay and our anchorage. We were hoping for a quiet evening in a secluded spot - what we found was about 15 boats there already. More came after we anchored. It was pretty crowded. It was a gorgeous place, but I was hoping we would see some wildlife. It was way too busy for any critters to show up.

This morning we headed out again on the way to Parry Sound. This is a holiday weekend in Ontario, so it seemed like a good idea to stay put in a marina for a couple of nights. To get here, we had to get past a swing bridge. Along the way, another boater called us to say that the bridge was out of service. We called to find out when it would be repaired and what the clearance was, just in case it wasn't working when we got there. We determined that by taking down the mast and antennas, we could make it through. As it turned out, the bridge announced that it was repaired at a few minutes before 1:00. We called to let them know we were on the way, and they said that they opened at 1:00. Luckily, we were less than five minutes away! We were very happy to not have to wait an hour for the next opening.

I finished the sweater coat for Olivia and have started working on the hat. Can't wait to see that baby in September! We will let you know about Parry Sound after we get a chance to check it out!