Baie Fine, Ontario

Our long awaited trip to the Georgian Bay came to an end on Wednesday, August 22 as we left Killarney (population 600!) to begin our passage through the North Channel.

It is a long strip of water that runs for 70 miles east-west from Killarney to Thessalon, Ontario.  The channel’s waters are relatively quiet because Manitoulin Island protects the northern coast of Ontario from the wilder waters of Lake Huron.  The North Channel has some of the oldest rocks  in the world with many of them over 3 billion years old!  It is far less developed than Georgian Bay with fewer and smaller villages and only occasional cottages scattered here and there.  We made a leisurely departure from Killarney Mountain Marina because we had a relatively short cruise to the amazing Baie Fine.  The day was quite cool in the low 70’s and windy but we spent most of the cruise on an inside passage.  

We crossed Fraser Bay to get to the long narrow passageway that led to an outstandingly beautiful cove.  The passage was narrow and lined with white quartz cliffs and fir trees on both sides.  It is reported to be the closest thing to a fjord in North America.  It was so dramatic that Lynn spent much of the seven mile passage standing on the bow soaking in the incredible scenery. 

When we arrived at the “pool” (the end of the passageway leads to a cove), we found six boats already anchored there.  Some were tied up to trees and we decided to go in as far as we could and set the anchor.  The fellow in the sailboat closest to us dinghied over to advise us to tie up our stern to a tree which we gladly did. 

Then we took the dinghy to a small dock that led to trails in the surrounding parkland.  We hiked to a famous watering hole on Topaz Lake.  It was stunningly dramatic - a small lake with turquoise water surrounded by huge rocky outcroppings and forested shores.  If it was just a little warmer, we would have gone swimming in the crystal clear waters.  A few people were hanging out on rocks and a couple of young men were jumping into the water from high cliffs on the nearby shore.  We stayed for awhile enjoying the outstanding scenery - one of the prettiest places we’ve been on this whole trip!

We then hiked to another lake, Artists Lake - also pretty but filled with marsh weeds and nowhere near as nice as Topaz. 

Back at Zendo, three folks who we met at the lake responded to our invitation to come by and see Zendo as they were interested in buying a trawler.  Two of them were from Deerfield Beach, FL and the others on the boat were from the Midwest and had sailed these waters before.  We had a nice visit and later on just relaxed in the quiet of this anchorage and basked in the beauty of a magnificent sunset.