Pearl Island, Ontario

We left our lovely anchorage at Snug Harbor at 9 a.m. on Monday, August 20 so we could get in a full day of travel. We had a great day of cruising. One of the highlights was going through Hang Dog Channel.  The marina manager from Bay Port had discouraged (particularly large boat) cruisers from taking that route because it is so narrow and there are so many rocks and sharp turns.  Of course, that was an invitation to Jonny so we took that route and we’re glad we did!  It was quite spectacular with gorgeous rock formations everywhere. All the twists and turns made it more fun and interesting.

As we consulted the weather we decided to bypass Wright’s Marina to get further since the weather over the next two days was going to deteriorate.  So we continued on until 4:30 where we cruised through the Bustard Islands which had been closed due to the forest fires this summer.  Lucky for us this passage has reopened and there was little evidence of the fires from our vantage point.

We chose a beautiful anchorage in a cove with other boats and just a few cottages.  After we set the anchor, the couple aboard a trawler anchored in the next cove dinghied over to greet us.  They told us that they had started to anchor in the spot we were in but the  locals had advised them not to because when the weather turns, the wind funnels in off the lake down Gunbarrel Channel into the anchorage. 

Reluctantly, given the local knowledge and even though our weather review didn’t show wind coming from that direction, we moved further into a narrow channel where we set the anchor again.  However, we were now concerned that we were too close to the very rocky shoreline.   So Jonny decided to tie off the stern of the boat to a tree on shore (he had been wanting to do this ever since we arrived in the Georgian Bay)!  Some areas where we’ve been cruising actually have rings drilled into the boulders on shore so boats can tie up to them.  We looked for some nearby rings but didn’t find any, so we just used trees.  It took us three tries with two sets of lines running from the stern to two trees on shore.

Finally, by 6:30 (two hours later) we relaxed with some adult beverages and had dinner.  The setting was absolutely beautiful.  We were only ten feet from the rocky coastline but we were securely anchored in place in case the winds came whistling through (not likely to happen). It was profoundly quiet and just wonderful!

We went to bed early because we wanted to leave the next morning at the crack of dawn.  We would be crossing a big corner of Lake Huron and the forecast called for rain and higher winds the following day.  We wanted to get as close to Killarney as we could so we could stay at a marina if we were held up by weather for a day.