Wani Bay, Ontario

We were planning to leave first thing in the morning to go back to Bay Port Marina in Midland on Wednesday, August 15 to get the increasingly problematic fuel leak fixed.  But when Jonny went to start the engine, it wouldn’t start!  This had never happened before and was very concerning as we were at anchor in the middle of Georgian Bay!  He decided to bleed the engine and see if that would correct the problem thinking that there was air in the line preventing the engine from igniting.  So we stacked up all the furniture in the saloon and rolled up the rug so he could get better access to the engine room.  With Lynn’s help at the helm, he methodically bled each cylinder and lo and behold the engine started!  What a relief!  

So we quickly pulled up anchor and headed back to the marina.  Two hours later on a sunny pleasant day were back at the same berth we occupied for the last five days.  A mechanic came by to work with Jonny on the fuel leak and while they were doing that, Lynn snuck in some laundry time. 

Before too long, the leak was fixed with some tools the mechanic had which Jonny had lacked.  The day before we left Midland, Jonny had discovered that there was a new ten foot RIB (rigid inflatable boat) for sale at a local dealership.  It was a good price considering the value of the dollar here but we decided to pass on it since it wasn’t a necessity and we had planned to buy a used dinghy, not a new one.  But since we were back in Midland and Jonny’s desire to replace our soft-bottomed inflatable dingy hadn’t abated, we rationalized that fate brought us back to Midland and maybe we should reconsider our decision.  What clinched it was Lynn suggesting that we could buy it as our anniversary present to ourselves (our 32nd wedding anniversary was in two days).  Jonny immediately called the boat dealer and the brand new 10 foot Highland RIB was delivered within the hour!

We then had to fold up the old dinghy and find a place to store it.  We applied sun protection to the new dinghy and Jonny rowed it over to Zendo.  He reconfigured the straps that hoist it onto our davits and it fit perfectly!  Jonny is now one happy guy with our fuel leak fixed and a brand spanking new RIB.  

So we paid our marina and mechanic bill and hightailed it back out to Georgian Bay. It was a beautiful travel day and we passed some lovely scenery and cool looking cottages.

Our thought was to travel about three hours to have dinner at Harry’s, a popular fish restaurant that all the Loopers go to. But as the afternoon wore on, we realized that we didn’t have time to reach Harry’s and find an anchorage before dark.  We didn’t want to chance wandering around the rocky islets at dusk.  So we found a very nice anchorage in Wani Bay, an unofficial name given to this lovely spot by locals.  There were several boats in the anchorage when we arrived but we proceeded down a narrow finger off the bay and found a perfect anchorage with no one else around.  We settled in for the evening, had a dinner of leftovers and enjoyed the quiet of our peaceful anchorage.