The mosquitoes were so thick when we got up that we simply dressed, pulled up the anchor and left at 6:15 am. The skies were cloudy and it wasn’t long before it started to rain. We called this our “three for one” day: one, for the calm and lovely travels of the early morning; two, for the rain and big waves from mid morning to mid afternoon; and, three, for the sunny anchorage later in the day.
The first part of the journey took us into and through Collins Inlet, about 12 miles of the most protected and pristine waters on the trip up the Georgian Bay. It is very shallow at the western entrance but that was not a problem for us. This part of the Georgian Bay and the North Channel are composed of some of the oldest rocks on Earth. During the last Ice Age, glaciers scraped away any and all topsoil and left only granite as the exposed landscape. Everything is granite: huge boulders underneath, steep cliffs on both sides, and only a few trees able to survive the environment. It took both of us to navigate in and out of the narrow cuts avoiding the visible rocks and, at times, a bow lookout for rocks lurking just below the surface.
While traveling through Collins Inlet, Gale spotted something swimming across the channel about 200 yards in front of us. As we got closer, we saw that it was a full grown black bear. When it made it to shore, it stood up on hind legs, looked at us and then disappeared into the brush. The blueberries are very plentiful in this area and we were told by the locals that bears are often seen here looking for their lunch.
The rain began about 8 am and continued throughout the rest of the morning and afternoon. The last five miles to Killarney was through open water and four foot seas. The fog also rolled in which made the markers to the Killarney cut difficult to find. We approached slowly and spotted the white beacon marking the entrance to the harbor.
The town of Killarney was not connected to the rest of the world by any road until 1962. Many people traveling the North Channel will stop at Killarney for fuel and water before continuing. The town is small and very quaint with a general store, liquor store, souvenir shop and commercial fishing boats. Since the weather was poor, we decided to visit most of the stores in town. There was a nice little shop, Quarterdeck, where we were told we could buy postage stamps. Entering the shop, we both turned our attention to an actual-sized painted wood carving of a great blue heron. That blue heron is now safely stowed in our aft cabin.
We spent about two hours in Killarney and because the weather conditions were still poor, we decided to find an anchorage nearby. The charts provided us with a “must anchor” at Covered Portage Cove. The passage from Killarney to Covered Portage Cove was a little bit more adventurous than we expected or wanted. Four foot waves were breaking over rock outcroppings and the fog and rain made it difficult to travel these few miles. It turned out to be well worth the trip as we found a very beautiful and well protected anchorage. As soon as we entered the cove, the waters calmed and we were rewarded with the sight of magnificent white quartz cliffs rising 100 feet above the water. Here you could tie up channel-style – that is, drop a stern hook, tie bow lines to a couple of trees and step onto shore over the bow of your boat. On the catamaran, however, Mediterranean-style makes more sense by using a bow anchor and tying the stern to shore. The water drops off so quickly, your stern (or bow) can be just a few feet from the shoreline. Here we found three other sailboats anchored and waiting for the weather to clear.
We set the anchor, came inside, shed our wet clothes and took hot showers. After a bit of lunch, we both found ourselves napping. When we awoke, the skies had cleared and the sun was shining. It was about 4 pm and Gale wasted no time getting out the dinghy to explore our little cove. Gale and Lucy left but soon returned and insisted that Maureen accompany them to share the beautiful day and spectacular sights. After some time in the dinghy, we returned to Blue Heron to settle in and grill the fresh whitefish that we picked up at Herbert Fisheries in Killarney today.
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