Killarney, ON

Well we finally made it north of Barrie. The trip up from Tobermory is about 45 miles but we stopped at Club Island which is about 20 miles north of Tobermory. Just outside of Tobermory there is Flowerpot Island.  It gets its name from the rock structures at the north end.

We had a great sail all the way from Tobermory to Club Island.  Yes a SAIL!.   We were headed north and the wind was from the west.  Nice broad reach. Sweet.  Club Island is a quiet anchorage with nothing on the island. We dropped the new anchor for the first time and it grabbed pretty quick. We were the only boat in the harbour until a small power boat came in.  After tidying up and a quick brisk swim, we went ashore for a little walk.  There are these 3 mounds of rocks adjacent the harbour entrance at Fisherman's Point.  Not sure why they are there as there is some rebar wire and a vent pipe.

I finally put on the BBQ mount on the rail.  Previous BBQ's have been onshore so tonight was out first night for a BBQ on the boat.

The last several evenings, the winds died down to nothings and normally an uneventful night.  However, tonight at about 2am the winds piped up and the rain started coming down. For the next 2 hours we had anchor watch and the winds turned north at 25kts. A C&C 35 had come in and anchored between us and the power boat.  In the middle of the night, when the wind is howling, I thought that he had anchored a little close.  The anchor held despite the wind direction changes.

In the morning, I made some perc'd coffee.  The other boats hauled anchored and were off early. We decided to haul anchor and head up to Killarney after carefully studying the Ports Guide.  We had decided that we would try George Islanders Marina.  Apparently a bad choice since they are no longer in business.  We motored half of the way and then the wind picked up and we had a second great day of sailing, close reaching at 7-7.5 kts.

We went to our second choice for dockage, the Killarney Mountain Lodge, beautiful place with a restaurant, bar and pool.   Pool was way warmer than Georgian Bay. After dinner, we walked into town; all of 5 minutes.  At the Sportsman Inn at the other end of town, we had a beer on the patio, which was great until the misquitos started carrying us away and the hurting cowboy C & W music started playing.  The Sportsman does have a Boat-In Theatre.

We headed back to the Lodge as they had a guy and his guitar playing there for his 13th season.  He was pretty good and he did a rendition of Sonny's Dream that was excellent.

Today, we went on the George Island trail, a 7km hike through the wilderness of the "western end of beautiful and historical George Island". Time 3.5 - 4 hours.  Belinda: "its only 7kms; it won't take 4 hours".  OK we took 3+ hours to complete the hike, over rocky terrain, around beaver dams, and along rocky shores.  Walking through the "mixed forest", I thought that I could never have enough OFF! on.  We saw a garter snake and a flock of pheasants.  I feel truly Canadian after that hike.

After the hike, we drove the dinghy up and down the Killarney Channel.  Typical Sunday afternoon, all the weekenders have left.  We are off to pool and then to the school bus for Killarney's famous fish and chips for dinner.