Today was another gorgeous sunny day and 66 degrees. We weighed anchor leaving Regatta Bay and headed up around Franklin Island and viewed the many small islands and cottages along the way.
Our channel joins the Shawanaga Channel which separates the mainland from the islands, sort of like our Intracoastal, but with a lot more trees and rocks. Shawanaga means long bay or strait in the First Nation tongue which is a pretty good description of this channel behind Shawanaga Island.
We stuck our nose into Hopewell Bay as it was recommended as an anchorage and it was very protected and beautiful. We opted to pass it by- can’t stop at every good spot, there are too many!
We left the Shawanaga Channel to turn northwest and wind our way through the many islands of Middle Channel which are littered with cottages of all shapes and sizes. We then wound past Champlain Monument Island which believe it or not has a monument commemorating Samuel de Champlain. Champlain, a Frenchmen, discovered Lake Champlain, the St Lawrence River and the Eastern Great Lakes in the early 1600’s.
As we past Monument Island we came to Pointe au Baril, French for, you guessed it, Barrel Point. Legend has it that fur traders frequented these waters and one day a barrel from one of their canoes washed ashore. So the barrel was hoisted on a pole with one slat removed and lit to become the first navigational mark for the tight channel entrance at Pointe au Baril.
In the 1800’s, Pointe au Baril was a lucrative fishing community. After a time, residents realized they could lure tourist to their area to fish, thus the fish camps and eventually a lodge were built. A lighthouse was built in 1883 to replace the barrel for navigational purposes, but both proudly mark the channel entrance today.
Today Pointe au Baril is a cottage community. The story goes that in the later 1800’s, a wealthy man from Cleveland, OH realized the beauty of this area. He would charter a steamship each year to bring those interested to Pointe au Baril for their summer vacations. So to this day Pointe au Baril has many American cottagers.
Now back to our journey. Middle Channel took us into Georgian Bay proper, or big water!
But we’re weren’t in big water long as we had to negotiate the hairpin turns and tight channels of Hangdog Channel which winds through Hangdog Reef. Lots and lots of impressive rock formations just above, and of course, below the waterline.
We took the channel real slow to make sure we could line ourselves up in the channel and make the tight turns. Surprisingly we had between 9 to 30 feet of water inside the channel. Best to stay within the marks here!
Bill is smiling as we are almost out of Hangdog Channel.
We made it through Hangdog Channel successfully and turned into Alexander Passage to find our anchorage for the night. We shared our spot with another Looper boat and enjoyed a quiet evening, beautiful sunset and star gazing.
Additional stuff of interest.,
Georgian Bay cell towers are made to look like tall pine trees.
This is what a home construction site looks like in Georgian Bay.
Here are some drone shots of our anchorage.
