30,000 Islands

The area north of Penetang Harbor along the Eastern Shore of Georgian Bay is known as the 30,000 Islands. Some people say it’s closer to 50 or 60,000; we just know there are a lot! As we headed into the islands we were surprised to see how many homes were perched on any good sized rock. Here’s a couple; on the second one you can see how the trees are windswept by the prevailing westerly winds.


We’ve had rain at least some part of every day except one in the past six or seven days. This was a late afternoon at anchor when it was sunny AND rainy at the same time.


These are the four places we anchored after leaving Midland on Saturday: “Hockey Stick” off Bone Island; Indian Harbor; Wahneen Bay and Kilcousie Bay at Killbear Provincial Park. There were from 5 to 13 other boats in every anchorage. You’re unable to explore the shore on the privately owned land and much more of it is populated by cottages than we would have expected. The Provincial Parks equate to our State Parks and you can go to shore there.

Here’s one of the narrow channels we encountered. Both of us were paying close attention to the charts – both electronic and paper.



This is how close to shore you were supposed to be to get into the Waheene Bay anchorage – yikes!

The scenery inside was beautiful and worth the effort.

A “must see” stop on the Eastern Shore is “Henry’s Fish and Chips” on Frying Pan Island. Here’s Paul talking to the owner, also Paul, after a tasty, but expensive, lunch.


Historical Tidbits:
The first non-native explorer to visit this area was Samuel de Champlain in 1615.
Georgian Bay was named in honor of King George IV in 1820.
Georgian Bay is almost as large as Lake Ontario.
In Canada it’s Pickerel; USA it’s walleye and Europeans call it Pike Perch (same fish)

That's all for now from scenic Parry Sound, about half-way up the Eastern Shore. A lot of sea planes leave from here for tours - they are really loud. We got to provision up here; Sobey's Grocery sends a free shuttle to the marina for pick-ups so that was wonderful. It's still very cool - I'm sitting here typing at a picnic table outside the marina office in jeans and a jacket. The natives are in shorts and tanktops - this is summer darn it! We'll be out of touch again for a few days. We plan to take more of an outside route and not go through so many islands up to Port Au Baril.