Sandrobber: MIdland to 12 Mile Bay to Port Rawson to Parry Sound

Day #663; Loop Miles to Date = 7,777

What a great few days of anchoring that we have had. We left Midland on Saturday, and joined a crowd of boats going north into Georgian Bay.

There was an armada of both small and large boats heading north into Georgian Bay on Saturday...we only hoped that they all weren't going to the same place that we were.

Our destination was an anchorage on 12 Mile Bay, which we expected to be popular, and hoped wasn't too crowded.

Although not a very picturesque shot, it does show that we are in and area where the prevailing winds shape the landscape over time...as evidenced by these windswept pines.

Our anchorage was lovely, and getting the pups to shore was ok...not ideal, but ok.

And as you can see...we had lots of company. In spite of the crowd, it was an enjoyable afternoon and evening.

One night was enough for us here, it looked to us like about 1/3 of the crowd was leaving and the rest staying, so we chose to move on and head to our next spot...Port Rawson. This anchorage was 6 miles off of the main small craft channel, so while it is also popular, we anticipated that it might be less populated. We found a gorgeous and huge anchorage tucked away after a very scenic jaunt through countless turns and rock islands. It is absolutely stunning up here, and our pictures can only give you a glimpse of the beauty.

On the way to Port Rawson, we spotted what looked like a sportsmans club...with an American Flag flying along with a Canadian Flag...

Lo and behold...it was called the Pennsylvania Club. It was founded by 8 gentlemen from New Castle, PA back in 1896, and is a fishing club primarily.

You can read more about the Pennsylvania Club here

Our anchorage at Port Rawson...this rocky point is where we walked the pups.

Corkscrew at anchor in the morning.

Early morning at Port Rawson

Port Rawson anchorage.

Although we didn't get any great pictures of our adventure on Monday, we and Corkscrew headed out on a dinghy adventure to find some waterfalls that were supposed to be a 5 or 6 mile dinghy ride up in Moose River. We more or less knew where we were going, and were thankful that Corkscrew had their iPad with them. So...after we traveled what we think was 7 or 8 miles, we came to what looked like a dead end. The short version of the story is that there was a narrow channel that we had to traverse. Corkscrew hit a big rock going in there and turned around. Then, another dinghy went zooming in there and crashed into the bottom. We were just about to give up, when 3 dinghys came out of the channel, and we now could see where the safe passage was. We followed 3 other dinghys back in (yes there were plenty of folks trying to get to the same spot) and made it as far as we could. It got way too shallow up near the falls, and reports of a healthy snake population in the area kept us from venturing further on foot. So, we saw them from afar.

It was an exhilarating dinghy ride...we probably covered close to 20 miles by the time we were done, making it the longest dinghy trip to date. Now we have to find some dinghy gas!

On Tuesday, after 2 nights at Port Rawson, we took off for Parry Sound. We'll be at a marina here for a couple of nights, assessing the weather for later in the week. Parry Sound is the largest city on the Georgian Bay, and a good place for us to snag a few things that we need for the next spell that we will have at anchor.

Some sights along the way...