Day 109 to Byng Inlet

      Today we are heading to the Wright's Marina in the Byng (pronounced "Bing") Inlet at Britt, Ontario. After an early kayak trip to shore for Lucky, we departed the anchorage about 8:00 am. We had anchored in 15+ feet of water, and at that depth the weeds did not grow, and when we pulled up the anchor, it was weed free with only a little mud. The Admiral had been expecting lots of weeds so this really brightened her day. We transited Beaverstone Bay at cruising speed since we had already done our sight seeing. They had marked a new channel out of the bay into the more open Georgian Bay, and it was fairly straight forward with plenty of channel markers. Once out of Beaverstone Bay, we got this view back toward land (photo above right). What a surprise this view was! I had no idea that there were mountains (or high hills?) just to the north of Beaverstone Bay. When you are inside the bay, the view any distance beyond the sides of the bay is limited.

      Most of the trip is in the "Small Boat Channel", which is pretty well protected from waves from Georgian Bay, except for a total of about 7 miles outside. It is a 46.1 mile trek, and if Georgian Bay had been too rough, we had two anchorages identified around the 25 mile area where we could stay until the seas died down. As you could see in the first photo above, the winds were on shore with waves of only about 1.5 to 2 feet. These are okay conditions for us, except the waves were on our bean (or side), which meant we did roll some from side to side.

      The trip was busy enough that we actually took no pictures during the trip. This is not too surprising since the rolling motion does require us to hold onto keep in our seats.
      As we approached the Byng Inlet, we could see the Gergaux Island Lighthouse marking the east side of the entrance to the inlet. The lighthouse is three stories topped by the light, and it is a classic structure that served well to guide sailors into the inlet.

      The next photo (at right) was actually the next day (on Day 110) as we departed Byng Inlet, but I thought it more appropriate to include it here to further showcase the beauty of the Gergaux Island Lighthouse. In my continuing love affair with lighthouses this one certainly ranks right up there with a beautiful rocky coast and classic beauty. The light is about 40 feet above the base, and at least basic living accommodations are in the attached structure.

      We arrived mid afternoon at Wright's Marina.  They didn't have a slip with 50 amp hydro so they are letting us use two 30 amps unless someone arrives after us and needs one of the 30s. However, the nice and cool air would suffice to cool us if we loose access to the air conditioners by dropping to one 30 amp so it is no big deal. We have seen many range lights used to guide ships in channels, but the modern system of buoy markings makes the range lights unnecessary for our daylight navigation.  A series of range lights consisting of a lower front light and symbol, which when lined up with the rear light meant that you were in the channel, then at bends in the channel there would be another series of range lights to mark the turn and the new path to follow. These range lights are on land so obviously a turn will be made before grounding on land, and the fact that they are on land means that the do not have to be removed before the channel freezes over and then replaced in the Spring.

      At the marina we met Loopers from 4 other boats and decided to meet up for dinner. They had reserved the marina courtesy car with a driver to take them the half mile to the St. Amants Restaurant, which is above a small but well stocked Grocery. We followed a few minutes later, and we were all seated at a single long table (photo at right). There was a total of 9 people as one man was doing the Loop single handed. We were particularly interested in him since he was travelling in a trawler that was a couple of feet longer than Luck Us. He obviously had use of at least bow thrusters to aid in moving out and away from the dock (and the reverse on arrival at a marina), and he did take good advantage of the dock hands on departure. Upon departure, the Admiral stows our dock lines and fenders, but he would have had to use the autopilot to control the boat while he went below to do these same tasks. He obviously had a system that worked well for him, but we still were in awe given that we have two people doing the same tasks, and we seem to be very busy.

   After dinner we all met up again at the local ice cream shop that was just adjacent to the marina. Another small town oddity was the shop itself. You had to ring a doorbell at the order window and wait for the owner to walk about 100 feet from her house. The wait was well worth it as the ice cream was really "rich" and the helpings were a very good size. After that we all said our good byes and well wishes as we headed to our respective boats for the night. In my final evening walk with Lucky we were treated to a beautiful moon rise. 

    The last photo from the day is another moonrise photo taken a few minutes later when the moon was much more clearly visible. What a beautiful sight it was, and a beautiful way to end the day.