Georgian Bay ( August 10-19)

Well, no summer would be complete without a trip to beautiful Georgian Bay. We stuffed everything we needed to live and eat for 9 days into our 2 kayaks and then put out onto the water in search of the first campsite. Georgian Bay is a 'bay' off of the larger Lake Huron, one of the 5 Great Lakes. But 'Bay' may be a bit misleading...at 100km across and 250 kms long...it is not to be messed with if the wind comes up and the weather turns ugly. We have to admit we lucked out on the weather again getting just a little rain one night and no lightning storms which sometimes can be a bit hairy out here.














What can be said about our time here that we probably haven't said before......smooth granite rock, hot sun, good breezes, refreshing clear water, blue skies, clear starry nights, blueberries, raspberries, rain only when sleeping...... For over 100km along the shoreline, there is virtually no development. There is no access by road, and the water is studded with so many rocks and shoals that motorboats and sailboats just can't navigate through here. That leaves a handful of us kayakers ... (we'd see perhaps a couple other groups per day) and a handful of cottages clustered in just one bay along the whole 100km.














John had the delight of catching a 1-2 kg pike (not an easy task to land that from inside a kayak!).....it made for a lot of fish for supper that evening - mega protein! It is never easy takin a living thing and cleaning/eating it with your own hands...but it does have a way of re-connecting you to the earth as the source of all the food we eat and a respect for the creatures that we are see only as hunks of meat in the grocery store.















We did have the excitement of witnessing a 3 foot long water snake take a 6 inch fish it had in its mouth into shallow water before gulping it down in a final struggle between hunter and hunted.....take that National Geographic...wayyy cool!

Also this year, we encountered a lot of mink (kinda like a small sea otter) and they did not seem to mind our presence at all. Because of this, we got to witness them scampering around the shoreline, swimming, diving and hunting.

As always, it was hard to leave but alas we were running out of food and the weather was turning to cooler, windier conditions as we left.... After 9 days of eating packaged foods, pastas, and sauces we always make a much looked forward to trip to greasy fish and chips in Killarney - a ritual that seems to wrap things up just perfectly!. There is no place like Canada in the summer....too bad it only lasts about 10 weeks!