7/07 Running outside to Britt in Byng Inlet

Our anchorage last night was superbly protected.  Our Rocna anchor is terrific and we had a great night's sleep.  We awoke to a cloudy and somewhat foggy day.  Our plan was to cruise to the town of Britt in Byng Inlet.  The suggested route for most of that segment is to go "outside" and cruise in Georgian Bay versus following the small craft channel on the "inside".

First, we had to navigate passed some sites.  The stone cross below is on Champlain Monument Island.  It also serves as a landmark to take a sharp right turn.  Champlain did an amazing amount of exploring and charting the waters in what is now Canada, New England, and New York, all without motorized boats!!

The last site before we entered the open waters of Georgian Bay was the Pointe au Baril Lighthouse.

Pointe au Baril is a true active lighthouse that even has a lighthouse keeper.  Its light is red.   There was a sign that said you could tie up and come for a visit but we were anxious to move on.  We did get to wave with the lighthouse keeper though.

The winds were only about 9 mph so the water on Georgian Bay was calm.  But it reminded me of the Chesapeake.  One could make out the shore line but it was all grey.  It was a good thing that John had gotten all the waypoints for doing the loop downloaded on our charts.  It made it so much easier to navigate the 15 miles to the mouth of Byng Inlet.

We entered Byng Inlet passing the Byng Lighthouse whose light is white. 

Going up Byng Inlet there were a couple of times where we could use Lighted Range Markers.  Ranges are set up on shore so that if you see them all in a straight line, you can follow the channel right into that spot.  They are so convenient.  On shore, you can see that they will line up from a distance if you are in the right spot.

Close up of Range Markers

After we got fuel and a pump out, Wrights Marina got us snugly docked on a new section of dock.  Talk about custom accommodations, before moving us there, they installed an extra cleat just for us to tie off the stern line.  Finally, the sun broke through the clouds and the day turned warm and sunny.  This is a very small town of 500 with one restaurant and grocery store.  The marina has a courtesy car but we set out by dinghy instead.  It was fun to explore the area.  Remember back on the Erie Canal we saw a VW bug on a chimney?  Well, here they had a old train piling that had a boat on it.

So we did a small grocery shopping and returned to the boat to put away the milk.  We headed back for dinner at the restaurant.  Dinner was good.  I had the pickerel.  The dessert was homemade apple pie with ice cream.  The apple pie was really homemade and delicious.  Neither John nor I left a crumb in our plates.  We plan to stay here at least tomorrow and maybe Saturday as there are some high winds forecast but we will see.

Lat 45 degrees 46.07 North
Long 80 degrees 35.14 West