6/14/15 Huckleberry Island, Parry Sound to Derbyshire Island
Well, today was interesting. Stressful might be
more accurate.
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| Leaving our Huckleberry anchorage |
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Sunrise at Hole in the Wall
in Parry Sound |
Rain and thunderstorms were in the offing for the entire day
- - again. Argghhh. Once we confirmed the forecast, we raised the anchor from
our peaceful little lagoon on Huckleberry Island at 6:30, hoping to make our 15
mile trek to Derbyshire Island before the worst of the rain and storms hit.
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| Prior to opening |
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| Just getting ready to go through the open bridge |
We were doing great for time until we discovered
the only swinging bridge in Georgian Bay only opened only on the hour so we sat out
in the bay for about 40 minutes waiting on his 8:00 opening. The bridge
was unlike anything we had ever seen. We called the operator on the radio to confirm
his opening. When it was time, he walked to the center of the bridge and turned
it instead of raising it as most bridges do. We talked to him as we went
through – fun. It was a pretty narrow
opening but we did just fine.
Next was the 2 mile narrows, the 5 mile narrows and the 7
mile narrows. Each was realllly narrow and convoluted with lots of twists and
turns. This is the area where a bear could have jumped into our boat. You could
almost touch the trees and rocks on each side of the boat.
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| Pretty close - note the marker! |
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Our charts at 7 mile narrows
This is what Carol navigates by! |
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| A tight little turn |
Keep in mind that our keel is 4 ½ feet deep and
we could see the rocks on either side of us. Though the channel was well marked
and it was plenty deep, it was also plenty tight and narrow. We made it,
though. Woo Hoo!!!!!
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Notice how close we have to travel to the bank!
Our windshield (10' up) is in the foreground. |
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| More turns |
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| At least they mark the worst of the rocks! |
We dropped our anchor in a stunning little bay at Derbyshire
Island at 9:30 in the middle of rain. When we anchor, Carol is on the bow
letting the anchor and chain out while Jim is maintaining our position in the
harbor. Today, Carol was as wet as the anchor but she did a great job. This is
another of those days when it never did quit raining. Ugghhhh. Still, it is
soooo amazingly beautiful – wow.
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| Our anchorage at Derbyshire |
