From Sassy's log...

Thank you guys for the nice comments. This trip was 4 days long but I am preparing a return to the area in a couple of weeks and hope to reach some more remote areas. The NE corner of Georgian Bay (also referred by many as the "Sixth Great Lake") is one of the more remote areas in Lake Huron, which is a remarkable difference from what it used to be a century ago when sawmills and mines were sprouting everywhere, and ports and rail terminals were used to bring in coal and export lumber... Many remains of ghost towns in the area, but nature has been extremely fast in re-claiming its own...

The maze of bays and islands carved in the rock on the E shores of Georgian Bay are the work of the glaciers but most of the rocks are very ancient (red granite, white quarz and sedimentary calcaric - the Great Lakes are a remnant of a tropical sea...). The area is very well charted thanks largely to the efforts of Admiral Bayfield (then Captain) in the 18 hundreds (his soundings are still used today). Keeping a watch for submerged rocks is a must when venturing inside small coves but waters are clear and submerged rocks are not too difficult to spot. The SunCat, is ideal for these waters because of having a centerboard and low draft and its great maneuverability. But when kedging or webbing to shore a stable dinghy is a must (as is having several anchors)... particularly because the anchor and rode must be carried and deployed from the dinghy. In my next trip to the area I will be trying a Sevylor inflatable canoe although my personal preference is for something that could be rowed instead of paddled.

Stepping on land (allowed in most land owned by the Crown) also has rewards of its own... like, picking a cup-full of fresh wild blackberries only takes minutes, but this is wild country and there is often signs of the presence in these areas of the big fauna of the North, even if these "Others" (as Farley Mowat likes to call them) are seldom seen in the open. Yes, the area is very different than anything else... but it is full of history and pre-history and has an amazing and unique rugged beauty of its own.

If I survive the next trip, I'll make sure to add a few more pics...

PS.- I should add that the SunCat has been quite a sensation in these forsaken shores... Sassy has elicited smiles, exclamations and questions all the way while on the road, while cruising, at the docks and even shouts from land as she was coming into some narrows...

J.