We made it to Britt!
We decided before hitting the sack last night that we (read Phil here) would be up at 4 am to check the wind. Phil crawled out, looked out the porthole, checked the flag-poles and the tall trees, came back to bed with a muffled “****, another day in Bayfield.”

Awake again at 6:15 to discover no wind and a sunny day with a few high fluffies. A quick orange juice and cheese slice (no comments on the menu for first breakfast), rigged for running, and by 6:45 we were off - back down the now quite familiar Alexander Passage. If we never see this place again, it will be too soon!!

One of the problems of this Passage is that the rocks at the opening from the Bay to the Passage screen the actual Bay as you approach it; so even with binoculars it is impossible to see what the wave conditions are like past the shore rocks until you are actually there. (And on weekends, especially long weekends, the marine weather forecasts don’t seem to be updated as frequently as weekdays so no indication of wave height.) And then the opening of the channel is so narrow and twisty that you can’t do a quick turn or put her in reverse to actually not go out into the Bay. You have to continue on to that first red marker and then turn around.

In great anticipation and with some dread (mostly that we would have to go back to Bayfield), we headed out of the channel into the Bay and discovered that, although there was still a bit of a swell to the waves, they were passable and so on we forged. Up on plane, following the red markers which are basically in a straight line following the shore line with a few green bouys thrown in to keep you off the rocks and on your toes. Then, where several years ago we were able to turn back inshore to the small craft channel, the markers now take us further out into the Bay and back in to Byng Inlet, in a wide “V” shaped path heading west and then back east; the old channel being closed. The entrance to Byng is very well marked with range finders and lots of bouys and is out of the worst of the Bay’s waves and wind. The channel is long and thin, well marked, and we docked at Wright’s Marina just as they were opening up at 8 am.

Having mentioned Phil’s new GPS unit some time ago, I can say here that there will be words (undoubtedly bad ones) to the company as soon as we can get cell service. The changes to the above route that were changed when we were here in 2003 are not yet updated on the plotter. We just sort of wandered off the GPS charts. Good thing that I keep the paper charts at hand and follow them closely so we were able to do the route with no difficulties. This is the only spot where there has been an error in the electronic charts.

Coming up the inlet, you notice a change from the very large, expensive summer homes of Bayfield and places previous to there. Byng Inlet has a large local population as opposed to weekend and summer only homes and there are small to medium size houses, each with their own small dock, all along the shores of the channel. Wright’s Marina has been here for ages. It has a huge old house right beside the Marina buildings and the family that live in it are the 3rd generation to do so. Byng is also the site of much Aboriginal interest as they have been living in this area for hundreds of years. Just about a mile further up the channel is the town of Britt. All of these small towns are just off highway 69, which is actually the extension of Highway 400 from Toronto, so they are in and out of Parry Sound quite frequently.

Our very first task was for a PIPO, mostly the PO part. Then we moved to a dock behind another boat which, unfortunately, meant that we had to put our stern out to the channel. This means that, since the Marina is along the shore of the channel as they all seem to be in these back bays, that the wake from every passing boat “whumps” up against our stern. And the local boats don’t slow down for Marinas as a courtesy, they just whizz by on the rule that you must do 10km or less when 30 metres from any shore, unless you are in a marked channel. Since all these channels are marked, you get to go as fast as you want. Whump, Whump, Whump.

We spent all morning doing laundry which hadn’t been done since leaving my sister’s place in Penetang. No wonder there are so many horse/deer flies around. Lunch and then an ice-cream treat at the store, which has some groceries, a small chandlery, and a few local arts - wood turning, pottery, artwork, etc. Then we had a long sleep this afternoon to make up for the 4 am and 6 am calls. We are now, at 5:21 pm sitting below with the air-conditioning on - I threw a sheet over the outside railing of the laundry building this morning and it dried in 15 minutes so it is hot out.

Just took a break from this and went for a very short walk and noticed that the sky to the north/north-west is, again, grey and threatening. Looks like more rain tonight. Back to the boat to put down the vinyl, just in case. Several more boats have pulled in, including a group of folk who were out camping on one of the back channels for the weekend, via kayaks. Apparently the family has been doing this for many years and the young lady I talked to said no-one would miss it, they have such fun. I asked her where they camped and she said, “I don’t know, just some rocky channel out there.”

A 53 ft Carver just pulled in. Had to do a walk-by. Nice boat but a bit too big I think, I’d have to actually do housework on that one. Mind you, they could certainly do the “outside” without any trouble at all.

A Coast Guard zodiac pulled in this morning while I was doing laundry - they are based at the lighthouse at the entrance to the inlet - and Phil had a chat with them. Last time we were up here we noticed that the squad was all female, as it was again today. They pop into local places and do voluntary safety checks for you; number of lifejackets, throw ropes, flares, stuff like that. Phil chatted them up for a bit - trust Phil to find the young, cute ones - and they were saying that on Saturday, when we upped anchor and headed in to Bayfield for refuge, they had to go out into the Bay on an emergency call. The marine weather said the waves were 2m but they said they were out in 8½ ft waves and were just being bounced all over the place. These zodiacs are the great big orange ones you see on TV in all the “chase” shows and they can take quite a pounding. Even so, I admire them for the career they have chosen.

Britt Channel SunsetLooks as if it will be a quiet evening here, maybe with rain. Don’t know what the outlook is for tomorrow but on the next calm day we are off to Beaverstone Bay, which is a long 60 km run with 20 of it “on the outside”. The first part is fairly sheltered, going in behind the Bustards and there are several “pull-out” anchorages along the way if necessary. And another good pull-out is going up the French River main channel to ride out any weather. We shall have to see.

Location