Anchored
overnight at Mary Ann’s Cove, we three boats pulled anchor and cruised two
hours almost due east along Baie Fine Saturday morning then picked our way
through the little rock islands scattered about to get to the narrow,
beautifully wooded channel leading to The Pool. We passed a few cottages right
at the mouth of The Pool, one being particularly noteworthy as it is owned by
the Evinrudes of outboard motor notoriety.
The
Pool is within the boundaries of Killarney Provincial Park, one of Ontario’s
most popular wilderness destinations. ‘With its sapphire blue lakes and white
quartzite ridges it is considered one of the crown jewels of the Ontario Park
system.’ And, we intended to hike among those lakes and ridges!
After
setting anchor, we dinghied to the base of the hiking trail leading to Lake
Topaz. Led again by Audrey, we followed the creek bed then continued on a trail
of pine needles interwoven with very-straight-trunked pine trees, each standing
vertical and tall and clamoring for its share of sunlight. It was an easy path
to follow, the trail was missing the red-faded-to-pink ribbon markers of our
climb to Casson Peak the prior day.
Once
reaching the crest of our climb, we shinnied down the short but steep incline
to Lake Topaz where one by one we crawled into the crystal clear water for a
swim. We were urged on by others with the same intent—a mini rah-rah
section was quickly forming here; swimming Lake Topaz is one of the
highlights of natives and visitors alike. Whereas we’d been cautioned not to
swim in The Pool (snapping turtles), we had been encouraged to enjoy the
blue-green waters of the Lake to which we’d climbed. This area is one of those
places everyone must see at least once. Some people return year after year as
our friends Randy and Audrey; others return only to show it to someone who has
never been there—guess Randy and Audrey qualify for both categories!
Youth
has its advantages—the younger generation was jumping from the cliffs while we
picked our way into the water, careful not to slip. We were amazed, as Cathy
noted, that there was nothing growing to make the submerged rocks slick. Randy
furthered our education, indicating the early copper and nickel mines and thus
lake acidity killed everything living in Lake Topaz. OK, so why is there a
little ‘black round body with wings’ swimming by my side? Again I wished Sus
and Christy here to share the experience! A nostalgic moment in time as I
thought back on our childhood years of biking, hiking, swimming in the quarry,
climbing trees, etc!
Reversing
our course after a brief swim, we retraced our steps to return to the dinghy
assembly onshore then on to our separate boats for what would undoubtedly be an
early dinner and bedtime for each of the three couples this Saturday evening.
Clay thoughtfully stayed up awhile working on a photo project he was completing
for our soon-to-separate boater friends.
Sunday’s
call to pull anchor came at 9:30 a.m. which interrupted my housekeeping chores
aboard, but duty calls (or rather, the Captain calls). Our four-hour-cruise
took us first to Heywood Island where Plan A was replaced with Plan B. Randy
had selected this scenic island’s anchorage for yet another overnight, but
overcrowding at noon with more boats arriving with each passing hour had us two
American boats electing to continue on to Little Current for a land-based
overnight or two. Eight continuous days of anchoring had depleted our fresh
produce supply and amassed quite a collection of dirty laundry. Too, a warm
shower sounded pretty darn good right now.
Hustling
to make the 1:00 bridge opening had both SaSea Sally and Trawler Life
revving engines for a good workout which is periodically good for them. Whew!
Through the opens-only-on-the-hour bridge with only moments to spare, we fought
a stiff current as we transacted the maneuver. We’d been warned that the
waterway at Little Current defied its name—that Little Current has a
wind-dependent current which changes in speed and direction and can be quite a
force with which to reckon. Thank goodness the boat slips were aligned with the
current, taking at least the cross-current docking factor out of the equation.
Clay transacted an almost flawless entry into our slip after which we hopped on
the dock to catch Trawler Life’s lines at the T-head.
I
opted to tackle the collection of dirty laundry first and made that much of my
afternoon’s agenda. Not sure of Clay’s agenda but I’m sure he kept busy aboard
and probably did his share of dock hopping sans beer before the 5 o’clock hour
arrived. This was opportunity for him to seek local knowledge on the route
ahead as well as to just ‘chill.’ We ended the day with docktails and dinner at
the nearby Anchor Inn with new friends Al and Sherry (Sea Y’al II).
Note: Clay and I both tried poutine for the first and last time at Al’s
insistence, sharing his massive ‘small’ appetizer portion as he was. Poutine is
a Canadian favorite of long French fries covered with a seasoned gravy and
cheese (often cheese curds). I decided poutine wasn’t as bad as I’d expected it
to be…kinda like eating ketchup on French fries with a new twist.
On
that ‘note,’ I’ll sign, seal and send this latest weekend chapter of SaSea
Sally Adventures to you.
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