Britt to Killarney

So, we left Hopewell Bay a day early and slid happily into Bing Inlet to the circa 1950's community of Britt where James and Ellen and I stayed last year. The high winds continued thru the night and into the next day -- with rain added over the first night just to convince us we made the right decision to move when we did.

Thus, we took advantage of an extra night ashore and went to dinner at the Little Britt Inn, where the food was fabulous -- baked pickerel (also known as walleye), excellent sides, home baked bread, and a to die for strawberry/rhubarb crumble accompanied by a private label dry Canadian white wine from the Niagara region.

The next day (yesterday) we left as soon as filled up with fuel and motored out into the Bay where the fog was dense enough that marks necessary for successfully exiting the inlet were obscured until we were in about 100 yards of the mark. Finally, the fog cleared and we could begin to speed up. We decided -- based on the weather forcaste of high winds building to even higher winds -- to motor from Bing Inlet to Killarney. Quite a ride -- for about the first hour in the open Bay, waves were less than two feet but by mile twenty of the close to fifty mile trip, they built to three plus feet -- not on the beam but rocking and rolling enough that we took water over the cabin top and actually broke one of the windshield wipers with wave action.

Chessie was NOT a happy camper! Finally, we saw the headlands leading into Killarney and the waves calmed down as we reached more protected waters. Into the town of Killarney (population less than 500) to the Sportsman's Inn and a sloppy docking against wind and current across from the Inn. But, we were vindicated in our decision to travel yesterday as boats arriving today had to handle winds steady at 20 knots and gusting to 25/30 knots. Reports of 8' waves both in the North Channel and the Georgian Bay.

We've been entertained all day with repairs to Sonador -- not the wiper which will need to be replaced entirely -- and with drying out. Of course, the most entertainment has come from watching everyone try to dock with winds running right down the Killarney Channel and creating quite a cross current as anyone tries to bring their boat successfully to dock. Luckily, no disasters -- but a lot of bruised egos.

Pictures in separate blog entry as I'm not certain strength of internet connection.