After another night camping in the church parking lot in Killarney it was time to launch Free Spirit. We had hoped that the local marina could back our trailer down the ramp; however the water levels were so low at the launch ramp that they were unable to help us out. Fortunately Mattie, a local rigger and marina operator was available to launch us using his home made travel lift.
Mattie uses his tailor made mast hoist to lift the weight while Doug and Rob watch the rigging and set the mast step. Free Spirit was floating for the first time.
Our first anchorage after leaving Killarney was Winakaching Bay, a bay that is off the charts but worth sneaking into. This was Doug and Jane's first experience with Cyrano at gunk holing and they followed Free Spirit in through the rocks and pink granite. We kept our keel down to four feet to make sure that the coast was clear for Cyrano. Free Spirit has a swing keel which allows her a draft of two feet. This will come in handy in the future particularly if the lake levels remain so low.
The pink granite on Philip Edward Island is stunning especially in the late day sunlight.
The only people we saw in Winakaching were travelling by kayak and canoe. Free Spirit and Cyrano had the whole anchorage to themselves. It wasn't until the last couple of nights in Thomas Bay near Killarney that we shared an anchorage with another boat.
Doug and Jane got to try out their new inflatable kayaks and soon learned to love paddling in Georgian Bay among the pink granite boulders.
We paddled our double inflatable affectionately known as banana boat....our 17 foot tender. What we lack in speed we make up for in carrying ability. Most days we paddled for several hours and had picnics ashore. Some days the girls even did an exercise class!?
We moved anchorages every couple of days. The next post will show highlights of West Desjardins and Bear Bay on Philip Edward Island.
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