The last time Lee and I did a paddling weekend out of Britt, we car-camped at Georgian Cottages on Friday night and left early on Saturday. This was fine - the folks at Georgian Cottages are the friendly sort, the campground is as casual as it gets, and we were able to get away early. But I love waking up on the Bay, and if you car-camp the first night, that only leaves you one morning of waking up out there on a quickie weekend trip. So this time, we figured we'd paddle out on Friday night.
It's early July, so the days are long - but not *that* long. If you don't meet up until 6:30 p.m., and if you can't drive through Parry Sound without visiting Ron and Nancy (people who know Ron and Nancy will understand the irresistible pull of that exit on the highway), you perhaps don't get to Britt until 11 p.m. I know our patterns well enough that I had duct tape and an extra flashlight ready, so I taped it facing backwards onto my boat. Headlamps on our heads (though not facing forward - we needed what little night vision we could have) we set out at midnight.
My first night paddle felt like my first time in a kayak did - I was very aware of how tippy the boat can be for some reason. I didn't know how to read the water - we were lucky, it was a perfectly calm (and thus mosquito infested) night, but there were few visual and auditory cues as to where the rocks are (the moon set just as we started paddling, but it was a clear night so we had some starlight to guide our way). I also didn't want to stray very far from Lee's boat (as in, I was a clingy chicken) because, you know, it was dark. Lee had programmed a destination into his GPS and had his compass on deck (well, he always has his compass on deck, but he was using it!), and we slowly navigated our way past the first few lighthouses to the Bay.
It only took an hour or so to paddle out, but then we still had to make camp. I never really noticed how much we scan with our eyes until my field of vision was restricted to what I could see with my headlamp and we were looking for a flat spot to pitch a tent. We did find the perfect spot, and fortunately my tent setting-up skills are solid enough that I can do it just as quickly by the light of the LED than I can in the day. We were wired, though, so we braved the mosquitos (not so bad out on the Bay - there was a breeze) and sat up with drinks for another hour before crashing. Another first for me, the night paddle. I'll do it again. And look what we woke up to!
That was cool, you know - waking up to perfect weather in a perfect spot I'd never been to. The wind gradually picked up throughout the day - we started with under 10 km/hr, but it kept building. This was fine with me, and I suspect fine with Lee, since his objective for the weekend was to roll his (fully loaded!) boat in all sorts of conditions.
So, yeah, I saw a lot of this. Lee really has nailed the roll with his wooden paddle - he didn't miss it once, and that was with (he figured out later) a loose bungie in his sprayskirt that caused him to take on water every time he was upside down. So our day went something like this: paddle. roll. pump. roll. pump. paddle. repeat.
We'd talked about our plan for the weekend - we thought we'd paddle morning and later in the day, and take big breaks in the middle. This decision was based on the horrendous heat, humidity and air quality we've been experiencing in Toronto and Guelph. Never mind that it was not nearly as hot out on the Bay, and that the air quality was much better - around noon, we spotted some perfectly flat rocks on Bourchier Island in Norgate Inlet. We decided to make camp there, and explore later.
After lunch, we set up camp, and it had clouded over and we actually felt chilled (at least, until we put on a lot more clothes we did). One of the great things about travelling with Lee is that he likes exploring on land as much as I do, and we wandered along the island. There was a fishing shack on this island, and it was surrounded by... ummmm... stuff. One of the bits of stuff was this car. I of course felt the need to skip right over to said car when we saw it, and get in.
After the car, the late night caught up with us. Our exploration went something like this: walk for 100 m. Spy a flat rock. Lee naps on flat rock. Five minutes later, Johanna is bored, whines that she wants to keep exploring. Lee good-naturedly gets up, travels another 100 m, and, while Johanna is distracted with something, tests the next flat rock for napping potential. Yep, it took a long time to explore the island. There were a lot of flat rocks.
When we got back to our campsite, Lee (perhaps to escape the Johanna whining that she is bored routine) disappeared into his tent for another nap, and I read my book (for about five minutes, after which I fell asleep). When we woke up in the middle of the afternoon, the cloud cover had lifted and the winds had increased to over 20 km/hr. It was time for Lee to return to his other fixation of the weekend, rolling.
This part of Georgian Bay is a minefield of shoals that extend for miles. This makes for some extremely interesting waves and challenging conditions if the wind is up - in the rock gardens off our site, the waves had built to 2 m in places, and they broke at unpredictable intervals. The picture at left was taken in this area during calm conditions. Add some wind to what you see... Not only that, but they come at you from various directions. We took all but the rescue equipment out of our boats, and headed right into it
Lee can roll in confusing conditions. Me, I had a blast playing in the waves - and finally got to put my bracing skills to the test. I came as close to going over as I ever have after having a wave break under me, broach, and then having the next wave break on me while I was still turned to be parallel with the waves. I think it's just sheer luck that I came out of that one upright. My heartrate skyrocketed, and the adrenalin had me jumpy for hours after. So fun. Lee of course had no trouble with any of it - he not only handled all the waves, he kept an eye on me at all times (me, I kept my eyes glued on the water, no extra attention to watch people).
After that, we explored some interior channels and came back to camp for a swim, some more naps, and finally dinner and sunset watching. It was a nice site (if very exposed), but I didn't like it as much after I saw the shack with the car and all the other junk around it - it seemed... spoiled. This part of the Bay is very special, since big boats really can't get to most of it, and there is less garbage here than any other area I know. Until you walk to the other side of the island, I guess.
Despite all the naps, I had no trouble sleeping through the night, and the next morning we decided to explore to the south. We headed as far as the north outlet of the Naiscoot River, checking for sheltered channels (for future reference) along the way. This area is riddled with prime camping spots.
When we got to the Naiscoot, we stopped for a break - and Lee was beside himself with all the flat rocks he could nap on. He resisted the temptation, though, and chose instead to program the site into his GPS so that we can return at a future date and he can do all the napping rocks justice. That will require two nights in this area, not a day paddle!
You can pack a lot into an ordinary weekend, but not nearly enough as far as I'm concerned - after the Naiscoot exploration, we turned back north, and returned to our site. Lunch, some more rolling for Lee and a swim for me (but this time Lee's rolling included swimming, since he had switched to his much more aggressive racing paddle and has not yet nailed the roll with that monster). After some (yes, again) naps, we packed up, and turned our boats toward Britt again.
Gratuitous pictures of a failed roll at left. I need to capture this while I can, since I suspect that the next time I paddle with Lee, he will have a bullet-proof roll with the Vitudden paddle as well! Maybe the refreshing dips were just as well, though, because the last couple of hours of paddling to Britt were hot and sticky and I started getting cranky. Of course, ice cream fixed that. Yet another charmed summer weekend, with one of my favourite adventure buddies. We won't discuss the traffic once we hit Barrie.