August 20, 2008: Strawberry Island

Today we cruised through an amazingly calm version of the Georgia Bay with rippling glossy water stretching out to the horizon. It is hard to imagine a large body of water any smoother. Random white puffy clouds hover just above the horizon. This is how it must have looked when the natives crossed in their canoes to reach Beausoleil Island. Our anchorage for tonight is Strawberry Island

The highlight of today was our trip to a restaurant which Tom found in a tour guide book that was supposed to be “in the vicinity”. We could have found it easily using our electronic chart plotter, but Tom wanted to go by dinghy. So while I worked this afternoon, he made a scouting trip to find it. Returning 2.5 hours later, he assured me that he had found the Georgian Bay Fishing Camp and thought he could find it again.

So we left at 5:00 PM for a wandering path through a maze of stone fingers, some above water and some visible not far from the surface under the clear water. We passed a quaint red roofed lighthouse maintained by the Canadian Park system. And sure enough, by 6:00 PM we were nearing a old silvered dock surrounded by old red metal fishing skiffs. The Georgian Bay Fishing Camp, a group of weathered white sided building with red metal roofs, is over a century old and sort of like a fishing boarding house. We shared our dinner table with another looper, James, from Louisiana and two very talkative business men from Toronto. Oddly, the Fish Camp was serving spaghetti for dinner! The sitting room where we ate was walled with honey colored pine paneling and had an amazing glass coffee table built around a sculpture of a 3 foot muskie about to make a meal of a smaller fish . In the corner, there was a large moose skull with antlers under a fish mounting on the wall. They had several of the Muskogee chairs we have fallen in love with and an interesting wire window hanging, saying “Welome to the lake!” The food was OK, and it was certainly a memorial experience visiting there.

The trip back was cooler, and we were glad for the water to be fairly calm. Back at the boat, anchored by Strawberry Island, we saw a glorious orange sunset in the sky and reflected in the still water. Our antennae TV once again is picking up the Olympics and even in an English speaking channel.