When we sold the old family cottage on Georgian Bay, we bought Dauntless, our 29 foot Ranger Tug. The decision not to buy another cottage was based on our conviction that there were no lakes in BC to match the variety we had in Georgian Bay. So we bought a boat to explore the Pacific Northwest. It was there we discovered the joys of anchoring out.

Anchoring means access to inaccessible shorelines and bays. The BC coast is a mountainous, rugged coast. Without a boat, you can’t see Desolation Sound, the Discovery Islands, Princess Louisa Inlet, the Broughtons and more. This is BC’s best of the best. Ontario’s Georgian Bay and the North Channel are no different – big swaths of coastline that have no marinas, few cottages and even fewer ports of call. What is a road builders nightmare is a boaters delight – granite outcroppings, rocky bays, high quartzite mountains and marshes full of wildlife.

The goal for our last summer in Ontario waters was to sample at least some of the anchorages. As former owners of an island in the Long Sault area near Parry Sound, we often saw boats throw down an anchor in a deserted bay and spend a couple of days enjoying what we enjoyed as cottagers.

There’s a lot of anchorages on Georgian Bay and the North Channel. “Ports,” “Skipper Bob” highlight the popular ones. Ontario Provincial Parks like Massassauga and Killarney publish maps that detail the anchorages within their boundaries. Ditto for the Georgian Bay Islands National Park that oversees the anchorages around Beausoleil. There are cottager association maps; kayaking enthusiasts maps and sport fishing/hunting recreation maps for the many conservation areas. And, if none of those gunk holes inspire, you can make your way into a protected bay, drop an anchor where no one has been before. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that the North Channel and Georgian Bay might have 1000 anchorages that are safe for an overnight stay.

Dauntless and her crew have anchored out half of the 80 days of boating this summer. Some bays we liked so much that we did them twice, once on our way north and again as we came south. There’s almost nothing better than setting the anchor, looping a stern tie around a tree or rock then getting all of the toys out. Our toys are the kayaks, the dinghy, floaties, the barbecue and chairs for sitting in the sunshine. By July, the water was warm and clear. If there are other boats in the bay, we usually paddle over to say hi. It’s no lie to say we met hundreds of people in the bays, nooks, docks of the North Channel and Georgian Bay. We listened to their stories and we told them ours. When the fire bans were lifted, groups would have an evening fire in crude pits on the shore. If the wind was fair, the anchorage would empty out and boats would move on to their next destination. A boat you met one day, you often met a week later in another bay. Facebook, the LCYC Cruisers Net and other social media outlets help to knit the community together.

On Georgian Bay, our favourite anchorages are Frying Pan Bay on Beausoleil Island, Clear Bay in Massassauga Provincial Park, Pike Bay in the Long Sault, Regatta Bay on Franklin Island, between Tie and Strawberry Island in the Bustards, Muskrat Cove in Beaverstone Bay, Keyhole on Collins Inlet, Covered Portage outside of Killarney, The Pool and Marianne Cove in Baie Finn.

This is a great anchoring area and we are glad we had a chance to sample it. We loved the anchorages we saw, we also missed many others. There are many boaters who come back year after and year and we can see why. The boating season is only two months which helps to keep overdevelopment at bay and wilderness pristine. It’s remote, it beautiful and we will miss it.