Segment #9: Georgian Bay to Mackinaw City

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Interlude in Blind Bay, near Parry Sound, Ontario
July 24 - August 2, 2010

We spent a wonderful ten relaxing days at the cottage of my cousin Marianne and her husband Herbert Koenig in a little bay that ends blindly as the name indicates. We learned a bit about the “cottage culture”, which plays such a great role in this part of Ontario. Just like the thousands of cottages we had seen on the Trent-Severn Waterway the Koenig’s cottage was located right on the water’s edge and was built on rocks. Their only access was by boat. So they had to get out of their car near a little dock where about a dozen other cars were parked, pack all their belongings into a small motorboat and ride for about ten minutes across Blind Bay before they reached their own dock in front of the boathouse. This was also the garage for a bigger boat used mainly for excursions.

Over a series of steps we reached the living area of the cottage, which has a large living room and kitchen, two bathrooms, a study, a small bedroom and a master bedroom. Downstairs was the guest bedroom into which Manfred moved after our arrival. The Marilsnick was parked securely a mini-boat ride from the dock. Wilfried and I spent the nights on the boat and also napped there in the afternoon.

During the first day Wilfried installed the AGLCA (American Greater Loopers Asscociation) burgee on a little teak mast on the bow as one of his many gifts. He took full advantage of Herbert’s tools in his boathouse. Herbert’s tools are legendary. He had virtually everything to repair faucets (which he did on the Marilsnick) up to attaching the large hoses leading from the cottage to the septic tank. Nothing could be hidden in the soil since this consisted of pure rock. Marianne’s kitchen was not equipped quite as well as the tool shed, but tools in it in such a remote place and such a hostile environment can be literally life saving. Marianne and Herbert have begun a discussion about putting the tools in the kitchen on the same level of modernity as the tools in the boathouse.

Herbert and Marianne were a most hospitable couple. They did anything to make us, that is Manfred, Wilfried and me comfortable. For the first meal she had prepared a chicken fricassee, as her mother made it, which is one of my all time favorite dishes. They had planned an extensive entertainment schedule, which we could not even halfway manage to meet.

Marianne invited their neighbors and friends Uwe and Mareile who had sailed in the Georgian Bay and North Channel area for nearly forty years. We looked at charts and Uwe advised me on the passages to take (all) and to avoid (hardly any). He pointed out anchorages and gave us time estimates. It was a great afternoon not only because of the pie and coffee. Uwe and Mareile returned another afternoon to clarify any further questions. Local advice cannot be overestimated and we appreciated it.

One day we went to Parry Sound by boat. It was a 45-minute ride leading us through narrow passages and along the coast of several islands. Through the trees, which amazingly grow on this soil beautiful cottages peaked through. They actually do not deserve the name “cottage” because some of them cost millions. We also passed a resort with several more moderate cottages owned by a German from Bielefeld through whom the Koenigs had made their connection to Blind Bay thirty-five years ago.

We toured the port of Parry Sound, found the boat harbor. Originally we had planned to keep the Marilsnick there. But at the site of the harbor and comparing it with the anchorage near the Koenigs we decided to remain with the Marilsncik throughout our stay in Blind Bay.

Herbert and I enjoyed some ice cream that was tastier than the fast food Marianne, Wilfried and Manfred had in a restaurant, where we joined them later.

We returned to Blind Bay at nightfall. It was not difficult to find the Koenig’s place because the Marilsnick was a great marker.

On Sunday Herbert went fishing and the three of us went to church in Parry Sound. It was a Presbyterian congregation. The sanctuary was filled to the last seat. The celebrants war no vestments, the service did not include the Lord’s Prayer or a confession of faith. Two young college students who worked in a First Nation camp presented their testimony. I was amazed to see how different this Presbyterian congregation was than the one I attended in Dallas some forty years ago.

One day Manfred and Herbert spent attaching a swim ladder to the swim step on the Marilsnick. An old ladder we had purchased was too short but a neighbor offered another used ladder that did work well. It took the two most of two days, a couple of drawings and many tools from Herbert’s limitless supply to finish the task. The next morning I tried it after swimming and it worked.

One of the best ways to entertain oneself at the Koenigs was swimming. Especially in the morning the water appeared to be luke warm. I used a “noodle” to keep myself above water because I was too lazy to swim. Everyone enjoyed swimming, Marianne several times a day.

On the 25th of July we took Wilfried to town. He left by bus to Toronto and from there on to Rochester, NY to visit friends. The next night Marianne, Manfred and I attended a concert in the new concert hall in Parry Sound where an orchestra and a choir from Toronto presented Bach’s A-minor mass. The hall was sold out, which I found amazing since Parry Sound has only about 7500 inhabitants.

The Koenigs were nice enough to also invite the Bergs into their home. The Bergs were my next crew, who arrived in Parry Sound on Saturday, July 31 from Puyallup by plane and bus. We picked them up at the Bobby Orr Museum next to the concert hall and drove them to the little dock from where Manfred ferried all of us to the cotta

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