Pancake Bay

When DW and I first decided that we wanted to take our kayaks to Lake Superior, we imagined exploring the bays and coves within the provincial park for a few days before heading further north, to the northernmost part of the lake, paddling around the islands around Nipigon and Rossport.

But just a day before we left home, we decided to postpone the Nipigon region. There had been reports of forest fires, and my lungs aren't in the greatest condition—to the extent that a lung specialist told me that I shouldn't even venture outdoors if the air quality was affected by smoke.

We decided that we would hold off until next year to tackle that part of Lake Superior, assuming there were no fires. That left us with having to make alternate plans for the second half of our vacation.

We thought it would be nice to return to Georgian Bay, possibly revisiting Killarney Provincial Park and exploring new regions within it. I also suggested Tobermory, and paddling to the various shipwrecks in the Fathom Five National Marine Park.

Shipwrecks were in my head with Lake Superior and the fate of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald.

DW felt that getting a campsite at the Bruce Peninsula National Park would be tough to get, at such late notice, considering how hard it took us to get our site at Lake Superior Provincial Park and given that the national parks were offering a 25-percent discount as a means of encouraging Canadians to skip travel to the U.S. But before we left home, DW did add us to a notification list, should any sites open up.

Just days before we broke camp at Agawa Bay, an opening availed itself for two nights and we snapped it up. Now all we had to do was make our way to the Bruce Peninsula.

That was another issue to tackle. We would have to make our way to Manitoulin Island and gain passage on the ferry that takes you between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay to Tobermory.

I thought that it would be no problem, that taking the ferry would be like when we took the ferry at Tadoussac, last year: first come, first on. But just to make sure, I checked out the ferry's Web site.

Yes, reservations are a must, and spots book well in advance. Unlike the Tadoussac-to-Baie-Sainte-Catherine ferry, which is free, the MS Chi-Cheemaun costs $86 for a car and two passengers.

Booking online showed us that the ferry was fully booked on the day that we needed to cross to Tobermory. In fact it was fully booked on the day before and the day after. But knowing that computers aren't as good as humans when it comes to making reservations, I decided to call the Owen Sound Transportation company, which runs the ferry, and speak to a live person.

The woman on the line was able to find me a spot on the ferry, but it wouldn't be until the evening passage, which left the South Baymouth terminal at 7:45 and arrived in Tobermory at 9:30. Realistically, that meant we probably wouldn't get to the park until after 10, depending on how long it took to leave the ship, and depending on how long the check-in process was for the campground, we wouldn't be setting up our tent until 10:30.

Setting up your site at night is a real PITA. It's hard to see things and get yourself oriented, and no matter how quiet you try to be, you're going to wake someone from a nearby site.

We didn't want to be those people. But because we had no alternative, short of driving around Georgian Bay, we made the reservation. All we had to do, now, was to kill two nights before we were due at the ferry.

Breaking camp at Agawa Bay took longer than expected. We had breakfast and washed up before tearing down the site, and we discovered that there was a lot of moisture on the tents. Having our sleeping tent a bit damp wasn't a big deal because we were going to be driving to another park and would set up the tent right away, giving it the rest of the day to dry off.

The kitchen tent was another matter because we were going to pack it up and weren't planning to unpack it again. It had served its usefulness for the first week but we wouldn't need it again.

As the sun lifted itself above the trees, we were able to move the tents to a sunny area of our site. The wind was still strong from the previous day's storm, but it still took more than an hour to get everything dry. We packed it all up and were off the site by 1:00, an hour before we had to be off the site.

Our site during teardown.

We didn't feel that we were done with Lake Superior, so as we drove south, we stopped at Alona Bay, which we had checked out the day before. Unfortunately, the fog was even worse than the previous day, and though the sun was doing its best to burn it off, we could barely see beyond 100 metres from shore, so kayaking was off the list.

We continued down the highway and stopped at Pancake Bay Provincial Park. The northernmost point of this bay is very close to where the Edmund Fitzgerald sank, in 1975, with all hands. Perhaps we would put our kayaks in the lake here.

We had no reservation but the park had a site available in the radio-free zone, which suited us fine. It was a tiny site, with just enough room for our car and our tent, but that's all we needed: we'd be gone before the 11 am checkout time.

Our site on Pancake Bay.

By the time we were set up, we realized that we hadn't had lunch, so we drove less than a kilometre to the Agawa Crafts centre, that we had visited the day before, where we had a sandwich and coffee. We then drove to Batchewana Bay for more apple fritters.

Back at Pancake Bay, DW wanted to walk one of the trails. The one we chose was closed about halfway into the loop so we couldn't see the whole thing, but what we did see was nice. Afterward, DW went for a dip in the bay while I snoozed on the beach.

DW, after her dip.

We used up the last of our veggies and cheese in a chicken quesadilla for dinner and made plans to put our kayaks in the bay in the morning.

We should have gone for a sunset paddle, when the bay was perfectly calm. The next morning, we awoke to a very light rain shower, and a wind made the bay unsettled. We wouldn't be kayaking this day.

I drove to the Agawa Crafts café to get us coffee while DW made pancakes with the last of our blueberries. After breakfast, we packed up our site and hit the road again.

We had no reservation for the coming evening but we needed to make our way to Manitoulin Island, so that would be our destination, after a stop in Sault Ste. Marie for more groceries and to top up the gas tank.

The adventure continues, tomorrow. Stay tuned.