You see some pretty amazing things in Georgian Bay in the North channel the Lake Huron.
You also meet some fun people, some you might even be related to.
My uncle, who lives on Neebish island had alerted me that I had a distant cousin traveling with her family in the north channel. He gave me the name of the boat and the description.
Libbie and I had an uneventful motoring over to Eagle Island and anchored in the bay by ourselves. The winds were forecast to come up to 15 to 20 in the afternoon out of the west so the bay at Eagle Island was perfect for our anchorage needs.
After we anchored and worked to get the dinghy in the water, three more boats motored into the bay and anchored close to us.
Libbie took the dinghy and went off and did her usual fishing activities and brought back a nice smallmouth bass, one of four that she hooked.
We made our adult beverages that we occasionally enjoy on Selkie and hopped in the dinghy. It was time for a cocktail cruise.
We cruised around the bay looking at all the wildlife that is there.
We counted two beaver lodges and the associated cut trees around them. You can see near the lodges the branches that the beaver cut and put underwater for winter food when the bay was frozen.
The number of bald eagles here is very encouraging, many more than I remember as a kid. Not only the eagles are healthy, the ecosystem that supports them is also well.
You could also see occasionally some fish.
After we puttered around the shoreline, we went by the boats.
Suddenly I realized there was a boat that matched the description that my uncle had given me, and it was from the town my mom’s family grew up with.
We hailed them and asked if they they were part of a clan name that I’m from.
It was the cousins.
The north channel has hundreds of anchorages just by itself without, including Georgian bay.
How we both picked the same bay at the same time spoke to a higher force than we can imagine.
We stopped and chatted with them for a while. I had seen the cousin before at a family reunion 3 decades ago. She was from our daughters’ generation so she would have been one of the gazillion kids running around back then (we come from a huge family).
We both spoke of the family business my great grandfather (and her great great grandfather) founded in the late 1800s.
She’s one of the first female employees from the family to work there. I thought it was really cool to meet her as an adult and I think she felt the same way.
We said our goodbyes, and I asked her to tell her father, someone I had seen occasionally growing up that I said hi.
We went back to Selkie and made dinner, settled in for the night and then got ready for the next day.
It was a great end to a great day.
Selkie 