I’m sitting in Damon & Sarah’s car full of fish and chips from the ‘all you can eat’ Shipwreck Bar in Tobermory, feeling pleasantly tired after an overnight trip in Georgian Bay, Canada.

We launched from Dunks Bay on Monday morning, armed with our permits and 2 pretty inadequate schematic maps. Under glorious sunshine the lake looked a beautiful turquoisey-green and we glanced down at the white and grey limestone rocks under the surface.

We had hoped to camp at Flowerpot island but a hungry bear had recently showed up there so there was no overnight camping. We paddled across to the island and around it instead, stopping to take pictures of the 2 rocky ‘flowerpots’ around the coast. After lunch on a slabby rocky beach we headed over to Bears Rump island which – if you used your imagination – sort of looked like a big bears bottom sticking out of the lake.

After paddling round the island, a 5 mile crossing took us back to the north coast of the Bruce Peninsula. Loons, goosanders with chicks and other birds kept us company and a quartering sea made it a bit more interesting.

We continued east along the coast, weaving in and out of rocks and finding the odd small cave. After another hour or so we made camp at High Drop (which we think might have been named after the long drop which was very very long?). It was a gorgeous evening, with loons providing the soundtrack and Sarah cooking up a lovely meal. The cooler hadn’t really kept the beer very cold but it was welcome all the same!

This morning we woke up to rain – the beautiful sunny weather of the last week had finally come to an end. We stayed in our tents for an extra hour hoping in vain for the rain to stop but eventually had to brave it.

After eggs & bagels for brekkie, we headed back along the coast to Dunks Bay. What alovely place to paddle and a great taster of what the area has to offer.

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