Following May’s hectic pace of getting boats launched, cleaned and the winter gremlins cleared out, June is the perfect month to research, plan, and then begin your cruising itinerary for the summer.

For Georgian Bay I utilize my charts, Great Lakes Cruising Club binders, and Ports guide when planning our trips. Occasionally I will check Google Earth and/or Google images for additional info when heading into an unfamiliar area or just searching for places to explore by dinghy or on foot, like rivers and forests.

Keep in mind that July and August are high season at port towns and marinas – loopers, rendezvous’ers and vacationers are abundant so it’s important to reserve transient slips ahead of time if possible, or at least have a conversation with the dock master before showing up unannounced.

This summer we have a 4 week cruise planned, doing a loop around the perimeter of Georgian Bay, departing from our home port of Midland, cruising up the east coast through the 30,000 islands, across the north shore to Killarney and then heading back south.

We plan to spend Canada Day at the Killarney Mountain Lodge docks and look forward to enjoying the raucous atmosphere after many nights of what we hope will be quiet anchorages.

And after a few fun nights at the Lodge we will definitely be looking forward to getting back to those quiet anchorages again!

Our planned stops include: Go Home, Franklin Island, Britt, The Bustards, Bad River, Beaverstone Bay, Killarney, Manitowaning, Rattlesnake Harbour, Club Island Harbour, Wingfield Basin and Hope Island. At least that is the plan!

Our anticipated route looks like this:

I use the word “anticipated” as we like to remain flexible – traveling during calm sea days, picking rainy days for heading into port towns, and sometimes skipping a stop if we decide to stay longer in one place (which often happens when we have a beautiful spot to ourselves).

I always like to include new anchorages every summer, including a couple of challenging ones – usually places that are off the beaten track or accessible only during perfect weather. This year those spots are Rattlesnake Harbour and Club Island Harbour. And we are hoping to spend a night at Manitowaning; I have never stayed there and am sorry to have missed the Norilse – a 1946 steam powered ferry that once served as a museum at the town dock but then closed due to safety issues and in 2023 was towed to the scrap yard.

Our route will see us travel over 300 nm, or 500 km, over a 4 week period, Most of our journey will be cruised at 8 knots to enjoy the view and conserve fuel, but the open-water passages will be at 22 knots.

Revisions on the fly are always expected to the schedule, and often necessary due to weather, mechanical, or who knows what else – usually that one little thing you never thought could go wrong on a boat! We’ve replaced old batteries, all fuel filters and impellers plus dealt with many other spring maintenance issues.

Georgian Bay has been quiet so far this season, the anchorages deserted on hot sunny days, in fact the first long weekend was perfect boating weather but hardly a boat to be seen – even the more popular anchorages had plenty of room.

The brokerages however have been busy – now full of used & new power boat listings, compared to a few years back when inventory was at an all time low. Perhaps just the usual change-over of boat owners that happens every few years, highly augmented by the “covid-era boaters” who have now decided they prefer turf to surf. Or perhaps economic – people are fed up with paying the taxes (gas/luxury etc) and that could be why sailboat inventory is hard to find now.

Hopefully for the local economy this is a short lived issue and as we sail towards July, more boaters will be seen out enjoying the Bay.

Regardless, I have our route planned and look forward to another summer of exploring beautiful Georgian Bay! Hope to see you out there and be sure to keep an eye on my website and Facebook pages for updates on our travels!

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