In the year of about 2000, I was hired to move a 46' "Downeast"
trawler from Ste. Sainte Marie to Port Severn (at the beginning of the Trent Severn and at the bottom of Georgian Bay) -- a trip through the N. Channel and then across Georgian Bay.
We did not get in an early start from Killarney so we went into "Go Home Bay" to anchor for the night, instead of proceeding. A part of the delay was travel but also making sure we "tasted" Killarney as the "fish chips bus" was still operating there. it was a
classic !
We weren't in Go Home Bay for an hour before someone had come out to say with some anger of voice, saying "You're not welcome here !" and I said, "Really.. aw come'on, we cannot go on. The Sun is going down and we are only travelers here for necessary shelter and for only 1 night of our lives".
The man surprisingly softened to say, "Ok. You're not very welcome here and more: if you make noise or put any kind of slick on the water -- and I'll be watching. Watching you closely ..with binocs".
I said "Yes, sir.. I understand COMPLETELY. It is not my, or our, intention to do either. We aim to do nothing to sully this spot. We'll have a light dinner, take a long and much-needed rest and then leave as quietly as we can, and at 1st light. We need to get to Port Severn sometime tomorrow and then leave
Canada. You won't see us again.. PROMISE".
I worried that he might see some suds from the dinner wash-up or our showers. But we did wait till dusk.
I truly did understand but I was shocked too. We had stopped in many pretty spots along the way. We loved the N. Channel so much that I went back in about 2015 and did so to
charter out of Gore Bay.
The difference with those years was a great contrast. In 2000, there were many fewer boats and fewer people ashore, throughout the N. Channel. By 2015 and at Little
Current, the ferries were much larger, there were many cars, more restaurants, etc. etc.
I haven't known or imagined what Go Home Bay might have become in the same span of time but I reckon that they may have gotten more aggressive with their requests for privacy and also any visitors' making no impact.
Here, however, is something I have always talked about more than our experience at Go Home Bay: I had taken my best pal and also my 10 year old son on this 2000 trip. At the start of the trip, we were wow'd by how friendly people were, how green the landscape was, and how we seemed to be on the edge of the "frontier".
So..we were anchored way up in that popular fjord spot -- Baleen Bay or something like it. Y'know.. the place were Frances Lankford and husband Mr.
Evinrude spent many summers on an island there.
Oh . we were so very TAKEN with the scenery and not a great many boats. I took a quick swim to check out holding, and then the 3 of us launched our
dinghy and motored over to the shoreline and climbed up a rocky promontory and were beginning to walk a bit further but were then stopped short with loud commands of "HALT".
We had been surrounded by 3 plain-clothed RCMPs who wanted only to know if we had evidence that the boy's Mother's had give permission for him to be there. Fortunately, I had used a travel agent in the US who had tipped me about such a possibility. I had seldom prior (or since) used such an agent.
What a God-send that agent was as I, indeed, had a notarized letter aboard the boat giving permission. I was sent alone to get that but with my son in custody. Luckily my pal was there "to watch" as the boy stood surrounded. I wondered why weren't asked for such a letter the several other places we'd been !! To be fair, I think I may have been but only very casually asked about it before we boarded our plane in MD.
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