Two Toonies per boat Please...

Black Bay was crossed in two sections, first to a small island for a snack and then over to the other side, where had the sun been setting we would have been in the shadow of the giant. We continued down the coastline, trying to decipher whether or not we would be able to make it to Pie Island (an area which held some slight anxiety due to others’ accounts which we read about). As the afternoon would progress we would not press on to Pie Island, but layover in Silver Islet to acquire some needed sustenance and as luck would have it, they also had ice cream. Something, when you are on trail is seldom smart to pass up.

After enjoying the said creamed ice we would make our mandatory donation to the Silver Bay Islet harbour. You see the town of silver islet exists for people boaters by boaters, provided they are mostly Canadian. As luck would have it, when we arrived to this shack-orific community hanging on the east shore of the Sibley peninsula, a large blue building reading the word ‘STORE’ hailed to solve all our future pangs of hunger. However while inside this provider of overpriced calories we would learn that it cost a whopping TWO toonies (roughly four dollars from the states of united unison) to use the boat launch-, as two other kayakers happened to enter the store and attempt to pay there. These fellow Canadians would not end up paying sufficient coinage, which as luck would have it, draw attention to our presence by one of the ‘Volunteer’ harbour masters. We had not even used the launch, nor were we on it at the time, but as her Majesty’s will would warrant, some guy, we’ll call him Peter hollered down to us as he explored the fee box.

“How’s it going? Is this your car up here? Did you two place your fee in here”
“Uh, fine. Nope not our vehicle. Not yet, we were fixing to break down our larger bills in the store”
“Right, so this isn’t you’re registration?”
“That’s correct it is not”
“Where are you headed?’
“Back to Bayfield Wisconsin.”
“Ah, Bayfield, well if that was your car I would tell you to move it up over there.”
“Yeah, no, not our car, these kayaks are all we have.”
“Say, what have you got, perhaps I could just give you change, then I don’t have to come back to the box later.”
“Uh, well I’ve got a $10 note, so if you’ve a toonie or a couple of loonies we should be set.”
“Yep, I can do that. You see the Ontario Government pledged to allow us to keep all the fees collected from this here launch and put it into restoring the dock out there; so in a sense, we’re all harbour masters.”
“Very well, glad we can be of contribution.”

You know being an honorary harbour master in a foreign country is certainly an honor. However it didn’t negate the fact that, the same government had no qualms restoring a dock on the shores of the lake while simultaneously identifying fifteen areas, prime enough to quarry rocks for road bed (which would utterly destroy the shoreline and deplete water quality, among other negative impacts on the Lake’s shores). There was some sort of mixed message in there. But there is a digression.

We were off from our blue building adventure to paddle down the shale-laced shores of the Sibley Peninsula towards Thunder Cape. The late afternoon hour did not warrant a successful window of time to cross over to Pie Island for desert, thus we settled for a nice niche on the western part of Tee Bay. In that particular location the land becomes topographically inclined to increase your feeling of insignificance in the terrestrial fashion. The forest and rock erupts from the lakeside creating some imminent compound of beauty and fear. Luckily though, this beauteous sight kept our fears at bay the next day when a ‘STRONG WIND WARNING’ kicked up some gnarly nor’ easter (that’s maritime speak for wind from the north east) in excess of 30kts. Needless to say twas a bit of a sitting around day. No matter, you’d have that.