Devil’s Gate to Paradise?

                           Devils Gate in the Bad River

No Kidding where else would Devils Gate be located! Devils Gate is not the entrance to Hell but quite the opposite it is the gate to Dinghy paradise. We left the Bustards at 10:30 am on Wednesday July 10th for a long 6 mile cruise to the Bad river.

There is a big anchorage with reportedly good holding. Good holding means you drop the anchor back up and it grabs causing the bow to neatly bob down. You then know you will sleep well with both eye and ears shut off.

Well we tried in one location for about 45 minutes and no luck. We moved to a different spot and BINGO! The anchor dug in and held. It was pretty breezy in the anchorage as we had a stiff south west wind that was blowing right up the river from Georgian Bay.

Once we got settled we launched the dinghy and passed thru Devils Gate. I swear to you that upon passing thru when we laid our eyes on the landscape we heard the singing of angles and little cheribums playing their trumpets. It was remote. It was wild. It was uninhabited.

It was dinghy paradise. The gate is a small cut thru the rock that only small boats can pass. Not to mention there was water rushing out of the gate. First stop, shoot the rapids.

In one of the narrow little inlets there is some rapids that if your dinghy has enough ass and the captain is stupid enough wager the prop and or lower unit, you can go up this windy slot that might be 10’ wide. The good news is we covered both requirements so up we went. It was a blast. We got up to the upper basin where the waters were quiet and we looked at all the little waterfalls. We then turned around and shot back down them with prop and lower unit intact. We then went and explored the miles of little inlets, pools  and channels. The one you will see the most pictures of was our favorite and also most remote. 

At the top of this particular cut we were able to tie up the dinghy and then walk another mile or so deeper in. We picked wild blue berries and saw a pair of Sandhill Cranes fly by. If Heaven has an address on earth I almost certain this is it.

truly an exceptional example of God’s creation. 

Back at the boat Sue was busy in the galley and I was enjoying watching what I thought was a couple of dumb Canucks trying to reposition their anchor with their dinghy.

They worked at it for over an hour. When they were finished they headed our way and passed close by our stern. I could not resist I said, “Hey what have you guys been up to?”

They pulled up and said that they noticed that particular boat was slowly dragging anchor and was headed for the rocks. The owner was nowhere to be found. So they took it upon themselves to reposition the boat and reset the anchor. Well we had to do our part so we gave Dave and Jim a beer and proceeded to have a great conversation. This is the Canadian spirit we have come to know. We were rocked to sleep by the boat gently swinging back and forth in the winds.