Killarney, Ontario

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Written August 8, 2026

Visited August 3 – 5, 2026

Although I’ve not been to Ireland, I doubt if there is much similarity between Killarney, Ireland and Killarney, Ontario. Killarney Ontario is an outpost dividing Georgian Bay from The North Channel. It is a spot for provisioning as they are few and far between up here. As long as all you need is a bit of fruit or veggies, a bit of meat or a few very main stream canned goods or boxed meals, you are good to go. We needed fruits and veggies so it worked out OK.

It is always a bit uncomfoirtable coming into a new place. Where will we dock, how crowded, is there current, …

The marinas are almost owned by the same two lodges which are owned by the same company. Except for a few smaller businesses such as the very good bakery, and the LCBO (Ontario liquor store) there is not much there, there regarding businesses.

One of the lodges wiith several restaurants behind the boat. I forgot there is a fish and chips place we were supposed to go to in Killarney. Supposedly the best! We did not. Read reviews and they were all excellent or horrible. All the horribles were it was super greasy. We decided that those who though it was great thought so because it is… well, the best. We did have some incredible fries at Sporto across the way. They hae this thing up here where they lightly bread their fries befor frying. These were rather amazing. So, we felt good. Oh, the boat, this is the fish boat for the restaurant we did not go to.

But, it is a good place to stop, visit with friends and do some hiking.

Visiting with Friends

Killarney was where we left our friends Ann and Michael (and Spot the cat) on Our Spot, them headed towards the US in a relatively fast sprint, us spending a few weeks in The North Channel. We spent a few days in Killarney, provisioning and waiting for better weather. Our other new friends Jim and Julie on Narwhal also showed up at the marina, so it was quite a party few days.

There WAS a picture taken of the 6 of us, but no one seems to have it.

The marina is split on both sides of the channel with a pontoon launch, Tinkerbell, moving visitors back and forth. Sadly, Tinkerbell almost always came in right beside us with the male drivers having to do macho high speed docking. Jim had a chat with them and they slowed down which gave us more comfort.

George Island Trail

Right at the end of our dock was the start of the George Island Trail. The island is apparently owned by the lodges and they have an about 4 mile loop trail around the island. Much of it is pretty easy but there is a bit of rock scrambling to get to the other side on the left part of the loop.

That little gully is the trail. It was not terribly hard, just scrambly.
and the ubitiquous rock crossings. Mostly in the trees though and quite plesant.

A more challenging trail than one might suspect. But the rewards at the far side of the island were spectacular

Part of the reward on the far side of George island. We thought we’d just popped out onto the ocean. Rolling waves and long vistas of water.
Around the corner, and a scramble over some rocks, the prettiest cove. The water was very inviting, but way too cold for us except for our feet. Feet refreshed and back in our shoes, the treck back to the north side of George Island.

We kept seeing animal scat along the trail, both out and back and Google told us it was moose. We kept a look out, but never saw one. However, Otis, the pup of Jim and Julie did sense the moose which they then saw. Dang!

Our only moose sighting. Now you know what to look for!
We did see a very cute chipmunk who was happy for me to take his picture.

It was a really nice trail and we were so glad we got to do it.

And What’s Next?

After a couple days, Our Spot headed for the Benjamins but we decided to sat one more day, hoping to do a bit morre hiking and dinghing. It decided to be drizzly all day so we putted around the boat and did a bit of future planning. Independently the next day Narwhal and us decided to head on the Baie Fine (pronounced finn). But that is another story

We have seen lots of sea planes up here. However, I’ve never seen one cruising the channel. We did not see him take off or land and have no idea where he came from. But, there he was.
There was an airport in town though, down at the other end of the channel. We did not see a plane here though.

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