Continued from Part 2.

The last time we left Cockburn Island back in 2019, we didn't have time for all seven of the lighthouses on Manitoulin Island. With a little more time today, I sized up sneaking past the "No Trespassing - Out of Season" sign that led to the nearby Mississagi Lighthouse. Except that it was an hour's walk each way and it seemed unfair to leave Isy and Kingsley as sitting ducks right outside the No Trespassing gate for two hours.

Returning to the marina in Meldrum Bay to use the washroom, the woman working heard us talking about my plan and told me I came to a good decision. Apparently outside of the summer camping season, the road is closed because of blasting done in the adjacent quarry.

So the Mississagi Lighthouse would have to wait. Getting off Cockburn this morning, our ferry off of Manitoulin down to Tobermory was scheduled for the late afternoon. Therefore we had some time to wander and do things like stop the car at the sight of a Sandhill Crane flock in an adjacent field.

It's a 90-minute drive from Meldrum Bay (near the western tip of Manitoulin Island) down and east to the ferry terminal in South Baymouth (nearly the southern tip of Manitoulin Island).

Adding 30 minutes to our drive, we came to the handsome village of Manitowaning, where we found the Manitowaning Lighthouse on a quiet side street.

The Manitowaning Lighthouse was built in 1885 and while it may not be apparent from my photos, there is water on the other side of those trees. The lighthouse guided ships into the large protected bay from atop this hill.

Manitowaning was created as a model Upper Canadian/British village in 1836 with the support of the Anglican Church. This was the first European settlement on Manitoulin Island. A blacksmith, cooper, carpenter shop and other services you'd find in villages of the day, were all assigned a planned place here to try and convince the nearby First Nations people that the European way of living was the way to live.

At the same time, Jesuit Missionaries were trying to convert First Nations people across the bay in the Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory. Apparently the Jesuits were more popular and Wiikwemkoong grew while Manitowaning a small village.

Down in South Baymouth, we were a couple hours early for our departing ferry but that was alright as there was a pair of lighthouses nearby.

The two lighthouses here are the South Baymouth Range Rear and the South Baymouth Range Front (above), both built in 1898.

These are two of those lighthouses where there's a red strip on both of them and lining the two stripes up, mariners are provided a safe passage into the port.

I don't think I can say that I've ever been on the Bruce Peninsula as the only time I came close was a weekend trip with the Marcotte family up to Sauble Beach. Which is a funny thing because where I come from in Southwestern Ontario, a lot of people head to the Bruce Peninsula if they want to see rugged and gorgeous natural landscapes while staying within Canada. So I've seen a lot of photographs and blogs about the Bruce Peninsula, but never experienced it myself.

I knew I was still 45km the tip of the Bruce Peninsula here in South Baymouth, but the landscape was stunning enough that I understood why outdoorsy Windsor folk head up here.

This was my 16th Ontario lighthouse, but even as I now have 25 Ontario Lighthouses visited, I have to say the above lighthouse has to be in my top 5. There's ones near home that get a nostalgic bump, but after those, South Baymouth Front might be next up.

Situated back in a grassy meadow, South Baymouth Range Rear would rank lower on the Ontario favourites list.

Right across from the ferry terminal was a bar with a deck where you could wait and watch your boat come in.

The Newfoundland ferry departure point of Port-Aux-Basques has some catching up to do on South Baymouth.

Scenes from the Chi-Cheemaun Ferry as it plied its way from South Baymouth to Tobermory.

Ugh, fine. If you insist.

We passed a couple of lighthouses along the way, but as always, lighthouses don't count unless you stand before them.

As we continued south towards Sarnia and eventually Windsor, we'd pass a lot of lighthouses up here in places like Southampton, Goderich and Point Clark. The only lighthouse I already had was Kincardine, so it was funny to pass a lighthouse in Southampton that was only 20 feet from the road, and not stop in order to photograph and count it.

The rush was on because Isy was concerned about us not getting to my parents' house too late at night - but that was a bit silly as we were going to get there at 1am if we kept driving, or what, 2am if we stopped? It seemed like an odd line to draw in the sand.

A couple of years later I referred to this trip and how many lighthouses I still have to visit up here on the Bruce Peninsula and along the shores of Lake Huron. I may have even passively aggressively mentioned that we drove right past lighthouses because we needed to be at my parents for 1am instead of 2am for some reason.

Isy was confused, "what? Oh that doesn't make any sense. You should have just said we're stopping and ignored me. Just tell me I'm being ridiculous in spots like that and it'll be fine."

LOL. I still have yet to test if that course of action will in fact, be fine.

Even with a priority put on getting to my parents' house at a decent hour (1am), I still couldn't help but want to stop in Lampton County (up near Sarnia). I've always liked a lot of the towns up here, but they're just far enough that I never get to them during visits home.

After stopping in Watford for food & drinks, I had to see if it was possible for us to stop for a quick walk around Petrolia. And it was! It had to be quick though, so we could still get in at the reasonable 130am instead of 2am, haha.

Isy liked Petrolia so much that she now looks up Petrolia real estate, except she can't keep the name straight and wants to call it Petrolina, as if the town shares its name with some Pitbull song about a sultry latin woman.

Anyway, we'd get to my parents' house around 2am and found no one awake (not even the dog). I'd be salty about not getting the Southampton Lighthouse, but I'll be up in the Bruce Peninsula some other time in my life. In addition, I have a fun card to play whenever I disagree with how Isy is doing something!

More to come.