Our ship sailed maybe 3 hours to arrive and anchor off shore of Silver Islet, Canada which is located near the end of the Sibley Peninsula. Remnants of an abandoned silver mine are located off shore while the peninsula is mostly the Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, a 94 square mile park, largest in this part of Canada.

The history of the silver mine is quite interesting. The mine actually was the world’s largest and most valuable silver mine but was destroyed by flooding. The mine produced in its short time, the equivalent of $78 million worth of silver.

Our tender boat brings us to the dock of the town of Silver Islet, There really is not much here. The General Store has been renovated and is a general store again (tourist stop!).

We are met by our tour guide Tom and take a short ride in a minivan to the start of the Kabeyun Trail of Sleeping Giant Provincial Park. We are only hiking a portion of the trail that runs along Perry’s Bay to the rock formation known as the Sea Lion. Tom lives here and is very knowledgeable about the history, flora and fauna, and Lake Superior’s coastline. He carries with him a rock with silver in it that washed ashore; definitely a relic from the old silver mining days.

The trail starts off as an old logging road with cinder, rocks, and even some old wooden boards part of the original road. Beautiful birch and pine trees plus interesting lichen. The trail turns into rocks and roots for awhile until we arrive at the shore of Perry’s Bay.

In case you have never been to Lake Superior, the shoreline is mainly smooth rocks of varying sizes. Good for skipping across the water!

We see a zodiac boat and kayakers on their excursions with a nice view of the Viking Octantis docked off shore.

The final trek is to the Sea Lion, a rock formation named because it resembles a sea lion. It’s a unique geological formation but I’m having a hard time seeing the sea lion. Maybe an elephant?

In the distance is the rock formation called the Sleeping Giant – a person laying down on his back (see the head on the right and tapered body to the feet on the left side?). I mentioned this formation in yesterday’s blog post but we could not see it due to the weather conditions. We are on the opposite side of it today. Another excursion was to hike to the top. Not for me.

The last part of our hike is through a friend of Tom’s yard. He’s an artist. Lots of quirky items to see as we walk back towards the road and the town.

Back on the ship for the afternoon to enjoy just relaxing – called vacation!