The Turtle Island Bay Location: Where is Northern Rescue filmed?

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This 2019 series was a Canadian family drama produced by CBC and broadcasted internationally on Netflix.

The show is set in Turtle Island Bay, although Northern Rescue was primarily filmed in Parry Sound.

This beautiful town in Ontario is located by the shore of the sound of the same name on Georgian Bay. Also, most of the Boston scenes were filmed in Toronto.

Actors Alec Baldwin

William Baldwin (not to be confused with his older brother Alec Baldwin) is John West, returning to his hometown to lead the local search and rescue service.

He is a recent widower with three kids played by Amalia Williamson, Taylor Thorne, and Spencer MacPherson. Kathleen Robertson completes the main cast as Charlie, his wife’s sister.

Welcome to Turtle Island Bay and our spoiler-free filming locations of Northern Rescue:

Northern Rescue town
Parry Sound, doubling as Turtle Island Bay, is a small town located 150 miles north of Toronto.

This is also an excellent base to explore the great outdoors of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Georgian Bay.

The area, known as The 30,000 Islands, is a biosphere reserve considered the world's largest freshwater archipelago.
(You can open all the locations on Google Maps by clicking on the links below in the captions ↴)
Image courtesy of Divya Thakur - Map


Turtle Island Bay
The Thirty Thousand Islands area makes part of the Great Lakes region. Pictured, a screenshot of the iconic Snug Harbour Range Rear Lighthouse, built in 1893.
Image courtesy of CBC - Map


Where is Turtle Island Bay
The scenic railroad bridge near the marina, the Canadian Pacific Railway Trestle, is always present in the townscape of Parry Sound.
Image courtesy of Google Maps


Northern Rescue drehort
The August 2018 Google Maps street view still shows the set of Slice, the 'Turtle Island Bay Roasting Co. Coffee' in James Street.

It also shows a truck parked next door from the same moving company used by the Wests to move into town.
Image courtesy of CBC and Google Maps


Northern Rescue Aqua Verse
And where is the awesome Aqua Verse water park? The exteriors were shot in a set not far from downtown, on the shores of the sound.

However, the interiors were filmed on a soundstage, probably in Toronto.
Image courtesy of CBC and Google Maps


The village beach scenes
The Search and Rescue Office is the Sail Parry Sound center. Also, there are some scenes filmed in the local Waubuno Beach.
Image courtesy of CBC - Sailing Centre Map / Waubuno Beach Map

Can you help to improve this article about the filming locations of Northern Rescue? To complete and correct this report, any feedback, info, or images that you may have are more than welcome, thank you!

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14 comments
  1. Love the serie and the scenery. Come back with the second season please

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  2. Get past the awful intro music/song which is truly dreadful then the series is quite watchable

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  3. Love the town and the show. Thank you

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  4. My husband and I are in our 70s and love the show. What will happen to Maddie? The other kids, and Charlie. Let us know.

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  5. enjoyed season one of "Northern Rescue" and really hope you get a green light for at least a few more seasons. having previously been a volunteer with the "Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary", I am still outraged that politicians have been slashing funding for Canada's Coast Guard since WWII. if it was not for the wonderful volunteers in the Auxiliary, Canada would have no coast guard presence, especially in the Great Lakes for search and rescue. would be great if "John West" could bring attention to the importance of this service and the fact this is a real job not to be fobbed off on volunteers.

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  6. enjoyed season one and hope season two gets the green light. however, as it is a C.B.C. production, am irritated it doesn't officially take place in Canada. Parry Sound is a great location and many Mercans would be happy to watch interesting small town Canajun drama. would also be nice, if Search and Rescue was considered a real paying job not fobbed off on volunteers.

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  7. Wow! My family is all from parry sound and i watched this show windering why it looked familiar. Thanks for the comparisons

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  8. Just happened to find Northern Rescue by accident.
    We watched 8 episodes before I realised where its filmed.
    I just love the programme---no violence, no bad language, no sex but fabulous scenery.
    Oh my goodness--the scenery.
    We just love it.
    I visited Canada many years ago-Ontario-Toronto and Quebec in particular.
    Just love this programme
    I live in the UK so if anyone lives in the area its filmed in, id love to hear from you
    pam comer
    pjamdar@aol.com

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  9. I am enjoying the series, dealing with three youngsters is not an easy task. But most of all, I love the film location, what a wonderful place!!!

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  10. How great to be watching an interesting show and then recognize several screenshots as being in a place I love... I visited every year for over 30 years out near a 5-mile bay. The Island Queen takes a beautiful tour. Thanks for the production.

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  11. Thank you for allowing us “in” on the magical setting of the best of what a pre-COVID world embodied. May it remain pristine forever! A renewal for Season 2 would be awesome as well! Maybe the gen Z wizards at Netflix will allow the 99% another glimpse of wistful normalcy.

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  12. I just watched the episode with the wounded bear. The series is filmed in Ontario. The bear was definitely a grizzly. There are no grizzlies in Ontario, only black bears. Surely they could have used a black bear. Too many TV shows and movies make similar mistakes regarding wildlife.

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  13. It was awesome to see our beautiful town being a place for movies.
    In the 90s we were the place and parry island home to the movie dance me outside. And slasher Netflix and now another one Northern Rescue o got to take a pic with Billy as they were shooting just outside our home on James st.

    Keep coming back

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