Anchorage at Gilman Bay on Georgian Bay

After spending two days in Parry Sound waiting for the winds to die down, we were all off to a completely new destination - Gilman Bay.
 Yes, it was nice to have two days of showering in a real, warm water shower at the marina (instead of the Bay swim showers) for a change, but also nice to getting out to rough it. And by roughing it, I mean having pretty much every comfort of home on the boat except hot showers ;-)

 This is the Rose Point swing bridge which is just before/after Parry Sound, when coming through South Channel. It operates every hour, on the hour throughout the day for those vessels too big to pass under it. It's owned and operated by the First Nations peoples of Parry Island;

Swing bridge at Parry Sound, Georgian Bay

Some pretty scenery along South Chanel as we head back to the main Small Craft Route - about 12 miles each way;

South Channel, out of Parry Sound

 

Traveling past Henry's Restaurant, southbound;

World famous Henrys Fish Restaurant

 

   Boogaboo & the Maple Leaf made a quick pit stop at LeBlancs store on Frying Pan Island for ice cream;

LeBlanc's Store in Sans Souci area of Georgian Bay

 

 OK, so I admit it. Maybe this wasn't one of my best conceived plans, but Anchor Girl was able to successfully pass over the ice cream cones to the waiting Water Wings crew in a busy, tight harbour, just off the Small Craft Route, in a strong breeze. Not to mention it was melting fast - all over the boat;

Handing off ice cream from one Sundancer to another

  

 Back on our way and heading into brand new territory of the Moon Islands to discover the beauty and serenity of this area;

 

Here's a great shot of the Maple Leaf and Boogaboo as we cruised towards Gilman Bay. Ellie took this shot using Sanja's camera while aboard SunAria for the trip in;  

Here's another, taken a short time later;

A 1936 'Taylor Craft' boat

Anchor Girl enjoys the scenic ride in;  

Now here's a cool sequence of photos, all taken within seconds of each other, just after we got secured at the anchorage - from two different cameras. And guess what? Not one of them was mine.

  The first one Anchor Girl took looking towards our neighbor's boats;

At anchor with the gang

And then a quick look over to yours truly (complete with big, toothy smile), enjoying the first ice cold one of the day;

Enjoying an ice cold beer after the day of traveling

Finally, one that Sanja took looking back towards me standing there with my beer and smiling mug;

  

I know I say it allot, but this truly is a beautiful spot. I hope to visit it again one day.

A beautiful view of our anchorage in Gilman Bay, in the Moon River area of Georgian Bay

A long shot of our boats nestled in close to Moon Island. And you know what? Even from this vantage point, I still don't see that elevator on the island . . .

 

Always trying to help out, C.F. gets to work on retrieving a leader and lure from the Maple Bud's outboard prop;

  

Here's poor Billie Sue having a 'Pugsley moment' after not seeing the little guy for a week. Feeling sorry, I took over Wilbur and Festsquirrel as surrogate Pugsley's;

 

 

Man - how nice is this?!?!?

Thank you.

 

The Maple Leaf had to take off early and head back to Port Severn for a crew exchange.No problem, as we simply untied their boat, let them out and pulled Water Wings and SunAria back together. Easy as apple pie with ice cream;  

See you, Miss Ellie! We'll meet you guys back in Port Severn in a few days!!

 

All eyes on the Commodore as I retrieve Water Wings' dinghy. For some strange reason, it seemed to have come dislodged from the side of Boogaboo, where it had been previously firmly attached. Good thing someone noticed drifting away;  

A lovely evening shot, overlooking the Three Ray's bows;

 

As Mr. Von A goes sleepy-sleepy for the night, we leave Gilman Bay with dreams of the next installment of this heavenly spot;

Boating to Parry Sound

 Continuing on with the never ending Georgian Bay trip of 2009, we bring you, the listening audience, 'Parry Sound - The Early Years'.


After spending three days and memorable nights on Echo Bay, we departed and moved north and east to the town of Parry Sound under cloudy skies and increasing winds;

 Part way down South Channel (one of the routes that takes you into Parry Sound) we chose to hang back while a long barge came towards us through a narrow passage. This is why - for the only time on the trip - you see SunAria in front of us;

 Here's the barge in question. One more unusual navigational feature to be on look out for on The Bay;

 Windy was the word for our time in Parry Sound. From a hair raising (I do have some left) docking when we landed in our slip, to a loud, first thing in the morning departure by another boat at the marina, it was blowing hard for two days straight. No worries, because it was sunny and pleasant;

The Maple Leaf tight up to the rock wall. The boat that was across the way from us got blown into these same rocks when they left a couple of days later;

 

  Dinner time aboard Water Wings; 

  The full compliment of crew kick back aboard the Maple Leaf; 

A loverly shot of the moon rising over the marina;

 

 Looking in the opposite direction to catch the twilight evening skies. It was a windy, cool and clear night;  

That's all I need - a prop to clown around on. Yes, I said it - clown ;-)

Ahh, the things I do for the amusement and entertainment of others;

 

 Taking a walk into Parry Sound to do some shopping and looking around;

 

And beer and coolers and a general assortment of beverages;

 

 Good thing we brought the carts to hold all the liquid refreshments; 

Right next to 'Big Sound Marina' is one of the largest Coast Guard stations (Canadian OR American) on the Great Lakes. It was cool to watch this big one  pulling into it's berth, all the while being escorted by a Coast Guard helicopter; 

Looking closely at this next photo, you will notice the pointy part of Boogaboo facing out of the slip, behind and in between the two boats in the foreground. The next morning, the Mainship to the left tried to back out of it's parking spot (or so I am told, as we were still in bed when this all took place) and was pushed back (or ahead) into the previously pointed out rock wall, which is to the left in this picture.

 That is when we were woken up by someone (either Sanja or Von A, or both,  depending on which one was telling the story) banging on the deck of our boat attempting to warn us of impending danger. Problem was that since we were still in sleepy mode and given the fact that there's been many times that someone has pounded on our boat while one or both of us have been snoozing (or trying to), there was no sense of urgency on our part to jump out of bed to see what all the fuss was about . . .

  Perhaps we all need to establish some sort of 'Real' warning, as opposed to 'Get out of bed you lazy bum' type of goofing around? That way, each of us will know how to respond if something like this were to happen again. Maybe one could add to the commotion something like 'THIS IS SERIOUS'.

 Then I won't have to listen to someone going on and on (and on) about how he'll never try to help again and that he'll just watch as our boat gets destroyed and how nice it must be to have all my money and don't have to worry about these things and how I don't love my wife because I obviously don't care about her welfare and so on. And on. And on.

 Anyways, by the grace of the boating gods, disaster on our part was averted and all we got out of the ordeal was an earlier morning than we had expected and a pleasant story to tell :-)

 

Here's another view of the 228' long, 'Medium Endurance Multi-Tasked Vessel'  CCGS Samuel Risley at berth; 

Here's some video of the big boat slowly saddling up to the dock;

Capt'n Buttercup & I along the break-wall, discussing world events and watching the big ship playing in the Sound; 

 Relaxing around Water Wings;  

Pulling out of Parry Sound to head towards our next adventure - Gilman Bay;

 But first, we'll need to make a pit stop for ICE CREAM!!