Glad to see that this weekend we go back to Daylight Savings Time and enjoy longer days again. Sure is going to be nice to have sun past 7:00.
Continuing our grand voyage on Georgian Bay.
After a couple of nights in Wani Bay, we continued northward to Henry's Restaurant and a little surprise I had waiting for the Big Guy.
Here's a final shot from our anchorage here (this time around;-)
But before we go on to Henry's, I have a couple of videos I wanted to share that I took of the spectacular sunset & captured from the dingy while on Wani Bay.
Listen to the comment on how this bay built just for me. . . What a nice guy :-)
Look at that sky!! Another stupendous sunset!
Henry's is located on Frying Pan Island and on the south east approach to the island is a store/fuel dock called LeBlancs. Here we are, topping off the tanks.
I'd like to thank Mr. Analus for his help with me learning the new boat and being there as an extra set of hands on docks like this and an extra set of eyes when under way;
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| LeBlanc's Store on Georgian Bay |
We're baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack;
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| Henry's Restaurant |
OF course, they parked us right next to our sister ship, so I was obliged to compare notes with the crew of 400 Sedan, 'D ' N ' R';
A look back off our stern at the - you guessed it - rocks and trees.
Beautiful;
Secure on the docks at Henry's for the night . . . Or two;
Boogaboo, Water Wings and Maple Leaf;
Scotty (Captain Butterball) arrived just in time to leave the waterways and hit the airways.
Yes, that's a video camera that I'm holding. I have a 13 minute video compilation of our flight that is posted below these next few photos;
The boys are ready to take off on a flight over the Small Craft Route!
Of course, before departure we had to sign our lives away and absolve Georgian Bay Airways of liability if the flight ended badly. I wonder if that form would survive, if things were to go really bad;
Buckle Up;
The ladies seeing us off;
Taxiing away from the dock;
And we're off!
Take a close look at this photo and you can see the markers in the water.
This is Starvation Bay & one can see how close you are to the rocks lurking just below the surface while transiting this area. Be sure to watch your charts;
This is looking east, up Twelve Mile Bay. Wani Bay is is just about a mile up;
Wani Bay. We had been anchored here only a few hours before & now we are flying over it.
Pretty cool;
A close up of our anchorage at Wani, tucked in behind that tiny island at the top;
Lots of rocks and stuff to avoid, eh?
Ya, ALL of them!
Snug Harbour Lighthouse;
This is the 550 passenger Island Queen cruise ship, which comes out of Parry Sound. We would end up being followed by this vessel - the largest cruise ship in Canada - later on our trip through this very picturesque passage;
The Captain of Water Wings earns his air wings;
The Small Craft Route looking north with Frying Pan Island to the left (west);
Check out these next two phots.
This first one is taken from 'far away', showing all the hazards to cruise around;
And this next one is 'close in' of the lead boat in the above photo;
Echo Bay;
I believe this is just entering into Long Sault, west of Parry Sound;
O'Donnell Point (you can see the big lighted marker (center left);
Big David Bay;
Le Blancs;
Those two guys. The one on the right just acts like a little boy some times . . .
One last pass over Henry's before bringing it in for a landing.
See the plane's shadow?
Splash Down!
OK, so it was quite hot & Captain Butterball may have had one or three too many right after the plane ride;
Ya, he was flying again in no time;
Analus checking out Mr. Burke's Brackets;
Scotty seams to be in better shape now after his swim;
On the morning of the second day, we were all preparing to leave with the Maple Leaf pulling out off the docks first.
Problem.
Turns out the shaft came right out of the carrier and he lost all thrust control of the boat. Good thing they were still close enough to the dock to throw a line and get pulled back in safely.
So, we spent the balance of that day repairing it, including multiple dives to slide out and re set the drive shaft. A fun thing to do in 8' of water, on a floating dock;
Von Analus preps the shaft dog for the reassembly;
Ultimately, the boat was able to carry on, but we ended staying an extra night at Henry's.
Not a bad prospect - I'd be happy to spend two or three days here anytime!
Especially with my new boat ;-)
We treated ourselves to dinner at the restaurant one evening.
Here, Analus takes his turn signing their Guest Book;
The next day Anchor Girl & I headed up to Parry Sound to do some shopping - our first major one since getting into Canada. Remember that this was already week two for us on our big adventure.
Passing through Two Mile Narrows.
But Paul, you must be thinking, these two shots show you heading OUT of Parry Sound. What's up with that?
Well, the day after we got there, we started to head back to the Sans Souci area to once agian hook up with the Water Wings/Maple Leaf crews and check out another anchorage. Alas, as it always seams to be in boating, the best laid plans don't always pan out. We had anticipated stopping by LeBlancs for a pump out , but their system was down. So, we spun the boat back around and headed back to Parry Sound for the second time on this trip.
Why does this sound like our 2009 trip up this way . . .?
A really neat shot of Water Wings coming into the harbour as a float plane lands seemingly right in front of the boat;
Nice docks here - and LOTS of water pressure!
Water Wings and the Maple Leaf;
A look to the east from our boat;
Loose something down there, Scotty?
I got this shot from the fly-bridge. Another fantastic sunset!
This was the morning we were leaving Parry Sound (for the last time in 2010).
Kinda looks like we got some fog rolling in . . . . .
Next time we head south through a new route of the Long Sault and a return anchorage at Wani Bay before taking the Big Boy to it's new home on Lake Simcoe.