More Georgian Bay by Boat

Here's a few (dozen) more pictures & videos from our 2011 Georgian Bay jaunt. Fear not, these are almost the last ones from that there period of Boogaboo's history. That said, there is some new destinations coming up from up on The Bay that I'm sure most of you haven't seen or been to, so it's all good.

 If you recall the last post of our 2011 summer holidays selection, you will remember that the Boogaboo crew was just pulling away from the docks at Killbear Marina.
 As you can see, we were greeted by a very pleasant, sunny morning with nice conditions for doing some traveling;

I thought it would be nice to head a bit farther north, as we had never been this far & my wanderlust drew Boogaboo upward. And, like I said, it was a loverly day for cruising;

Look at that, yet more rocks and trees ;-)
 I'm only funin' with ya. I love the scenery up here and wanted to share lots of photos of same;

Looking off to the starboard side of the boat, this set of buoys marks to west side of  'Canoe Channel'.  Although narrow, it looks like we might have been able to pass through safely but the chart has an advisory for this spot that vessels over 40' shouldn't attempt it.
 Probably just as well that we didn't attempt it. As you'll see in an upcoming video that we had a narrow enough passage a couple of days after this was taken;

Looking north again towards 'Regatta Bay' and the Snug Harbour lighthouse;

A look back over the shoulder to see our trailing path.
 Please remember to click on ANY of the photos to get a full sized view for ALL the photos;

The Snug Harbour lighthouse comes more into view. Check out the jagged, rocky ledges. Beautiful;

Take note of the black stripe painted on the 'front' side of the building. This is done purposely as the entire building acts as a range marker for vessels heading in from the big part of The Bay;

Here's a video from our passing of the lighthouse;


 This was a pretty common site - a cormorant sunning itself, wings spread on the rocks. It's a shame that these goofy animals seem to be taking over Georgian Bay just as they have Lake Simcoe;

We spotted this sign, all by itself on a rock at the top end of Franklin Island. I'm sure some guy would love to have that old Shell sign for his garage. Or Ebay;

Again we are witness to one of my appendages, indicating some sort of milestone on our boating travels. This time it signifies not only the turnaround point of our adventure, but the farthest north we have so far ventured on Georgian Bay;

I had to capture the spot on my chart plotter. This will continue to act as inspiration for me to go past this point ;-)

On our way back south, we encountered this little curiosity - a dear swimming across the Small Craft channel between the mainland & Franklin Island;

Here she is coming ashore on one of the tiny channel islands;

A quick jaunt across & she was back in the water, heading towards Franklin Island in the background;

 And wouldn't you know it - I caught this neat little event on video;

One of the mini lighthouses on the bay. This one is no longer in service, but still makes for a good day beacon and a nice pic;

Crossing Parry Sound (the body of water), I filmed the captain being really serious as Boogaboo IV blasted across the waves;


Back in Parry Sound, we spotted this vessel coming into port & I thought it was a great  lakes fishing boat It was similar in style to what we encountered the summer before in Lake Huron when we brought Boogaboo IV home from the US of A.
 Turns out it is a scientific research vessel. Better that than having to worry about more errant fishing nets on the open water;

I was playing around with the camera and grabbed a couple of cool shots of one of the float planes coming in for a landing behind our slip at Big Sound Marina;

There is always lots of float plane activity at Parry Sound, as it is a good spot for the locals to pop in for fuel, food & whatever else they may need - just like us boaters;

Yea, it was a classic, hot summer evening when I took this shot. The view of the A/C water coming out of the side reminds me of how warm it was outside & how comfortable it was inside the boat;

A nice shot of the sun glittering off the side of the boat;

I wasn't sure what view looked better (sideways or topways), so I'm sharing both.
 SWEET SUMMERTIME;

Anchor Girl relaxing and taking in a beautiful summer evening;

Check out the sharp angle of this guy coming in for a landing;

Yep, more video. This time it's the planes coming & going;

Ahhhh - Summertime :-)

Ice cold beer on a hot summer evening on the boat. It don't get any better, my friends;

Yes it is;

Morning comes & it's time to head out. The very lovely Anchor Girl tends to the lines & fenders as we leave the gas docks for a pump out.
 On our way back south and back to Henry's;

As it was such a beautiful and calm day, I decided to take the long way around, through Parry Sound (yes, the body of water), around Parry Island and through this gorgeous slice of heaven known as 'Long Sault' (pronounced Long Soo);

The water is incredibly clear through here. Not sure if that's a good thing though, as you can see ALL the rocks and some of them look like they aren't as deep as the charts would suggest;

 

 Yes, it was this tight;

After clearing Long Sault, we pass to the south west of Parry Island and continue southbound on the main small craft route;

We enjoyed a wonderful sunset evening, secured at Henrys for a few nights.

One last look at the 2011 Georgian Bay adventure coming up. . . .

Lagoonapalooza 2011 - New Marina

You already read the story of how we came to find ourselves as permanent residents of Lagoon City Marina, so here's the pics from that fateful Labour Day Weekend, 2011.

 The parting shot of our old slip in Pek-R-Law, with Anchor Girl ready to take off by road to meet me at our new home;

It was a hot, hazy day when I headed out on to Lake Simcoe.

An hour and quarter later, after an uneventful - but reflective - crossing of Lake Simcoe, I got in to Lagoon City;

Tied up in our first slip. We had initially booked some slips for the long weekend and upon finding out we were staying, the staff let us choose from a few available slips. So we ended up moving a little closer to the river;

Here comes Jim & Marg. They, too, would end up committing to staying year around;

 Next in was Bill. He would be the last to commit to staying here;

 Bill looking happy with his decision to stay;

 Boogaboo IV in our more permanent slip. Parked beside us (for the day) was Ron - with the old Boogaboo III. Ya, he stayed too :-)

Jimmy set up the tent thing for us to do dinner. As ours was the only BBQ there, we all threw our food on it and had a sort of pot luck dinner. It was nice.

Wevvy looks like he's all broke up about leaving Pefferlaw.
That's right, the Docked Wages crew moved up, too.
 The other part of the story is that there is at least FIVE MORE boats that left Everglades Marina last fall & will not be returning.

Anchor Girl brings me an ice cold MGD. What a woman!
 Gee, I hope she remembered what boat to get it from ;-)

 Although we didn't get the heavy rain that was forecast for the weekend, it did sprinkle a little bit here & there. This tent worked out perfectly for dinner;

A walk down to the lake to orientate the newbies;

Life's a beach :-)

The gang kicks back, enjoy the sun and discussing our new home;

I'm thinking this is a good a place to insert my video from the weekend;




Chris (the marina's general manager) & the rest of the staff host a 'trick or treat' thing for the kids at this time of the year.
We are looking forward to the other events they put on for the bigger kids;-)

Jimmy kicking back;

I wish Bill could learn to relax!

We went over to the Harbour Inn restaurant for dinner one night. A nice place with great food!

A full table;

Hoisting a toast to our new home!

A shot from the other rend of the table to make sure we got everyone in the shot;

Can you tell I'm happy to be here?

Wow - look at that sun streaming in through the windows!

I had to go outside to capture it - our first sunset in our new home, and a positive omen for the days and years to come;

Nice or what? I'd go with nice :-)

 Glad to finally be at Lagoon City. I had said way back in he Keswick Marine days that my hope was to some day be here - and here we are :-)