Last Bay Pics of 2011

 Anchor Girl & I took a spin up to the marina today to check on the boat and the ice conditions. For those of you who haven't been up Lake Simcoe much this winter, the main part of the lake didn't freeze over until the second week of February - the latest I've ever seen that - and broke up a couple of weeks ago when we had those many days of high winds. As of today, Cooks Bay (south end of Simcoe) is still covered in ice, but looks like it'll be gone this week. The marina at Lagoon City still has ice, but there is lots of open water all around & everything should be open and ice free this week.
 Good news is, with all this favourable weather, that we are looking at  an early launch this year!! Given the fact that Boogaboo is on land and strategically located right next to the launch ramp, I've scheduled it to go back in the water the first week of April, so that we can be back on board for the first long weekend of the season!!

Bring it on!

 Today's post will take us through the last part of our 2011 Georgian Bay travels. I hope you enjoy it.

Back at Henry's on our return trip. Juts one more glorious evening on Georgian Bay;

Beautiful;

This is the cottage across from Henry's. See the flag pole in front? Well, it's actually depicted as a 'flag staff' on the nautical charts, which is different from a 'flag pole' - but only up close :-)

My lovely Anchor Girl, dipping her feet in the water;

A couple of float planes from Georgian Bay Airways preparing to depart;

Here's those same two planes from the above photo taking off . Plus a really nice view of a summer evening at Henry's;


Nice sunset;

Pretty;

While here, we happened to see Brian (from Keswick Marine) bringing his new boat home from the States. He was accompanied by his brother & Peetah and they stopped in for us to take the grand tour of the boat. I remember that it was VERY hot that day!

One more photo from our (previously posted) dinghy trip to Moon River Falls;

Very nice;

Summer. Nice.

All good things come to an end, and we left Henry's the next morning;

As this would be our last day on The Bay for the season, I was gonna drive back real slow . . .

Slow driving or not, we was back at Honey Harbour too soon;

The Picnic Island store & gas dock in Honey Harbour;

Rounding 'Turning Rock';

This is the calmest conditions we had ever encountered on Severn Sound;

The north cardinal buoy closest to Port Severn. Unbelievably calm waters;

Unfortunately, those calm conditions wouldn't follow us into Lock #45. Here we are approaching the highway #400 overpass & the lock behind it;

Oh. Calm waters have been replaced by a very strong current at the bottom of the lock. We had to hover in these conditions for roughly 40 minutes. Not a fun thing to do in a small, congested area surrounded by rocks and other drifting boats;

Safely at the blue line, waiting to enter the lock;

Does my wife appear stressed out in this shot? The answer is 'yes'. You gotta watch the video below to get a feel for the approach to this lock. Definitely the least favourite lock to pass through - by far;

Here we are with ten minutes of fun passing through the lock at Port Severn;


Look at that. We made it through without loosing any fingers or anything. Well, a little scuff of blue line paint on the side of the boat, but that was easily buffed out;

Here it is. I like to call these little abrasions 'Memory Marks' :-) Heck, if we never left our slip, we'd never have all our great memories from our adventures;

The dock at Rawley Resort in Port Severn. A nice, 5-star inn which is our traditional 'last night' place to stay and go for dinner in their restaurant. And they even let in people dressed like me;

One last beautiful sunset for our holidays;

At least I wore a nice Hawaiian shirt for the occasion;

Even got the moon in this pic;

Wow;

Here's a clip I took the next morning before we headed on. I told you it was worth it;


Back on the move along the Trent Severn Waterway;

13 minutes to ride back up the Big Chute Marine Railway. We couldn't have timed it better, as we simply drove right onto the car - no wait at the blue line. Counter that with our 2009 return when we had a three hour wait to go over;


Let's go up Lock #43 at Swift Rapids;


 A nice shot of Boogaboo, taken from the 'Over Doo' crew docked at 'The Wabic' restaurant;

Approaching the last lock, #42;

The Narrows on Couchiching. That means we are almost home;

Back at Pefferlaw, entering the break wall and on to our marina. This was one of the last times we entered this way, as we would be moving to Lagoon City in less than a month from when this was taken;

I'll end this trip with a clip from one of my favourite settings, enjoying a spectacular sunset at the Rawley Resort;