Boat Cruise on The Trent Severn Waterway - Sunset at Fenelon Falls

Have you ever visited a particular place a number of times, spent time there and thought you knew it, only to return once more only to discover a whole new place? Unfortunately, most of us go about our lives never having the opportunity to revisit a place they loved, or have the time to fully explore it in the first place. That's because we go through life trudging along in the here and now, seemingly oblivious to what is really happening around us. Sad, really. . .

 This is one of the main inspirations why we are moving to our boat full time in the Spring. Life moves too quickly and we end up missing so much. And to what end? Well, we are going to make our life work for us, not the other way around. And exploring places like this is tops on my life list.

 So, I hope you can take some time to relax and fully enjoy our little adventure in the lovely village of Fenelon Falls, Ontario. Perhaps you can think of this place when your world is simply going too fast around you. Stop, breath and think beautiful sunsets :-) 


Heading out from our stay for the previous two days, Rosedale Lock;

Leaving Rosedale.

It was a bit windy and cool when the clouds came overhead, as we crossed Cameron Lake to Fenelon Falls;

Approaching the railway swing bridge at Fenelon Falls.

This is Fenelon Falls Marina, a spot we had stayed at in previous years;

Fenelon Falls Marina, on Cameron Lake.

A shot of the recently expanded #boaters tie up wall. The last time we had visited here (6 years prior to this trip), this wall didn't exist and there was precious little areas for boats to tie up to. So, my hat's off to the town and Parks Canada for getting this project completed! A wonderful spot to spend a night or two;

Boaters tie up wall at the upper side of the Fenelon Falls Lock.

Here's a video of our arrival, as well as some masterful docking of 'Boogaboo IV'. Take note of the fellow boater, Mike, who takes our bow line as we approach the tie up wall. I wanted to point out that THIS is the correct way to handle someone's line. I've learned to watch people on the docks when they are 'helping' us in, to make sure they don't pull or cleat us off right away. When the boat is still manoeuvring like this, some slack is needed to bring the back end in, forward or back. More than once I've had to tell the dock attendants to slack off the line, because they end up pulling the front of the boat right tight to the dock. The result? The ass end is 4' off the dock! Thanks again, Mike;


One of the big attractions for many boaters and visitors in general is the close proximity to restaurants and shops, immediately beside the lock. This is located right in the downtown core of this small, but fully serviced village. The only problem is that the Beer Store isn't within walking distance, and there is no taxi service in town. So, be sure to stock up beforehand. There is an LCBO liquor store just a block over, so that's easy.

Restaurants and shopping right beside the lock.

The lock chamber. As the town is busy all season long, there's always a crowd watching the boats coming and going through. This is one of those spots where, when taking the boat through the lock, you feel like a monkey in a cage, with all the gawkers watching your every move;

The lock chamber at Fenelon Falls.

Downtown FF. Well, the old part of town. As with the rest of the small towns, they have their new section on the outskirts for the cluster of big box stores. Pretty soon, every town in Canada & the U.S. will look the same, something I call the homogenization of North America.

Downtown Fenelon Falls.

Anchor Girl looks around at the bottom side of the lock. This used to be a double set of locks, with the indent in the foreground being where the old lock doors opened in to. This was converted to one during the big wave of upgrading projects that took place along the Trent Severn Waterway during the 1960's.

The bottom of the lock.

Ominous looking clouds blew in on the first afternoon, but after a little sprinkle, they cleared out to reveal a beautiful sky.

Scary looking clouds over 'Boogaboo'

The clouds moving out;

Clouds and sun over the railway swing bridge.

Not much more than a pretty rainbow out of the passing rain clouds.

Rainbow over Boogaboo at Fenelon Falls.

Cool pic, eh?

The sun returns to the boats at Fenelon Falls.

 

 Mike (who helped us in on the first video) & I discuss the deeper meanings of life, like #boating and Bayliners ;-) Did I spell that correctly this time, Mike?

Boats and Bayliners.

This is a collection of rentals at 'Summerland Cottages', located directly across from where we were tied up, close to the swing bridge.

Rental cottages on the Fenelon River.

Here we go, the sunshine returns, the wind dies down and we settled in for a lovely evening. Good times, my friends, good times :-)

Sunshine on the water.

Perry the Penguin, relaxing and enjoying watching the boats going by on our second day here.

Perry the Penguin catching a few rays.

I took Perry over to the welcome sign for some pictures.

Welcome to Fenelon Falls - and they put it in stone!

Perry & I enjoying the glorious setting sun. This place sure has some beautiful sunsets!

Sunshine on my shoulders - and Perry in my cap :-)

Nice.

Pretty sunset.

 Anchor Girl snapped this lovely pic of the setting sun's reflection off the side of the 'Kawartha Spirit' cruise boat.

Kawartha Spirit framing the sun.

One more, spectacular view. Enjoy.

A spectacular setting sun over Cameron Lake.

The best part of this year's holiday voyage is that we got to return here once more. And to make it even better, we got to stay both at the top (like here) and the bottom of the lock. so stay tuned for those upcoming posts, as well!

:-)

Where Does Summer Go?

Time. Where does it go?

 Was it not just a few weeks ago that we were lamenting the end of the '09 season? And here we are, the Boat Show behind us, just a few weeks until the Follies of February and the days are getting perceptibly longer. That last one is a good thing :-)

 The Boat Show was fun & you will all be happy to learn that I was able to score a great deal on an overdue upgrade to Boogaboo's sound system.

 Speaking of upgrades, I just got my renewed BoatUS membership in the mail this week and made sure I got the unlimited towing option. After seeing and hearing about all the smashing and clunking on Georgian Bay last year, I figured it would be a prudent move - especially since we are hoping to go even farther off the beaten track this summer. . .


 At the Boat Show, as planned, we met up with the 'Water Wings' crew. . .

   
 . . . And the 'Maple Leaf' & 'SunAria' crews;

~  At Echo Bay, Part II  ~

 On the third day of our Echo Bay adventure, the Maple Leaf & crew pulled in to spend some time, go swimming and sing totally off key with the rest of us; 

 Now the Three Rays are in the company of that beauty 1936 Taylor Craft;

To keep everything Gute-N-Tite,the boys with the pretty dental work decided it was time to take another line to shore;

That there looks like it'll be real good for holn'd them thar boats;

Capt'n Buttercup takes a refreshing swim - right after pushing his sister in the drink!

Despite the 'smart' remark on my shirt, it was good to see you again, Miss Ellie;

Buttercup's sister (the one he had recently pushed into the water), Leanne, joins Billie Sue & Sanja in the smoking area

It's Captain Bob;

With our FOUR stern lines secured for the evening, it was time to prepare for a good old fashioned singalong;

By the look on his face, I'd say Scott was right into a rousing rendition of Jackson Browne's 'The Load Out/Stay';

The next morning, the Maple Leaf pulls out for the run up to Parry Sound. Once again, the forecast for later that day was for some pretty strong winds, so we decided to take advantage of this lull to head to town for supplies and a secure dock. As the Maple Leaf travels at about 3.4 MPH (down hill), we gave them a big head start. We still got there first ;-)
 The forecast proved bang on, as the wind was really blowing when we got into the Parry Sound docks. So much so, that some of us (including me) almost got INTO THE DOCKS when we landed;

Our turn to move on from Echo Bay. But wait- why is the Water Wings crew doing all the prep work aboard SunAria? Isn't that the job of the captain & crew of the vessell? HA!
 Really, Sanja, you gotta find yourself some deck hands for these types of trips . . .

Lucky for me, I have my own deck hand :-)

On Our Way To The Bay!

It's that time again kids - Holiday Pictures!! Hey! Stop the groaning. And no whining, as this is going to take quite a bit of time to get through, so you might as well get comfortable while I take you all along for the ride. And this is only the first of many parts to come . . . Pre-Departure Check. Sanja goes over the charts one . . . last . . . time the weekend before we all headed out to make sure she finds her way to the rendezvous location on Georgian Bay. Will she make it? Will she run out of highlighter? Will we see her studying these same charts again during our holidays? You'll have to look for the upcoming episodes to find out.

4:35 PM, Friday, July 24th - 'Boogaboo' departs slip # B5 and WE ARE OFF!!!!!!


Not a lot to see in this video clip, but the sound of my voice says it all. Watch and listen;

Wow, look at that lake. Calm as glass as we put 'er up on plane to cross Simcoe.


Still not out of the woods from bad weather though, as this is the reason I pushed the throttles forward. That rain in the distance is just off of Georgina Island. Luckily, we were able to get ahead of it. Too bad that wasn't the last rain we would see, as we saw lots of it the over next few days. But heck, we were on holidays & MOVING!!


I was dead tired from the previous couple of weeks of overtime work, so we decided to pull into Orillia for the night. I think we were in bed by 8:30 that night.


This video is the next day as we left Orillia behind us and continued moving northward;

The 'Bowling Alley' at the top of Lake Couchiching;

For your entertainment I have will share this time lapse video of us locking through Couchiching Lock. Yes, I know I did this last year at this spot, but this time it's even longer. Wow, eh? Yes it is. Hey, if you had anything more fun to do, you wouldn't be watching this right now . . .