Back On Georgian Bay - Beausoleil Bay at Anchor

~ Long(er) Days ~

 I'm very happy to remind you all that Tuesday marks the first day of winter - the shortest day of the year. Oh goody, you're thinking? YES! From Wednesday onward, the days will be getting longer again and we are only 3 months away to the first day of spring :-)

 And not too long until late evening sunsets like this one;

~ Part Four of the Big Boat Delivery HOME From Michigan to Lake Simcoe ~

 After safely crossing the western part of Georgian Bay from Tobermory and spending the night in Midland, we moved onto our 'relaxing' portion of the journey - anchoring for a couple of days in Beausoleil Bay.



 Anchor Girl was happy to finally have the rough waters behind us and enjoying a restful time at anchor;

A view from the fly bridge deck looking northward towards Chimney Bay;

A zoomed-in shot from the same vantage point. That there would be just about where we were last summer when the anchors let loose. Pretty spot, isn't it?

 One of the features I like the most about the new boat is the big, comfortable shower on board that I use regularly. The cool part is that there is an operating porthole in the one in our master bath and it's great to be able to look out across the water while having a shower :-)
 Here's a video to give you an idea of what I mean. And don't worry, I'm not actually showering in the clip ;-)





A.G. sitting at the back of the boat whilst I was floating out on the dingy taking some pictures of the boat - and A.G.

 This was our very first time at anchor with the Big Boy. That big, 47 pound 'Delta' style anchor and chain rode certainly holds well;

 Note the sunshine 'rainbow' in the center of this pic. That was a naturally occurring phenomenon, not just a reflection in the lens. Beautiful;

Same spot, looking back towards the boat;

 A panning video of our anchorage and the beautiful summer scenery;




Another wonderful sunset shot;

 And another;

 One more video, depicting how much the boat was swinging this day;




 Nothing like a BBQ on the boat anchored out on the water;

It was nearly a full moon that night, casting it's light across the bay;

The Water Wings crew joined us the next day;

Nice to back up on The Bay, eh guys???

 The evening sun glintering (yes, that's a real word) on the water;

 Here is is in video form;



Pointing the camera slightly to the right (north-west), brought this lovely site into view;

Again, we have video of this sight;

 Meanwhile, Anchor Girl jumps in for a pre-breakfast swim. As for me, I simply turned on the air conditioner on the boat;

 Swim all done, A.G. waits for me to finish cooking the breakfast on the BBQ;

 After pulling anchor, we headed northward to check out the anchorages in around Bone Island. After touring through that entire area for about two hours, we found all the spots full with boats, so we continued north to another slice of heaven that we were told about. We'll visit that in the next segment;

Boring Summer Holiday Stuff - Honey Harbour

Honey Harbour - 90.2 satute miles from our home port slip; After spending two rainy days traveling through the Trent Severn Waterway system, we got onto Georgian Bay! The final leg of the lock system marked the first leg of The Bay adventure, 2009. We knew it would be a memorable adventure for sure, but didn't expect to have so much fun so soon. . . After all the rain of the previous few days, there was lots of water rushing through the system on it's journey to Georgian Bay. The fun part for us was going through the final lock - #45 at Port Severn. For those of you who haven't been following along at home, today's geography lesson will discuss 'where does all the water go?' All of the water that drains into Lakes Simcoe and Couchiching (from as far east as the Kirkfeild Lift Lock) finds it's way west to Georgian Bay/Lake Huron. From there it's down to Lake Erie, over Niagara Falls (or through the Welland Canal or one of many diverter pipes for hydro electric generation), into Lake Ontario, down the St. Lawrence River and ultimately The Atlantic Ocean. And you thought you had a long way to travel every day! 

 As an interesting aside, I recently read that a drop of rainwater that lands at the top (northern) part of Lake Superior takes 400 years to reach the Atlantic! Just one more piece of useless information that I'll never forget :-) 

 Which also brings to mind a story I heard about how the ancient Romans traveled along the Severn River over 2000 years ago and placed the first aids to navigation there. . . It's really quite a fascinating tale - just ask anyone who's heard it ;-)

 OK, all the history lessons aside, let's get back to tonight's fascinating tale. I'll give you a break from my typing and will indulge you with my voice on video. This is some moving pictures I took both while waiting to head through the lock (remember happy Anchor Girl waiting for the lock in the rain?) as well as when we got to the bottom and out the other end. For those of you who haven't had the good fortune of traveling this way, the channel that leads from the bottom of the lock westward is called 'Tug Channel' and is EXTREMELY narrow right under the highway 400/69 bridge. The space between the markers in spots is roughly only 20' but feels much tighter when you factor in the fact that it's also really winding through here. It sure was scary for me the first time we went through there and I wasn't looking forward to the return trip back! But that was then and this is now. These times it's more hoo-ha, let's go for it! And by going for it, I mean pouring on some throttle to make up for the current. Last year I wasn't ready for the whirlpools exiting the lock (driving too slow) and it pushed the boat back and forth. A little disconcerting if you're not ready for it.

 Alright already - stop typing and on with the video already!

Earlier in the day I had called ahead to Bay Port Marina in Midland to order a water filler thingy that was cracked & leaking aboard Boogaboo, so we had to make a side trip here to pick it up & fuel up before mooring in Honey Harbour for a couple of days. Upon entering Midland Harbour, we spotted this little toy tied up to the Town Docks. After leaving Midland, it was on to Honey Harbour. This is the famous Picnic Island store, where one can gas up, pump out (emergency or otherwise), pick up groceries or just dinghy ride over for ice - or ice cream! As it was getting close to dinner time when we arrived, the Sunday at 7:00 rule seemed to be applicable here, too - even on holidays; Let's see what the eye witness report has to say; We had spent a few days at this same spot last year and liked it, so I got in touch with the manager of Nautilus Marina to arrange for the same slip. Steve, the manager, was good enough to accommodate us ;-) As many of the homes and cottages in the area are only water accessible, it's interesting to see what gets delivered by barge; Anchor Girl & I took an extended dinghy ride around some of the larger islands in the area and here's a really cool shot she took of this ruin of a boathouse; Here's a 4 minute & 36 second compilation of videos I took while here. You'll be interested to also see the exact dock where I got my 2nd deep hull scratch (the first one was at Peterborough Marina, a few years back); This is the Delewana Inn, looking northward along the Small Craft Route. HERE'S a link to their web cam. During the summer months, the camera they have is mounted right on the restaurant patio deck (seen in the middle of this picture) and it overlooks their docks. Sometimes you can see boats passing by. However, now that they are shut down for the year, it looks like they are feeding from a different location (too dark to see as it was nighttime when I made this posting). Looking south from the same position as the above is a view of a simple set of docks. What is so cool about these docks is that they are for the LCBO store in Honey Harbour! Yep, it's the only one of it's kind that I know of in the world. Very convenient when anchoring out in Beausoleil Bay, as you can do the 1 hour dinghy ride from your anchorage, tie up the dock and be only steps from the Liquor Store- which also has an expanded beer selection; And if what your after isn't at the LCBO Store, there is an all inclusive hardware/grocery/chandlery/restaurant/ice cream store just up the street from the brown bottle place; Sunset #1 from HH; Anchor Girl took this pretty picture - nice, or what? Ahhhhhhhh . . . . Coming up next, our anchoring time in Chimney Bay - including the harrowing "The anchors broke loose & we're drifting into those boats!!!!" incident. . . . :-)

Five Things. Boat Show, YouTube, Georgian Bay

Another Friday, another update. And I have FIVE things to talk about today.

 Second - An update on the Dock Crocs Dock. Anchor Girl & I took a drive into the cottage last Saturday (January 17) for a look see & I'm happy to report that it appears that nobody else has been there in awhile. Read: no snowmobilers siphoning fuel from the boats. However, the Canadian flag we rescued from the waters last spring has given it up. I guess that last wind storm was too much, so someone ( . . . .) is gonna have to grab a new one. I figure with the heavy duty mounting we have, a larger flag may be in order;

 

  Third -Videos. Yes, I am having lots of fun sharing the video clips with you all!! If you've noticed, I have pretty much switched over to YouTube to host the clips, as they offer a 'high quality' feature that Google Video doesn't. Funny, as Google owns YouTube . . . Any who, I hope everyone is able to actually view the video clips???? I hope so, because I have recently uploaded a number of new ones, which I'll be posting in the coming days

 Fourth - Boat Show. Everyone get to the Boat Show this year? AG & I headed down on the first Saturday and were happy to catch up with the Free Bird, Water Wings & SunAria crews & share both a meal & cold one, as well as take part in some equipment upgrades. Heck, we even had time to review a Georgian Bay chart. Only 26 weeks to go to The Bay! I think Von A. is going to have a 'Grand' time this year. All ten feet of it;  

 Better get studying that chart plotter manual, Sanja. Remember - north up view, north up view. Ahh, don't sweat it, at least you know someone familiar with the unit who can give you a hand :-)  

 
Fifth - After 3 months, 200 hours and 342 edits, I have F I N A L L Y completed the 2008 Rotten Row / Dock Crocs Year End Video and DVD. Phew, the title almost took as long to type :-) I'm really happy with the finished product this year and I think you'll all really enjoy it. Lots of laughs and even some new features I figured out with the software. In fact, I'm already working on some ideas for the 2009 video. With that in mind, I need you all to get your singing voices in shape. HA! Wait, I'm serious. Here's the plan, Stan. I would like to get all of you to sing parts of - even all of - a popular song. Then, through the power of modern technology, I'll edit it into a musical montage of memorable merit for all to enjoy at Next Year's FFF! I even have the song already picked out; It's 'I've Got You Babe' by Sonny & Cher. How much fun will that be?!?!? 

 

 
On with the show. This is one to go with the last posting, from our overnight on July 5th. A perfect evening with the four boats together on Chicken Bay;  

 

 Here's another clip I took using AG's camera with the time lapse feature. This was at Lock # 42 (Couchiching) on our way up to Georgian Bay. Pretty cool with the boat dropping down the lock and the doors swinging open. If only they all went this quick, eh?  

 

 

 In the spring, we have what seems like thousands of Barn Swallows nesting in the rafters at The Cottage. If not thousands, then they leave droppings in the thousands! Oh well, our new tarps over the boats should help that situation this season. Take a look at this clip, which I took one Friday evening in May. It had been raining all day and the sun poked out for just a short time. Check all the Swallows flying around! I find them quite entertaining to watch - just waiting for them to collide in mid flight;  

 

 The last two from tonight show two extremes of Georgian Bay. HEY! No groaning - I like The Bay. This first one was taken on the last day of our holidays before we started heading back to Orillia way. This was at Beckwith Island, when we got to experience a phenomenon known as 'The Beckwith Bounce'! We spent the night anchored at Beckwith with Water Wings and Maple Leaf. The wind started blowing hard out of the north west - which we were protected from, but the fetch of the waves found it's way into our little bay. Ya, all night long! You'll see the aftermath of this experience on the Year End Video;

 

 

 Finally, in contrast to the above clip, here's a morning panning shot of beautiful Beausoleil Bay. Note all the generators running, including our $99 special. The boats that were immediately in front of us included a guy named Mike, who had swam over to our boats the night before in the buff. At least, that's what he told us. He's the one you blasting away in the Sea Doo at the beginning . . . Fun times;

We're Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack - Georgian Bay Cruise

 The Boogaboo has safely returned from our latest adventure. From navigating the beautiful & rocky routes of Georgian Bay;

  . . . to 'dinghy-ing' around Frying Pan Island in Sans Souci;

 . . . to spending days & nights 'on the hook' in Beausoleil Bay with both old & new friends (and a really old boat);

 

We sure made some great memories up on Georgian Bay! As you can imagine, we've got lots-o-pics + vids and fun stories from the whole thing & I hope to be sharing many more with you as time allows.