Anchorage at Gilman Bay on Georgian Bay

After spending two days in Parry Sound waiting for the winds to die down, we were all off to a completely new destination - Gilman Bay.
 Yes, it was nice to have two days of showering in a real, warm water shower at the marina (instead of the Bay swim showers) for a change, but also nice to getting out to rough it. And by roughing it, I mean having pretty much every comfort of home on the boat except hot showers ;-)

 This is the Rose Point swing bridge which is just before/after Parry Sound, when coming through South Channel. It operates every hour, on the hour throughout the day for those vessels too big to pass under it. It's owned and operated by the First Nations peoples of Parry Island;

Swing bridge at Parry Sound, Georgian Bay

Some pretty scenery along South Chanel as we head back to the main Small Craft Route - about 12 miles each way;

South Channel, out of Parry Sound

 

Traveling past Henry's Restaurant, southbound;

World famous Henrys Fish Restaurant

 

   Boogaboo & the Maple Leaf made a quick pit stop at LeBlancs store on Frying Pan Island for ice cream;

LeBlanc's Store in Sans Souci area of Georgian Bay

 

 OK, so I admit it. Maybe this wasn't one of my best conceived plans, but Anchor Girl was able to successfully pass over the ice cream cones to the waiting Water Wings crew in a busy, tight harbour, just off the Small Craft Route, in a strong breeze. Not to mention it was melting fast - all over the boat;

Handing off ice cream from one Sundancer to another

  

 Back on our way and heading into brand new territory of the Moon Islands to discover the beauty and serenity of this area;

 

Here's a great shot of the Maple Leaf and Boogaboo as we cruised towards Gilman Bay. Ellie took this shot using Sanja's camera while aboard SunAria for the trip in;  

Here's another, taken a short time later;

A 1936 'Taylor Craft' boat

Anchor Girl enjoys the scenic ride in;  

Now here's a cool sequence of photos, all taken within seconds of each other, just after we got secured at the anchorage - from two different cameras. And guess what? Not one of them was mine.

  The first one Anchor Girl took looking towards our neighbor's boats;

At anchor with the gang

And then a quick look over to yours truly (complete with big, toothy smile), enjoying the first ice cold one of the day;

Enjoying an ice cold beer after the day of traveling

Finally, one that Sanja took looking back towards me standing there with my beer and smiling mug;

  

I know I say it allot, but this truly is a beautiful spot. I hope to visit it again one day.

A beautiful view of our anchorage in Gilman Bay, in the Moon River area of Georgian Bay

A long shot of our boats nestled in close to Moon Island. And you know what? Even from this vantage point, I still don't see that elevator on the island . . .

 

Always trying to help out, C.F. gets to work on retrieving a leader and lure from the Maple Bud's outboard prop;

  

Here's poor Billie Sue having a 'Pugsley moment' after not seeing the little guy for a week. Feeling sorry, I took over Wilbur and Festsquirrel as surrogate Pugsley's;

 

 

Man - how nice is this?!?!?

Thank you.

 

The Maple Leaf had to take off early and head back to Port Severn for a crew exchange.No problem, as we simply untied their boat, let them out and pulled Water Wings and SunAria back together. Easy as apple pie with ice cream;  

See you, Miss Ellie! We'll meet you guys back in Port Severn in a few days!!

 

All eyes on the Commodore as I retrieve Water Wings' dinghy. For some strange reason, it seemed to have come dislodged from the side of Boogaboo, where it had been previously firmly attached. Good thing someone noticed drifting away;  

A lovely evening shot, overlooking the Three Ray's bows;

 

As Mr. Von A goes sleepy-sleepy for the night, we leave Gilman Bay with dreams of the next installment of this heavenly spot;

Three Weeks on Georgian Bay?!?!

Greetings from Georgian Bay!

Three Weeks?? Man, that went FAST! We're all back, safe & sound from the big three weeks trip up to The Bay. Our round trip (including an 'emergency plumbing repair trip' to Parry Sound) was comprised of 350 miles of travel, 9 nights at dock, 13 nights at anchor and 11 bottles of propane for the BBQ. For those of who aren't sick of hearing about it by now, I'll do my best to put you over the edge :-) With something like 2000 photos and hours of video, we're gonna have some fun seeing it over and over in the coming months. Oh Joy!

  A few quick ones for today. First one is from our anchorage, tied up to Rattlesnake Rock. The 'Maple Leaf', 'Boogaboo', 'Water Wings' & 'SunAria' all snuggled up for an evening of good times & Jackson Browne; Isn't this a cool picture?? We took this one at the north arm of the north bay of Echo Bay. Yes, that does all make sense if you are familiar with this spot. Just enough room for the dinkies to get through - and crystal clear water; Group shot!

This is park ranger Tanner dropping by for his daily look see. As part of the service provided in the Massasauga Provincial Park, these guys actually deliver beer right to your boat! It may not be as fun as firing up one of the anchored boats and navigating through the treacherous, rocky, windy, wavy waters all the way over to Henry's and having to stop on the way back to find out where we were ;-) Just for fun and to make sure everyone - including me - was paying real close attention to where they were going, we ran into some really thick fog. So thick in fact, that one dummy actually ended up turning his boat 180 degrees and not even knowing it until it cleared enough to see again. Hmmmm, that same dummy has taken measures to make sure that doesn't happen again! At least this year, said dummy didn't get messed up again by that darned bifurcation buoy on the way to Parry Sound . . . Today's Georgian Bay video, taken at Honey Harbour;