Yes, it's finally here - the next installment of the big Georgian Bay voyage. Please take your seats as I take you back in time - all the way back to July of 2009 as we revisit our memorable anchorage at Chimney Bay on lovely Georgian Bay.
Could it be coincidence that we are going down the Chimney at the same time that that big guy in the red suit is heading down the chimneys of the houses of the little boys and girls of boating land? Hmmmm. . . . And you thought all of this has just been random, nonsensical ramblings on my part ;-)
So, when we last visited the Georgian Bay adventure, us Boogaboo crew were enjoying the latter part of our 'honeymoon' portion of the summer holidays at Honey Harbour (top photo). Here we are just heading out from Nautilus Marina to continue northward and eventually meet up with our friends;
First, a quick stop for a pump out - one of many on this trip, planed & otherwise. Look closely and you'll see 'It's All Good' on the dock. As chance had it we met Dan & Patty there. They had been anchored out at Bone Island but had to come back to Honey Harbour for a new battery;
Our next anticipated stopover was an anchorage called Good Harbour. To get there, we had to go off the Small Craft Route and navigate between the mainland (right) and Tomahawk Island (left);
This is another one of those unmarked 'Paths of Adventure', with no aids to navigation to mark the way. It is so cool to travel like this, with nothing but your charts and wits to keep you off the rocks! This little side trip was inspired by a portion on the Cruising Georgian Bay DVD. Speaking if which, we were watching some of that DVD on Sunday morning and that led to my remarking as to how many islands are unnamed, which in turn led to another bit of inspiration - having an island officially named :-) Anchor Girl reminded me that someone wanted to do that last summer when we were all up this way. So I fired off an email to the government people to see how one goes about such an endeavor. I think I was thought to be kidding about it, too . . . I'll let you know what I find out.
Back to the adventure at hand. Another narrow passage to drive the boat through. I love it!
Shallow water and unmarked rocks on both sides. Cool!
Some video of this passage;
Turns out that our trip up to Good Harbour resulted in nothing more than a pleasant trip (there and back). We ended up not staying there - the small bay that is Good Harbour was pretty full, so we headed back down to check out a spot from last summer - McCabe Rock on Beausoleil Bay.
To get there, we passed through Big Dog Channel;
If you don't believe me, here is a highly entertaining video to back my story up;
Here's two minutes and eighteen seconds of what it was like to gently sway back and forth in the light breeze of the evening. Kinda makes you all comfy and longing for the water again, don't it? Only 7 months 'till we're back there again;
Look at that breakfast! All lovingly prepared on the BBQ, too!
Yes, I have that much confidence in the anchor that we left Boogaboo all on it's lonesome when we took off for a two hour dinghy ride into Honey Harbour for something or other. I think it was ice cream;
But first, we motored down to Wanakita to find Sanja & Arijana relaxing at the beach;
Back aboard Boogaboo and playing with the chartplotter (night settings). 102.6 statute miles from home.Way cool!
An evening view looking southward and down the length of beautiful Beausoleil Bay;
The same view when the moon was overhead in the gathering night sky;
And as this evening's night sky has fully enveloped me, I leave you until next time when we finish off this part of the Georgian Bay adventure. More pictures, more videos, more stories. Good night . . .
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!
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;
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);
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. . . .
:-)
