Moon River Falls - Georgian Bay

Another day that we were at Henry's Restaurant with the big boat, we took an all day dinghy adventure tour to the Moon River Falls. This is something we tried to get to a few years back (twice), but fate held us back and the trip never happened.

 So fast forward to 2011 and another attempt. I'm happy to report that not only were we successful, but I have a bunch-o-photos and video to share with you :-)

Believe it or not, but the round trip was 30 miles, so we had to make a pit stop at Woods Bay Marina on the way down for a fuel top up. As a matter of fact, I was a little concerned that our on board fuel tank wouldn't be able to get us there, so before leaving I 'borrowed' a small gas can at LeBlanc's (on the same island as Henry's) to fill and have as a spare for the trip. And when I say 'borrowed', I really meant 'rented' to the tune of $20. Plus fuel to fill it.
Note to self: bring small gas can from home to have for trips such as this. Believe it ;-)

A shot of the docks at Woods Bay. Almost all small, outboard powered boats here for the local cottagers. Biggest ship in port that day was a 340 Sundancer;

The store at the marina sold fuel, some groceries and the all important LCBO wares. Probably why it was so busy this day;

Not sure if this was a bad omen or not, but we spotted this turkey vulture on shore as we were making the final approach to the falls area;

Here we are. A popular spot for folks to dingy to;

Wow! Sure was a pretty sight;

This shot looks like a Group of Seven painting. I mentioned to Anchor Girl that this setting looked almost like someone built this to look as pretty as possible. I think 'someone' did and it was put there for us to enjoy.
 Thank you.

Nice shorts buddy;

Pretty, eh?

Preparing to get some really cool underwater videos to share with you;

Like a little kid playing in the water;

Here's the dinghy where we parked it on the rocks. As you can see, we had to pull it up on the rock shelf to leave it while walking around. When it came time to leave, we had to work out our quick exit, as there was lots of big rocks just under the surface behind the boat. So the plan was for A.G. to push the dingy back while I dropped the motor and started it.
 All good until she shoved us off and jumped into the boat - WITHOUT SITTING DOWN! Of course, I was looking back to get the outboard in the water and start it. When I pulled the cord, she was still leaning into the boat and - you guessed it - got the full force of the back of my hand right in her face!!
 S  M  A  C  K  !!!!!! Right in the kisser :-)
 I guess that vulture we saw earlier was a bad omen (for her at least). . .

Here's some wonderful and masterfully edited video of the Falls;



Heading back to the big boat, we spotted a young bear swimming across one of the channels. You can see it here in front of a Sea Ray. I was in radio communication with the folks on the boat to make sure he saw it and didn't hit it or startle it any more than it probably already was;

Here's one last photo we got of it before a couple of jerks raced up to within a 100' of it, full speed ahead in a centre console fishing boat to grab some photos. Fortunately the fuzzy little guy was able to get to shore and quickly disappear into the brush before those goofs got right up to it;

Back at the Boogaboo boat for a lovely evening on The Bay;

Still Boating - Dinghy Run!

Ya, it has been awhile since the last post, but we're still here. In fact, we've been able to add quite a few Fridays to the weekends so far this season and head up to the boat on Thursday evenings :-)

 Makin' the most of the boating dream . . .

 Here's a video of our first dingy ride of the season. It's a bit shaky at first, as I had the camera mounted right on the outboard. We topped out at 20 MPH with the two of us aboard!

Gilman Bay Anchorage - Leaving in Heavy Fog!

 It's Sunday evening as I prepare this update and as I cast my sight out through the living room window and onto Lake Simcoe, I remark to Anchor Girl how lovely the bright sunshine looks. I follow that with the observation that it's now 6:45 and, despite the cloudy weekend, the '7:00 Sunday Rule' appears to be back for another year. . .

 Or is it?

An article in the local newspaper today referred to the summer weather prognostication by Dave Phillips (the Environment Canada guy). In it, he states that his predictions for the upcoming summer is - wait for it - the triple HHH's. Hot Hazy & Humid. In other words, a traditional Southern Ontario summer! And I'm happy to compare that with my own outlook for a hot, sunny and dry boating season. so, let's get on with it. Only whets our appetites for a return trip to The Bay and further adventures!!!

 BRING IT ON!!

**************************

 Tonight's review of our time at Gilman Bay represents the last couple of days there and the tail end (sniff, sniff) of our summer holidays '09. I think I might have already mentioned it before, but our overall boating experiences for the 2009 season could be best described as 'Change of Plans'. Every time we hoped to go some place, it seemed that for some reason we ended up somewhere else. To this day, I'm sure there was some Greater Power guiding us - and Gilman Bay was by no means an exception. . .


 This first photo shows only Two Sea Rays at the anchorage, as A.G. and I had to briefly depart their company and head all the way back to Parry Sound for an emergency pump out. To get there, fix the problem and return was a six hour round trip! Oh well, at least it gave our traveling companions some quiet time away from the Commodore. Not to mention the fresh air;

This is the 'parting shot' of Glen Burney Marina in Parry Sound, where not only did I have to work on the boat's plumbing, but the actual pump out plumbing at the gas dock, too. Good thing I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty;

 Another unique Georgian Bay cruising view - The Georgian Queen cruise ship. Here on it's way back to it's home port of Parry Sound;

  The Big Guy's evening swim shower;

A shot of our stern view at the this anchorage. No matter how many pictures I took looking this way, I don't think I was able to capture the beauty of the rock ledge that is here. In person, the moss growing between the cracks in the rocks was beautiful. I think so, anyway;

 The morning's weather didn't start off too promising, but after discussing our options for perhaps traveling to another destination, we decided to take the dinghies for an extended trip up the Moon River to a place called Woods Bay for a look see instead of leaving this anchorage;

  Getting the Grand reading for the trip. And the sun was starting to make an appearance;

 On our way;

 

 Our first stop was a popular anchorage area of the Massasagua called Port Rawson Bay. This is where many of the bigger boats come. One of the unique features of this spot is that the park has installed a few floating mooring balls in the bay to tie up to;




Onward and down the Moon River. Last winter, I sort of discovered this area while doing our planing for the our holiday cruising grounds. The Moon River and into Woods Bay in this area is on the navigation charts, but there are no depth soundings. After some creative searching and a couple of springtime phone calls, I learned that, despite motoring 'blind', one would be able to safely navigate a larger vessel through here. This is why we were checking it out on the dinghies. Glad we did, as this was yet another special place to find, visit and carry as a life long memory;

 

Turns out the reports are correct and that one can get through here with a larger boat! We were also lucky enough to have gotten a line drawn on our Parks map by one of the rangers when they came by to pick up our garbage a few nights earlier.
 "Just follow the line and don't blame me if you hit bottom. . ." I think were the words he said when he handed the map back to me;

 This cool little cabin came with an interesting bit of history and unique view on the other side of it;

According to the story we heard is that this was some sort of lodge that had burned down years earlier, leaving only the sizable chimney and most of the foundation. Apparently the old guy who owned it had begun to rebuild but passed away and it's stayed pretty much in this state ever since;

I knew where we were - I had a map;

Pulling back into our anchorage after our 3-1/2 hour voyage of discovery. And to quote Mr. Paul Von A, it was indeed an amazing place;




Ahhhhh, I love summer and boating!!!!!!!

 So, the working plan was to leave Gilman Bay the next morning and take the big boats down the Moon River into Woods Bay for some time there, with the intention of visiting the Moon River Falls on the dinghies. That was my original inspiration to visit this area - see the falls. Well, for the second time on this trip, we were unable to get see them, as we left the next morning after the big Keswick storm on this night. Long story;

Here's our friends from Parks Canada to collect our mooring fee - Kevin (driving), Tanner (on the bow) and the young lady accompanying them this trip who's name I can't recall right now.

Tanner takes one of my RottenRow.ca business cards. Wonder if he ever visited the site?

Departure day. Cloudy, but no too much fog as we head out of the bay. Yet;

 A nice, slow, winding cruise past all the small islands of the Moon River Basin back to the Small Craft Route;

And then the fog set in;

Can you say Pea Soup?

Look really closely at this shot and you'll see SunAria disappearing in the fog - and she was only about 200' behind us at this point;

After getting turned around a full 180 degrees (me) and needing some chill time after the ordeal, I decided to head into Henry's Restaurant (which was close by) for awhile to wait for the fog to dissipate. After waiting about an hour and a half, we were safely back on our way.
 The Water Wings captain, on the other hand, decided to press on and make the top part of the trip down to Honey Harbour in the thick of it. Next time you see Billie Sue, ask her what she felt about that fun voyage;

 Coming up, it's the trip back home. Not sure if I really want to relive that part of the holidays. I mean, who wants to go home after a great holiday? We'll see . . .