Inspiring Boating Stories & Travel fun from the Great Lakes and beyond!
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A bit of sad news for those familiar with the Delewana Inn, located on Georgian Bay at Honey Harbour. They have closed their doors after going into receivership earlier this year.
I knew something was up back in May when their live web cam went dark. I liked to periodically check it out as it showed a nice view of the Small Craft Route in that area of Georgian Bay. It was a good place to check out the conditions on the water, as well as follow along with the receding ice & snow in the spring in anticipation of relaunch and a return trip up to The Bay.
Hopefully new owners can get it up and running again.
Closer to the end refers to the fact that this post - reviewing the end of our 2009 holidays - is closer to the end of this years' holidays than last. Oh well. Maybe if I could control all of my long winded stories that always accompany the photos, I could get this done quicker. Probably not though. I have enough I'm working hard on controlling, so one thing at a time.
Our final stay on The Bay was at a mid sized marina in Honey Harbour called Paragon Marina.I took this photo in a vain attempt to capture the feeling of the moment, knowing that the long anticipated holidays were rapidly winding down. I was feeling really good, despite the fact that the highlight of the year was almost over. I only wish I had taken a few more shots here, looking around at the lovely surroundings and the beautiful day - she sure was a nice one;
Right next to the marina is the Honey Harbour town docks, where A.G. & I rowed to to get some supplies. Yes, rowed. That darned Mercury outboard was once again being uncooperative, so it stayed on the dock while we rowed over here. Not too far anyway, only about 1000' or so from where Boogaboo was moored. Hopefully I'll have better luck with the new Yamaha. Funny thing about that deal is that the 'American' Mercury was built in Japan, while the 'Japanese' Yamaha was built in France, of all places.
This is what that looks like;
Saw this sign in the window of a building right beside the town dock and thought you might like to know what the fines are for various infractions;
This plaque is also next to the docks, commemorating the fact that the French explorer Samuel Champlain was the first European to visit this area, 400 years ago.
French explorer. French outboard. I see a pattern developing. Hmmmm. . . .
It was a gorgeous, hot day when we pulled out of Honey Harbour, so we took a slow tour down to Midland Harbour so that Sanja could get a feel for the location and to try her hand at some real navigating. That's right, once again I forced her to use her classroom skills to find our way back to the Potato Island Chanel (most of the way, at least) and lead us out of here. Remember, trust your charts . . .
Too bad you won't get a chance to put both experiences into play this summer, eh Captain? Probably no wonder, traveling with such a tough instructor as me :-)
After a bit of coaching and some help form A.G., we made it to the north cardinal buoy marking the entrance to the Potato Island Channel. Not that I was in any hurry - like I said, this was the very end of our time on The Bay and once through the channel there was only one lock separating us from this body of water.
The audio in this video is muffled by the wind, but you'll get the idea;
It sure was a nicer day coming back through Tug Channel and under the highway 400 overpass than when we came through the other way on the beginning of our voyage - but I'd trade the sunshine for another 3 weeks up here any day;
Anchor Girl waiting to help the approaching SunAria onto the blue line. Or not;
Looking back towards the lock;
Don't worry, I have video, too;
Immediately to the left of the top of the lock is a resort called The Inn At Christie's Mill, where we spent the night, reunited with the Water Wings crew. Yes, we even had dinner reservation there, as well.
After our experience here - even trying to book the slips was a chore - I can highly recommend to NEVER, EVER GO THERE! Being self employed I believe I have a certain sense of customer service. This place doesn't even know the concept and it shows in spades.
After all the crap of checking in and trying to find shore power AND a shower (and ending up going for a swim shower behind the boat), we all headed over to the restaurant for our dinner engagement. Beside a menu that featured such delicacies as 'Loin of Elk', we decided that a walk over the lock to the Rawley Resort was the better option.
If you don't believe me, listen to what these satisfied customers had to say;
All smiles now as the gang heads into the Rawley - conveniently located right across the street form the LCBO;
At last - an enjoyable sit down dinner with our friends to celebrate another GREAT holiday on The Bay!
I know it's hard to take your eyes off the rest of the scenery, but if you look closely at the two mugs at either side of this photo you'll notice that our shirts match the upholstery. What a coincidence. And I thought they were just kidding when they told me to 'get stuffed';
The Maple Leaf gang bid us farewell as pass by.
Looking forward to hooking up with you guys on The Bay in a few short months. Remember - it's 'Point Au Baril or Bust'!!
Looking back to SunAria passing through the Little Chute. And this is a scary spot??
On the blue line waiting for the big water train to take us back to the top of the hill.
Gotta go - my sandwich is coming;
Our final stay for the year would be our first time anchoring at Chief Island on Lake Couchiching. One more spot to put on the list to avoid. Sorry, but I guess we were spoiled with our time at the quiet, natural anchorages of Georgian Bay because the first thing I noticed when we dropped the hook here was the friggen road traffic noise coming from highway 11 across the lake. If I want annoying urban noise on the water, I might as well go to Orillia for the night;
The gals gabbing on the back of the boats.
Tomorrow we'll be home :-(
And that's it.
As the chartplotter witnesses, a round trip (including a second trip to Parry Sound for an emergency pump out) totaling 346.9 statute miles.
For 2010, I hope to add about 50 - 100 miles to that total. . .
Now that we're done with this review, I'd love to hear (read) your comments . . . Otherwise, you'll be doomed to seeing much of the same next winter.
Yesterday, Anchor Girl & I took advantage of the sunny day and, as planned, went for a drive to check out the Georgian Bay scene. The first stop was at the Port Severn Lock (#45) and from there, a bit farther north west to Honey Harbour for a round trip of about 350 km.
On the way back, we dropped into West Marine to get a couple of little things for Boogaboo, including a new compass that I will mount in such a way that I'll actually be able to see it when I have my charts out. As it is now, the only spot I have to lay out the charts is right over the factory mounted compass. That one will come out to make a flatter surface for the charts. Anchor Girl thought the new compass might come in handy the next time we are shrouded by thick fog and can't even see the front of the boat. Or the boats behind (?) us . . .
Despite the cold, -14 degree day, it wasn't too bad with the sun shining brightly. Made for a nice day close to the water. And yes, there was open water at Lock 45;
The water was really flowing from the dam next to the lock, so there was lots of open water;
Here's a super zoomed in shot of the water churning at the bottom of the spillway. See how the spray has caused the icicles to form like stalactites;
As was the case when we dropped down through here on our holidays, the force of the rushing water was so great that it was pushing the port hand buoy over like one of those dummies that you punch and it bobs back up. Not sure what those things are called, but the result is the ice forming a heavy coating where it was continuously in and out of the water;
The top side of the lock. Looks pretty in the sun, even though it's winter;
To get a feel for the incredible zoom on our new camera, I took this shot of the Picnic Island store while standing next to the Delwana Inn. For those of you who know how far away they are from each other, you will have a greater appreciation for this shot and the clarity the camera was able to capture from such a distance. According to the distance measuring tool on Google Maps, it is 2244 feet between these two points! This zoom feature is gonna be great for lots and lots of picture taking this summer;
Next, I have three video clips I took yesterday up in these parts, but wanted to give you all a heads up on the newest technology we will be enjoying henceforth. Not only does our new toy - I mean camera - have a 20 times optical zoom, it also records video in HD (High Definition). So, that means we can all enjoy moving pictures that are way clearer than before!
The one hitch is that your computer has to be powerful enough to display the HD clips. Don't worry, if your machine is any newer than four years, should be no problem. I can even play the vids on my laptop, which was the cheapest one I could find four years ago. It has a relatively (by today's standards) slow processor and a low end video hardware accelerator. I did have to download and install the latest video driver to make it happy, and it now works good enough that I can stream the clips from the laptop onto the big screen TV for some impressive video - the way it should be :-)
The way YouTube handles these things is that when you click to play the videos (any and all videos they host), the default presentation is in very low end 320p resolution. To see them in a higher, HD resolution, one must click down at the bottom of the video where it shows '320p' and a pop up will give you the choice of playing the clip up to 720p (HD) quality (of course, this only applies to the videos that people filmed in high def and uploaded to YouTube in that format). Try it.
320p? 720p? What does it all mean?? Well, I will 'splain, Lucy. The figures represent the number of horizontal lines of resolution on your screen. The more lines, the clearer the video. Currently, the maximum resolution available to the consumer market is 1080p - that is, 1,080 lines of pretty pixels flying across your screen to make a pretty darn sharp and clear presentation. The maximum that YouTube will present is 720p (for most people, the difference between 1080 & 720 is imperceptible).
Think of it this way - if your TV or computer monitor had the ability to display 720 lines of resolution and the video was only playing at 320 lines, the 'gaps' (for lack a better term) will present themselves as fuzzy, smudgy looking blah :-(
Capich?
The only other thing that might hold back your viewing pleasure is if you are looking at this through a crappy monitor - especially if it's an old, tube type one. In that case, don't sweat it - it simply ain't gonna happen for you. Future shop sells good flat screen monitors for about a hundred bucks ;-)
Hopefully you and your machine comply with all these complex prerequisites. The only way to tell is by trying it out. Here's a screen shot I took of the first video I'm sharing with you. Note that you have to wait for the video to initially start playing to change the settings. The RED ARROW highlights where to click for the higher resolution and the GREEN ARROW shows where to click to watch the clip full screen;
Isn't his all so exciting?!?! Ya, me too :-) Ok, so on with the videos. Good luck and PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF IT WORKS FOR YOU . . .
First one is from the bottom side of Lock 45. If you are having trouble reading this, just listen to my insightful commentary;
Next one I took at the top of the lock. You will notice the tiny snow flakes flying around from the mist of the water pouring over the darn dam;
Last one for today was taken at the Delewana Inn, looking around the frozen winter wonderland of Honey Harbour;
Just in case you were considering a trip to The Bay this year - or if you are just up for some reminiscing - I put together a video montage of the Picnic Island store & docks in Honey Harbour. If you watch closely (there will be a test), you'll notice lots of A.) Wind and B.) Boat Traffic. The C.) Lots Of Rocks goes without mentioning.
Pretend you didn't read that :-)
Any who, for anyone wanting to spend a few days in the area of Honey Harbour or Beausoleil Island, this is the #1/only spot for boat fuel (gas), people fuel (food/gas), pump out, water, french fries and ICE CREAM. All of the above in one spot. Probably why it's always so darned busy. And a real treat to get in and out of! Did I mention the constant wind?
Watch;
Plus . . . Just in case you are looking forward to visiting Bobcaygeon this summer, we have a clip of non other than Free Bird zooming at break neck speed across Canal Lake back on the July 1st weekend '08. This section of Canal Lake is the eastern part, just past (going that way from here) Bolsover and looking toward the 'Hole In The Wall' bridge.
Finally for this evening, just in case you were waiting for 'someone' to post some more pics from the Labour Day Long Weekend at Lagoon City, I guess you'll have to wait. PARKER!!! In the meantime, here's a video clip of some of us standing around discussing the finer points of dead carp disposal;
As always, your comments, suggestions and photos are welcome . . .
