Boat Cruise on The Trent Severn Waterway - Sunset at Fenelon Falls

Have you ever visited a particular place a number of times, spent time there and thought you knew it, only to return once more only to discover a whole new place? Unfortunately, most of us go about our lives never having the opportunity to revisit a place they loved, or have the time to fully explore it in the first place. That's because we go through life trudging along in the here and now, seemingly oblivious to what is really happening around us. Sad, really. . .

 This is one of the main inspirations why we are moving to our boat full time in the Spring. Life moves too quickly and we end up missing so much. And to what end? Well, we are going to make our life work for us, not the other way around. And exploring places like this is tops on my life list.

 So, I hope you can take some time to relax and fully enjoy our little adventure in the lovely village of Fenelon Falls, Ontario. Perhaps you can think of this place when your world is simply going too fast around you. Stop, breath and think beautiful sunsets :-) 


Heading out from our stay for the previous two days, Rosedale Lock;

Leaving Rosedale.

It was a bit windy and cool when the clouds came overhead, as we crossed Cameron Lake to Fenelon Falls;

Approaching the railway swing bridge at Fenelon Falls.

This is Fenelon Falls Marina, a spot we had stayed at in previous years;

Fenelon Falls Marina, on Cameron Lake.

A shot of the recently expanded #boaters tie up wall. The last time we had visited here (6 years prior to this trip), this wall didn't exist and there was precious little areas for boats to tie up to. So, my hat's off to the town and Parks Canada for getting this project completed! A wonderful spot to spend a night or two;

Boaters tie up wall at the upper side of the Fenelon Falls Lock.

Here's a video of our arrival, as well as some masterful docking of 'Boogaboo IV'. Take note of the fellow boater, Mike, who takes our bow line as we approach the tie up wall. I wanted to point out that THIS is the correct way to handle someone's line. I've learned to watch people on the docks when they are 'helping' us in, to make sure they don't pull or cleat us off right away. When the boat is still manoeuvring like this, some slack is needed to bring the back end in, forward or back. More than once I've had to tell the dock attendants to slack off the line, because they end up pulling the front of the boat right tight to the dock. The result? The ass end is 4' off the dock! Thanks again, Mike;


One of the big attractions for many boaters and visitors in general is the close proximity to restaurants and shops, immediately beside the lock. This is located right in the downtown core of this small, but fully serviced village. The only problem is that the Beer Store isn't within walking distance, and there is no taxi service in town. So, be sure to stock up beforehand. There is an LCBO liquor store just a block over, so that's easy.

Restaurants and shopping right beside the lock.

The lock chamber. As the town is busy all season long, there's always a crowd watching the boats coming and going through. This is one of those spots where, when taking the boat through the lock, you feel like a monkey in a cage, with all the gawkers watching your every move;

The lock chamber at Fenelon Falls.

Downtown FF. Well, the old part of town. As with the rest of the small towns, they have their new section on the outskirts for the cluster of big box stores. Pretty soon, every town in Canada & the U.S. will look the same, something I call the homogenization of North America.

Downtown Fenelon Falls.

Anchor Girl looks around at the bottom side of the lock. This used to be a double set of locks, with the indent in the foreground being where the old lock doors opened in to. This was converted to one during the big wave of upgrading projects that took place along the Trent Severn Waterway during the 1960's.

The bottom of the lock.

Ominous looking clouds blew in on the first afternoon, but after a little sprinkle, they cleared out to reveal a beautiful sky.

Scary looking clouds over 'Boogaboo'

The clouds moving out;

Clouds and sun over the railway swing bridge.

Not much more than a pretty rainbow out of the passing rain clouds.

Rainbow over Boogaboo at Fenelon Falls.

Cool pic, eh?

The sun returns to the boats at Fenelon Falls.

 

 Mike (who helped us in on the first video) & I discuss the deeper meanings of life, like #boating and Bayliners ;-) Did I spell that correctly this time, Mike?

Boats and Bayliners.

This is a collection of rentals at 'Summerland Cottages', located directly across from where we were tied up, close to the swing bridge.

Rental cottages on the Fenelon River.

Here we go, the sunshine returns, the wind dies down and we settled in for a lovely evening. Good times, my friends, good times :-)

Sunshine on the water.

Perry the Penguin, relaxing and enjoying watching the boats going by on our second day here.

Perry the Penguin catching a few rays.

I took Perry over to the welcome sign for some pictures.

Welcome to Fenelon Falls - and they put it in stone!

Perry & I enjoying the glorious setting sun. This place sure has some beautiful sunsets!

Sunshine on my shoulders - and Perry in my cap :-)

Nice.

Pretty sunset.

 Anchor Girl snapped this lovely pic of the setting sun's reflection off the side of the 'Kawartha Spirit' cruise boat.

Kawartha Spirit framing the sun.

One more, spectacular view. Enjoy.

A spectacular setting sun over Cameron Lake.

The best part of this year's holiday voyage is that we got to return here once more. And to make it even better, we got to stay both at the top (like here) and the bottom of the lock. so stay tuned for those upcoming posts, as well!

:-)

Oh The Humanity!

Has it come to this? Yes, I spend a lot of time on the Interweb. That is because we are working towards expanding our online presence to one day soon providing us with a full time level of income. That is something that doesn't happen overnight, nor does it happen all by itself. This goal requires a great deal of effort and that's why Anchor Girl & I find our days being filled by a full time commitment to this ever expanding enterprise.

 As such, we are interacting more and more with signing in, logging on and applying for various elements in the online world. Most are innocuous and straightforward in nature; email address, password, etc.. Last night, I had to stop, chuckle and share this one with AG - a new line on a sign up page that I had never seen before; 'You must be a human. Accounts registered by "bots" or other automated methods are not permitted'.

 I must be a human to sign up?!?!? The nerve of those non-human servers to make such an outrageous demand. Next thing I know, these same, cold hearted machines will expect us to actually enjoy the fruits of our labours like real humans; taste the food, take in the sunsets and reflect on all the beauty that this human life affords us mere mortals

 Yes, I am a human. And yes, I will continue to take it in with all the glory and wonder that this flesh and blood existence provides. And throw in a dash of spirituality, just to keep it all in perspective :-)

A glorious sunset over Georgian Bay. One more human enjoyment :-)

 

 

 

Working On It - Boating Sunsets

Fear not, my regular visitors, as I am working on another substantial post with lots of still pictures and lots of moving ones, too.

 Until then, here's a little taste of what's coming up;

SUNSETS . . . .

SUMMER SCENES . . . .

BEAUTIFUL EVENINGS . . .

SWIMMING DEAR . . . ?

Come Fly With Me Over Georgian Bay

Glad to see that this weekend we go back to Daylight Savings Time and enjoy longer days again. Sure is going to be nice to have sun past 7:00.

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Continuing our grand voyage on Georgian Bay.

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After a couple of nights in Wani Bay, we continued northward to Henry's Restaurant and a little surprise I had waiting for the Big Guy.

 Here's a final shot from our anchorage here (this time around;-)

 But before we go on to Henry's, I have a couple of videos I wanted to share that I took of the spectacular sunset & captured from the dingy while on Wani Bay.
 Listen to the comment on how this bay built just for me. . . What a nice guy :-)




 Look at that sky!! Another stupendous sunset!



 Henry's is located on Frying Pan Island and on the south east approach to the island is a store/fuel dock called LeBlancs. Here we are, topping off the tanks.
 I'd like to thank Mr. Analus for his help with me learning the new boat and being there as an extra set of hands on docks like this and an extra set of eyes when under way;

LeBlanc's Store on Georgian Bay

We're baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack;

Henry's Restaurant

OF course, they parked us right next to our sister ship, so I was obliged to compare notes with the crew of 400 Sedan, 'D ' N ' R';

A look back off our stern at the - you guessed it - rocks and trees.
 Beautiful;

Secure on the docks at Henry's for the night . . .  Or two;

 Boogaboo, Water Wings and Maple Leaf;

Scotty (Captain Butterball) arrived just in time to leave the waterways and hit the airways.
 Yes, that's a video camera that I'm holding. I have a 13 minute video compilation of our flight that is posted below these next few photos;

The boys are ready to take off on a flight over the Small Craft Route!

Of course, before departure we had to sign our lives away and absolve Georgian Bay Airways of liability if the flight ended badly. I wonder if that form would survive, if things were to go really bad;

Buckle Up;

 The ladies seeing us off;

 Taxiing away from the dock;

 And we're off!

Take a close look at this photo and you can see the markers in the water.
 This is Starvation Bay & one can see how close you are to the rocks lurking just below the surface while transiting this area. Be sure to watch your charts;

This is looking east, up Twelve Mile Bay. Wani Bay is is just about a mile up;

Wani Bay. We had been anchored here only a few hours before & now we are flying over it.
Pretty cool;

A close up of our anchorage at Wani, tucked in behind that tiny island at the top;

Lots of rocks and stuff to avoid, eh?
Ya, ALL of them!

 Our docks at Henry's;

Snug Harbour Lighthouse;

This is the 550 passenger Island Queen cruise ship, which comes out of Parry Sound. We would end up being followed by this vessel - the largest cruise ship in Canada - later on our trip through this very picturesque passage;

 The Captain of Water Wings earns his air wings;

 The Small Craft Route looking north with Frying Pan Island to the left (west);

Check out these next two phots.
 This first one is taken from 'far away', showing all the hazards to cruise around;

And this next one is 'close in' of the lead boat in the above photo;

Echo Bay;

I believe this is just entering into Long Sault, west of Parry Sound;

 O'Donnell Point (you can see the big lighted marker (center left);

 Big David Bay;

 Le Blancs;

Those two guys. The one on the right just acts like a little boy some times . . .

 One last pass over Henry's before bringing it in for a landing.
See the plane's shadow?

Splash Down!

  Safely back on the ground, it was time for a cold drink in the hot sunshine;

OK, so it was quite hot & Captain Butterball may have had one or three too many right after the plane ride;

Ya, he was flying again in no time;

Analus checking out Mr. Burke's Brackets;

Scotty seams to be in better shape now after his swim;

On the morning of the second day, we were all preparing to leave with the Maple Leaf pulling out off the docks first.
Problem.
Turns out the shaft came right out of the carrier and he lost all thrust control of the boat. Good thing they were still close enough to the dock to throw a line and get pulled back in safely.
So, we spent the balance of that day repairing it, including multiple dives to slide out and re set the drive shaft. A fun thing to do in 8' of water, on a floating dock;

Von Analus preps the shaft dog for the reassembly;

Ultimately, the boat was able to carry on, but we ended staying an extra night at Henry's.
Not a bad prospect - I'd be happy to spend two or three days here anytime!

Especially with my new boat ;-)

We treated ourselves to dinner at the restaurant one evening.
Here, Analus takes his turn signing their Guest Book;

The next day Anchor Girl & I headed up to Parry Sound to do some shopping - our first major one since getting into Canada. Remember that this was already week two for us on our big adventure.

Passing through Two Mile Narrows.
But Paul, you must be thinking, these two shots show you heading OUT of Parry Sound. What's up with that?
Well, the day after we got there, we started to head back to the Sans Souci area to once agian hook up with the Water Wings/Maple Leaf crews and check out another anchorage. Alas, as it always seams to be in boating, the best laid plans don't always pan out. We had anticipated stopping by LeBlancs for a pump out , but their system was down. So, we spun the boat back around and headed back to Parry Sound for the second time on this trip.
Why does this sound like our 2009 trip up this way . . .?

A really neat shot of Water Wings coming into the harbour as a float plane lands seemingly right in front of the boat;

Nice docks here - and LOTS of water pressure!

Water Wings and the Maple Leaf;

A look to the east from our boat;

Loose something down there, Scotty?

I got this shot from the fly-bridge. Another fantastic sunset!

This was the morning we were leaving Parry Sound (for the last time in 2010).
Kinda looks like we got some fog rolling in . . . . .

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Next time we head south through a new route of the Long Sault and a return anchorage at Wani Bay before taking the Big Boy to it's new home on Lake Simcoe.

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