Alarming Water Levels

For all of us who boated on Georgian Bay this past season, we already knew that the water levels were getting quite low. Well, that was in the summer. Since then, the level has continued to drop at an alarming rate. We are now looking at RECORD LOW water levels on Lake Huron/Georgian Bay. The scary figures were so alarming in fact that, late in the season the Coast Guard put out something that I have never heard of in a lifetime of boating in this area - a general warning telling boaters to 'exercise extreme caution throughout the Great Lakes!'

Please have a look at my report on what is and what is not happening with this situation. I made this video in hopes that it will lead to awareness and a discussion on the severity of the lake levels. I look forward to your comments;

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Thanksgiving Getaway

Well, look at this. A real, complete update. What a pleasant surprise :-)

 I'm taking advantage of this cool day on the boat to share some pics and stories from our Thanksgiving 2012 weekend at the marina. Ya, and the 'Getaway' part of the title refers to the fact that Steve & Diane have upgraded to a new boat! More on that later . . .

 As mentioned, we are currently aboard Boogaboo on this c-c-c-old Saturday in October. In fact, today marks six months to the day that the boat was launched for the 2012 season, as well as being our last weekend on board the boat for the season :-( Oh well, like all good things, summer has come to pass, but we have a few things to look forward during the off season, including two trips down south and, more importantly, our first grandchild! Yup, our daughter is expecting and we are looking forward to a March/13 arrival for the little one. Things are looking very positive this time around, with mother and child in good health. Ya :-) Actually, we (Anchor Girl & I) got the news of this on the first day of our summer holiday this year, so it was a double bonus!

 Back to today's business. Thanksgiving 2012.

Boogaboo looks kinda naked without the dingy on back. We took it home on the Friday in preparation of the end of season thing. Besides, it was forecast to be not the greatest weather, so we wasn't gonna be driving it anyway;

Anchor Girl online doing the final booking details for the aforementioned first winter (Christmas time) trip south. It has been suggested to me by a certain grandmother-to-be (Anchor Granny??) that this might be the last Christmas trip away for a few years :-|

Jimmy & Marg bring their boat over to our pier, so that they can be more in 'stagger range' for the evening;

 Saturday saw rain off and on all day & into the evening, along with strong winds. This quick break from the rain brought a short lived rainbow. Good thing that I just happened to have my camera;

Wevvy & Jimmy situated their cars to try and block the wind from the deep fryer;

At least we had Jimmy's sunshiny personality to warm us up;

Diner is served! A big thanks to the 'Docked Wages' crew for hosting the event & providing a warm refuge to enjoy our third annual deep fried turkey dinner.

Day two of the weekend and this time there was potatoes and lightly seasoned turkey drumsticks dipped in the hot oil to go along with the leftovers. Good thing too, as that entire second turkey we cooked the day before and leftover ham, potatoes, turnips, breads, salad, stuffing and all that cake (!!!) would have been barely enough to sustain us for a second diner ;-)

Outboard engines, gas cans and fresh potatoes. Perfect redneck boaters combo!

Mmmmmm, deep fried drumsticks . . . .

Sunday evening was clear and quite cool;

The 'On A Roll' crew brought their vessel over to our side for the festivities as well;

Neat shot of Boogaboo reflecting in the water;

The fall colours were really coming out in the trees. I think that's Mother Nature's way of apologizing for summer coming to a close;

I'm already looking forward to the next deep fryer event in November . . . Stay tuned :-)

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As mentioned, Steve & Diane have sold their Chris Craft and jumped up to a 36' Regal Commodore! Congrats to you both - you know a lot of us figured your boating days were mostly behind ya :-) Hopefully this bodes well for some serious on the water fun next year!!

 

The folks at Crates (Keswick) appropriately positioned them right next to not one, but TWO of the York Regional Police boats;

Diane telling us about their harrowing journey through the locks bringing Getaway home. Yes folks, they brought that thing all the way from Lower Buckhorn Lake. Good job!

A nice view from their slip of another beautiful sunset over Cooks Bay. Now, do us a favour and try and spend some time there. . .  What is it up to now? Marina #5?? Geez, we are only on marina #3 - and I was actually kicked out of the last one! HA!!

     Coming up, lots of summertime fun on the water!!   

Canada Day Mini Cruise to The Waubic

This past Canada Day long weekend, we headed up the Severn River to The Waubic for a couple of nights. As expected, I have a bunch of pictures, videos and stories to share with you sometime in the future, as time allows. For now, here's a couple of quick pics;

Looking form the river, towards The Waubic restaurant;

This is what it's all about - Anchor Girl relaxes on the swim platform. They had a live band (a bunch of old guys doing some Chicago jazz) which was a surprise - and kept the toes tapping;

Here's a video clip of us heading through the rocky & picturesque McDonald Cut on the way back home;

Happy Summer Time :-)

Well, here we are already - the first day of summer! Wow, already, eh?

Yes, I'm still extremely busy at work, but I wanted to mark this special day for all of us boaters and share a photo I took at the marina really early last Friday morning. That's right, Friday morning. Anchor Girl has Fridays off work, so periodically we run up Thursday evening and I head back down to work Friday morning. That way she can enjoy the day on the boat - and I don't have to endure constant text messages on the job site asking me when I'm coming home ;-)