Up, Up And Away - Glorious Flybridge Views!

No, we're not going up, up and away in a beautiful balloon. Better yet, we are going to see the world from an ever better vantage point - up on the flybridge of a boat.

 For the first part of our boating lives, we always had express style cruisers. These vessels were styled with sleek and low to the waterline profiles and built to go fast when under way. The looks were good and the performance was adequate, but those sleek lines meant compromising living space.

Our old 'Boogaboo III', with a classic express style hull.

 When we were looking to move up to what would be our current boat, more living space was the top priority on the list. To be honest, my mind was pretty much made up on the style of boat I felt would be best, that of a sedan bridge. The benefit of the sedan style is that one gets expanded living space, with direct cabin access from the cockpit, as well as a flybridge helm.

 When we originally took the new toy, 'Boogaboo IV', for it's sea trial on Lake St. Clair, it would be the very first time that I had piloted a bridge boat. It was a whole new world! After getting used to the fact that the pitch and roll of the boat was a little more evident up top, I found the commanding view amazing.

 After having the boat for that first year (only a half season, as we took possession of it in late July), I had come to the conclusion that driving from way up on high was the best way to fly :-) I mean seriously, when compared to a cramped helm of our older express boats, the ability to see all around literally gave us a whole new perspective. And a much higher one, too!

A way up high flybridge. I love it!

 I'll never forget the first time we drove it home along the Severn River after the voyage from Michigan, through Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. Now that we were back to more familiar waters, Anchor Girl was all of the sudden noticing buildings along the shoreline that, at this point, were brand new to her. At one spot, she actually asked me about a couple of the cottages along the shoreline when I told her they had been there every other time we had previously ventured this way, only she had never noticed them on the old boat. That was funny.

 If you ever get tired of the confined helm view found in many express style boats, then the cure just might be moving to a Sedan Bridge. Climb up to the flybridge to survey all that lies around you. You’ll feel like you have truly made it to the top :-)

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 :-)

 

 

 

iPhone as a Video Camera?

 As you have already figured out, my next favorite thing to boating is capturing our fun and adventures on video - and sharing them with the world :-) Well, to achieve better and better video quality over the years, I have continued to upgrade to better and better cameras. Well, what a pleasant discovery it was to realize how good the camera is on my iPhone 4!

Lake sunset taken with my iPhone 4. Pretty nice quality, I'd say.

 I am blown away by the quality of both the still photos and video capture from this compact camera. Couple that with the recently upgraded YouTube Capture app and I now have a DSLR quality solution for on the fly production, all at point & shoot price - plus it's always with me!
Camera shake on the video side is a bit of an issue for hand held (on the fly) capturing, but the YouTube app now corrects that while rendering. Basic video editing is now built in to the app as well with the ability to cut and join different clips. And again, it's all on the phone!! Brilliant :-)

 Will this replace my other cameras? No, but it does make a great companion unit. Especially for those times when we are out and about and it's the only camera at hand. Hey, never know when the mood is gonna strike. For filming, that is . . .

 Makes me wonder if there's anyone who still only uses their phones for simply calling people any more?

Boat Cruise on The Trent Severn Waterway - Overnight at Rosedale

In the autumn of 2012, we were shocked and somewhat dismayed by the frightening water level drops in Georgian Bay/Lake Huron and feared we would not be able to take the boat up there during the the following summer. Having had the good fortune of spending three weeks each summer up on 'The Bay for the previous five seasons, we were starting to consider heading 'down east' along the Trent Severn Waterway (TSW) once again.

 Considering that our 2013 summer holiday plans came from a sort of last resort type of approach, I thought that this would end up turning out to be basically a shrug when asked how it was. Far from it! This turned turned out being a great decision, as we not only got to revisit ares we hadn't seen in a number of years, but it actually ended up being like a first time experience in many ways.

'Boogaboo IV' tied up at the bottom of Rosedale Lock for a couple of nights.

 In the past, and with only one exception, we had stayed exclusively at marinas for all of our overnight stops. This year, we got a season's mooring pass which allowed us to spend limitless days/nights at the locks along the way. Sure, we had been by and driven through all the locks all the way to Trenton (Mile '0' of the TSW) but now that we were stopping and spending a day or two at each lock, it was like the a whole new world.

Setting up the BBQ grille on a picnic table beside the boat.

 Lock # 35 at Rosedale is a perfect example. When approaching from the east and simply focusing on getting the boat through the lock, one has little time to actually survey the surrounding grounds. Couple that with thew fact that this lock has the second lowest 'lift' (just a little over three feet) the boat is down (or up) and through in no time at all. Stop for awhile and discover that Rosedale has probably one of the biggest park areas of any of the locks!

  When we were siting at the back of the boat on the first morning here, I noticed something in the distance that looked like a very large snake poking it's head up out of the water amongst some Lilly pads, so we walked over for a closer inspection.

Scouting the Lilly pads for a large snake or turtle.

 We stared into the water, waiting for movement from what I thought for sure was the head of either a large snake or turtle, but it just seemed to float motionless. I suspected that whatever it was, it was waiting for something tasty to float or fly by, within striking range. Of course, at the point I was pretty much on my own, as Anchor Girl was too scared to get too close to it.
 After studying this close up, zoomed in photo, I surmised that it was nothing more than an oddly rolled up leaf from the Lilly plants, arranged to look like an animal's head. Tell me I'm seeing that and we weren't going crazy ;-)

Snake, turtle of oddly shaped leaf??

 As I mentioned, the grounds are quite expansive, larger than any other lock we've stayed at in the past. Our second evening there brought an opportunity to wander around in the (windy) sunshine and capture some nice shots with the boats in the background.

 This is at the top side of the lock. Always a popular spot for overnight boaters, one has to time their arrival just right - or be lucky - to grab a spot on the tie up walls.

A full house of boats tied up along the top side of the Rosedale Lock.

 Looking back eastward, towards the lock and lower tie up / blue line walls;

Rosedale Lock along the Trent Severn Waterway.

 Not quite a sunset, but an interesting shot of the sun's rays shooting out around this quickly passing cloud, right above the lock chamber;

Another windy day, with quickly passing clouds at Lock #35

 Here's a nice pic of 'Boogaboo' and our home for two days. As I mentioned, this is a very popular lock for overnight boats, and we had to squeeze into the corner between the lower entrance of the lock and the blue line. We just fit too, as the lockmaster didn't want us withing the blue line area or having the bow stick out beyond the entrance to the lock. It took a bit of creative tying of the boat, but we got it, with a whole three or four inches to spare ;-)

'Boogaboo IV' snugly tied up at the bottom of the Rosedale Lock.

 

 They say that parting is such sweet sorrow, but our next destination would be even more fun, as we leave Rosedale for a short hop across Cameron Lake and the village of Fenelon Falls.

Pulling away from Lock #35 at Rosedale, Ontario.

 Up next, a wonderful time - and spectacular sunsets - in Fenelon Falls!

:-)