A Few More Days

More hiking: Bob and Warren stop to check out the root ball of a fallen tree.

Hiking along the rocky shore at  Lost  Bay 

We had a productive couple of days at home and drove back to "our" marina in Penetang last Thursday morning. We left Toronto at 7:20 a.m. and by 1:00 pm we had dropped the hook  at
Lost Bay: another of the anchorages on Beausoleil Island. That seemed like quick time to go from home to a lovely little cove surrounded by trees, the usual rock :-) and clear water. The Goodyears joined us there and we wasted no time in getting caught up on all that had happened since we were last together.

The Lost Bay anchorage was one of the nicest we've been in: it was very pretty, the water was warm for swimming and we were close to more of the Beausoleil hiking trails that we'd sampled a couple of weeks before. By Saturday, there were 7 boats anchored so even though the anchorage is small, still not a lot of boats for a Labour Day weekend. One fellow who was walking his dog on shore told me that the number of boats on the water this year in the Bay was down considerably. We'd heard the same thing while in the North Channel. This has been a cooler summer and the low water level at the beginning of the season may have put some boaters off (?) (Currently the water level is  above datum.)

 

Massasauga Rattlesnake on the path: 
very poisonous but also very shy - this one slithered away
while we were taking pictures but not before shaking its rattler
and making us all jump.

The only flies in the anchorage "ointment" were two power boats rafted together close to both Sea Change and Sand Castle that ran generators for several hours each day. Bob asked at one point if the generator of the bigger boat would be going off soon (this was just after dinner) and the reply was - maybe not until movies ending at 11:00. I guess we're a little naive: we keep expecting more awareness of others in these small spaces but that doesn't to be the norm. At least - that's been our experience so far.

We left the Goodyears at Lost Bay yesterday and sailed to 3 islands clustered together in the south part of the Bay - Beckwith, Christian and Hope. Our preference would have been to anchor at Hope - the Goodyears had been there earlier in the week and had good things to say but the direction of wind and coming rain and storms dictated that we choose Beckwith.  Since the islands are within striking distance of Midland and Penetang, this is where the weekend party people were. It was to be expected. Bob spent most of the afternoon watching the the goings on. Someone had a "Flyboard" - a short fat board you stand on which is attached by tube to a Seadoo. Jets of water shoot out the bottom of the board and push the person up several feet in the air. We weren't sure who controlled the height (probably the person on the Seadoo) but it was amusing to watch someone wheeling about in the air, now higher up, now lower, now tumbling into the water and the accompanying screams, yells and laughter. There were several rafts of boats, some quiet and some extremely noisy - but as dark approached a number of boats left and with the rising wind and cooling temps, the anchorage became blessedly still. I guess this emphasis on "quiet" goes along with our age (or so I heard it said on a radio talk show). We do like to sit in a quietly peaceful space!

We're back at the marina. The weather is not good. We'll return to anchor at Hope Island tomorrow or the next day if the weather improves but otherwise - this may be it for our summer sailing in Georgian Bay! We want to get to work on the boat - get it ready for the winter - have it taken out of the water - wax the hull and get the cover on before the weather turns cold. We'll do some research and planning this winter for another summer of sailing in the Bay and for a return trip to the North Channel. This will likely be my last post to the blog.

Sunset at Cedar Springs, Beausoleil Island

..... to be continued, June of 2014.