Once
settled into our slip at Bay Port positioned in ‘outer-Mongolia,’ we realized
that we’re not in the town proper of Midland, ON, but rather in a suburb of
sorts called Sunnyside (sounds like a run in Park City). I was confident that
we’d make good use of our folding bicycles which have not had their wheels
touch land in riding mode during 2016. Note: We had them overhauled in
Waterford, NY, when we observed at least one deflated tire so they should be
good and ready! We off-loaded the bikes and went for a test ride—straight to
the <40’ pool where I wanted to test my shoulder repair from early December,
2015. It hasn’t been an easy rehab by a long shot, so I was curious as to just
what the joint could handle. I’ve proven it can handle locks!
Six
lengths (wow) in chilly water coupled with a roundtrip bike ride has us back to
the slip in time to rev up some balsamic chicken leftovers (thank goodness for
our rather spacious freezer) for dinner after which we spent the remainder of
the evening posting lift-lock and chute-railway-lock videos on Facebook so all
of you could further enjoy our journey. Almost like being here with us!
Saturday
morning we followed the prescribed short route to downtown on our morning walk
which was almost 80 minutes in duration roundtrip. The Simcoe County Trail
signage confirmed the fact we’re still in said county, and we were very
thankful for the finished asphalt surface covering this neck of the woods; our
biking skills on these folding bikes need all the help they can get for safe
travel! Clay and I both find balancing our ‘funky’ bikes more challenging than
our regular bikes. I worked on some desk work requiring uninterrupted
concentration while Clay hailed a taxi (he quickly found the shortcut via
various docks to the office where the hailing took place) and went to tour the
Keewatin, a turn-of-the-century lake steamer owned by the Canadian Railway
which has been preserved and opened to tourists. The Keewatin was built at the
same time and by the same shipyard as the Titanic. Clay’s interest was
furthered by the fact that the Keewatin was owned by the Peterson family, the
same family who built the Mary A (River Queen houseboat).
I
enjoyed a delightful ‘me’ day, first biking to downtown where I found the
downtown grocery store for a bit of provisioning, then returned to stow
purchases and head to the pool for an attempt at eight lengths (wow). Clay
joined me at the pool where, among other things, we discussed dinner options.
We had earlier tried and failed to obtain reservations at the Trip-Advisor-highly-rated
Boathouse Eatery, so had to come up with plan b. No worries, we knew we
wouldn’t starve as I found our go-to emergency pizza freezer-stashed along with
miscellaneous pieces of restaurant-purchased leftover slices.
Following
a Sunday morning ‘big’ breakfast of eggs, toast and fruit (sound like all we do
is eat), we mounted our bikes and found our way to Little Lake Park where day
two of Watercross Races were the draw. I didn’t know what ‘watercross’ was, but
quickly discovered snow mobiles modified for water travel racing in laps around
a defined course on Little Lake. We had arrived for the big race event, and I
coincidentally struck up conversation with a knowledgeable gal whose brother
was racing. As he ended the race, rather than running up onto the sand
(preferred method of stopping), he came to a dead stop about 30’ offshore,
sinking himself and his mobile. When my friend asked her brother what happened,
he replied, “I took my hand off the throttle. Quickest way to sink the ‘boat.’”
How much we were learning! We continued to watch the racers start, stop, purge
water from sunken mobiles, etc. A fun way to spend Sunday afternoon, we mingled
among the masses gathered in the park, enjoying the races and lunching on snack
bar food.
Biking
back by way of Valu-Mart (downtown grocery store), we purchased that which we
could carry and arrived back to Bay Port just in time for an abruptly-called
Georgian Bay meeting for the Loopers in port. Two-plus hours later we emerged
bleary-eyed and stunned from TMI, but well-prepared for our upcoming travel.
Thank you, Scott, for sharing your expertise and highlighting our nav charts
for us!
‘The
thirty thousand islands of Georgian Bay stretch over a hundred miles offering
the boater hundreds of anchorages and tantalizing fragments of the past. The
appeal of these islands (and there are probably twice as many as the name
implies) comes from their geological character, from the purity of the water
and air, and from the fact that generations of men and women have worked and
played among them.’ Travelers’ accounts often associate sudden, violent storms
with Georgian Bay. The bare rocky islands are threatening when strong
westerlies drive spray over them. But the maze-like appearance of the islands,
which makes navigation challenging, has passages that provide shelter from the
storm and hollows filled with blueberries. We had much to look forward to!
Another
bike ride took us to the Boathouse Eatery for dinner; when unable to get
Saturday night reservations, I had booked Sunday night at this ‘popular dining
spot with a spectacular view of Georgian Bay located at the Town Docks of
Midland.’
Monday
morning Bay Port’s Tomo arrived to transact the routine maintenance on our port
and starboard engines while, later morning, Rene arrived to trouble-shoot the
generator problem. Leaving the menfolk to handle the boat issues, I decided I
needed the one-stop shopping fix offered by Wal-Mart, a hearty 5.4 km from Bay
Port Marina. I was good to go, donning a backpack, waistpack, and carrying a
trio of bungee cords, a shopping list and a bike lock. Memories of the
Baltimore bike theft were far too fresh to risk leaving the bike unlocked.
My
Wal-Mart expedition was an exercise in estimation as to exactly how much I
could transport back to the boat. I’m sure I maxed out my load, strapping a
package onto the back fender rack and another on my back. I can’t resist fresh
produce when given the opportunity, so I started my shopping there, but added a
select few items before checking out. I was unable to find the 8.5 x 11” boat
card sleeves which necessitated an additional roundtrip from the marina to
Staples, 3.8 km away in the opposite direction. My but I’m getting a good
orientation to Midland! And, I logged a cool 18.4 km or 8.4 miles on my bike
this day.
Between
trip A and trip B, I got an update from Clay as to Rene’s findings which were
incomplete but not looking good. As it turned out, we had lost a leg of the
generator (I’m learning far more about these topics than I’d ever planned)
which was not repairable without a major overhaul requiring a considerable
investment of time. Rene rigged the generator to enable us to continue our
journey (gen will charge SaSea’s batteries), but disables the hot water heater,
AC, oven and stove while at anchor. And, of course, Georgian Bay offers a
multitude of beautiful anchorages and a minimum of marinas. Life is an
adventure!
We
took Tuesday in port to plan for this change of plans, deviating on our morning
walk to the downtown home improvement store (much like a large Ace Hardware) to
look for a hot plate. Don’t know if credit goes to the captain or first mate
for this idea, but ‘necessity is the mother of invention.’ We were shopping for
quality on the cheap, so the latest and greatest in induction hot plates at a
cool $189.99 held little interest! Nor did a quartet of hot plates packaged in
a box of considerable size which would probably add a taxi ride to the cost
which wasn’t cheap. With both Wal-Mart and Canadian Tire accessible by bike, we
researched possibilities at both; I opted for the latter at +$2 but a lesser
distance on bike with an uphill climb to CA Tire (23 min) and all downhill coming
back (15 min).
Additional
tasks on Tuesday were launching the dinghy to make sure its performance was up
to par (we anticipated using the dinghy a lot); dropping and retrieving the
anchor for same purpose (ditto on use); purchasing a few menu items doable in
the microwave (baked potatoes for example); restocking Clay’s beer supply (Joe,
you and he made a dent); gassing the dinghy; defrosting the freezer; and
finally a swim in the pool. Almost all of these tasks hold a story, but suffice
to say we had a delightful day with lunch by dinghy at fabulous downtown Dino’s
Deli (Clay’s comment, “If I were younger, I’d franchise one of these.”);
purchase of two 24-packs of Bud Light rolled out of backroom storage on a
conveyor belt, each of which came in a backpack, all for a cool $81+ Canadian
(we were told the backpacks were ‘free,’ a current Budweiser promo); and twelve
lengths (wow) in the marina pool.
Fueled
and pumped out Wednesday late morning, we mastered our first full day on
Georgian Bay to anchor at King Bay. We set anchor short of our destination of
Wani Bay because of storm clouds which threatened our courage at going farther;
when we compared Wani Bay to King Bay for anchoring specs, we found King Bay to
have the edge. So down went the anchor and up propped our feet, happy to relax
after about four hours of navigating. Clay had his usual and customary chart
plotter loaded with the Canadian charts of Georgian Bay. But I was shuffling
between two sets of charts, trying to get a grip! Ah, the deep breath of sweet
success having met the challenge of avoiding rocks. We were hoping for more
days like these.
So,
as we end our first ‘full’ day of travel on the Georgian Bay, I close my email
to you and open my eyes and ears to the teachings of Clay with subject of
generator limitations operating on one leg. (At least it’s the generator
operating on one leg and not one of us!)
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