I have been very nervous about this day since the girls suggested this particular excursion. Not because I didn’t want to, but because every since I demolished the prop on day 5, I have been overly cautious on the lake.
I had downloaded some marine navigation maps to my phone. I had also finally found a paper map that covered this specific are of islands. I had stated that unless I found a map, I would not do this trip because after seeing the area mapped out on the walls of stores and marina’s in the area, this wasn’t a trek to take lightly. First of all, this was a much larger body of water. Yes the inner banks were covered with islands and countless other obstacles that created a bit of a shield from the vast open waters between here and Tobermory.
Rather than make our own lunches for the day trip, we stopped at the gas station in Pointe Au Baril for their yummy homemade sandwiches for our maiden voyage on Georgian Bay. They are a favorite quick go-to for our family but when we attempted to purchase some earlier in our vacation, they were sold out.
I didn’t know where the ideal place to launch into the water for our little adventure was, so Beacon Marine it was. Desmasdon’s looks like a nice spot full of activity to leave port from, but it’s so busy and being a novice boat launcher, I don’t do well with lots of eyes on me trying to back in a trailer. It wasn’t any cheaper though at $45 with taxes for the in and out charge. I didn’t understand the out charge. We likely wouldn’t be back until they were closed anyway. They also said that if we were back after 5 PM, they would have a chain across the boat launch but that they wouldn’t close the lock. They asked if we would lock it after we left though. Seemed fair enough.
The Beacon on South Shore Road is not an ideal spot to launch for the novice as you end up in the middle of the road while trying to straighten the trailer out enough to back into the water. At least I have to anyway. It meant waving many people by as I found just the right angle to complete the task.
I got the boat in the water and the crew helped secure it to the dock and load all of our supplies. Me and Finny went in search of a parking spot where they had suggested, but I ended up in another section that would be locked after hours so I had to actually hand lift the trailer a bit to get out of my jack-knifed predicament. I did eventually find a spot to hide the trailer and van, but it’s another reason why this isn’t an ideal launching spot. I didn’t see any other vehicles with their trailer hooked to their vehicle so most – if not all – of these crafts must have been seasonal.
We crawled through the inlet at a snail’s pace, finally opening it up a bit as we cleared the slow zone and into Georgian Bay. The sights were stunning and these waterways were certainly more populated than our lake – given that it was windier than yesterday’s predictions stated and more overcast than promised.
Emma had the paper map in the bow, and Tara had Google Maps on her phone and the Aqua Marine map open on my phone, as I nervously followed their lead. Not that I didn’t trust them, but neither of them had looked at these maps until we were already moving through the channel leading out into the intimidating open bay. At one point about 20 minutes into our trip, I stopped the boat, we anchored, and we all argued as to what islands surrounded us. I don’t think my app was updating the direction we were facing, and Emma may have had the map upside down for a few moments, but she was doing great finding the markers in the water that matched her map.
After a wrong turn that put is in a long stretch of open water and waves that our boat handled well but that we didn’t need to be manoeuvring, we got ourselves turned back around thanks to the kids recognizing the shipwreck marker a little bit back from where we came from. The girls had all been through here before. Last year, we met up with some friends that have a spot in Skerryvore, who took us out for the day. Their son took the ladies to the Hole In The Wall – our destination for the day – while the men and the pooches stayed back, swam, and caught up a bit. We used to be band mates but life get’s in the way of these pleasures sometimes.
Finally, we found ourselves in a small bay next to a couple of other anchored boats. One was slightly larger than ours and one was a mini cruise ship. My app showed my Hole In The Wall marker right next to us, but I couldn’t see it. Turns out, there was an opening with large rock cliffs on either side and a narrow passage for one boat to pass through it, that I was going to have to take us through to get to the beach on the other side. Fvck.
I found the courage, asked Abby to sound our air horn so that boaters knew we were on our way through, but just before we entered the passage, I spotted another boat on the other side. It was hard to tell if they were just sitting there or not, so I circled back a few times and sure enough, they came out a few moments later. Maybe they were waiting for us to pass since we did signal that we were coming, but I was in no rush. All that I could think about was the sound of my propeller catching rock and the engine not shutting off every time we approached anything that remotely resembled shallow waters.
It turns out the water through the Hole In The Wall passage is quite deep so it wasn’t any trouble passing through it. Beaching our boat for the first time that was really the issue. My stress level at this time was so high – as was Emma’s who was basically in charge of navigation, that there was a bit of a blow up as we offloaded the crew onto the beach, but an hour enjoying the soft sands, throwing sticks for Finny, and searching for rocks and other cool finds under the water, helped cool the stress of a long, wavy, journey. Well, according to the map, we made it a long ride.
Once we settled, we met a dog named Layla. She was an older Corgi who once you threw her ball, she was your best friend. Finnegan loved it too because there isn’t any sand where we cottage so he was frolicking along like he’d never been in the water before.
The girls weren’t ready to leave, but I wanted to get the boat back into our lake before the storm hit around 7. Who knew how long the trip back would take us, and I also wanted to account for any unforeseen issues back at the Beacon marina. I had also had a thought come to me about what the Beacon staff said to me about the boat ramp lock. It suddenly occurred to me, ‘What if someone else is late and locks it before we get back?’ Trust your intuition. Too bad mine is sometimes late to the party.
The ride through the last mile into the marina wasn’t without its challenges. There were many boats coming in at the same time so if waves weren’t coming from the sides, you were stuck in the wake of the boat in front. Some boats were cruising at a slow pace like us, and others were barrelling through with little kids laughing their faces off at launching across the waves.
Given our luck, another boat ahead of us was docking along the same dock line where the boat ramp was so we had to go extra slow, but it wasn’t a huge problem at the end of the day. It was just nice to be back in the inlet, safe from our day’s adventure.
The chain was across the boat ramp as promised. It was just after 5 so we were right to be wary of making it back before the marina closed. After getting off the boat, I looked at the locks and as worry warned me, they were both locked. I tried calling the number on the side of the marina. No answer. Fvck.
Another boater who was just about to take his pontoon across the way to Desmasdon’s to be serviced, suggested that we could likely just slip our trailer and van under the chain to retrieve our boat. He was likely right. It did come to mind, but this wasn’t an ideal end to an otherwise nice day on the bay.
I had the pool noodle peaces I had cut up back at home the day we were leaving, so that the boat cover didn’t rip on the windshield and as it turned out, they fit onto the chain nicely so that it didn’t scratch the top of the van as it passed over it. The chain actually landed just on the other side of the antenna towards the front end. The only snag we ended up having after the antenna, was the ski poles but otherwise, it was smooth sailing. We felt better prepared for further boat theft after our little covert operation.
To celebrate our achievement, we stopped at the burger joint at the gas station on Highway 69 in Pointe Au Baril for the best fries. I also got a hot dog to share with Finny who was a good boy on our excursion.
Launching the boat back into our marina was quick, given the struggles Tara and I had backing the empty trailer into the water on our way out of our lake. It must have been quite a gas for the marina staff all taking a break on the porch of the marina store, watching us struggle; Tara first, and then me.
The first thing I did after I parked the boat on our dock, was open a beer. That was a stressful day, but another wonderful sense of achievement. The rain also held off until much later in the evening so we were able to relax around the fire much longer to reflect on a great day.