Posted by Adam Quinan on October 03, 2010 at 11:46:37 user Adam.
No, not a new Nancy curse but a brief explanation of my weekend. I went for what will probably be my last sail of the all to brief Canadian sailing season on Saturday. I keep my boat in Penetanguishene on the south east corner of Georgian Bay. The bay has a long narrow inlet opening on to an almost landlocked stretch of water sheltered by Beausoleil Island to the north.
There was a chilly north wind so I motored out to the open water (tacking up the busy narrow bay is not recommended). I then sailed around for a couple of hours. While doing this I encountered several small groups of Great Northern Divers (known around here as Common Loons). They are migrating south at this time of year and some were undoubtedly grown up chicks from this years eggs. Normally they avoid such open and well trafficked waters nesting on smaller quieter lakes so we don't see them during most of the summer.
Later as I headed back down the bay to my mooring, I was able to use the Leading Lights set up on the beach at the end of the bay to guide boats safely past the shallows on either side of the deep passage. Normally the lights are not easy to see in daylight, but as it was a bit overcast and gloomy yesterday, they shone out nicely.