Moving On

After nine years in our current marina, we have decided to move our boat to another spot. As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I had a fateful meeting during our Labour Day Weekend adventure which ultimately led to our decision as to where we would be moving.

For some time, my wife & I had been considering the possibility of moving to a new marina, with that plan being more acute over the past couple of months. As we travel to quite a few different marinas every summer, it's become clear that there are better options available. The only thing that had been keeping us in our current spot was the close proximity to home. That 'benefit' was no longer a deciding factor, as we figured that having to drive a bit by car to get to the boat and back was better than putting up with what could be described as as a rapidly deteriorating parking spot. And that goes for the whole picture - putting it mildly. Any ways, no point in being bitter about it - nobody had a gun to our heads. . . Let's get back to the 'fun' part of the story :-)

The fateful meeting I spoke of came about while we were down bound in the Swift Rapids Lock (#43). It was a full load of boats and one had to raft off of our starboard side. Just so happens the boat in question was a Sea Ray & the skipper & I quickly struck up a conversation about our boats (he was interested in ours, as he had his eye on buying a 30' Sundancer). That led to where we were boating to and from, when I told him that we were in the market for a new slip to call home.

Telling me about his home port in Pefferlaw, on the south west side of Lake Simcoe, I recalled driving there by car once a few years back and not being too impressed. I must have been in a hurry, or blind, or just too dumb to drive through the whole joint, as it turned out to be much larger than I had initially seen. At the end of the long weekend, when we got back to our marina, we talked about it with another couple there. Most of our fellow boaters knew how frustrated we were with the accommodations (or lack thereof) there and that we were looking to move, so it was suggested we take a trip to this new location the following weekend and spend the Saturday night to scout it out. So we did. I took this picture when we arrived there.

Guess what? We were sold. It only took my wife about an hour to say 'Let's do it - let's take a slip here'. I needed about another hour to come to the same conclusion. That night, we joined in with a bunch of 'locals' to sit around the fire, have a couple of drinks and find out a bit more about the place. Before too long, an Elvis tune came on the radio and before you could say 'Thank you very much', I was leading about 5 of us to a hearty version of I Can't Help Falling In Love. Yes, I think we'll fit in nicely!

So it's on to Everglades Marina . . . . . And I can't wait!!!!!!!!!