CruiseGeorgianBay.com
is by boaters and for boaters. It exists to celebrate and share
our passions with boating in all its' forms: paddling, sailing
and motoring. In addition, it exists for the love of what boating
allows us to access - the outdoors: fresh air, clean water,
untouched beaches and under-explored trails. In Georgian Bay,
and in Ontario in general, these places abound, thankfully still.
Like the bay itself, this website will constantly ebb and flow.
The initial information you'll find on this site is the combined
result of our family's voyages as well as the many years of
experience that other boaters so eagerly shared with us as we
pulled into a new port. Out came the charts, in answer to my
queries, and a friendly game of one-upmanship would develop
as berth neighbours displayed their knowledge of their bay -
"the greatest place on earth to boat".
We know that this initial content isn't but a drop in the bilge
compared to what is out there in the minds of fellow boaters.
But we had to start somewhere. Our travels taught us several
things. Number one: boaters love the water and the liveaboard
lifestyle that it invites – even if it is just for a day or
the weekend. Whether it is to escape from everyone, or to raft
up and swap stories into the wee hours under a blanket of stars,
boating offers a quality of life that is the envy of many. Number
two: despite how they may express it, and I've heard many versions
of this, boaters have a common wish: to pass onto their kids
the ability to live this same lifestyle. Just listen to their
conversations and you'll hear them debate environmental issues
just as passionately as they debate which manufacturer builds
a better boat. Number three: in every boater lives both a storyteller,
and a child. We all love to have stories told to us, and we
all love to tell them. Cruise Georgian Bay.com promotes all
three of these ideas within the context of a thing called balance.
We must find a way to equalize the impact that this gloriously
beautiful place has on us, with the impact which, by virtue
of our continued visits, we have on it. As Grey Owl wrote: "We
belong to nature, not it to us." |
Thoreau's famous
quote "In nature lies the preservation of the world" is now,
in this new millennium, more potent a sentiment than ever.
So, it may seem that the action of posting cruises to well known,
and more importantly, to less known places, on, of all things
the internet, would be counterproductive to the notion of reducing
our impact on the sixth great lake. The more people know about
a place, the more people will visit and the less unspoiled it
will become. Perhaps. Or one could view it as Bill Mason (Canada's
well known canoeist and environmentalist) did arguing in his
many books that the more people you tell, the more will visit
and have the beauty of these places impact on them. Then they
will care that progress and development are impacting on a place
they consider to be theirs, and will actively participate in
the balanced discussions surrounding it's future. By spreading
the existing (and increasing) boating traffic out over a wider
area we accomplish two things. First, we reduce our impact on
the existing anchorages and bays thus allowing nature to do
what she does so well - recover - only now faster. We also increase
her impact on more of us. We become stewards of the bay and
it's eco-system. We begin, again, to participate in it's continued
existence as an integral part of it rather than considering
ourselves to be outside the great circle of life.
So, in a word, welcome ! Please enjoy what's here. The many
folks who shared their favourite cruises in an effort to get
this site up invite you to share yours with them. Of course,
if you know how to reattach a yellow widget, or just happen
to have the best recipe for BBQ sauce this side of Texas, that'd
be good too!. Drop into our advertisers and thank them for their
support in launching this site. Please e-mail me with your comments
and suggestions for improvements or additions. Georgian Bay
is out there for all to enjoy. Please respect the places in
these cruises as the gift from a fellow boater that they are.
"We ALL live downwind, we ALL live downstream."
Welcome; enjoy; participate; and come back soon.
info@cruisegeorgianbay.com |
