#2: [15-Jun-02]

09-Jun-2002 -- I had been waiting all winter to visit this confluence. It turned out that I had been here several times before I even knew what a confluence was. This confluence lay only a few meters off a route I had created and traveled in my boat from the Moon River to southern tip of Georgian Bay. I learned about this site while searching for info on GPSrs. Most of confluences in S. Ontario had already been visited but I immediately focused on 'marine' confluneces. When I entered the coords for this confluence and overlaid on other routes and waypoints, I was surprised to realize that it was only a few hundred feet from not only a boat route but also from a rock I had marked to avoid. I eagerly spent the next few months waiting for ice-out as I knew where my first trip would take me.

The day had finally come. Between bad weather and other responsibilities, it seemed to take forever before I had an opportunity to visit this confluence. Finally, on June 09th, a good friend of mine and his two daughters launched the boat from Midland and headed up the coast. Despite the fact the water was almost glass, I did not anticipate how hard it would be to maneuver the boat to the precise coordinates. The lack of agility of a boat a slow speeds combined with it's own momentum forced me to make several attempts before actually hitting the 'X'. After taking a few snapshots, I decided to brave the water for a quick dip before making lunch.

A few days later, when we developed the film, I was devastated to find that the pictures of the GPS did not turn out. I was not about to let this stop me however from claiming 'the rights' to this confluence. A couple of days later, my wife and I and our twin nephews once again 'set sail' from Midland. The weather was much warmer and brighter this time around but the wind was also picking up too. I anticipated a very difficult time zeroing on the confluence. Using the electric motor, we crossed the confluence and snapped a shot of the GPSr - this time with the shutter speed good and high. To be sure, we did this several times as the drift was quick and only time to take one shot before we were several feet away. I was hoping for no decimal places on the GPSr, but I'll settle for a tenth of a second.

Fellow boaters know of the indescribable beauty of this area and of it's many hidden perils. We truly enjoyed ourselves on this journey and I'm looking forward to 'claiming' another marine conflunece in the future.

In the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron, about 400 m from some islets.