Beausoleil Island: Nature at its finest

We boated to beautiful Beausoleil Island

Beausoleil Island

this past weekend. In fact, that’s the only way to visit whether you arrive by water taxi or by personal watercraft…there were 20-40 foot power boats and sailboats, trawlers, fishing boats, Zodiacs, Sea Doos and more.

Parks Canada Welcome Centre

It was a dream of mine for 15 years.

Beautiful docks at Beausoleil Island.

Abby is waiting patiently while we set up. This is the view from the tent. Swampy shoreline.

We docked, helped to set up our campsite

Our campsite. We moved the next day to a beach site and were happy we did.

and had a great dinner cooked on a grill over a wood fire. No one was camped nearby. We greeted fellow campers that passed by. They were visiting from around the world and we had polite conversations. Dutch, french, german, chinese, japanese and languages I could not identify were spoken throughout the weekend. We enjoyed the full moon and stars that looked so close, you could almost touch them.

Fireworks at Penetanguishene, ON

Did I mention the fireworks? We could see them from our dock but we think they were displayed from Penetanguishine (6-10 nautical miles away).

The next morning, while husband Kevin percolated coffee

On the Beach at Cedar Spring

on shore, I admired a merganser…they move their heads like chickens and I spied a snake swimming

Watched as a water snake swam below our boat. Yikes. Then a very loud merganser swam by.

along the bottom of the Bay; it would come up for air and swim under. Hmmm…water snakes swam in and around our boat all weekend. I wondered what would stop them from finding their way up and into our boat? A family docked next to us attracted this particular snake. It was disturbing to watch it swim at them as they quickly pulled themselves onto their rafts. The snake swam away only to come back at them. They left the island. BTW, according to a well-informed Park Ranger…these snakes have a mild anticoagulant meaning once they bite their prey, they just follow it until it bleeds out, and then they eat it. If it bites a human, though harmless, it hurts like a son of a gun, and you bleed for a very long time!

Meanwhile, did you know boaters can stay the night in the Bay by dropping their anchor?

Early Saturday morning, July 4th. Happy Independence Day to our American friends.

Let me preface this by the fact 99% of the people docking are great. They’re laughing, swimming, doing their own thing…but as Saturday night wore on, one guy was infatuated with the F word. I have never heard it yelled out as much as this one night. Saying he was intoxicated is understating his condition. He said a sentence with the F word and strung it along with a few other chosen swear words that I’m still trying to forget, never to be repeated. Nearby 3 boats were rafted and they started to swear back at the rowdy group of boaters. Of course, my instincts were to listen to make sure he did not hurt himself, or other boaters. That’s just my nature.

Did I mention the beauty of Beausoleil Island?

Beautiful morning on Beausoleil Island. No one else is up and about. So serene.

It really is a great place to camp as Justin, his friend Kevin, and dog Abby would attest to. Beausoleil has great hiking trails and flushing toilets! with sensors. Wait….this is not Algonquin Park. However, if you are looking for the call of the loon, you must listen late at night and early in the morning, because that’s when you’ll hear them. All in all, we feel we were initiated into boating life on Georgian Bay. Next stop, more secluded docking in search of the beautiful local wildlife.

Time to leave. Very busy now.

Oh, and one last thing. While loading up our boat (I was alone waiting for more gear to pack away) a group of boaters on the dock were jumping around and all excited. Next, the Park Ranger appears, and confirms, “Yes, it’s a water snake!” It had, indeed, crawled onto the dock and scurried around the boats. One elderly man stomped at it and the snake threw itself into the water, with a huge splash! I watched it. Apparently, the snakes I had seen were the babies. This was the Mother and she was angry the boaters were too close to her nest! We often forget, that we are intruding on their natural habitat. On our last morning, while I percolated the coffee, two very young boys were exploring the beach. The older boy, around 7, (from NY) ran over to wash his hands in the swampy water (this is where the snakes hang out most). I asked him to not to do this please and pointed him in the direction of the washrooms. There are 6 venomous snakes and bears on Beausoleil Island. In our 13 years of boating, we have learned to be informed. Respect nature and it’ll respect you! Enjoy your summer Everyone!