many East Indian and Chinese families from Toronto, who are so overwhelmed by the size of Georgian Bay, they often ask, “Is this salt water?” Summerbound offers a narrated cruise of Collingwood Harbour that celebrates the town’s maritime history, as well as other types of tours. The company’s 25-foot pontoon boat serves as a 360-degree platform to view the Escarpment and the Bay. “Our tours are very intimate and allow a dialogue and interaction with our guests,” he says. “People are the best part of our business.”
Visit... Explore... Shop...
Collingwood Charters is open from May 24 to Thanksgiving weekend. Ninetyminute tours of Collingwood Harbour run daily and cost $29.95 for adults, $27.95 for seniors, $24.95 for students/youth and $14.95 for children 4-12. Children under 3 are free. Other charters or tours are available. Reservations are recommended. Summerbound is open weekends until mid-June, then Friday – Sunday until Labour Day. A one-hour narrated tour of the Historic Collingwood Harbour is $25 per person. Ninety-minute sunset cruises are $35 per person. Reservations are required.
NOW IN THORNBURY (Municipal Parking Lot behind Bruce St.)
THORNBURY FISH LADDER Come watch the fish migration at the Thornbury Fishway Spring migration for Rainbow Trout and Fall migration for Chinook Salmon Located on the south side of the Beaver River Bridge in Thornbury Live video stream available at www.biotactic.com/bravo/index10.htm
MASTER STYLIST
~ AIR ~
It’s love at first sight. The plane, a Diamond DA40, is tiny – white and blue with long, graceful wings that spread out forever. It’s a four-seater and seems to be all windows, promising incredible sightlines once we are in the air. David Gascoine, pilot and president of Genesis Flight Centre, walks around the aircraft, checking off items on the safety checklist. After a few minutes, we’re ready to fly. We climb in – it’s a tight fit. I ask him how often he flies. “Never enough,” he says, explaining that he’s too busy looking after the business he started in 2013. “A day when I get to fly is always a good day.” It’s steamy outside – 30 degrees – and the cabin starts to heat up as Gascoine goes through more of his checklist. There’s no air conditioner because a compressor weighs over 100 pounds and having one aboard would mean sacrificing passenger space. “We’ll be fine once we’re in the air; there are plenty of air vents,” says Gascoine, before starting. It roars to life, and the small plane shudders as the propeller on the nose starts to whir.
COLOUR CORRECTION SPECIALISTS KERATIN SMOOTHING TREATMENT
RELOCATING TO COLLINGWOOD EARLY SEPTEMBER 16 BRUCE STREET N. UNIT 2 THORNBURY 226.665.4569
SHARE THE ROAD
Hands trembling, I take hold of what looks like a video game joystick and move it to the right to have the plane bank over the Bay. After a few manoeuvres, I start to get the hang of it.
www.thebluemountains.ca We put on noise-cancelling Bose headphones, and the sound of the engine is gone, replaced by airport chatter on the radio and Gascoine’s voice as he points to the instrument screens and gauges in front of us: altitude, attitude, speed, compass, GPS, map, oil and fuel, RPMs. Then we taxi to the end of the runway, turn around and start back down the same runway, this time picking up speed as we prepare to lift off into the wind. There’s no big thrust that pushes me back in my seat; just a ride so smooth, I barely realize when we leave the tarmac. As we rise to our cruising altitude, my ears plug and we experience turbulence that buffets the plane a bit. It’s a strange, weightless sensation. A wing dips slightly and the nose bumps up a bit, like the aircraft is a puppet being lightly manipulated by the wind. Yet I feel completely safe. Soon we’re cruising at 200 kilometres per hour 1,300 feet above the ground and
70
ON THE BAY
SUMMER 2016