PaBIA’s eBlast August 16, 2023

Aug 21, 2023 | Eblasts

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Volume 15 No. 23

Senior Regatta 2023 – What awesome weather! Thanks Mike Berton!

This past week has almost felt like fall…cooler temperatures and a bit of rain.

If you have an abandoned dock and wish to get it into the government dock at the Pointe au Baril Station, please read Cath Fairlie’s explanation so you are aware of all the logistics! It’s a great way to get rid of an abandoned dock without any cost to you, thanks to The Township!

There is an important update and request for an online survey that the GBA put out about the UHT (Underused Housing Tax). Plus, the SFN Pow Wow is coming up this weekend!

And for anyone who missed PaBIA’s AGM, the minutes are linked at the end.

Look for the Milky Way in our dark skies!
Many thanks to young Joe Hall for this time lapse video of the Milky Way here in PaB!

In this Eblast:

PaBIA

  • New PaBIA Contact Email for Secretary-Treasurer/PaBIA Office
  • Nature on the Bay – guest submitter, Sarah McCoy
  • Literally on the Bay – Mystery Novels
  • Abandoned Dock Clean Up Day – August 26, 2023
  • PaBIA Boater Coaching Class with Randy Johnson – Wednesday, August 23
  • PaBAR Sailing Race – Saturday August 19
  • PaBIA Marine Patrol week
  • UHT and Online Survey – Important Updated Info for Americans!

Of Interest:

Past Links

PaBIA

NEW PaBIA OFFICE Contact Info

PaBIA has a new email address moving forward for the PaBIA “Office”: [email protected].

This will be accessed by both Nancy Rogers and Elise Findlay as each will continue to share the Secretary-Treasurer role with the goal of having Elise take over completely by next year’s Annual Meeting. Personal emails for Nancy Rogers. Personal emails for Elise Findlay.

Abandoned Dock Clean Up Day – August 26, 2023

COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! 

Help us clean up the Bay!

The Township has agreed to waive disposal fees and help disassemble any abandoned docks that are delivered to the Pointe au Baril Station wharf on Saturday August 26. This is a great opportunity to remove unsightly and potentially dangerous abandoned or derelict docks on our shorelines. 

If you know of any abandoned docks, take a picture and talk with your neighbours to clarify the status of the docks. When it is clear that the dock is truly abandoned, this is a your opportunity to put together a volunteer work party and assist each other to remove the dock from our waterways.

NOTE: This is for abandoned docks only – it is not for cottagers to get rid of their old docks at the Township’s expense. The Township provides facilities at Site 9 to do so. 

If you have questions, please contact the PaBIA Marine Patrol.

Underused Housing Tax (UHT) Update for Americans AND Online Survey

The GBA has put out a clearer explanation about the Underused Housing Tax (UHT) (new 1% annual tax levied on the value of residential property owned by non-Canadians and some companies/trusts that is vacant or considered underused. The intention of this tax is to deter non-residents and some companies/trusts from passively investing in Canadian real estate and to make housing more available to Canadian residents.)

Please, all Americans please read more about what is being said about the UHT. The GBA is asking Americans to consider completing this online survey to help this campaign to exempt US property owners from the UHT.

Literally on the Bay

Book recommendations by Charlotte Stein, owner of Parry Sound Books

Edited by Janet Irving, Education Committee.

There is nothing – absolutely nothing – like reading a book on a summer’s day on Georgian Bay! This summer we suggest some books that are literally set on the Bay – or feel so much so that we just had to include them

THE INSPECTOR MAIGRET novels by GEORGES SIMENON are classic crime. Simenon wrote 75 novels and 28 short stories featuring Maigret, beginning with Pietr the Latvian. Read one and you’ll read them all, all summer long.

THE INSPECTOR BANKS novels by PETER ROBINSON begin with Gallows View and end with Standing in the Shadows. A book every year for 36 years until Peter Robinson’s untimely death in the fall of 2022. A very fine collection of work to read and re-read by a dedicated and respected Canadian author.

PABAR Scheduled for Saturday, August 19

The biggest sailing event of the year for the Pointe au Baril sailing community is the annual sailing regatta known as PABAR. This year, the first race starts at 11 a.m. in Shawanaga Bay just south of Turning Island, after which sailors moor their sailboats off anchored boats and are shuttled to shore for a picnic. Many thanks to the Bradshaws for use of their rocks and facilities for this event. The afternoon races are scheduled to start at 2:00 p.m.

Anyone with a serviceable sailboat and knowledge of racing rules who can make it to the start line on time can join the races. All kinds of sailboats from mono hulls to catamarans are welcome. There is no need to register in advance. Just sail past the Committee Boat and announce your presence.  Those joining a race for the first time this year may wish to review the race instructions available here for a refresher on how the races are conducted.

The PABAR awards dinner is scheduled to be held at the Ojibway Club starting at 6:00 p.m. that same day.  Those wishing to attend need to register by calling or emailing the club. We request that this be done early to give the club an indication of the numbers. 

Nature at the Bay

This week, the Education Committee welcomes Sarah McCoy to this space. Thank you for sharing your birding observations, photographs and expertise, Sarah.

Seagulls acting like swallows. Odd-looking caterpillars crawling across rocks, stuck in the water. Tent caterpillar nests that seem to deface trees. They are all as much a part of the season of abundance as our sweet blueberries. 

In late July at dusk, ring-billed gulls kept appearing above our island and nearby waters. Instead of cruising singly far and wide, heads down looking for food, they were clustered just above the island, turning sharply in figure-eights like swallows. They were determined and clearly after a particular invisible to me prey.

What the heck? They were acting like nighthawks or swallows, not seagulls. This is called “hawking,” says Aaron Rusak, Protected Areas Manager for Georgian Bay Land Trust. He speculates that they were after a kind of dragonfly, perhaps just hatched. The hawking only happens under particular circumstances. 

“There’s only a couple weeks where they’re doing it. It seems to correspond with the baskettail hatch.” Baskettails are a kind of dragonfly that takes to the wing around dusk. 

Songbirds change their behavior, too. Whatever birds usually eat, they switch to a diet heavy on caterpillars when the birds have nestlings to feed. Even songbirds like sparrows, usually seed eaters, find caterpillars when they’re feeding their babies. Those unsightly tangles of tent caterpillars are raising the next generation.

“Caterpillars are easy to process. There’s a lot of energy there, super dense, pure energy,” says Rusak. 

A Prince Baskettail Dragonfly perched on a pine tree branch.

Aaron Rusak, while on a walk on Georgian Bay, once saw about fifty seagulls coming out of the woods. Seagulls in the woods? What had they found? He doesn’t know. 

“You might not see these weird interactions see in Georgian Bay if you’re not paying attention to whole picture,” says Rusak. 

That’s the privilege of living close to nature in our islands. 

Randy’s Boater Coaching Session – Wednesday, August 23

Sign up via email to Marine Patrol or sign up at the Ojibway Office.

PaBIA Marine Patrol with Alex and Abby!

While this week presented us with challenges due to inclement weather, we were still able to get out there and visit several GBLT properties. We’ve been lucky to observe many species on various properties. This week on Friend and West Lookout we noticed many Monarch butterflies and were able to capture this close up of one pollinating a White Meadowsweet. Monarchs are endangered so we are pleased to see them thriving here!

We also found an old Firepit on the property which we dispersed and scattered. Throughout the season we have repeatedly found traces of Human Activity on West Lookout and other GBLT properties such as Friend Island.

One particular case on West Lookout was a towel with some swim gear mixed inside. Please leave these properties as you found them when you visit as they are conservation land.

Of Interest

Shawanaga First Nation Traditional Pow-Wow
This Saturday and Sunday, August 19 & 20

All are welcome and several cottagers will be there, so bring your family and friends and share in the learning and the fun!  August 19th at 12 noon is the grand entrance followed by the dancing.  Watch the male dance styles of traditional, grass and fancy and the female dance styles of traditional, jingle dress and fancy shawl.   Enjoy strolling around the craft and food vendors and dancing! Yes, dancing!  Every Pow-Wow has an “Intertribal Dance” where all are welcome to join in.  The foundational dance step is an easy two-step. Anyone can do it!!  Participants proceed around a large circle (parade style) – it is all very casual – lots of families with children!   The following first two minutes in the video link here demonstrates the two-step or “front step” that can be used for the intertribal dance. Check it out, practice with your family and come out to the Pow-Wow on the 19th!

Shawanaga First Nation Fundraiser

Hello, to our Shawanaga church family and friends. We are collecting donations again for August fundraiser. Please drop off any clean, gently used items (clothing, knickknacks or smaller household goods) at my house, 21 Village Rd, Shawanaga FN. SALE is August 19 – 20, the same time as our Pow Wow.

The Township of the Archipelago – Foodcycler Back in Stock!

Sailing Around the World – Ojibway Movie Hut

Sunday, August 20 – 4:00 p.m.

Green Ghost, Blue Ocean – A sailing adventure across 40,000 nautical miles

Alex Nikolajevich and Jennifer Smith left their careers in the mining industry to sail around the world on their Vancouver 42’ sailboat, Green Ghost.

This August, the couple will be sailing their boat into Pointe au Baril to stay with family and share a presentation of their incredible adventure with us:

Jennifer’s book, Green Ghost, Blue Ocean, winner of the 2019 Pottersfield Prize for Creative Nonfiction, is available online and in bookstores. Copies will also be available for $20 cash after the presentation.

Yearbook Updates

With each eBlast, we will provide you a list of names of those members who have provided updated contact information. The details of all the changes since the 2022 yearbook came out in late April are provided in THIS printable format for you to print out and insert into your own Yearbook! As of August 24th, here are the changes.

Carli, Christine Wagner (addition, new member)
Kay, Stephen & Susan (addition, new members)
PaBIA Office (new contact info)

Water Levels

Lakes Michigan/Huron Water Levels August 15, 2023

To better read the charts, please click on the chart for the Daily or Six Month Forecast Water level chart and the corresponding websites

(705) 716-1667

Please support PaBIA’s Yearbook Advertisers 2023

This site’s advertising feature was created to provide assistance for special local information & events for existing Yearbook advertisers only.

Emergency 

• PaB Nursing Station
• Canadian Coast Guard 
Search and Rescue
800-267-7270
• PaBIA Emergency info

PaBIA