Canada Vacation 2006

My Canadian Adventure

For the past 4 years, my hubby, Tyler and I along with my parents, take our annual trip to Ontario, Canada and go Walleye fishing for two weeks on the North Shore of Hay Bay (a fresh water lake) in Nappanee, this year was no exception. Our trip started out on July 29th normal enough, we drove the 6 hours up, got to the cabin and started fishing. There was a beautiful North-easterly breeze all week, the fishing wasn't too bad, and we caught enough fish every day to eat. On Wednesday, hubby, Tyler and I went out about 6 pm to do our evening fishing and the waters were a little wavy, maybe about 1 foot waves (perfect for the walleye to bite).
We were fishing in a little cove off the South Shore about 2 miles SW of our cabin, and it is usually pretty calm in there, but with a storm coming and the waves getting bigger, we knew getting across to our cabin on the North Shore would be a chore. We started for “home” and once out in the open water it was VERY rough, “and our tiny ship was tossed” (Gilligan’s Island theme - sorry, just had to do that), and the waves were now peaking at about 4 foot. We have a pretty sturdy 16’ boat, and we were still taking on some water from the crashing waves. Needless to say, Tyler was hanging on to the front of the boat where we tie the dock lines to, Paco (our new mix breed) was right beside him on the floor, I was aside of them holding on to both Tyler & Paco, Emily (the spoiled princess Whippet) was under the console where hubby was driving the boat.

It’s now about 8 pm, and maneuvering in the water was tough. We were ½ of the way back to “home” and I spied a boat kind of behind me over my left shoulder. I took a glance because #1, I’m nosy and need to see if it’s anyone I might know, and #2 it looked like too small a boat and motor to be on THAT rough water. As I’m looking over my shoulder, I hear hubby say, “Is there someone on that boat”. I said, “I don’t know, but we’d better go have a look”. We drive over to the boat, with 4 foot waves crashing over the side of our boat, lightning in the sky and a HUGE threat of rain hovering over us. We get there, and there is no one in the boat, AND THE MOTOR IS STILL RUNNING!!!!!! My stomach immediately fell to my feet, knowing someone is overboard. I noticed another boat coming by, so I frantically waved them down and they came over, told them there’s a boat with no one in it, and they said that it’s probably a break-away boat (from a dock), and I told them no, the motor was running.

My hubby said that that boat had been docked at our camp all week, and he’s seen a guy fishing in it (always by himself), so the two guys we flag down start heading to our camp with the stray boat. Hubby and I circle a few times to see if we can find anyone bobbing or waving in the water. After a few minutes of looking and hoping, we made a decision to head for camp so they can call 9-1-1. When we get there, I jump out of the boat onto the dock, run over to the office and tell them the situation. They think they know who owns the boat, he is one of three brothers that are in a cabin two doors down from us. Low and behold, it IS one of the brothers.
The coast guard was called, helicopters, water police and land police. Hubby and I both gave statements around 9:00 pm as to where the location of the boat was found, as we had looked to both shores to see where we were at, just in case. We did what we could do, and thought that was the end of it.

It’s now about 11:00 pm and hubby & Tyler are off to bed, Mom & Dad are off to bed, but I stayed up a little, as I was a bit shaken. Around 11:30 pm the police come knocking on the cabin door, and they want me to go to the docks and tell the water police about where the location of the boat was found. Hubby stayed in bed and I told him the water police wanted to talk to me, so off I went to the dock.

Well it ended up I and a local permanent camper, Jack, who knows where the shoals and low spots are in the lake, got on the police boat and we headed off to see if I could find the spot where we found the boat. Now this lake looks so different in the dark, dark night with rain pelting down on us and the water, but with Jacks help with knowing the terrain and shore lines, the police put a marker down where I thought the spot was.

We then were escorted from the police boat to the Cape Hearn, the Coast Guard ship that was called in. Jack and I both got aboard the Cape Hearn, sat and talked with the Coast Guard Captain for about 20 minutes, then back onto the police boat and back to the docks, but instead of going back into camp, we searched the North Shoreline for about 1-1/2 miles past camp, eventually turning around and getting us back to camp at around 1:00 am. While walking back to my cabin, the two brothers are just sitting at their picnic table looking out at the water, both clutching a bible (one of the brothers was a chaplin).

On Thursday, while heading out to fish in the late morning, hubby states that I marked the spot pretty close. A plane was called in that does search & rescue, called the Hercules, and they were flying up and down the lake for ½ the day. They did drop a smoke bomb at a spot, and upon the police checking they found the mans’ white tee shirt amongst a bunch of ripped loose weeds (this was about a mile SE of the spot I marked). They brought in diving teams and more police, but nothing. They searched all night Thursday, again nothing. Again, all day the brothers just sat around looking out over the water.

Friday morning they brought in two helicopters as they can get closer to the water than the Hercules could. The choppers were equipped with some kind of sonar device that can spot a mass of something under the water. There were several spots marked and the divers started diving at these markers. Fortunately and unfortunately, they found the body of the man about 50 yards SW of the spot I had originally marked. He was tangled up in a weed bed 29’ down from the surface. I say fortunate because the remaining two brothers have some closure, but unfortunate because he was not found alive. To look at the man, you’d see a very fit 42 year old, but he did have a heart condition which runs in the family.

This is a trip I will NEVER forget, both fun and sad. Fun because of the experience I had on the Police Boat and the Coast Guard Boat (something I really hope I never have to do again, unless it's just for fun), and sad because of the outcome.

We have since gone up to Canada, and will be leaving again in 2 weeks from today, and we always talk about that day. It is something I will remember for a long time to come.