GBA 2021 - Fall Flippingbook

COVID-19

Return to the Bay: US Residents Get Back to their Happy Place

By Liz Phillips, UPDATE Editor

W hen American GBA members shut up their cottages in the fall of 2019, none of them could have predicted that they wouldn’t be reopening their doors for almost two years. But as COVID-19 spread across the globe, many members would miss their first summer in the Bay in decades – or even for the first time in their entire lives. “When the June 2021 border closure was announced, we began to reckon with what it might be like to have to stay away for another whole summer,” says Patty Hoolihan, a Honey Harbour member. “Away from our very special Canadian retreat that we have been coming to every summer for decades and for Chris [Fisher, her husband], since childhood.”

David’s dog, Binx, keeps a lookout in the Whitefish River

Photo: David Farner

Celesta Bjornson has been coming up to the Bay of Islands since she was a child as well. Since 2006, her family would leave their Seattle home in the middle of June and stay at their cottage on Ruby Island until Labour Day weekend. “Our heart and soul are in the Bay of Islands,” says Celesta. “When we were unable to travel to Ruby Island in the summer of 2020, it was crushing. Ruby Island is not just a place we vacation, it is the place we think about all year long, counting the days for when we can return.” After so long away from their Bay homes, US residents just couldn’t wait to return once things reopened. David Farner, a Pittsburgh resident, had booked a family trip within the US for the week of August 9. Two days later, when the announcement was made that the Canadian border would open on August 9, he cancelled everything without a second thought. “We were going to go surfing in the Pacific, but it wasn’t even a question whether to go to southern California versus the island,” he says. Celesta and her husband, John, were in line at the Peace Bridge crossing at 11:45 p.m. on August 8 and were the first

Americans to arrive back in the Bay of Islands. David, her brother-in-law, was only a few hours behind, and Patty and Chris sailed through the border on August 10. “After the customs agent checked us out, I told him we were happy to be back,” says Patty. “When he said, ‘We are happy to have you back,’ we teared up. Especially as we drove away, entering Canada after almost two years. Pinching ourselves.” That’s when the hard work started. We all know how quickly the elements and Mother Nature can wreak havoc on our cottages in just one winter, and our US residents had two winters and last year’s high-water levels to deal with. For Celesta and John, their waterfront deck had ripped off in a storm and their back docks were severely damaged with the high water. David had to pull out the chainsaw almost immediately after arriving at his island, because beavers had felled a couple of dozen trees which were blocking access to the cottage. “But rather than opening camp this year with more stress than ever after nearly two years,” says John,” we approached every chore and repair with joy – joy that we were here. And even a bad day here is better than any other day back home.”

www.georgianbay.ca

GBA UPDATE Fall 2021

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