By Jay Burford
In another article I wrote about coming up to attend the Carling Christmas Market and to close the cottage. When we closed up our water access cottage on Wednesday following the Christmas Market, we did receive one surprise. When we returned to Blind Bay Dock on Wednesday, November 17, to pick up our vehicle, we found that the ramp to the dock had been removed. We tried to bring the fiberglass boat up to the shore, but couldn’t get close enough to get onto the land without getting soaked. With difficulty because of a strong wind, I nosed the boat close enough to the cement platform for my daughter to jump up to get the vehicle and drive around to town to meet me. We were unable to unload the boat at Blind Bay. As there were three or four cars still parked in the Blind Bay parking lot, I have to believe that a number of other water access residents also got a surprise.
Before we left, we drove around to Sawdust Bay, one of the other Township docks and boat launches, to find that the ramp there had also been removed. Perhaps, the ramps had been left in to facilitate water access residents being able to attend the Christmas Market or perhaps it was just deemed to be the right time to remove them. I may have missed a notice, but I checked the Carling website and the calendar and could find nothing to indicate the date when ramps would be removed.
Perhaps with the longer more moderate fall weather, we could approach Carling Council to leave the docks accessible until later and to post a date when they will be removed.