AN EVENING BOAT RIDE FROM MOOSE FACTORY - MOOSONEE TO JAMES BAY

Grethe's brother-in-law picked up Alison and I at the Eco Lodge marina for the twelve mile trip to the mouth of the Moose River which empties into James Bay. He estimated it was a twenty minute ride. Grethe, Gary, Alison, Josh, Gary's wife and daughter...

We left the Eco Lodge at dusk, at about seven. We stopped first at a dock in Moosonee to pick up Bob, Gary's younger brother who was to be the navigator. He arrived at full speed on his mountain bike and we thought he was going to bike into the boat. We surprised an osprey as we went by.

The shoreline along the Moose River shows a muddy bank often ravaged by the spring breakup and dramatic tide changes.

We could see James Bay off in the distance; it was still another half hour away and night was falling. The river was still as far as the eye could see. But abruptly ripples formed on the surface and while the water behind us was calm, up ahead it looked like the wind was rising. We turned back towards Moose Factory. We headed for a shoreline where only Bob could see an opening. Wavey Creek cut through the clay-bottomed marshlands and meandered into James Bay. Mosquitoes were ferocious but the citronella we all shared seemed to hold them at bay. Bob described how they would arrive in dark swarming clouds in another month.

The canal looked manmade; it's width varied so little; it was about twelve feet wide. The shores were heavily dotted with clusters of yellow flowers, St. John's Wort?, that looked like cultivated plants. The short grasses that lined the shore in hilly clumps also looked deceivingly tended. But the pastoral mood is deceiving. The marshlands of the Moose River delta can be very dangerous to the uninitiated or the imprudent. Bob told of a man who had stepped out of his canoe into the muddy waters. He was caught in the grip of the muddy canal floor and drowned with the incoming tide.

Bob and Gary hauled out the fishing rods and like kids in a candy store, had difficulty leaving. Fishing is a passion here. Size and kind of fish is prized conversation. To my surprise we met three or four other canoes in the short time we were there. They knew each other. One group had a fishing camp along the Moose River. Gary asked for the correct time every five minutes. He clearly didn't want to head back. The strong current carried the canoe in the direction we were heading anyhow so they just fished as we moved steadily along. Every now and again either Gary or Bob would use the two by four plank as a paddle to straighten the canoe so the other fishermen could pass.

Bob picked flowers for all of us since I had been asking about the yellow and white flowers I hadn't seen before.

On the way back to the Eco Lodge we dropped Bob off in Moosonee then made a brief stop at the National Park on Charles Island. Groups of teenagers were partying along the sandy shore. When we were leaving, heading towards Moose Factory, Gary suddenly turned the boat around and headed back to shore. Two young teens, one Gary's niece, just stood on the shore and this was the signal for a water taxi to stop! I had been wondering how these young people would get off the island. Night was falling and no one on the island seemed to have a boat! Apparently the taxis run all the time and a wave of the hand will call them over. If someone doesn't have the five dollars, they can run a tab until their cheque comes in.

WEBPAGE DEVELOPED AS PERSONAL RESEARCH TOOL BY MAUREEN FLYNN-BURHOE, FACILITATOR - LECTURER