Lake Scugog Jazz Cruise

 This month's FREE mp3 download is  DREAM HARBOUR (part4)

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Lake Scugog Jazz & B.B.Q. Cruise

This Friday evening, August 3,2012,  I'm headed for Port Perry, to do a B.B.Q. &  Jazz Cruise on Lake Scugog. Port Perry is located just north of Oshawa.

The bonus here is that Port Perry is just around the corner from The Great Blue Heron Casino!  Talk about tripling up on your fun, with a dinner & cruise followed by the thrilling chance to retire early with all the cash you could win at the casino ! 

You can reserve your table by calling Scugog Island Cruises at 905-982-1106 or visit them online.

Extra Bonus... for my newsletter recipients!

When you call to reserve your seat,  tell them that  I sent you & you'll get a special discount for the B.B.Q. & Cruise for you, and all of your friends. 

I haven't played on this cruise in years, and I know it's going to be a real blast. 
What a great way to start off the long weekend! 

The MV Woodman

The Woodman Story

This is the boat we'll be sailing on, The MV Woodman. 

It all started from Ed and Betty Penny entertaining friends on their small houseboat for many years and not knowing the history of the massive Lake Scugog that flowed into The Trent Severn Waterway System.  


 Their small houseboat had room for six people comfortably, which cruised on Lake Scugog for 10 years.

It was when Paul Arculus a local historian and author wrote a book about Steamship history in Scugog and the trade that existed in the community many years  before road transportation existed. With their love of history, this sparked the Penny's attention to revive some of this lost information to visitors as it was such a lovely town that had a lot of waterfront history.

Ed and Betty started looking at commercial tour boats to see if they could revive some of the fun and history that existed in Lake Scugog in the 1800's with boat party excursions with the steamers.  

   Original Crew of Woodman

The original Woodman was a wooden steamship that had its maiden voyage in 1851 and operated by George Crandell, it  was a successful operation during it's time. A picture of the steamship is shown below with the original crew members. There were many steamships that operated on Lake Scugog. When Ed and Betty decided to build the Woodman, they reclaimed the name to revive the lost Lake history. At one time Lake Scugog was bustling with commercial Lake trade with over 26 steamships, delivering logs and goods to Port Perry Railway through the Trent Severn Waterway.

                                                         

                        

Buying a Woodman version (A small Tour Boat)

 The original idea to revive Lake tourism started in 2002 with the purchase a small pontoon 14 passenger boat.  When it was inspected by Transport Canada, they found it could not be certified  to legally carry passengers, it did have a history of operating for several years on the Grand Bend River doing tours that were not legal. When the Penny's inquired about  the cost to retrofit to Transport Canada Standards it was considered was too costly, but the idea was too good to let go. The pontoons were sold and the idea of launching the 100 passenger vessel to bring back history on Lake Scugog was started. 

Building of the Woodman  (100 Passenger Ship)

Lower Deck

Ed and Betty  sat down with Bob Johnson to come up with a design that would be innovative, profitable and attractive to Lake Scugog.

A floating dance hall, where passengers could enjoy the sights and beauty of shorelines of Lake Scugog.  They wanted to showcase history with a commercial ship that the Lake had not experienced in since the early 1900's, as all crafts that ventured on Lake Scugog were pleasure boats only. The new Woodman II employed skilled tradesmen from Newfoundland and all around Canada to build the ship. A lot of hard work and passion was invested from the local tradesmen who worked day and night to get the vessel built. It was exciting for them to develop an idea from paper to create a vision that came to life, where people locally and from around the world could have a cruise experience again on Lake Scugog..

The MV Woodma