Halls Housekeeping Cottages (http://www.hallscottages.com), a family owned Ontario waterfront resort located in the town of Honey Harbour on Georgian Bay, has expanded its marina facilities and now offers transient docking in addition to its seasonal docking operation and housekeeping cottage rental business. Over the past several months, the resort has been busy adding docks to accommodate larger boats. Traditionally boats in the marina were smaller and primarily seasonal as they were rented by cottagers using their boats for remote cottage access to Georgian Bays 30,000 Islands - a popular Ontario cottage and tourism region.
The Georgian Bay marina now has 55 boat slips and, while many are still rented seasonally, Halls Cottage Resort now has 7 dedicated transient slips for boats cruising in the Honey Harbour area. In the past the marina was restricted to a maximum boat length of 35. Now with the new dock configuration it can now accept transient yachts up to 50 or larger. There is 6 feet water depth at the transient docks so for most power boats this is more than adequate.
Halls Cottage Resort plans to resume adding more docks this fall, once the summer rush is over. The marina operation at the resort offers some onsite marine repairs. Shopping and restaurants are very close to the resort, situated in the centre of Honey Harbour. We wanted to expand from our cottage rental business into a property offering a broader range of tourism services, and in Georgian Bay, that includes catering to both seasonal and transient boaters, says Rick Vanderwal, who owns and operates the business along with his wife Dianne. While we build onto our cottage resort rental business every year by adding new cottage accommodations, we now are also focused on expanding and improving our marina facility, adds Diane Vanderwal.
