Sunday June 30: Midland - south end of Georgian Bay

We arrived at the Midland town docks around noon on Thursday and will be here until Tuesday.

This is a great place to be - nice small city with just about everything we might need.

A plus? Peter and Cheryl live a short 20 minutes from the dock! We've managed to have dinner with them for the last couple of nights - it's always great to see them again :-)

Euchre? 1 to 1 so far!

There are two basic challenges of spending time traveling on this smaller boat: the ability to carry only 30 gallons of fresh water (trawler holds 250 gallons) and managing the energy use (i.e. battery power).

To solve the water problem we'll use a trick from the houseboats we used to rent on the Trent: draw water off of the engine as it circulates to keep the engine cool thus producing hot water! Add cold water from a thru hull fitting and unlimited fresh (but not drinking) water for dishes and showers.

The challenge was to run a line from the bathroom through the bilge. Good use of the tape measure. After drilling a hole in the bathroom cupboard, we managed to snake the tape measure down through the bilge.

Tape the hose to the tape measure, pull it back and the result? The water hose we needed to provide water to the shower.

Plus we'll run another line to the front of the boat so Steve has a fresh water wash down for the anchor as it usually comes up with mud and/or seaweed. Double score :-)



Steve continues to work on the teak - using varnish remover and then sanding. Focus today was the door.

After working on it much of the day, it was time to apply the cetol finish. That was my job.

It's going to look SO nice when it's finished!














One nice addition that required no work at all (other than a ride to the hardware store) was the addition of 4 wine glasses. Somehow the 3 we had got broken so I thought I was lucky to find these 4 at the great sale price of $10 for the set. Now we're ready for guests!!

The harbor was visited the last few days with Canadian soldiers - or fish flies as they are called up here. They were all over everything!

These bugs would always make an appearance at East 55th St Marina in Cleveland about this time of the year as well.

Fun for a day or two but beyond that? Just a nuisance!

Tomorrow is Canada Day (like our 4th of July) so we'll go to the parade with Peter and Cheryl and just celebrate being in Canada :-)

Saturday June 29: The Wonderful World of Georgian Bay

 Just before we left Port Severn, Steve spotted a mother hooded merganser duck with her brood of babies. They were so cute!

We see this type of duck every so often but they either don't like to be around where people are or there just aren't that many of them.

The chicks are able to swim and feed themselves 24 hours after being hatched!

It wouldn't be Georgian Bay without the granite rocks all over the place - it's really beautiful to see but deadly if you aren't watching the buoys and chart.

We did spot a very teeny cottage that seems to have a front door and window and that's it. Hey - what more would you need?

The narrowest and shallowest spot along our path was Potato Channel. One of the hot topics on the listserve is the water levels in Georgian Bay so we really didn't know what to expect (water levels are supposed to be quite low due to dredging in Lake St. Clair).

But it was a non-issue going through with water a minimum of 5 1/2 feet although I will say we raised the outdrive when going through 'just in case'!

This is a chart of the first place we were headed. On the right is Frying Pan Bay. It's a great place to anchor as the protection is crazy good. Plus if it's not a busy time, there is a dock that our pass for the Trent-Severn allows us to stay at for free.

Steve did the circle hike (in yellow) around Fairy Lake and then later in the day we fought the wind and kayaked around to Goblin Bay (in burgundy).

The story of Fairy Lake is kind of interesting. I think if you right click on the picture to the right and then click on "open image in a new tab" you can read the writing on the sign.

The lake itself is really pretty with the granite rock typical of this area.

Left: Steve's idea of kayaking :-)



Frying Pan Bay itself has high sides of granite with trees growing wherever it is that the root system can get a grip. Below is Guppy at the dock with 4 other boats that were in for the night.

We then backtracked a bit and headed back toward Port Severn. A number of years ago we anchored off of one of the government islands (seen on the chart to the right as a darker brown in color). It was very quiet and we were the only ones around.

This time was much the same. We were off of the channel but with the chart plotter it's pretty easy to navigate among the rocks which are marked on the chart. Of course, Steve rides on the front as a lookout anyway!

It was a very peaceful night - totally alone. The wind laid down at dusk and kayaking in the morning was nice.

The water is so clear and it was totally calm in the morning.

These abandoned cabins were really neat.

We saw them on our kayak around the area.



Rain and possible storms due in on Thursday - must be time to head into Midland - a short 8 miles away!

Tuesday June 25: Georgian Bay

 It was a nice day again on Sunday as we left Swift Rapids lock. The water on the Trent-Severn is still running much faster than we've seen in the past.

It's not unusual to see standing waves in some of the narrower channels on the river as we move toward the last two locks on the Trent system.

But first of course was breakfast! The Waubic Restaurant has been around for a number of years. It was a derelict place for a long time and then each year when we passed we noticed that someone was working on the buildings (this is an island with no road access so just having building materials delivered is difficult).

Finally - the Waubic opened! Every year since then we stop when we go by (and have made a note that it is closed on Mondays :-) ).

We spent the night at Big Chute on the lock docks. One of the boats that came in was called Jim-Kat. The guy looked familiar ...... have we met before?

Turns out we met them in 2011 on the Chambly canal on our way to Lake Champlain! Boating really IS a small world.

We saw something in the water on the way here and it took a while to figure out that it was someone swimming - towing a beach ball. Good thing too as it would have been very difficult to see him/her without it - especially when the zippy boats are out and running around.

The kayaking at Swift Rapids and Big Chute was great. Saw lots of turtles, big bass, muskrat, and otter! The water is really clear - partially we think because it's early in the season yet.



We spent last night at Pt. Severn and eventually will head out today for Georgian Bay. One last lock to go through!

And now for real - no internet for ???




The marine railway at Big Chute is always a fun trip.  Click here for more info and pictures about Big Chute.
Of more interest to me is the old railway that we crossed in our 21' Lone Star boat in the late 50's. It's still here but is no longer operational. Nice that they have kept it up though. Below are some pictures of the old railway.




Information sign.











The railway car. No one rode on the boat as it was transported but now you just stay on your boat as you move to the lower lake level below.

Guppy lined up to be next on the railway car!















Looking down over the track which leads to the lower level of water.

Lockmaster station which was right next to the railway. This was not here when we came through in the late 50's.

Saturday June 22: Oooops ...

We left Orillia about 11 – waiting for the sun to come out but eventually we just left anyway. Steve wanted to ride on the front of the boat as we approached the north end of Lake Couchiching as it is about 9 feet deep and the water is quite clear. He was looking for big fish in the water!

Sadly none today.

On the way to the only lock of the day was a railroad swing bridge. No problem – we've been under this bridge before and cleared it no problem – as long as the antennae were down. So down come the antennae and under the bridge we go. Quite slowly I might add. Alas, the water was just a bit higher this year – end result was a tear in the flybridge cover. How sad. But the bridgetender was very nice and opened the bridge quite quickly. Next time maybe we'll just ask the bridge to be swung ….. oops :-)

This part of the Trent now follows the Severn River down to Georgian Bay – it's really very different than the upper part of the system. Lots of granite and many narrow passages make for a really pretty ride.

It was time to get the kayaks out again. This time we'll just leave them blown up and store them on the front deck. Even though it's not that big of a deal it's just nicer having them already blown up and ready to just toss into the water to use.

Swift Rapids was the lock of choice tonight. It is SO huge. It's really hard to even get a picture of it. This is a lock that replaced a marine railway - one of two that we traveled on as kids. (The other was Big Chute which we'll pass through tomorrow.)

And of course, sunset looking over the river below from the top of the lock.

Friday June 21: Time to Move On

Steve liked the sunrise picture from the other day but wasn't thrilled about the dirty front windshield through which the picture was taken.

So first thing this morning he was out there washing the windows. What a nice difference :-)

It's our last night here (I mean really - we've been here for 6 days!) so it was off to the rec center for one last breakfast out.

Part of the walking/bike path there goes through some marshy areas so we're always on the lookout for turtles, snakes or whatever wildlife we might spot.

The best we'd done until today was a chipmunk. Boy did we do better today! A MOOSE!! Who would have ever expected to see a moose roaming around this area?

Both the police and the wildlife agency were nearby making sure it didn't decide to come near the walking path - not sure what they would have done though.

A ride around the area produced many memories from when we were here either in the late 50's or for many more years in the 80's when we traveled with my parents - each on our own boat.

The statue of Champlain, the beach area and public dock where we used to stay before the city put in a nice marina.

The hot dog stand that has been here since 1963 and was a frequent stop for at least ice cream.

The old bandstand is still here as well.

The shoreline really just hasn't changed all that much.

The laundry is done, a dozen projects completed and we're ready to move on.

In the meantime, it's Christmas in June :-)

The celebrating started last night but tomorrow night will be the boat parade and the then the real celebration begins! We intend to be docked at the Swift Rapids locks by then but it was fun to see the Christmas lights tonight :-)

The pink flamingo was fun. Some of the boats have really gone full out. Rumor has it that there is a prize for the best decorated boat......


We gave the prize to the boat below - not sure if there will be last minute entries tomorrow or not.








Thanks, Steve, for the great pics of the boats with lights on!!