Saturday August 31: Lovesick Lock - Time to Turn Around

The sunset at Fenelon the night before we left there was the reddest I think we have ever seen. And we almost missed it except for the red glare on the side of the boat in front of us. Spectacular. Quick- grab the camera and head to the west end of the dock!

Definitely a nice ending to the day :-)

Thursday was no wind and sunshine. And hot. No happy mediums around here it seems. Sturgeon Lake was like glass as we slowly made our way to Bobcaygeon as we make one last pass through our favorite places on the Trent.

What a great little town. We stayed at the top of the lock where we could find welcome shade under the large trees here. With our bikes off, it was easy to hit the hardware store, the grocery store and the library.

In the morning, we moved to below the locks just in time for our pre-ordered chelsea roll from our favorite bakery. It was hard but I managed to eat two of the almost sickly sweet gooey rolls! Pre-ordering is nice because then we were assured of getting one that is still warm. We learned this trick when Becky was up here with us in June :-) Steve took this opportunity to swap out his new anchor with the old one. Anyone need a nice CQR anchor?

After a couple of hours of indecision, it was off to Buckhorn for the night. It was just not a very nice day though – a bit of rain off and on. We still enjoyed the slow ride through Pigeon and Buckhorn lakes and ended up with a spot below the lock – under the bridge! We didn't start out there but when the rain started it seemed like the place to go and especially with Steve cooking on the Coleman.

We weren't interested so much in staying at Buckhorn as much as we were interested in staying at Lovesick Lock on Saturday night … of a holiday weekend. So the reasoning was we would stay below the lock at Buckhorn and then get up early and head the 5 miles to Lovesick.

The plan worked great – we ended up with our favorite spot on top at the end of the wall space. I'm beginning to wonder if we just don't like to be around people as we always seem to be seeking out spaces that provide lots of room …...

We thought of Matt and Wendy's dog Fozzi when we saw the ramp the folks on the boat behind us used to enable their older dog get on and off the boat. Maybe Fozzi could be a boat dog too! (We pulled Guppy back after that boat left – perfect.)

It was a red letter catching day for Steve: this 2 ½ foot musky (which tried to eat the sunfish which was on Steve's line), a equally as large pickeral (which had to be thrown back because it was too long – I know weird – but that the fishing regulations up here) and bunches of big sunfish! Great day as sea as Steve likes to say.

Plus another muskie that had grabbed a sunfish on the line but eventually it got tired of fighting Steve for the sunfish so it just let go. What fun!

A quick kayak ride around to view 
some of the trees that have been blown down in the area. The root system is shallow due to the rock rather than soil base so when blown over, the tree pulls the entire root system up with it.

And some wildlife as well: a log full of turtles!

This is as far as we go - time to turn around and head back to Fenelon Falls where we'll leave the boat and head back home ... eventually. But first a detour to California and Arizona!

Wednesday August 28: Fenelon Falls, Revisited

We're back to Fenelon Falls where we began our trip 3 months ago. Can't believe it has been that long that we've been on Guppy. It's been a great summer but it will be a nice change to go from 28' to 36' for sure!

I might have spotted our retirement home on the way out of the Narrows near Orillia. It overlooks Lake Simcoe – who knows?

The lake was the calmest I can recall anytime we've crossed it so the 18 mile cruise went as well as expected. We were up early – which helps as the sun coming up typically brings the winds up also. All was well until we were about 3 miles from the entrance to the Trent Canal.

The fog was thick but going slow was no issue with visibility good enough to proceed.

Without the chart plotter though we could never have found the entrance! As it was we move toward the spot on shore as indicated and was confident that we would find the entrance where it showed it should be.

In the picture on the right there is 1 green buoy, 1 red triangle and 2 black squares!

On the way to Coboconk (where we spent last night), I spotted what I thought were fake swans. Sometimes homeowners will place fake ones around to deter the Canadian geese from taking up residence.

Surprise! These were real – all seven of them! Two adults and the 5 'babies' that are growing up but are still gray.

The Kirkfield Lift Lock is still a highlight of this part of the trip and overall the trip through 5 hand operated locks and the lift lock could have not gone any better.

Sadly, the small boat house on the way to Coboconk finally bit the dust. Steve commented the roof was in good shape though – maybe someone will rebuild it??

Our shopping list of items for Guppy has grown quite small but one thing was clear after our trip to Georgian Bay and the land of the rock bottoms: we really need an anchor that will hold in a rock bottom.

According to the research, it was a Bruce that will do the job. This is what Deja Vu has and it sure seemed to work well.

Long story but basically Steve bought the anchor we needed at Canadian Tire for $80. Walked out of the store and was putting it in his backpack to bring home and a guy comes up and asked what he paid for it. Turn out he has one he wants to sell and would part with it for $40. Is this a come on or what?

Nope – for real. The guy drove Steve to his home about 10 minutes away and then drove him back here to the boat. One happy guy!

Side note: the guy's wife raises mushrooms and was quite interesting (retired botanist). He gave us these two to try but …... I don't think so. But interesting nonetheless.

Tomorrow: off to Bobcaygeon.

Monday August 26: Orillia - Time to Head South

The leaves are beginning to change and the days are getting shorter. It must be time to be thinking of heading south.

We arrived at Orillia without any problems after installing the new distributor cap Peter and Cheryl delivered to us. Rest assured we'll be picking another one up while we're here with easy access to extra parts.

More very peaceful travel on the Severn River. Sure is more relaxing when the engine is running right again!

Swift Rapids lock never ceases to amaze with its 47 foot lift. The doors just sort of resonate as the lock fills. Not sure I like that sound ...




Saw a cute float along the way. Maybe Guppy needs one of those to tow behind?







We were in and tied up by late afternoon on Saturday - it was good to be back here. Orillia is one of our favorite stops.

I don't know where yesterday went. Although I suspect having internet on the boat was definitely part of where it went :-) I was finally able to start making plans for how we were going to get from Fenelon Falls back to Yesterdays' Dream.

And then the storms started rolling through. Just about dusk (remember the other bad squalls in the North Channel? Just about dusk? What is it ...) with lots of wind and rain. A repeat show sometime in the middle of the night.

And then rain again this morning. We considered waiting until late afternoon to cross Lake Simcoe (last of the large lakes that can really blow up fast and wicked) but in the end decided to just wait until tomorrow.

It just wasn't a very nice morning. But we went out to breakfast anyway. I got a haircut. Steve rode to the auto parts store.

We also entertained ourselves by ordering a pair of glasses for Steve online. It was an experience! Really cool though. Upload a picture of your face and you can 'try on' the glasses. I was measuring the distance between his pupils here :-)

Wonder how that is going to turn out ..... sent to Wendy's so we'll find out when we get to North Carolina.

After the rains cleared up it was time to ride and get some exercise. There is a nice bike path but we cut off at the end and rode through some of the streets near the lake. Very nice homes - well kept.

What was lacking was any kind of lake access. Not at all like Florida where every few streets there is public access to the ocean. Guess it's a lot different around lakes.

We thought of course about Fozzi and how he would have liked the Dog Water Fountain in the park near the marina!

This is a first class place for sure :-)








So long Orillia until next year. Tomorrow we'll move on to either Coboconk or Fenelon Falls.

Saturday August 24: Severn Falls - Saved by Peter and Cheryl!

This is not a picture I ever wanted to take or see on the blog. As much as I don't necessarily like the spotlight on the anchor platform, it did have its uses.

Lesson learned: when you have an engine that might die coming into the dock, let the folks on the dock know it so they can catch the boat when the engine does indeed quit running - at just the worst time.

As it was, I rammed the boat in front of us (funny how without a running engine a boat has no brakes), bent the light back and did a small chip to the fiberglass of the boat in front. They were not on their boat .... and were so nice when they returned. No problem, they said, as he used an epoxy to glue the small chip down. It was an older boat similar in age to ours so no big deal they said.

And it had started out as such a nice day. Traveling along the Severn River with its banks of trees and granite was a pleasure. For the first time in 2 months we really didn't care WHAT the wind was going to do as the waterways are so narrow and protected.





We passed the biggest slide at one of the large homes on the shoreline - it can't be called a cottage. Guess the size of the slide should match the side of the home, right?

The engine started acting up about 4 miles out of Port Severn - one fourth of the way to our intended destination of Swift Rapids. One of the two locks on the system with no road access - lockmasters come to work by boat.

Seemed like water in the gas. No problem. Added enough dry gas to the fuel - should solve the problem.

But didn't. So we continued on to Big Chute - which is always fun. And for the first time we were in the front of the car for the ride up and over the hill. You can see the two sets of tracks (inner and outer for the front and rear wheels) that keep the car level as it moves up the hill).

It's fun when you finally reach the top and see the other side.

As we left the railway car it was difficult to get the engine running again so the decision to stop here was an easy one.

Then the docking fiasco occurred - enough about that.

Steve checked the spark plugs, cleaning most of them up and tightening one that was quite loose.

Dare we continue on?

The only way to check the engine was to actually go out and try it, so off we went.

Seemed to be much better .... or was it really?

Nope - not really. So we stopped 4 miles farther at Severn Falls. Good place to spend the night and continue checking for the real problem.

We weren't really worried yet - we carry spare parts, right? So after we determined it was the distributor cap that was the issue it took about 15 minutes to swap it out with our spare (which was used but still in ok condition - or so we thought). Start the engine - strange noise. A rhythmic clicking. Like the rotor inside the distributor hitting something. Mmmmm ..... it didn't make sense. We need a new distributor cap.

Call the marina at Big Chute - bike ride away at 4 miles. Sorry, they had just used the last one they had but could have one Tuesday. Three days. Time to call Peter and Cheryl - can they get a cap and drive it to us??

Can and will do but not until tomorrow as the part needed to be ordered. Sounded very good to us :-)

The entertainment for the evening at Severn Falls was watching the loading (or rather repeated attempt at loading) a large barbecue onto a flat barge. After numerous attempts, success was had!

And at 9 am the next day, a tap on our window. Peter and Cheryl with our distributor cap!

Sadly my picture of Cheryl holding the sign on the left didn't come out but Steve did give her a tip: you should get friends that aren't so needy!

Seriously, though, how generous of them. Severn Falls was more than an hour drive to speak nothing of the time to pick up the part itself.

And they hung around to make sure it would work. Somehow I have a feeling we're going to hear about this for a long time......

Shortly after we were on our way. Severn Falls was always an ice cream stop when we traveled through here when the kids were small.

I don't think it has changed at all!

Destination: Orillia.

Thursday August 22: Port Severn and the Trent - On Our Own Again

We said our good-bye's – or rather our “see you later's” - at Picnic Island near Honey Harbor. It was the last place in Georgian Bay at which we would fuel up until we were midway through the Trent. Deja Vu was headed back to home port of Midland where Jim and Linda would depart to return to Symmetry for their continued travels on the St. Lawrence and Peter and Cheryl would regroup and continue boating on Georgian Bay with family/friends.    

For all of the pictures from our trip, click here.

But first, one last night at anchor. This time near McCrea Lake. It truly was a deja vu moment as this is where Peter and Cheryl first met Jim and Linda. Peter and Cheryl were very seriously thinking of doing the Loop and, encouraged by a friend, stopped by to talk with Jim and Linda (they were on Selah with a Looper flag flying and anchored very near where we were this night). That was three years ago ….. the rest is history :-)

It was a great kayak spot with some really unique rocks along the shoreline. We thought the one on the left looked like some kind of a sea sea serpent complete with eye and nostril!

We were headed for the falls nearby. The water fell from McCrea

Lake down an overall height of about 5 feet. Steve of course had to try kayaking up it! If it wasn't for the rocks limiting how he could paddle, he just might have made it!

Peter was in charge of the grill again and Jim was the designated watcher of Peter. It worked well as the burgers were done just right. Steve finished up the grilling with some tofu hot dogs - a perfect dinner!

The table was set (thanks to Cheryl, Lois, Linda??) and ready for our last gathering at dinner. Deja Vu has the best dining area ever!

And once again the sunset was a keeper :-)

The ride on to Port Severn after we left Picnic Island today was quiet and uneventful. Winds on Georgian Bay were light – an overall pleasant day. We tied up at the lock with several Looper boats. This lock is always interesting as it is the first/last lock on the Trent and often times for boaters coming from Georgian Bay, this is the first lock they have ever gone through.

People watching is always entertaining!

Yet another wonderful sunset …...

Tomorrow – off to Swift Rapids Lock.