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.