Friday July 31: Port Severn – Bottleneck to Georgian Bay

A well-timed arrival to the lock at Port Severn yesterday put us on the blue line as we waited for the four boats in front of us to go up, the lock to come back down with 4 boats and we went up in the next group. Total wait time: about 45 minutes.

Not only is this the smallest lock on the system but it is still hand operated. Which is fun for anyone who has never seen the “old way” of a lock operation. The majority of the locks have been converted so all that needs to be done is for the lock personnel to press a few buttons. But it definitely does take more time with the gates and valves opened by hand cranking.

The rest of the day yesterday and most of today was a back-up of boats wanting to either go north to Georgian Bay or south to the Trent. End result? Two hour waits for lockage through.

And of course it was VERY windy so we spent much of yesterday and today watching the boats maneuver around each other. Fortunately there were no crashes. It's really pretty nice how boaters are always willing to help a boat coming in to the dock.

One guy was really having a difficult time. I wasn't sure if all of it was the wind's fault though :-) There were lots of Cousin Vinnies around – including the guy who zipped past us in a relatively narrow channel and then proceeded to miss the next buoy.

Fortunately he pulled up in time to just barely nudge a rock under the water so no damage to either engine. Cousin Vinnie (according to Romeo – captain of the sailboat in Greece) is waiting everywhere to wreak havoc when you aren't looking. Sadly, we've now adopted the lingo of – 'oh, there's Cousin Vinnie' :-)

And of course there has been some work during this down time. The engine has been running a bit rough so we thought it was time to change the spark plugs and distributor cap. Plenty of spares so why not swap everything out before having trouble, right? Fix things on our time frame rather than wait until there's a problem.

We also need to pick up a replacement battery. One of the three we have died. Not a big deal but requires us to run the generator longer.

Of course Steve is always out and about finding good stuff. Today it was a basket of wild blueberries (you can tell by the very small size of them). If he can't hunt them in the North Channel, finding them here was the next best thing.

End product: blueberry muffins! Yum!!

We'll leave tomorrow after breakfast. Steve has in mind that we should spend the night on the lower blue line at Big Chute. Seems there was a guy there last week that had caught a nice 2 pound bass ....

Tuesday July 28: Bone Island – Headed Back to the Trent-Severn

So we spent a nice day traveling the 25 miles to Parry Sound yesterday. Steve made two trips to the grocery store (not a terribly fun ride to being with) – first trip without his wallet and the second trip with it :-)

Funny how they don't really extend credit like in the old days and in the small towns.

If my mom had driven into town, went shopping and realized she'd forgotten her wallet? No problem - just take the groceries and pay for them next time you're in town :-)

The Rotary bike trail (seems like quite a few towns have put these in – it's always nice to find one) runs under the railroad trestle bridge and is a nice shortcut to the breakfast place.

Orr's Deli and Meat Market is owned by Bobby Orr's family – not sure if he ever worked there or not but it was a great meal. FYI: Bobby Orr played hockey for the Boston Bruins in the 70's. For more info on him click here.

So Plan A was to continue north, traveling along the small craft channel in Georgian Bay until we were in the North Channel (at the very northern end of Lake Huron). And then we started checking the weather. Seems if we were going we'd best be doing it – west winds due in with 3 – 4 ½ foot waves on Thursday.

If that wasn't bad enough, winds, rain and cool weather were predicted for the North Channel for the next two weeks. Mmmm ….. Plan B: turn around and go back to the Trent where 15 knot west winds really don't make a lot of difference.  

By traveling a bit over 40 miles we were back close enough to Port Severn to get back in less than a day just in case the winds came in early.

It was the first time we tried this anchorage – another great find! By 5 or so, we were there with only one other boat. Perfect.

The water was like glass in the morning so a quick kayak was definitely in order. Steve came upon a very large gar (fish) swimming in a weird manner – it was hard to tell if it was a snake that swallowed too large of a fish or exactly what it was. Turns out it had teeth marks around a good part of it's body – apparently the lost dinner of a pike of muskie! Never saw that before!

Anyway – back to Port Severn tomorrow.

Sunday July 26: Twelve Mile Bay

Some days the waterway is like a freeway – today was one of those days! Part I'm sure due to the really nice weather, part due to the area of Georgian Bay in which we are traveling.

Regardless, the rock islands of this area are really beautiful. It's an amazing thing that any tree is able to actually able to not only grow but flourish on these rocks.

We pulled into the anchorage off of Twelve Mile Bay – even by our arrival time before noon there were a number of boats already in. But our little cove was still available.

After avoiding the shoals on shore at the entrance, we tossed a front anchor out and then backed up toward shore. The water was very clear – easy to see any rocks or logs under the water.

Next was for Steve to use his kayak to take a line back to the trees behind us. Once we are secured front and back, we're good for the night!

The last time we were here two years ago, there was a small sandy beach along the cove but with the higher water levels it's no longer there.

This area is really a nice place to kayak as well as being a well protected anchorage. The winds on Georgian Bay seem to mostly come from the West so we were in a good place for the night.

A giant beaver hut was back in among the shallow areas but sadly there was no sign of the occupant. These huts are easy to spot because of the big pile of sticks and small trees that have been cut by beaver teeth and piled up.

Next stop: Parry Sound!!

Saturday June 25: Frying Pan Bay

Thursday morning we checked out a new restaurant Steve discovered near Port Severn that we didn't know was there. Also nearby was a library – sadly they were closed on Thursdays but the wifi was still available so we were able to take advantage of that to be online for a time.

There was a nice yellow Adirondack chair available – perfect :-)

The lock at Port Severn is the smallest on the system – thus the limiting factor for the length, width and depth of any boat (84' x 23' x 6' concrete sill at the bottom of the lock) which wishes to transit the system. As luck would have it everyone was headed for Georgian Bay and I mean BIG boats. We were fortunate and managed to squeeze in with one of the large boats waiting and made it through the 3^rd down lock of the day.

Our destination was Frying Pan Bay – one of the Canadian National Parks. We ended up at a dock on the southwest end of the bay. Perfect!!

Steve was off pretty quickly for a hike around the area. First with information about the area and then with the great views of Fairy Lake.

The mosquitoes and deer fly were pretty wicked in the woods – but no black bears at least (occasionally spotted on the island).

There was also a bit of history of Frying Pan Bay. Made sense that this would be a place that the Native Americans would have used as a gathering place. It's a perfect place to weather most any kind of storm.

We (my parents in their boat and the kids and us in our boat) made it this far north only one time in our trips to Canada. Of course no boat docks at the time. But we pulled the two boats up onto the rocks and spent the night in a very protected bay. Definitely not the kind of boat traffic that frequents this area these days!!

Picture of Guppy tied up nicely at the dock.

Great sunset to end the day.

The solar panel continues to be a big plus. It's 100 watts (6 amps) is enough to run the 110 fridge (thru the inverter) most of the day as long as there is decent sun. The generator takes up the slack.

Often it's a balancing act with the generator though. With only 2000 watts, we can run the battery charger OR the hot water heater OR the burners along with the fridge. But it works well.

For a Saturday afternoon, Frying Pan Bay really wasn't all that crowded …..

Sunday morning: time to move on – destination: anchorage off of Twelve Mile Bay.

Wednesday July 22: Port Severn

Monday morning, after three days of enjoying Orillia, it was again time to move on. The waterside park – along with the pavillion that has been there forever – is still very nice. Sometimes it's nice that things don't change too much. There are still black squirrels running around, the statue of Champlain is still in the park and of course the ice cream/hot dog stand that has been there since the 50's.

No stop in this area is complete without a night spent at anchor in the bay by Chief's Island. All sand bottom and totally protected except from the north west. Only a relatively few boats – and quite peaceful. No one insisting that the entire anchorage enjoy THEIR music!

The ducks quickly found us with young ones that were diving down for food. Obviously they are still being fed by passing boaters :-)

The rains were due in late in the day – fortunately from the west. It was quite the view of the sun setting behind the approaching storm clouds. The rains came and went throughout the night and by morning the skies were clear but the wind was now blowing out of the west at 20 mph.

Fortunately much of the travel was on the narrow waterway of the Severn River. It's such a beautiful area along this stretch of the Trent. Downside: almost any available shoreline is taken up by cottages.

The winds continued to blow – even in the sun it was cool. Steve managed to stay warm though with his hood keeping his ears warm :-)

Our destination was the lock at Swift Rapids. Fairly remote with a small service road as the only access. The grounds are really nice. Entertainment for the evening was provided by the guy in the boat docked ahead of us. Seems he really didn't like the Canadian geese.

First thing once docked, he and his wife started raking the grass all around the table by their boat. Guess their two little dogs stepped in the goose dirt and that of course would be bad! So the rest of the afternoon, he would chase the geese into the water. And they would come back. And he would chase them back into the water ….. Seemed like a no win situation to us!

Steve took advantage of the picnic table nearby to make turkey meatballs – for dinner tonight (with spaghetti) and some for left over lunches. Thanks once again to Becky for the GREAT recipe!!

He even had a few spare minutes to try out the red Adirondack chairs put out by Parks Canada (we'd see these in the Canadian Rockies as well. Kind of fun ….

This morning we were off at 9 am to make the first lockage of the day. Swift Rapids is the largest conventional lock in the Trent system and used to be one of two marine railways originally on the system (Big Chute is the other one and it is still a railway). My family and I went over the marine railway here in the late 50's. I must be getting old :-)

After a stop at the Waubic Inn for breakfast (a short 3 miles downstream from Swift Rapids), we stopped at the bottom end of the Big Chute Marina railway for lunch. Everything is pretty much the same as it was the last time we were in this area – 2 years ago.

The winds were still blowing – perhaps a bit harder – so it was nice to stop for a couple of hours before continuing.

Never saw any black bears while we were in Alberta – funny that we should spot two of them here along the Severn River :-)

So we are tied nicely at the lock wall above the last lock on the Trent-Severn system. Winds are supposed to diminish tomorrow morning but pick back up again tomorrow afternoon.

Time to figure out where to go from here. The weekend is coming up, it's cottage week (not sure what that means but there are lots of boats around) and it's the construction holidays for the boaters from Quebec – time to hide out somewhere for sure :-)

Sunday July 19: The Scottish Festival

It was a nice day (after yesterday's overcast, rainy one) for the festival. The park on the waterfront was packed with folks out to enjoy the day. First a parade down the main street with 15 different pipe and drum bands from around the area. It was GREAT!!

Steve and I sat along the street - nicely in the shade as it was really warm in the sun. I felt bad for those in the parade as it had to be really warm marching and playing.

I had my fold up chair - which Steve kindly carried while I rode my bike :-)

There were many food venders as well which we managed to avoid. Way too much good looking food that I'm quite certain is way too bad for us to eat.

The highlight of the day (in my opinion) was the gathering of all of the pipe and drum bands on the large open area of the park. We were sadly on the wrong side but there was no problem hearing them!

Other highlights included the sheep herding demonstration. The dogs were quite talented. They are trained to whistle commands as often it's too far for shouted commands.






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In the end, all of the sheep ended up in the fence pen. Well done!

Stage entertainment included Scottish folk singers as well and demonstrations of Scottish dancing. Reminded me of square dancing.


Throughout the park, various pipe and drum bands would play a few songs and then move on to another part of the park. Definitely fun for anyone that likes to hear bagpipes play.

The prize for the day went to the horse disguised as a dog .....

Tomorrow? Either anchor at Big Chief Island (if the weather is nice) or move on to Swift Rapids lock if the weather is not so nice.

Laundry is done, cupboards are stocked up and it's time to move on ,,,,,,

Friday July 17: Orillia

It's been less than a week but we've traveled a bit over 100 miles from Peterborough to Orillia. There is a Scottish Festival here this weekend that we caught a part of many years ago. Sounded like fun so here we are ......

Map of part of the Trent Canal System

Leaving Peterborough Marina

Lift lock - one of two on the system

We left Peterborough Monday morning after arriving from Buffalo the previous night. The day was beautiful and warm.

The second lock  of the day was the lift lock at Peterborough. Still the highest hydraulic lift lock in the world, it was completed in 1904. For more info, click here.

Cruising on the Talbot River

Six locks and quiet travel on the Talbot River later, we arrived at Lakefield for the night. The laundry was close so it was a good time to get that done. Steve walked to the grocery store - I guarded the boat :-)

Lakefield Marina

Tuesday was an overcast day but no rain so that was ok.

Finally, we spotted some loons. There were 2 young ones but old enough to dive for fish on their own. Even so, the adults hung around to make sure the young were protected.

Loons outside of Lakefield

This kayaker should have had a really good view!

We continued on through Young's Point (with a quick stop for bait) as our goal was to make it to Lovesick lock for the night.

This is a very popular stop - the only lock with no roads to it (the lockmasters come in by boat) so it's very quiet.

And to our surprise, we were the only boat on the top side! Steve headed off to fish at his favorite spot :-)

Rain at Lovesick Lock

And then the rains came! And continued. Sadly, Steve had a total of about 45 minutes to fish.

He caught a few small bass (one which would have been large enough to eat but he threw it back) - nothing like the pickerel Becky caught a couple of years ago!

It was still nice being there. We'll be back this way later in the season so hopefully the weather will cooperate.

So if you can't have fun, might as well work, right?

Second burner added

Nice fit!

Time to put the second induction burner in. We had ordered this to arrive in Coeur d'Alene so hauled it to Alberta and back - along with a couple of pans we picked up on the way! Good thing Southwest doesn't charge for checked baggage!

Ahh - fit was perfect! Now all that needed done was to finish the plastic cover for it (which we also hauled all the way from Coeur d'Alene!).

It's just so hard to have things shipped up here to Canada (for a reasonable fee anyway).

Adding the wood sides

First, cut the wood sides to length and then attach with small screws. It just doesn't seem like it should have taken as long as it did but that's usually the way it goes.

I had already varnished the boards while Steve was in Greece so that part at least was done.

Backsplash or .....

protective cover.

Finished!

So the cover serves as a backsplash when cooking and a protector for the burners when closed.

So a rainy day is sometimes a good thing!

Bobcaygeon - looking at the old bank building on the corner

Off Wednesday early - passing through Buckhorn lock and lakes and Pigeon Lake as we made our way to Bobcaygeon.

Again one of our favorite spots. Busy little town and people watching is always enjoyable with boats in and out of the harbor most of the day.

There is now power (soon to be water) at some of the docks so for $9.80 we hooked up to the hydro for the night (Canadian speak for 'electric').

Good deal!

Chelsea rolls ...

Werner and Kathy (It's About Time)also caught up to us (they spent an extra night in Peterborough for a hot water heater fix). We told them about the bakery and Chelsea rolls but they were up and out before the bakery opened.

Werner, Kathy and Steve with Guppy and It's About Time in the background.

But we knew where they were headed - and we came bearing gifts: 3 chelsea rolls - warmed nicely in the sun. The stop was at Bolsover - one of the flight locks just before Lake Simcoe. Long day of 40 miles (of course there was a stop for lunch at our FAVORITE Chinese restaurant for lunch!). Nice appetizer for dinner, right?!



It was an early morning rise this morning as we were parked on the blue line (reserved for boats wishing to lock through from 9 am to 5 pm) and needed to leave at 9. Fine with us - only 25 miles to Orillia but first 2 locks and then across Lake Simcoe. It was rainy again - and overcast and cloudy but not too windy so the waves were fine. Definitely not a lake you want to be on in strong winds.

Tomorrow? Parade at noon and then the competitions begin!