Wednesday August 5: Orillia

Now we remember the reason we avoid traveling on holiday weekends :-)

This is Couchiching Lock. Thirteen boats traveling south - and this is not the record for the number of boats in this lock. At least that is what we are told.

Aug 1 is a Civic Holiday up here and anyone that has a boat spends the weekend on the water. Which is where we were. Need to remember this .....



So we finally left Port Severn on Saturday headed for the bottom of Big Chute - the marine railway. Steve still had in mind that there were bass to be caught at the end of the blue line.

But that's what half of Ontario decided to do as well - holiday weekend, right? So we stayed below the railway for part of the day and then decided to move on to Swift Rapids lock for the night.

It' a nice place and well protected from the winds and storms due in the next day.

It was an enjoyable night.

Steve cooked on the table outside and I did my usual stint in the galley cleaning up. No complaints though - with a personal chef, cleaning up is the least I can do!!

This lock is crazy huge. A 47 foot lift - the highest conventional lock on the system. This picture is taken from the boat - Steve is standing on the bridge at the top of the lock.

We spent two nights here as the predicted rain/storms did indeed arrive. The storm lasted several hours and seemed to just kind of swirl around the area.

Because of the lightening, the lock closed Sunday for a couple of hours - much to the dismay of some of the boaters who just needed to get to the lake above the lock!

Steve asked why they close: if the power were to go out, the lock is of course, inoperable. Mmmm .. makes sense. We later heard the Buckhorn lock was closed for 18 hour after it was struck by lightening. No way would I want to climb the ladder up the side of this lock, that's for sure!

When we finally left Monday morning, we ended up at the very front of the lock.

It's just hard to really get a scope on the size and height of the concrete wall in front of us ...

For the history of the lock (which was a marina railway until 1965), click here.










The wind was still blowing - fortunately it was behind us most of the day. This catamaran was going at least 12 mph if not more. They almost lost it once - good thing the two people are almost horizontal to the water!

We've been in Orilla now since Monday and will be leaving tomorrow morning. The rain has come and gone - hopefully gone for a while! There have been some really interesting clouds formations rolling through.

Some producing rain - some just menacing looking.

Steve took the bad battery to the auto part store so we are now back to full capacity of 3 batteries for power (using the inverter). This should help keep us charged up!

Plus a trip to the hardware store for the second attempt to fix the leak in the water tank.

Using a piece of curved plastic from a gutter system and a tube of aqua-mend (a two part putty that cures in an hour and is waterproof) will hopefully take care of it. This time he screwed the plastic piece right into the tank so we'll see if that does it.

And since the Goodwill store is right across the street from the hardware store, I thought we might as well pick up a few more books. Can't ever have too many book ....

The Harris's hawk was back for a visit on the docks. This guy is 3 months old and was raised here in Orillia. The seagulls definitely do not like it when he's around! Which of course is the point. For more info on these hawks, click here.

This particular bird is very friendly and loves to be petted!

We've been here several times when this same trainer has brought a bird to the docks.

Most fun? Steve finding a picture of the windmill on Santorini  that he and Becky saw when they were in Greece!

Turns out the owner is Greek and a number of the pictures were places he and Becky visited last month! Steve said the Greek omelet was EXCELLENT! Guess so since he had it two different mornings :-)

Tomorrow: the winds are favorable for crossing Lake Simcoe. Once across we'll stop at a lock for the night and then head into Coboconk for Friday and Saturday nights. Just hiding out for the weekend ....