Wednesday August 8: Orillia

Bobcaygeon was enjoyable as well as productive - at least for Randy who ALWAYS has a project going. This day it was to cut the fiberglass for the porthole he wanted to put in the starboard side of the front berth.

Sadly, the cut-out oval of fiberglass slipped out of his hands and ended up in the canal. So the real question was how many folks does it take to recover this piece?

It seemed like only two - with Steve using a kayak paddle duct taped to a boat hoop and Randy with an additional boat hook.

When that didn't do it, Cindy put her two cents in by holding Steve's ankles in hope of his being able to extend even further out over the water!

In the end, the piece just kept scooting out of range so it finally took Steve donning his mask and snorkel to fish it out of the canal :-)

Team effort 100% of the way :-)

Not really any rain but we ended up with a wonderful rainbow which continued to expand for about 10 minutes and then suddenly disappeared.

We took it as a good omen for travels ahead :-)

Splitting up with Margaritaville 

Thursday it was time to move on. Sadly it was also time to split ways with Randy and Cindy.

They were headed to Lindsay (a turn to the south on Sturgeon Lake) and we were headed back to Fenelon Falls (a turn to the north on Sturgeon Lake).

They will continue to travel the Trent and we will head to Georgian Bay. We know we'll see them again - either up here or Florida at Banana Bay. It's been a great month traveling with them!

The falls at Fenelon is flowing more than the last time we were there due to the very needed rainfall in the past week or so. 

Although it does seem that the Fenelon Falls next to the blue line below the falls could use a trim! This 'sign' has been here since the late 50's at least!

We stayed a couple of days - getting several projects done as well as laundry. The laundromat here is not as nice as the one at Bobcaygeon but it is a bit closer to the docks.

Of course it wouldn't do to stop here and not make it to our favorite Chinese restaurant on the Trent :-) Which we did twice :-)

Friday, the day we left, there was a War of 1812 reenactment in the park across from the docks. It looked quite interesting but we needed to vacate our spot. Probably just as well as the waterway was a zoo with boats coming and going.

Our intention was to travel to Coboconk (about 10 miles) but after 2 miles or so there was a perfect spot to tie up for the night at the very popular Rosedale Lock. 

We've stayed here only one time that we remember and always intended to stop again sometime - guess that was today!

The lock personnel have grown some really beautiful flower gardens!

Not really a change of plans - just a change days as we left Sunday for Coboconk.

Entrance to Coboconk from Balsam Lake

It's a very nice ride through part of Balsam Lake (the highest point in the Trent System) and is actually the highest point to which a vessel can be navigated from sea level in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River drainage basin!

But it was VERY hot there :-) So we decided to move out onto Balsam and just anchor for the night. It's always cooler on the lake.

Then it was, well ... if we're going to anchor on the lake, we might as well just travel another 10 miles and stop at the lift lock at Kirkfield. There would be some shade available there and if needed we could just run the generator all night without disturbing anyone.

The narrowest part of the Trent Canal

So we headed into the relatively narrow channel which connects Balsam Lake to Lake Simcoe.

It always fascinates me to think this was dug without machinery and to see the piles of shale lying alongside the canal.

The canal was dug to a depth of 6 feet as there was no natural waterway which connected the two lakes.

Part of the canal as we approached the Kirkfield lift lock was also dug to a depth of 6 feet - with the sheer sides of the canal approximately 10 feet high.

We found a nice spot with a bit of

 shade in the late afternoon. Still very warm so we ran the generator and air conditioner all night. Way better sleeping than in mid 70's and no wind!

Monday then we had an early start and made it through the lift lock, five hand-operated regular locks and 32 miles - arriving in Orillia under threatening skies by 1:30. It was a long couple of days but now we'll stay for three days before moving on.

It's a really nice marina and one of our favorite cities.

Laundry to do, groceries to buy. This is the last major place for shopping before we are in Georgian Bay.

So we head out tomorrow morning. Today started out raining until noon but by this afternoon was blue sunny skies :-)