Friday September 14: Fenelon Falls - Where Did the Summer Go?

Linda, Wendy, Lois, Cheryl

What a good time to be in Orillia and plugged into power - two of our 3 days there were cold (high in the mid-50's) and rainy.

So we sort of did some hibernating either on Guppy or on Deja Vu.

We arrived on Saturday which was the nicest day of the three and just in time to head to the Chinese place for lunch :-)

Lois had to be home on Sunday so Cheryl's sister Wendy drove over from the Midland area to pick up Lois and take her home. It was nice to be able to spend some time with her before they had to leave.

Sunday and Monday (especially) were just plain nasty days. Whatever happened to the summer-like weather of a couple of days ago?

Cheryl, Peter and Steve

Randy and Cindy drove over from their home to spend the afternoon Monday - and of course drive us to the Chinese place for lunch since it was rainy and cold.

Peter ended up walking but he was definitely dressed correctly for the walk!

It just seems ridiculous to have to have these kinds of clothes when boating!

Tuesday we finally headed out but not before riding to the Community Center for breakfast. For whatever reason there is a definite lack of breakfast places within biking distance from the marina. Not sure what's with that.

Peter and Cheryl had left by the time we returned. They were turning back and heading home toward Georgian Bay. We headed across Lake Simcoe to return to Fenelon Falls and put the boat away.

The rain had passed on but the clouds remained and were supposed to be with us throughout the day. And they were! But the wind was mild from the NW - perfect for the 20 mile run across the lake.


Steve kept noticing the leaves that are starting to turn - taking it as a sign that it really IS time to get the boat put away for the winter. I think it's already snowing in some of the northern areas of Canada!


We spent the night above the liftlock at Kirkfield with the sun finally making an appearance just prior to it setting.

It wasn't that long ago that it was light until after 9:30 or so. Now it's about 8:30 or so that it's almost dark. The promise of a nice day tomorrow was the forecast - we'll see. ....

The forecast was right on. It was going to be a nice last day of traveling!



Of course that was once the frost from overnight melted away :-)

We passed a workboat along the way - not a common site even though their work is evident along this stretch of the system. The guys were busy cutting away dead trees that had fallen into the waterway. It's quite narrow through some of the passages in this area so the removal of the debris is really needed.




Finally! The end of this stretch is in sight! The speed limit has been 6 mph for a good part of the way since we crossed Lake Simcoe.

It was a perfect travel day for our last day out. Wind was minimal out of the east and the sun was bright and strong.

 It was the perfect day to be on the water :-) Balsam Lake was perfect!

Last lock of the season was Rosedale, cross Cameron Lake and we pulled into the entrance to the canal leading to Fenelon Falls lock.

The place was empty! We headed to our favorite spot (near the Chamber of Commerce so we could get internet from them) and headed up for a late lunch.

By the time we returned, the docks were packed!! Mostly with houseboats - maybe a special end of the season rentals?? Not sure.

It was now Wednesday - we were due to take the boat to the marina on Friday. Two days to enjoy the end of summer and to get the boat packed up and ready to put up for the winter.

We winterized the water system (which means adding pink antifreeze to the water system and pumping it through the water lines), septic system and added stabilizer to the fuel system.

Steve rode the bus to Lindsay (about 25 minutes) to pick up a car this morning. I took Guppy to the marina. We were good to go! The marina will pull the boat, winterize the engine and outdrive, and shrinkwap the boat. Good for our arrival next spring :-)

Drive to Cleveland tomorrow, spend a few days, fly to California to visit the kids, then travel to Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii to cheer Matt on as he competes in the World Championship Ironman competetion in Kona. He has worked so hard for this achievement

Friday September 7: Swift Rapids

And so Thursday about 1 or so we spotted Deja Vu in the lock at Port Severn! We were packed up and ready to head out behind them!

Peter, Cheryl and Lois (Cheryl's Mom) were aboard and ready to spend a few days traveling with us on the Trent.

The first night we planned a short day of 8 miles to Big Chute - the marina railway.

We knew of a place for breakfast at the marina nearby - important things first :-)


It was a fairly nice day but somewhat overcast but no rain predicted so that in itself made it a nice enough day.

With Deja Vu in the lead, we set off. Very little wind - just a beautiful ride through the lower end of the Severn River.

We passed one log with seven turtles out sunning themselves. Always fun to see.

Not much other wildlife around though.

Approaching the Big Chute from the bottom gives a good view of the rise over which the carriage will take us.







The lock staff loaded Guppy on first and then Deja Vu.

With a large boat like Peter and Cheryl's, the front of the boat sits on the floor of the carriage and the aft end (with the props and rudders) hang over the back of the carriage.

The straps are then used to keep the boat balanced in an upright position.

Once over the hill, the carriage then enters the water until the boat is again floating. Start the engine and off we go :-)

It didn't take very long to get in and get settled - Guppy on the left and Deja Vu on the right in case you can't tell which is the 28 foot boat and which one is the 43 foot boat :-)

Docktails followed by dinner on Deja Vu. Peter, Cheryl and Lois kindly had us over for dinner as a 'thank you' for helping Lois move into her new house. It was great to be able to help - meeting more of Cheryl's family and see others whom we'd met in past trips.


Steve was entertained by the dump truck  which backed onto a barge and left a large amount of dirt.

Wonder which island it was head for ....

Quiet night and cool morning.

The water is still fairly warm and the cool overnight temperatures produce a mist over the water.

Off for breakfast - hopefully it will warm up by the time we get back!

Which it did nicely! As we approached Swift Rapids lock and dam, we were amazed to see the amount of water coming over the dam.

Two weeks ago there was almost no water coming over! It was really something to see.

dam two weeks ago

Two weeks ago the large concrete "chute" could easily be seen.

We ended up with nice spots on the wall above the lock. Peter knew there was a firepit here and fortunately the marina at which we had breakfast sold firewood! Way better than searching through the poison ivy infested area around the lock!

Steve was enjoying his opportunity to cook ashore and everyone took advantage of the sunny warm day enjoying sitting ashore reading.

The fire was GREAT - but no marsh mellows though. It was a great evening :-)

And another great sunset .....

On to Orillia tomorrow.

Wednesday, September 5: Port Severn

The main street of Midland ends at the water! So our marina was just at the foot of main street - it had just about anything we needed. Groceries. Chinese restaurant. Breakfast place.

The plan was to stay 6 nights. Peter and Cheryl (from Surona and Deja Vu) live a short 20 minutes from Midland so it was going to be an opportunity to see them.

We traveled a bit with them last year and it's always enjoyable times when we get together.


But first - Cheryl's mom, Lois, was moving! So we thought it would be a chance for us to help with the move (mostly Steve of course) and see Lois's new place.

Bonus? Cheryl loaned us her car for the time we were in town! Extra bonus? She has Sirius radio - Willy's Roadhouse was on anytime we were driving back and forth :-)

Our dock at the marina was perfect! We were actually able to have Peter, Cheryl and Lois over for dinner. We were right near the covered shelter so we took advantage of the picnic tables and had dinner there. Steve decided that because this was a picnic, we could use paper plates! No complaints from the clean-up person :-)

A laker steamship pulled in the third day to unload grain - what a mess! Grain dust everywhere as the elevator moved the grain from the ship to the granaries.

After one day and one night, it left - backing it's way out of Midland Bay until it had enough room to turn and head back to ???

We did a bit of sightseeing since we could and visited the Martyr's Shrine just a few miles outside of Midland.

Quite an impressive structure. It was built to honor Jesuit priests who were killed in the 1600's.

The inside was shaped like an upside down canoe. Quite interesting. Pope John Paul II visited in 1984.

For more info, click here or for another link, click here.




The grounds were beautiful.

We finally left yesterday. It was an OK day with overcast skies and we ended up at Starport Marina in Port Severn.

A promotional boat, Water on the Water, Beer on the Pier, had traveled with us through the Kirkfield lift lock and the remaining 5 locks down to Lake Simcoe. To our surprise, the captain gave us a card for a free night - good until Thanksgiving (which is in October up here) so we decided it would be a good time to take advantage of it.

And it was. Low last night was 70 degrees so we ran the air conditioner as we had power.

Beautiful sunset ....

Peter, Cheryl and Lois will arrive on Deja Vu tomorrow and we'll travel for a couple of days to Orillia!! Looking forward to a good time :-)