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.