July 26th: On to Swift Rapids and Ooops

I apologize for neglecting to post the wildflower portion of the blog last time.

The last blog's wildflower is the Everlasting Pea.

 Lathyrus latifolius, the perennial peavine, perennial pea, broad-leaved everlasting-pea, or just everlasting pea, is a robust, sprawling perennial in the Pea Family Fabaceae. It is native to Europe but is present on other continents, such as North America and Australia, where it is most often seen along roadsides.



As we were leaving Orillia we spotted Avalon. Avalon was owned by Peggy and Mike, who were our dock neighbors at Banana Bay. A few years ago they sold the boat to Richard and Terri, a very nice couple that we met after they bought the boat and left it at Banana Bay for a while.

We were pleasantly surprised to meet up with them at the Orillia marina. Richard spotted Guppy the night before and knew it was our boat. The question was, "How did they recognize Guppy, since we only had the trawler in Florida?" Turns out they were following our blog and recognized Guppy. They are doing the loop and having a great time. Avalon went to a great couple and I'm sure Mike and Peggy are pleased they are enjoying the boat.



We decided to stop at Big Chief Island on Lake Couchiching. It has a protected anchorage and is a nice place to kayak. As soon as we anchored I went for a very enjoyable kayak ride. I saw an adult Merganser Duck with five small juveniles. They are a lot of fun to watch because they run across the top of the water and also dive under. Close to shore a Kingfisher made it well known that it did not want me there!  We enjoyed a beautiful sunset from inside the boat. Big Chief is a Chippewa owned island and it is un-populated which increases the number of mosquitoes. We closed up before they could sneak up on us.

Little did we know there were other bugs around. When we woke up in the morning we found thousands of little bug shells. They fortunately did not leave marks but they stuck to everything. I don't know what they were and we have not encountered them previously. Hopefully, we won't experience them again. Sure glad we had the screens in.


As we left Big Chief Island we passed an island that cormorants took over. Their droppings, which are very alkaline, fall on the leaves of the trees and kill them. Hate to see them wipe out an island like that but I guess that's nature. We're told that over the long term, 20 to 30 years, the result is nutrients returned to the soil for new growth.

We made it to the Swift Rapids Lock early enough for me to take another kayak ride. The terrain is starting to change, more rocks and less population. The only access to Swift Rapids Lock is by boat, makes it nice and quiet. I included several pictures of my kayak ride. Very peaceful and pretty.

We met another couple at Swift Rapids that was just starting to do the Loop. Very nice people in a trawler similar to ours. We answered a lot of questions and had fun reliving our trips as we discussed  their plans. They decided to join us for breakfast at Big Chuite Marina. We enjoyed another colorful sunset and were prepared to head to Big Chute Marina for breakfast.








This blog's wildflower: