Counting down to the Georgian Bay

I have finished 41 of the 45 locks on the Trent Severn Waterway.  Two of the locks were lift locks.  As usual, there are always new challenges on this trip.  I left Campbellford and headed to the Petersborough Lift lock, and was the first on the lock for the 110th anniversary.  I thought it was way, way cool... but the Canadians are laid back about everything, and I was more excited than anyone about it.  At the bottom of the lock, my stern thruster worked fine, then at the top, it quit working.  I have been handling the locking and docking without the use of my stern thruster and working on my boat handling skills. The cables between the locks are closer together now, so I am tying up the stern of the boat on the port side, then heading to the bow of the boat to hold onto the second line.  The most intimidating lock so far on the Trent Severn has been the Kirkfield Lift lock.  This lock drops 49 feet, and you are suspended in the air in a large container of water.  I was the first into the lock, so headed to the front of the lock, followed by Francesca, another Looper boat. We also had a canoe and one other boat with us.

Going down the locks can be intimidating.  As you can see from the picture, instead of heading towards a wall, I am headed to the edge of what feels like a cliff.  You can see how close I am to the edge, as I was sitting on the front of my boat, floating in a pool of water!

The waters are beautiful up here.  There are small islands, lakes, and some very narrow channels.  I have not had auto pilot for a few weeks now, so taking pictures is more difficult.  Surprisingly to me, there are more small, single engine seaplanes.

Yesterday, I arrived in Orillia, Ontario.  Chuck and Margaret, on Francesca, let me know they were planning to cross Lake Simcoe, so I decided to cross as well.  The lake was very peaceful.  The traffic heading into Lake Couchiching was terrible though.  There is a railway bridge, which is barely wide enough for two boats to pass through, and there was a line going each direction.  Today, was rainy and windy, so I stayed here in Orillia.

I am tempted to leave tomorrow and get one day closer to Georgian Bay.  My friends, Jim and Wendy from Bluenoser, live in Penetanguishene.  They left Southport Marina with me the day I started the Loop. I am looking forward to visiting them.  From here, it is a two day boat trip.  Jim will get on my boat at the Big Chute Railway lock, so he can be onboard with me when I head into his home town.  Georgian Bay has the reputation of being the most beautiful place on the Great Loop.

Here are a few random pictures.  It is beautiful and fairly cool up here. The temperatures have been in the 70's.

This church sat alone on one of the many islands.

Small islands and rocks everywhere. The channels are narrow!

A Glass House

Another beautiful sunset

Starting the Trent Severn Waterway

I am currently in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. I have gone through the first 19 locks on the Trent-Severn Canal.  I think these locks were built for my boat!  The cables, which run down the lock walls, are attached at the top and bottom. They are spaced approximately 14 feet apart, which is approximately the distance between my midship cleat (outside my helm window) and my stern cleat. They do not want the engines running in the locks, as the locks are smaller than along the Erie and Oswego canals.  I have been tying off outside my window at the helm, then going to the back of my boat to tie off the second line.  It has been so easy!

My bruises have not gone away completely from the Erie Canal,and are mostly healed.  I bought some pipe insulation tubing and cut it to fit my front windows, for tying up, to reduce any chance of getting more bruises.  This has been very helpful!

I had to tie up to the port side in a couple locks, but it has not been problematic because of how the locks are set up.

I have gone through two sets of "flight locks", which are two combined locks.  Once the first lock is finished, you move your boat forward into the second lock.  They are impressive!  Locks 11 and 12 have a lift of 48 feet combined.  Locks 16 and 17 go up 54 feet.  The lock masters are responsible for more than just one lock here. For instance the lock master for Lock 15 got the lock raised, told me to head to 16 and 17, and once he was done letting someone else go down the lock, he would head upstream to raise me for the "flight lock" of 16 and 17.

For most of the locks I have been the only boater to lock through.  The lock masters generally call ahead to give subsequent lock masters a heads up on who is on the way.  When the locks are far apart, I will call the lockmaster on my cellphone to let him know I am headed his way.  I have only had to wait a few minutes for a couple locks, due to other people coming downstream.  In general, the locks are ready when I get there.

At each of the locks are walls for waiting to go in, with a blue stripe (I haven't tied off to any yet.)  There are also areas on the walls to tie up your boat for the night.  There is a seasonal pass to cover the cost of "mooring" on the walls, which is on a first come first serve basis.  The walls do not include electric. There are restrooms, but no showers.  There is no internet service available.   So, for the showers and the internet, I have spent a couple nights at municipal marinas.

Heading up flight locks 11/12

At Campbellford Municipal wall.

Top of flight locks 16/17

Getting ready to exit flight locks 16/17. The lock master allowed me to get off the boat to take some pictures, while I was still tied to the lock wall.

Lock master's office and public restrooms at Locks 16/17.  He had a beautiful garden.

Lock 20, at Peterborough.  My next lock.

Part of staying in Peterborough is because of weather.  It has been getting very windy and the weather reporters are predicting rain and thunderstorms.  This morning I left the Hastings lock wall (lock 18) at 5:15 a.m, so I could cross Rice Lake before the winds kicked in.  I knew I wanted to be in a marina for any storms.  First thing this morning, I made reservations at the Peterborough municipal marina.  When I arrived at lock 19, I found out the next lock was having problems and was closed.  I arrived here around noon and the lock walls were full.  There was potential for boats to get stuck in Peterborough without a place to tie up.  I think the lock ended up opening this afternoon, but meanwhile, I am glad I am here, because the winds did pick up substantially this afternoon and clouds are rolling in.

Canadians know how to have fun!  I took these pictures along the way.

Here in Peterborough, there must be a dozen "looper boats".  I also have crossed paths a couple times with other boaters.  In Oswego, I met "gold loopers", Pat and Dick on Knight Life, who did the loop a few years ago.  They were heading one direction, and I was headed another.  In Campbellford, we crossed paths again, as they headed south, while I was heading north.  They gave me great advice about places to go in Campbellford, including the "Butter Tart factory".  The pecan tarts are better than any pecan pie I have ever had in my life!

Knight Life heading south, while I am further up heading north.

Rick and Anne on Assisted Living were in front of me for the first 6 locks. They were celebrating the 4th of July, with their boat decorated and handing U.S. flags to all the Canadian lock masters.  They should get an award for patriotism!

Happy 4th of July!  Assisted Living

Other interesting things...
I mentioned before how easy it was to get through Canadian Customs... a simple phonecall, and they didn't even ask for my passport number!  OK... that was my experience, and the experience of many other people here on the waters.  However, one of the loopers decided to declare a shotgun.  The Canadian customs asked him about alcohol, and he explained he had a liter of alcohol, or something like that.  They boarded his boat to find a few gallons of alcohol.  They took his shotgun away, then decided to board another Looper boat, who was traveling with him and went through their boat too.  I saw him earlier today, and he said he was probably lucky they didn't throw him in jail.  I think he was given an ultimatum of losing the shotgun or leaving the country.  I am looking forward to talking to his wife, to get her version of the story!

Some random pictures:

Centennial Fountain at Peterborough. Ontario

From Oswego,NY and into Canada.

First, an update!  In my last post, I mentioned how I saw Sylvi and Michael with their sailboat on the side of the canal waiting on a tow.  They were towed and the problem was a blocked water intake for their motor, which was easily resolved. They made it to Oswego and were once again boat neighbors with me.

From Oswego, we headed to Sackett's Harbor, where Sylvi and Michael keep their sailboat.  It was a run across the lake, with calm waters, but a lot of fog. For most of the time, I couldn't see anything different from any direction... it all looked like this:

Lake Ontario -smooth, but foggy.

After a couple hours, the fog cleared, and I left Lake Ontario for the small town of Sackett's Harbor, where I met up with a few other boater friends. Barb and Ross, from Attitude Changer pulled in shortly after I did.   It was a social evening. The only concern I had to deal with was my shower sump pump, which had a bad float switch. One of my new boat neighbors, Tom, offered to take me to West Marine in the morning, where I was able to pick up a spare bilge pump and float switch.

Sunset at Sackett's Harbor

Lighthouse on way to Sackett's Harbor

After a quick trip to West Marine, we left Sackett's Harbor and headed up the St. Lawrence River to Clayton.  In Clayton, Midas Touch caught up with us, so we now have three boats in our little convoy.  Clayton is one of the towns along the Thousand Islands.  We were told of three things that one must do in the Thousand Islands:  The Antique Boat Museum, River Rat Cheese, and the Boldt Castle.  We managed to do all three.  The museum and cheese store are both in Clayton.  We spent two nights there, then headed north to Boldt Castle, which was our turning point to head back towards Lake Ontario and into Canada.

Downtown Clayton from the water

Boldt Castle on Heart Island

After a few hours touring Boldt Castle, we headed towards Gananoque, Ontario, Canada.  After arrival, we checked in with Canadian Customs through a payphone.  It is quite the contrast to what I have been accustomed to in Arizona.  Even at Boldt Castle, there was a U.S. Immigration office, which looked like the easiest job for a border patrol agent I have ever seen.  There were no lines, just a sign saying that if this was your first stop in the United States, check in.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Station at Boldt Castle

This morning, we left Gananoque and headed west. We are staying just west of Kingston, Ontario at Collins Bay Marina.  It has been very windy, which is hampering our progress into Canada.  The weather forecasts have not been accurate, when we can get them.  We are adjusting our plans accordingly.

It may be a while before I post another blog... internet is difficult to find, and the upload speeds are slower than slow.  It took hours to upload the five pictures on this post.  I had a lot more I wanted to share.  I have limited minutes on my phone.  Communication is proving to be difficult in Canada.

Happy Canada Day!