ONE MORE LOCK TO GEORGIAN BAY!

We left Buckhorn Lock #31 and went through more-more-can't remember how many-locks.  Captain Dave and Jim were busy at the upper helm.

 

We made it to Fenlon Falls and tied up for lunch at the local pizzeria and went grocery shopping.  We also did a little grandkids shopping.  My favorite!  A thunderstorm started messing with us so we made it to the other side of the lock to tie up onto the wall for the night.  Unfortunately so did every other boater around.  No space.  Luck prevailed when the local cruise ship had a space for us in front of him and he was kind enough to let us tie up there.  We made another really good dinner and again, passed out while trying to watch a movie.

 

Next morning off to Orilla.  We stayed in a nice marina there, again, in the heart of the city.  The Canadians really have their act together for boaters.  Take notice south shore of Lake Ontario!!

 

Someone recommended an Italian restaurant so off we went.  It was O.K.  nothing memorable so we decided that's it,  no more dinners out.  We can do better and have lots of food to use up before we head home next week for a few days.  Hope we stick to it!

 

Benji helps navigate.

 

 

Yesterday was, I think, I toughest day of travel.  The locks were very crowded and there was one long canal that was so narrow that only one boat could go thru at a time.  And this goes on for miles. You have no knowledge that another boat might be coming at you.  You are supposed to use your radio and announce you intentions but this ya-hoo didn't bother to do that so we had a little Mexican standoff for a few minutes but he was nice and backed out.

 

 

Pretty sure we were all glad to get yesterday behind us.

 

 

This morning when we left Orilla we saw this island  of dead trees.

 

Weird.

 

 

We went through the last lock (before the big chute tomorrow) and it was the deepest one yet:

 

We are now anchored up in a place called the Lost Channel.  Sounds ominous but it is beautiful.  There are a few other boats on the hook for the night around us and we are anchored and tied to a tree so we should be fine.  Just gorgeous.

 

 

Tomorrow is the 45th and last lock!  It's not really a lock but some kind of rail system that they load your boat on and move it down.  That should be something.  We ride in the boat while they are doing it.  On the Georgian Bay tomorrow!  We have talked to some locals and they have told us of some places not to miss. 

 

We've been at this for a week now and everything has been so smooth.  We aren't silly enough to think the whole journey will be this easy but take one day at a time and hope for the best.







 







 

 



Benji has been busy.

We left Cambellford after finding the butter tart bakery.  Those things are pure evil.  Should be called fat tarts.  Benji was busy cleaning the boat while we went into town.

We traveled thru numerous more locks to tie up to the wall in Hastings for the night.  While we were lounging on the back deck having a glass of wine a small boat burst into flames a few hundred yards in front of us!!

Apparently he realized he was having a problem and ran his boat ashore and jumped off right before the flames erupted.  So lucky for us that he didn't jump out in the water because the current would have driven this flaming boat right at us !  Geeze!  Sometimes you just get lucky.  The guy was not hurt.

 

This year Point Breeze won the ultimate fishing contest.  Last year Hastings was  the winner.  There must have been a tournament going on because bass boats were zipping past us all morning on the way out of town.

 

We motored onto Peterborough and spent the night at a marina right in the center of town.  They had live music and we did some laundry and had a nice dinner out.  We talked to some locals about where to go in Georgian Bay.  Local knowledge is always better than books or the internet.

 

Our first lock out of Peterborough was a lift lock.  You drive your boat into a giant bathtub full of water and they lift or lower you to the desired water level.  Pretty cool.

 

 

We got thru the lock and decided ice cream was a great idea for lunch so we stopped in Lakefield and found an ice cream parlour.

 

After that we headed for Buckhorn for the night but on our way there something magical happened.  The entire landscape changed dramatically to giant granite outcroppings with beautiful cottages on little islands and small coves and little summer communities.  This is just a small taste of what is to come I think.

 

Once tied up for night Benji thought we should have the champagne that Jim and Lin brought along to celebrate the trip.

 

 

 

I must say that Lin and I have produced some amazing meals from the boat's galley. It's kinda fun to see what we can do next.  The boat is running great and the weather has been wonderful.  Knock on wood. 

 



 

 

 



July 18th ...Day 1

We are off!  We left Thursday @ 7:30 ish in the sweltering heat and humidity.  Our good neighbor and buddy Dick came over to take our picture.  As you can see, Benji is happy to finally be underway.  The lake crossing was nice and smooth, probably 1 footers and that's such a nice ride.
We entered the Murray Canal around lunchtime and the dockmaster held out his little can for us to toss our fee into:

We ate lunch as we traveled through the Bay of Qunite and the entrance to the Trent Severn Waterway in Trenton ,Ontario.

 

We traveled to Lock #1 only to be sent back to a marina in Trenton to check in with Customs.  Funny, we could not find that little bit of info on any signs or  in any of our cruising books.  Oh well,

no biggie.  We then went back to Lock #1 and locked through.  As it was quitting time for the lockmasters we tied up to the wall, went for a little swim in the river, ran the generator for air conditioning and made a really nice dinner than Lin had prepared before we left (stuffed manicotti)  yum.  We tried to watch a movie but we all passed out quickly and called it a night.

 

Up @ 6:00 a.m. (why--I don't know!!) hung out and made breakfast and waited for the locks to open at 9:00 a.m.

 

We met a nice couple who are also doing the loop who just came up from Florida.  They ended up locking through all the locks with us until the end of the day.  They are also going to Georgian Bay and beyond.

 

He is a pic of the lock attendants who have to manually open and close the lock doors.  I felt bad

for them today because the heat was brutal!

 

At one point I looked back at the stern and there was a pretty hefty tree branch being dragged by our boat.  Dave slowed down and kinda backed up and it got chewed up and shot out.  Thankfully it didn't seem to hurt the precious propellers!

 

We were also pretty darn hot but got through the day with LOTS of water.  It was also very windy and gusty and we kept reminding ourselves how lucky we were to NOT be crossing Lake Ontario today.

 

 

We made it through Lock #12 to Campbellford and tied up for the night just as a wonderful refreshing rain shower hit and cooled things off nice.  I have never seen a boat get tied up so fast!  Between the pelting rain and the desire to be through with locks for the day we nailed it.

 

Due to the power outage in the town because of the storm, we had to run the generator while we cooked dinner until the power came back on. 

 

The town is supposed to have a really good chocolate store and bakery so we are planning on hanging around in the morning until those open.  We are just happy that the heat wave is over for now and waiting  in the locks won't be so sweltering.

 

For now it's movie/pass out time.  Each day seems to be a test of patience and just getting through the day!  There was just a loud crack of thunder so I guess it's time to blog off.  Never a dull moment.



 



 

 



One day and counting..........

Tomorrow is the BIG day.  IF all the stars are in alignment and the God of Cruising is smiling down upon us, we are scheduled to leave tomorrow a.m., cross Lake Ontario and get safely into the Murray Canal before the big thrunderstorms hit.  Playing chicken with Mother Nature already!

Carmen gave us a little stuffed animal to take with us on the trip for good luck and to remind us of her.  She named him Benji.

We rented a satellite phone for the Georgian Bay portion of the trip.  I'm afraid cell coverage might not exist in spots there.  There are probably 30 movies on board, 3 or four books, a bunch of new magazines, a kindle and i-books on the ipad.  That should keep us amused in slow times.

There is also plenty of varnishing to do on the rails of the boat.  Although they were all redone completely last summer, the varnish breaks down really fast.   

Our dear friends Jim and Lin are going on this first part of the trip with us and we couldn't be happier about that.  They are very patient and expeienced boaters and don't freak out when things go haywire; which will happen on a boat at any given time for no particular reason!

I will try to post tomorrow once we are settled for the day, hopefully tied up to a wall in the Murray Canal for the night. 

5th Annual Full Moon Cruise to Cobourg a HUGE Success!

Yesterday was our 5th annual Full Moon Cruise to Cobourg for dinner and back and I'd say it was the best one yet.  The crossing over was on a flat lake and many of us enjoyed sitting on the bow and soaking up some sun (finally).  The lake flies did harass us for awhile but then went away on the return trip. 
Dinner at the Oasis in Cobourg for the 14 of us was great.  They had a band that liked to flirt with us and even played some Steely Dan for me; they did quite a good job too.  Some nice people bought all of us a drink and the Canadians were super hospitable to us as usual.   Canada rocks!

This is a picture of Karen doing her thing with the statue guy:

Here we all are in our usual picture spot:

The trip home was lit up by the full moon, a very large full moon, and we enjoyed Jill's traditional berry trifle for dessert.

What a great party!  Dave and I are truly blessed to have such good friends to do silly things with!  Love you all!

Getting the boat ready.

Dave and I are continuing to get Blue Moon ready for the trip.  We are trying to think of all the things that could go wrong in advance and try to nip them in the bud but with a boat that is impossible.  Boats are fickle things.  It's as if they have moods. 

Dave is installing a screen on the salon door.  In all our years of boating we have never had a bug problem (except those damn lake flies that appear from no where when you are out on the lake.  Weird).  Since we are headed for Georgian Bay and the wilds of Canada, not to mention the deep south, screens seem like a good idea.

Yesterday was Father's Day and Steve presented Dad with this awesome Ship's Log book:

He had it laser engraved with the image of Blue Moon and the nameplate.  Great job!

This whole trip still seems surreal to us but we are going to do it.  I heard of an old workmate friend of mine that I haven't seen in years who had a serious stroke and heart attack recently leaving her bedridden.  She's only a year older than me.  Super bummer.  I hope she recovers somehow.  That just reaffirmed to me that now is the time for this journey.  The clock is ticking louder than it used to!  So....Bahamas or bust!

The cat knows...

Aja knows something is up.  Cat intuition?  How does he know we are going to be leaving him until next spring?  He does.  Steve has so graciously agreed to cat sit for us while we are away.  Litter box and all.  Thank you Steve!  That is a tremendous load off of my mind.  Some people take their cats on live aboard journeys but that's not for us and Dave might have taken the opportunity to offload the cat at some distant port!  haha  No really....

So everytime I look at the cat lately he is subliminally laying a huge guilt trip on me.  He is very good at it.  Sorry kitty,  hopefully you have no perception of time and you will welcome me with open paws when we return.