We left the boat on October 9th as planned, spent the Thanksgiving weekend in Bancroft—I had more KIC-20. We then travelled around Ontario and visited with friends and family. We attended Caitlin and Christina’s wedding in the beautiful Elora Mills. It was absolutely amazing. We then started home, visiting more friends along the way. We arrived back in Winnipeg on October 24th.
This fall was also a sad time, three very dear people passed away. A good friend from Eastern Star/Job’s Daughters that I knew for over 47 years- Louise who was 103. My former boss from the CGC- Phil who was 93, and my cousin- Maureen, who died in a car accident . They will be missed.
Andy will be having a knee replacement in late November, so there will be very little travelling over the winter. I going to need a big knitting or sewing project to keep me occupied this winter!!
On September 1st we left Shot gun Bay and moved to Indian Harbour for the night. On Tuesday we moved on to Frying Pan bay, at the north end of Beausoleil island, we were able to snag a spot at the dock. By nightfall there were about 10 boats in the bay. On Wednesday morning, we heard from Tom and Peggy and learned that they were at Cedar Springs docks on Beausoleil, so we moved there, going through the Big Dog channel for the first time, least water we saw was 4 feet. We arrived and tied up and had a visit with our friends, before they returned to Queen’s cove marina.
We ended up being tied up at Cedar Springs for 4 nights—Thursday night and Friday there were gale force winds for the area, with winds expected as high as 90 km/hour. We put on extra ropes. On Friday morning around 7 a boat that had been anchored in Chimney Bay showed up—it took us and another couple to help them tie up. That morning, while I was tightening up the straps on our lounge chairs, one of them fell overboard and quickly sunk. On Saturday when the winds had subsided, we tried to retrieve the chair with a boat hook, without any luck. I then decided to put on my bathing suit and see if I could dive down to get it—this also didn’t work, and the water was frigid. Dave, on the next boat, had an endoscope that could be used underwater- so Andy and him were able to view where the chair was and by using 2 boat hooks taped together, were able to go down the 16 feet to pull up the chair. The waves diminished by Sunday morning, so we went to Victoria Harbour for the night. After multiple days of wind and waves on Georgian Bay we decided to move back into the Trent Severn for the remainder of our time on the boat.
We spent 3 nights at Port Severn and went to Christie Mills for dinner on Sept 10th for their $10 wings special, we moved to the Big Chute for the night of the 11th, and then on to Swift Rapids for the weekend, met some very nice boaters from New Brunswick around the campfire on Sunday night. On Monday we moved to Couchiching lock for 2 nights, had to wait for the train bridge to open before moving to Orillia for 3 days. Steve, came over and diagnosed our Generator leak. After ordering parts Dillon replaced the filter and tightened up the hose clamps.
He also looked at the Port engine, and suspects that we may need to replace the turbo. While in Orillia, we reprovisioned both food and wine and had KI- 16.
We were thankful to have power, as the nights are becoming chilly. On Saturday morning we left Port of Orillia crossing Lake Simcoe, which was a little bumpy at times, we arrived at Gamebridge around eleven. We then proceeded through the set of 5 locks alone and decided to stay at Bolsover. We did see one other boat- a rental that went as far as Lake Simcoe and then turned around. At Bolsover the bathrooms have been updated, and a shower added—definitely some of the nicest lock washrooms on the Trent.
On Sunday we continued along the Trent, going through the Kirkfield lift lock and Rosedale. We stayed at Fenlon Falls for the evening and plugged into power. Around 11pm, we had a thunderstorm followed by rain on and off most of the night. We locked through the Fenlon lock at 10:00 in the rain when they opened and continued on to Bobcaygeon, we were through this lock around noon. Around 12:30 the rain finally stopped, we arrived in Buckhorn at 2:00 and tied up at the lock wall, having travelled 4 hours and about 34 miles. On Tuesday Brian Hayton, met us at the lock with our car, he is joining us for a week on the boat. He had brought along a couple of boxes that Andy had ordered on Amazon—a new captain’s chair and pedestal. In no time, they had it installed.
I drove to Foodland and picked up a few things, and returned to the lock. After lunch we went to Buckhorn Yacht Harbor to transfer a few things from the boat to the car, we also left the old captain’s bench at the marina. After parking the car, the three of us returned to the lock wall and tied up, we also plugged in to power for the night. We had several rain showers in the evening and through the night. On Wednesday morning, we locked through and went to the Lovesick lock, where we locked through and tied up on the wall. Andy and Brian salvaged dead fall from the bush so we could have a campfire, as it was a lovely evening. We again had a few showers through the night. At 6 AM Thursday, we were awoken by stuff crashing in the kitchen— we thought that maybe Brian had fallen out of bed. I got up, turned on lights and everything that was on the map table had shifted onto the floor—I also noticed that the screen on the oval kitchen window had been pushed in. Andy and Brian went to investigate, and found part of a banana and small foot prints—we believe belonging to a racoon that must have come in through the window, and left with the banana. We will not leave any windows open on our next visit to Lovesick. We later learned from one of the lock staff that the raccoon has tried to break into many boats, and is referred to as “Robin Hood”, because of it’s thieving.
Just before 10, we left Lovesick and headed to Burleigh Falls lock, we had a 28 foot drop and were out by 10:30. We proceeded across Stoney and Clear Lakes to Young’s Point and tied up on top before noon. In the afternoon we went shopping to the General store and bought a few things including Kawartha and to the Lockside trading post. It was overcast most of the day, and we had another rain shower around 4:00. We treated ourselves to KI-17, KI-18 and KI-19 over the next few days to empty to Kawartha container. On Friday we went about 8 miles and tied up at Lakefield, where we were able to plug into power. We walked into Lakefield in the afternoon and did some shopping. On Saturday, Andy and Brian, put an exhaust fan in, which entailed cutting through the fiberglass in order to vent it out from the kitchen. By using a jigsaw and Dremel tool they were able to cut a large enough hole for the fan. They also removed the Kenwood 5 CD changer that no longer worked, and replaced that opening with screen, as a vent for removal of the hot air. Brian also installed a switch for turning the fan on and off. In the afternoon the guys walked back into town to get a few more groceries & beer. We’ve been playing more cards while Brian has been with us, as well as the guys play cribbage. The weather today was partially cloud but warms and I was able to wear shorts again. The leaves are changing colours on the trees and falling- very beautiful, they are clogging up the locks and appearing in some of the old guy’s crafts.
We left Lakefield and went to through Youngs Point lock and stopped for lunch. Andy and Brian went to the Lockside trading store and Brian bought a knapsack bag that he gave to Andy. We then carried on to the Burleigh Falls lock and went through to the top. We tied up for the night, and had a fire once it was dark out—nice evening, clear with lots of stars out.
In the morning, we left shortly after 10 and went to the Lovesick lock and went through, then we were off to Buckhorn, and locked through around 1130. We arrived at Buckhorn Yacht Harbour before noon, and tied up in one of the empty slips. For supper we returned to Cody Inn. On Tuesday we drove to Bancroft to drop off Brian, as well to visit with Brian and Helen, and do some other chores. We returned to the marina shortly after 2:30, and had visitors about 30 minutes later. Andy’s brother and sister-in-law were staying with friends nearby and had dropped by for a short visit and to see our summer home.
The weather is still relatively nice for this time of year—so we plan to stay on the boat for another week on the TSW and travel between Buckhorn and Rosedale. We will have the boat pulled out in BYH around October 9th. We will then spend a week visiting friends, before attending Andy’s niece- Caitlin’s wedding in Elora Mills on Oct 19th. We hope to be back to Winnipeg about October 24th.
Steve, the mechanic came to the boat on Monday afternoon and got rid of the knocking noise on Monday afternoon. We left on Tuesday morning and crossed Lake Couchiching to the lock. We only had about a 15 minute wait for the train bridge, along with 3 Looper boats. We tied up at the lock and let the 3 boats go through. There was a bit of a delay for them as there was some small branches caught up in the lock mechanism. Once it was repaired, we waited about an hour and went down in the next locking. We travelled as far as Swift Rapids and tied up on the power wall, as it was again very hot, and we wanted to run the AC or fans. In the morning, we locked down at 10:30 and went on to the Big Chute, and locked through by ourselves. We continued on to Port Severn and tied up at the wooden dock. On Thursday morning I saw this heron sleeping very near to our boat.
We went down on the 9am locking, and headed to Queen’s Cove in Victoria Harbour, while Andy was getting the fuel topped up, I walked to the nearby Foodland for a few supplies.
We continued on to the Cedar Spring dock on Beausoleil Island, arriving at 12:15. We could smell some diesel in the boat, so Andy contacted Steven, who said he could meet us in Honey Harbour on Friday to take a look.
Later that afternoon we helped a boat “Evalyn Jane” in from Clayton NY, with Dale and Jane. We visited with them on their 37 foot Albin. The next morning, we showed them some of our favourite anchorages and were joined by Mike and Candy from “Next Adventure”, who are Aussies traveling around Canada. We met Steven around noon, and he was able to stop the small drip of fuel, and then we were off. We learned from Dale that they were going to Monument Channel, so we met up with the two boats there. It was hot, and we both went in the water for a swim. Jane invited us over to their boat for drinks around 5 Pm, this was the first time we had been in the dinghy this year, and Andy rowed us over. We spent a couple hours visiting, before we returned to “On Business”. We couldn’t get our Anchor light to come on, so put a battery operated light on the boat for the night.
We planned to leave the anchorage by 9:30 and head in to Henry’s restaurant on San Souci island for lunch before continuing on. After lunch Dale and Jane decided to head up to Parry Sound for the night, we went to Spider Bay, and Mike and Candy were going to make their way Eastward and back to the Trent. Andy worked on tracing the anchor light wiring to determine where the connection was faulty, and repaired it. We decided in the morning to go up to Big Sound Marina in Parry sound, we left around 9:00 and followed the south channel, we needed to make the 11:00 opening of the swing bridge in order to get into town. At times it was quite windy on the trip up the channel. We went through the bridge with one other boat, and arrived at the marina by 11:30 and tied up. I did some laundry and then we walked 1.4 miles to the farmer’s market for some fresh produce. On our journey back to the boat, we found a taxi to take us back. We had drinks with Dale and Jane on our boat, and were invited to visit them next summer on our planned voyage to Halifax, they live on the St. Lawrence River on Grindstone Island. On Monday we left Parry Sound at 10:45 and travelled a couple hours and anchored behind the Jone’s Island lighthouse. We stayed two nights, as Tuesday had intermittent rain and wind. Andy did some maintenance, and filled up the small propane tanks. Around 4:00, a second sailboat joined us in the anchorage, and a little later 2 people in a dinghy stopped by: they were the couple, Liz and Graham who we had bought “On Business” from back in 2014. What a small world!
On Wednesday, we left the anchorage at 8:00 and proceeded past Snug Harbour and continued on to the Shawanaga inlet, we passed Hopewell Bay anchorages and proceeded into the bay behind Stair Island. We were the first boat there and by nightfall, we had been joined by 3 other boats. During the day, I changed the fender covers, to the new ones that I had sewn over the winter out of sunbrella material. I had got this idea from Brenda, who I had met in Thunder Bay last summer. She claims the sunbrella covers can last several years. I was changing my knit material covers on an annual basis. We’ll see how these last.
On Thursday morning, we left around 8 am and proceeded through the Hang dogs, through Alexander Passage, and through the Norgate rocks. We arrived in Britt around 11:30 and tied up. We went for a walk to St. Amant to pick up some fruit, however our first stop was Ice Cream on the Rocks KI-15. I tried one of the new flavours for 2025 called “Constellation” – it is described on the website asa rich chocolate flavor swirled with caramel and speckled with cookie pieces, inspired by starry nights. It wasn’t bad, but Coconut is still my favourite. In the late afternoon, Graham Lacey, the former owner of Wright’s marina stopped by for a visit.
We left on Friday and took the outside small craft channel up to the French River Main outlet; we proceeded up the outlet to the north end and MacDougal Bay. Here, we met Jamie and Sheri who were on Jaime’s 36 Monk called the 3 J’s. We anchored, and it seemed to hold, but then we started dragging and moved to a new spot. The wind was coming up the channel from the south and between the wind and waves we were not very comfortable with this anchorage. Around 4 pm we decided to move to Obstacle island, which had more shelter from the winds, it was a place we had been at in the past.
We spent a pleasant night there, we did encounter a few fishing boats going near us in the anchorage, but their wake was relatively small. On Saturday we decided to stay put, and Jamie and Sheri dinghied over and we had a visit along with beef barley soup that I made, and planned our next day. They also dinghy’d to the Parting Channel which was about a ¼ mile from our anchorage—it is very narrow and involves a sharp turn. They guys checked the depth and it was well over 6 feet, so sufficient for both of us to pass through.
On Sunday we moved went thru the Parting channel to the north end of Fox Island Bay- we had sufficient depth, but again there was a fair bit of wind from the south coming up the channel, we were rocking a little. Around 5 pm the winds died down and we had a restful night. On Monday, it was still calm in the bay, but we knew the wind was howling in Georgian Bay. We did experience some of the wind in the open areas. We arrived at Wrights marina around 11:30 and tied up. Jamie and Sheri went to the St Amant marina farther up the river, but did come by in the afternoon for a visit.
We met David and Robin on Daisy Jane 2, which were located on our dock, they had been waiting since Saturday for a weather window to cross over the Bay to Alexander Passage. The guys agreed to buddy boat if the weather was favourable. Robin gave me some tips on how Wind finder works and well as some tips for my iPad. They are very interested in going around Lake Superior, so we told them some of our tales. On Tuesday, the weather did not look something we wanted to tackle- so David and Robin crossed alone. Robin emailed and said they waves were 3 foot plus. We will try to cross early tomorrow with the 3 J’s , and go as far as we can. Andy worked on some of his woodworking projects today.
We left Britt shortly after 7 am in the fog, once we got out to the open bay near the lighthouse, the fog had dissipated. The 3 J’s followed us through the Norgate rocks and on to Alexander passage, we then went through the hangdogs and Shawnaga inlet and on to Port au Barril. We turned up into Parry Sound and arrived at the marina around 2:00. About an hour later, we took a taxi to Walmart to buy some groceries. Around 5:00 I walked to the Bearly used bookstore—what a place—books everywhere- there is some order, but very overwhelming. I came home with a couple books.
For dinner we walked to the nearby Boston Pizza. It rained throughout the night, and there was some high winds as well—we were in an inside slip, with boats all around, but the boat rocked a fair bit overnight. When we got up we talked about taking the 11 am bridge opening- but the rain stopped just before 8—so we rushed and got through at the 9 am opening. We went down the South channel and arrived at the Sucker Creek anchorage, where the 3 J’s were. This was our first time in this Massassauga Park anchorage. We went to the far end of the bay, and anchored in about 10 feet of water. In the afternoon Jamie and Sherri came over. Jamie helped Andy to get the Lehr propane motor going, however they were not successful- we hadn’t used it for several years- so they suspect that something has likely rusted inside, as it wouldn’t fire up even when the spark plug was changed. Jamie and Sherri stayed for supper and more visiting.
On Friday morning, we followed the 3 J’s out of the anchorage—they were going back to Queen’s Cove in Victoria Harbour, and we were moving to another anchorage called Shot Gun cove, close to Port Rawson.
We arrived and there were 3 boats rafted in one bay, a main ship and a sailboat. We proceeded to the far end of the bay and anchored in 10 feet. Andy worked on sanding and adding a coat of Cetol to the oars for the dinghy, and I did a little cleaning and then started reading a book. We stayed put for Saturday and Sunday, doing a few jobs on the boat, and I continued reading. We plan on leaving this anchorage on Monday September 1st and start heading towards Beausoleil island, and eventually the Trent Severn Waterway.
Made it to Barrie for our bus, but it was running late. We got on at 1:15, bus was full, so we sat across the aisle from each other, we made our connection in Sudbury around 6:00. Then it was on to the Sault Ste Marie, we arrived there around 11:00 and were let off with our luggage. Our bus and driver arrived around 11:30. There had been a couple of road washouts on Hwy 17 on Wednesday night near Wawa and Montreal River, so our driver had to take a long detour through Chapleau the previous day, and was late returning to the Soo. He said that there was one-lane traffic in these spots now, so we would be going the normal route. There were not many people on this bus so we each got a pair of seats to try and stretch out on. At one point during the night, the bus driver slammed on the brakes, to miss a bull Moose on the road. We got to Thunder Bay around 9 am, and Teresa was there to meet us and take us to our vehicle at McKellar marina. We went for breakfast at “stacked” and then it was the 7 hour trip to Winnipeg, arriving home around 6:00.
We were kept busy during the week with errands, doctor’s appointments and visiting in our apartment building. I also was able to buy Kawartha Ice cream at Sobeys for the first time- KI 7,8,9 Yipee!
On Friday morning, we left by 9am for the 500 Km trek to Swan River. We went to my sister Maxine’s place and had a visit, for supper we met my sister Heather and went to the Timberland. Town was busy as it was Rodeo weekend. We visited with Heather at her condo and returned to Maxine’s for the night. Saturday morning the 5 of us went to the rodeo pancake breakfast at the veteran’s hall. Andy and I did some shopping in town, and returned to Maxine’s as we had to leave for the wedding by 1:00, as it was at Coral and Michael’s farm just inside the border of Saskatchewan. It was a hot day with blue skies- perfect day for an outside wedding.
Following the ceremony, people moved to Michael’s parent’s property for some visiting followed by the reception and dance, which was being held in the machine shed for 324 people. On several occasions during the reception- local home brewed tea was offered in shot glasses to those who wanted to try it, I sampled something called Lemonade, and Apple Pie. We sat with my nephew Chris and his wife Jen, along with Gord’s sister Wilma and her husband KD, and my nephew Craig’s (father of the bride) neighbors Mary and Blair Martin– who are related to our apt property manager- Small world!
We left around 10:00, but I’m sure the reception went on for many hours, I saw some videos a few days later of some Ukrainian dancing- so I believe it was a late night.
On Sunday morning, we left my sisters before 7 am for our trip back to Winnipeg. Once home, we went to St. Vital mall, as both Andy and I were having MTS mail issues on our devices- we have decided to switch to Gmail over the next few months. We packed up the car for our next adventure- a road trip to Orillia. On Monday we got as far as Marathon, and stayed at the Travel Lodge there. Next day there was a lot of road construction between the Soo and Sudbury, so a little slow going, we did arrive in Orillia by 6:00. Two long days of driving for the old guy.
We touched base with the diesel mechanic, he said that the injectors on both engines needed parts, and that they had been ordered, but not yet arrived. So, we are in a holding pattern in Orillia, the engines are in pieces, so we can’t go anywhere, so KI 10 had to finish the tub in our freezer, to fill it up with meat. On Thursday we decided to drive over to Buckhorn and check in with the marina, where we will be putting the boat up this fall, we then travelled to Bancroft and spent the night at Brian and Helen’s, and took them out for their upcoming anniversary KI 11. On Friday Brian drove us back to Orillia, and then took our vehicle to store for the next couple months. Andy checked in with Steve, the diesel mechanic and learned that our parts were in customs—so we will continue to wait. It is a long weekend, so the earliest the parts may be delivered is Tuesday. We will keep busy by doing some jobs on the boat—touching up the teak railings, and cleaning the exterior, some time to explore and more KI 12 & 13 & 14. It was hot before we left to go back to Winnipeg, so I invested in a rechargeable Blue & Gold camping fan—which is getting lots of use. It has multiple speeds, light and timer.
The mechanics did come to the boat on Wednesday August 6th, and then again on the 8th and will return on the 11th– hopefully for the last time, the injectors have been re-installed, however there is a knocking sound coming from the Port engine so something isn’t right. On Friday afternoon, Andy changed the oil in both engines, so that we will be ready to depart whenever the repairs are complete.
On Business has been sitting in slip A139 in Orillia since July 16th—24 days and counting, we have been extending our stay by 3 days at a time, as the special here is pay for 2 and get the 3rd one free. Didn’t plan on spending a month at the dock in Orillia!! But there are worse places to be—here we have power & showers, which has been useful as the past two weeks have been in the upper 20’s and 30’s, and we had several days of thick smoke from the prairies. There is also a Metro store and Legion within a 5 minute walk, the main downtown along with Wilke’s bakery is about 10 minutes away. This weekend, August 8-10th the Orillia waterfront festival is on- so lots of vendors and music in the park.
On the brighter side- we submitted an insurance claim for our grounding on the shoal in Lake Superior last summer, and it has been approved, so will be getting some money back. I’m hoping my next post will come from a different location—I’m ready for a change of scenery — would rather be sitting at anchor somewhere in Georgian Bay.
On Saturday the 28th, we walked to the Bush Plane museum, which is located on the waterfront in the Sault. Here’s one of the planes, also information on how to become a forest ranger- which I thought might be of interest for Jack.
On our return to the marina, we met up with Pat and Marcia and had drinks and appies at Montanas, which is located next to the marina. On Sunday we left around 8:15 and travelled the St. Mary’s river to Hilton Beach, we did not see a single freighter, only a couple of fishing boats. We stayed here for the night. We had this coyote on our dock, to scare the geese away. It seemed to work, as there was no goose droppings anywhere to be found on our dock. We had a thunderstorm in the evening followed by rain throughout the night.
On Monday we left just after 7 am, and crossed all the open water of the north channel, passing by Bruce Mines, Thessalon, and Blind River. We ended up going up the Whalesback channel and anchoring in Moiles Bay, off of John island. Long day 72 miles in 7 hours.
The skies were overcast, but it was relatively calm. On Tuesday, Canada Day we travelled 37 miles, in and out of fog in order to reach Little Current at 11 am. We walked up to the grocery store and got a few things as well as ice cream ( not Kawartha). In the evening, we met with Betsy and Allan, loopers from Florida, as well as Mike a gold looper from Michigan.
Wednesday was to have very little wind and waves, so we left at the 9am swing bridge opening and went outside of Killarney past the Bustards, but by this point the wind was starting to pick up. We went near the Outer foxes and vixen island, 2 places we had stayed before, but couldn’t get the anchor to hold. We travelled a little further and anchored near Dead Island in mud and weeds and were good for the night. Another marathon day of 69 miles. On Thursday morning, our 15th wedding anniversary, we only had a short 18 miles to travel to reach Wright’s Marina in Britt. Here we fuelled up, had a pump out and refilled our water. For an anniversary gift, I picked out this t-shirt. I’ve experienced both of these choices, and prefer the first one!
We went to Ice Cream on the rocks and had our first taste of Kawartha Ice cream KIC(1) Black Raspberry Thunder& Pralines &Cream. People have asked me how often we have Kawartha- so I’m going to try to keep track this year. We ordered a Pizza for supper, and Sean, one of the marina staff picked it up for us. It was huge, we had it for supper and for lunches for the next 3 days.
We left Friday at 7:45, and traversed the Norgate rocks, followed by the Hangdogs. There was hardly a ripple in the Hang dogs, but you can really see how low the water is in Georgian Bay, as there are many new rocks above the waterline. We continued on as the waves and weather held and crossed Parry sound. At 2:30 we anchored near Falkner island in Spider Bay Saturday, we did a few cleaning jobs—I was trying to rid the boat of May fly carcasses, as we had an invasion 2 nights in a row with them. Also took a dip in the water, as it was quite hot. Finally a Time to Relax!
On Sunday our friends, Tom, Peggy, & Nyla from Water Lily and Randy and Audrey from Heart Tug, came to the boat by dinghy. They were anchored in Echo Bay a few miles away. The day was mainly overcast, with some wind. Rain was to start in the early evening. I watched this loon for awhile and go this picture.
On Monday morning we left the anchorage around 9:00 and continued south east towards Beausoleil Island. We tied up at the dock at Cedar Springs at 1:15. We were the only ones on the dock, but there were a couple of other boats anchored out. Once we had check-in, we went for showers, and got rid of our garbage and re-cycling. My plants are doing well. Have about 10 tomatoes, and the lettuce is almost ready to eat.
On Tuesday we left around 11:30 and travelled the 9 miles to Queen’s Cove marina in Victoria Harbour. We got into our slip A10, which is actually Water Lily’s regular spot. We went to the marina office and paid for our slip for 2 nights, and tried to find out when the electrical work might be scheduled, as the parts that we ordered had been arrived. On Wednesday morning the service tech arrived around 9:00, and by noon he had replaced the external voltage regulator and installed the dc to dc charger. With these additions, our alternators will be able to charge our house lithium batteries while we are running.
To celebrate we went to Queen’s Quay for wings and beers for supper. It was quite hot, so we ran the AC to cool down the boat. On Thursday we went the 9 miles to Port Severn and did our first lock on the Trent Severn Waterway. Will stay here a night or two, we walked over to the Ice breaker, and had KIC (2), coconut this time, also picked up some books from a book sale at the post office.
On Saturday we moved on to the Big Chute railway, and tied up on top at the docks. t was really hot with very little breeze, in the afternoon, we went to the Marina for more KIC(3)- not much of a selection, so I had Chocolate. On Sunday morning Andy called the next lock, Swift rapids to see if they had space at the power pedestals- they did so we untied and arrived there before 11 and took a spot with power. It was suppose to be hot, and we wanted to run a fan or the AC, as the night at the big Chute was extremely hot and uncomfortable. We decided to stay for 2 nights, as there is only one more lock before we reach Orillia. We met with some loopers and the captain pulled out his charts and showed them some of our favourite spots. I have recently read the book- a respectable ditch, about the building of the Trent Severn Waterway between 1833 and 1920. Definitely an eye- opener– so much politics involved, and the ideas for it’s use kept changing, in the early days it was used for moving lumber through log chutes, then they thought it could move grain from western Canada down to Lake Ontario- that never happened. It was used for pleasure craft and Steamers, taking people on vacations. I did learn that Swift Rapids was originally a marine railway similar to the Big Chute. Stewart from the lock, showed me some pictures of what it was like prior to the lock opening in 1965, and where the rail lines used to be. Couchiching was the last lock built.
We left Swift just after 10 on Monday and arrived in Couchiching around noon, it was very busy and the grey wall docks were full of people going to the nearby restaurant, we bobbled around for a bit, and finally got a spot and tied up. Later in the afternoon we met people on a sailboat, who had come all the way from Norway- they had been in North America for almost a year, and were headed to Georgian Bay.
On Wednesday morning, we heard from the lockmaster that the bridge would be opening shortly, so we rushed to it and were through by 9:35. We arrived at the Port of Orillia and were tied up by 11:15. We heard on the radio that there were issues at the bridge, and it was down for maintenance. Very glad we came through when we did. Once we were settled, I did a few loads of laundry, and later walked to the Metro store for a few things, thank goodness it is close by, as it was over 30 C here. One of the items was a tub of KIC (4) Salty Carmel Truffle. As the afternoon progressed many boats came in, to get power as it was well above 35 with the humidex. Rain and wind was predicted for the evening and Thursday, so I expect many of them to stay.
Later in the afternoon, the Diesel mechanic who is going to do some work while we are away stopped by, so that Andy could tell him what he thinks needs to be done. In the morning David, the electronics guru will be paying us a visit as well. We are going out for supper with Brian and Helen, they will be taking us to Barrie tomorrow to catch the bus for our 20 hour bus ride to Thunder Bay, there we will pick up our vehicle and drive home to Winnipeg, stay there a few days and then off to Swan River for my great nieces wedding.
Over the winter, we enjoyed more activities within our apartment block. Andy had another surgery scheduled in November, and spent a few days in hospital, due to an infection, he spent another day there in early January. We celebrated some milestones in April, the old guy turned 75, and I had previously turned 65 in February, so we had a small gathering in the lounge to celebrate with family and a few friends. We also purchased a new vehicle as our 14 year old car was beginning to show its age. We wanted to buy prior to tariffs being imposed on vehicles, so we ordered it in January for an April delivery.
On May 27th I fulfilled my Eastern star commitment, as chair for one of the luncheons during our annual session. Once that was done, we started packing up the SUV for our trip to the boat. We arrived in Thunder Bay on May 30th, the boat was in the water, repaired props were on, keel had some new fiberglass and bottom paint, and they thought we were ready to pull out of McKellar Marine. But not so fast! We ended up staying 10 nights with our friends Teresa and Maureen, as we had an electrical issue, and kept tripping the shore power breaker. Aaron, an electrical technician spent 17 hours on the boat, trying to solve this issue.
We finally left on June 9th, in the fog, and went to an anchorage we had been to the previous year—we were able to follow our tracks on Garmin. We then moved to another anchorage in Otter cove and spent a couple nights there. I saw these two moose at the end of the bay where we were anchored.
The following day we went to Red Rock Marina, and plugged into power, topped up our fuel and water. Our next stop was Rossport, and we stayed at the dock which we had frequented last year. We went to the Serendipity restaurant in town for their Friday night special- prime rib. On leaving Saturday morning, one of the engines wouldn’t start, Andy started the generator, and put the battery charger on for a few minutes to get it going. We travelled about 30 miles to the Slate Islands, and stayed in two different anchorages, in hopes of seeing the caribou that inhabit the islands—however none were seen.
Upon leaving we once again had an issue starting the starboard engine. Andy was in contact with Aaron from Thunder Bay, we travelled to Marathon, where we knew there were docks, and friends that would be able to help. Mitch Donaldson, came down to the boat, and when linked in with Aaron in Tbay, determined that either the Starboard Alternator, or Battery charger was not charging the starter battery. We went to Napa and bought another Battery; we also bought a trickle charger to keep the battery topped up. Aaron said he would order parts, and come down later in the week to assess and figure out a way to keep us charging as we were moving the last 300 miles across the north of the lake, with no services.
It has been really cold on the boat, we were getting warnings on our GPS system, that the water temperature was between 35 and 39 F. Also there has been several nights with frost warnings- so I had to cover my tomatoes. While here in Marathon, we have been staying with Mitch, to get out of the cold boat. To keep busy while we wait, we topped up the fuel tanks, using Jerry cans, some of which we borrowed from the town office. Typically, they do not allow overnight docking at the town dock, but when we told them we were broken down, they made an exception. We have also frequented the Legion, going for drinks most days, and wing night on Thursday. Aaron came to Marathon on Friday with a new battery charger, and other supplies.
He determined that the battery charger had stopped charging our starter battery, and the external regulator also needed replacing. The battery charger was 20 years old , so actually amazing that it had lasted this long. We couldn’t get a replacement regulator, so Aaron figured out a work around. Aaron returned to the boat on Saturday to finish up.
On Saturday night we slept on the boat, so we could get away early Sunday. We left around 7:30 and travelled 48 Statute Miles to Old Dave’s Harbour near Otter Island. To get to the deep water in the anchorage, we had to travel over a shoal, but the captain maneuvered over, in 6 feet of water or more. We stayed at this anchorage, which was near the old light keeper’s house for 2 nights as the winds on the lake were fairly strong, we kept busy reading, cleaning, playing cards and puzzles.
I was on the look out for caribou again, but once again did not see a single one. On Tuesday morning, we left, and had fog for most of our 64 mile trip to Oakes Cove in Michipicoten Harbour. Andy checked in with Brad Buck at the marina here, but we couldn’t get there as the river is silted in. On Wednesday, we had a sunny day and left around 8:15 for Sinclair cove, which was 48 Miles away, arriving around 1:30. ( Brad sent us this pic of our departure on Wednesday)
We saw people on the beach, and one person actually was walking in the water, as well as several kayakers and later in the evening a fishing boat. We left early (6:30) on Thursday morning headed for the Sault, which was about 80 miles away. There was very little wind, and sunshine for the first 5 .5 hours, until we approached Ile Parisienne and Whitefish Bay, then the wind picked up and we had a good chop, and waves hitting us on the beam.
We arrived at the lock around 2:30 and locked through with one of the tour boats. We got to the marina around 3:00 and filled up with fuel. Andy calculated that we had gone 444 statue miles from Thunder Bay and had used 848 Liters of diesel. We plugged in, to shore power for the first time in 2 weeks. Today it is raining so we are staying in the Sault another night, will catch up on laundry, reprovision and have a visit with Pat and Marcia.
We left Bondar Marina on June 26th, 2024 for our Circle tour of Lake Superior, and arrived back on the same day one year later June 26, 2025. I am happy we did it and got to spent extra time with friends in Thunder Bay and Marathon, but after all the boat issues of the last year my mantra has become: GMOOLS—Get me out of Lake Superior!
Our plan is to spend some time in the North Channel and Georgian Bay, before returning home for a family wedding later in July. We will continue our adventures in August.
In early January, we decided that we would like to spend a couple weeks in Ireland, after we had put the boat to bed in Buckhorn. We’d drive to Toronto and fly to the Emerald island but that didn’t really work out with the issues in Lake Superior, so we came home for a couple weeks. We left Winnipeg early on Tuesday September 17th and travelled as far as Thunder Bay. We stopped by McKellar marine and dropped off our newest lithium battery, we also were given 2 props that needed to be taken to Buckhorn. We stayed at the Choice hotel called the Courthouse, as that is what it previously was. We were given a room on the lower floor that had a wheelchair accessible shower, which was great but it was badly designed as when we showered the next morning it flooded the bathroom.
We checked out and drove towards the Sault. We spent the night, and went to Wacky wings for supper. We left early in the morning and travelled as far as Buckhorn arriving around 3pm. We picked up our refurbished props, and dropped off the other set from McKellar’s. We then drove up to Bancroft to spend some time with Brian and Helen.
On Friday we had lunch and a visit with Brian Hayton. We left around noon on Saturday, we stopped at Kawartha, as we were leaving Bancroft, as I had a craving for coconut ice cream. We arrived at Linda and Rick’s in Oshawa around 3 pm. We had some snacks and drinks and then Rick, Linda and I spent some time in their pool.
After dinner, I learned how to play shuffleboard, we also played a game of skip bo. On Sunday we relaxed, swimming, and playing games. Following lunch on Monday, we packed up and headed for Toronto. We called our parking garage, to see if we could arrive early, which was fine. We arrived at park 4u around 4 pm, and were given a ride to the airport. We got our boarding passes, and had to wait in departures, until we could check our large bag at 8pm. We then went through security and moved to our gate. We boarded our Air Transat around 11:15, and left Toronto at 11:55. At 1pm we were given a full meal, we then attempted to sleep, I was in the middle seat, between a man in the aisle and Andy, at the window, so a little cramped. It was a 6.5 hour flight and we arrived in Dublin at 11:30 a.m. once we were through customs and picked up our checked bag, we took a taxi to the Marine hotel in Sutton Cross, just outside of Dublin.
We rested a little, and then I switched the SIM card in Andy’s phone, so we would have phone and internet capabilities. We then for a walk to scout out the Dart tram station, and a grocery store. We ran into some friendly people who set us in the right direction of the station. Upon returning to the hotel, we ate in the restaurant, having soup and an Irish cheese plate for dessert. In the morning we went for breakfast, and then called a taxi to take us to Heuston station, where we were catching a train to Cork at 11:00. While waiting for our train, I scouted out where the Luas tram station was, as we will be using it on our return trip. On our 2 hour and 40 minute ride to Cork, we saw lots of fields with cattle and sheep. It rained for most of the trip. We picked up our standard rental car which was a little Mazda, we requested a GPS, which was an older model Garmin, which wasn’t very useful. We missed a few turns, but finally arrived at the cottage called Glen cairn, near Lismore. Rural roads were very narrow, hardly wide enough for 2 cars to meet, no shoulders on the road, roads are typically bordered by a hedge or rock wall. I was thankful that I wasn’t the designated driver. After unpacking at the cottage, which consisted of a bedroom, small kitchen and a bathroom, we set off for Lismore to pick up a few groceries.
We found that the cottage, was cold, so Andy emailed the owner and he turned on the heat. We also seemed to have a fly problem, it didn’t matter how many I killed or let out the window, they seemed to be multiplying. On Thursday, we drove back to the car rental place to get some more instructions. We then drove to Blarney castle, where we walked around and explored the gardens and the lower parts of the castle. We did not join the 1 hour wait to kiss the stone, especially since my husband has no problem with the gift of the gap, and “long story short”.
After a stop at the gift shop, where Andy found this saying that he liked, we left.
We then headed to the port of Cobh, pronounced Cove. The GPS took us the shortest wait, but involved taking a ferry across the harbour, which we didn’t want to do. So we revised the route, and after several missteps, arrived in Cobh. After finding parking, we went into the Cobh heritage centre, we started by eating, and then toured through the centre where we learned about Irish emigration, as well Cobh’s link to the Titanic. There was a cruise ship parked nearby, so the centre was very busy.
We stopped at a grocery store enroute to the cottage and picked up something to cook for dinner.
On Friday morning, I put in some clothes to wash, but the washer did not seem to be functioning properly- we informed the owner, and then left for the day. First stop was Waterford, another port city. After finding parking, we walked around, checked out some of the stores, and saw this artisan blowing glass.
We then ventured north to the town of Kilkenny. We went to the Smithwick brewery aka Killkenny tour and learned that Guinness actually now owns Kilkenny beer. Following the tour we went to Kytelers Inn for a pub meal and more beer for the navigator.
When we got home we learned that the washer was broken, so Katherine had taken my laundry to her mother’s place to wash and dry our clothes. She dropped them off after 9pm.
In the morning, we set off for the Rock of Cashel, enroute we stopped at the Vee, which is about 2000 feet above sea level. The V refers to v shaped turn in the road in a gap in the Knockmealdown mountains, from here you can see multiple counties. Upon arrival at the Rock of Cashel, we learned it is the greatest cluster of medieval buildings in Ireland, it was originally a seat of the Munster kings but was given up and repurposed as a church in the 11th century. It also has views of the plains of Tipperary, one of the most fertile areas in the republic.
We came back to the cottage, Andy cooked supper and then we started packing up our stuff. We left shortly after 7, as it was more than an hours drive to Cork, and it was raining quite hard and was very windy. We got into Cork, by 8:30, and had to find a gas station that was opened to fill up the tank. After dropping off the car, we were given a lift to the train station with our bags. We left on the train at 10:25; headed to Dublin. Enroute we learned that flooding, and some trees were down in Cork due to the rain and winds. Once in Dublin, we transferred to a Luas tram to get us to Connelly station, 2 very kind Luas employees helped us with our luggage and escorted us to our destination. We left Connolly at 2:50, on a train bound for Belfast, however due to construction of a new Grand Central station there, we were only able to go as far as Newry, we were transferred once again to a bus for the last hour. We arrived at Lanyon station, and called a cab to take us to our hotel. What a travel day in 10 hours, we travelled by car, 2 trains, a tram a bus and a taxi, going from Cork to Belfast in Northern Ireland. We met some people on the train, who said they would never go that far in a day. Andy explained we live on a boat in the summer and think nothing of driving 22 hours to get to it.
Our hotel was located in the Cathedral quarter of Belfast, close to city centre-called the Quarter by Warren, the room was very small, but adequate. In the morning, we went to the kitchen room, for breakfast, of toast, pastries, cheese, ham and beverages. Following breakfast we called a cab to take us to the Titanic exhibition. The exhibit had information about life in Ireland, the famine, emigration, and industry making of linen. The focus of the exhibit was on ship building, as well as the fate of the Titanic. Very well presented!
After lunch, we walked about 10 minutes in the rain, to the Public records office of Northern Ireland. we signed up for membership cards, and then went up to one of the research room, and got some assistance and guidance on what we needed to do to find Andy’s ancestors.
We were able to find the marriage, and birth records of his grandfather and 2 great uncles. We also found that there were McKendry’s in a cemetery in Portglenone. Leaving PRONI, we caught a bus to city centre, as it was raining, and went to White’s pub for dinner- rather than beer I have been trying the Irish apple ciders, and had a rockshore, which I think is made by Guinness—quite refreshing. On Tuesday morning after breakfast we walked around near our hotel and saw St Patrick’s church as well as St. Anne’s cathedral.
We checked out of the hotel and took a taxi to the car rental office. This time we have a 2022 Hyundai Tucson, automatic, with an on board GPS , so a little easier for the driver. We found our way out of the city, and got to our cottage in Broughshane which was about 35 miles away. We dropped off our luggage then drove to Ballymena for some groceries.
In the main house, which our west wing rental is attached to , there is a film crew using it for series. I was told it was for BBC, and was about one of the Parnell Hall, puzzle lady mysteries. Interesting, people were buzzing around, until well past dark. Our accommodations were amazing, the kitchen was well equipped, it had 2 bathrooms, 2 TV’s and plenty of storage. We were very comfortable!
In the morning, after breakfast we set off up Carnlough road for the Antrim coast. We followed the road, stopping in Ballycastle, and took some pictures of the marina, which has more than 70 slips. Ballycastle, no longer has a castle it was destroyed hundreds of years ago. We did stop at Dunseverick and Dunluce castles. We proceeded to the Giant Causeway, which is an UNESCO heritage site of 40,000 basalt columns which remain after a volcanic eruption some 60 million years ago.
Following the causeway we then went to Bushmills Distillery and took the tour. Bushmills was started in 1608, and is one of the oldest distilleries in Ireland.
Following our tour, and tastings, we met some other Canadians, from Charleswood- small world! At the grocery store, across from the distillery I picked up some red wine for Andy and a 4 pack of OUTCIDER, another Irish cider for me to try.
On our way back to the cottage, we stopped at the Thatch inn for appetizers and drinks. Andy also enquired if anyone knew any McKendrys, and learned that there was a regular who typically came in on Thursdays- we may have to return.
On Thursday we started the day by going to Robert McKendys plumbing in search of relatives. We talked to Helen, who called her father in-law, who suggested we go to Portglenone, which was already on our list for today. At the cemetery we found a headstone/braid where Andy’s great great grandfather, great grand father, great grand mother and great uncle were noted.
Here is the inscription on the headstone at the townhill Portglenone cemetary:
Erected by Andrew McKendry, Mayboy, in memory of his father Frank who died 17th August 1887; aged 71 years. Also his mother Jane, who died 28th February 1857; aged 35 years and his brother James, who died 16th October 1889; aged 42 years. The above named Andrew McKendry died 28th March 1926; aged 76 years. also his daughter Mary Jane, who died 11th January 1931, aged 32 years and his wife Agnes, who died 13th June 1931, aged 71 years.
Following our visit here we drove to Londonderry, and once we found parking, we set off walking to see some of the murals. We could have booked a 2 hour guided walking tour, but we did not, which I was glad of. At one mural, there was a tour, and I couldn’t understand a word that the tour guide had said.
On our way back to the cottage, we had planned to stop at a pub in Ballymena, but couldn’t find parking, so we stopped in Broughshane, and bought some groceries for supper. On Friday morning, I put in a load of laundry, before we set off the “Candy” laundry machine, washes and dries clothes but takes about 6.5 hours for a load.
Since it was raining,we decided we needed indoor activities,so we drove into the outskirts of Belfast, and toured the Belfast castle and had lunch.
On on way back we stop at a grocery store in Ballymena, and purchased a few things. We drove back to the west wing, and noticed that the film crew had left. The laundry wasn’t complete, but it was on the drying cycle. Around 7, we went into Broughshare to the Merchant, and ordered fish and chips- I ordered smoked haddock and Andy had cod- the orders were massive- we likely could have shared an order. I enjoyed a couple outciders and Andy had wine. We then watched coronation street- in Ireland it is on Mon, Wed, and Friday for an hour, typically in prime time between 8 and 9. Ireland, have lots of game shows, and you can find one at almost any time of the day or night. We watched a lot of the chaser, but also bull’s eye- that combines darts and trivia, as well as tip-it, more questions, and moving markers to win money. This part of the world love their quizzes.
On Saturday, we packed up around 10 and headed for Belfast to return the car and catch our train to Dublin. Since we arrived early at the train station, we were able to take the noon train, instead of the 2 pm one which I had booked.Once again, we took a bus to Newry and then switched to the train. We arrived at Connolly station at 2:15, and got a cab to take us to the Marine hotel in Sutton.We were happy to learn that our room had been upgraded to a sea-side view. This will be our home for the next 5 nights as we explore Dublin. Here’s our view, with a few brave souls taking a dip in the Irish Sea.
For supper we went to Cucinos, an Italian restaurant in the hotel, where we shared a pizza. On Sunday after our breakfast of eggs, ham, hashbrowns, black and white pudding, we decided to venture into Dublin. It was overcast with intermittent showers. We walked the 10minutes to the Dart (Dublin area rapid transit)station, and took a train, getting off near Trinity college.
We did some souvenir shopping and walked around. We ended up going through the national Archaeology. Museum. Here there were many displays of artifacts-pottery, bones, mummies, and metals. As well there was information on how the Vikings in the 10th century had a role in Irelands history. Many of the artifacts had been unearthed in bogs, which had preserved them intact. We met some Canadians here, from Brandon MB.
We left, but taking the Luas tram back to Connolly station to catch our Dart train. We also purchased 3 day leap cards for each of us. These leap visitor cards are good for buses, dart and luas trams in the Dublin area, and only cost 16 euros for 3 days. For dinner we went to the Golden Elephant, which was located near our hotel. I had a Thai curry, and Andy has beef with vegetables.
On Monday after breakfast, we took the dart to Connolly, and the walked up to O’ cconnel street to the hop-on, Hop-off (ho-ho) terminal. We decided we would spend the next 2 days seeing the sights in Dublin by this method. We started by doing the entire city loop with its 25 stops, and saw many of the highlights of Dublin.
We then went back to stop 2, and took the docklands tour, which showed some of the newer areas of Dublin. Following the tour, we went to Murphy’s Pub for lunch, as one of the perks from the ho-ho was a 2 for one lunch deal. I had a salad and an angry orchard cider- wasn’t as good as the rock shore that Andy had.
After lunch, we took the ho ho to stop 5, where we got off near the Oscar’s Wilde statue, we then went to the national gallery of Ireland. The artwork dated back to the 1500’s, and had several Renoir, Picasso and Van Gogh pieces.
We got back on the hoho and went to stop 8 which was near the Pearce dart station. We got a train headed for Howth, and got off at the Sutton station. Tuesday, was a sunny day without rain, we reversed our steps from the night before, and got off at Pearce, and got on the hoho bus. We took it to the temple bar area, and walked around the area, with wall to wall bars and restaurants.
Then back on the bus and we went to Dublin castle and toured the interior.
We caught the hoho and went to Phoenix park, I walked around some of the gardens, with many of the flowers still in full bloom in October.
Back on the bus, we got off at stop 23, and walked to O’Shea’s merchant for their lunch special which was Irish stew and a Guinness for 10 euros, I substituted Guinness for rock shore cider. Once we were back on the bus, we took it to Pearse and caught our Dart to Sutton, arriving at 5:30. After some snacks, I put on my bathing suit and did some laps in the hotel pool.
On Wednesday, our last full day in Dublin, had rain in the forecast again. We decided to take the dart train to the end of the line in Greystones. This town is about 30 miles south of Dublin, and much of the track runs along the coast of Dublin Bay.
We passed through Blackrock, Seapoint, Mallin, Dalkey, Killiney and Brey before arriving in Greystones.Upon exiting the station, we stopped for hot chocolate and scones at the grey cafe. I had a raspberry scone which was very tasty. When we left the cafe, rain had started, we walked up the street a little, but the rain was coming down harder, so we decided our exploring of Greystones had ended, and we would catch a train heading back to Dublin. The first train was headed to Malahide, but we were told we could take it to Brey and switch to a Howth train there, so that’s what we did.
We took the train to Howth, arriving there at 2:30. Howth is a fishing village, with many vessels in the harbour, and several fish mongers set up to sell the catch, and many restaurants. We stopped at the Oar house for a late lunch.
Over the winter we had seen a “you gotta eat here” show, and the oar house had been highlighted. Our meals were fantastic, Andy had a small order of the bay mussels in a white wine sauce- he had between 40 and 50 mussels for 11 euros, I had grilled salmon, and a salad also very delicious. When we came out of the restaurant, the sun was finally shining. We got on the Dart and headed to Sutton and the hotel.
I attempted to check in for our flight, but wasn’t able to so we decided we would leave the hotel around 8:30, to ensure we are at the airport 4 hours before our 1:15 flight. I took some pictures around the hotel, and went to the water’s edge and stuck my feet in the Irish Sea- it was cold. I picked up a few shells on the shore, as the tide was just starting to go out.
On Thursday after breakfast, we were picked up by taxi and taken to the airport, arriving shortly after 9:15.We got our boarding passes, and checked our bags, because our flight is full, they also took our carry on cases at no charge. Once we were through security, we stopped at another gift shop to spend more euros, and then went to our gate to wait for boarding, which commenced at 12:15. We arrived in Toronto around 3:30 local time, once we were through customs and had our luggage, I texted Park 4U, by the time we found the column where we were to meet, our car and driver were already there. He drove back to the compound, and turned the car over to us. I would highly recommend this service, very professional and prompt, and you don’t have to wait for a shuttle to take you to the car park. I’m not sure if we have this service in Winnipeg, but it would be great- especially in winter. We left Toronto and headed for Barrie, traffic was horrible, since it was the end of a working day. We arrived in Barrie around 6 pm, found our hotel, and picked up supper. Long day, crossing many time zones. On Friday, we left the hotel by 7 and headed west, saw that the leaves were a range of colours.
We stopped for gas a couple of times, and arrived at the Travelodge in Marathon at 6 pm. Andy called Gerry Ferguson, and we met him at the Tim Horton’s, as the Legion isn’t open on Friday nights- had a good catch up with him. On Saturday we were both up before 4 am, and left the hotel just after 6, although it was dark out, we were travelling roads that the driver knew very well, having grown up in Marathon, so I wasn’t concerned. We stopped for gas in Nipigon, and once we got to TBay, Andy dropped me off at Teresa and Maureen’s for a visit, while he took our refurbished props to McKellar marine. He picked me up, and we were off again. Originally we had planned to stay with Teresa and Maureen, but because our sleeping habits were out of wack, we decided to head home and to our own bed. We fueled up in Dryden, and arrived at our apartment in Winnipeg at 5:30. We unpacked the car, and I started some laundry. It was great to be home, after being away 26 days. Our Ireland trip was great, highlights were finding some links to Andy’s ancestors, the Irish people that were so very helpful, the castles and ruins, the fresh seafood however I didn’t like the narrow roads, and lack of parking in the cities, and all the walking. It was tough to select pictures for this blog, I think we took well over 500 pictures between us– so there was lots that we saw on the Emerald Island. The captain is already talking about our next adventure, which may involve a canal boat somewhere in the U.K.
We went to the Keg on Tuesday night to celebrate the new props with Tim and Suzie. On our way back to the marina, we saw this cruise ship docked in the harbour.
On Wednesday morning we headed out towards Rossport. We went the 100 miles, and arrived at 4:00, just in time for Andy’s virtual doctor’s appointment. Once it was complete, Andy did the usually engine and fuel checks. He noticed three things of concern, there was a diesel fuel smell, he had encountered a few issues with steering, while we were enroute and noticed the transmission fluid on the Port engine was low. He also noticed that we had used more fuel than was typical with the old props. We had a sleepless night, and in the morning, started to make a few inquiries. The additional fuel usage, was due to the slightly different sized props. So, we called ahead to Wawa, to find out if we could get diesel there, as we had in 2019. Andy learned that the Michipicoten river was very silted this year, as there was no spring run-off—so obtaining fuel there was not an option. Andy called Chris, who lives in Rossport, and was the person that pulled us off the shoal on August 7th, Chris agreed to take Andy to Schreiber to get some more transmission fluid. We also called McKellar marine in Thunder Bay to find out if there was an option to be pulled out there for the winter. After much discussion, we decided that this was likely our best option. Around 1:00 , we decided to start heading back to Thunder Bay again. We had completed all but 70 miles of the circle tour– just couldn’t get passed Rossport.
We were amongst islands, so were fairly sheltered, but as we got into more open water, we found that there were 3 foot plus waves, hitting us on the beam. We went about 12 miles and pulled into a secure anchorage on Simpson Island- called Woodbine harbour.
We joined another boat that was already anchored there. On Friday morning, we left the anchorage and returned to the open water, but it had not settled at all, there were still 3 to 5 foot waves- so we returned back into the anchorage. We spent part of the day, adding a tinting film to the front wind shield sections.
We also began packing up items, that needed to be put away for the winter or taken back to Winnipeg. On Saturday, the wind and waves had subsided, we ventured out, continuing our trip westward. We had first thought we would anchor in the Loon Islands, but continued on and ended up at Tee Harbour, which is part of Sibley peninsula (the sleeping giant), having gone 70 miles. We tied off to a Mooring Ball. We thought we would be protected as south winds were predicted, but once again we were bounced a little by swells. The cruise ship which we had seen earlier in the week, was still in the area- taking people to Silver islet, which was nearby.
On Sunday we left Tee harbour and travelled 20 miles to Prince Arthur Landing. We tied up in Tim’s spot, as we knew he was away at Thompson Island.
On Monday morning, we contacted McKellar marine and found out that we couldn’t actually stay on the boat there—so we decided to stay at the Landing one more night in order to pack up everything before moving the boat there. We also moved up our rental car to Tuesday at noon, from Wednesday. Since Tim was returning, we asked to stay another night, and had to move to Pier 2. When we plugged in there, we kept tripping the breaker, so yet another issue. We hadn’t had this problem at any of the 4 other slips we had stayed at in this marina, so we are hoping it’s a marina issue and not our boat’s issue—yet something else for McKellar’s to look at.
On Tuesday, August 20th, we left Port Arthur Landing and travelled to the McKellar River and to the boat yard.
Due to silting in the river, there were spots, where we had less than 4 feet, but the channel was very well marked. We arrived at 10:30 and were tied up. We met with the owner, and technician. Around 11:00, Tim arrived and drove us to Enterprise to pick up our rental.
By 1:30, we had packed everything we needed to take back to Winnipeg, as well as the damaged props into the Ford Escape. We then went to Teresa and Maureen’s place, where we were going to spend the night. We arrived at their place before they did, as they were on their way back from Ottawa. We decided to leave a box of chemicals and cleaning products along with another bag in their basement, to be retrieved in the spring. We also left a plug in freezer with the contents of our boat freezer, which we will pick up on our return trip. Andy cooked up some pickerel and it was enjoyed by everyone. In the morning, we left and headed East. We need to take the props to Kawartha props in Buckhorn for repair, and also retrieve our car which we left there in early June.
We drove as far as Sault Ste Marie, and booked into the Water Tower hotel. We met Pat and Marcia there for dinner and drinks in the bar as well as a visit. The next day we continued Eastward, arriving at Buckhorn Yacht Harbour just before 3:00. The props were dropped off and the car retrieved. I was now given the task of driving—something I had done very little of in the past, as the Captain prefers to drive. We left and headed up to Bancroft to spend a couple nights with Brian and Helen. And yes, we did have Kawartha Ice Cream—can’t miss out on that opportunity! On Saturday morning, we started back in a Westward direction, with Andy in the lead in the rental, and me following in our car.
We used the headphones/wife-savers which we typically use on the boat for communicating when docking. We chose to take the northern route, going through North Bay, as the highway is divided for more of the trip with very little construction. We passed through Sudbury and Nairn Centre, and then were brought to an abrupt stoppage in traffic. There was an accident somewhere near McKerrow, in 1 ½ hours we moved a total of 5 Km. Once we got to Jacklin Road, we were able to detour around the accident site. We arrived in the Sault just before 6 pm and checked into our hotel. On checking the 511 website, we learned that the highway had not re-opened until 5:45, so we were very glad that we had found the detour. After eating we watched football on TV.
In the morning, we left and gassed up before heading out for Thunder Bay. Highways in north western Ontario, have lots of hills and curves—at times it felt like I was on a roller coaster—very different being a passenger vs the driver—but I survived. Thankfully there were lots of passing lanes, and I had the captain leading the way. We arrived at our hotel around 3:00—we had originally planned to stay with Teresa and Maureen, however they were ill with Covid.
On Monday morning, we returned the rental and I gladly turned over driving the car to Andy. We went out to McKellar’s Marine Centre, and Andy talked to Jeff the mechanic.
The boat was still in the water, Jeff thought he had found the source of the diesel smell- as there was a crack in the exhaust pipe. We picked out a couple of items we had forgot on the boat. I included the picture of the conservation boat for Jack– who wants to be a conservation officer– look what you could be driving! We stopped at Teresa’s, wearing masks and picked up the items that we had left there. Then we hit the road headed for Manitoba and home. There was a fair bit of traffic on the road, and several accidents—we saw 2 semis in the ditch , as well as a couple other vehicles. I was happy to not be driving. We arrived home around 4:00, and unloaded the car.
Since being home, we have gone golfing, resumed apartment activities, like crochet group and games night. We are now planning for our trip to Ireland next month. We will drive back to Toronto to catch our flight, so that we can pick up our refurbished props and return them to Thunder Bay to be put on the boat before the spring launch.
We will get to spend some more time on the Canadian side of Lake Superior, before completing our circle tour next summer.
I finished giving the salon a coat of Cetol, and we left shortly after 6:00, headed for Winnipeg.
We made a stop for coffee, on our way out of the city, and then didn’t stop again until Dryden, where we got gas. We arrived in Winnipeg shortly after 2:00, and stopped at the Co-op for a few groceries. We attended the apartment’s Happy hour and birthday night- many people were happy to see us and had been following the blog. The puzzle table is being well used in the lounge, and several puzzles have already been completed by the group. It was nice to be home, and sleeping in our own beds. Arlene had all the mail waiting for us, and had been watering my Kale plant- so it continues to grow. On Friday morning, Andy was off to full-fill his 2 blood work requests, and I went to the gym and got reacquainted with the rowing machine—30 minutes was a long time, after being away from it for almost 2 months. I had a Ladie’s lunch date with Andy’s cousins at Fion McCool’s , while the guys went to the Curtis hotel—we later all met on Kathie’s patio for more wine. On our home we ran a few more errands. In the evening, we went up to the lounge and learned to play the horse racing game. On Saturday morning, we drove out to Tyndall to see Erin, Jason and Jack—Andy wanted to get another lesson in drone flying, as well as seeing if Jason could fix his broken boat hook, and share with Jack what he would be doing on his 10 day vacation with us. We stopped at Princess Auto for boat oil and other supplies. That night we watched the Bombers lose yet again on TV. On Sunday, Andy went to our other princess auto location to buy boat hooks, and he met a friends for coffee. We lazed around a little in the afternoon, and did some cleaning and re-arranging stuff. We also started packing our suitcases for our late September trip to Ireland.
Monday began Andy’s marathon of Doctor’s appointments and tests. He saw the thoracic surgeon at 9am, and got the green light for hernia surgery in the next six months He also briefly saw the Urologist, who works in the same building. We then went to see our family doctor to fill out pre-op paperwork for the hernia. But we learned that Dr Shabayo was on vacation—Andy was told he could come back to Lakewood the next morning, and see the Dr. at the walk-in who could fill out the paperwork, using Andy’s medical records. Next stop Monday was the Misericordia hospital for a CT scan. Andy did a couple more errands on his way home. We also went out and bought British Pounds and Euros for our upcoming vacation. We had an enjoyable supper and evening at the Cappers and learned a new dice game called “Farkle”?
On Tuesday, after the gym, I went to my crochet/knitting class—not a lot of knitting was done by me—I mainly pulled out the yarn on a towel I had been making on the boat, that was more kite shaped than square. Was good practice—will try to knit it correctly the second time. We had some great discussion; Tuesday morning crochet is becoming my favourite activity. In the afternoon I did more packing, and realized we likely have more stuff to take back to Thunder Bay, than the little SUV can hold—so came up with a solution—Stuff we didn’t need immediately could be brought by Erin, when she picks up Jack on August 11th.
In the afternoon, Andy had an appointment with the Endocrinologist, she was extremely happy with his progress, and gave him 5 stars and graduated him—his diabetes treatments will now be overseen by our family doctor. Tuesday night Erin and Jack came for supper, as Jack was going to spend the night with us, so we could have an early 6am start. We packed and repacked the car several times that evening, getting everything to fit, including Jack- although his 6 foot body was squished like a pretzel in the back seat with very little room around him.
We left before 6, and stopped at Clear water Bay, and again in Dryden for short rests and gas.
Back in Thunder Bay. While on the road, Andy got a phone call from another boater, who had hit the back of our dinghy while he was waiting to gas up a couple days before. We said we would assess the damage once we were back at the marina. We arrived around 2:30, and started to haul everything to the boat—it was great having a second able-bodied person to help. I called my friend Teresa to see if she could take me grocery shopping at some point—so that Andy and Jack could return the rental car before the 5 pm deadline.
On Thursday, we left the marina and just got through the break wall, when the Starboard engine started acting up and then quit. So back to Prince Arthur landing- gas dock. Andy called his new friend Tim for advice, and Tim sent Cody down to assist us- likely an air lock. We thought it was fixed, and ventured out again, only for it to happen again, Cody returned did some more bleeding on the fuel fittings on the engine, and we set off again, this time with Cody in the engine room- same fault. On returning to the marina, we decided that the secondary fuel filters may need to be changed, and Cody did this. By this time, the starter battery would hardly turn over- it was boosted but still weak– so we decided to call it a day, and get a slip for another night. Cody returned in the morning, and changed the fuel separator—which was the cause of our issues—it was plugged up- so the engine was being starved of fuel. We went on one more test run, and all was good,
We returned to the marina to let Cody off the boat, and then prepared to leave. We cast off at 12:20 headed for Sibley peninsula and the Sleeping giant.
We passed by Silver islet, Porphyry lighthouse and Snaganash light house and continued on to the Loon islands—we anchored between Spain, Chapleau and Borden for the night- having gone 50 miles from TBay Very peaceful!
On Saturday afternoon, we moved 12 miles to Otter cove, where we had read there was good fishing, a moose feeding ground and a waterfall. When Andy did the fuel check he noticed that we were not using any fuel on the starboard side- and realized that the return valve between the engines was shut off. Andy opened it so that the tanks could equalize. We spent the day doing cleaning in some of the storage lockers. On Sunday we moved a little farther down the bay. In the afternoon, we launched the dinghy, I had planned to row Jack and I to the waterfall. Although I work out on the rowing machine at the apartment block—the movements of doing it in a boat are quite different—I was pathetic, and we went around in circles. Jack and I switched places and he rowed us to the waterfall—the last 100 feet was very shallow, with lots of logs underwater. Jack got us there – and I didn’t even get my shoes wet. We trekked through the paths, found the waterfall, and I took some pictures.
Returning to the boat, we realized we were creeping into to very shallow water, so we decided to move back to some deeper water. On starting the engines for the move, Andy found out that the Starboard engine wouldn’t start. He contacted David, our electrical magician, for some advice, using what’s app—as no cell phone service where we were. Andy tried a few things and then suspected it was the key switch– so did some by-pass work– but still no luck.
On Monday morning, we decided to leave limping in to Red Rock using only the Port engine. It took us about 5 hours to go 38 miles, some of which was in the Nipigon Channel, between the mainland and Fluor or St Ignace islands. We did notice that even thought the Port engine was running, that no power was going into the house bank—which we thought was strange. Something we will need to address for future- maybe a battery combiner? After docking, Andy did some more trouble shooting, and realized that the neutral battery post on the Port labelled battery had melted. He replaced this battery, with our redundant spare—and the engine fired up and it also began charging the house. We will need to buy another spare battery in the very near future.
On Tuesday morning, after showers, Jack and I walked into town to reprovision at the grocery store, Andy asked Bev from the marina if she could find a home for a rusty anchor and some chain, we also wanted to dispose of the useless battery. Both items were taken from the boat. On our return from shopping, we moved the boat to the fuel dock and topped up the tanks. We then departed, going back down the Nipigon channel and around Fluor to anchor or dock at CPR slip on the east side of St. Ignace Island in a very secure bay. We were told that the area had been excavated years ago for the ballast used along the CPR lines. This place was similar to what we had experienced at Thompson Island a few weeks back—the island is privately owned, has a lounge area/bunkhouse, a shared BBQ area, sauna, fire pit, trails and several docks. Once again rafting is the norm—we tied up to a sail boat. The area is around a gravel spit and has protection from all sides. Once we were settled in, we met people from the other 9 boats, already tied up. We knew a few already–Tim and Suzie, Suzie’s sister Leslie and Chris, and her parents- Brenda and Dave. There was an 86 year old, Doug- who spends a lot of time here at CPR in the summer. There was another person, Ron, tied up on a sail boat, who actually lives at Victoria Beach, north of Winnipeg, but boats out of Ontario. Andy chatted with him for quite awhile, as he has taken his sailboat to Newfoundland, Labrador, and done most of the Down East Loop. After dinner there was a camp fire, and most of the kids made smores and played. Jack was really good with the younger children, here he is with Cooper at the campfire. Once it was dark, and the mosquitos came out most people returned to their boats.
On Wednesday morning we left before 10 am headed for an anchorage at Wilson Island, about 30 miles away. At 12:15, we ran into an issue—can you guess what happened?
We were on the wrong side of an island and encountered a rock shoal. Not good! Andy called Tim, who found us someone in Rossport, that would come out to pull us off. While we waited, both Andy and I got into the water. How many people can say they walked around their boat in Lake Superior—The stern of the boat was in about 3.5 feet of water, but the bow was in about 2.5. There was nothing Andy and I could do to move the monster. Chris and his son Peter arrived around 2:15 with a boat with a 90HP motor, after a few attempts with a single rope, we both put bridles on and he was successful at pulling us off. We followed him to Rossport to assess the damage. No water was coming in, however there was a vibration. Peter took a couple pictures of the props, and they were still there. We tied up Rossport- not knowing what to do- a sleepless night, because of worry, trains, wind and waves.
In the morning, Jack our techno grand kid was able to get our Safaire camera working and took an underwater video, confirming that the props and rudders were intact, but each of the 6 flutes had some damage- the port prop seemed worse than the starboard.
When the staff at the marina arrived, we asked if we could stay a couple more nights, and possibly plug in for power as the forecast was for cloudy and rainy weather. We decided to stay put in Rossport- known as the “Gateway to the Lake Superior National Marine Conservation area”and have Erin pick up Jack here—as we couldn’t make Marathon for Saturday- and didn’t want to move much without a full assessment of the damage. As the day progressed a plan emerged- thanks again to Tim. He was in Red Rock for the music festival and had found a trailer that could likely pull us out to exchange the props. Tim is really an angel in disguise, and has got us out of all of our recent predicaments– hard to believe we only met him July 21st. Will definitely be a lifelong friend—I think Andy already has him on speed dial!
We will travel to Red Rock on Sunday, once Jack has left . The rain continued for most of the day, but it became warm and sunny later in the afternoon. We had a quiet night—I had book club, and it was nice to connect with the group by zoom. It rained several times during the night, and there were only a couple of trains- so we slept somewhat better- knowing there was a plan.
On Friday, it rained off an on for most of the day, and the wind, went from calm to gusting. Jack and I went for a short walk down main street, Andy called the Serendipity restaurant to make a reservation for the evening. We walked over at 5:30 and had a really good meal- Andy had the prime rib special, and Jack and I chose Greek salad with either mediterranean chicken and spanakopita. Food was really good.
When we got back to the boat- Andy and I watched a few episodes of Coronation—we are weeks behind. It was a chilly night, and we kept the heater on- warming up the boat while we slept. I can’t image what it would have been like without power here for 4 days.
In the morning, we saw this rainbow over Rossport—hopefully it is a sign that our week is going to get better.
We heard that Erin was on the way at 8 a.m. so she should be here in about 11 hours. We dug out the spare props, which reside under our bed and placed them in a box on the sundeck.
At one point, a visitor on the dock suggested that instead of going all the way to Red Rock to be pulled out that we should try and find a diver that could change the props. We spent some time doing that—one guy could come out on Sunday- but didn’t have the right tools and no guarantees that he could accomplish the task. We decided our better bet was to limp into Red Rock- yet again, and get pulled out with the town grater and someone’s trailer.
Erin and her cousin Shannon arrived around 7:30, and we visited and showed them their sleeping quarters in the ON BUSINESS hostel. Jack got bumped from the V-berth to sleeping on the dining room table—which he said was also not soft enough for sleeping. In the morning after some more visiting, and a few pictures of the crew, and 3 generations of McKendry’s, Erin, Shannon and Jack left.
They were headed to the Amethyst mine, and other sites in TBay before heading down to Duluth for a few days.
Here is Jack’s take on spending time on the boat:
Highlight: we ended up high centre on rocks enroute to an anchorage, met a few people and had some nice times and I learned lots of things about the boat. I learned that it is always good to have a straw in your tool box, because you never know when you might need it to fill a filter- and a straw might fit. I saw some very nice places to visit on Lake Superior.
It was great having him aboard, an extra set of hands and technical skills that Grandpa and I lacked😊
Once they were gone, we unplugged, fired up the engines and left at 9:20 for Red Rock at 6 MPH, we passed Simpson, St Ignace, Vert Island and La Grange, waves were less than 2 feet for most of the journey as we were sheltered by the islands.
We went 36 miles and arrived just after 3 PM.
We topped up our fuel, pumped out, filled our water and did laundry, in hopes that we will continue our journey Eastward.
UPDATE: Unable to be pulled out in Red Rock– too risky, so we made the 12 hour trip back to TBAY at 7.5 MPH. Hope to get lifted out of the water tomorrow for a damage assessment and prop change.
UPDATE: Aug 13
Successful prop exchange- our journey will continue Eastward tomorrow.
After fueling and a pump out on Tuesday morning in Silver Bay , we set off for Taconite Harbour, which was 25 miles away, passing by the Pallisade Rock, with the tower on it. The wind was going to increase in the afternoon, so this would be far enough for us. The refuge harbour consisted of 3 mooring balls surrounded by a break wall. No wind issues here. We selected the closest mooring ball to the entrance, and tied off. One minor casualty- I broke the end off Andy’s locking hook, while pulling it out of the mooring ball loop. (He’s hoping that someone with a 3-D printer might be able to make him a new one.)
Later in the afternoon, the captain decided this would be a good place to replace the oil in the engines, as we were at 108 hours of use since leaving Buckhorn. So, he pumped out the old and replaced it. We had a peaceful afternoon and evening, and watched a fishing charter captain, with 2 of his groups for the day and their catch.
On Wednesday morning, we left at 8:30 and proceeded up the Minnesota coast to the Grand Marais marina, this was a 33 mile trip. We arrived around noon, and ran into the crew from the Princess Margaret, who were getting fueled up for the next leg of their Great Loop adventure.
In the afternoon, we walked up to one of the grocery stores for a few supplies, we stopped at Dairy Queen on the way back- as it has been weeks since we last had ice cream- it wasn’t Kawartha- but it was cold and creamy.
On Thursday we had originally thought we would head over to Isle Royale, however the long term weather forecast was not favourable for this trip, as we might not get off the island for several days in good weather. So, we switched to Plan B- continuing up the Minnesota coast towards Grand Portage, and ultimately the Canadian Border. Once again because of weather, we only went 21 miles to Horseshoe Bay. Dave at the Grand Marais marina, had told us about this new facility ( it was not in the Bonnie Dahl Superior Way reference book that we have been using for this trip).
The L-shaped dock, had an outside crib and inner dock, because we were uncertain of the depth inside- we tied up to the outside of the crib, tying our lines around the wooden structure and lag bolts. Even though the winds were blowing out on the lake the bay was very sheltered.
I got off the boat, and took some pictures of the site. Several people came and talked to us by the boat—we had a long conversation with a couple from Nebraska. In the evening, we were rocked by the swells coming off the lake, I slept OK, but the captain slept very little.
Because of a small craft warning for the area between Grand Marais and Grand Portage, we cast off just after 7:00, and continued down the coast. We had learned that one of the marina’s in Grand Portage, was not taking transients as their dock was being rebuilt, and the marina at the Casino site only took small boats. Andy checked the possible anchorage in the Superior Way, to find out what would have the best protection from the SW winds. He decided on Clark Bay, so we traveled 21 miles to get there, and arrived at 9:20, and anchored in 18 feet of water. It was a very sheltered bay- the wind started to blow around noon, swinging us around for most of the afternoon. The wind died down by 7:00, and we had a pleasant night at anchor. The bay was located less than 2 miles from Canada.
On Saturday morning, we departed Clark Bay, and went 14 miles arriving at Little trout Bay. We transitioned from the USA to Canada, and reverted from Central time back to Eastern. Here’s our first view of Canadian waters, near Pigeon Point—I can’t tell the difference.
We went around the point and anchored in 15 feet of water, it was overcast, with a slight breeze. We called the Canadian Border Security Agency to report that we were back in Canadian waters and at anchor. We were given a clearance number that can be used until we land in Thunder Bay, provided we don’t go ashore.
For the USA portion of our Lake Superior loop, we spent 24 night in 3 states- 10 at Marinas, 6 at Harbour of refuge (no fees),7 at Anchor , 1 Dock in apostles islands. We have travelled 591 miles by boat along the Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota coastlines. Each state was very different, the sandy beaches of Michigan and Wisconsin changed to rocks and trees in Minnesota. We really enjoyed the Apostle islands, they remind us very much of the Parks Canada, Thousand Islands—but less rocks, as most of the Apostles have sand bottoms.
In Little Trout bay we were joined by a Loon and later in the afternoon an Eagle, the recent sunny days are helping my tomatoes to ripen- hope to eat these before we head off to Winnipeg. On Sunday morning we left the anchorage around Noon and headed closer to TBay. We learned it is not good to anchor near a Beaver house, or where logging had occurred in the past- as we pulled a log up with our anchor.
We had read about Thompson Island, were residents from TBay had set up a community in the 1970’s. This site is in a long Bay- called Wray Bay, and has docking, a shared BBQ area, Sauna building and outhouse, and here it is OK to raft boats together. When we arrived the only space available was too shallow for us, so one of the boats- Piper, allowed us to tie up to them. There was a sailboat ahead of them that was going to leave in the next hour or two – so we could have their space. Once the sailboat left, Piper moved up, and we took his space instead. When Piper left a little later, the space was filled by Knot Today, a 50 foot Bay liner, owned by Tim and Susie. We later learned that Susie’s parents were some of the people that developed this site. In talking with them further, we discovered they were planning to do the Great Loop in a few years—so they had some questions about it. Susie had asked some questions about charts—which provided us with the opportunity to share some of the dead weight that was taking up space in our hanging locker. We gave them all the charts for Florida and the East coast, as we had already given the Rivers charts to Princess Margaret earlier in the week. We went for a short hike to the rock shore on the other side of the island and spent a pleasant Sunday night on the dock. On Monday morning 3 of the boats left, so we decided to stay one more day. We did some cleaning and re-arranging on the boat, and started packing up stuff to take home to Winnipeg. On Monday night the wind picked up a bit, and we had some waves in the Bay. In the evening, we saw Tim flying a drone, so Andy pulled his out—which he had never got working, and Tim was able to figured out the software, and help him to send it on its maiden voyage. Tim advised not to run it from the boat, only on shore. After the boys were done playing with their toys, we partook in a Thompson Island tradition, and went for a sauna.
During the night there was some rocking and rolling, as the waves continued to pound the shore.
On Tuesday morning, Andy helped Tim clean up the sauna area, and then they burnt some boxes. Just a small fire. Around noon, it was time to take off and head to Thunder Bay, with the wind and waves, still coming from the East, there was still some big waves out in the Bay. We followed Knot Today, through the Thompson Island gap, and waves were a little less on the other side, we continued on passing by Pie Island. A couple of times, Knot Today, slowed down, so they could bail out their dinghy which was filling up with water. As we approached Tbay, we could see the sleeping giant, once we were through the break wall, the grain elevators were all visible on shore, many of them with names on them- that no longer exist- like Agricore United.
We arrived at the marina, and called in to customs again to let them know we had landed in Tbay. The women that Andy talked to said that it wasn’t necessary to call in again, as we had on Saturday—he thanked her and hung up. We got our slip assignment, which was next to some sailboats, and we tied up and plugged in to power. I went up to the marina office and checked out the wash machines, and later went back for a shower.
Around 5:30, Teresa and Maureen showed up, as we were joining them for supper—the first place we tried was closed, so we went to the Thai Kitchen- where the food was very good. They then drove us around a little and we went up to Hillside park- here’s a view of the bay and the sleeping giant. We then went to their house, and we got to meet the pets. We got back to the boat around 10:00.
On Wednesday morning, I did a couple loads of laundry, so I wouldn’t have to take it back to Winnipeg. I then spent some time cleaning the outside decks, while Andy worked on his wood projects. My plan is to give the salon floor a coat of Cetol clear when we leave in the morning- so it has a week to dry and cure before we come back.
In the afternoon, Tim came and brought us a few presents- step for upper helm, fender cage, impellers, he also changed the two fuel filters, which hadn’t been done in a few years.
Andy went and picked up our rental car from Enterprise- a Buick encore. We went out for dinner with Tim and Susie to the Prospector steak house—great food, and the buns were amazing- just like Teresa had said the day before.
We then walked over to the main stage in Marine park, where there was entertainment, we also stopped and had ice cream.
On coming back to our dock, the security door was broken, so the door will be left open. We will be leaving for Winnipeg as soon as we wake up in the morning, and the floor has its coat of Cetol.
Cruising ON BUSINESS 