On  Saturday the 28^th, 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 15^th 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 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.