On September 1^st 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 10^th for their $10 wings special, we moved to the Big Chute for the night of the 11^th, 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 24^th.