Author Archives: Twylla and Andy

Georgian Bay, and the return to the TSW

Leave a reply

After topping up the fuel and pumping out, we left Victoria harbour on Sunday July 2nd.  It was still a little smoky, with very little wind.  We went about 21.6 miles and anchored in Monument channel between Star and Galbraith islands.   We were joined later in the afternoon by Crustacean.  There were 5 other boats in the area.  After crustacean did some exploring, they flew their drone around  our boats. 

   Bill picked us up and we went to their boat for drinks and snacks, and got to meet their son Kyle.  We spent a quiet night. 

In the morning we left and went 18.6 miles to 3 fingers lake, which is part of the Massassauga park. 

We anchored in this bay, with about 7 other boats, and celebrated out 13th anniversary.

In the morning when we went to leave, the Port starter battery wouldn’t turn over, so we started the generator to charge the battery.  We decided to go the 4 miles to Henry’s restaurant and plug in.    The next morning we left around 10, and went to  12 mile bay,

we were meeting Brian Hayton, at a public dock near Moose Deer Point marina. 

He was driven there by Brian Vermeersch.  He brought us some provisions as well as  a spare starter battery.   Once he was loaded up we took off and headed back to the Monument channel and anchored around 2:15.  We relaxed in the afternoon, and the two old guys went for a dip and later  tried fishing,

bringing back this small bass. 

It was a hot evening.

In the morning we left just after 8:00 headed for Longuissa Bay, just as it started to sprinkle.  We had to pull up the anchor as Andy’s night-line had hooked onto one of  the float line.  We went the 13 miles and arrived at about 10:15.  It rained on and off all afternoon. We occupied ourselves playing cards.  In the evening, Brian went out in the dinghy, but came back empty handed.  He said the bay was very weedy.  At nightfall there were 10 sailboats and 4 power boats in the bay—very popular spot! 

In the morning we left  the anchorage at 8:10 headed for Port Severn lock.  There were some waves, once we were in open water, but they diminished as we turned into the channel headed to Green and Potato Island.  We reached the lock at were though by 10:40.  We were then on to the big chute and waited for one lock up before going through.  Once on the other site, we stopped at the dock and went for ice cream at the marina. 

A few miles further up the trent severn, a light on the port engine went on and there was a blue puff a smoke.  Andy shut the engine down and we proceeded to Swift on one engine, arriving at 2:50.  Andy called around in Orillia, looking for a diesel mechanic, and found one that will take a look at our engine on Wednesday.  Andy went down to look at the engine, and it looks like some coolant  and possibly oil spilled out.    He called his brother, Duncan for his opinion, and we now suspect that we  may need a new head gasket. We are going to spend a couple nights at Swift, plugged in to power and then one night at Couchiching, before booking in for  3 nights in Orillia.

Another high speed power boat, called money just money, also had an engine issue– Maybe we need to rename our boat to something like this- Money Just Money! 

We played cards in the evening,  it was a cooler night, so most of the windows were closed. 

On Saturday, Andy brought out the charts for Georgian Bay and the North Channel and went over them with Gary, a looper  from Pennsylvania on Frost Free.  Andy and Brian did some fishing near the spillway from the dam, but came home empty handed.

 A bit of a sleepness night was had by the captain and admiral, as Andy worried about passing through Hydro glen and mcdonald’s cut—two narrow channels with a strong current on one engine.  Going through these areas, Brian and I were on each side of the boat with boat hooks,  but Andy did a fabulous job, and our services weren’t needed.  We continue along the Trent Severn and arrived at the Couchiching lock around 11:00.  We told the lock staff we were on one engine, and another boat helped us tie up, and allowed us into the lock first.  Once we were out, we tied up on the port side. 

Andy called Port of Orillia, and booked us in for Monday to Thursday.  We went for a walk around the lock, and saw there was a restaurant nearby that served Kawartha Ice cream.  We decided to go later in the afternoon for some.  However unknown to us, when we showed up at 2:45, they were already closing for the day. Met some loopers from Coburg, that were on day 6 of their loop having started from Pigeon Lake- liked the name of the boat–Done Saving.

We played more cards in the evening, and we  all went for showers. While I was gone, Andy and Brian, saw a fox near the boat—maybe Muriel was checking in on us.  We had a pleasant night and   we were the only boat at Lock 42.  It was a little foggy in the morning when we got up.

  We asked theLockmaster to call the CN bridge tender to find out a good time for us to come down to the bridge.  We don’t want to be idling for an hour in front of the bridge with only one engine.

At 9am the lock called the bridge, but he didn’t pick up.  A boat came to the lock, which had been able to get under the bridge, and told us that there was another boat on the other side waiting.  Within about 15 minutes, it appeared. So we decided to go up to the lock to find out when it might open.  After a short wait the bridge tender came out, and said they were changing the starter in the generator, and it may be an hour or more—so we turned around and went back to the lock.  Around 10:30, the locking staff told us that the bridge would be opening shortly, as a train had just  crossed.  So we fired up and went back to the bridge,  once there, the bridge tender told the 10 opposing boats, to let us pass though first, as we only had the one engine. 

Most of the boats were flying the AGLCA burgee.  We crossed Lake Couchiching, and were tied up at the marina by 12:30.  After having lunch, I did a couple loads of laundry, while Andy and Brian went to the Legion and liquor store.    The marina had another 8 or 10 looper boats by nightfall, one was a 65 foot Fleming.  For supper, Brian took us to Fionn Maccools, we returned to the boat and played cards.

Many of the looper boats left early in the morning to get to the train bridge and Couchiching.  The boats are rushing to get to the Big Chute, during the week, as they will not put large boats through on weekends.    In the morning another boater, stopped by who was a mechanic—he checked our coolant and determined it was very low—so we topped it up. Around noon, Brian and Helen arrived, they had come to pick up Brian Hayton, so he could return to Bancroft.  We went out for lunch to Friends Dinner, which was quite good.  Afterwards we stopped at Canadian Tire, as Andy wanted to pick up some more coolant, and Rotella T5 oil, just in case we need to replace fluids, if it ends up being the head gasket. Just as we were getting out of the car and saying our goodbyes, the skies opened and  rain started to fall. 

Andy and I returned to the boat, so that we could cover up the top.  We had rain and thunder for most of the afternoon, so we played cards.  Around 6:00, there was a bit of a break in the weather, so we walked over to the Metro grocery, to pick up a few things.  On Wednesday, many boats left in the morning, and many more arrived as the day went by- the outer docks here are almost full.  

Steven, the diesel mechanic  came by around 9:00,  he looked around the engine, and had Andy start it up.  No water was being released, so he ascertained that we likely needed a new impeller in the coolant water pump.   We had a  couple of spare ones on-board.  Around 10:30, Kevin, who works for Steve, came by to replace it. When he pulled out,  the impeller, none of the fins were left intact.  He had to pour a lot of water through the water-heat exchanger to dislodge any impeller pieces, prior to replacing it.  Andy ran the engine  for about 30 minutes to get it up to temperature, and ensure we had good water flow.  By 12:30, Kevin was gone, and then Andy and I had to clean up the water/antifreeze mess beneath the engine. 

While we were busy in the engine room, our friends Peggy, Tom and Nayla from Hamilton arrived on Water Lily-  we had met them last summer on the Rideau.  We spent several hours later in the afternoon catching up with Tom and Peggy, while Nayla kept guard, or cuddled with us.

In the evening we caught up on some episodes of Coronation Street.

I was awoken around 4 am to wind and rain, which continued until 8:30.  Since I couldn’t get back to sleep, I stayed up and read.  Once the rain had stopped and the wind died down several of the looper boats left for Couchiching.   Around 11 we walked over to Wilkie’s bakery to pick up Chelsea buns, and then went to Metro for a couple of things.  We came back to the boat, had lunch and played some cards.

In the evening Tom and Peggy stopped by for some more visiting.

If the weather and wind is favourable in the morning, we plan to cross Lake Simcoe to Gamebridge Lock 41and beyond. Karl the electrical engineer should be back from Scotland in a day or two, ans we still hope to meet him somewhere to look at the electrical system before we return to Winnipeg at the beginning of August.

Moving closer to Georgian Bay

Leave a reply

We left Buckhorn at 7:55 and moved through Bobcaygeon, and then Fenlon Falls, we arrived at Rosedale around 12:30 and tied up.  We were the only boat on the top side on Friday night, however other boats joined us for Saturday. 

We were next to RikAnha, and visited with them and their cat Wizard.

They are headed to Georgian Bay as well sometime over the summer.On Sunday we left around 11:00 and crossed Balsam Lake arriving at the Kirkfield lock at 12:50, a lockage was just going down , so we had to wait an hour for it to come back up. 

We  were out of Kirkfield by 2:35.  We continued on through  the very weedy Canal Lake, and then on to Bolsover, Talbot, Portage and stopped at the top of Thorah, where Bill and Margie from Crustacean  were tied up.  In the evening Bill put on a wet suit and dove under our boat and theirs to remove weeds that were wrapped around the props and rudder. 

Here’s our boats on Monday morning at Thorah.  

We left together and went through Thorah, and then Gamebridge and hit Lake Simcoe at 10:00.  I saw these Turtles sunning themselves, along with a Heron.

We arrived at the Port of Orillia at 12:15, I did some laundry , the dryer was broken, so I hung our clothes on the flybridge to dry

and we walked over to Metro for provisions.  There is a huge construction project happening around the marina,  one of the staff said they are building 80 affordable condos, with a price tag of 1 Million. Yikes. In the morning before departing I went to Wilkie’s Bakery at 9 for fresh butter tarts and Chelsea buns ( they were still warm). The Kawartha Voyager was tied up at Port of Orillia, it is making trips in this area, going between the Big chute and Peterborough.

We are going to travel with Crustacean for the next week, showing them parts of Georgian Bay. After crossing Lake Couchiching, we were stopped at the CN train bridge for over an hour because of many trains on the schedule.  We anchored a fair distance from the bridge and rafted with Crustacean while we waited.

  Then it was on through the Couchiching Lock, Sparrow Lake, McDonald cut and hydro glen before arriving in Swift Rapids  at 3:05.  We tied up to the grey line where they now have 2 power pedestals.  Had a quiet night. 

In the morning we locked through just after 9:00, and then it was off to the Big Chute.  When we arrived, the staff was just leaving to do some dam work, so we waited and showed Bill and Margie the carriage and explained what would happen.  Another boat showed up, and they went through first, alone.  We were next, here we are leaving the carriage. 

Once we were through, we tied up and I got off the boat, so I could take pictures of Crustacean.  

Once through we continued on to Port Severn, again we had to lock separately as this is the smallest lock on the Trent, and it would have been a tight fit for both of us to get into it at the same time. 

Once out, we went between Green and Potato islands and headed for Beausoleil Island.  We both tied up to the docks at Cedar Springs by 3:45 , after a 27 mile run for the day. Some changes had occurred since we were last there in 2018, when these docks had been closed due to high water. 

The next morning, we led the way and showed Crustacean some of the Anchorages nearby that we had either stayed at or had explored, these included frying pan, Goblin,  Longuissa Bay,  and Hockey stick.  We then proceed along Muskoka , Musquash and Monument channels to get to Indian Harbour around 1:00, another 27 mile day. After anchoring in the bay with 5 other boats, we just relaxed.  Around 5:30, Bill came over by dinghy to take us to his boat for dock tails.  While there Andy helped him tighten the belt on his generator.  Another peaceful night.

In the morning, it was cloudy,  we weighed anchor at 10:00  and proceeded to the O’donnell point anchorages,  on 12 mile bay, as well as Big David Bay. We continued on to San Souci island, and tied up at the dock for lunch at Henry’s. 

It was a cloudy day, and our charging system was acting up, it doesn’t seem that the alternators are putting power into the house bank.  Andy called Karl and tried a few things to try and figure out what wasn’t working, with Bill assistance as well as Ted, the owner of Henry’s. 

We also plugged into shore power for a few hours to try to re charge our house batteries. Around 6:45 we left and headed up to Port Rawson, and found a place to anchor around 7:30.  Around 8:00 we tried to start our generator, and it wouldn’t run- likely a dead starter battery.  Andy called back to Henry’s to book us in there for Saturday night, so that we can charge our lithium’s fully.  Andy realized in the morning that the generator’s start button on the generator had been switched off. 

Once he put it in the correct position the gennie fired up and pumped power into the batteries.  Yipee.  He then had a call with Karl, to discuss the dc to dc charger.  We left the anchorage around 11:00 the 8 mile run to Henry’s to re-charge the batteries.  Just before we left a fishing boat stopped and asked us for directions to Pennsylvania Island—they had a fully stocked boat with about a dozen rods, however, they had a 1 page map of the area, and no bait.  They ended up following us out of Port Rawson all the way to the bait store on Pennsylvania Island.  We arrive at Henry’s around noon and tied up.  Andy went back into the engine room and spoke to Karl on the phone.  The DC-DC charger still does not appear to be working, ie) supplying power from the engines to the batteries while we are running. Karl thinks that we need some  larger breakers added to either side of the DC charger.  We have decided to go back to Victoria Harbour for Monday, and will see if we can buy them there and have them installed.  We went up to the restaurant for a drink and some lunch.  Karl will also order us another external regulator, as one of them doesn’t seem to be working well. We spent the afternoon relaxing, relieved that we can continue our vacation in Georgian Bay.

On Sunday we left Henry’s around 8 am

and retraced our route to Longuissa Bay,  there was smoke in the air for the entire trip.  We  arrived at Longuissa at 11:30, sharing the anchorage with about 5 other boats.  Crustacean joined us there later in the afternoon.  I spent some time cleaning the boat.  We had docktails with Margie and Bill on our boat. 

I also went for a swim off the back of the boat to cool off. 

We had a couple short showers throughout the night.  In the morning we left the anchorage around 8:30, and headed the 18.7 miles to Victoria Harbour.  We experience a  little rain when we were near the northern shores of Beausoleil Island, but Andy continued to drive from the flybridge.  About 20 minutes from Queen’s Cove, there was a warning on the VHF radio that a squall was approaching southern Georgian Bay.  Unfortunately, we were not get at the marina when the skies opened, we were completely drenched.  Andy tied up to an outside dock in the marina, to wait out the storm, so that we could move to our assigned slip.  After we moved, Andy went up to check-in and order the required circuit breakers for the dc charger.   There was a break in the weather in the afternoon, so we walked into town to reprovision. We then spent some time catching up on Coronation Street, and I watched the video of the grad ceremonies for my great-niece Neva in Swan River.   The rain started again around 4:00 and it continued to rain until dark and through the night. Here’s a view of my boat garden, it seems to like the amount of rain and sunshine it has been getting, I have a dozen tomatoes, and some radishes that should be ready in the next week or two.

This garden is easy to weed, unlike back home, where our neighbor has sprayed the weeds with Roundup!

The modifications to the canopy also seems to be a success, as there was very little pooling of water after yesterday’s rains.

Early this morning, we learned that our friend Muriel had passed away in Bancroft, so that put a damper on the day.  I’m very glad I visited her 3 weeks ago, when we were there. I spent the morning doing some cleaning on the outside decks with a scrub brush and soap.  Around 11, I walked up to the laundromat—I missed a huge rain shower by mere minutes.  Once the laundry was completed, I met Andy at the Village mercantile for lunch and Kawartha Ice cream.   

We returned to the boat, and Andy checked if the circuit breakers had arrived.  They were in, but a mistake was made- they had sent two identical breakers, which wasn’t what had been ordered.  So, one more day of waiting.  Andy added the one breaker that he received.  We also put a call and email into Sensata- the maker of our inverter and monitor, to get assistance on setting it up for the lithiums—as it doesn’t seem to be fully charging them.  We had a call back later and were told that are equipment (bought in 2020) was too old to communicate with Lithium, but a circuit board could be changed in the inverter to upgrade it. This incompatability will explain why our system is wonky on days we don’t have sun to charge the batteries. After some discussions with Karl, we may be replacing the inverter and monitor  so that we can get the system running as it was designed.  We want reliability and redundancy to operate this boat worry-free, especially if we spend next summer on Lake Superior.  Karl will come up with some suggestions, and hopefully we will meet up with him in about 3 weeks to replace and make corrections.

We awoke this morning, to wind, smoke, cooler temps and may flies.  Will likely stay here one more night. I continued to scrub the deck and gunnels, while we waited for delivery of the other circuit breaker.  I saw this sign near someone else’s boat on A dock.

 It is very true even if boats can be a money pit- we keep thinking that the next upgrade will solve the electrical issues that have plagued us since 2015. Hopefully if we get it functioning properly it will bring happiness and smooth sailing!!

More bad news the circuit breaker didn’t arrive yesterday, so we will have to wait here yet another day. We hope to leave later this afternoon, to find somewhere close by to anchor, as it is the start of the July long weekend and it will be busy. Our plan is to stay out on Georgian Bay until about July 7th and then start heading back into the TSW, so we can rendez-vous with Karl after he returns from Scotland.

Circuit breaker did not come in Thursday’s shipment, so we are still in Vic. Harbour, we are hoping that it comes today (Friday), so we can leave and spend some time at anchor. It is raining and smoky here again today. Hope everyone has a great Canada Day tomorrow!

Circuit breaker arrived Friday afternoon and was installed by my favourite electrician-in- training. We plan to leave here Sunday morning and head north-west back towards Port Rawson.

We’ve done a mini loop and returned to BYH

Leave a reply

We left BYH on Thursday  morning and moved to Buckhorn lock wall.  We didn’t plug into power until about 3:00, as we wanted to see if the solar panels would charge up the batteries.  To keep busy, I stenciled “On Business” onto our life ring, and then painted the inside of the letters blue.  I also  did some weeding around the lock building, in the late afternoon, I played photographer, as Parks was  having a bench dedication for a long-term lockmaster—Pat, who had passed away in 2019.

  That evening we went to the Cody Inn for supper.

On Friday, we locked through with another boat, when the lock opened around 9:00, we followed them through  Lovesick, Burleigh Falls, Youngs Point, and finally tied up at Lakefield lock 26 around 1:15.  We stayed there for 2 days.

On Saturday, afternoon we walked into Lakefield to pickup a few things.  We also stopped for ice cream- our first since coming to Ontario—it was not Kawartha but Central smith.  I tried a new flavour Lemonade lavender—very refreshing. When we returned to the lock,  we met loopers Bill and Margie from Florida,  we spent several hours showing them potential anchorages and places we had stayed in Georgian Bay and the north channel. On Sunday morning we toured the Crustacean, 42 foot Grand Banks, and Margie and Bill came aboard and looked at our boat as well. I walked around the lock station in the morning and took pictures of the garden as well as these purple irises, and the boats at the lock.

My neighbor from home had sent me some pics of my irises and roses.

  When we left on June 1st, there wasn’t even a bud on the rose bush- it must really like the heat and rain that Winnipeg has been experiencing.

 Just before 11:00 we untied and followed Crustacean  to Young’s Point lock, it was raining off and on all afternoon.  Once we were through Hell’s gate, they turned and went to explore Stoney Lake.  We continued on  through Burleigh Falls and Lovesick locks, arriving at Buckhorn at 2:15, once through the lock we tied up in front of “Just Wright”.  We hadn’t seen Roy and Dalaina since last September, when the pulled their boat and drove back to B.C.  We had happy hour and caught up on what we had been doing over the winter.  After supper, we invited another couple, Andy and Stephanie from Colorado, who were on a houseboat rental to take a look at the inside of our boat.  Sometime in the future, they would like to do the Great Loop.  Andy gave them some advice on boating and what to look for in a live-aboard boat.  After they left, we played cards, like we do most nights—I have not won a game yet.  It started to rain again once it got dark and rained through the night and was still raining in the morning, as well as a bit breezy.

On Monday it rained most of the day, in the afternoon we had a crib tournament with Dalania and Roy. We learned from all the rain, that the design of our canopy needed some alterations, as water just pooled on the canvas around the solar panels. But the rain didn’t stop the Canada geese from being around, there were 4 adults and 40 small ones hanging around the lock.

 On Tuesday morning, Just Wright left through the lock, they are headed east to Montreal.  After a walk to the grocery store and liquor store, we headed over to BYH to fill up our fuel tanks.  We showed them the problem with the canopy.  We went into an empty slip and several people came to take a look.  It was eventually decided that we needed three more bars that were slightly hooped to make the water flow to the end of the canopy.  Tuesday night after taking the crew from Crustacean grocery shopping, we drove to Lakefield to do a load of laundry.

On Wednesday, Cindy and Amanda came and added the 3 new bars,

Later in the afternoon  Todd came and tie-wrapped the solar panels to the canvas. We are still waiting for the final part for the solar setup- hopefully it comes on Thursday. We went out to Home hardware to pick up pipe insulation to put around all the exposed support braces.

In the evening we drove to Bobcaygeon for our first Kawartha ice cream, right from main location.  I had coconut and Andy had salty caramel truffle. 

When we got back to the boat, we invited Jo and Ken  over for a drink.  We had been parked next to them at the marina last year for several days.

In the morning, Cindy and Amanda returned to the boat and moved some of the snaps on the canvas, as now with the extra support bars, they didn’t meet up.  In the afternoon, Andy and I put the pipe insulation around the support bars, where the weight of the solar panels could damage the canvas.    Andy was having issues with the Renogy M1 monitor and after conferring with Karl several times, he has decided to turn it off, and only use his phone for monitoring the batteries and electrical system. Our Blue-tooth solar monitor accessory was not in today’s mail. We have made the decision to leave in the morning and head to Bobcaygeon and beyond, likely will stop in Rosedale. It has now been 15 days since we left home, and Georgian Bay is calling. We checked in with the Port of Orillia about getting dockage next weekend, but because of Christmas in June festivities, they are completely booked up. Will have to pass Orillia, and the great chelsea buns at Wilks bakery for now. Andy also called to Henry’s fish restaurant, and they will be opening as of June 27, so we will get the opportunity to spend a night there. We just found out that the Solar monitor accessory is out of stock until July 9- so I’m glad we decided not to wait any longer for it.

The 2023 Boating Season will begin soon..

Leave a reply

A lot has happened since my last blog.  We did spend Thanksgiving with my family in Swan River, the highlight on the Sunday was a drive up to Thunder Hill, where the  nieces and nephews walked to the club house from the top of the ski hill—too steep for these senior citizens.

  We got to meet our new doctor in mid October, and he agreed to take on the two of us as patients.  Later in October, I transformed my grandmother’s  china cabinet from a dark brown to a light green, with a couple coats of paint.

  I had contemplated selling the china cabinet, but once I changed the colour, I decided it would be  great in our new place.

 

At Christmas, we hosted the McMorland family gathering on December 18th for the last time in our house, there were about 30 people in attendance. We spent Christmas in Fort Frances with Andy’s sister and brother-in-law, which was much better than being just the two of us. In the new year, Jack spent part of a week with us, while Erin and Jason took a trip to Vegas. We had a fair bit of snow over the winter, and I kept busy  shoveling. We also had a couple really cold weeks in January and again in February.

In late January, Andy went into hospital for a hip replacement,  we expected he would be in hospital for 2 or 3 days, but he liked it so much- he stayed there for 9 days.  The extended stay was because his knees were swollen and couldn’t support him , so  he didn’t get out of bed for 5 days. 

 He came home on February 3rd, and spent about a week in his easy chair, using a walker or cane to get around  before climbing the stairs to our 2nd floor bedroom. He will need the other hip and knees replaced in the future.

As of December 31st, I became a member of the Facebook crowd.  My real reason for taking the plunge was because I wanted to sell excess furniture and household items, and I had heard that Marketplace was better then Kijiji.  Over the next few months, I sold a desk, coffee tables, tire rims, table saws, bed, rocker, dresser, couch, loveseat,  paintings and  many, many more tools.  In mid-May I advertised a garage sale  only on Marketplace, and had quite a few people stop buy.  

We sold our patio set and dinghy as part of this sale. The first person arrived one hour before the start time, and he wanted to see the LP records we had for sale.  I was shocked, by the end of the afternoon- all our records and CDs were gone.  Some of our excess clothing, appliances and tools that didn’t sell were given to a woman working with Ukrainian refugees, and the items will be distributed amongst that community. One of my former work colleagues stopped  by in late April and cleaned out my shed  buying  the lawn mower, snowblower, a band saw, bench, and rototiller, as well as some gardening tools. So, a lot of our excess belongings have been purged!

In early May I also met with some retired colleagues from the CGC, it was great catching up with them.

Finally on May  2nd we put our house up for sale.

  An open house was scheduled for May 6th and 7th, so we decided to go up to Swan to visit with my family, so we wouldn’t be in the way.  On our return we brought back 5- 5Kg boxes of breakfast sausages, locally made in Swan River.  Why so many?  Well one box for us, one for Andy’s sister, Elaine, and the other 3 for the  upcoming family reunion.

The last family reunion had been held in 2018 in BC, and it was time for the McMorland clan to meet again in Manitoba.  Andy had sent a letter to MB Parks in May of 2022, requesting the booking for Camp Morton (north of Gimli) for 4 days  following the August long weekend.  We found out in early March that we had the park from August 7-11th,  but we needed to know how many cabins and yurts would be required before the end of March.  The family responded and we had commitments for all 14 of the cabins ,the family camping area and one yurt.  There will be about 65 people coming for the reunion.  A highlight will be the  family golf tournament on August 9th at Marvellous Meadows in Arnes, which Andy is taking care of.   We had a planning meeting in late April at our place for the event, for menu planning and figuring out what would be needed to feed 65 people.  One of the meals will be a fish fry, and we have already ordered 60 pounds of Lake Winnipeg pickerel for this dinner.  I found these MB cookie cutters,

and have made about 8 dozen gingerbread cookies to share with family.

Back to the house,  we had about 35 people go through the house during the open house weekend, and viewing seemed to be scheduled every day or two after that.   It was really tough to live in a house and keep it clean for all these showings—I vacuumed more in the past month than I had in the past 10 years. We received one offer around May 15th, but countered, and didn’t end up accepting it.  Our second offer came on May 23rd, and once financing was in place, and an appraisal  was done, the sold sign went up on June 3rd.

 I was busy  the last week of May, with the Eastern Star Grand Session Tuesday May 30th as well as completing some yard work  and getting stuff packed up for the boat. Knowing that there was nothing more for us to do except wait for the house to sell, we left Winnipeg  on June 1st headed for  Ontario and the boat.  Our plan is to spend June and July on the boat, and explore more of Georgian Bay. The reunion in early August and our scheduled move to the apartment August 22nd, doesn’t gives us enough time to explore all of Lake Superior. That trip will have to wait until 2024. Here’s a view of what our apartment building should look like-our suite is in the left hand corner on the 3rd floor.

We spent our first night in Wawa, long day, we had left the house shortly after 5:00, and with the exception of stopping for gas, Andy drove 13 hours arriving at the motel just before 7:00 p.m.  The next morning, we left around 7:30 and stopped in the Sault for breakfast and gas.  Then it was on to Parry Sound for more gas, and then across country to Brian and Helen’s in Bancroft.  Andy had heard from the marina on Thursday, and we knew our boat was in the water, however none of the upgrades ( Lithium batteries, more solar, and monitors ) was complete.  We drove up to the boat on Saturday and saw that the canopy over the sundeck was done.  It looked really good;  this canopy will be the support system for our four solar panels. We unloaded the car,  our one issue on Saturday was that the boat  fridge didn’t seem to be working even though we were plugged in to shore power.  We came back to Bancroft to spend another night.  We returned to the boat, and by hooking up the batteries, the fridge would run on D/C power so  that was great, as fixing the fridge would likely take weeks, and a replacement could be months.

On Monday morning, Andy went to the boat, to supervise the upgrades, it was determined that the new canopy was not going to be strong enough to hold up the solar panels, so the canvas was removed and additional support poles were added. Instead of going to the boat with Andy, Helen and I went in to Peterborough for lunch and to do some shopping, and pick out some perennials to plant in one of Helen’s shadier flowerbeds, we/she selected a couple daylillies, lamium and a cranesbill. Here we are planting them in the front flowerbed, the air was very smokey from the fires burning in Ontario and Quebec, thus the mask that Helen has on.

On Tuesday, Andy returned to the boat, but I stayed in Bancroft again as I would have just been in the way. In the afternoon, we did some shopping, and then went to visit our friend Muriel. The electrical engineer, Karl, from Ottawa arrived at the marina around 3 pm, he was overseeing and troubleshooting the installation of our new electrical system. Here’s a pic of the 3 Lithium batteries that will be our new “house” bank, powered by our alternators while running, as well as the 4 solar panels.

In the afternoon Cindy from the canvas shop, added more support braces on the canopy for the solar panels. Andy, Todd from the marina and Karl worked on the boat until after 9pm, had a few issues with fuses blowing but seemed to get the systems working and communicating. Karl installed software on Andy’s phone for monitoring the system. Next week, a monitor will be installed on the boat, for easy viewing by both of us. On Wednesday morning, after a little more grocery shopping in Bancroft, we departed for the boat with all our stuff. After unloading the car, I cleaned up after the last two days of renovations in the boat. I then washed the deck and flybridge. I then planted my garden, two tomatoes plants that I had started back in Winnipeg at the end of February. They both have flowers on them already, so hopefully we will have tomatoes before to long. I also planted some radish and cucumber seeds.

Our plan is to stay around the area for the few days , testing out the system, while we wait for the last piece to arrive and be added. Tonight will be the first night on the boat, tomorrow morning we will leave the marina and go to the Buckhorn lock wall or one of the other locks.

Our trip home and returning to life back in Winnipeg

Leave a reply

We left Bancroft around 7:30 and took highway 118 through Haliburton and continued on it until we reached Carnarvon, where we turned on to highway 35.  We went through Dorset and proceeded until we connected up with highway 11 near Huntsville.  We continued on to North Bay and got onto highway 17, the Trans Canada, where we gassed up at 10:40.  We remained on hwy 17 going through Sudbury and to our final destination for the day- Sault ste. Marie.   Arriving around 3:30, after travelling 700 Km.

There wasn’t much traffic for a Friday, and the leaves on the trees were just starting to turn from green to yellow.  We met up with Pat and Marcia Gillespies for supper at wild wings.  It was great seeing them, as it was 2019, when we had last visited them. I didn’t have a great night—the bed in our hotel room was very hard almost like sleeping on the floor, I pulled out the extra pillows and slept on top of them- but it wasn’t much better.

On Saturday, we got up and left shortly after 7:00.   We were going to do some reconnaissance for our planned Lake Superior circle tour by boat in 2023.

  Our first stop after gassing up in the Sault was Katherine cove, we had never anchored here but it does seem quite sheltered, and has a nice sandy beach. 

Then it was on to Wawa, where we made a pit stop at the Welcome centre.  Here’s some pictures from there.

Then it was on to Marathon, on the road leading into town, we saw a large cat crossing the road- likely a lynx- but I was too slow with my camera to get a picture.  We then went down to the boat launch to see if anything had changed there.  The docks were as they had been in 2019, when we had stayed there during the Marathon town’s 75 anniversary.

  It does look like something is happening at the old mill dock, but we couldn’t reach it to investigate further as there were closed gates.  But here’s a picture from across the water. 

We then went in search of the Peninsula—the Marathon pulp tug boat which we had seen in 2019.

The boat was originally built in 1943, used for decades in Marathon and then brought back in 2018.  But we couldn’t find it, after stopping an OPP officer we were told that there was an issue trying to lift it on shore, so it had been dismantled in 2020.  The town was concerned about liabilities, as the boat was full of asbestos and other hazardous materials like benzene, lead and PCB’s.

After lunch, we continue on our mission of checking out possible marinas along he north shore of Lake superior. First stop was Rossport, there was a dock here, but signs that said no docking allowed.

There was a second dock, but we didn’t visit it.  Upon checking the website for the Rossport marina, it seems a little outdated as the last entry was from 2009.  Might not be stopping here.

So, it was on to Nipigon, which is a larger centre with more amenities.  Here’s a look at this marina. 

This looks more promising, and they have diesel. 

I spoke with a Parks Canada employee, and he directed me to the marina office, which was closed, but I did get some pictures of information which will be useful.

Our next stop was Red Rock,

which also has a marina.  Some of the docks appear to have power, this looks the most promising. 

This blurb was taken from their website: the building will offer boaters washrooms, shower and laundry facilities.  Additional amenities include Wi-fi access, the marina restaurant and superior treasures gift shop.  Gas and diesel fuel, pump out, water, electrical and launch facilities are available from May to October.  The posted slip fee was 0.85 per foot. Unfortunately, the marina office had already closed for the day, but we will be in contact over the winter to get more information.

After our visit to Red rock, we gassed up at Pass lake and then continued on to Thunder Bay and checked into our hotel.  We met my friend Teresa and her partner Maureen for supper at a Chinese restaurant close to our hotel.    We had a very nice visit with the two of them.

On Sunday morning, we left the hotel before 7:00.  It was still dark out, and as we left Thunder Bay it began to rain.  There wasn’t a lot of traffic heading west, but we did meet many trucks heading east.  As we got nearer to Kenora, the traffic increased.  We crossed into Manitoba around noon, and continued towards home, arriving around 2:00.  We spent the remainder of the afternoon, unpacking the car and checking out the yard and garden.  The weeds have once again taken over the garden, however I did find some of my tomatoes and peppers.

On Monday, I spent some time in the garden pulling weeds, but progress was slow.  We also went grocery shopping, as our fridge was bare.  On Tuesday, more weeding took place in the garden and flower beds, and I cut the lawn. I have now accumulated 9 bags of garden weeds.    Andy went golfing and I met them for supper at Tapp’s in the Dakota Inn.  On Wednesday, I started spraying the remaining weeds with Roundup in order to kill them off before pulling any more out.  I also installed Microsoft office 2016 onto Andy’s new computer, which took me some time, as the instructions were not very intuitive.  But I finally got it done, now he can play around in Windows 11 and open up his old files. I will spend a little time everyday for the next few weeks in the garden killing weeds, before I roto-till the garden.  I found after the first couple of days that my right wrist, was numb or pins and needles through the night—I likely have carpal tunnel and the act of repetitively pulling weeds has inflamed it.

I will also   start purging stuff in the house in order to get it ready for our move next year.  Here’s an updated picture of the construction.  Progress seems to be a little slow, and we were informed that earliest move-in is now slated for mid July. 

We are going to contact the management company to see if we could move in later in September, so that it doesn’t mess up our summer boating plans. For Thanksgiving, the plan is to go to Swan River to visit with my sisters and other family.

Fall is in the air, time to go home!

Leave a reply

We left the lock before 8:00 and tied up at BYH gas dock just after 8:00.  Ralph came onto the boat and took a look at the new leak on the port engine.  After consulting with the manual and looking on-line, it was determined that we needed a damper.  Andy sent pictures and contacted Rovan, who had sent us the washers for our leak on the Starboard engine.  They didn’t respond until the following day with what we needed and a cost. While we waited at the gas dock for this, Andy spent multiple hours, working on stripping and re-staining the teak railing. He was able to strip and stain almost ¾ of it. 

Around 4:00 Friday, we moved into Peter’s slip at BYH, as he was away on his boat.  Once there I did a thorough washing of the decks to try to remove the sanding dust.  We didn’t do any more sanding and staining here, as we were in close proximity to other fiberglass boats.  We will finish the teak work, once we are back at a lock wall.

On Saturday morning, I went into Lakefield to do laundry.  I was curious to find out where the laundry, in case I ever need to go there from the lock.  It would be a fair hike, but likely not as far as going to the laundry in Frankford—so it is doable.  On my return I stopped at Foodland for a few things.  Shortly after noon, David arrived at the boat, he was coming to do a few more updates to our Garmin electronics.

  Around 3:00, we decided to take the boat out for a test drive, so he could see some of our issues while it was running.  Since he had never been through a lock, we proceeded to go down through lock 31, and once we were at the bottom we turned around and came right back up, as the new fall hours are in effect and the locks close at 4:30.  People watching, must have though we were crazy—who would go through the lock twice.  Only us—I guess I needed more practice.  After cruising in upper buckhorn lake, with David driving, we returned to the marina.

   David then installed the JVC radio/CD player to replace the one on the boat that was no longer functioning.  It took him less than 10 minutes to complete this task, Andy and I had looked at the instructions about a week ago—and it was all Greek to us.  It’s great to be able to play CD’s again and hopefully have better radio reception.  For supper we ordered pizza, and David was on his way back to Hamilton.

On Sunday we got up and did a little cleaning, we then left the slip and moved to the blue line at the Buckhorn lock.  We were through and travelled to Lovesick lock and were through it by noon.  We tied up at the wall below the lock.  We were joined by a number of other boats.  One was a looper boat called Wild willy with Casey and Kerry, who I immediately recognized.  

We had previously met them on A dock at Victoria Harbour marina, however at the marina they had a different boat.  We had a long visit with them talking about their looping experience.   I had noticed that the Canadian flags at all the locks are at half-mast as a tribute to Queen Elizabeth.

On Monday morning, rain was in the forecast so we left Lovesick around 10:30 and travelled to Burleigh Falls, and were through the lock by 11:10, we then moved on to Young’s Point, and were through by 12:20.  We decided to tie up at the bottom, and the rains started shortly thereafter.  In the afternoon, we went to Lock side Trading to shop and get ice cream. We were disappointed regarding the ice cream as they no longer had staff in the café- so no ice cream for us.  We then walked over to the general store, but there was no ice cream or baking there, so we went home empty handed.  It rained most of the evening and overnight.

On Tuesday we left Young’s point at 9:15 and slowly moved to Lakefield and were tied up there by 10:15. There was rain in the forecast for the afternoon, but we decided to finish sanding the teak railing on the starboard front quarter.  Our thoughts were that if it was to rain, we could always cover the raw wood with saran wrap to keep it dry.  It took Andy and I almost 3 hours to complete this task, but all the old stain was off by 2:00.  I then swept up the sanding dust, followed by washing the deck using by anchor wash hose.  I covered the wood with saran, and we waited for the rain.  When it didn’t materialize, we decided to put on the stain.  Andy gave the raw wood a good coat, and did the remainder of the railing with a light coat.   We spent some time reading on the back sundeck in the sun, and there was no rain in sight. The rain didn’t materialize in the night either, so the railing will get a second coat of stain today.

 On Wednesday morning we walked into Lakefield and bought a couple things at Foodland, on our way back we stopped at the café for coffee, a muffin and Central Smith ice cream- definitely not as good as Kawartha.  We went back to the boat, and in the afternoon, the railing got another coat.  It was very breezy, and quite overcast.

On Thursday, we left at about 9:30, and crossed the two lakes before arriving at Burleigh Falls.  We encountered a triple threat here—we locked through with 3 houseboats, but since we were the last boat in and out, no mishaps.  We followed the three boats to Lovesick and we decided to tie up on the bottom.  We visited with the other boaters there, and Andy gave the teak a few touch ups.  He put the dinghy down later in the afternoon and cruised around the area feeding his remaining worms to the fish.

 While he was gone, I watched the neighboring boats play bean bag toss.

  When he returned to the boat, he still had a few worms left and caught a few “blue gills”.   He filleted them and we had them for breakfast on Friday. 

Friday morning was cool, and it was raining.  We locked through on the second lockup with 2 other cruisers around 10:30. We arrived at Buckhorn lock about an hour later and locked through, earlier in the week we had worried about staying at the lock, but there were only 3 boats tied up on that dreary day.  We continued on to BYH, and tied up near the gas dock.  Andy checked in with the service department, as well as Cindy in the canvas shop.  Our part for the fuel leak had arrived and will be installed likely on Monday.  Cindy agreed to meet with us in the afternoon to go over our requirement for a solar canopy over our sundeck.  We met with her for about an hour in the afternoon, looking at Andy’s sketches, pictures from another PT 35 that we had seen a canopy on

and the materials that were available.  It is possible that she may be able to make the frame the following week. 

We returned to the boat, and packed a bag or two, as we were going up to Bancroft to spend the weekend with Brian and Helen, as Saturday was Brian’s 70th birthday.  We stopped at the Bancroft Kawartha store for ice cream. We had a lovely dinner of bbq roast beef, potatoes, cabbage rolls and cake for dessert.

Saturday morning, Andy and Brian went golfing, only 9 holes as it was Andy’s first golf game for 2022.  Here’s the pair of them in the afternoon after their outing, the 70+ year old needed afternoon naps. 

While they were out Helen and I went to downtown Bancroft and did some shopping as well as stopping at the farmer’s market.  For dinner, we went to the Bird’s Creek café, and then returned to the house for wine, cupcakes and ice cream. 

We saw this wild turkey family return to the bush near their house, they have a daily routine of walking out of the bush each morning and returning before nightfall.

Sunday morning, we woke up to heavy rain.   We left Brian and Helen’s around 9:30 and headed to Buckhorn and the boat.  It continued to rain, we caught up on some missed episodes of Coronation Street and started packing up the boat. 

On Monday morning, Andy went and checked with the service staff, regarding our leak.    Mark came around 10:30 and installed the damper fitting on the port engine.   We were told that we would be pulled out on Tuesday, so the packing continued, and I defrosted the freezer.  Cindy and Amanda from the canvas shop came around noon, and took some measurements for the solar canopy.    In the afternoon, Andy decided to change the oil in the two engines are we had put on about 125 hours over the summer.  After he warmed up the two engines, it took about an hour to complete this task.

  He also topped up the water in the batteries.   By running the engines, Andy noticed a slight leak in the starboard engines, so went back to the service staff, and asked to have the spare damper fitting installed on that engine as well.

We waited until 4:30, and since no one came to do the repair, we decided to go to Lakefield.  I wanted to do laundry including our bedding, so that I wouldn’t have to take it home.    We returned to the boat by 6:30 and had a late supper.  We continued to sort through and pack up things that needed to be stored, as well as stuff that we wanted to take home.

On Tuesday morning, Andy moved the car and we started loading it up.    We completed packing shortly after 9:00.  Andy also got confirmation from Renogy that the additional solar panels and clips were shipped.  We drove back to Bancroft to stay at Brian and Helen’s.  

  After lunch, Helen and I went downtown to do some shopping, and I bought some yarn for an upcoming project.  We will be returning to the boat on Thursday to check on the progress of the boat top.

Our plan is to leave Bancroft Friday morning and go to the Sault.  We originally had hoped to go via Owen Sound and the Chi cheemaun on ferry, but couldn’t get a reservation until Sunday, so that side trip won’t happen again this year. We were told that there are lots of people, likely seniors, doing the fall colours tours so bookings are hard to get at this time of year.  We also found that hotel rooms in Sault St. Marie on Friday night were very limited. On Saturday we hope to make it as far as Thunder Bay.  No more two-day driving marathons to Winnipeg—we’re too old for that!

Wednesday, we did our own tour of the area, going to Haliburton, as Brian was getting his 5th covid shot.  We went up into the Haliburton highlands one way and returned on a different route.  Lots of leaves are changing to yellow and red.

While in Haliburton we did some shopping and went for lunch.   Once we were back, I pulled out knitting needles and started playing with tension and the new wool.  In the evening we watched a little TV, and I read a book.

On Thursday morning- the first day of fall

I got some sad news from my friend Veronique she told me a recently retired colleague, Bert Siemens had passed away suddenly last weekend, and his funeral would be on Saturday. This was a bit of a shock, Bert and I had worked together for years on the Harvest survey.  Later in the morning, Andy and I drove back to the boat to check on the progress of the deck cover and winterizing.   We were disappointed to learn that our boat was exactly where we had left it on Tuesday,

we were told it was too tall for the canvas shop space.  Some progress had occurred with respect to the new top.  When I got to the boat, Amanda was adding some clips to the radar arch.  Cindy and Andy had some final discussions about the top and the attachments.  We then went to the canvas shop to see the assembled stainless-steel structure, as well as the canvas material that will be covering it. 

Upon leaving BYH, we picked up pizza for lunch and then some fruit for the road and filled up with gas at Curve Lake.  Enroute to Bancroft, we stopped at Kawartha for the final taste of ice cream, I had a scoop of coconut and pumpkin pie.  The pumpkin pie ice cream actually had some pellets of pastry dough in it- this will not be a favourite! There are frost warnings out for this evening– so it is time to go…..

We plan to leave tomorrow morning and should be home by Sunday night. Another year of boating in Ontario has ended, we were here for almost 4 months. I think we used our mooring pass 72 times and travelled through 145 locks as well as spending a week in the thousand islands. Remarkable value for spending $650 on our Parks Canada mooring and locking passes! What a great country we live in, the boating here is amazing, as well as the ice cream!

Made a u-turn, spending time around Buckhorn

Leave a reply

  On arrival, at the Buckhorn lock, we still have the smell of diesel- so the leak was not completely fixed.  Andy spent some time phoning around looking for the gasket or washers that we require.  He was able to find what he thinks we need, and they will be shipped to BYH next week.  We took a walk on Saturday afternoon to Foodland for a couple of things.  There is a peregrine falcon nest in a tree above the lock, which still has young birds in it, wanting to be fed, so the 2 parents are constantly either guarding the nest or bringing in food. 

On Saturday Andy spent some time on his computer, cleaning up files and deleting duplicates, so that his file system will be ready for migration to his new computer. The Kawartha Voyageur was docked at the lock.

We were through the Buckhorn lock by 9:25 on Sunday and headed towards Burleigh Falls, as we were going to meet Dalaina and Roy from Just Wright there.  We hadn’t seen them since the Thousand Islands, but had been in touch by text.  We went through the Lovesick lock at 10:10 and arrived at Burleigh around 10:30. There was no place on the wall, and boats had until 11:00 to vacate, so we were advised to go through the lock and bobble around on Stony Lake for awhile.  We were through the lock at 10:40. We waited for a couple of lock throughs each way and came through at 12:15 and tied up on the upper wall.   

 Our friends came through about a half hour later, and tied up across the lock.  Around 2:00, the spot next to us cleared, and Just Wright joined us on the same wall.  We visited with them at the picnic table with a few drinks.   By the time the lock closed we were the only two boats at this lock.  On Monday morning, it was a little windy, and we decided to move to Lovesick.   We went for a walk to the Burleigh falls inn before 9:00, but not much was opened. 

On our return to the boat, Andy called Lovesick lock and was told there was room for both boats below the lock.  So, we fired up and went the 2miles and tied up there by 10:30.

One other boat was just coming through the lock, but we were all able to fit on the wall.  I walked around and took pictures of the very extensive perennial garden, as well as the sign board about the legend of Lovesick.

We spent the afternoon reading at the picnic table, until the rain started, when we moved inside.  Around 7:00, we were once again able to meet at the table, since we had heard that there were raccoons on the island, we sprayed some vinegar around the wall near our boat as a deterrent.  In the evening Andy and I played cards.

On Tuesday morning, more rain and strong winds were predicted, so we decided to go back to Buckhorn to see if our parts for the fuel injector had arrived.    Andy had some time before the locks opened so he put the dinghy in the water and tried fishing near the dam.

  We were through the Lovesick lock at 9:35 and through Buckhorn at 10:45, and tied up on the wall with Just Wright.  We had rain off and, on all afternoon, so stayed inside.  Our part had not come in yet.  We had drinks with Roy and Dalaina at 5:00 in our salon.  We played cards in the evening- Andy is on a winning streak, I haven’t won more than a game or two a week.

In the morning, rain and wind was predicted, so we decided to get the car and go into Bobcaygeon, so that I could catch on the laundry.  Andy took down one of the folding bikes and pedalled to the marina in order to get the car. 

He then put the bike in the trunk and came back to the lock.  Around 10:00, Andy, Roy, Dalaina and I went to Bobcaygeon.  While I was at the laundry mat, the other three went to the LCBO, Beer store and grocery store.  Once I was done, they picked me up and we did a little tour of the best of Bobcaygeon, we showed them the Kawartha Dairy production plant- (no we didn’t stop for ice cream), Kawartha Settler’s village, Bigley’s shoes, and the location of the farmer’s market.  We stopped at the British store, as we saw a sign that they were going out of business, I bought some raspberry preserve with famous grouse scotch as well as a jar of red pepper relish, Andy bought a tweed cap. Dalaina bought a dish towel and a really neat Scottish bag/purse.

We drove back to Buckhorn with our purchases and had lunch.  Buckhorn Yacht Harbour called to let us know that our parts for the injector pump had arrived, hopefully they can be installed on Thursday, and that will put an end to the fuel leak. Around 2:00 we drove to Foodland for a couple additional items, then we took Roy and Dalaina to Buckhorn Yacht harbour to show them the marina.  On the way back we stopped at the Adam and Eve rocks for photos. 

We had a brief rain shower, and some very strong winds in the afternoon.  We had drinks and appetizers at the picnic table around 4:30. While sitting at the table, another boater walked by and told us that he had seen our boat in the Peterborough lift lock the previous week on YouTube.  He said the text accompanying the video was in Chinese, so we’re not sure if we’ll find it.  Andy remembered a crowd of Asian people at the top of the lock with cameras.  Small world!

 We bbq’d for supper, and then Andy checked our house batteries and added water to them.

In the morning, Andy returned our car to BYH, and had one of the guys bring him back to the lock.  He fired up the engines and we moved the boat to the gas dock at BYH.  We filled up with water and pumped out.  Ralph came down with the parts for the injector and replaced the washer.  All seems to be good. We left BYH at 9:05 and headed across the lakes to Bobcaygeon.  The wind was blowing, and there were some waves on the lake.  We arrived at Bobcaygeon at 11:00 and tied up on the bottom with power.  Just Wright joined us there a short time later.

In the afternoon, Dalaina and I checked out all the shopping on the main street, including Bigley’s shoe store.  We also crossed the bridge and went to the hardware store as well as a couple other.  It was great to have some girl time!  I wanted to buy Spider-out, as the spiders on the boat seem to be increasing.  We got back to the boat, just in time for 5:00 happy hour, which actually ended up being a 2-hour ordeal, as it may quite possibly our last time together. 

Hard to believe we only met them on June 14th in Hastings; however, our paths have crossed numerous times over the summer.  They need to be back to Port Severn by September 10th, so are on a tighter schedule than us.

On Friday morning, we left in the first lock up and headed to Fenlon Falls.  It was fairly windy on Sturgeon lake.  We arrived just before 11:00 and they already had a boat in the lock, so we joined them.  We got the last spot with power on the upper wall, and were tied up by 11:15.  Just Wright joined us about 45 minutes later. 

In the afternoon, Andy and I walked around town and stopped at the patio of the Cow and Sow for a beer and some appetizers.  It was very busy at the locks and town was quite busy as well for a Friday.   It was also really hot, when we returned to the boat, we closed up all the windows and put on the AC.  Roy and Dalaina joined us for happy hour around 5:00.  For dinner we opted for Chinese food and picked it up around 8:00.  The three dishes that we ordered is enough for 3 meals.

On Saturday morning, the lockmaster came by our boat, to ask if we were continuing on.  We said we were staying another night.  He had some bad news, the Kirkfield lift lock had sustained damage the day before, and likely wouldn’t be operational for some time.   He said that boats would be allowed to exceed the 2 day limit at Fenlon falls for this reason. Here’s a link to a story about the incident:  https://www.kawartha411.ca/2022/09/03/passengers-of-kawartha-voyageur-cruise-evacuated-after-scary-liftlock-failure/

  This messed up Just Wright’s departure as they were planning on moving on towards Kirkfield.  Since we had a source of water, I spent some time scrubbing the deck on the flybridge and sundeck.  I also sprayed the canvas with the Spider out, it works instantly, as well as leaves a residue for spiders that move to that area.     Dalaina and I checked out some of the stores in town, and went to the farmer’s market, where I bought some fresh produce.  I was looking for corn, but they were already sold out.  We partook in Happy hour on my clean deck. 

On Sunday, the temperature had taken a down turn, it was chilly on the boat, so we put on one of the heaters.  More boats that were stranded moved onto the lock wall, we had one boat in front of us, that put a lifejacket over our anchor, so that they wouldn’t hit their heads on it.    There was talk of a crib tournament happening amongst some of the boats, to warm up for it, Roy and Andy played 8 games, with Roy coming out the winner.

  Many of the boats tied up were trying to make alternate plans to get their boats passed the Kirkfield lock.  There was a guy advertising on the web, that he had a trailer that could take boats around the lock. But he had a tonnage limit on his trailer, so some boats would not be able to use his service.  Since our trip to Orillia would now be cancelled, we offered Roy and Dalaina a ride to Port Severn, where their truck and trailer is being stored, once we got back to Buckhorn.

On Monday morning we locked through the Fenlon lock around 10:30, and headed across Sturgeon lake to Bobcaygeon.  We were through this lock at12:35 and tied up on the power wall by 12:45.    I did some file cleaning on my computer for an hour or more, and then we went for ice cream at the Bigley’s sweet shop.  We weren’t sure if the Kawartha dairy outlet would be open, as it was labour day.  We visited with some of the other boaters on the wall, one of which was trying to get a boat to Georgian Bay.  After supper we played a couple games of cards.

On Tuesday morning we started the engines around 9:00 and headed back to the Buckhorn lock, arriving at 11:15 and tied up.  I walked over to the marina to pick up the car.  We wanted to drive in to Peterborough to get some stain for our teak railings.  We arrived back at the boat just around 2:00.  Andy started to sand, and decided it was going to be a very long process, so he called Brian in Bancroft to see if we could borrow a belt sander.  So back in the car and off to Bancroft, and then back again arriving at the boat around 6:30.  We had supper, played cards.

On Wednesday, we left by car at around 7:30, headed for Rosedale.   We made a stop in Fenlon Falls, as we heard that Peter the marina owner from BYH was there and was having engine issues.   We had a short visit with him and then we continued on to  the Rosedale lock where Roy and Dalaina were waiting.  We drove to Port Severn via Orillia, arriving there around 11:00.

  We left them with their truck and trailer, and we made the return trip to Buckhorn lock, arriving shortly after 1:30.  Andy started removing the layers of stain on the railing using Brian’s sanders.  Much quicker than what he had done yesterday, however it will likely take several days, maybe even a week to complete this for the entire railing. Once he is done the railing should look more like natural teak, than  brown wood.

  Around 3:30, several boats arrived with the Canadian rangers.  We had actually saw them in the morning, as they were in Rosedale, when we picked up the Wrights.  Here’s a picture of them in the lock. 

In the morning we went to BYH to check on our new fuel issue, may have to pull the boat sooner than we want to.

Taking our time in friendly waters

Leave a reply

We left Campbellford Old Mill park before 9:00 and were through lock 13 by 9:25 through Crowe Bay by 10:00 and Healey falls by 10:45, and the Healey flight lock by 11:15.  We then followed the Trent river to Hastings and tied up on the bottom, as there was no room on the top.  They have lovely flowers growing in several canoes here.

 We had gone about 20 miles and 6 locks.  It was Hasting’s waterfront festival, and there were lots of people in town, many having come by pontoon or bowriders.  A lot of the activities including axe throwing and musical performers was taking place across the canal at Hastings Village Marina. 

  We walked around town a little and went for Ice cream.  Around 4:00, some room opened up on the top of the lock, so we locked through and tied up.  We were in front of Grace too, which we had last seen on the rideau.    We walked to LCBO, which is very close to the canal, and purchased more wine and cider.  We then spent some time reading on the back deck.  I saw a guy with a snake around his neck- he said it was a boa constrictor and I saw him drape it around a little girl’s neck—not something I would do!

In the morning, we were up early as our plan was to leave around 6:00 for the trek to Peterborough.  Andy was up and made coffee before 6:00, however he checked the weather and saw that a thunderstorm cell was predicted for 7:30, so we stayed put.   The storm and rain hit about 7:30 and was over by about 9:00, so we ended up leaving around 9:30, it was 40 miles across Rice Lake and down the Otonabee river, it did rain a couple of times, but not for long. 

We reached Scott’s mills Lock 19 by 2:05, we got to Ashburnham by 2:15, but had to tie up and wait, as the Lift lock tour boat was on its way.  We were through Ashburnham at 3:00, and the Peterborough Lift lock by 3:20.  We decided to keep going and were through Nassau Mills Lock 22 by 4:15.

  We decided to tie up here, as there were some dark clouds around us, and we had gone 45 miles.  The lockmaster here, was Kirk, who had been at Buckhorn for a number of years so we had a visit with him once we were tied up.

  Around 5:30 we met Korban, Kirk’s son, and took him for a tour of our boat, Andy even showed him the engine room, and how he checks the oil.   We gave him a few candies from our Campbellford chocolate stash.

  At the end of the day Korban, donned a life jacket, and closed the lock gate- wonder if he want’s to be a lockmaster like Dad.  

 The rain held off until about 11:00 and we had a big downpour that woke us both up.

In the morning, it was just starting to drizzle when we left Nassau Mills at 9:10 and were through Otonabee at 9:35, Douro at 10:05, Sawer Creek at 10:30 and Lakefield at 11:00.  We were tied up under a tree by 11:10 and plugged into power, as the solar panels would be almost useless in the rain. 

I finished reading my book, and did a little cleaning on the outside decks.  Here’s some of the vegetables and flowers growing in the planter boxes.

On Tuesday morning we walked to town and went to Foodland and the hardware store.  We stopped for coffee and a muffin at the ice cream shop.  Didn’t have ice cream as it was Central Smith and not Kawartha.  We came back to the boat, and decided to stay another day, as it looked like it may rain again.  Shortly after lunch we were joined by three boats, which we had previously met a couple of years ago in Rosedale.  One of the boats, Plan Sea, we had recently saw when we were on the Rideau.  We spent the afternoon visiting with them at the picnic table under the shade of the trees- as the forecast was wrong again, and there was no rain in sight.

On Wednesday morning we left at 8:30 and travelled to the Young’s Point lock and were through by 9:30, we then moved on to Burleigh Falls, and were through it by 10:00.  We were in this lock with 2 house boats, that were part of a 7-boat family reunion- we stayed far away from them, entering the lock once they were tied up to their cables.  We then moved on to Lovesick lock and were through it by 11:30. Our last lock for the day was Buckhorn and we were through it by 12:25.  We called Buckhorn Yacht Harbour and tied up by the launch ramp by 12:50.  In the afternoon we asked Pat in the marina office, to print off some papers that we required signed and sent in, so that we could retrieve our medical records, from our doctor’s office.   Andy talked to the service department, and a couple items from our list will be worked on in the morning. I saw this person removing weeds from the marina basin.

We ordered pizza for supper, and went to pick it up in our car. Once again, we caught up on missed Coronation episodes. I picked a dozen ripe tomatoes off one of my Prairie Pride plant, not sure if I will grow cucumbers again next year, as I had dozens of blossoms, but only one cucumber matured.

On Thursday morning, Ralph checked our strainers for weeds, and also found the diesel leak, which was a fine spray coming from a pump fitting.  He was able to tighten the bolt and applied some sealant to stop the leak.  Todd re-arranged some of the cables on our VHF and AIS, so that the VHF radio now appears to be working correctly.  We also spoke to Cindy in the canvas shop, and asked to have 6 missing or broken twist lock fasteners on our flybridge replaced.  We drove to Foodland and picked up a few items.

In the afternoon we drove to Bancroft to visit with Muriel and Brian, as Muriel had just come home from the hospital last weekend, after having surgery.  We had stopped at the Kawartha dairy store in Bancroft, and picked up ice cream, so we all had a bowl.  Before leaving town, we stopped at Brian and Helen’s for a short visit as well.  Upon leaving we decided to go back to the boat, and then drive to Peterborough to look for a car radio, to replace the non-functioning one on the boat.  As well, we wanted to look for a new computer for Andy’s as his has a lot of issues, and is being held together by duct tape.  We were successful buying a computer at Walmart and the radio at Canadian Tire. 

We stopped for supper at Wendy’s, and then rushed back to the boat.  The rain was really coming down, at times it was hard to see out the windows.  We got home at 7:45, which was good, as my book club Zoom meeting was at 8:00 with Helen, Sheila and Jess.

It continued to rain until 9:30 and then seemed to stop, although more rain is in the forecast Friday. We plan to leave this morning, and spend a day or two at the Buckhorn lock, and possibly go back to both of Lovesick and Burleigh Falls for a night ( two of the locks on my list- where we haven’t stayed). We have been on the boat for three months now, I’m ready to go home, however the captain would like to spend another month on the water, and is talking about coming back in November, provided winter hasn’t settled in, to assemble what will become our sundeck cover and solar panel frame. He has asked BYH for a quote on the materials required.

Back in Friendly waters!

Leave a reply

We left Crates at 10:25. There was a pancake breakfast happening, so we stayed for breakfast before leaving. As we passed Trenton there was a plane that kept flying the same pattern multiple times, but didn’t land– must have been practicing!

  We arrived at Lock 1 Trenton around noon and Locked through by 12:40. We moved a couple miles and locked through Sydney at 1:00.  Then it was on to Glen Miller and we were through it at 1:45. We had contemplated staying at lock 3, but were told that Lock 4 was better as it was quieter.  We locked through at Batawa at 2:20 and were tied up by 2:30.

Pulling into the lock we saw a boat and a bunch of people having lunch.  It turned out that it was Rick and Linda from Compromise with their family. We tried to have a short visit with only one “long story short” but it didn’t happen.  Andy gave the Compromised family a tour of our boat.   We had a peaceful afternoon, and were joined by one other boat on the wall.  The lock station was a lockmaster’s house and is more than a hundred years old.

On Saturday morning, we stayed tied up and helped a number of boats tie up on the blue line.  One boat had an issue with one of its engines, but was able to restart it.  As they rushed to the next lock, two of their fenders fell off.  They didn’t seem to notice.  The one fender was fairly close to our locations- so Andy became the fender fetcher.  He got into our dinghy and rowed to where the fender was and retrieved it.  The second fender was close to a mile away, so we waited until it was closer, and on our side of the canal, before he launched the dinghy a second time and retrieved that fender.   The lock staff at Batawa had been in contact with lock staff farther up the canal, to say the fenders had been retrieved.  One of the lock staff from Lock 5, came and picked them up and delivered them to Lock 6, where the boat was waiting.  Good job Captain- you’ll get a gold star someday!  At 1:15, we moved on a mile to Lock 5- Trent and were through the lock by 1:50 and tied up.    The lock station at this lock is a twin to the last lock station.  Here’s pictures of it, it had a lot of flowers, and tomatoes growing, and I spent some time pulling weeds- Do you think I’m missing my weedy garden?

On Sunday we decided to stay at Trent.  We did some window cleaning

and waxing on the outside of the boat, as well Andy gave some of the teak railing another coat of Cetol.  We relaxed outside under the cedar tree reading in the afternoon.

  Later, Cat’s Pause with Phil and Caroll joined us on the lock wall.  We had previously seen them in Westport. They have a cover over their front hatch which I find interesting– it maybe a winter project to duplicate something like it for our boat.

In the morning we left Trent lock and moved on to Frankford lock at 10:15, and moved to our favorite spot under the shade of the big willow tree.

We were joined by Springbok and Nauti Jenny in the early afternoon.  Around 1:00, we talked to Lakewood Medical and got an appointment to meet a new doctor when we return in October. Around 2:00 we walked by the park canteen and had some Kawartha ice cream we then went into town to the grocery store, pharmacy and LCBO.  On our return we joined Rick and Jenny and Steve and Sandra under the willow tree for drinks and a visit. 

Rick and Jenny have completed the loop but are now doing the Canada piece.  Steve, Sandra and Oakley are from Reach harbour near Buckhorn, they have two boats, one for travelling around and another one that they live on full time.

In the morning, boats going south left, however those going on to Lock 7 Glen Ross stayed tied up, this was because two boats had become trapped in the lock when the water could not be released.  There was a hydraulic issue.  Before noon, the two boats came through to Lock 6, however there was still an issue at Lock 7, as the lock could not be filled. By 1:00 there were already 7 boats at Frankford, including Rick and Linda on Compromise.  We spent the afternoon at the picnic table visiting and drinking.

We have been friends with Rick and Linda for almost a year having met them in Frankford a couple of times in September of 2021.  Andy and Rick get along like brothers, and are always joking back and forth.  Prior to their arrival at Frankford, Andy had sent Rick a picture of the table under the coveted willow tree, this is what Rick changed the signage to after we left on Wednesday.

 For supper the four of us walked into Frankford to the new 3 Jacks steak restaurant.  Once we returned from town, we visited on our boat with the AC running as it was quite muggy outside.  In the morning a couple boats left in both directions.  Around 10:30 we decided to fire up and move on a couple of locks.  After we were through Glen Ross we tied up and went to the store for ice cream as well as Andy got some worms for fishing. Our friends Dave and Claudia from Still Waters II don’t think we’ve been eating enough Kawartha- so we are going to have to sacrifice our waistlines and eat more.   We then went about 12 miles to Percy Reach; we were joined in this lock by a bowrider with people from Calgary.  We continued on to Lock 9 Meyers and tied up. 

It was around 2:00, and a rain shower was imminent.  After the first shower, I went for a short walk to check out the Oasis cabins- which actually look like pods up in the trees. 

  There were two at this location.  I talked to a woman on Thursday morning who had stayed in one, and said that they creak and move a little when you are walking in them.  She also said that they cost $140/night.  For a washroom and shower they have to walk up to the lock house.  They now have Oasis cabins at locks 8, 9 and 10. The modular showers are also available for use by boaters- so I tried one out in the morning. 

The lock house at this location is the same design as the ones in Batawa and Trent- so now we seen three of them.  Not quite as many flowers at this one as at Trent, but still very well maintained for being over a hundred years old.  There has not been much rain and the grass at most locks along the TSW is dry and brown.

We had several more rain showers in the afternoon and evening, accompanied by thunder and lightning. 

In the morning we left Meyers and travelled to Hague’s reach and were thru by 9:45. We then moved on to the double lock at Ranney falls and were through by 10:30.  We were tied up in Old Mill Park at 10:50.  We had gone a total of 4.6 miles.  Our friends from Compromise arrived around 1:15, as they were coming all the way from Frankford. Shortly after 2:00 our friends Brian and Helen arrived.  With a car they took us to World’s Finest Chocolate ( where we bought this stash of chocolate treats),

the Beer store, V&S and Sharpe’s grocery store. Saved us having to lug bags around town.  We went for an early supper to 52 North pub and grill.  Helen and Brian left shortly after for the drive home to Bancroft.  We sat at the picnic table until dark visiting with Rick and Linda. We saw several first responders at the dock across the canal around 9:00- not sure what was going on.

In the morning after several of the boats, including Compromise left before 9:00 to make the first lock.  We moved our boat on the wall so it would be closer to fill up our water tank. 

We learned that there was an issue in one of the locks and Compromise’s trip to Frankford had been delayed because of weeds at Percy’s Reach, but they were able to reach Frankford and claim the willow tree again.

We did some more shopping, going to Dooher’s Bakery, Dollarama and No Frills.  I walked over to the laundry mat and washed a couple loads of clothes.  Once the clothes were drying, I went to D’s island shack for an extra spicy chicken roti. On my return to the boat, we caught up on a few episodes of Coronation street. Starting around 4:00 the wind started to pick up and then we had a rain shower.

So far we have stayed at 3 locks on the TSW that we had never stayed at before, and I was able to remove them from my list.

Back at home, we got an update on the progress of our new apartment building, the builders are now starting on the third floor where are apartment is to be.

We will be leaving Campbellford in the morning, likely going as far as Hastings. We hope to be back in Buckhorn by the middle of next week, as we are having a few minor fixes done to the boat before moving farther northwest on the TSW.

Short visit to the Thousand Islands

Leave a reply

We fired up the engines at 6:30 and pulled out of the marina, so that we were in line for the 7 am opening.   We proceeded past Cedar island and down the Bateau channel towards Ivy Lea.  We arrived at the restaurant dock and gave Karl a call.  He arrived on the boat around 11:00.  He rechecked the generator connection that he had done in Ottawa, he also reviewed the electrical diagram that Andy had sketched out for the boat.  We wanted Karl to disconnect the water heater, battery charger and refrigerator from the inverter loop.  Karl also gave us some advice on Andy’s plan for additional solar and the possibility of changing from lead acid batteries to lithium ion.   He also looked at our VHF radio, as Andy has been having issues with it recently. We ordered Pizza from the restaurant for lunch, we looked around for our Wayne and Roxanne’s boat- but didn’t see it in any of the slips.  Karl was finished by 3:00 and then we were off to look for a parks dock to tie up at.  We lucked out and found a spot at 3:40 on Georgina island with a couple other boats- Alabar and Betty on the main dock.

  We soon found out that Alan and Barbara knew several other boaters that we had met over the past few years- small world!  The L- dock on Georgina and the back dock was full, mainly Quebecers.   There were 5 or 6 boats anchored and rafting behind the island as well.

On Saturday morning, Andy made scones, cooking them on the BBQ.  Later in the morning we had front row seating for the Poker derby race by the noisy high-performance boats.  With the great view we also were the recipients of the wakes from these boats, and all other boats passing in front of Georgina. 

The poker run ran from Kingston to Prescott and back, so we had high traffic again around 2:30.  In the evening the boat traffic diminished.  On Sunday morning, we moved to Hill Island and found a spot at the end of the dock.  This island dock was also full of Quebec boats.  We turned on our generator to re-charge our batteries for about 45 minutes, and I got rid of garbage and re-cycling.  In the thousand islands there are only 4 designated islands that allow generators and have other amenities.

We were in contact with Scott and Megan from the sailboat Betty.  They had wanted to come to Hill, we had arranged that once they got near, we would vacate our spot, so they could have it, as they had an 18-month-old son that needed to be off the boat in order to stay occupied.  When they were within 10 minutes of the dock, we pulled out.   There was another cruiser that raced them to the spot but Betty prevailed and was able to tie up.  We proceeded westward.  We cruised by Mulcaster island and there were no spots.  We continued on to Gordon island, and tied up on the outside dock at 1:30, as there were a couple run-about type boats on the inside. The wind was starting to blow, and rain was predicted for Monday.  When the second run-about was ready to leave, they assisted in moving to the inside.  Andy let out the anchor, and we attached it to the inside dock cleat.  Andy had also rigged up a rope from our port stern line so that as he backed up and let out more chain that ran along the dock, I could tie the port side line and pull it in as he moved forward.  This intricate maneuver worked and we were soon tied up on the inside of the dock.   We were joined on the dock by a houseboat rental a little later.    It was a hot day; I went into the water multiple times to cool down. The winds had died down a little in the morning, and the rain had not begun, so we decided to move a little more east.  We left Gordon and proceeded towards the group of Admiralty islands near Gananoque.  We lucked out when we were near McDonald island, a boat was just leaving one of the slips, so we pulled in at 9:15 and tied up. 

We had gone about 6 miles. 

 The boat next to us was Elysium, who hail from Crates in Belleville.  We had seen their Bay liner there on our last visit.  We also met up with Splash landing which we had seen several times on the Rideau. Andy contacted Just Wright and told them that there was space at McDonald, they arrived in the early afternoon.

 We had drinks with them, and caught up on where they had been and what Perth was like.  The wind increased as the day progressed, we were glad to be tied up. 

On Tuesday morning, we went over to say our goodbyes to Just Wright and learned that they had a visitor during the night- a raccoon.  It had dug up one of their plants. 

We decided to leave around 9:15 headed for Cedar island.  When we were about an hour into our trip, we heard back from Prinyer’s cove, and they had a spot for the night so we continued on.  We arrived at Prinyer’s at about 1:30, having gone almost 40 miles from McDonald.  

  I did a couple of loads of laundry. In the evening we were included in the burger night that is held every Tuesday during the summer.  We met a lot of the neighbors from around the marina as well as other boaters.

On Wednesday morning, Andy learned that our doctor had passed away about 6 weeks ago.  Andy had been trying to call his office for the past few weeks trying to make an appt for October.  We called our neighbor from Winnipeg, to find out where his doctor was.  We called Lakewood medical centre and filled in new patient registration forms.   Just before 11:00 we left the marina and proceeded westward 18 miles to Hay bay.  We anchored behind Ram Island in 15 feet of water around 1:00. 

Andy tried some fishing, and I relaxed and read a book.  None of the fish were interested in what the old guy was offering, so we settled on BBQ steak for supper.  We were joined by two other boats at the anchorage before nightfall.

On Thursday morning, we weighed anchor at 8:35 and proceeded out of Hay Bay and entered the main channel headed for Deseronto.  Our depth instrument was acting erratic showing negative depths when we were in 30 feet of water, this problem continued for more than an hour.  We arrived at Crates Marina in Belleville at 11:45 and went directly to the gas dock for a pump out, fuel and our slip assignment.  We were tied up by 12:15.    We had lunch, and then Andy called his friend Enno to see if he could take us for some groceries and to refill one of our propane tanks.   Enno came around 2:00 and took us around Belleville to complete our tasks.  We stopped at Tim Horton’s for coffee as well.  We were back on the boat by 4:00.  I went and put in a load of laundry, and Andy looked at some of our Garmin components.  It seems like our VHF radio only transmits on channel 16 and 68. We also have a fuel leak on the starboard engine, and the people at Crates were too busy to look at it. Will have to try somewhere else on the TSW for this issue.   We caught up on some missed episodes of Coronation Street and then Andy watched the highlights of the Blue bomber game against Montreal. This morning we will be heading back towards the TSW.