Saw this t-shirt advertised on-line-it will be my quest to find one…

On Friday morning, Pat joined us at the marina around 8:15, he was going to help us get through the lock.  He had also brought back the laundry which Marcia had graciously done for me.    Andy called the Canadian lock, to request a lock through.  The Canadian lock typically takes the pleasure craft as freighters are too long for this lock, lock hours are 9-9.

We passed by Roberta Bondar marina, and there were several boats tied up at the gas dock,

becbeause of high water their other docks have not been put in as yet. We reached the lock

and waited a few minutes, before getting the green light, and the lock doors opened.

Pat and I tied off while Andy shut down the engines, the lift was about 20 feet,

we were out of the lock by 9:40.  Once through, we pulled over to the port side, the lockmaster had told us that Pat couldn’t get off while we were in lock, as there was no proof where he had go on our boat.  As we were moving to the port wall, he called us over the radio to scold us but it was too late Pat was already on land.

We continued up the St. Mary’s river to Whitefish Bay. 

There was no freighter traffic and it was an hour or more before we saw a freighter coming towards us- American integrity- an oxymoron?

We continued for several hours and the wind increased and the waves became more than a ½ meter,

we also almost lost our gold burgee, as one of the tie-wraps broke.    We decided to stop in Pancake bay, and were anchored there by about 3:00 on a Sandy beach in about 15 feet of water.

We could see people walking on the beach, and even saw a couple people go in for a very short swim.  The wind subsided and it was a peaceful night there was a cell phone tower near the boat, so we had good reception.  There was also some traffic noise as we were close to the highway.

We left Pancake Bay at 6:00,

there were some swells initially, but it settled down as the day progressed.  At about 6:20,  Andy noticed a flag at one end of a fish net—we weren’t expecting nets in Lake Superior, but had previous experience with nets in Lake Winnipeg.  By the time we realized where the other end flag was- we had already crossed the net.  It must have been weighed down, as it hadn’t moved, and thankfully hadn’t attached itself to our prop.

After this we kept an eye out for nets- but didn’t see another one in our path.  We continued along the shore where it was quite calm.   We checked out a number of anchorages; Sinclair Cove- it was suppose to have pictographs- but I didn’t know what I was looking for

so just took some pictures of the rocks.

Beauty cove, as potential stops for our return trip.

Near the Lizzard Islands, I took a picture of the Trans Canada highway that was near the shore, on a hill.

That evening Andy’s brother had texted us that he thought he had seen a  boat on the lake at some point during the day—I would suspect it was us, as we hadn’t seen anyone else on the lake- except for a couple of small fishing boats.

At noon we passed by Indian Harbour, near Cape Gargantua, which could be another potential anchorage.  By 1:30 we had passed Old woman’s bay and were headed for Brule Harbour.  We were anchored using both a bow and stern anchor by 2:00.    We had covered about 74 miles, but had great weather.  In the afternoon we sanded and stained parts of the hand rail surrounding the boat.

On Sunday morning at 5:30, we left the anchorage and proceeded west- north of Michipicoten island.   The water was relatively calm near the shore, as the island was protecting us from the waves.

Once past the island   the waves started building, but we going in our direction of travel, so actually increasing our speed to 10.7 mph. The marine weather network, was forecasting an easterly wind and rain showers later in the day and continuing on Monday.  We decided to   stop in the well protected anchorage called Otter head cove.   We arrived at Otter head Island and followed the channel about a mile back into a secluded cove with 20 plus feet of water.  We were anchored there by 11:30.

One down-fall from this location is that because we are surrounded by hills- our VHF radio has no reception, likewise no cell towers- so we couldn’t get updated weather information.  This is one of the reasons we bought the in-reach- so that we could communicate via satellite where we are.   We relaxed in the afternoon, and both tried some fishing- but not even a bite.   We were entertained in the evening by a moose and calf that had come down to the water to eat, drink and play.   We watched them for almost 2 hours.

The last weather broadcast that we heard forecast winds on Monday at 20 knots ~40 km/hr, so we had decided that we were going to stay in Otter cove until Tuesday morning.   As the winds starting gusting in mid-morning, we moved the boat farther into the cove for more protection.   Andy made scones for breakfast, and I began the task of figuring out how to hang the salon curtains which I had made over the winter.  It took several attempts and 4 hours before I was satisfied with the way they looked.

We had several short rain showers in the morning, but after lunch, the rain fell continually.  The wind settled down a little but continued to blow, causing us to swing.

Tuesday morning we got up at our usual 5:00 a.m., it was drizzling and there was a heavy fog.  The fog had lifted a little by 8:30 and we started the engines to warm them up. I saw another moose feeding at the end of the bay in the rain

as I was lifting the anchor, he just watched.  We left Otter cove and went by Otter Island, once we were outside of the island, waves and swells began hitting the boat. We went down the shoreline for a couple of hours and then pulled into the east bay in Simon harbour.   We were anchored by 10:35, and had gone approximately 15 miles.

The  boat and it’s occupants were being banged around too much.   We kept watching down the bay but saw waves crashing against the rocks all afternoon and evening.  We set a second anchor later in the afternoon as we were swinging around a fair bit.  Later in the evening Andy saw a beaver near the boat.

Wednesday morning, we got up at 5:30 and had the engines on by 5:40.  We started out of the harbour and once again were being hit by swells on our beam.  Not pleasant.

It was about  40 miles to Marathon,  the captain took it slow and tacked  out into the lake and then rode the waves.  Although this produced a somewhat smoother ride, the admiral’s stomach did a few flips and her coffee came up.  I was then not very useful, as I could only sit still—very few pictures were taken during this time.   As we proceeded up the shore, we ran into several fog banks, which completely obscured the shore.  Everything was grey- the water, the shore, the sky—typical Ontario weather in 2019.  There is a tie up pylon – out there in the fog and Marathon marina is found behind it- can you see it?

This is what it looks like from shore without the fog.

We arrived at the Marathon docks at 9:53, Jerry Ferguson was there to help us tie up.  A lovely facility- brand new dock, with the Peninsula,  a great lakes tug, which in it’s heyday hauled pulp logs into Marathon.

Someone doing restoration on the Peninsula, stopped by our boat and will give us a tour later in the week.  In the afternoon, Elaine came and picked us up and  went to Ann and Mitch’s place so I could do laundry, and ordered pizza. In the evening, as part of the Marathon 75^th anniversary, we went to the moose hall, for “open mike”, the entertainers- a bunch of locals, sang a lot of older songs that were well know. Andy and Elaine, visited with many of the people that they knew growing up- between the bands sets.

One of the songs they sang was:

The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called ‘gitche gumee’
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy…..

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
In the rooms of her ice-water mansion
Old Michigan steams like a young man’s dreams
The islands and bays are for sportsmen
And farther below, Lake Ontario
Takes in what Lake Erie can send her
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
With the gales of November remembered

Everyone in the hall knew the words and sang along to this one.

It was great to be on solid ground, and the rolling seas from the last few days forgotten.There was a thunderstorm and rain when we returned to the boat, and the sun was just going down.

Hope we don’t get the gale force winds as we exit ‘gitche gumee’, after the weekend is over.

Gene replaced the other 6 batteries and we were on our way from Victoria Harbour by 11:00.  I had walked up to Foodland and bought a few groceries while he was on-board making the exchange and attending to some of the other instrument issues.  We travelled up the west shore of Beausoleil Island and joined one of the small craft channels.  We went through the canoe channel around 4:00 and continued on to Snug Harbour.

We anchored for the night in Regatta Bay around 7:00, there was one other boat in this bay.

On Monday we left shortly after 7:00 and passed Port au Baril, and then traveled through the hangdogs-  with the extra water and calm seas they didn’t look as ominous as  the other times when we had passed through them.

By about 10:30, I started seeing some wind turbines in the distance.  I didn’t remember them from our last visit to Georgian Bay in 2017.

By 11:00 we entered the channel leading into Byng inlet.   We topped up our diesel, I did laundry and then we went out to ice cream on the rocks for you guessed it– Kawartha ice cream.  We visited with Brook and Adrian who we had met in 2017, we also met Sylvie, from Lil-hideaway,a  Gold loopers that we had met in 2018 in Campbellford.  I took the hose out and washed down the boat and anchor, which still was covered in mud from our previous night’s anchoring.

We left the next morning at 6:15, it was another nice day,  we traveled though the protected channels, which is where the wind turbines are located.  We were told that the installation of the wind turbines somehow caused one of the forest fires last summer, so they are not yet operational.

We continued  through the channels  until we reached the Bustards around 9:00 and then we went past a lighthouse and out into open water past Killarney.

At 1:20 the lighthouse at Little Current came into view.

We waited until 2:00 for the swing bridge opening.

  We were parked  at the port of little current dock by 2:20.

The dockmaster, told us about another looper that had docked earlier—Sum Escape- Tom and Julie Van Hall—Andy had first met them in the fall of 2015 in Illinois, but we had crossed there path several times since.   After a stop at the LCBO and Turners for a couple more charts, we met Julie and Tom for docktails and a good catch-up.  Andy and I went to the Anchor inn for supper.

We left  Little Current at 7:00, it was overcast and felt like rain, sure enough in about 15 minutes we had a short shower.    We passed the Croker islands and the Benjamins,  the extend of where we had gone in 2017.   We continued on to areas that I had not seen before however the water looked the same, just some new  rocks and islands.   We passed through the Detroit cut

and continued on to the whale back channel. The water was extremely calm with little wind.  We had originally planned to only go as far as Blind River, but had called ahead to Thessalon, and found that there was space available there, but we needed to be there by 3:30 in order to pay and get dock assistance.

We arrived at 3:20- cutting it close.  After tying up, we walked into town in search of a hardware store and a postcard to send to my Mom.    While walking down the street to see if the bakery was open I saw this very ornate bench, carved as fish ends.

That evening we were entertained by the town’s fire pumper truck coming to the marina, three times to fill up from the lake.

We left Thessalon at 7 am, we passed Bruce mines and entered the St. Joseph channel passing this lighthouse shortly after 9 am. 

Saw this second lighthouse a little later.

I saw our first freighter in the other channel going towards the Soo  around 10.

We started passing in and out of the United States as we progressed up the channel, many American cottages on our port side flew the US flag.

We got to Lake George which was a very skinny channel at the south end with less than 10 feet of water in places. The North side of the lake was much deeper. 

We arrived at the Bellevue marina around 2:00,

and topped up our diesel and water- as both are not easy to get on Lake Superior.   Pat and Marcia came to the marina after 4 and took us to Wacky wings for supper and then a grocery store and finally a little tour of the Soo.  Pat is going to jump on board and help us through the Canadian lock tomorrow morning. and Marcia offered to do a load of laundry for me tonight.

We’ve  come almost 450 miles since leaving Buckhorn , it’s hard to believe we crossed Georgian Bay  and the North Channel in 5 days.    We will have more time  to explore on our way back after the gathering in  Marathon.

I’ve been off work for 2 weeks now, and am  finally starting to relax.  This will be our last night at a marina- as they don’t exist  where we are headed.  Marathon has a dock that we can tie up to so no anchoring while we are there, but we will be putting  our anchoring skills to the test before that .     The adventure will continue tomorrow morning  as we enter into Lake Superior– I’m really hoping for some heat and no wind for the next few weeks.

We got the OK from the doctor, and left from work on Wednesday as planned and made it to Fort Frances.  We spent Thursday night in Sault St. Marie and connected up with Pat and Marcia Gillespie, who will take us to re-provision once we get there and assist us with the Sault Lock, which we checked out that evening after crossing the border.

We arrived in Buckhorn around 2 pm Friday, and our boat had already been launched.  The electronics technician was still working the upgrades, and said it would be a couple more days before he was finished.

After having Kawartha ice cream,we drove up to Bancroft and spent the night with Brian and Helen.  On Saturday we did some  grocery shopping for the trip and drove back to Buckhorn filled the fridge and I unloaded the car.  We drove back to Bancroft for the night. On Sunday morning we met Brian and Muriel for breakfast before returning to Buckhorn again.  There was still a lot to be done and Gene, said he would return Monday morning. Monday was a dreary day-  We took the boat out for a short trip which involved driving around in circles  to calibrate some of the instruments.  While doing some testing in the morning Gene determined that some of our batteries were defective, so we decided to change out 6 of the 12 batteries for new ones.  While looking through some old boat bills, I ascertained that the batteries were likely 9 years old, and had surpassed their life expectancy.  The batteries arrives at 2pm from Peterborough and were in the boat and hooked up by 4.

Gene left in the early afternoon after hooking up the radar, anchor light and putting the new screens in place in the lower helm.

Brian and Helen had arrived in the early afternoon and we went for lunch, Helen then returned to Bancroft, leaving Brian to be an extra set of hands to get us through the locks.

On Tuesday morning, we moved over to the fuel dock and filled up the tanks with diesel.   We then set off – headed for the lock in Bobcaygeon, we wanted to be there for the 10 am opening.  We were out of this lock by 10:17, and continued through Fenlon Falls and Rosedale.  On Balsam lake- the highest point on the Trent Severn,  we were met by the familiar boat of Glen Cavers, our boating  friend from our 2017 travels in Georgian Bay.

He drove past, reminding us that we were coming to his place for supper that night.  After the Kirkfield lift lock, we were told by the lock staff that we likely had enough time to do one more lock.  We passed through  Canal lake, which was a little choppy

and the hole in the wall bridge.

We made it though the Bolsover lock and tied up below on the blue line by 3:50.  A five lock day.  Glen came by at 4:30- to check out the electronics and take us back to their place on Balsam lake for supper.  Julie had made a wonderful meal, and share some olives, Ouzo and lemoncello, that she had recently brought back from Greece.  What a treat.

She also had numerous Kawartha Ice cream flavours and cherry pie for dessert.  Were we ever spoiled.

After dinner we went down to her studio to see her latest art projects, pictures made with silk and different wool, she had self-taught herself by watching you–tube videos. Such talent!!

Not to be out done, Glenn showed us his latest project- a harmonograph, he said he had made one when he was in high school, and this was his latest attempt.

I have a signed copy of the output—each one is unique.

I remember a spirograph that I had in the early 70’s that could create something similar- but not nearly as sophisticated.  An amazing night- I can hardly wait to be retired, so I can learn all kinds of new stuff.  Glen took us back to the boat by 11:00.

On Wednesday,we  left Bolsover, and headed for Talbot, Portage, Thorah and Gamesbridge, these 4 locks are in within 2.5 miles, so very close together.  One lock crew operated 2 of the locks, so had to drive to the next one, once they had closed the gates.  Many of these locks were having upgrades and construction work was going on around them.

  We reached Lake Simcoe at 11:45 and started the 15 mile trek across it followed by the 10 miles along Lake Couchiching.  We arrived at the railway swing bridge shortly after 2:00, a train was crossing it, so we had to wait for it to pass

before the bridge tender could swing the bridge open for us.  We reached Couchiching by 3:00 and tied up.  This was the nicest  weather day of our trip so far.   Andy was having a few electronics issues so was in constant contact with Gene, to figure out the solution.  That evening we watched some workmen taking core samples from inside the couchiching lock.

On Thursday, we locked through Couchiching at 10:00 and continued on down the Trent.  The hamlet swing bridge was under construction, so didn’t have to stop for it.

Going across one of the lakes Brian pointed out a tree on the shore, that actually wasn’t a tree- it was actually a cell phone tower—Only in the Muskoka’s and Algonquin park would they disguise a cell tower to look like a tree.

We got to Swift Rapids by a little after 11:00 and the lock gates were open for us.  We continued on to the big chute marine railway and arrived there by 1:00.  Helen was meeting us there so that she could share in the big chute experience and retrieve her husband.  We were out of the Chute by 1:50, and said goodbye to Brian.

We continued on and arrived at Port Severn at 3:00, We were out into Georgian Bay by 3:15, and headed for Beausolei Island at Cedar Spring, where we had stayed several times in the past.  Unknown to us, because of high water- the docks were unavailable and likely closed for the season.

So we anchored out near this location. Overnight  a storm blew through, making us very uncomfortable.  At 5:30 am we headed north to find shelter in Ojibway Bay, where there was dock space available.

Once again we were having power issues and got a low battery warning on the Radar and GPS. Andy was in touch with Gene, and we ran the generator for several hours.  We decided that we likely had to change out the other 6 house batteries, so Gene was going to order them and meet us at a marina on Sunday to change them out and address some of our other isssues. The winds continued for most of the day, but died down mid-afternoon, and we met our dock mates for drinks. Early Saturday morning the rain started and continued for most of the day.  Andy helped me finish putting up the curtains in the master stateroom.   A break in the rain and wind, allowed us to leave Ojibway bay and make our way to Victoria Harbour, arriving at 6:30. It looked like  a storm had  just blown through.  The plan is for Gene to come here tomorrow morning at 8:00 and solve some, if not all of our electrical issues, so that our trip can continue.

I had a busy fall, we had added a couple of additional tests to the Harvest sample program, so a dozen more technicians were required to do the added work.  I spent a lot of my time interviewing and filling out paperwork to make this happen.  In the end we test 8800 samples in a 4 month period- crazy days- I worked 10-12 hour days for most of it.  The good thing was that I accumulated almost 27 extra days of vacation. So the plan is to use them in June and July for a trip to Lake Superior “On Business”.  One of the reason’s for this destination is that Marathon, on the north shore, where Andy grew up is having their 75^th anniversary of the town, and Andy wants to go by boat.

Andy has been prepping for this trip since Christmas, as he got the Bonnie Dahl book: Superior  Way in his stocking.

He also order a chart book and individual charts for the north shore of the Lake,  and had marked them up with the best places to anchor or hide from a storm.  Santa also brought us “marriage saver” blue-tooth headsets – which should cut down on the need to yell at each other while on the boat.  The shoreline  is very remote, and not a lot of pleasure craft or marinas are available on the route that we will be taking.  Andy contacted a couple of boaters from “Last Dance” , members of  AGLCA  that had been on Lake Superior in the summer of 2017 for some advice, and received some very useful information. Since cellphone coverage and internet is likely going to be unreliable, I bought Andy an InReach Mini for his birthday—it is a satellite communicator, that we can send out  text messages, track  our course as well as sending SOS  messages to the proper authorities if we get into trouble.   You can follow our progress on Mapshare using this link: https://us0-share.inreach.garmin.com/BYK46   and password: T&A2019

Andy had a fair bit of time to do research this winter as he was in recovering from hernia surgery in January.  He had been suffering since the previous April, so the surgery was long overdue.

We had made the decision to upgrade all the navigational electronics in the boat. So all new Garmin- plotters, screens, sonar, radar, autopilot and radios for both helms are to be installed.

I did my part for the upcoming trip by sewing new curtains for the salon and master berth- I’m hoping the measurements that I took last summer were correct, or I’ll be piecing them together with pins.

Andy drove to Ontario with a load of stuff for the boat during the second week of May to meet with the electronics guy, and confirm what we wanted replaced.

The long weekend in May we drove the 500 Km up to Swan River to visit my family.  It was also the occasion of my mother’s 89^th birthday.  On the Sunday afternoon, we took a short trek into Saskatchewan to check out the garter snake pit near Fort Livingstone.

– It was a family affair, my Mom and both my sisters went, we tool 3 cars and a dozen people including all 5 of my great nieces and nephew.  Everyone touched the snakes

—they were everywhere slithering through the grass.

We went back to Swan River, had dinner at a restaurant and then went back to my sister’s for Birthday cake.

The  birthday girl!

We returned to Winnipeg on Monday.  I planted the garden a week ago with tomatoes  that I had seeded indoors in late March, and had transplanted them a couple times into larger pots.  I knew I had a lot, but when I finished planting them, I counted 29.  If we have a bumper crop- I’ll have plenty to give away this fall.

So that leaves 3 more sleeps in Winnipeg, until we leave.  We plan to be all packed up Tuesday night, and Andy will come pick me up from work on Wednesday and we’ll travel  as far as Fort Frances for the night at Andy’s sisters’.

We do have one circumstance   that could hamper our plan.  Andy has an appointment with his hernia surgeon on Wednesday morning to discuss the next surgery.  The January surgery didn’t go as well as it should have, so Andy will be having hernia surgery #3 sometime soon.  It will be the doctor that decides whether this trip happens.

If we get the green light the plan is call Buckhorn to splash the boat on June 6^th.  We will spend June 6^th in Sault Ste. Marie and arrive in Buckhorn late on June 7^th.  Once unpacking, provisioning and getting acquainted with the new electronics is complete, we will start through locks on the Trent Severn,  cross Georgian Bay and the North Channel with the goal of being as far as Marathon by June 23^rd.

On August 3^rd, Andy picked me up from work at 2, and we were on the road again- destined for the McMorland Family Reunion in B.C.  The reunion happens every 3-4 years and gathers the McMorland clan.  The last reunion was held in 2014 on Vancouver Island- this time we were going to Whatshan Lake in the Kootenay Mountains of British Columbia.  The first night we got as far as Regina, about a 6 hour trip, and a one hour time change.  Andy’s sister Elaine and brother-in-law Dave met us there.  They were driving from Ontario.  After breakfast, we travelled to Moose Jaw and did the tunnel tours Passage to Fortune (depicting the treatment of Chinese immigrants in the early 1900’s) and Chicago connection (showing Al Capone’s bootlegging activities during prohibition).    Both tours/reenactments were very well done, we were done by about 12:30, and then it was back in the car for another 6 hours of driving.  I took pictures of the fields and elevators that we passed by.

We reached Strathmore Alberta by 7 pm.  We were meeting one of Andy’s cousin’s here, who wasn’t coming to the reunion, but wanted the McMorland cook book she had ordered.

On Sunday morning, after breakfast, we were back in car and heading west.  We went through Calgary, and then were into the Rocky Mountains.

We travelled through Banff, Yoho, Glacier and Mount Revelstoke national Parks.  There was a fair bit of traffic, cars, trucks pulling campers and motorcycles on the road, as it was a long-weekend.

Once we reached Revelstoke, we started travelling south between the Selkirk and Monashee mountain ranges.  About 50 Km out of Revelstoke, we encountered the Shelter Bay ferry, that took us across upper arrow lake.  Here’s our car cruising on  the ferry.

  Another 50 Km, and we arrived in Nakusp, where we had a reservation for the night.  In the morning I walked along the lake, learning about the history of the town, and came across these lovely gardens.

After lunch we were back on the road travelling about 60 Km to Fauquier.  We needed to stop at the golf course, to confirm our booking for the family golf tournament on Wednesday which Andy was organizing. 

The 8th hole runs along the road where traffic waits for the ferry- I  saw this sign posted  there….

Once we were done, we got in line for the Needles ferry to take us across the lower Arrow Lake.    Since it was Monday of a long week-end, we waited for 2 ½ hours and 5 crossings before we made it on the ferry.  The capacity was only about 30 vehicles and if trailers were being pulled, this reduced the number of vehicles per passage.

We ended up being the first car on the 5^th crossing- we easily  found the gravel road off the highway and made it to Whatshan Lake by 3pm.  Families were just starting to arrive.

The 204 acres facility called Whatshan Lake retreat is operated by the Doukhobor Heritage retreat society to have the beauty of the land preserved in perpetuity and be a place where people can gather in peace and harmony.  The place has a full kitchen and dining room as well as an outdoor stage.  It has 5 cabins that sleep 10 people in bunk beds, and 3 cabins with 8 bunks, as well as a kitchenette. There were also 38 campsites with water and power and another 150 un-serviced sites.  We had opted for one of the kitchenette cabins- Chip Monk 6 that we were sharing with Elaine, Dave and their daughter Caitlin, who had flown in from Guelph.

Andy’s daughter Erin, Jason and Jack along with her brother Graham were nearby in the camping area in their tent trailer.

Once most of the family had arrived, there were about 65 people in attendance. There was happy hour, and the working teams were named and their tasks were assigned for the week. (My group had to clean up after breakfast on Tuesday and was responsible for preparing lunch on Thursday.)  Following  Monday dinner, we were asked to sign up for either the intelligent team or super hero team.  We later learned, on Tuesday, that we had signed up either for the Irish or Scottish team, and that all the activities during the week would be tabulated for a trophy to be presented on Thursday night.

After meals, there were activities that could be participated in, like crib, board games, poker etc, or people could go from site to site to visit with family members.  There was also a hockey game, baseball, bean bag toss and swimming to keep people occupied.Everyone participated or cheered on the group.  On Tuesday afternoon, my friend Colleen, came for a visit.  we had brought a couple of things that I had been storing for her in my shed, since she had moved away from Winnipeg.

We also had the fun-facts quiz, where each family member had submitted a fact, and other members had to figure out which of the 65 people present belonged to that secret fact.   Not an easy feat—an example of one fun-fact was “I had shot my mother”.  Our team wasn’t able to make all the matches. On Wednesday morning, a golf tournament was planned in Fauquier and there were 6 mixed teams with 5 family members on each.  Team left early for the ferry, as no one was sure what the traffic might be like.  Lunch was barbecued burgers right at the golf course.     That afternoon I went for a swim in the lake, as the temperature was approaching into the high 30’s.   Golf prizes were given out at dinner.  Here’s a picture of the top team.

That evening was also the family bid auction, silent auction and 50-50 draw. Each family was asked to bring something for the auction; the money raised went towards defraying costs of the reunion.  Our contribution was a family tree pillow featuring the original 11 McMorland siblings.

 Other bid auction prizes included some quilts, glass dogs that had once belonged to Jemima, a picture frame with gift cards, taste of Manitoba basket and several crocheted items.

Another project to raise money was the family cookbook which I had put together along with family trees; I ended up selling 70 copies, which had a $300 profit for the reunion

On Thursday, it was again a hot day, with lots of smoke in the air from the forest fires burning across British Columbia.  As lunch was one of my group duties we were busy part of the morning preparing for lunch.  In the afternoon, we visited with other family members around the campsite and started packing the car. Dinner was slated for 6:30, and family pictures along with a group picture were scheduled to be taken at 6:15.  Here’s the McKendrys

and the whole McMorland clan  in attendance.

Dinner was  BBQ  roast beef  with potatoes and Caesar salad- a wonderful meal.  It was announced by Matt that the Irish were the winners of all the competitive games.

On Friday morning after a breakfast of leftover, we started saying our goodbyes, and left at about 8:30, we wanted to make the 8:45 ferry across to Fauquier.  We retraced our incoming drive, going north the Revelstoke and then turning east towards Alberta- it was hot and smoky- the temperature in Calgary that day was over 40 C.

We made it as far as Strathmore and spent the night.  In the morning we travelled just over an hour  north to Drumheller and the badlands in order  to visit  the Royal Tyrrell  museum.

Here’s Andy trying to pet his new friend…

We spent almost 3 hours there touring the different displays.  Leaving  we headed  South again to connect up with the Trans-Canada Highway and then East, I saw several combines in the field harvesting, giving me an indication that I would be busy with samples once I returned to work.  We made it as far as Moose Jaw and spent the night; temperature  were well into the 40’s as well.  On Sunday morning after breakfast we continued eastward to Winnipeg, arriving home around 4:00.  Then there was the job of unpacking and laundry.  I had taken Monday off, so didn’t have to return to work until Tuesday.  A great vacation!   The next reunion is slated for 2022, and will be held in Manitoba, so less travelling for us.

The smoke from the fires in B.C. have reached us in Winnipeg, and we haven’t seen much  blue sky for almost a week.

July 7-14

We left Buckhorn around 7:00, and traveled North and West. Here’s our route and distance home.  We were talking with Herb Seaton earlier in the week, and said it was almost the same distance for us to go home as it is to go to Florida.

We stopped for gas in North Bay around 10:30, and  arrived in Sudbury just before noon.  We found cousin Betty’s building and had a look around, we then went to  Tony V’s pizza place for lunch.  Here’s a picture of Betty and I in front of her building. 

Then it was back on the road,  we checked into a hotel in Sault Ste. Marie  just after 5:00.

In the morning we left at 6:30 and made our way to the International bridge. There were a few boats in the harbour waiting for the locks.

We didn’t have to wait long at the border.

We were following the Lake Superior Circle tour route under Lake Superior.

We went through Munising which is famous for the pictured  rocks.  

We continued on through Marquette, where the Lake was very calm.

By  2:00 we were in Superior Wisconsin,  I saw boats in this marina,

and also the SS Meteor, a whaleback ship on display.

The Captain continued to drive westward, having traveled through Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, the traffic was busy at times.

We reached our port of Entry into Canada: Sprague at 6:47,  we had been in the USA for just a little over 12 hours. 

We arrived home at 8:30 E.S.T,  which was actually 7:30  C.S.T.    After unpacking I went to my garden, and saw that it was a jungle overgrown with weeds.    I spent a good portion of Monday, pulling the weeds and leaving the vegetables, and it now looks like this.

It seems like the bunnies enjoyed my carrots and beets, squash as there are very few of them left in the garden,  most everything else survived.

I went to work Tuesday thru Friday, and it was tough, after being away over 5 weeks.  Lots going on at work, and we got our first  17 harvest samples from Ontario on July 12th, which is the earliest we’ve ever received wheat.  So the madness at work begins!!

The weather has been very hot, with heat warnings most of the week.  I had a dental consult appointment regarding my root canal that wasn’t finished before holidays because of the crack.  The dentist is going to continue with the root canal therapy in the upcoming week. I also reviewed the 2^nd proof of the cookbook that I was working on in May,  it will be printed later this month so it’s ready for the family reunion in August.  Here’s the link to the cookbook cover  V4137cover.

I brought home some of the curtain panels from On Business, and hope to sew new curtains over the next few months.  Andy will likely travel back to Buckhorn sometime  later this summer or in the  fall to talk to the technician about some new electronics, as well a surveyor will be giving the boat a once over, as we need a new survey for our boat insurance.

Our 2018 boating season has ended, and so will my blogging for now.

July 2- 6

There were about 15 very large Looper boats tied up in Campbellford by nightfall on July 1^st, all wanting to go through lock 13 in the morning. Here is a picture of some of them on one side of the canal.

We left the dock at 7:30, hoping to be the first boat on the blue line, so that we would lock through first.  We were soon joined by several other boats, and by the time the lock opened at 9:00, there were about 9 boats waiting.  We did get through with 3 other boats, Voyager, Nellie May and Rpad after 9:30.  It seemed that the lockmaster was a little overwhelmed by all the; traffic that early in the morning.   We stayed in this grouping through locks 13,14,15,16 and 17.   I had one mishap in one of the locks and lost hold of my rope, so that the bow swung out.  Not a good thing.  Glen was able to keep hold of the stern, and with Andy’s help we were able to get a bow rope attached again.  Mishap number 2 for the day, while I was down in the galley making lunch, my boat hook went  for a swim when we hit a big wake, but I hadn’t noticed it missing until I needed it for Lock 18. We arrived at Hastings at 2:10, and because it was so hot opted to stay at Hastings Village Marina, so that we could plug in and get AC. As well a thunderstorm was in the forecast and we got thunder and rain around 5:00.   That evening we went out for supper to McGillcafey’s Pub with Glen and a couple of his friends, Rudy and Kay.  The food was good and so was the company.

We left Hastings just before 7: 00, as we had watched 2 of the larger boats leave a 6 and 6:20. We had about 40 miles to go, crossing Rice Lake  which was very calm, and then follow the Otonabee River

until the next lock.  We reached Scott Mills Lock 19, after 10:30 and then went through Lock 20.  We were out of the lift lock by 12:30;

we locked up with one small run- a-bout.  We got through Lock 22 by 1:30, and were through Lock 24 at 2:20.  Our guest on board, caught a few winks while he could, as handling the lines is more strenuous than driving the boat.  It was great having another pair on hands through the 30 locks!!

We had decided to stay a Douro for the night, as it had showers and a tiny library.  We celebrated out 8^th anniversary here, and had a nice dinner and wine.

On Wednesday morning we left Douro at 8:50, as we only had to go about a mile to Lock 25.  We continued on through Lakefield and then arrived at Young’s Point at about 11:00.  We stopped at the Young’s Point trading company for Kawartha ice cream—I was reminded by some friends that I hadn’t included our ice cream trips lately.  We did have Kawartha several times while in Trenton, because it was  conveniently sold right at the marina.  While at Young’s point we encountered Herb Seaton, who we had previously met in Tarpon springs where he is the harbour host for AGLCA.  We had also seen him last summer on the waterways near Swift Rapids.    He joined us for ice cream .

He is repeating the loop again this year in order to acquire a platinum burgee. We informed him that there were many loop boats behind us, so he followed us out of Young’s Point,

through Burleigh Falls, Lovesick and on to Buckhorn.    We met the Kawartha Voager, just after passing through Hell’s gate.

We got through Buckhorn lock shortly after 3:00, but there was currently only space on the wall for one boat, so we let Herb have it and we moved on to Buckhorn Yacht harbour.  Once we were tied up near the fuel dock, Andy and Glen went back into Buckhorn with our car to see if Herb needed anything.  The three of them later returned to  our boat for supper.  When we took Herb back to the lock we stopped by the Ice cream shop and had Kawartha ice cream again.  Twice in one day– We’re in heaven!!;;

On Thursday morning, Andy went and picked Herb up at the lock, as he wanted to talk to canvas people at Buckhorn Yacht Harbour about replacing some damaged canvas. Andy and Glen then drove to Trenton, so Glen could pick up his truck.  While they were gone, I cleaned the upper helm and pulled the canvas over it as a thunderstorm was predicted later in the day.  I also de-frosted the fridge, and started packing things for storage, as well as things we want to take back to Winnipeg.  With only having the one boat, we will be able to leave more things on the trawler.  Shortly after 1:30, Andy returned.  At about 3:00 we left for Bobcaygeon, as I wanted to do a couple of loads of laundry, so I could leave the bedding and towels on the boat, rather than taking these items home.  Herb came with us to Bobcaygeon.  They dropped me off at the laundry, and then Andy showed Herb where the Kawartha dairies was located  ( and had ice cream) as well as they visited Settler’s village.  They picked me up shortly before 5 and we drove back to Buckhorn,  when we dropped Herb off at the lock, I realized I didn’t have my purse—so we drove back the 24Km to Bobcaygeon, and lucky for me it was  on the bench where I had been sitting waiting.  We came back, dropped off the laundry and then went to Herb’s boat for docktails.  We were joined by loopers from Karen Ann and Coconuts.

Today, Friday, we will spend the day, doing more packing and cleaning.  Brian and Helen stopped by this morning for a short visit.  We plan to leave Buckhorn in the morning, have lunch in Sudbury with cousin Betty and then on to Sault Ste. Marie for the night.

June 29-July 1

On Friday we went to the Marina office in the morning and picked up our registration packages for the  AGLCA seminars. Shortly after the seminar started, to our surprise Roxanne and Wayne from Brockville walked into the room.  They had signed up for the seminars on Monday morning. Kim Russo, the director of the AGLCA chaired the seminars,

and made several presentations herself. The seminars covered the topics of Life of a lockmaster, an overview of the TSW, travelling in Georgian Bay, and finally a talk on how to sell your boat.  There were almost 100 current loopers in attendance.

That evening we went out for dinner with Roxanne and Wayne to Tomassos,

although we had only met them a week ago, it is amazing how well we get along, especially Wayne and Andy.  They are in the process of looking for a boat, and hope to loop in the next year or two.  Who knows maybe we’ll end up seeing them when we loop again in 2020. Being this close to the Trenton base, we had planes flying over the marina quite frequently.

On Saturday morning, we were awoken at 5:15, by a thunderstorm, Andy rushed out of bed when he heard the wind coming up, as we had left the chairs out on the back deck, after last night’s nightcap with Wayne and Roxanne.

On Saturday, the seminar was more geared to people planning to loop, and there were 80 people in attendance.  The topics included an over view of the entire loop, how to buy a looper boat, special information for Canadians,  a talk about Marine electronics, and 4 gold loopers talked about their individual trips and the associated costs.  Andy and I spoke about our trip just before lunch.

The presentation went OK, however I was having issues with the computer remote- it was advancing slides  without me touching the forward button. I spoke first, and then Andy spoke at the end about our costs, and myths.  In the afternoon Nancy and James and their children from living life, spoke about their loop.

We  had met them before they had started in 2016 and then again last summer.  It was great to see them again.  After the session was over, a number of people currently doing the loop, came up to the club house and Andy and another boater from  the Barrie area showed people their favourite anchorages and channels to use while exploring Georgian Bay and the North Channel.

Just before 6, Glen Cavers arrived, he is going to come up the TSW with us.  Andy will drive him back to Trenton, once we arrive in Buckhorn. That evening Glen drove us to Bellville for supper.

We left Trent Port Marina at 7:25  and arrived at lock 1 at 7:50, we had to wait until 9:00 for the first lock up.  Glen and I handled the ropes for locking and Andy drove the boat.

We were joined by a gold looper boat called coconuts.

We were out of lock 1 by 9:20, lock 4 by 10:35, Lock 10 by 3:10 and lock 12 by 4:15.  We were tied up at Campbellford municipal dock by 4:25.  Making a new record for us on the Trent by passing through 12 locks.  It was a really hot day, and lots of people were playing in the water.

Happy Canada Day Everyone!!

June 24-28

On Sunday morning, Roxanne, who I had met the previous evening, in the Tall Ships Landing building and her husband Wayne came by to see our boat.  They are hoping to do the loop in a few years.    We left Tall ships marina in Brockville  just before 11, and proceeded West on the St. Lawrence River.    We met another freighter just after we got into the Brockville cut.

There was a current, and Andy was only able to do about 11 Km  per hour at 2000 rpm, when normally we are closer to 14 -16 Km/hour.  Here’s an indication of how the markers were affected by the current.

We went by Mallory Landing, where the Parks Canada administration is located, and saw another of the Gazebo’s that dates back to the early 1900’s.

We had planned to maybe stop at Georgina, but the docks were taken, so we went on the Endymion, those docks were full as well, so we went around to the back of Endymion and  tied up to a mooring ball.

I followed the instructions, given to me by the captain, threading a rope through the mooring tire, while on the back swim platform and walked the rope up to the front.

No injuries to me, or skinned arms, like what had happened in Florida, the last time I tried to hook onto a mooring ball.   We were only there for about 10 minutes when the RCMP boat stopped by.  They had asked us a few questions about crossing the border and then talked about boats and the Loop.  One of the constables is planning on doing it in the next few years.

We left the next morning and slowly cruised to other Parks Canada Islands, which he hadn’t stayed at.    There was no room at room at Beau Rivage or Aubrey, but we did find a spot at Mermaid.  Here are the rocks just in front of our boat. 

We met some people from Brooklyn NY, who were on a house boat, and they shared some really good fish soup that they had made with the previous days catch.  They didn’t stay at Mermaid

as the fish were not biting there.  Later in the afternoon, this very large Yacht cruised by

and then   threw out its anchor.  It had 4 seadoos on its upper deck that they lowered with a crane.  Oh, the life of the very rich!!

The next morning at about 7:30, the Yacht moved on down the Bateau channel.On Tuesday morning, we left Mermaid at 11:30, and went down the Bateau channel past Trident Yacht club on our way to either Milton Island or Cedar island- the two park islands closest to Kingston.  Just past Trident we came across this row of animals all lined up in the channel. 

I suspect it is that people will slow down for them, so not to create a huge wake at their dock.  When we got near Milton around 1:30, we saw that there was a dock available, so we slowly moved into the Bay.  We only had about 5 feet of water, and there was a huge boulder in the middle of the bay, that we had been warned about I took some pictures of some of the flowers on the island,

and a view of Lake Ontario.

That evening we joined the other boaters at a campfire, until the mosquitoes appeared. Strong winds and rain was predicted for Wednesday, so we left Milton just after 7:00.  The water had about 2-3 foot waves

, in the open, until we reached the protection of Amherst Island, and then again in the big gap, after we reached the end of the island.    We travelled for several hours with the plans to anchor behind Ram Island, where we had been in the past.  At about noon, we encountered a huge downpour, and decided to anchor at Witlow Point.  We didn’t move at all during the night.  On Thursday morning when I went to pull up the anchor there was at least 50 lbs of weeds attached to the chain.  What a mess.  I had to pull them off by hand.  It took about 15 minutes to clean off the chain.  We left Witlow point at 7:45, just around the corner from where we had anchored was this farm. 

We passed  through Deseronto and Belleville, while Andy was driving, I did some cleaning in the boat.  We arrived at Trent Port Marina shortly after noon, it was still overcast, and seemed like it might rain, but it didn’t materialize.

I did a couple loads of laundry, and then we did some grocery shopping at the nearby Metro.  After dinner we went up to the club house for a couple drinks and watched the country singer.  We will be here until Sunday morning, for a 2 day American Great Loop Cruisers Association  looper lifestyle seminar.  There is suppose to be 100 people at the seminar on Friday and about 82 on Saturday.

June 17-23 

In doing some reading in the tour books, I have learned that the Thousand Islands Park, which is also referred to as the St. Lawrence Islands National Park starts at Kingston and go as far as Brockville,

it was our goal to see and stay at many of the Parks Canada islands as we could, or to at least cruise by them if we couldn’t fit on their docks.    The Thousand Islands are made up of 1824 islands, and to be considered an island it must have at least one living tree.  The islands were named around 1815 by Captain William Owen; since the war of 1812 was just over he wanted to commemorate the new British territory by naming the islands after the men and their ships.  He tended to group the islands together and called the western most the Admiralty, and named the islands after admirals of the war years i.e.) Forsyth, Bostwich.  South east of these are a long chain of islands which he grouped as the Lake Fleet islands and named them after ships and gunboats i.e.) Bloodletter, Niagara, Camelot.    West of Ivy Lea, lies the Navy Islands named after captains of the Lake Fleet ships i.e.) Mulcaster, Downie and Owen.  The last group of islands at the Eastern end are referred to as the Brock group, named after Sir Isaac Brock, and the men who served under him.  Other islands within the Thousand Islands reflect the names of local owners i.e.) McDonald island

As we were getting ready to leave Trident, I noticed these turtles sunning themselves on this log. 

Looked like quite the party.  I then looked down at these floating maple leaves, and saw this tiny turtle. 

We left Trident at 10:30, and stopped at one of the docks at Beau Rivage,

however being a beautiful Sunday, there were lots of power, sail and seadoos around making a lot of waves.  We stayed for a couple of hours and then thought it was time to move on.  We went back to Endymion, where there was space on the dock and tied up.  We had two other boats join us for the night.  It was a hot afternoon and I sat on the back of the swim platform with my feet in the water.  It was too cold to go swimming, and because I had seen at least two water snakes, there was no way I was going in even if it was warm.  I did have a couple of perch come and investigate my toes in the water.

On Monday morning there was suppose to be a weather front coming through with rain and strong winds-so we just stayed.  I read yet another book “the Help”—I’ve think I’m up to 10 books for the trip so far.  We could hear the wind howling, and there were white caps but we were sheltered at the dock.  Around 4:00 the rain started and it really cooled off outside.  The wind had switched during the night and there was some bumping on the dock.  Unforgettable Satellite, the   boat that was across from us on the dock, move in front of us on our side of the dock, as the waves were really bouncing them around.  The winds subsided as the morning went on and by 11:00, we decided it would soon be time to see some new islands.  We left at 11:30 and moved to Georgina Island,

which is very near the Thousand Island Bridge connecting the USA and Canada.

We arrived by 12:55.  We took a walk around the island as there were other docks on the south side,

but the current looked quite strong there and we likely would have had issues docking.   Where we were, the Gananoque and Uncle Sam Cruise ships came by ever hour or so- making waves; — thankfully they don’t run at night. In the evening, Andy tried fishing from the dock he had caught several fish, but without a net, kept losing them before he could land them on the dock.  At dusk I saw this   raccoon, by the shore digging in the stream-Andy figures he was either catching fish or clams.  The park’s signage warned of aggressive raccoons- not sure if this one was or not.    I later saw this bird- buzzard? eating a fish.   The traffic noise from the bridge didn’t disturb us at night.  In the morning before 7 a.m. the water was extremely calm, as no boats were coming down the channel yet.    I watched these 3 buzzards sitting on a tree near our boat for over an hour, it seemed like they were checking us out.    We decided to leave for another island at 11: 30, and cruised to West Grenadier, however the depth dropped off really quickly and we weren’t sure of what the depth was at the dock, so we backed out.   Instead we went back to Central Grenadier, where we had been the previous week.   There was a large boat at the end dock, where we had previously tied up, so we pulled into one of the finger docks.  The people in the large dock were only stopping for lunch, so once they left we returned to the end.    That evening, Wednesday, there were 6 boats at the dock.  They slowly left as the morning progressed, and by noon we were alone.  It was very peaceful, hot and calm.  I read another book, and Andy took the dinghy down, and paddled around the bay trying to convince the bass and perch that he could see in the water to bite his hook.  But they weren’t interested.   No one joined us on the dock for Thursday night.    Friday was very similar to Thursday; we were alone at Central Grenadier until it was dark.  We kept thinking because it was the weekend that the dock and campground would be full- but it didn’t happen.  When we got up on Saturday there was one boat that must have come in after 10 p.m.

On Saturday, I did a little bit of cleaning;   we had decided that we were going to the Tall Ships Marina in Brockville which was about 2 hours away. We left the dock shortly after 10:00, and travelled east; we were travelling on the edge of the St.Lawrence Shipping Channel and met this freighter.

Unknown to me we also were going to pass by Singer castle on the Canadian side, here’s a view from the back.    At about 11:40, it started sprinkling, and the closer we got to Brockville the harder the rain fell.  I saw the Parks Canada Island- Stovin, we had been told by some other boaters that we couldn’t go in there, because it was too shallow at the dock.   We saw lots of boats anchored or tied up at Sparrow Island,

one of the Brock group islands that are managed by the city of Brockville.   Brockville is one of the oldest incorporated cities in Canada, it was established by loyalists in 1784 as Buell’s Bay and was renamed by Sir Isaac Brock in 1812 to Brockville.  When we got to Tall ships, we stopped at the fuel dock and bought enough diesel to get us back to Buckhorn.  Once we were tied up, we changed out of our wet clothes, found our rain jackets and went in search of lunch.  The first place we stopped was Don’s fish and chips, which had been recommended by several people, however it was a take-out place and we didn’t want to have to go back to the boat to eat.  Instead we went Buds on the Bay, afterwards we wanted to explore downtown and started by walking through the railway tunnel.  The tunnel runs 0.3 miles under downtown Brockville and was built between 1854 and 1860 and connected the industrial waterfront to the outlying areas.  Here are several pictures from different parts of the tunnel.

We did some more walking around downtown, which was full of very old brick buildings. 

It was doors open Ontario, so we also visited the First Presbyterian church.   The very tall steeples on top of the church intrigued me from a distance. 

The woodwork, stained glass and painted motifs on the ceiling were amazing.  This church was built in 1848 and expanded in 1879.  It holds about 750 people.

We did a little bit of shopping on King Street and then returned to the boat.  After showers and a couple loads of laundry we went out to the Union Jack pub for a late supper.  Sunday we will begin moving westward.