1- 15 July 2005
Peterborough, Canada to ... Parry Sound Canada
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| Date | Location | Log and Pictures | ||
| 7/1 | We' been on the trip for 74 days, 54 underway and 21 enjoying a full day in some port or another. We've traveled 1770 miles of the approximately 5,600 planned trip using 1,000 gallons of diesel in our 229 hours underway. We're still averaging about 24 miles per day at just under 8 miles per underway hour. | |||
| 7/1 | Peterborough Canada | Relaxed and enjoyed watching a town celebration. |  |
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| 7/2 | Peterborough Canada | Still in Peterborough taking a break. I'm off to Toronto to pick up Carey who is joining us for two weeks. After I picked her up she and I traveled by car to Cobourg to a Canada Day celebration, while Barny minded the boat. Arts and Crafts, games, and a great meal at a local restaurant. |
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| 7/3 | Clear Lake | Carey and I arrived at the boat about 9 am Sunday and after visiting with Kathy and Ross on Pilgrim we got underway about 1 pm. Barny was off to Arizona to surprise Ginger for their 30th wedding anniversary on the 6th. He will return about the 9th. Carey and I traveled through 8 locks and anchored in Clear Lake for the evening at 7 pm, her first set of locks. It was a beautiful day and we passed thru the first of the lift locks (at Peterborough) and no camera can do justice to this amazing lock. | ||
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At right you see Carey minding the bow in the first lock of the day. At left is the bin of water we were moored in that was raised five stories as the bin lowering boats going the other way was lowered. In the background is the waterway we left, 5 stories below, just minutes before the picture was taken. |  |
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| 7/4 | Up early, we dinghied into a local marina to gain some local knowledge of the area. Stoney Lake, just north of us was reported to be beautiful but very rocky. Where to anchor? What to see? The locals provided us with a great deal of information and we got underway at noon for Stoney Lake. We discovered that most of the islands large enough had homes on them, reached by their owners in boats. We anchored near Juniper Island and explored Stoney Lake by dinghy. The total travel from Clear Lake to Stoney Island was less than 3 miles but included a high heart rate section called Hell's Gate, a narrow snaking path through some very imposing rocks. Touching one of those rocks would ruin your day. Luckily ours was not. With this trip and travel by dinghy we saw some beautiful country and climbed a few rock islands. This area is different then the tree lined canal, that reminded us of the Dismal Swamp, we traveled before entering the two lakes. Anchoring in Stoney Lake is problematic as the bottom is mostly rock, but we were lucky and found a spot. I will not describe the worry at night fall when the depth sounder was indicating we were moving. Luckily GPS was accurate and we were firmly anchored. | |||
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| 7/5 | Bobcaygeon, Canada | Underway 9:30 after another dinghy ride around Stoney Lake. Storms threatened all day, but they held off until we moored at the Lock Wall at Bobcaygeon. A busy, busy lock but we were lucky to get the last spot on the wall for the evening. Kathy and Ross in Pilgrim arrived several hours later and all 4 of us had a good fish and chip dinner in a local pub. | ||
| 7/6 | Bolsover, Canada | Up early, we had breakfast in town and did some laundry and walked the town of Bobcaygeon, a vibrant and beautiful town. We guess that the small towns in Canada, with their small shops, are doing better than the small towns of the US because these places have done a better job of keeping out the big chains such as Wal Mart. Underway at 11 am we passed through some great water way canals with boats tied to shore and "boat garages." We then passed a few locks and crossed Balsam Lake, at 840 feet above sea level the highest elevation of the Trent Severn. A fast and easy cruise. Then we encountered the cuts of the Trent Canal which were the last canals made to complete the Trent-Severn in 1920. Amazing! We could see the rock wall just inches (it appeared) from the side of the boat with high rock walls reaching 20 to 30 feet from the water's edge. We also locked through the second and final lift lock, a five story drop as we headed for the Georgian Bay. We moored near lock 37 at Bolsover, ready for happy hour. | ||
| Picture below shows small boat, five stories below, in water pan that will rise as we, in the higher water pan drop. The other pictures immediately below show Phil and Carey in Apolonia in the about to dropped higher water pan. |
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Beginning of the Trent Canal at left that actually got narrower as we moved further down the canal. At right you see the rock wall of the canal in very clear water just to the left of the boat. It seemed like inches away instead of feet. |
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| 7/7 | Lake Couchiching, Canada | Five quick locks this morning heading for Lake Simcoe. Carey docked in 3 of them and is a great boat driver and her smile showed she was enjoying the new skill. We made a quick trip through Lake Simcoe and halfway through Lake Couchiching where we found a great anchorage for the evening. We're sitting on the back deck enjoying 75 degree temperatures and low humidity. En route through this section of the waterway we encountered heavy weeds and grass on the bottom that kept the depth sounder alarm going off, giving us a scare we were in shallow water, but we were not. |
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| 7/8 | Orilla, Canada | Enjoyed Lake Couchiching so much we stayed all morning, touring by dinghy. At noon we moved to a local town marina at Orilla to wait for Barny to return from Arizona. He was gone for a few days to celebrate his and Ginger's 30th wedding anniversary. We relaxed for the day, did routine maintenance and visited with fellow loopers, Ross and Kathy, who we have traveled with off and one for the last month. | ||
| 7/9 | Big Chute, Canada | Barny arrived back from his anniversary trip to Gold Canyon and we talked about the next few days travel as we enjoyed the fabulous weather and walked into town for breakfast at an outdoor cafe. Underway at 11 am we headed for Big Chute, the railway "lock" that takes us 750 feet across land to the last 8 miles of the Trent Severn. The 30 mile trip to Big Chute was some of the best of the waterway, including a 48 foot drop in lock number 42, canals connecting small lakes filled with water front homes, and one very unique boat. Traveling on a Saturday literally every home had people out on their docks or boats out on the waterway enjoying the water. The water depth ranged from 85 feet to 6 feet keeping us on our toes navigating. Arriving at Big Chute we watched other boats on the railway to get an idea of what we will deal with tomorrow morning. | ||
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Pictures below show a boat loading, then the railway car at top of its travel and finally as it releases the boat on the other side. The car can carry a 100 foot boat and travels 750 feet over a hill. | ||
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| 7/10 | Beausoleil Island, Canada | Underway to tackle the Big Chute railway at 9 am. Had a great trip over land on the railway with Apolonia then traveled the last 8 miles of the 240 mile Trent Severn Waterway, the most beautiful part of the trip so far. Including the Dismal Swamp, Erie Canal, and Trent Severn we have passed through 75 locks and are looking forward to traveling the Georgian Bay that we entered today. We'll worry about uncharted rocks instead of the next lock and enjoy the next segment of the trip. The special fenders for locks have been taken off the sides and we look like a boat again. We are anchored at Beausoleil Island. The Island is part of the Georgian Bay National Parks system that has 590 parks on the Islands in the area. | ||
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All of us enjoying the ride down the Big Chute. |
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At left the narrow channel after Big Chute, called Little Chute. At right a view from Apolonia riding the railway at Big Chute. |
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| 7/11 | Bone Island, Canada | Eight miles steaming today with Carey at the helm to get to Bone Island anchorage, a gorgeous spot. En route we found bays 120 feet deep with rocks in the middle sticking up just inches above the surface, as well as beautiful homes with boat docks against the rocks. You pay attention to the charts! The water temperature is 80 degrees and Barny enjoyed his swim. |
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| 7/12 | Sans Souci, Canada | Up early, Carey took to the Kayak to clean the sides of the boat. At 10:30 we moved further north in the Georgian Bay, alternating between 100 feet of water under the keel in the open areas to 3 feet in the choke points. We navigated by the rocks and markers in well marked channels mooring early afternoon at Sans Souci on Frying Pan Island at the location of Henry's Sea Food Restaurant, a "must" stop so the locals say. We shared dock space with several seaplanes. | ||
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| 7/13 | Parry Sound, Canada | After a quiet night Barny, Carey and I were up at 8 am and prepared for the 15 mile trip to Parry Sound. A beautiful trip completed in just over 2 hours with the helm controlled by Carey. We tied up at the Town Dock and enjoyed local music at the town park. We'll remain here 2 nights while I take Carey to Toronto for her trip back to work. | ||
| 7/14 15 | Parry Sound, Canada | The boat is still in Parry Sound while I take Carey back to Toronto for her flight back to the states and work. Barny watched the boat and visited with Ross and Kathy as Pilgrim steamed into Parry Sound Thursday. It was great having Carey aboard and we'll miss her. She and I had a great tourist day on the 14th in Toronto where we toured as much of the town as possible. | ||
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