Honey Harbor to Queens Cove Marina to Bay Port Marina (Midland, ON)

Day #658; Loop Miles to Date = 7,711

Just a brief update...no pics...

On Tuesday, we left Honey Harbor and had a short day over to Queens Cove Marina...more or less retracing our travel of the previous day. We found South Bay Cove Marina to be an excellent marina...top notch, with more larger boats than we expected. They really run a first rate operation here, and it would have been a nice place to get stuck if need be. But, we didn't linger, and took off to Queens Cove.

We received an excellent briefing here on the Georgian Bay and North Channel from the marina manager Robin...it was exceedingly helpful. We also got some tips from our dock neighbor here who has been boating in these waters for 20 plus years. As it turns out, Robin's husband Mike, runs the marina at Bay Port in Midland, which was our next stop. This is also where Act III is getting repairs completed. As a bonus, Mike gave all of us another briefing, so we now feel fully prepared for the many days of anchoring that we have in front of us.

Tomorrow, we'll take off for an anchorage in 12 Mile Bay, and we may stay there for a couple of days...we'll just see how much we like it. We anticipate that the next 2 weeks will largely be at anchor, with a couple of nights at marinas where they are available. We will probably not be in a spot where we will be able to blog much for this time segment...but if we get enough signal, we may be able to upload a text only blog. We're not even certain that we will have cell phone signals in spots. This stretch ahead of us offers some of the most remote cruising, but also the most scenic that we will experience on the entire trip. We can't wait to see this beautiful part of Canada!

Stay tuned...thanks for reading.

Orillia to Waubic Inn to Big Chute to Severn to Honey Harbor

Day # 654; Loop Miles to Date = 7,691

OK...time is flying by up here in Canada, and we finally have some WiFi connectivity so we can get a blog posting done...time to catch up...

Last Wednesday, we left Orillia and ventured to the Waubic Inn. It was a wonderful day of travel, with a couple of locks tossed in for good measure.

Some of the beautiful scenery along the way.

 

Great pic of a loon that Sandy snagged. Now...did you notice the name on the cottage in the picture above?

 

We found the Waubic to be just what we hoped...a rustic family owned restaurant that had dockage available for boats our size. We had a blast here for 2 days, with much entertainment provided by the comings and goings of the restaurant patrons. Boat traffic was high, with tons of small boats coming in for meals all day long. In this section of the Trent Severn, there are roads only on one side of the waterway, with the other side only accessible by boat. And the Waubic is on the side that is boat traffic only. Needless to say, it was impressive to us that they ran a quality restaurant with no road service at all to provide goods and services.

Our spot at Waubic.

The Waubic.

Early morning at the Waubic.

Jeff and Rob sharing a laugh at dinner at the Waubic.

We had a wonderful time for a few days, getting to know the family members who ran the restaurant, and were lucky enough to be there on the night that they decided to try Bingo for the first time! Our table of 8 (Corkscrew, Act III with guests, and us) ended up winning 8 of the 10 games that were played. It was a tremendous amount of fun.

From the Waubic, we had another short day to get to the Big Chute Marina. We wanted to stop here so that we could take an afternoon to get an up close perspective on the Big Chute Lock. This is a completely unique lockage experience...in short, you drive your boat onto a wooden bed, much like driving it onto a really large flatbed truck. There is not a lock per se, but this flatbed is mounted on a railway. Once the boats are loaded onto the bed and strapped in, you go for a ride...up and over the road, and down the other side. You literally ride the railway over the road and drop a total of 60 feet down the other side back into the water. It is the only working marine railway of its kind in North America...you can read more about it here.

The Big Chute being loaded with boats.

Starting up and out of the water.

Out of the water, ready to cross the road.

Crossing the road.

And starting down the other side.

A view from the lower side as the railway is coming down.

View from the road, looking down to the ultimate destination...water.

A view from our perspective on the Big Chute, looking back on Corkscrew preparing to load behind us.

 

It was a totally unique experience, and one that we will never forget. (Unfortunately for our friends on Act III, they will never forget it either. The lock tenders misjudged the loading of their boat, and they tragically damaged both of their props and bent a shaft. A very discouraging day. Our hearts go out to them as they are in the midst of the necessary repairs.)

Once through the Big Chute, we stopped at a the Starport Marina just before lock #45 in Severn. It was a decent stop, and made for an easy day.

Finally, we transited out of the Trent Severn through this last lock. We are now completely through with this lovely waterway, and are entering the waters of the Georgian Bay. We can honestly say that the Trent Severn exceeded our expectations...we absolutely loved everything about it!

 

Just another unique sight along the way. (No they are not real!)

Monday night finds us up in Honey Harbor at South Bay Cove Marina. This is a lovely spot, however the travel this day was in the misty rain and we didn't really get a chance to see the wonderful scenery on our way in.

A bit gray this day...if you look closely, you can see a myriad of markers...we just have to figure out which ones go on our port, and which to starboard...more of this to come in the coming few weeks.

And now for a few random shots of the day...



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You gotta love a beer company that names their brand after something out of the Wizard of Oz.

Remember how we said that one side of this section of the waterway was only accessible by boat? Well, when you need a new fridge, you just have to find a way.

All for now...thanks for reading.

Barrie to Orillia

Day #648; Loop Miles to Date = 7,622

After the weekend in Barrie, we made our way to Orillia. Barrie was a great stop, not often frequented by Loopers. We enjoyed our time here, and would recommend this departure from the most traveled route to others...it was a nice stop.

The city of Barrie commissioned a local artist to produce 2 large metal sculptures...this one is called Spirit Catcher, and is probably about 4 stories tall.



A second one, just called The Dragon, was also commissioned, but somehow the city ran out of money before they could pay for it. So, the artist took it home with him and had it in his yard for a couple of years. Finally, he got tired of it in his yard and ended up donating it to the city...go figure.

Not something that you get to see every day...one of those car/boats. We never saw it actually driving on land, but it was really inefficient while in the water...a concept that has been around for 50 years or more, but it somehow never really took off.

Our trip to Orillia was rather uneventful. Most of the journey was just crossing Lake Simcoe from southwest to north...about a 27 mile day. No locks to go through, and the day was rather gray, with a smattering of rain. We are here in Orillia for 3 days now, and the highlight for us is that our friends on Corkscrew finally caught up with us! It's great to have everyone back together...and the 3 boats will now spend the next month or so enjoying the Georgian Bay and North Channel. Good times ahead!

Fenelon Falls to Kirkfield Lift Lock to Lock #39 to Barrie

Day #645; Loop Miles to Date = 7,622

Fenelon Falls was a great stop. We would have stayed here 3 nights, but they strictly enforced the rule of a 2 night maximum stay. So, reluctantly we moved on Tuesday morning. But, before we leave Fenelon Falls...a few "Pictures that make you say...what??"

The lock in Fenelon Falls is right on the main drag, and it is quite the tourist attraction - there is always a crowd watching the action. It's just that finding 3 Amish men spectating was not something we expected.

We've seen a few phone booths since arriving in Canada...but someone actually using one?...now that's unusual!

We knew that the next few stops were going to be rather remote, and we had some time to kill before our next marina reservation in Barrie for the weekend. In this next stretch, we encountered some of the most treacherous water that the Trent Severn has to offer...the Trent Canal...extremely narrow and quite shallow (and of course all rocks).

The sides of the canal were only about 15' away...

And you could see piles of rocks where they had originally cut this canal out of the rock.

Here's Act III finding a way to let a smaller boat get past.

Sandy caught taking a picture of Act III while they were taking a picture of us!

We had decided to stay a night at the Kirkfield Lift Lock. This is the second largest lift lock in the world (only Peterborough is larger). We have now stayed in excess of 10 nights on lock walls on the Trent Severn, which means that we now qualify for the seasonal mooring pass. All this means is that any stay we have from now on in the Canada Parks system is "free". We have only been paying about $25 a night as it is, so now each free stay just makes our overall nightly dockage rate go down. It's great! And once we found a reasonable restaurant here at Kirkfield (with Kawartha ice cream) we decided to linger here and stay 2 nights.

Looking down from about 50'. You can see the upper pan on the right side of the pic here.

View from inside the pan on the way down.

Our view looking back while in the pan.

Our view of the canal at Kirkfield Lock.

It should be noted that at Kirkfield, we are now at the highest elevation that we will be on the entire trip...860 feet above sea level. From here on out, the locks will predominantly be taking us back down. Kirkfield lowers us 49 feet to start. It's rather amazing to reflect on the fact that just a just a little over a month ago, we were at sea level on the Hudson River...yikes!

From Kirkfield, we transited a short ways to through a couple of more locks, and settled for the night above lock #39. This was a beautiful and isolated spot that was very peaceful and enjoyable. No services, shops or restaurants of any kind, and we had a relaxing night.

Lock #39.

Lock #39 with a crowd! They sometimes smash as many boats into one lockage as they can when it is busy. Thus far, we've managed to avoid jams like this for the most part.

And finally this week, we decided to check out Barrie, ON. This stop is not a typical one for loopers as it is slightly off of the most traveled path. We had a windless day to cross Lake Simcoe (20 miles or so) and are glad that we checked out Barrie. Barrie is second only to Toronto in terms of population in this part of Ontario, so there is plenty going on here. The marina is not located directly near some of the services that we usually like to find (groceries, laundry) but it is a beautiful setting on the water, with a folksy, bohemian type of vibe to the restaurant and shopping area near by. We are staying here 3 nights, and then it will be off to Orillia.

This is called the Hole in the Wall bridge. It's rather a landmark, and still in the shallow area of the canal. Once through here, it is only a short ride to get to Lake Simcoe.



Act III coming through...



And us going through.

On the way to Barrie...just a small place on the lake. Barrie is only about an hour drive from Toronto, so there is ample evidence of "City" money all along the shores of Lake Simcoe.

And now for the random shot of the day...

Some folks thought it would be humorous for the boating passersby to see a phone booth in their backyard.

Complete with a dressed up manikin with a phone in his hand...a real hoot!

Our able crew still plugging along with us...

 A shout out to our friend Susan on Act III for a handful of the pictures in this blog posting...Thanks!