Abort - Abort - Abort

 I’m not really sure where we left off the last time we posted and the point is that I can’t check because we have no cell reception.  We’ve done really well bouncing between anchorages and marinas for the last week.  We try to hit all the major spots that are recommended in the cruising guides while mixing in some that are recommended by locals and some that just look fun. 

 

Henry’s Fish Restaurant and Marina is one that came highly recommended and did not disappoint. It’s located on Frying Pan Island without any access by road or even walking trails.  The only way to get there is by boat or seaplane.  There were several seaplanes that brought in customers for lunch. We got there before lunch so we were able to double dip on meals with a burger at lunch and fish and chips for dinner.  We had a really nice dinner with Kristi and Jim, folks from SISU, overlooking the water. Millie was not a big fan of Henri’s as there wasn’t anywhere to take a nice walk.  She was a champ; did her business and jumped right back on board.

 

 

There was a storm rolling in the next afternoon and evening so we headed to Parry Sound, a cute town where we could re-provision since there would not be another town to reprovision until Little Current, in the North Channel.  While underway to Parry Sound, we started calling marinas for an overnight slip, only to find out that they were basically all booked, except one spot on the town dock that was pretty exposed to the wind and wakes from cruise ships – not to mention that we were right on the main pier and open for inspection from every tourist walking by. You can imagine how Millie reacted to all her newfound friends.  Once on the town pier, Roger was able to research the Big Sound Marina to find out that it did in fact have one slip available next to the rocks – downwind of the 20-knot wind.  “No problem - I’ll take it.”  We backed in and had a very restful night, away from waves and prying eyes, despite the stormy weather that evening. 

 

 

We left Parry Sound the next morning with the intention of going to a nice anchorage in Hopewell Bay off of Shawanaga Island– a nice halfway point before our next marina.  A good portion of the trip was out in the Georgian Bay – unprotected from any of the waves that had built up over the previous day.  We have a deal that either of us can call an “abort” if they aren’t particularly comfortable with the situation.  Two hours into the trip, there were two-foot rolling waves at a pretty uncomfortable angle so Chrisy and Millie both called an “abort,” and we headed to the aptly named Snug Harbor.  The harbor worked out perfectly, super calm and well protected from the wind in any direction.  We anchored in a cove behind Westyle Island with 2 other sailboats but we had a half-mile dinghy ride to town.  After a nice long walk with Millie, we treated ourselves to dinner at Gilly’s Restaurant – pan-fried pickerel fish -which was delicious and well deserved after a rough day on the Bay.

 

It ain’t all fun and games:

We were reminded yesterday that navigating through the Georgian Bay can be tricky business.  Two motor boats that are on the same route ran aground.  One ran aground taking a short-cut that seemed to be approved by one of the cruising guides, but Roger said he wouldn’t take it because it didn’t have a red line path indicating that it was the small boat channel. (a channel that has been approved and marked with appropriate depths).  The other ran aground on a route that Roger had charted out but Chrisy read should be avoided in heavy weather or single-engine boats. At any rate, there are lots of tight channels and opportunities to make a mistake.  After our day 2 issue, we’ve been very vigilant about maintaining situational awareness.  Roger is generally at the helm following the Navionics on the chart plotter. Chrisy is on the iPad or the Samsung giving detailed instructions on what’s coming up.  There’s no texting. There are no phone calls. There’s no music. There’re no books on tape. We’re all business.  It’s not raging fun, but we arrive at our destination in good shape – and hopefully will continue to do so.   

 

So, what do you eat when you’re in an anchorage?

Roger’s mother, who had tons of experience cooking on a boat always said, “Food on a boat tastes 10% better.” Well, Chrisy hasn’t needed the 10%. The food has been delicious.  We have a freezer on board so Chrisy prepares a variety of foods - pasta with shrimp and fresh veggies; salmon fillets with asparagus risotto; cheese enchiladas; chicken medallions; grilled chicken that we froze for future meals; chili; etc. This morning she was even baking chocolate chip muffins! Six ingredients or less is Chrisy’s mantra…. and we always have a running provision list for the next opportune time to grab additional foods when we can.

Collins Inlet - breathtaking views of the pink granite

a "cottage" along Beaverstone Bay

Millie in her "happy place"...on the dinghy!

 

On to the Georgian Bay

We’ve been looking forward to The Georgian Bay since we started to plan the trip.  There are literally thousands of islands. In fact, one section is called Thirty Thousand Islands just to put the Thousand Islands in their place. Lots of islands have cottages, but most of them are uninhabited. Evergreens and maples line the granite shores.  The boating can be a bit treacherous as there are probably forty thousand rocks waiting just beneath the surface for the unsuspecting mariner.  Fortunately, there’s an inside passage that’s very well marked and is pretty well guaranteed to have depths of at least five feet. 

There’s a sense of freedom after being on the Trent Severn waterway.  There’s only one way to go on the Trent; on the Georgian Bay, there is one general direction but thousands of options. Some boaters are traveling from marina to marina.  We like to anchor out in some remote, quiet coves for a few nights and then have a night in a marina.  Our style poses a few problems.  First, we need to get off of the small boat channel so we need to be careful. Second, we can’t just pick any anchorage; it needs to have access to the shore for Millie. (Millie update to follow). If you’re still with me and didn’t jump right to the update, lots of the coves have cottages, and there isn’t a way to get Millie to shore.  So, we hunt out Parks Canada and Provincial islands that look fun and not too far off the path because they provide a dinghy dock for us to make landfall for Millie. 

 

Our first two nights were at Beausoleil Island, a Parks Canada Island.  While the island was not exactly quiet, it did have wonderful hiking and biking trails.  Staying two nights gave us an opportunity to get the bikes out and have a nice ride around the island.  We met a fellow Back Cove owner who lives in the area and gave us lots of good advice on anchorages. Thank you, Glenn and Kim!

 

Millie Update:

Millie is doing great!! She does prefer being on anchor as she doesn’t get disturbed by people, other canines on docks or lock walls, or just friendly folks coming to say hi.  We picked up some Composure pills that are basically a natural sedative so she would be a little calmer in the locks.  With her first dosage, we messed up the timing- we gave it too early.  She basically was knocked out for the passage to the lock and was in her full glory during the lock. She’s not a big swimmer so it’s hard to get her cooled down.  Yesterday was pretty hot and she did let Chrisy spray her with a little water and she seemed to enjoy the cooling mat. We have just purchased clippers to give her a trim...we will post the "before" and the "after" photos once she gets her first non-professional trim.

 

After Beausoleil, we got really adventurous and went to Port Rawson Bay.  We heard great things from our Canadian buddies so we decided to give it a shot. We certainly were not disappointed.

If you can see the yellow line - that's our path off of the main channel.

We were one of four boats in the Bay at Port Rawson.  It's a state park so there weren't any cottages on the shoreline, but there was a nice dock that we could bring Millie to.  Sadly, there were no trails so she didn't really get any exercise.  While that wasn't ok with Millie, it was perfectly fine with Chrisy who somehow found out that there might be rattlesnakes on the islands.  She basically stayed on the dock while Roger walked Millie in the small woods. 

We had a bit of a problem with the outboard at Port Rawson - it wouldn't start.  Tried lots of different techniques with the choke, pulled the kill switch in case it was flooded, and finally drained the carburetor in case there was some bad fuel. We don't think that was the issue, but it did start shortly after.  A bad dinghy motor would have a serious impact on our cruising style as we would have to be in marinas. 

Port Rawson Bay

After Port Rawson Bay we went around the corner to a really skinny anchorage (Shotgun Bay) where we were one of two boats.  Another state park, another nice dock, and another small rattlesnake-infested walking area so Chrisy stayed on the dock. Lots of paddle boarding for Chrisy at both anchorages and an introduction for Roger.

Shotgun Bay

Someone is very happy that the dinghy engine is working.

 

Roger dominating the paddle board

 

The Big Chute - up and over

While the Trent Severn took a little longer than anticipated, we left Orillia on Thursday 7/14 pretty much on schedule.  Our plan was to get to the Big Chute and over it, if possible on Thursday. Our backup was to spend the night at the marina just before the Big Chute.  With the Big Chute closed to big boats over the weekend, we wanted to make it over before Saturday. There were a few lakes along the way where Egret could stretch her legs, but there were also some swing bridges and a few locks which are unknown in terms of how long it’s going to take for passage. 

The first swing railroad bridge for the Canadian Railway was the most problematic.  We’ve heard horror stories of a cantankerous bridge tender who can make you wait for hours to get passage.  I knew that if I had to I could take down our VHF antenna and slide through with inches to spare, but that wasn’t my first option.  Fortunately, the bridge tender acknowledged us and began the process of opening fairly quickly.  In the bridge tender’s defense, the process of opening the bridge is not easy and straightforward.  He needs to climb down from his tower, walk across the bridge, start a small gas engine, return to his tower, and open the bridge.  I’m sure he has to reverse the process when we clear through.  At any rate, we made it through without incident and we were on our way.  The remaining swing bridge and locks were transited without issue and we were actually making great time. 

 

Have I mentioned how shallow the route is on the Trent Severn?  Sadly, we discovered the functionality of our depth alarm AFTER the little issue in the Niantic River on our second day. We initially set the alarm at 10 feet, then we got into the Trent Severn and adjusted it to 6 feet because it was constantly going off – now we’re at 4 feet. We draw 3 feet 3 inches – so that’s a whopping 9 inches of warning that we’ve got.  Our routine is that Chrisy is on the iPad looking at Aquamaps while I’m driving and looking at Navionics.  The channel is well marked but heaven help you if you get outside of it.   There are no soft groundings in Canada; it’s all rock.  There’s a prop repair shop in almost every harbor for a reason.

 

We arrived at the Big Chute in great time, hitting the blue line, and staging area, at 4 PM.  We were the second group to go over so we were able to see how it works before we went.  It was also very therapeutic for Chrisy to be able to see what lay in store for her. As I mentioned in a previous post the Big Chute is a cross between a marine travel lift and a San Francisco cable car.   We are over!

Our penultimate lock was the biggest drop

Some of the nice scenery of the Trent.

Yes - it's shallow but well marked.

View from the blue line of the group before us.

The Big Chute takes everyone - even a canoe.

Hanging off the back to protect prop and rudder

Crossing the road

Egret - safe on the other side

Big Chute – Here we come

Well not so fast! The Big Chute is one of the last locks on the Trent-Severn Canal.  Actually, it’s not a lock. It’s really more of a cross between your basic hoist that you would see in a marina and a San Francisco trolley car. The Parks Canada lock tenders strap three or four boats into a tram and pick you up in Copp Bay and drop you down in Gloucester Pool.  There’s just one problem.  There aren’t enough lock tenders, and the ones they do have, well they haven’t been trained well enough to handle boats over 30 feet.  And then some of the workers got covid…. 

So, there’s a bit of a backlog of boats waiting to get through the Big Chute. While we are really looking forward to the Georgian Bay, we are actually fine taking our time and letting those fine lock tenders get all the training they need.  It would really ruin our day to be dropped out of one of those trams.  Oh, did I mention that we ride in Egret while she’s on the tram?

 

The Trent Severn continues to amaze us.  We’ve had spectacular weather the last few days.  Brilliant sunshine followed by cool, crisp evenings. We left Bobcaygeon on Friday, July 8^th with every intention of going to Fenelon Falls.  We had heard and read some nice things about the town and we were looking forward to it.  Unfortunately, a few other people had also heard nice things about it and all the lock wall space was taken.  We did tie off on the staging section of the wall before going through the lock and Chrisy walked around town a bit to scope whether there was room for us above the lock.  It was pretty crazy as there was a big festival going on.  We pushed on to the Rosedale lock where we were really lucky to get a spot on the free Parks Canada wall just big enough for Egret.  The park adjacent to the lock serves boaters and campers so there are lots of facilities. We were pleasantly relieved that Fenelon Falls was too busy for us as we had a wonderful relaxing weekend at the Rosedale lock, taking nice walks through the trails and meeting several Canadians on holiday on their boats.

 

We finally broke loose from the Rosedale lock at 3 pm – a bit late for the typical cruiser – and headed to the Kirkfield Lift Lock, the second of the 2 lift locks in Canada. This lock drops you 49 feet. We spent the night above the lock on the lock wall – only one other boat there with us – and then dropped the 49 feet at 9 am. At this point, we have made it to the top of the Trent Severn Waterway. From Lake Ontario to here, we have traveled upstream, each lock carrying us higher above the level of Lake Ontario, about 597 feet. From the top of the Kirkfield Lift Lock, the canal drops gradually, first to Lake Simcoe, then via the Severn River to Georgian Bay and Lake Huron, a total descent of 262 feet.

Update on the Big Chute – the lock tenders are all trained, and they actually were able to clear all of the backlog of boats in the last two days.  We head out today aiming for the Big Chute and depending on our departure time and energy levels – we may or may not head over the Big Chute.

Egret on the wall ready to down the lift lock.

The view from the top of Kirkfield.

Have we talked about the houseboats that ply the waters of the Trent Severn and Thousand Islands?  That may be another post.

This photo doesn't do the moon credit. It was the super moon that we had on 7/12.

Hole in the wall bridge.

Campers sharing some space with the cows on the way to Orillia.

On to Bobcaygeon

As a little update to the "side issues" from the previous post, after a few issues with UPS we now have updated charts on our chart plotter.  The SD card actually beat us to the marina yesterday, but they would not accept it because there was duty due on the package.  After more calls than I can count to UPS and downloading their app to track the package, we received it today at 3 PM. Can't wait to actually leave tomorrow and be able to look at it rather than an iPad.  We had our generator looked at by a tech at the Buckhorn Marina.  He shortened the hose to take out a small kink - that wasn't the issue.  He took apart the freshwater hoses to try to find an obstruction - that wasn't the issue.  Finally, he disconnected the raw water flow sensor - that was the issue. Fortunately, disconnecting the sensor makes it think that all is well and the generator runs.  We have a new sensor on order a couple of towns up so hopefully, that will put everything right.  In the meantime, our generator works.  Pretty sure that the raw water intrusion is coming from the rudder post that took a little bump on our second day in the Niantic Harbor.  The leak is a pain but manageable.

After Campbellford we went to Hastings, then to Peterborough, and on to Buckhorn and Bobcaygeon.  The highlight of that stretch was the lift lock at Peterborough. It took 8 years to build this lock and was inaugurated in 1904. Only 8 lift locks of this type have been built in the world. There are 2 in Canada (we will be going through the Kirkland lift lock in a week); the others are in Belgium, Great Britain and France. But this is the highest hydraulic lift lock in the world.

The lift lock basically functions like a see-saw using hydraulics and gravity. They weight the upper chamber a few thousand pounds more than the lower chamber and let gravity do the rest.  Here is a quick video. Unfortunately, we had a rainy day so the views aren't great and we were in the front of the chamber so there were other boats obstructing our view.

Not our best photo but you get a sense of the height and the weather

An obstructed view off the back of the chamber

Another highlight was traveling through all the connected lakes which are referred to as "cottage country." The lakes are insanely shallow. Eight to ten feet is the norm - anything over 15 feet is a luxury and 5 feet is not infrequent.  We stayed glued to the iPad and the Samsung, running Aquamaps and Navionics.  Aquamaps in Canada is raster format while Navionics is vector.  It was rare that reality would agree with each of our chart plotters, but we made it through.  

A few quick shots of the local scenery.  

It was wonderful to catch up with our cruising friends Cathy and Kim who made the trip up from Toronto to spend two days with us, move Egret three-tenths of a mile and go through the Bobcaygeon lock. Such fun to catch up with them!

Today we will head off to Fenelon Falls, a short trip (15 miles) up the river through Sturgeon Lake with no locks.

Side Issues on the Trent Severn Canal

Sorry - we've been a little dark recently.  Moving the boat and dealing with a few side issues have taken priority.  We left the Thousand Islands on June 27 for a two-night stay in Kingston - a pretty big city on the north shore of Lake Ontario.  Kingston is a big Looper stop so we met up with a bunch of other Loopers, got on a trolley tour ride around the city, had lots of meals out, and staged for our trip to Trenton. 

A couple of tourists in Kingston

We had perfect weather to move to Trenton on Wednesday, June 29.  Originally, we were thinking of a two-day trip to Trenton - anchoring out somewhere in the Bay of Quinte, but we're starting to feel that we're a bit behind schedule so we let Egret run and we made the trip in about 4.5 hours.  On our approach to Trenton, we had our first "side issue."  The chart plotter decided to stop giving us any detail.  The microchip in the plotter obviously didn't cover Canada.  I purchased the chip right after we bought the boat but before we made the decision to do the Great Loop.  Bad move to assume the chip covered Canada.  Fortunately, we have three tablets and a phone that can serve as chart plotters.  We ordered a new chip sent to a marina that we'll be at in a few days - fingers crossed.

Trent Port Marina is probably the nicest marina that we've been in.  Perfectly clean individual washrooms with rainforest shower heads, free laundry, kicking wifi, an herb garden for cruisers to enjoy, great walking paths to exercise Millie and us, and a nice cruiser's lounge were just a few of the many nice features.  

Trent Port Marina - sorry no pictures of the washrooms.

We're obviously constantly faced with the "stay-leave" decision and the one at the Trent Port Marina was a tough one.   On the "stay" side were the fireworks and an airshow from the Canadian Air Force on June 1 - Canada day.  The Marina was also on the "stay" side - we could have stayed there for a while.  And we had re-united with several couples that are doing the Great Loop. On the "leave" side were the two-day wait and the desire to push to the Georgian Bay, which is supposed to be spectacular cruising ground.  We opted for "leave."

The Trent Severn Canal snakes between Lake Ontario and Georgian Bay.  The locks are cleaner; the lock tenders and their summer crew are nicer; they are more efficient passing us from lock to lock -  than either the Erie or the Oswego Canals.  

We made it through the first four locks on Thursday, June 30.  We had hoped to make it to Frankford (Lock 6), but the lockmaster told us that there was only room enough for one more boat, and we were the second of two boats moving together. We pulled over right after lock 4 at a pretty classic Trent Severn lock station. The Locks are maintained by Parks Canada and you need to buy a pass to use the system.  The good news is that the pass gives you access to all the walls near the locks where we can tie up for the night.  All of the locks have bathrooms and a few have free electricity.  Lock 4 had a huge lawn for Millie to run on.  The lock also presented another "side issue."  Our generator decided to tell us that it had low raw water flow and shut down.  A quick check of the strainer as well as opening the seacock while the strainer lid is off revealed that there should be water flowing. There was also water coming out of the discharge which means that this is an issue that's above Roger's paygrade.  That's probably more detail than you need; I'll be sure to provide updates.  And this meant sandwiches for dinner since we could do no cooking.

Another "side issue" has been the persistent accumulation of water in the bilge of the engine.  We've taken out four to five quarts of water on each of the last few days.  There's something about water intruding into a floating boat that tends to make us a bit uneasy.  When we're in salt water it's pretty easy to see if the water source is the boat's own fresh water that we carry with us or the raw water that's used to cool the engine - you just taste it. That's not an option when we are in freshwater so all options are on the table.  Without going into too much detail, we've ruled out the boat's fresh water and are focusing on the "dripless" shaft seal.  Again, I'll keep you posted.

As long as we're talking about the "side issues," there's a small - and I mean - small leak of oil around a heat exchanger.  I'll keep an eye on it but it doesn't concern me like water accumulating in our floating home does.  

That's way too much talking and not enough photos ...

Chrisy working the lines on the way up in the lock.

The traditional photo at the beginning of the Trent Severn.

What fear of heights? Hanging on the suspension bridge in Campbellford

The view from the suspension bridge in Campbellford

at the bottom of a double decker lock, you rise 24 feet, then move to the second chamber 

and rise another 24 feet

The view from the top is fun after a 25 foot lift. Those gates are all that's holding us back from a quick trip back from where we came.

A view of the Trent Severn Waterway canal

Parks Canada staff walk in circles to crank open and close the lock gates 

on both sides of the lock

Roger hard at work keeping us on the wall inside the lock

Millie getting a ride across the suspension bridge.

Locks 11 and 12 at Ranny Falls are a double lock.  As you exit the first lock you enter go immediately into the second lock.  They each rise 24 feet.