Ken, the owner of Bay Port yachting center, shared with us two hours of his local knowledge about Georgian Bay. Denny was thrilled!  We now are the proud owners of many new cruising books and a 4×4 foot map of Georgian Bay, suitable for framing because it surely is too big for our map drawer.

Three days of preparation for this sojourn across the bay: more groceries, more hardware, and more liquor. Lots of taxes here in Canada, a 1.75 liter bottle of rum costs fifty U.S. dollars, about half of what it costs in the states.  Good thing I stocked up on my Dewars. There is a VAT tax on almost everything.

Three Looper boats have joined us at the Marina, one is marooned with a seized engine, one is in a hurry and the third we will cruise with for a while; Mike and Victoria aboard Drifters. They are both from Kentucky, as is Denny.

Two locks south of Chicago are closing September 21 for two weeks and it would be advisable for us to get through them before they close if we are to make our objective, home for the holidays.  Sorry about the if, we will make our objective even if we have to leave Dream Seeker in a marina for a while.

Dream Seeker mustache

rafting tugs

range

Drifters

Anchored in a large primal Bay last night just before the rain started. The only boat in the Bay, washed almost clean by the heavy rain. Dream Seeker has a brown mustache on her enormous bow that has been building up for five months.  Denny says it is a sign of seasoned travelers and he likes it, I say it is just dirty and the boat would look so much better when it is clean.

Actually cleanliness has been my mantra for the past five months. He has been promising me he will get in the dinghy and wash the moustache off when we hit the pristine waters of Georgian Bay.  Uncle Boo gave him a magic wash to accomplish that.  Tomorrow we reach the legendary Georgian Bay.

Today, Dream Seeker was loaded onto a large rail, put in slings and mechanically hoisted out of the water. The Big Chute Marine Railway carries boats daily, in individual cradles, on an inclined plane, over a sixty-foot change of height. Like a giant roller coaster, the railway drives the boats up the tracks and down the other side in less than four minutes.

Yea!  A welcome change, no more locks until we get to Chicago. Locks have become a way of life for us but we are about to get a reprieve. No more descending into the depths of a dreary dungeon or soaring into the sunlight.

down the chute

The Chute

slings holding boat

island home

Dream Seeker Down Chute

The Big Chute

view from the anchorage on Deep Lake

Canadians really know how to enjoy their summer. They are everywhere on the waterways and in any kind of watercraft imaginable; mostly they seem to prefer houseboats. A great family vacation, rent a boat, go out on the water and then learn how to maneuver it. They are very hospitable and fun loving and always available to help with a line.

The weather here has been perfect, cool nights, warm days and low humidity. No wonder all the Canadians I know in Florida go home for the summer. Spotted two golf courses on the way, a reminder of home and its many pleasant pastimes.

A narrow shallow tree covered waterway, a wide lowland full of marshes, an occasional farm and homes built on huge rocks, all are reasons to slow down and smell the roses. It is difficult to envision the same scene in winter, snow covered, frozen and cold.

2500 miles of our 6000 mile journey are completed; including negotiating through 128 locks. It’s a wonderment!

flamingos in Canada

Top of another lift lock

Local Church

Simcoe River

house built on rocks

deweeding the anchor

Peterborough Marina was a wonderful stop.  They were very accommodating to Loopers and the grocery store was close by.  During our stay, the music was playing, the fountain was running and we were sufficiently far away from both to enjoy them.

Put two rectangular baskets on two different but connected water filled cylinders; then fill one basket with ten monkeys, the other basket with eleven monkeys. The basket with eleven monkeys is heavier so it will go down and the ten-monkey basket will go up.

Now make the baskets larger and of concrete and fill them with all size floating boats and lots of people, add one inch extra  water in one of the baskets and you have a “lift lock.   A fun way to ascend to the next canal!

We cruised through the lift lock and on to six more locks finally reaching Lakefield, exhausted but feeling good.  Ceci Kay came through one lock with us on their kayaks.

We tied up at the town dock, had drinks with Scott and Meredith on Thunderbolt and settled down for the night.

The current temperature is 81 degrees, humidity 31%.  Oh Hum!

Lift Lock

Lock 21

Peterborough Lock

cute little student lock master

Peterborough Marina

Kayaking through

Lift Lock

Fountain in Marina

All the lockmasters were happy; nature was watering their plants again. Torrential rains at lock three of seven. Thunderbolt and Ceci Kay pulled over. Do we keep going? (it is only noon).  Oh well, we are wet anyway. On to Campbellford and as before, the rain stopped just as we got to town.

A town dock wall with electricity, water and Wi-Fi, it is a real find. The town has a “world famous” bakery with cream puffs and butter tarts, a cheese factory, and a very large replica of a Toonie, the two-dollar Canadian coin. The clouds parted long enough for us to see the sights but they did not part long enough for us to attend the county fair.

You would think that with all this rain the boat would be forever free of spiders but it seems to just drive them into smaller and smaller crevices.

The next morning, partial showers and six more locks, brought us to Hastings. The town has a grocery store, a liquor store and a hardware store, all in walking distance. We never pass up a hardware store. In this one we found the motion sensor lights to put on the out side of the boat to dissuade critters from joining us.

The Trent Severn Waterway is a 241-mile intricate inland system of rivers, lakes and canals connecting Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay. First nation tribes created the trails, river routes and portages along the valleys of the Severn and Trent Rivers. The official building of the waterway began in 1833.

It finally happened! About Lock 4 on the waterway out of nowhere, torrential rains: the first bad weather we have had in Canada. By the time we got to Lock six everything on the fly bridge and near the doorways, especially the carpets were soaked through. Our shoes, gloves and clothes were saturated even foul weather gear was not enough.

The rain subsided just as we were docking onto the last available slip.  Our stern was in the channel, but the lockmaster said we were the last boat through for the night so we could stay in that precarious position. No argument from us!

Two other Looper boats were on the wall, Thunderbolt and Ceci Kay, time for hot showers and docktails on the sun dried picnic tables.

We were happy!

Herb garden

typical lake house

Lockmaster’s house

Lockmaster

The Trent Port Marina boasts beautiful flowers, colorful shower rooms, free laundry facilities and floating docks. The Marina is within walking distance of great restaurants, a pharmacy, hardware store, grocery store and farmers market. It is a gem!

We walked everywhere. Harbor Host, Eric and Karen provided excellent written information on how to get around town and onto the Trent Severn Waterway, our next leg of the journey.

Jade and Elwood, fellow Loopers, joined us briefly, they are returning home to start again another day.

Noon again before departing; the skies are looking very grey.

Sign should be on every marina

Marina

Me and my friend

flowers everywhere

watering the street flowers

Flowers

Marina

colorful

There is an easier way than we have taken to get across southern Canada but hardly as picturesque. We have been through at least eighty locks since the beginning of this journey.  We are now“ master lockers”, I just created that term but it seems very apt. Teamwork has us whipping through the locks like we have done it eighty times before.

Outside of the locks at Newboro, near the end of the Rideau Canal we rendezvoused with fellow Loopers and DeFever owners, Diane and Steve on Aurora. Travelling in opposite directions we managed to spend a pleasant afternoon together reminiscing. They have the same boat as ours but somehow it looks very different. Perhaps it has something to do with the new paint job, updated doors and teak finishing on Aurora.

The City of Kingston, nicknamed the “Limestone City” is known as the freshwater sailing capital of Canada and is a gateway to the Thousand islands. The city built in 1673 abounds with history and was the base for the Great Lakes British Naval Fleet.

All the marinas in Kingston, our destination, were full so we anchored a dinghy ride away from the city, in Navy Bay.  There were three boats in the beautiful anchorage; one of them was “Life’s TraVails”, a Looper boat, with Tom and Paula aboard.  Hello!!!  They jumped in the water and swam over to meet us. I am sure they are a lot younger than we are.

swimming to their boat

Life’s TraVails

stepdown Lock

watching and filming us

Lock wall needs a little dutch boy

Kingston Navy school

Aurora

Smith Falls boasts a Wal-Mart, an auto supply and an enormous hardware store; a must stop for Denny.  We docked by a lovely Canadian Park with beautiful flowers, water fountains and electricity. Walked to the hardware store and stocked up on bug killer and cleaning supplies; those bugs make a mess when you kill them. Lots of boaters and fun lovers saturated the park.

The next morning Denny rode his bike to the auto store and Wal-Mart. We left about noon and reached our anchorage at 4pm. Thankfully an early evening!

Seemingly out of nowhere, while anchored on the Rideau River a bug bit me on the only uncovered part of my body, my finger.  It immediately started to itch and swell. How far up my arm is the itching? Will it subside? If I take medication, it will put me to sleep for 24 hours.  Problem solved!  I jumped in the water after Denny, he was in there checking the props. A pleasant surprise, the water temperature was about 78 degrees. Cooled everything down!

Waiting for the lock to open

Testing the waters

scenes of the canal

Lots of these pretty places

A picturesque canal with a myriad of locks, the weather is beautiful, the nights are cool and the days warm, everything is green, the Canadians are bemoaning the lack of rain but we are enjoying it. It does bring out the floating vegetation though; we had to stop three times yesterday to clean out the sea strainers.  Denny could win a prize for being the fastest sea strainer cleaner in North America.

Last evening we tied up at the lock wall in Merrickville and took a long walk into the cute artsy town. We were too late getting in and everything was closed.

Nightfall found us, flashlights in hand and beaming into the dark, about fifty yards from the boat in the woods, it is very still, but buggy.

Yipes! Was that a small animal?   “My computer says it is right here, turn your maps on” where does it say we are? My find your phone app is locating.  Things are not complicated enough I have to misplace (lose) my I-phone. “Call me! I can’t hear any ringing”. Thirty minutes later, I realized that the app could remotely cause your phone to make a noise. Ding, Ding, Ding, where is that faint noise?  There it is, back on Dream Seeker, tucked under a chair in the salon with the ringer turned off. Those Apple guys think of everything!

Relief is short lived. Woke up to huge quantities of small dead white flies covering the boat. Out came the brooms and shovels (they felt like shovels but were more like dustpans). Overboard went dead flies and live spiders. Life on the Rideau!

Lock

Dream Seeker at Merricksville

repair complete

Hand crank for lock gates

landscaping on the Locks

landscaping on the Locks

Lock

Dream Seeker at Merricksville

repair complete

Hand crank for lock gates

Word Press won’t let me send videos and pictures in the same blog(at least I can’t figure out how) so I will send two videos in the next publishing.