Fenelon Falls to Penetanguishene on the Georgian Bay

We are currently at Bay Moorings Marina in Penetanguishene on the Georgian Bay attending a “Looper Gathering” of 20 or so loopers that have made it this far. Many of them, we met in Charleston, some along the way, and the rest, here. Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will depart up The Georgian Bay into the North Channel and should be in Lake Michigan in 2 – 3 weeks. Our goal is to be south of Chicago by Labor Day.
At the last posting, we had arrived in Kawartha Lakes on the Trent Severn at Fenelon Falls. The first picture is "Still Busy" tied to the lock wall in Fenelon Falls as a tour boat departed the lock. Crystal, Trevor and the kids – Maija and Ethan – met us at Trevor’s parent’s – Jack and Donna Shea - house for the weekend. Jack and Donna joined us on the boat for drinks on Tuesday night and picked us up on Wednesday night and Thursday night for dinner at their beautiful house on Cameron Lake. On Friday, Crystal and family joined us on the boat and we took the kids through the lock at Fenelon Falls and anchored in the bay close to Jack and Donna’s house for the weekend. The grandkids even slept on the boat Friday evening. What a great time with family and new friends. We can’t say enough about the hospitality of both Jack and Donna – they made our visit to Fenelon Falls even more enjoyable.
We departed Cameron Lake late Sunday afternoon and traveled to the other lift lock on the canal at Kirkfield. This lock is really remote but we did find a small restaurant across the road from the lock for dinner. We were very surprised, when we walked in, to see NASCAR pictures everywhere and life size posters of Dale, Jr. on the walls. The owner obviously likes NASCAR and his wife was very interested to find out that we lived close to Mooresville and made us promise we will send her a NASCAR postcard from the Mooresville post office when we return home. This picture was taken at the bottom of the lock after tie up and the next picture was taken of Jack on the bow as we locked down at Kirkfield.
We left the lock early Monday intending to travel 30 or so miles. The weather was perfect – sunny but not too hot with low humidity and a slight breeze. Because of the ideal canal traveling conditions, we were able to travel 62 miles to the second lock we have looked forward to (the first was the lift lock in Peterborough). The Big Chute is a railway lift that lifts the boat out of the water on slings and carries you over a roadway and “refloats” the boat at the other end. All of this as you are required to stay on the boat. Quite an experience. The next two pictures were taken from the bow as we traveled over the road to the waterway on the railway.
The canal locks are behind us – 114 since leaving NC – and we are now into the Georgian Bay and the 30,000 Islands. We have traveled almost 2000 miles and have put close to 300 hours on the engines - that's a lot of gas - since departing Charleston on April 16th. We are amazed at the sights we have seen so far, Once again, we are looking forward to the adventures and challenges of the next leg of the journey. The scenery we will see in the next few weeks is supposed to be some of the most beautiful of the entire voyage as we anchor in protected bays with rock bottoms and incredibly clear (but cold) water. This final picture was taken as we departed the last lock on the Trent Severn - our last lock until we are in the western waters of the trip.

Trenton to Fenelon Falls

At the last posting, we were in Trenton, at the beginning of the Trent Severn waterway. We departed Trenton on Saturday, July 4th and are now in Fenelon Falls on Monday, July 13th. In the last 9 days, we have traveled 154 miles and 33 locks with 100 miles and 12 locks to go before we arrive in Georgian Bay. We will be in Fenelon Falls for 6 days as we visit with Trevor, Crystal and the grandkids on Cameron Lake. So far, the Trent Severn has been everything we were told – very scenic and beautiful. Of the 9 nights we have traveled, all but one night we were tied to a lock wall in the numerous towns we have had the opportunity to visit. After departing Trenton, we stayed at Frankfort, Campbellford( the first picture is a group of loopers on the wall), Healey Falls, Peterborough, Lakefield, Buckhorn, Bobcaygeon, and now Fenelon Falls. In the last week, we have seen the Canadian Air Force precision flight team practice for a show, seen “The Turkey Capital of Ontario” but did not see a turkey, stayed at a lock wall beside a very active and loud campground, attended an open mic day at a local Royal Canadian Legion beer garden(picture on the right), had dinner in an 18th century house and ate blackened kangaroo as an appetizer, toured a chocolate factory, crossed the dam on a swing bridge while riding our bikes, attended an outdoor music festival in Peterborough( a British band "The Proclaimers"),locked through the famous “Peterborough Lift Lock”( an amazing experience), navigated through “Hell’s Gate”,which is one of the most beautiful and tricky parts of the trip we have seen so far – a lot of rocky islands with houses accessible only by water(see pictures below). In Bobcayeon, we attended an art show at the Kawartha Settlers Village, saw the trophy head of the first cattleo – a cross between a cow and buffalo, shopped at the largest shoe store on the waterway- over 40,000 shoes on display (Pia did not buy any shoes???), had a milk shake at the Kawarthas Ice Cream Factory, and sat on the lawn behind the museum for a Sunday evening Country Western concert – actually just a local family country band. All in all, a pretty dull and boring week.(lol)

On our last night in Bobcaygeon, we had the opportunity to visit with some fellow loopers and took this picture as we all joined for snacks and drinks by the wall. Pictured with us are Joe and Punk from "Carolyn Anne", Fred and Linda from "Young America", and Ron and Margie from "Meander 1". We hope to see all of them up the waterway in the coming weeks as we spend the next few nights visiting family.

Canada Day - Kingston to Trenton

The few days spent in Kingston were packed with sightseeing at the local museums, tour of city hall, visit to Fort Henry (built to protect the city from American invasion), and local festivities on Canada Day. Everyone was dressed in Red and White so we dressed accordingly, joined the crowd and became Canadians for a day. The marina was downtown adjacent to the park so we were at the center of all the activities. Many of the pictures below were taken in and around the marina as we enjoyed live bands, hot dogs, and fireworks on Wednesday evening. Great time had by all!
On Thursday, we departed the marina in a steady rain, headed to the North Channel of Lake Ontario to Trenton – 71 miles. Trenton is at the entrance of the Trent-Severn waterway and, as I write this posting, we are at a marina at the entrance of the canal. As mentioned in the previous post, the Trent Severn is 240 miles and 45 locks providing passage from Lake Ontario to The Georgian Bay. These locks include the world’s highest hydraulic lift – 65 foot vertical lift - at Peterborough and The Big Chute Marine Railway lift. We have often heard that the Trent-Severn could be the most beautiful part of the trip. Based on the beautiful scenes we have seen so far, the T-S must really be awesome!
Our timing is good – when we were in Annapolis we were able to sit on the bow of the boat and watch the Blue Angels practice for the graduation at the Naval Academy. The Canadian equivalent – only Air Force – is putting on a show tomorrow and actually practiced today over the marina.