Lots of beautiful anchorages. Port Rawson, Parry Sound, Snug Harbour, Regatta Bay, Alexander Passage, Britt, ON. July 5-13, 2018

Typical Georgian Bay view.



The photo below is Niki and Craig departing in the morning.  Niki had commented about how hard it is to deal with the anchor pulling with releasing the bridle, spraying mud off the rode, securing the anchor, etc.  Julie has told numerous women on various vessels about her piloting the boat when we set and pull anchor.  In her words, that is the easy job.  So Julie encouraged Niki to try the pilot role instead of "anchor wench".  Well, look who is anchor wench now!

After Niki and Craig departed on Thursday we noted that we were supposed to get some pretty strong NNW winds and the SE corner of Port Rawson with its long fetch would not be a great place to be.   So, I set out in the dinghy to explore a couple other Port Rawson anchorages that would be appropriate.  I went to “Shotgun”, an anchorage we had seen on our way in on Wednesday which was then occupied by a sailboat.  But the boat was now gone, so we pulled anchor and headed over there.  It was a beautiful spot.  

We spent the day cleaning, floating and generally beating the heat.  One item completed was the retirement of our fender covers that have served us well for 129 locks!  Kenny and Kathy, take note, the covers are finally gone!

As predicted, the wind came up overnight with 25 knot gusts registered, even in our protected anchorage.  In the morning we had not moved but the wind gusts were still very strong.  I was doing some route planning and not really paying attention to our position.  Julie came up to the salon and said, “look where we are, we are dragging anchor!”.  Luckily, we just dragged lengthwise in the cove and we were able to start the engines and motor back up the cove and reset the anchor.  It remained windy and much cooler throughout the day, so it was a good day to read and putter around.  In the evening it calmed down and the evening was delightful.

Saturday morning we departed for Parry Sound to take a slip, recharge batteries, re-provision and get a pump out.  A narrow section along the way.

Upon arrival we went to get pizza and it was good!

In the afternoon, Julie got busy with laundry and I tried to get her to go on a sea plane ride of the area.  She is not big on small planes so did not go along but I was able to snag a seat on the 4:30 flight.  They had to weigh each passenger to be sure the four seater plane could handle the pilot, the other couple who had booked the plane and me, the "tag along" fourth passenger.  Well they said all was fine but it sure seemed like our takeoff took a long time!  But it was a fantastic flight around the area for 35 minutes.

We spotted Jeff and Sharon (Yachts of Fun) whom we had met at the Christmas in June celebration in Orillia.  Here is Yachts of Fun docked near us in Parry Sound.  By the way, this boat used to be owned by Jeff and Ann, the Harbor Hosts in Gananoque who visited us there!  Small  cruising world....  Jeff and Sharon hope to start the Loop in a year or so too.  

We went to dinner with Jeff and Sharon and their travelling friends.  Wellington's  had some very good prime rib for a very reasonable price.  On our way to dinner....which way is it?

The sunset view from the marina on our way back from dinner.

Sunday morning we took a nice walk along the trails in town and tried to go to the observation power but the trail was too muddy.  But here are some photos along the way.

We planned to leave Parry Sound on Sunday morning so we called to arrange a pump out at the town docks and readied Sum Escape for departure.  I was untying lines and disconnecting power while Julie fired the engines.  Well, at least one engine, the port would crank but not fire.  So I tried to start it too, but no go.  Hmmm, what's the issue now?  So I changed into engine room appropriate garb to see if I could diagnose anything.  But before I went to the engine room, I shut off the port engine circuit breaker and turned it back on, let the preheat cycle on the engine run again and bam, she started right up.  Perhaps it sat too long after turning on the circuits when we tried to start it the first time?  Who knows, it is a computer controlled engine and this is the first time we have ever had this phenomenon.  Anyway, we got underway and had a nice cruise to our anchorage.  

We looked at staying at Kilcoursie Bay, a very popular anchorage with a nice beach but it being Sunday there were many Jet Skis and small boats racing around the bay and many boats anchored so we pressed on for Snug Harbour.  This turned out to be a very protected and nice anchorage, even though there were a few cottages around too.  

This also put us within 2 miles of our next planned anchorage where we will meet Dave and Sue (Manana) and two other boats.  You may recall from the last post that they had dinghyed out to see us in Chimney Bay and were on a short cruise and we all agreed to stay in touch and try to hook up.  So we left the anchorage around 11:30 as they said they would arrive around noon.  Sure enough, there they were taking turns entering Regatta Bay and dropping a bow anchor and tying the stern of each boat to shore.  We joined the raft up.  Such great hospitality was given to have us join them. The other two boats were Dave's brothers, so it was a family cruise they allowed us to join for a couple days! Three rafted, we will be the fourth.

 Our Helpers!

We all took a nice dinghy ride over to the other side of Franklin Island on Tuesday. 

We also went to Gilley's for dinner on Tuesday night.  Thanks you so much for picking up the tab Dave and Sue, we will reciprocate on our return trip back through the area in 2019! They had Kawartha ice cream too!

When we returned from dinner we shared a blueberry pie we had baked during the day with the group and had a good time reminiscing about the mutual friends we have made on the Loop.   

We left the 4 boat raft off anchorage on Wednesday after spending a couple wonderful days with our Canadian friends Dave and Sue (Manana).  Our destination was Alexander Passage, a short 17 or so miles away.  The waterway certainly became even more narrow and one had to pay attention!  We also avoided the Hangman Reef where we were warned a vessel of our size could have some difficulty negotiating the sharp turns.  

 Narrow channels.

We anchored in about 10 feet of water in a rock and tree lined bay along the Passage. 

Later in the afternoon we were surprised by some folks from Grand Haven, MI.  Gary and Carol (Reflexions) left on the Loop last August and plan to finish this August.  Gary lived down the street from me when I was growing up in Spring Lake.  I kept my 12’ boat with 6HP motor at his riverfront home for a couple summers when I was in junior high.  We used to “cruise” the Grand River in our two boats, sometimes even venturing out into Lake Michigan to “jump waves”.  Or following the barge on the river so close the pilot would holler at us to get back.  Boys will be boys.  Carol graduated from high school with Julie too…small world.  My Mom had told me Gary and Carol were on the Loop as she keeps in contact with Gary’s Mom.  We’ve sort of been “watching“ each other’s position so it was nice to finally meet up.

Weather forecast on Friday looks a little iffy for running outside to the next inside portion of the Small Craft Channel so we will plan to take a slip at Britt for a couple days.  That will also allow us some much needed exercise after so much anchoring out!  

The marina we chose was Wright's and as we were signing in we talked about Loopers in general and they informed us Luc and Sylvi (Lil Hide Away) were returning to the marina today to complete their Loop!!  We met them on the wall in Campbellford a few weeks ago.  We joined a group of folks on the lawn in the evening for champagne and snacks to celebrate their Gold!  Congratulations!  Small cruising community it is...

One more note.  We added a couple videos to the last post (July 9 entry) you may enjoy.  Couldn't post those on the phone network but did so with the wi-fi here at the marina.  We hope you enjoy them.

We will be anchoring out the next few days in the French River Provincial Park.  We will not have internet for a few days until we arrive in Killarney on July 19.  We hope to post an update there.  Thanks for following our blog adventures.

Cruising the Canadian Shield. Chimney Bay, Beckwith Island, Indian Harbour, Port Rawson. June 25 to July 4, 2018

The ancient geological formations of the Canadian Shield.  One of the world's largest geological continental shields, the core of the North American continent.  It is known as the 30,000 islands area.

John and Pam (Heart’s Desire) picked us up as planned on Monday afternoon.  They decided we should take a 45-minute road trip to personally see the Big Chute Marine Railway “Lock” for ourselves.  It was a fun ride through the countryside and was so nice to get to know each other a bit better.  We learned that they met in high school, have been married almost 40 years, etc.  Amazing how much we really have in common.  
A quick story.  We asked about their boat’s name.  Well, John once received a birthday card that promised him whatever his “heart desired”.  Well, you figured it out, they now have a beautiful Viking motor yacht!  
They had originally said we would just see the area a bit, but after our Big Chute exploration 

they also took us back to their beautiful waterfront home on Lake Simcoe and we had appetizers, drinks and they cooked us a wonderful mango/orange salmon dinner on the grill!  What hospitality!

  
We also learned that they winter near Fort Myers so we promised to look them up while we are in Longboat Key this late Fall /early Winer.  We are so glad we got to know you John and Pam!  Thanks again for all the hospitality!

When we got home on Monday night, we had cocktails with fellow Loopers Craig and Niki (Joy Girl). These are the first Loopers we have encountered in quite a while. Here is their boat on the now empty docks after the big weekend Christmas in June celebration.

They invited us to their boat and we got to know them a bit.  We may run into them as we both migrate north toward Killarney. 

We also discovered that the guest head had been pumping all day long and water was still in the bowl.  So that means the vacuum leak is elsewhere in the system.  I pulled out the steps to the staterooms and emptied all the stored items from the area to be able to access the vacuflush unit.  Yep, “poo” was seeping out of the top of the bellows.  Time for a rebuild. 

Tuesday, I called around to find someone and all were scheduled out about a week.  Every time we have a head issue this is the story.  Can’t say I blame anyone, it is certainly not a pleasant job.  But I did source the parts locally and found a you tube video on the replacement procedure.  Looks simple enough so that will be the next project for me.  The generator also received a new fuel pump on Tuesday. Hopefully that will solve our intermittent fuel starvation problem.  

We went to the Viet Thai Restaurant for dinner and tried the pho and spring rolls too.  It was so good!  Thanks Ken and Georgi for the recommendation.

Wednesday the diesel mechanic replaced the “hump hose” connectors on both engines (rubber connector between stainless steel exhaust and the fiberglass portions of the exhaust). They had dried out and one had split from heat and age.  The starboard side had spewed diesel soot and exhaust water around the engine room a bit (which I have already cleaned up).  I also tackled the head project.  The only tough part was lying on my stomach with arms stretched about as far as I could stretch them for over an hour.  But I got the head back in working order.  Julie says I should be Vacuflush certified by now with all the projects I have completed on the systems in our boat!

We also walked the Lightfoot trail around town a bit.  

Gordon Lightfoot the singer was born here, and a number of things here honor him.  We certainly enjoyed our stay in Orillia!  I should also mention that the marina is only a couple years old and is very, very nice and the attendants are so helpful and friendly too!

Well UPS failed to deliver on Wednesday (new male cord connector for short shore power cord). When I called them, they said they had failed to get it on the truck for local delivery so we had it forwarded to Killarney.  Orillia was nice, but 6 days is enough.  Glad they had the “pay for two nights and the third is free” special though! Hopefully the other cord remains in working order until July 19 when we arrive there,

We left on Thursday morning with the destination of the Waubic Inn, a waterfront restaurant that is supposed to be a “must stop” which also has overnight slips.  Fog on our way out of the marina for the first few miles.  First time we have run radar in a while.  Had to leave the mast up and drop it for the first bridge so we could use it.  Thankfully Julie's brother Kevin fabricated a crutch that makes it a very easy task for us.

Because we were worried about all the traffic for the upcoming Canada Day celebration over the weekend, we decided to just do lunch and continue on through the locks to get out of the Trent Severn and into an anchorage for the weekend.  When Julie called the restaurant to cancel our overnight stay, we learned that they had a refrigeration issue and would not be open for lunch, so we pushed on and completed all four locks.  Empty docks and umbrellas closed for lunch hour...

After the first couple hours on the water though, I got a back spasm that I could not shake.  Julie took over the piloting duties for some very narrow and windy areas, (zoom in to see the narrow channel ahead)

while I laid on the floor and tried to do some exercises to stretch/relax it.  Remember that time lying on the floor on my stomach repairing the Vacuflush?  Well my back certainly did!  It was a struggle handling lines in the three conventional locks.  The famous Big Chute Marine Railway was actually a very easy lock.  You just pull in as far as the lockmaster (or is it railway engineer?) instructs and they place your bow and keel on the bed of the railcar and suspend the back of the boat off the end of the car so running gear is not hitting the base of the car.  Talking to the lock operator for instructions.

Up on the top of the hill. 

Weird feeling but they do 7,000+ boats per year so we trusted what they were doing.  As it was a Thursday early in the season we were the only boat on the lift.  And luck would have it that local harbor host Lori was there taking pictures so here is Sum Escape going through the Big Chute!  Thanks Lori!

OK, did anyone notice anything awry with the port side propeller when viewing the last photo?  If you zoom in closely you will see a line hanging off the prop.  I think it is a line that was ripped off one of our fenders as we remember a “snap” and noticed that line missing later in the day.  We think it was untied on one end and got fouled in the prop.  I will have to investigate when we get to an anchorage with clear Canadian water!
Here is Joy Girl in a slip at a marina along the way.  Perhaps our paths will cross again!

A narrow stretch along the way:

We made it through the smallest and last lock in the system!  This is lock number 129 for us in our travels since August 2015 when we set out on our cruising lifestyle. No more locks until about this time next year as we will be storing the boat in Michigan this winter.  It will also be nice to be able to leave the electronics mast in the upright position instead of raising and lowering it. 

There are some pretty good currents leaving this lock and it is very narrow, so we are glad we travelled this last part of the Trent Severn system on a weekday.  

We proceeded to an anchorage in Chimney Bay just off Beausoleil Island.  

This spot was recommended to us by Ken and Georgi, the harbor hosts in Lagoon City/Orillia.  They indicated it would not be too crowded, even on Canada Day weekend…we’ll see how that prediction holds as we get into the weekend.  Only the one other sailboat in the above photo when we arrived.  But what a beautiful spot!  Thanks so much for the recommendation Ken and Georgi!

Friday morning, we got up and decided to hike the Fairy Lake trail on the island, about a two hour hike over mostly rocks with some moderate climbing and descent involved.  We chose Friday as the weekend is forecasted to be hot, hot, hot.  What a gorgeous hike.  

We met some Canadians on the dock who gave us a run down on the trail including the warning to be on the look out for bears.  This turned out to be good advice.  As we were going down a side trail to Frying Pan Bay to check out the boater’s dock and overlook there, we heard a large dog barking on the boater’s dock.  We decided to turn to our right and go to the overlook first.  

Well, there he/she was, a black bear looking right at us about 20 yards away!  That will get your attention!  The dog continued to bark, and the bear lumbered off into the landscape fortunately.  While we were first frightened by the fierce barking of this dog and its owner’s yelling stay, it turns out it was fortunate the dog was there as the barking probably helped the bear decide to leave the area.  Here is our second sighting as we were continuing our hike.  Oh, and these rest rooms are locked as there are new ones close by...so no hiding from the bear in here! The black bear is just to the left of center in this photo with its shadow on the rocks.

Look who came while we were on our hike!  Joy Girl anchored near Sum Escape.

While on this hike we had one other scare.  There are Mississauga Rattlesnakes resident in this part of Canada and there are warnings to be on the lookout for them too.  I was walking along a trail and as I looked up at a sign I spotted a coiled-up snake on top of the sign.  I jumped but then realized it was a warning sign with a 3D image of the snake to be on the lookout for.  Julie got a good laugh out of that one….her fearless hike leader frightened by a warning sign!

I also took a swim to investigate the line on the port prop.  Yep, it was our fender line!  After three or four dives with the snorkel mask I was able to unwind it.  Funny we never noticed any vibration or other issues.  

  We just love all our friends in the boating community!

Later in the day our friends Dave and Sue (Manana) who we met on the river system in October 2015 dinghyed over to welcome us to Canada and specifically their boating area.  They found us on either AIS or the AGLCA “Meets” app and it was so nice of them to run over to Chimney on their dinghy all the way from Penetang harbor where they keep their boat.  Thanks so much for taking the time to come out to see us and all the anchorage recommendations, we will be using on our way to Killarney!  It was great to see you again!

We were also visited by Glen and Janet (Grand Cru) who dinghyed over and said, “hey you must be Tom and Julie. Welcome to Chimney Bay”.  They were alerted of our presence in Chimney Bay by Ken and Georgi.  Glen and Janet are friends of theirs and they wanted them to help extend more welcome to Canada greetings.  Canadians we have met are just super welcoming and friendly.  It is a pleasure to be able to enjoy their country and wonderful boating here.  We also dinghyed over to meet their boys and large pet pig "Gary" who is actually a female.  Ask us about this long story some day...

Mike and Marie (Aqua Fennatic) also dinghyed over to say hello.  They are anchored in a raft up in Long Bay a few bays away from Chimney.  They were just taking a dinghy ride to cool off on a hot day and noticed Sum Escape at anchor, and in usual Canadian friendliness stopped to say hello.  What a small world!

Saturday night after a hot, but relaxing day floating in the water and enjoying all our Canadian friends who visited us to welcome us to Canada we had a small incident.  First let me say we had a bit of an omen of this incident when finishing our trail walk on Friday.  The friendly couple on the boater dock had made a comment that our American flag was quite large and “people” were talking about it. He said we should consider that it is Canada day weekend and think about where you are.  I, in a friendly, non-confrontational tone, told him we were following maritime etiquette and in doing so one flies the home port flag as usual but also flies a Canadian flag on the right side of the mast…which we are doing.  Didn’t really give it another thought.  Well at least until a gentleman from the boat on the other side of the dock dinghyed out at sunset to strike up a conversation.  First it was the standard “nice boat” greeting but it quickly deteriorated to you are disrespectful flying that large flag, Trump this and that, your country is all screwed up, etc.  We tried to diffuse the rant with “well aren’t we all blessed to be living in North America where two free countries enjoy freedom, etc”.  But he wasn’t having it and the rant continued.  A neighboring Canadian sailboat blew their horn and shouted “Leave those folks alone” to which he had some choice words back to them.  Even a “good night now” would not get this guy from continuing his rant.  Julie was very concerned about what this person’s further actions might be.  But there happened to be a Parks Canada patrol boat nearby and he came and positioned himself between us and the dinghy and the folks on the other boat came out in their dinghy and towed him back to his boat.  He was issued a citation for harassment.  Ontario Provincial Police also visited his boat later.  Our guess it was alcohol fueled and the other dinghy came out to tow him so he was not “operating” a motor vessel. In fact, here you can see him paddling his dinghy as the Park Officials approach him (he came to our boat under engine power)

I guess there are extremists on both sides of the border and our flag just set him off.  Every other Canadian we met was appalled by this person’s actions and we are not going to let one hot head change our perspective on the welcoming, friendly Canadians we had prior to this encounter and continue to have.  Enough on that.

Sunday (Canada Day) was another scorcher and we took a long dinghy ride trying to find Mike and Marie (Aqua Fennatic).  I had found the Bay on my iPad, so I thought I knew where we were going.  We transited Little Dog Channel to head that way.  Cool little short cut.

I was running Navionics on my phone, but it did not show Long Bay in the description.  And the bay we thought was it showed only “uncharted” depths.  Not wanting to risk any rocks versus dinghy props (rocks always win) we never did find them.  We did make it all the way to the other side of Beausoleil to Lost Bay and met some more very friendly Canadians who tried to direct us as well.  Long story short, when I got back to the boat to compare Navionics to the AquaMaps on the iPad I determined I just had failed to have the Navionics on “sonar” charts.  As soon as I flipped that setting the bay depths showed up and looking at our track on the app we were about a quarter mile from Mike and Marie!  Oh well, lesson learned and probably a good one as it is always good to have a backup navigation system.
It was so hot we decided to float over on our chairs to meet our neighbors and met Darrin and Darlene (Just Cruze’N) to the left of Sum Escape.

Darrin insisted I drink a Molsen with him while floating and we also had them over for cocktails and conversation that night.  Another super friendly Canadian boater couple.  And some great recommendations on anchorages.  Darlene, here is your report on dinghying around Peacock Island...in a word, beautiful.  Water is so clear you really don’t need your handheld chart…except to find your way back out of the exploration and back to the wonderful Indian Bay anchorage!  There is also a small marina just north of the anchorage where I was able to refuel the dinghy.  Oh, and they had Kawartha ice cream, so I had so sample that too!

We left Chimney early on Monday (which is actually the Holiday as Canada Day fell on a Sunday) so we wanted to beat the exodus from anchorages.  We timed our departure to arrive at Paragon marina so we could get a pump out and some groceries prior to a few more days on the hook.  Locals told us to take Big Dog Channel even though the cruiser guide said large boats should not.  They all said to just call a securite’ when doing so.

  
It was really only narrow at the exit near the marina by Honey Harbor.  The kayakers needed to get out of our way to make room!

We got to the dock about 10 minutes before 9 but a friendly boater helped us tie up and told us they would open at 9.  

Perry also directed us to the store and Julie set out walking there in the extreme heat.  But Perry wasn’t having that, he hailed yet another boater, Donna, who jumped in her dinghy and took Julie to the store that way!  The store and the park.

She walked her dogs and waited for Julie to get our groceries. One of the Morkies sat on Julie's lap on the ride too!  Another couple examples of the friendliness of Canadian boaters we are meeting!   And the dinghy in the photo of us going through the narrow cut above was actually Donna...she was coming back from Chimney Bay too.  

We did set a new record for pump out cost though.  $40 wow!  Well at least it is Canadian dollars….

We left after topping off our fresh water, getting groceries and pumping out we were on our way by 10 AM. By the way, the water was Georgian Bay water which ran through a filter and UV light.  As you may recall, we always test our water supply before putting it in our tank and it tested better than many metropolitan water supplies we have used!

Our destination was Beckwith, Hope or Christian Island, depending on wind direction for the best anchorage.  

As we travelled there, we met countless boats leaving the anchorages there.  As we said, the holiday is ending today so everyone is heading home.  It was like we were going the wrong way on a one-way street!   

On our way, the cold front passed with a few low hanging clouds and some gusty winds. Boy did it cool off!  The high temp was about 70, a welcome relief from all the heat.  We arrived shortly after noon at Beckwith East anchorage.  There were only a couple dozen boats there at this time, but we were told about 200 boats were there over the weekend!  They call it the Caribbean of the north....check out the clarity of the water.

The winds went down during the afternoon and we launched the dinghy.  I took a ride around the other side of the island to check out the beach there too.  Another nice one, but the winds were blowing into that anchorage and I only saw one boat there.  Around 5, the beach was getting vacated so we dinghyed ashore for a walk.  Another small world story.  As we walked a couple was sitting in their chairs and said “hey, I’m the guy from Saturday”.  Great, it was our “friend” wanting to discuss his harassment citation.  What are the chances we would end up in the same anchorage some 20 miles away!  We kindly told him we did not make that choice and after a brief conversation continued our walk.  We probably should have turned around and got back in the dinghy, but we didn’t.  The long beach walk just looked too inviting.  We had to walk past them again on our way back.  This time his wife/girl friend walked down to the water’s edge.  Julie was on the phone with Jordan, so she continued on.  This woman was trying to make peace, so I just bid them a great winter in Florida (as we learned he goes there in his rant on Saturday) and continued on.  Man, we need to get somewhere without this guy!

Tuesday morning, we left the anchorage in a lazy fashion and headed to another. 

This anchorage, Indian Bay, was recommended by Darlene on Sunday and proved to be a nice one again.  

We did not know it, but Craig and Niki (Joy Girl) had been anchored on Monday only a few miles away from us at Christian Island.  We told them our destination and they decided to join us, arriving an hour or so after us.  The only “issue” with this anchorage was that it was along an alternate small boat channel route and most folks did not slow to no wake in spite of 6 or 8 boats being anchored there.  In fact many slowed to a “bow up” speed which is actually worse!  I would rather have them head through at full plane so they would make less wake! 

 A rock sculpture called an Inuksuk.  Quite creative.  Looks like he is hitchhiking.

We launched our dinghy and I went about 2 or 3 miles north to a small marina to get some fuel as noted earlier.  Then we joined Craig and Niki and the 2 dinghies went exploring the Peacock Island area, just across the small boat channel to our west.  It was a beautiful little exploration trip, the rock formations and tress are so beautiful here.  More swimming upon our return. The water is now in the mid 70s and oh so refreshing on a hot day. 

Independence Day brought another beautiful and hot day.  Our destination was about 20 miles, the Port Rawson area for another anchorage.   The plan is to snag the SE corner anchorage where the sunsets are supposed to be the best.  Craig and Niki will also join us to help celebrate the holiday.  

Bugs!!!

Upon arrival the corner spot was indeed available.  

We launched our dinghy and I put the destination of Henry’s Fish Restaurant in the Navionics app on my phone.  I tried the “auto routing” feature and sure enough it plotted a course to the restaurant, 5.6 miles away.  We picked up Craig and Niki and had a beautiful ride, a nice lunch (albeit a long wait for the food) and a drink to celebrate the 4^th of July.  Here is the Pennsylvania Club, established in 1896.  What a cool spot.  

A photo along the way.

I even had Georgian Bay shrimp as an appetizer.  What you never heard of Georgian Bay shrimp?  Well maybe that is because they are deep fried smelt!  But they were yummy, I haven’t had them in years.  And the pan-fried pickerel, AKA walleye, was great too.  The restaurant is another famous stop and supposedly seaplanes land regularly to eat there too.  I guess being in the middle of the week and at lunch we should have expected that we would not see any. 

In the evening, Julie decorated the boat for Independence Day and we started the genset for some much-needed air conditioning and battery charging.  We picked up Craig and Niki to join us for a sunset snack of popcorn and potato chips, some American traditions (no room for hot dogs after the big lunch at Henry’s) a beverage and conversation as they will be heading out in the morning and are on a faster pace that we are.  

We have about 120 miles to go to Killarney for our Grand Banks Rendezvous on July 19.  So, given we have 14 days to get there we only need to travel about 10 miles a day.  I like this pace.
More when we get another connection!

June Statistics:

Miles travelled:  Month:  367/ Trip to Date: 12,266

Travel days: 15 / 268

Engine hours: 99 / 1339
Locks:   44 / 129
Bridges opened: 92 / 108

Days on hook or free wall: 6 / 119

Gallons of diesel:  280 / 9605