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!
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!
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. Here is Joy Girl in a slip at a marina along the way. Perhaps our paths will cross again!
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.
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.
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 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!
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!
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!
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!
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.
Upon arrival the corner spot was indeed available.
Bugs!!!
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 4th of July. Here is the Pennsylvania Club, established in 1896. What a cool spot.
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!
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
Locks: 44 / 129
Bridges opened: 92 / 108
Days on hook or free wall: 6 /
119
Gallons of diesel: 280 / 9605
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