Day 336: Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Port to Port: Kirkfield Lock to Bridge Port Marina (Orillia, Ontario)
Underway: 7:58 am Motor Off: 2:20 pm Miles Traveled: 19 Stayed At: Marina
First Things First: First snowbirds heading south (sort of) towards the Caribbean – boat of them sailboats with their masts down.
Mile 169 to Mile 198: No, not Cindy’s birthdays (that’s tomorrow) but, as of today, we have been through 99 locks just in Canada. That’s amazing. We could probably lock through with our eyes closed (although I wouldn’t recommend it). We have definitely gotten our money’s worth on our Seasonal Lock Pass – only about $1.50 per lock. What a deal.
We had to wait for a bridge opening at 9 am so we didn’t have to start too early. We cooked a hot breakfast including some perfectly done blueberry muffins that we shared with Carina. We meandered through the (sometimes very narrow) canal and efficiently locked through 5 locks (and 3 swing bridges) before we started our crossing of Lake Simcoe. It was a little windy on our port (left) quarter but Aurora and Boris did wonderful.
We are only a little over a day from Severn and the end of our canal journey. The Trent Severn has gone way too fast. We have missed some things but had lots of fun experiences. I wish we had another week to savor some of the great anchorages, locks and towns along the way. Next time, I guess.
After a lumpy but uneventful crossing of Lake Simcoe, we motored up the channel and stopped at Bridge Port Marina. We haven’t had a marina day for a long time so it is a well deserved stop. While Cindy did a couple loads of laundry, I scrubbed the boat from top to bottom (a lot easier with a hose than a bucket). This marina even had a vacuum like they do at car washes so I took the opportunity to clean the cushions and get the dirt and dust from under the floorboards. A nice job done. In a couple of days we get to put the mast back up and be a sailboat again.
Dinner was a T-bone (on the newly fixed grill), some red potatoes and fancy salads. We squeezed in long hot showers (the showers here are in our top 5 for the trip – new, clean, lots of hot water and several to choose from), worked on the blog (crappy internet though), read for a little while and crashed.
