Day 350: Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Port to Port: Blind River to Thessalon, Ontario

Underway: 7:56 am      Motor Off: 1:00 pm      Miles Traveled: 32      Stayed At: Marina

Mile 82 to Mile 114: Thessalon will be our last stop in Canada (if all goes according to plan). We exchanged our leftover Canadian money back into US dollars and spent the last of our change on ice cream. Thessalon is another place where we stopped in 2002 – back then, the municipal marina was only a couple of years old and it basically hasn’t changed much since. It is still a good deal though. We were the only transient boats in the marina this time. The season is winding down. We heard from a Looper boat last night that Spanish Marina at the beginning of the North Channel was closing for the season already. That’s a little freaky.

Our little travel group split up a little today. Spiritus headed straight to Drummond Island to check back into the US at customs and we headed, with Carina, northwest to Thessalon. This will make tomorrows jump across less than 3 hours and we can have some time to explore near the marina at De Tour.

Our journey up the coast was uneventful – warm sunshine, calm seas and a light breeze made for perfect travel conditions. We even got a little wind assist for a few hours making the trip a lot more fun. We were tempted to take a left and head for Drummond Island about 4 miles before Thesselon but we decided to relax and stop one more time in Canada for old times sake.

The marina hasn’t changed at all from 2002. Just aim for the blue roofs and it will guide you straight in. The two girls on duty greeted us on the dock, tied us up and even laced our extra dock line nice and neat. This place is a bargain – the bathrooms are clean and spacious, the staff is very helpful and the lounge on the second level is really comfortable. I remember the girls sprawling out on the carpet upstairs and catching up on their trip logs here in 2002.

After we docked and checked in, Cindy and I grabbed a couple courtesy bikes and went on a tour of downtown. We were early enough to do a little shopping before everything closed at 5 pm. We found the pizza place where we hoped to eat dinner but it was closed – I guess the guy randomly picks which days he wants to be open. We got a few groceries, exchanged our Canadian money back to US money, checked out the library internet, found a family restaurant on the edge of town that looked promising for dinner and staked out an ice cream shop for dessert. What more could you ask for.

I spent a couple hours updating the blog and checking the weather before going back to the boat to get Cindy and we went out to a nice dinner. It would have been perfect if I had remembered to save half of my dinner for tomorrow. I may not have room for ice cream in a couple of hours.

These small towns along the north shore of the North Channel and Georgian Bay are all connected together by the Trans-Canada Highway. Thessalon is lucky in that they have a normal downtown without hundreds of semis driving through day and night. It’s struggling but some of the businesses seem to be doing well. The stores in Blind River were all located right along the busy, noisy highway. I like the former a lot better than the latter.

I hopped on my pinkish red one speed cruising bike again to look around the edges of town for interesting picture op’s and had a déjà –vue moment. I was riding along the river going along town and suddenly remembered walking along here with the girls in 2002 and finding an ice cream social at one of the local churches. It is really weird how our brains work – why would I still remember that and what triggered the memory as I bicycled along. Strange.

Right now I am sitting in the library – they reopened after a two hour dinner break – and am looking forward to bringing some ice cream home to have with our fresh peaches – they aren’t Mountain Lion but we tested them and they were delicious. I’m drooling already.

Day 349: Monday, August 19, 2013

Port to Port: Clapperton Island to Blind River, Ontario

Underway: 7:11 am      Motor Off: 2:10 pm      Miles Traveled: 48      Stayed At: Marina

Mile 34 to Mile 82: As the bright orange sun rose over our quiet little anchorage, we motored out and around Clapperton Island and headed straight west. Our original plan (our original plans hardly ever end up being used so why bother – just start the motor and see where you end up) was to anchor out one more day but, as we motored on, everyone simultaneously decided that we should keep going a few more hours to Blind River Marina (we would have been done before lunch had we stopped at our original anchorage). Blind River gives us the option of going across to Drummond Island and getting back in the US tomorrow or having a short day and heading up to Thesselon before hopping over to the US. We shall see which “plan” wins out.

We had an uneventful voyage today – the forecast winds did not materialize. We only saw ripples across the water. The wind we did see was…can you guess?… right on the nose the whole day. Conditions were ideal for sailing except the wind direction. Hopefully we will have better luck on Lake Michigan.

Spiritus caught up with us early afternoon – they left the cove over an hour after us – and led the way into Blind River Marina. We stayed here in 2002 and we met an older couple on the sailboat Odyssey who adopted us and showed us around the North Channel. It was a highlight of our trip.

After finishing some boat projects (what else is new), Cindy and I rode the courtesy bikes into town to get gas and a few groceries. We had three different people ask if we wanted help getting the gas cans back to the marina. We finally said yes after they tipped over just past the station while full. A guy we had said no to at the station stopped again and this time I took him up on his offer (ok, I’m a slow learner). I put the cans in his SUV and he drove them to the marina and actually dropped them off at the boat. Can you believe that? What a nice thing to do – thank you again.

When we shared this story at docktails, we heard another story about one of the other boats while they were in the locks. They were chatting about what they were going to make for dinner – tacos – and they commented that they didn’t have any nachos. Some women just watching the boats lock through happened to hear the conversation and, when the boats arrived at the next lock, there she was with two bags of nachos. She wouldn’t take anything for them. Canada had been an amazing place.

We enjoyed maybe our last docktails together for a while – Eddy and Linda are planning to go straight across tomorrow and we are “planning” to go to Thesselon. That could change before morning, though. Except for the fact that Cindy tried to knock me out by doubling the amount of alcohol she normally puts in our margaritas, we enjoyed sitting at a picnic table just enjoying each others’ company. We fully expect to cross paths somewhere again – there are still a lot of miles to cover before we finally head north up the Mississippi again for home. Plus, it’s not that much fun to play Quiddler with two people. (By the way, I won again tonight even though I was still feeling the effects of Cindy’s double shot magaritas). One day at a time.

Day 348: Sunday, August 18, 2013

Port to Port: Killarney to Clapperton Island

Underway: 8:55 am      Motor Off: 3:55 pm      Miles Traveled: 34/34      Stayed At: Anchor

Mile 0 to Mile 34: All is quiet again at the Killarney Mountain Lodge. The Loopers have all moved on to rockier pastures. We are probably the last large group of Loopers they will see.

We never thought this day would come but we only have a few more hops before we get back into the US (if they will have us back). Then we we have to get ready for hopping down Lake Michigan.

We started the day with a hearty breakfast. We had planned to go to the Lodge for the experience – this is a classic old-school resort – but the brunch was a little pricey and they were full with guest reservations. So we wandered down to our favorite cinnamon roll bakery –The Gateway Restaurant – and had a great breakfast with our friends on Spiritus and Carina. I had already walked down there right when they opened and got a couple hot-out-of the-oven cinnamon rolls – one of which did not make it back to the boat. We also bought a large tub of their homemade strawberry jam – it tasted just like the jam we usually make at home about this time so it will be a welcome treat over the next several weeks.

We had another nice travel day – our first full day on the North Channel. Even though it was Sunday, hardly any other boats were out enjoying the sunshine and comfortable temperatures. Just the way we like it. We sailed a little, had dead calm seas for a while and pounded into some waves for the last hour or so. Never a dull moment. We were 5 minutes too slow getting from Killarney to Little Current and had to wait an hour for the swing bridge there that only opens once an hour but we just turned off the motor and sailed back and forth while we were waiting.

After a productive and leisurely travel day, we pulled in in front of Spiritus – they were lounging on cushions on the bow of their boat reading – anchored and waited patiently for the North Channel Water Taxi Service (Kent) to come pick us and our drinks up for delivery a few hundred feet away to Spiritus. Kent and Jane know the cruising grounds around Eddy and Linda’s hometown of Navarre Florida really well so they have a lot in common to talk about. I think we are all starting to get excited for the next phase of our trips – getting back into the US (cheap gas, bigger towns, more shopping choices and new experiences) and starting our way down Lake Michigan – our next big challenge.

Day 347: Saturday, August 17, 2013

Port to Port: Killarney, Ontario

Underway: 0:00 am      Motor Off: 0:00 pm      Miles Traveled: 0     Stayed At: Marina

First Things First: First time seeing wild otters playing in the water; first boat in movie.

Mile to Mile: Since we got most of our boat projects done yesterday, today was a day for rest and relaxation (and a long walk and eating and calling home and docktails and a movie).

I started the day early walking to the other side of town to get some amazing hot cinnamon rolls at the Gateway Restaurant (one didn’t make it back to the boat) and trying to finish getting the blog caught up. One problem with the internet here is that they only give you a limited amount of data – only 70 megabyes – which doesn’t last very long when you are uploading 20 pictures per blog post at 1.5 megabytes each. I ran out twice yesterday and had them reset it. A pain in the butt. This is how they ration their bandwidth among all their guests. No Netflix movies here.

After a painful few hours waiting for pictures to load I finally got caught up and joined Cindy, Eddy and Linda for a long walk with a detour to the Red Bus for another round of fresh fish and chips. Killarney is small so we were pretty much able to see the whole town in less than 10,000 steps. It felt good to walk, though, after all of our anchoring out. After getting back, I took the computer down to the Sportman’s Lodge to use their much better internet – 5x faster and unlimited and open – and called home on the computer – GMG, Sarah  and Jim. I also downloaded some charts for Michigan onto the computer. I was a happy camper.

I finished just in time to head back for 5 pm docktails – only about half of us left here but we had fun solving the worlds problems (not). After another enjoyable gathering, Cindy and I and Eddy and Linda wandered back over to the fast internet and called their parents to say hi. They hadn’t been able to talk for a long time so it was a wonderful way to catch up. We hope to meet all of them some day. We finished our R&R day watching a DVD – Captain Ron – on the computer. It is a must see movie for seasoned Loopers – you can relate to the Captain Ron-isms and it is, after all, about a boat and on the water. Five stars.

Tomorrow we probably split up for a while – we are going with Carina about 40 miles to an anchorage by Amedroz Island and others are going to Baie Finn – a beautiful fiord with a small sheltered pool at the end. Hopefully we get to connect up again – reunions are always fun to look forward to.

Day 346: Friday, August 16, 2013

Port to Port: Tie Island Killarney, Ontario

Underway: 7:13 am      Motor Off: 12:05 pm      Miles Traveled: 31/43      Stayed At: Marina

First Things First: First free marina; first marina with a sauna; first marina with a seaplane landing pad.

Mile 22 to Mile 65: Today was worth the wait. The wind died overnight and we awoke to blue skies, sunshine and calm seas. Time to head to Killarney. We headed out following Spiritus and Carina into Georgian Bay. Before we got past the last rock in the Bustard Islands, we had our main and jib up and full close hauled and heading straight for Killarney.

The morning kept getting better and better. The swells left over from yesterday die off, the wind shifted a little closer to a beam reach and we kept sailing. After a couple more hours, Georgian Bay was almost flat but we still had a nice shore breeze to keep up moving well above our normal motoring speed. For the last 2 hours we were “flying” along at a steady 6.7-6.8 mph. It was a joy to be on the water.

Before we knew it we had to slow down, take the sails down and enter the channel leading to Killarney. The marina we found space at was the Killarney Mountain Lodge – we happened to stay at this same marina in 2002. The girls loved it – they got to swim in the pool twice in the same day and even got to play billiards in their game room. It hasn’t really changed in all these years. I could even remember which dock we stayed at back then.

At first they didn’t have room for us but we could have stayed at a mooring ball. We stopped at the gas dock to figure out what to do as Spiritus and Carina got tied up and found out they had a cancellation so they had room. We decided to stay where we were but the best surprise was when we went to pay – boats under 25’ are free. I had to ask the guy three times if he was telling the truth. What an unexpected surprise. Another benefit of a small boat.

The next surprise was all the friends from Kingston that pulled in over the next couple of hours. We ended up having an amazing docktails with old and new friends including Irish Attitude (Mike and Gay), Journey (Rick and Margie), Harmony (Bob and Janet), Spiritus (Eddy and Linda), Sun Gypsy (Rick and Leila + Nora and David) Carina (Kent and Jane) and Free at Last (Steve and Meredith). It was like old home week.

A bunch of us wandered down to the Red Bus to try out the “famous” fish and chips and, since Eddy and Linda were with, we couldn’t pass up the nearby ice cream shop that was closing in 10 minutes. Of course, everyone else didn’t want them to enjoy their treat alone so we all had cones too. What an amazing day on the Great Loop.

Day 345: Thursday, August 15, 2013

Port to Port: Tie Island (Blueberry Cove)

Underway: 0:00 am      Motor Off: 0:00 pm      Miles Traveled: 0      Stayed At: Anchor

Mile to Mile: We had hoped the wind would die down and allow us to travel towards Killarney but it was not to be. The forecast this morning was for 20 knot winds again which wouldn’t be bad in a protected channel but we have a 16 mile stretch in open water with a long fetch that would make for a very uncomfortable ride. We all decided to stay put and try again tomorrow.

So, another down day, another book (and craft project) done. Later in the morning, I went over to Carina (I kept their dinghy overnight) and Kent put the motor on and we went on a wonderful 2+ hour tour of the little bays and coves near our anchorage. It is a stunningly beautiful landscape. It is amazing to think of how old these rocks are and the processes that carved them into their infinitely variable shapes. Pictures just don’t capture the scale and colors and shapes that you see up close. Kent and Jane have done a lot of whitewater kayaking and canoeing and I think Kent thought we in a kayak – we snuck into some of the narrowest rocky channels to explore the small hidden bays – and we only scraped against the rocks a couple of times (thanks Kent for the memorable tour).

We have been out at anchor so long we are getting close to running out of a few things – we have about 5 liters of drinking water left, a few cherries, a couple apples, cereal and some nuts. We have lots of spaghetti and we can make pancakes, so we won’t starve. We do need a marina soon, though to restock, use the internet for a while, take real, long, hot showers and reconnect with the outside world.

We had another fun happy hour on Spiritus. We brought a special treat – hot blueberry muffins – which we finished cooking on Spiritus. The blueberries were fresh from the woods yesterday. Muffins and cocktails may seem a little strange but, for some reason, out here, it works. There wasn’t a crumb left.

Before we said goodnight, we enjoyed the sight of a pair of bald eagles soaring along the shore along Blueberry Cove (our new name for our current home) looking for food. Even though we are getting a little antsy for civilization, we aren’t looking forward to leaving our little part of heaven here.

In Passing: Hook Island, Eagle Island, Cameron Bight, Dreamers Bay, Passage Island, Serpent River, Spotted Island, Beardrop Island, Berry Pickin Island, Moodle Rock.

Day 344: Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Port to Port: Golden Sword Island to Tie Island

Underway: 7:04 am      Motor Off: 10:01 pm      Miles Traveled: 14      Stayed At: Anchor

First Things First: First time picking a bunch of blueberries to share; first time seeing a water snake swimming by shore.

Mile 8 to Mile 22: After a good nights’ sleep – our steadying sail kept us pointed into the wind very nicely – we pulled anchor at 7 am on a cold but sunny morning. We decided to get a little closer to Killarney before the winds kicked up again today and we wanted a little better wind protection. These short days are fun. We were re-anchored before lunch and, in the protection of the islands surrounding us, it was actually warm.

After doing a few boat projects (fix a leak, improve the riding sail and rearrange some things), Kent came over in the dinghy and brought Cindy and I to shore to explore a little and stretch our legs. I found some nice patches of blueberries and Cindy had a baggy so we picked enough for a snack at boat-tails tonight. What a wonderful treat. It almost makes us want to make pancakes for dinner but Jane and Kent invited us over for chili tonight so we will just have to snack on them.

Eddy and Linda came by in the dinghy and I went to shore with them to show Linda where the blueberry bushes were. Linda and I picked a whole pint and I had to drag her back to the dinghy (“but there are more blueberries, we can’t leave now”). She decided to name our little anchorage Blueberry Cove – a perfect name I think.

Kent came over about 5 pm to pick us up for happy hour and dinner (we have our dinghy deflated and on deck because it creates too much drag when we tow it a long way). What a great party. We shared snacks – including freshly picked blueberries – drinks and a bowl (or two) of great chili. Kent and Jane even gave me an early birthday present of a super simple siphon hose for getting the gas in the tank without having to lift and hold a heavy gas can. Just before sunset, Kent serenaded us (as usual) with a long mournful blow on his conch shell. Life is good in Blueberry Cove.

In Passing: Golden Sword Island, Free Drinks Passage, Burnt Island, Queenie Island, Wedge Island, Moose Bay, Dead Island, The Shirt Tails, Strawberry Island, Bustards Islands.

Day 343: Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Port to Port: Golden Sword Island

Underway: 0:00 am      Motor Off: 0:00 pm      Miles Traveled: 0      Stayed At: Anchor

First Things First: First time using a steadying sail.

Mile 8 to Mile 8: What a difference a day makes. Yesterday was a perfect travel day. Today was a perfectly awful day. It was windy, cold and overcast. The wind never let up. We all decided to stay put given a forecast for winds of 20 knots with gusts to 30. Why move. Our anchors are holding. We are comfortable and reasonably well protected. We have lots of food. And we have friends nearby to talk to on the radio.

We haven’t had a real down day in a long time. When we stay an extra day at a marina, we always seem to fill the time with projects. We still worked on a few projects but mostly just relaxed and read or worked on fun projects. Cindy finally had time to figure out how to make some nautical woven coasters – it took a while to get the hang of it but she ended up making 6 of them – they look perfect. I read a whole book and had time to write two blog posts, do a little planning, backup some photos and make a steadying sail to help keep us from swinging so much in the wind. Kent helped instruct me how to rig it over the radio (it just so happens he has written articles about the topic before – lucky for us). I just modified and jury-rigged an old piece of sailcloth we had with and it worked amazingly well. Instead of swinging back and forth 120+ degrees, we are only swinging about 20-30 degrees. The boat is a lot more comfortable and stable.

We chatted and laughed a few times with our friends on Carina and Spiritus. It is comforting to know we have friends nearby.

I think we have been in Canada too long – some people (I won’t mention names) thought they saw snow today. Since the temps were probably in the 50’s, it was just mist blowing around but they still used the “s” word. It does remind us, though, that we need to keep moving to keep ahead of the seasons or we may see the real stuff soon enough.

Tomorrow doesn’t look much better than today but we’ll just see what the day brings and plan accordingly. Maybe just a short day to feel like we are making progress and experience another beautiful Georgian Bay anchorage.

Day 342: Monday, August 12, 2013

Port to Port: Regatta Bay to Golden Sword Island

Underway: 6:28 am      Motor Off: 2:45 pm      Miles Traveled: 49       Stayed At: Anchor

Mile 17 to Mile 63 and Mile 5 to Mile 8: After a beautiful, quiet night in Regatta Bay, we left early to put some miles under our boats on a perfect travel day –  bright sun, light winds and temperatures in the 70’s. Spiritus goes faster than us so they dawdled until 7:30 am and caught up with us late morning and continued on past the Cunningham Islands to find a good anchoring spot for the night for us.

Navigating in the small craft route on Georgian Bay is not for the faint of heart. It would be a lot less stressful (and less risk of disaster) to be sailing in the middle of the ocean. The route is fairly well marked but you need to be very careful not to drift out of the channel (rocks everywhere) and be a mind reader in some areas trying to figure out what the buoys mean. We missed one left turn that didn’t make sense and had to take a detour around some more rocks to get back on track. Never a dull moment though.

We did get to actually sail for a couple of hours when the route took us out into the open bay. What a joy to have the sails up again – we added a few points to our speed and the sail kept up steady in the lumpy swell hitting us from across Georgian Bay. Plus we look a lot prettier with our sails up.

  Even though we had a long day (in miles), by early afternoon, we found Spiritus relaxing at anchor in a private little protected bay just east of Golden Sword Island and we soon joined them. The amazing thing about Georgian Bay is you could probably anchor in a different cove or bay for a lifetime of vacations and never stay in the same place twice. Life is too short.

After finishing some boat projects, we all made our way to Spiritus for happy hour and conversation. It is a treat to share the stories of our days and lives with each other. It’s a highlight of everyday.

After happy hour, we stayed on Spiritus to have dinner and play another brutally competitive game of Quiddler. I don’t know what happened – I must have been tired or distracted by the amazing sunset – I didn’t win this time. It didn’t help that in one hand I was dealt a CZQWRTY (or something like that) and I ended up with minus 42 points for the hand. Eddy quietly laid down hand after hand and won just barely beating Linda – a fact he enjoyed sharing with her over and over again. Hopefully I will have a chance to reclaim the title of Quiddler Champion soon.

We may have a down day tomorrow – the weather is supposed to change and kick up some wind and a little rain. Maybe we will get a nap or two for a change.

Day 341: Sunday, August 11, 2013

Port to Port: Starr Island to Regatta Bay

Underway: 8:44 am      Motor Off: 4:24 pm      Miles Traveled: 37/39      Stayed At: Anchor

First Things First: First time eating at Henry’s Fish Camp.

Mile 24 to Mile 56 and Mile 10 to Mile 17 : Before we went to bed last night we had planned a short day to Echo Bay, another stop from 2002. But, the more we thought about it, we decided to tack on some more mileage while the traveling is good. So we re-plotted  the course and decided to aim for Regatta Bay, also a 2002 stop.

Aurora led the way (we are the slowest boat) and, after some more weaving and rolling, found our way to Henry’s Fish Camp. It is one of those places that is living off of it’s past and the fact that there isn’t any other place to eat for miles around. So lots of people end up here – it is even a popular float-plane stop. The food wasn’t special but at least we can now say we’ve been to Henry’s now.

We got ice and headed out to finish up our next 20 miles on another great travel day. The wind died off a little as the afternoon wore on and we enjoyed the ever-changing scenery. Spiritus was first in to Regatta Bay and we anchored nearby followed by Carina. Eddy came over to pick us up for a shore break. We were in awe over the terrain – massive glacier scored granite bedrock, green lichens, crunchy, dried up moss and small trees and bushes made up the landscape. We even found one tiny outcropping of sweet ripe blackberries (Eddy had four and I had three).

We enjoyed another nice boat-tails on Spiritus as the sun set over the granite islands and I won Quiddler…again. What more could we ask for?

In Passing: Starvation Bay, One Tree Island, Devil’s Elbow Channel, Peacock Island, Smooth Island, McMurry Rocks, Snow Island, Frying Pan Island, Pancake Island (making me hungry),  Beauty Island, Parry Sound, Peachy Island.

Day 340: Monday, August 10, 2013

Port to Port: Midland, Ontario to Starr Island

Underway: 7:21 am      Motor Off: 11:36 pm      Miles Traveled: 24/19      Stayed At: Anchor

First Things First: Hit 5,000 miles about an hour out of Midland.

Mile 5 to Mile 24: We set sail (actually just motored) out of the marina a little after 7 am headed toward our first anchorage in Georgian Bay only a few hours away. After we left the protection of the bay, the waves built up and gave us a lumpy ride until we entered the small craft route farther north. It would have been perfect sailing conditions if the wind hadn’t been on our nose most of time. After weaving in and out of hundreds of islands (above the water) and thousands of rocks (below the water) we wound our way into an amazing little cove by Starr Island. What is even more amazing is that, I found out after reading Jess’s trip log (that she wrote during our 2002 trip when she was 13), we stayed in this same bay in 2002. I had no idea when I randomly picked this spot before leaving Midland. How cool is that.

I led the way in and scoped out a private little cove with no other boats in it and found that the chart date was a little inaccurate. We anchored in an area charted as 2 feet but found 9 feet of water. Carina followed our lead and anchored a little farther out to get enough swing room. It was a little hard to stop cruising before noon but this is one place worth spending the time to enjoy.

The sun was shining and the surrounding islands blocked the wind so I decided to lay down on the cockpit seat and soak up a little sun while resting my eyes for a few minutes. I had barely closed my eyes for 5 minutes when, for some unknown reason, I looked up and saw a trawler passing by on the small craft route on the other side of the island. I only got a 10 second glimpse but it looked a lot like Spiritus (or 100 other trawlers we have seen on this trip). I couldn’t tell for sure but I told Cindy to hail Spiritus on the VHF Ch 16 (which we haven’t been monitoring for a long time). She did it twice. Amazingly, we got a response…from Eddy…again. I saw the boat appear on the other side of the island and, instead of taking a left along the small craft route, they looped around and slowly motored into our little cove and happy reunion number 43 was soon underway. What are the odds?

After they got anchored, we swung over on our anchor line and rafted up with them and got caught up again from our chance encounter a couple days ago. Going ashore here is a must – the scenery is, as Eddy calls it, prehistoric. Billion plus year old granite sanded smooth by mile high ice sheets and covered with small tenacious trees, plants and flowers. We even found some ripe raspberries as a treat. Kent from Carina motored over too and we did some minor exploring in the warm afternoon sun. It turned out that Carina and Spiritus met before in Tarpon Springs after the horrible crossing of the Gulf.

After our explorations, we did a few boat projects and regrouped for boat-tails and snacks on Spiritus at 5 pm. What a great time. There was only a short dicey period when Jane came onboard – Eddy and Linda are Auburn fans and Jane is an Alabama fan – their gang colors didn’t match. But after some good natured ribbing and discussions of past winning seasons, all was well in Friendship Bay (our new name for this beautiful anchorage). Kent and Jane have sailed a lot in Eddy and Linda’s backyard of Navarre, Florida so they had a lot in common to talk about. What a lucky string of events to have this memorable little get together happen.

After Kent and Jane dinghied back to Carina (as Eddy and Linda sang the Auburn fight song for Jane’s benefit), we whipped up the fixings for tacos and had another party on Spiritus. We ended the evening with a rough and tumble game of Quiddler (kind of like Scrabble with cards) – I won – and said goodnight.

Day 339: Friday, August 9, 2013

Port to Port: Midland, Ontario

Underway: 0:00 am      Motor Off: 0:00 pm      Miles Traveled: 0      Stayed At: Marina

First Things First: First time getting cash from a cash machine while on the trip.

Mile 5 to Mile 5: We have two sailboats again ready for fair winds and following seas. Carina got her mast stepped today. It was a longer and more involved process than it looked. But, except for a few minor hiccups, Carina can now have S/V (sailing vessel) in front of her name again – and so can we. Cindy puppy sat Squirt – Kent and Jane’s CSO (Chief Security Officer) while I watched and took pictures for a while. I soon decided I could be more productive getting yesterday’s blog loaded and finished…while sitting by the pool…on a perfect sunny late summer day. And people think we are roughing it.

Later in the day, Cindy and I got a ride from one of the crew here at Bayport Marina up to Walmart. Of course, they didn’t have the two most important things that I was looking for – propane canisters and gallon bottles of 2 cycle engine oil. We still spent money, though and are now ready for at least a week of beautiful anchorages in Georgian Bay.

After we got back, we walked into downtown Midland to browse and check out the waterfront park. Midland is hanging on and trying to keep their downtown vital and healthy but there were a fair number of empty stores waiting for some creative entrepreneurs. We did find a couple nice shops, a small grocery store and did some much needed banking.

Since power is included in the slip fee, we plugged in and charged a few devices like the portable drill, spotlight and camera batteries during the day. We also took advantage and made rice in the rice cooker for the first time in weeks. We added some rotisserie chicken and salads to make a quick and easy dinner.

By the way, have I mentioned how expensive some things seem here in Canada. Ontario is not as bad as Quebec but a couple of examples from today stand out. We split a chicken bacon wrap meal at McDonalds for lunch and the total was $9.06 – for one meal. We also bought a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store and it was $10.95 compared to $5.99 to $6.99 at home. Expensive chickens I guess. Gas is almost $5 a gallon too making for a little higher fuel budget. It is what it is but we are beginning to appreciate how good we have back home.

We are excited to be moving on tomorrow and maybe, just maybe, we will get to do a little sailing on our way to our first stop.

Day 338: Friday, August 8, 2013

Port to Port: Swift Rapid Lock to Midland, Ontario

Underway: 7:00 am      Motor Off: 5:15 pm      Miles Traveled: 24/21      Stayed At: Marina

First Things First: First time seeing beavers; first time getting Aurora hauled out (if only for about 10 minutes at Big Chute).

Mile 224 to Mile 240 (Trent Severn) Mile 0 to Mile 5 (Georgian Bay): Today was the end of the Trent Severn leg of our grand adventure and the beginning of the Georgian Bay leg. We left the lock exactly at 7 am and cruised peacefully down the channel past lots of cabins, boat houses and granite cliffs. It’s hard to describe this part of the Trent Severn. Mix green of every shade and texture with granite greys, pinks and black, throw in endless varieties and sizes of buildings tucked in randomly along the shore and perched on tiny islands and add a blue border in front of everything and you might get close. We wove in and out of narrow channels and small bays until we finally saw Big Chute – the only “lock” where your boat is lifted completely out of the water, carried up and over a large granite outcropping and dropped back in the lake on the other side. It’s a pretty amazing experience.

Click Here: Big Chute

We were early and had time to wander around and take pictures of the “car” which carries up to 9 boats at a time. We followed Carina in and, in less than 15 minutes, we were carried up and over and down and were on our way again. And to think, this was originally designed decades ago to be a temporary solution while they finished building a typical lock at this location. Now it has become a tourist attraction and unique experience for thousands of boaters each year.

We motored another 8 miles and arrived at Severn – the official end of the Trent Severn. As we wove our way through the seemingly random red and green buoys past a large marina we heard someone yelling “Aurora, Aurora”. We looked around and who do we see but our friends Eddy and Linda waving their arms on the end of the dock. What an amazingly small world. We took a quick left (after radioing Carina that we were making an impromtu stop) and had a wonderful and unexpected reunion. We ended up visiting for several hours catching up on our respective adventures, having lunch and hoping that we will meet again in the near future.

Believe it or not, the Severn Lock was our 103^rd lock in Canada. Yikes! It happened to be one of our fastest locks, too. We just drove in, tied up and as we were starting down, Eddy and Linda popped up over the top for one last goodbye. Eddy even helped the lockmaster crank the gate open to let up out. We miss them already.

We motored under the bridge and out into Georgian Bay following the small craft route. We passed right by the little bay where, on our first trip here, we anchored and took our mast down so we could go under the same bridge traveling the opposite direction. We left the route and crossed the bay to Bayport Yachting Center in Midland, Ontario where we met back up with Carina. They are getting their mast re-stepped tomorrow morning. We untangled all our lines, reconnected everything and lifted our mast back up where it belongs all by ourselves. It’s nice to be a sailboat again. On to new adventures.

Total Miles: 4,997

Day 337: Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Port to Port: Bridge Port Marina to Swift Rapids Lock (No. 43)

Underway: 6:51 am      Motor Off: 12:03 pm      Miles Traveled: 26      Stayed At: Lock Wall

First Things First: First time making coffee cake in camping oven (Cindy’s birthday cake)

Mile 198 to Mile 224: With a forecast for storms this afternoon, we considered staying at the marina but the skies looked good in the morning so we headed out to try to get to Big Chute Marine Railway about 32 miles away. We had good weather and a favorable current so we made really good time and got to Swift Rapids Lock by noon. It started to rain a little so we decided to stop on the low side (50+ feet down from the top) for the day. Then the sun came out and confused us. Should we stay or should we go. In the end, we just decided to stay and enjoy a beautiful, secluded lock and celebrate Cindy’s birthday with Carina.

I didn’t have a recipe for a simple white cake mix so I made a Bisquick Coffee Cake – hey, it’s still cake. Jane even had a candle for me to use. We decided to have pizza on the grill so Carina contributed the crust, onions, cheese and pepperoni and we added leftover spagegthi sauce with hamburger, more cheese, fruit and cake and we had a wonderful birthday party with friends. Cindy even got a long quiet nap after lunch.

Dark clouds moved by on and off all afternoon but we never got any significant rain and, by late afternoon, the skies cleared and we had a beautiful sunset. We were sitting on the boat after the lock had closed and heard someone yelling “Aurora” from the top of the lock and discovered that our friends on Irish Attitude, Journey and Harmony finally caught up with us again – almost. They are on the top side of the lock so we will still be in front for at least one more day. We joined them and chatted for over an hour – the only thing missing was our docktail drinks – poor planning (it’s 9 flights of stairs back down to the boat so we just suffered).

After catching up with our friends, it still took us over an hour to get back to the boat since we ended up chatting with three groups of people on our section of dock – two power boats and some canoeists who were camping. What a great way to end an awesome birthday.

Oh, but wait, it wasn’t over yet. Jess and Sarah made a conference call using Google Hangout and we sacrificed some expensive Canadian cell phone minutes so they could wish Cindy a Happy Birthday. Now that was a great way to end a special day. Tomorrow we get to be sailboats again because we will be done with bridges and locks until Chicago. Time to put the masts back up. We can’t wait.

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.

Day 335: Monday, August 5, 2013

Port to Port: Verulam Park Anchorage to Kirkfield Lock (No. 36)

Underway: 7:17 am      Motor Off: 3:00 pm      Miles Traveled: 25      Stayed At: Lock Wall

Mile 144 to Mile 169: After a quiet and restful night, we left early enough to get to the Fenelon Falls Lock well before it opened so I could get gas and ice before locking through. We didn’t make it early enough so we decided to stop at the upper wall after locking through. Surprisingly, there was plenty of room for both of us. We took a  couple-hour break to get gas, use the internet, make a few phone calls and find groceries before continuing on.

The waterway was a lot quieter today than the last couple of days. Most of the boats we saw were going back home. We steadily made it through several narrow canals and wide scenic bays before reaching our destination for the night – the Kirkfield Lock. This is another lift lock but this time we went down instead of up. We were at the highest point of the Trent Severn – 840 feet above sea level – as we passed through Balsam Lake. We will finally be going downhill into Lake Ontario for the next 100+ miles – we go down 264 feet. It’s about time.

After taking apart, cleaning and reassembling the grill (it was loose and needed adjusting), we cooked spaghetti  for dinner and ate at a real table for a change. As I am writing this, the puffy clouds that were around all day have mostly cleared out, the sun is shining brightly and all it right with our world.