July 11- Kineras Bay

Our anchorage at Kineras Bay

Despite some early morning showers, and the continued high-wind warnings, conditions seemed fine for us to continue on our way. "Maya Lisa" decided to head to a marina in Parry Sound today, but we wanted to spend another night at anchor, so they headed out ahead of us, and perhaps we will catch up to them tomorrow. What is great about this trip is that we see familiar "Looper" boats from time to time, but everyone is on their own schedule. Just like yesterday, we attempted to go into another designated Canadian public land "Over-night Anchorage". Some have small docks where you can go ashore, and/or tie up to rings on the land, or moorings (if the boat is less than 35 feet). Many of the boats anchor Mediterranean -style by putting down a forward anchor, and then tying a stern anchor to a tree. Once again this kind of anchorage was not a good idea for us, because on the week-ends they are jammed, and we like a lot of room around our boat. Instead, we again went a little farther a field and found beautiful Kineras Bay, where we were the only boat anchored.

July 10 - Sans Souci (Henry's Fish Camp)

Rocks, rocks, and more rocks

One unhappy boater today missed a buoy and tore the shafts out of his boat. It sank in minutes!

Environment Canada (similar to NOAA in the U.S.) kept announcing high-wind warnings and rain on the marine radio today for tonight, tomorrow, and Sunday so we decided to travel to the famous tourist restaurant, "Henry's Fish Camp", where we could also dock over-night and evaluate conditions on Saturday. Within an hour of our arrival we were happy to see "Maya Lisa" with Hank and Ceci aboard also pull in at the dock. We hadn't seen them since the lock in Lakefield on 6/28. After we said our "hellos", we agreed to have cocktails aboard their boat with dinner afterward at the restaurant. It was fun to catch up with places they had been since we last saw them. They have lived all over the world, since Hank had a career as a U.S. Foreign Aid official, but they now live in the Fredricksburg, Virginia area and cruise on their boat about five months a year. The fried Pickerel dinner was great, and we came back to our boat to discuss our future planned stops.

July 9 - Longuissa Bay

One of many houses on the rocks

It was great to be out on the water today, and there were many boats out with us in beautiful Georgian Bay. We had to watch our GPS, charts, and visible buoys closely because THE ROCKS WERE EVERYWHERE! Every once in a while there were also bottles tied in the water to mark another newly- discovered ROCK! The scenery was almost other-worldly with homes built on rock boulders in the middle of the water. We have speculated that these houses must be built in the winter, when trucks would be able to drive across the ice with building materials. The water was also so clear that you could see how close we sometimes got to the rock ledges along the channels. We attempted to go into one anchorage today, but though it was very beautiful, the large amount of boats there did not give us a safe feeling, so we traveled on to lovely Longuissa Bay, where we were sheltered and a little farther off the beaten track. Even in this spot there were nine other boats with us, but at least we were well spread out.

July 8 - Midland

Today was our 37th Wedding Anniversary, and since we couldn't tour the area yesterday because of the weather, we decided to stay here another day. During business hours members of the marina's customer service staff are permitted to drive transient boaters to and from locations they would like to visit in the local area. We took advantage of this service and visited Discovery Harbor in the nearby port of Penetanguishene. It is an historical site which had its origins during the War of 1812, when the British Navy established a presence here to defend the Georgian Bay ports from a possible rear- flank attack by the American Navy. After the war, when Drummond Island in the North Channel was given to the U.S. by treaty, the British forces there were transferred to this fortification. We had an enjoyable time on our guided tour, and had a celebratory dinner in the town of Midland in the evening.

July 7 - Midland

We awoke to pouring rain and chilly temperatures and decided that this would be a good day to stay put at Bay Port Marina. George walked up to the office with his chart book, however, to see if there was anyone there who could suggest some good anchorages and best places to stop in Georgian Bay. We have always found that local knowledge is better than our just relying on information in guide books. This was truly our lucky day!
Ken MacDonald, the General Manager of not only this 700 slip marina, but the over-all manager of several more marinas owned by a large holding company in this area, was willing to come to our boat after closing time to go over the charts. Ken also gave us two CDs of Power Point presentations he has done for boating groups specifically about Georgian Bay and the North Channel. True to his word, Ken came aboard and spent over 1 1/2 hours with us mapping out the best routes and anchorages in these Canadian waters.
We found him to be a truly warm, wonderful person who loves this area, and we were over-whelmed by the graciousness of this very busy man who was willing to spend so much time with us to make our voyage a good one.

July 6 - Midland, Ontario (Georgian Bay)

Riding the Big Chute Railway

A one way passage rock cut - Little Chute.
A real thrill if another boat is coming the other way.

On this chilly, overcast morning at 8:30 a.m. we headed over from our dock to Big Chute where we waited to be called onto the railway. Luckily, we were the only boat there - what a difference from yesterday's madhouse! When we were called, George skillfully moved the boat onto the platform where the expert railway personnel moved three large straps under "Reflection" in a criss-crossed pattern so that she sat on her keel, but could not move from side to side because of the straps holding her steady. The aft section of the boat hung off the back of the car so that her rudder and props would not be damaged. We were amazed at the time and care we got, and when the railmen and George were satisfied that everything was safe, "Reflection" went on one of the greatest rides of her life. The view from the top of the hill before we went down in slow-motion was like being on the top of a roller coaster. In about 7 minutes we made it down back into the water, where we were quickly floated and on our way again. We motored through winding channels to Port Severn and the final lock on the Trent-Severn Waterway. This lock was the smallest we encountered, and our boat filled up the lock! When we left the lock we couldn't believe the tight little channel we had to transit to get through our final bridge. But this was only the beginning! Of course, by now the wind was blowing hard right on our nose, and we had to make our way through a series of tight, shallow channels to reach the open waters of Georgian Bay. Captain George navigated us well through the entire process and we scooted across the bay to Bay Port Marina in Midland. Because we had gone through so much this morning, it seemed to take a long time, but we actually made the trip in only 3 1/2 hours. At this point we have traveled 740 miles and have gone through 73 locks over a period of 31 days!

July 5 - Big Chute

One of many narrow passages on our way to the Big Chute

Swift Rapids Lock ("going down" - 47 feet and fast)

House on the rocks

Big Chute Marine Railway (lock)

Tomorrow it is our turn to get on board

Someone we met earlier in the trip told sister Pat that the area beyond Orillia would be some of the loveliest we would see on the Trent-Severn, and this certainly seemed so today. Beautiful small lakes, rocky islands, quaint cottages, and enormous homes with boat-houses abound in this area. We have also seen the largest amount of boats of the entire trip past the Hudson River. One of the two locks we went through today dropped us 47 feet very rapidly, but we managed everything very well even though it was just the two of us working the fenders and lines. By mid afternoon we pulled up to the public dock at Big Chute where planned to spend the night. Cameras in hand, we walked over to the Visitor's Center and observation deck where we could closely observe the workings of this marine railway lift which will carry our boat down 57 feet tomorrow. It is an amazing operation, and we watched numerous boats, as many as five at a time, enter this enormous apparatus that looked like something out of "Star Wars", and be transported over a road from one body of water to another. They looked like they were going up and down on a slow-motion roller coaster! George had a chance to talk to one of the operators, advised him of some of the nuances of our boat, and was assured that they would take good care of us on Monday morning.