Familar Waters

Thursday we had decided to get an early start as the wind and waves were predicted to increase later in the day.  There was still a light mist when pulled anchor at 7:00am. We didn’t have it too bad as we were in the lee of the Bustard Islands.  The La Cloche Mountains were peaking out from the clouds  and while they would have stood out more against a bright blue sky they were still impressive.  We decided to push on to Killarney and skip Collins Inlet.  Bill and Pam were going to anchor one more night in Collins Inlet and arrive at Killarney on Friday.

Storms that we missed

As we approached Killarney we are now in familiar territory.  There will no longer be something new to see around the corner.  Granted we haven’t been here in the North Channel for 15 years so there is still great excitement of what is to come.  Killarney looked the same for the most part.  Sportsman’s Inn has been totally rebuilt and the facility is very nice.  We decided to do laundry but one of the dryer coin mechanisms was not working so there was only one dryer.  After a while the owner came by to look at it.  When she got it open I found John, he started messing with it.  It took him a bit but he got it apart and figured out what was wrong with it and fixed it.  Then there was the challenge to get it back together.  By the time I was done with the laundry he had success. 

After the laundry we had lunch at the fish bus and later in the evening walked over to the Killarney Mountain Lodge for a drink in the circle bar.  This was built as a company retreat for a large trucking company in the late 50’s.  Walking into the bar is like walking back in time over 50 years.  The last time we were here was with the Christy and Kelly the summer we bought our Sea Ray.  They were in college at the time and we thought they were past taking family vacations with Mom and Dad but jumped at the chance for another trip to the North Channel this time with a hot shower and a little more room.   We stayed at the lodge and took them to the bar and bought them their first drinks.  I know it wasn’t their first drink but it was the first ones we ever bought for them.  It sure brought back some good memories sitting in the bar again. 

Dean from Kismet, trying the Hula Hoop

Heberts in Killarny with some of the best white fish ever. 

The grandkids know Grandpa Loves pickles.

 Friday was bright and sunny we launched the dinghy and puttered around the Killarney Channel.

Sportsman's was hosting a get together for Jefferson Beach Yacht Club out of  the Detroit area.

LCOB ( Canadian liquor store) with a convient dock for passing boaters.

Killarney fishing vessels

Sportman's Lodge

We will stay in Killarney Firday night and then head off to anchor in Covered Portage cove and Baie Fin before moving on to Little Current.

Love to all,
Mary and John

Frying Pan Island ,Kitsilano Bay and Bustard Islands

We left South Bay Harbor in Honey Harbor at six am along with Brown Eyed Girl, Kismet and Cbay it was another nice day to cruise.

Ouch !!

Grilling at it's best

Ginny, Rusty and Bill awaiting dinner at Honey Harbor

Thanks to all the Cook's

We went through some very well marked channels on what is called the small boat channel in Georgian Bay.  This area is beautiful with many beautiful cottages along the granite shores.  We arrived our destination for the evening at Henry’s Fish Camp on Frying Pan Island.  This was a must stop according to fellow Loppers.  We had 12 of us Loopers for a pretty good fish dinner. Some times its not the food but the experience and location.  We certainly enjoyed the company.  We were able to meet Henry and he was interesting to talk to.  We had noticed that their were at least three sea planes that had flown in for lunch as well as many others arriving by boat.  He told us that he has had some well known people come in for fish in the past.  One name mentioned was Jimmy Buffet who flew his own plane in.  We were also told of the Black Bear that was seem many times down by the garbage, he had tried to shoot it the night before but had missed.  Needless to say we stayed put in the boat after it got dark that evening.

Loopers enjoying dinner at Henry's Fish Camp

more Loopers enjoying dinner at Henery's

The next day was Monday and we all left around 8 in the morning.   We ran to Killbear Marina.   It was forecast for winds to be increasing tomorrow and several of the others had decided that they would stay another day.  Brown Eyed Girl would be heading across Georgian Bay to Tobermorey so that they could then head back home and complete their Loop in the next couple of weeks. We will miss Ginny and Craig but we hope to possible meet up with them again over the winter months.

After talking with Pam and Bill on Seabiscuit we made a plan to travel with them through the small boat channel tomorrow.  They like to do some anchoring and we made our plans for the next day.

The Killbear Marina had a German restaurant on site so we enjoyed dinner with Pam and Bill, Jan and Rusty, Joe and Tara, Dean and Beth and Craig and Ginny.  The food was very good but John said the spaztel was good but not as good as the one Don makes. 

Killbear Marina at sunset

Tuesday morning we said our final good byes to Craig and Ginny.  We have said good byes before but we seem to meet up either a couple of days or weeks later.  This time was harder because we were both headed home in different directions.  We wish them safe travels on the last leg of their Loop and will work on some sort of get together over the winter.

Both John and Bill wanted to go through Canoe Channel when leaving Killbear, but Pam and I vetoed it.  We took an alternate route around it and it did not look bad at all.  We then continued on the small boat channel to Kitsilano Bay.  Both the weather and the scenery were great and the times we were outside of the channel  the wind and waves were not bad. 

There were two other boats anchored in the bay when we arrived, both from Michigan.  One stores his boat the same place we do.  Three other boats came in later in the day, one was another Mainship like ours and also a fellow Looper.  It is amazing how many Mainships we have seen along the Loop and that the company just filed for Chapter 11.  The anchorage was very nice and peaceful.

Wednesday we awoke to a partly cloudy and cool day.  Today we had to go through the Hangdog Channel.  This was a bit more of a challenge than the Canoe Channel would have been, but there was no way around it.  Again the scenery was awesome.  The clouds and wind increased as the day progressed.  We had to run on the outside for a bit to get to our next anchorage in the Bustard Islands and it was a bit uncomfortable. 

Narrow passages

John trying to pay attention, with help from the co-pilot

Seabiscuit going through some tight areas.

At anchor for the night.

The bay we anchored in was quite calm and peaceful, though where we both anchored we felt our sterns were just a bit too close to the rocks.  John launched the dinghy and Bill and him took it through a small cut to the anchorage at the other side of the island.  They came back and said it was

very pretty and a bit more protected but it was getting late and it would take at least an hour to move over there.  Bill and Pam tried to reset their anchor and ended up moving further into the bay.  We reset our anchor and got us a bit further from the rocks just as it started to rain.  The rain continued all night.  The wind shifted and because of our location we picked up the “flop flop” sound that these boats are known for.  The noise doesn’t bother John nearly as much as it does me.  It is amplified in the front cabin, so I slept (or tried to)  in the salon. 

Hugs,

Mary & John

Peterborough to Honey Harbor

We finally have a good Internet connection so here is what we have ben up to for the past week.

On Sunday we left Peterborough after waiting until the harbor opened at eight am so that we could get a pump out.  The harbormaster at Peterborough was giving different deals for dockage depending on when you talked to him, he had told us that a pump out was included in our dockage so we took advantage of that deal. There were about eight other boats leaving this morning, the lock was very close to the marina, we did not get through our first lock of the day until shortly after 10 am with all the activity.

Waiting for first lock of the day

Tight squeeze, Ivy on Karma

Our next lock was the Peterborough Lift Lock just after the first lock.  It was really a thrill, we were lifted up 65 feet, it was really something to see and experience.  

Going up!!

All most at the top

We then did five other locks before calling it a day, even though we had only traveled 11 miles, it was already 2:30 in the afternoon.  We checked into the Lakefield Marina and since they also sold ice cream we had a dish for our lunch. Yummy! We were on a face dock with Karma and a boat we had met by the name of Jan’s Tern, they were from Colorado.  John and I walked to town and did some provisioning.  We returned for dinner on board and a few more episodes of West Wing, before heading to bed.

Monday we left Lakefield Marina around 8 am with Karma.  We traveled around 21 miles, did five more locks and stayed at the Buckhorn Lock Wall for the night. We enjoyed some beautiful scenery along the way. 

Old walls along the Trent

General store at the top of one of the locks

Cottage sitting on large piece of granite

Waiting on the blue line to lock through next lock

The lock at Buckhorn

Tuesday when we awoke it was already windy.  We left early and experienced some very skinny water and passed by a couple of spots where other Loopers have hit rocks. We were lucky to avoid them this time. It was quite nerve racking.  While going through the lock in Bobcaygeon we met Marc’s Arc and Quest, it was too early in the day to stop but the town looked interesting.  Someone along the way told John about a restaurant “Just For The Halibut”  but couldn’t remember what town it was in,.  As I was reading about Bobcaygeon after we went through the lock it mentioned the restaurant.  Oh well, I’m sure there will be others

 We did two locks and traveled about 33 miles by the time we arrived at Fenlon Falls.  We pulled into to the lock at about 11:30 and as we were locking through we asked if there was any room along the upper wall.  The Lockmasters were very nice and they said that they thought we could squeeze into the spaces that were left.  With their help we did in fact fit in, plus this lock had power and water.  All along the Trent the Lockmasters have bent over backwards to make the journey a pleasant experience. We cannot say enough about how friendly and helpful they have all been.

Fenlon Falls

Reproduction of a Lock masters cabin

We decided to once again get a few loads of laundry done.  This is one thing that I am very much looking forward to NOT doing when I get home.  I cannot tell you how much it is a pain to have to take your laundry some where other than your home and sit and wait for it to get done.  You cannot leave it for fear some one else would need to use the machine.  Ok, so it’s not a great big deal in the whole scheme of things but I still would rather do it at home. We then enjoyed dinner along with three other Looper  couples who were docked with us at the Fenlon Falls Lock wall.  It was fun to meet the nice people on the boats Say Good Bye and Attitude Adjustment, along with the folks on Karma.

On Wednesday we left the lock wall and headed for our first of seven locks.  today we will be locking through and going down instead of up, we have learned that it is much easier and quicker to lock down.   Our second lock was the Kirkfield Lift Lock. The one guidebook that we have been following stated that this was more thrilling than the Peterborough Lock because the lift structure is not enclosed and you get more of a feeling of  “ hanging out there”.  We were first in line and John took Passport into a pan that was suspended nearly 5 stories in the air. The books said that “if your afraid of heights this lock is sure to thrill you”.  Well guess who is not so keen on heights.  So there I was leaning over the edge of Passport in order to tie a line on to the side of the lock wall as I looked down five stories. OMG, to say the least I thought it was pretty scary and once we were secured I made my way to the back of the boat for the ride down.   Once we were down it was no big deal and it did not take long to get down at all.  I was sure glad that this lock was done.  Karma needed to get to a marina that had Internet as they had some banking along with other needs to get caught up on,  so we bid farewell for now.  We did five more locks with out any difficulties. 

Narrow channel

Karma coming up behind us, we would not want to meet another boat

Our view from the Kirkfield Lift Lock

Hole in the Wall Bridge built in 1904

After lock 41 and the swing bridge we arrived at Lake Simcoe around 2:40pm.  We decided that the lake (which has a reputation for being difficult at times) looked pretty good and it was only 16 miles across so we decided to go for it. The winds and waves did pick up about half way across but it was not bad .  As we were pulling into the harbor at the Port of Orillla. we received a message from Sid and Evelyn from Something Special.  They were visiting Craig and Ginny from Brown Eyed Girl and Dean and Beth from Kismiet in Midland.  They drove over and we were able to meet up with them for cocktails and dinner.  What a VERY unexpected and pleasant surprise.  It was soo good to see them both again.  We only hope that our paths cross again as we have enjoyed their company many times along this trip. 

Sid and Evelyn

Port of Orillia

Thursday we left around 7:30 and we were not sure how far we would get.  We had learned from Sid and Evelyn that our friends from Brown Eyed Girl and Kismet were still in Midland so we had a chance of catching up with them as they were awaiting some repairs before heading out today or tomorrow.  We sent them a quick E mail and took off. The weather was cooler today and it was somewhat overcast so not a bad day to travel.  We hand a lot of very narrow channels to go through.  There was a railroad bridge that we waited for over 30 minutes to open.  By the time it finally opened we were number two in line for our first lock of the day with four other large boats behind us.  When we arrived at our first lock, number 42 around 10am and we learned that they had been awaiting repairs on the lock.  By the time we got through our first lock there were 16 other boats waiting to get locked through. Luckily we were able to tie up along the blue line which meant we would go through the lock with the first group of boats. 

Long wait for railroad bridge to open

Small boat that was fixing the lock

Sixteen boat pile up, waiting to lock through

After the first lock the scenery became more rugged with lots of rocks along the shore.  There were also many rocks right beside the channel just under the water.  The water is becoming clearer and the rocks are quite intimidating.  There were many really cool cottages along the way, it is amazing how they are able to incorporate them into the all the granite rocks on the islands. 

Many cottage along the shore

An owl watching us cruise by

Good place to lounge for the day

After the second lock we were headed for Big Chute, This is a railway lift instead of a lock.  After we tied up to the courtesy dock and looked over the operation, John piloted Passport onto the railway lift.  It can carry vessels up to 100 foot in length and 110 tons.  As you enter the boat is placed on straps that lift the boat out of the water and then you are transported along with the lift across the highway and over a hill then down to the lower river level, this all takes about 7 very long minutes.  Once again I am not crazy about heights and had not been looking forward to this part of our journey.  As with most things it was somewhat scary but pretty cool.

The old lift car at Big Chute

Railway looking down 

Were going to ride on that???

The boat ahead of us going over

Just a little concerned

The boats on the rail behind us

Going up

and over

Chart plotter showing up on land ( note the red arrow)

At 4:45pm today we finished the Trent after completing lock # 45.  We decided to spend the night at the lock wall and hope to meet up with friends from Brown Eyed Girl and Kismet tomorrow. As of today we have completed a total of 110 locks on Passport. 109 on the Loop and the Soo lock when we first bought the boat and brought it back form Lake Superior.

Our last lock

Friday morning slept in and had a leisurely morning.  We left the Lock wall at 10am and followed the small boat route through Potato Cut.  You really have to pay close attention to the markers and where you are.  We then ran outside for a bit before picking up the small craft route leading into Honey Harbor.  We are staying at South Bay Cove Marina which is about 2 miles past Honey Harbor.  This is one of the nicer marina along the Loop, plus they give you a Looper discount. 

Currently there are four other Loopers here; Brown Eyed Girl, Kismet, Sea Biscuit and C-Bay.  It was sure nice seeing our “holiday buddies” again. We were with Dean & Beth from Kismet for Thanksgiving in Panama City, FL and spent Easter at Kennedy Space Center with Craig & Ginny from Brown Eyed Girl.  In addition to some time on the river system we traveled with Craig & Ginny from late February to mid May.  We have been playing hopscotch with Bill & Pam from Seabiscuit along the TSW.

Ginny and Craig

Beth and Dean

We all had a nice happy hour, on land for a change at a well landscaped grassy area and an excellent meal at the marina restaurant.   It was sure nice to catch up with everyone.

Honey Harbor

Great get together with fellow Loopers

The small boat channel is crazy with all the smaller boats zipping around the rocks.  We all plan to stay put Saturday and to leave early Sunday morning with Brown Eyed Girl and Kismet for sure possibly sea Biscuit and C-Bay as well. We will be taking the Small Craft Route to Henri’s Fish Camp on Sans Souci Island in hopes of beating some of the traffic.  After that we will be with Brown Eyed Girl for at least another day on the Small Craft Route before they head across Georgian Bay to Tobormory to begin working their way back to Lake Erie.  We had a few good bye hugs along the way but we keep meeting up.  This time will be harder as we will be headed in opposite directions.  We have sure enjoyed their company on the Loop and will miss them.

We seem to be traveling with two Looper groups. There is the group that started in 2011(ourselves included) who are well into their Loop’s and who we are with now.  Then there is the 2012 group who are just getting started who we were with for most of the TSW and hope to see again as they catch up to us.  Hopefully once we get home to Mackinaw City we will get one last chance to meet up with  fellow Loopers from each group for one last time as they go through the Straits.

Hope everyone at home is enjoying a nice weekend, our best to all.

Mary and John