CAMPBELLFORD to RICE LAKE Anchor / Monday, June 27 to Tuesday, June 28 (Days 158-159)

Admiral's Log:     7 am, Mon. 6/27/16
                         Air Temp:   69     Water Temp:   72
                         Winds:   7 mph
                         Speed:   9.0

It was a bit overcast to start but when the sun did burn through it warmed up to 92.  We went thru locks 13-18. They are now open from 9-6 and we wanted to be first at the blue line, plus Mike and Dave heard there was good fishing at the locks.

Unfortunately we were not the first at the line. So when the locks opened, Phase II went in with a family from Ottawa and another small boat that rafted to them. The Ottawa people were not very accommodating. They told the lock people they were not going to raft. So the three of them went in and we went with Morningstar II at the next opening. 

The Ottawa family is in the rear

We went through another double lock where we had to "bypass" two other boats. This was kind of intimidating, but the lock people told us during the busy season they do this quite often. Bypass means there are two boats going in the opposite direction as our two boats; so we are all in one lock together for a few minutes while the other side is either flooded or not. Very interesting, have to say.

Our "bypass"

The three of us dropped anchors by White Island around 3:30. Mike and Dave dropped their dingys and set out to fish. Mike caught a Walleye, he figured was around 5 pounds. 

This photo does not do justice, the fish was a lot bigger

We decided to fix the fish tomorrow and had chili for dinner and read a bit before bed. You would not think going through these locks would be very tiring, but it does kind of wear you out; you are constantly moving, changing fenders and holding the lines taught.

Tuesday, we stayed another day on the hook, and Morningstar headed to Peterborough. The guys went fishing again. Then the 4 of us went in our dingy to Elmhirst Resort for lunch, about a 10 minute ride. About the time we got back to the boat it started to rain; which was a perfect time for a nap. Mike and I did a little more fishing, but never caught anything. 

Elmhirst Resort

We had the Walleye for dinner. It was really good; flaky and moist. 

Lori took this awesome sunset photo from our anchorage

RICE LAKE to PETERBOROUGH / Wednesday, June 29 to Saturday, July 2 (Days 160-163)

Admiral's Log:     8:25 am, 6/29/16

                         Air Temp:   63     Water Temp:   72

                        Winds:   4 mph

                        Speed:   9 knots

We took our time leaving the anchorage, it was so peaceful we hated to leave. We saw Sweet T cruise by us in the channel. She saw us too and texted us a photo, pretty funny. The anchor was full of grass and mud. Took 15 minutes to get it up and cleaned off!

Got to Peterborough Marina around 2. What a nice place. The staff is super helpful. Grocery and shopping nearby. We had a Looper reunion Docktails; and met up with Mel and Ann of Morningstar II and Mike and Tonya of Sweet T, along with some new Loopers as well.

                                        

This marina is quite the meeting place. Every Wednesday and Saturday, June thru August, the city hosts concerts at the band shell located right on the Marina property. This night The Keifer Sutherland Band was there. Yes of 24 fame. Let's just say he does not need to quit his day job. But his name drew a pretty big crowd; around 8 thousand we heard. Since we were staying at the marina, we got special up close seats, it was pretty cool.

Thursday, Mel had rented a car and volunteered to take Lori and I to a laundromat (I had too much to do to wait on the one washer and dryer at the marina). Then a trip to Walmart, which are few and far between but sometimes a necessary evil. Meanwhile back at the boat...Mike had to wait on new house batteries to be installed. Not a cheap prospect, especially when you have 10! We had been putting it off, so now we are good to go for another 3-4 years. Remember...it's a boat!  

We had dinner outside at the marina restaurant with 10 other Loopers.

Friday, was Canada Day! We rode our bikes bout 1.5 miles with Mel, Dave and Lori to see the famous Peterborough Lift Lock. It is quite the marvel of engineering. It is the world's highest hydraulic lift lock. It opened in 1904  and took only 8 years to build. Can you imagine how long that would take today?! We will be locking in it on Sunday. So I should have some cool pictures then.

Mel is across the street, that is the lock ahead of us.

Local Mennonite brothers

Top of the Lift

Mike and I ate lunch at a Pub down the road and watched the Canada Day Parade from the window. We then walked to the Canoe Museum, the largest in Canada. Very interesting; canoes from burnt out Indian canoes to beautiful wooden and modern day Olympic racing canoes.

When in Rome...Lori and I got in the spirit of Canada Day.

About the time we got back to the boat it started to rain. We felt so sorry for all the food vendors that set up at the marina park. But they seemed to take it in stride. Along the Great Loop Route, there are what are called Harbor Hosts. They are not in every city, but sprinkled along the way. The hosts here always put on a huge "docktails" party every year for Canada Day. Freya and Don do all the cooking and provide the wine and beer. They usually do it on their boat dock but with the rain and so many  Loopers in attendance, they moved it to the restaurant. There must have been 30 couples there, many we had not met before. It was a fun night of camaraderie and sharing stories of the waterways.

After the rain, the temps dropped pretty good, so we bundled up and watched a band called Chicago Revue; they play Chicago cover songs and other 70's music. There was a pretty good crowd in attendance. The fireworks began when it got dark, around 10:15! I'm telling you, stays light late. We had the perfect seats on our flybridge. They were shot off from a barge in the water by the marina. 

Saturday, we said good bye to Morningstar II and Cutty's Ark. A group of Loopers had our photo taken for the local paper then we walked to a great farmer's market. There were a ton of vegetables and fruit grown from little villages and nearby towns. We wanted to buy more but just don't have the room. The Niagara Falls cherries and local strawberries are super sweet. 

There was another concert this night, a local hard rock band, which we skipped.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing, reading and working on the Blog. We had fajita's made with leftover steak, which were quite good. 

TRENTON to BLUE HOLE Anchor / Thursday, June 23 (Day 154)

Admiral's Log:     9 am, Thrs. 6/23/16
                         Air Temp:   59     Water Temp:   71
                        Winds:   2 mph
                        Speed:   4.8 knots

We are on our way down the 240 mile Trent Severn Waterway! Another highlight we have been looking forward to. Beautiful sunny day!

Our route starts at Trenton, Lock #1 (far right corner) going across the page to the left

Then we continue from right to left and end at the upper left corner at Severn River, Lock #44

The Bridge says "Gateway to the Trent Severn Waterway"

Some people have done this route in 5 days, but that is pretty much non-stop and not stopping to smell the roses.  We figure we will take about 2 weeks. There are so many cute little towns and stuff to do along the way.

We went through locks 1-7 today. The lock masters as so friendly and helpful. The young lady at the first lock even took photos of us for me. Once you are raised up to the top the lock, the lock masters come and talk to us; ask where we are from, ask about then Loop etc. 

This was at the first lock where we bought our 10 day pass. 

This was also in the first lock, YUCKO!

This first lock was kind of intimidating. It was our first one for one thing, then they squeezed four boats in at one time, we all had to tie on the right side (starboard), plus one boat had to raft onto us. 

Mike has to get me in position on the stern (rear of boat) where I can grab a plastic coated cable and hook a line around it to keep us from moving in the lock. Then he has to shut down the engines, run to the bow (front of boat) and loop his line around a cable. Takes a couple of locks to be able to figure what cable to grab. But I got the hang of it pretty easy. Boat hooks come in quite handy in these situations!

Rowe Boat approaching the lock

Vagabond, Rowe Boat and Phase II, with 4th rafting to us and Phase II

Lock master taking our pics before we are raised up.

Lori from Phase II

Mike all the way up.

The gates are turned manually which is kind of cool. I even got to help!

Some locks take 2 people to manually close the gates

Harder to push than you think!

All the locks have cute little parks and tie ups and even bathrooms, incase you have to wait a while or even over night if you miss the closing time. The Blue Line painted on the wall is where you wait for the lock to open.

You can really see the water level difference here.

Each lock master takes great pride in how their area looks, some even have competitions 

Blue Line painted on the walls before each lock

Crazy Canadian kids in the cold water.

When we got to our anchorage around 3:30, Mike and I lowered our dingy and tried our hand at a little fishing. No luck, but it was a nice quiet, peaceful afternoon. Leftovers for dinner and a little reading before bed.

BLUE HOLE to CAMPBELLFORD / Friday, June 24 to Sunday June 26 (Days 155-157)

Admiral's Log:     9:15 am, Fri. 6/24/16
                         Air Temp:   70     Water Temp:   71
                        Winds:   calm
                        Speed:   7.7 knots

Mike and Dave wanted to get in a little fishing before we headed to the next set of locks. They lost a couple but that's about it. 

We got through Lock 10 and had to tie up and wait on the combination locks 11 and 12. They were having some sort of hydraulic problems. So we had a little snack with Phase II. Can't get upset, that's part of the journey.

This lock looks like a waterfall. Mike is looking up 24 feet in Lock 11.

This is a double lock (11 & 12) you can see the boat at the top being lowered 48 ft!

The dock master let us get off our boats to take photos after we rose 48 feet!

We have to wear life vests (PFD's),for safety and the gloves are to hold the lines, they can get pretty slimy and hurt your hands when you are trying to stay in position.

After it was all said and done; it took 5 hours to do 10 miles, so we were pretty exhausted once we tied up in Campbellford at 2. We managed to walk to town and find the famous "butter tarts" we'd heard so much about. They are basically mini pecan pies, but the crust is very light and buttery. They do come in several flavors.

After we got back Mike took a little nap while I did some prepping for dinner. 

We had a pretty good sized Docktails with some new Loopers and non-Loopers. Even a couple of Canadians who gave us some tips on where to go in the Georgian Bay and North Channel. 

We are docked right along the wall in the middle of town. We can walk to pretty much anything we need. It's a nice park along the water and we are constantly asked questions from locals how we got here. Some are amazed we came all the way from Florida.

We fixed Thai Ginger Shrimp and rice for dinner.

Saturday, the four of us went to breakfast and a farmer's market. We bought some cilantro, fresh beets and strawberries that could rival Plant City!  Next, Mike decided we needed to wash the boat, ug, my least favorite thing to do. 

The guys pulling Phase II closer after another boater left. We said they looked like they were mules on the Erie Canal.

Then the four of us rode our bikes to a cheese factory. But all we saw was a cheese store. Which of course we had to buy some.They also had ice cream, which Lori and decided was our treat for making it this far. The ride was quite challenging, showed how out of shape I am! It was almost 4 miles each way and several up hills. I'm paying for it today, for sure. But we did have fun. 

We rested when we got back to the boat, showered and the 4 of us walked to Casper's for a pretty decent dinner and needless to say went to bed pretty early. Since we are so far north it stays pretty light late, until nearly 9:30 and the sun is up again at 5 am!

Sunday, we pretty much did not do anything. I caught up on the Blog since we had pretty decent internet. We did go to lunch at a Pub that served local beer and hit the grocery.  Then to our surprise our boating buddies Mel and Ann Cosgrove from Morningstar II showed up!  That Mel is a character. We knew he was trying to catch up to us, but had no idea it would be this soon. But are glad they did, he and Ann are the sweetest people.

We had a cook out, and ate at the picnic tables by our boats. We shared our different adventures since we'd last seen each other, and discussed the next few days plans. Now if we could only get Sweet T and Lone Star to catch up, we'd have the gang all here.

Horizon Chaser, Morningstar (with Ed & Helen), Cutty's Ark