When last I posted, we were at the final lock, Lock 45, of the 240-mile-long Trent-Severn Waterway. This picture shows how rough the current is once you leave the lock, from the powerful Severn River flowing over the dam. It was “exciting” staying within all the twisting channel markers with that current controlling my boat. I was just lucky I wasn’t coming in against this current. I heard many boaters say they really struggled and felt out of control as they tried to navigate into the lock. It is the shortest of all the 45 locks, holding no more than a single boat on a wall at a time (at least boats of my size). Nothing about this lock has changed since it was built in 1910. They still open the gates and valves by hand.
Once out of Port Severn, we entered Georgian Bay, the start of the 30,000 Islands area. It began immediately – glacial rock humps everywhere to avoid! It seemed like the gods had scattered dinosaur backs and giant potatoes. Luckily my Garmin chart plotter was working, and they also have the narrow channels well buoyed. It was fun winding through the maze, and eventually we emerged into the open bay and made a sharp left turn to head toward the marina where I’d get my new batteries. We anchored out in a bay and took the dinghy in to explore a small town called Victoria Harbour.
$1.29 versus $864.
The next morning we went to the marina in nearby Midland, where I had an appointment for the batteries which they said they had in stock. This photo was taken just as we were entering the marina, as this Canadian rowing team was exiting. After they load-tested the batteries, there was good/bad news – only one battery was bad, but they no longer had my new battery (they sold them the day before). That meant we had to wait until the next day for a new one to be delivered. Oh well, we needed groceries. I needed to change the generator oil. I needed a bike ride. I needed to clean all the bugs off the boat. We needed the A/C all day since it was so hot (95)and humid.
My bike ride early the next morning was first to a nearby historic military town with a tongue-twisting name – Penetanguishene. Beautiful ride and harbor! Back into downtown Midland I noticed many murals painted on the city buildings. I took several photos of them, and then read later that the city has the most murals of any town in Ontario. This photo was just one of about 20 I saw.
We finally got the battery installed and departed at 3 pm on Friday, July 16. The bill for the battery, the three hours of service (which was about 90 minutes), and the original electrician’s visit in New York five weeks earlier to simply add water, came to $864. !!! All this because I didn’t add $1.29 worth of distilled water to the batteries that said right on them, in big capital letters, “MAINTENTANCE FREE”. It was an expensive lesson that “maintenance free” does not mean maintenance free when it comes to boat batteries.
We returned to the point where we had left the narrow channel two days earlier, and continued along the maze of waterways marked by rocky islands and barely submerged rocky islands! It actually was fun navigating through the maze, and it actually took both Brian and me to figure everything out – which color is the next bouy (you needed to stay to the left of the red ones and to the right of the green ones); where will I turn after that; WOW, am I supposed to go between those rocks; oh no, another boat is coming through this gap at the same time in the other direction! Anyway, it was an adventure, and it was a Friday night, so every Canadian boat owner was out there (and for the next two days too!). I hope this picture captures what we kept encountering, and wondering if I’d make it through without hitting bottom.
Speaking of everyone being out on the water, look at this overloaded boat!!
We stayed Friday night anchored off the Georgian Bay Islands National Park, which was Beausoleil Island. Talk about a crowded anchorage!! Boats of all shapes and sizes, everywhere! And so many “rafted” together, meaning tied next to each other with fenders protecting their sides. Brian and I feasted on Swiss Mac n Cheese, the version with Gruyere cheese, one of Annette’s specialties. Yum. Course, the three rum fruit smoothies made the evening memorable as well!
The next morning we dinghied in to the island for a hike, but after ¼ mile the mosquitoes tortured us into hightailing it back to the boat. We then headed back into the maze of narrow channels on our way northwest toward Parry Sound. It was similar to the waterways along the Trent-Severn in one respect – charming cottages were everywhere! Just about every rock island or shoreline had cottages, and each was unique and fun to see.
We decided to get out of the wind for a peaceful lunch, and made our way into one of thousands of pretty anchorages in this waterway. We were near a cottage where the two adults and their three dogs suddenly all plunged together into the water! The third dog was outside my photo.
We should have stayed there the rest of the day, considering the increasing winds. Once we headed back to the channel, we continued to encounter numerous boats, probably since it was a Saturday afternoon. And I must point out, the people on every boat passing in either direction wave to each other! Those friendly Canadians! Anyway, the wind became extremely strong, and when our course took us into an open, unprotected area, the full brunt of Lake Huron (sorta) was beating against us.
The swells were bigger than anything I’d encountered yet. Luckily we were heading into them at a good angle most of the time, so the boat did pretty well. But when the course would change to where the swells would be hitting us from the side, I had to prevent this position by tacking, similar to what a sailboat must do into a wind. It was a real battle and not fun getting tossed around, so once we got behind an island for a respite, Brian read the chart book and noticed what looked like it would be a protected anchorage just a little farther ahead. Yes! It WAS a great anchorage, and I was glad to finally be out of the heavy seas. We had to anchor twice to get a good position in that strong wind, but we finally could relax a little, over a couple cold ones. By sundown a few hours later, the wind had died down.
The next morning -- this morning (Sunday) -- I went on a 21-mile bike ride entirely on what I discovered was the Pottawatomi First Nation property. I had the road all to myself, save for a single car when I was nearly done.
Once back to the boat with the bike in the dinghy, I took a long kayak ride since Brian wasn’t awake yet. I took this photo of Breaking Away out in the little bay from the kayak. When I finished, I commenced with some chores and then Brian finally awoke and made us scrambled eggs. He said to me, "I've put in 8 eggs, is that enough?" Oh my yes! Now we needed enough salsa for that amount of egg. We did!
Brian selected today’s anchorage, just a mile from Parry Sound, where we are right now. It was cool how Brian took to reading the charts and followed where we were and where we were going, or could go. He also enjoyed piloting sometimes, to give me a chance to look at all the surroundings. The natural rocky landscaping is incredible. We continued along the channels and passageways, through so many twisty narrows. Every island has a name too, and we passed by one called Annette Island, and another called Flossie Island (Brian’s stepdad’s mom’s name).
One last photo of me passing through one of the many “narrows” (they all had names followed by “Narrows”, and yes, they were tight squeezes!).
We dinghied into Parry Sound and looked around, and then returned just as it was starting to sprinkle. It was a good thing, because once we got back here, it really started raining for the next 12 hours! I took a nap, we played gin rummy, had a big pasketti dinner, and now it’s time for bed. My next blog should be from Idaho once my computer gets fixed. I hope to get a phone that works too!
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