Week 6 America's Great Loop

Week 6

Aug. 18-24

Monday

This morning is the first time I've heard the loons. We've seen them but not heard them. I like their sound.

Our first lock today was another flight. Also it's the first time another boat was coming the opposite direction coming down while we were going up. I should mention we go up at the rate of about 1 inch/ second. It's pretty fast. The locks are usually 17 ft to 20 ft. in height.

We had perfect weather. It was supposed to be windy and overcast, but it was high 70s and sunny.

We got through lock 21 today. That's 6 locks. Lock 21 is the highest hydraulic lift lock in the world at 65 feet. It uses a hydraulic lift using water pressure from the other side going down, lifting us up, and our boat in a giant tub of water. We went up so fast, probably 9 inches a second. It is a national historic site in Canada. Super fun. We went 54 nautical miles today.

Once again the bow thruster cable arced and shorted and almost caused a fire so it came off today. We found an auto parts store about 3 miles away and rode the scooters to get a new cable. Hopefully that will fix the problem.

Tuesday

We are on the Otonabee River.

It seems to be a little helpful that we left late in the season as the locks are hardly crowded at all. We rarely have to wait. It rained for the last part of our travels today. We got through lock 32 at Bobcaygeon Ontario. This is the oldest lock on the canal built in 1866. We cruised two lakes to get there. It was another long day 9- 5:30. We are officially half way through the canal. We saw some really beautiful sights similar to the dismal swamp.

We traveled 48 nautical miles.

It was raining hard all afternoon and evening and yep, once again the hatch leaked. Our bedding wasn't sopped but still wet enough. We stripped the bed and since we didn't have the sun to dry it all out, Ed used a blow dryer. It worked quite well. He also used boat plugs to fix the leak! You boaters will get a kick out of that.

Wednesday

It was just barely sprinkling this morning, so we went to investigate this darling town. It's super clean and very nice, but sleepy in the mornings. The stores don't open until 9, even the bakery!!! We were walking around at 7:15 and there was hardly a soul out. It was weird.

Lock 36 was another hydraulic lift lock. This time we were at the top and dropped 55 feet down. It's super cool. Make sure to watch our YouTube videos of these cool hydraulic locks. We went through lock 40 and then tied up at the wall. We cruised two different lakes in between the canal system.

We traveled 42 nautical miles today. We tied up after lock 40. I have been wanting to help push the gear mechanism and finally got up the nerve to ask if I could do it. They have kept this canal as close as they could to how it was when it was built. It is a national historic site. The lock gate levers are mostly still hand cranked with the exception of the hydraulic lifts. It was harder than it looked!

This is the first place we stayed that didn't have a town nearby. So we just went for a walk on the frontage road that follows the canal. It was a beautiful calm night. We have 2 other boats tied up with us and had a nice visit with each couple. Boaters are usually really nice friendly people.

I have to mention the geese! They're everywhere!!! People put pictures of coyotes in their yards to scare the geese away.

We made new looper friends that tied up with us, Vinnie and Maria super nice folks from Michigan. Unfortunately for us they are stopping in Michigan and also their boat is much slower than ours and we can't go slow. I wish we could stay with them. Wonderful salt of the earth people.

We just can't.

Thursday

It's a little frustrating that the locks don't open until 9. We are always ready around 7:30 and just have to wait.

Lock 43 at swift rapids is interesting. It has the highest lift of any conventional lock on the system at 47 feet. It is deep when you are down in there. See the pic.

We hit the big chute at lock 44! It's the only railway lock still in use in North America. It was quite the experience to have them put us in a sling, lift us out of the water, and carry us by railway across a road over a hill and back down into the water. It's probably the most famous lock on this canal. Watched the YouTube video we made. @lovemefender on YouTube.

It still feels a little surreal to us that we live on a boat and will continue to do so for another 10 mos.! We are having a blast though.

Today we thought we had lost our steering. We had a short moment of panic until Ed realized the boat was on auto pilot! Hahaha!

We tied to a floating dock in a little bay at the bottom of the chute for the night and walked over to the marina for dinner and a couple of groceries. The sales clerk talked us into buying butter tarts. We'd never heard of them before and he says they're the best. We'll see tomorrow when we eat them. We're too full to eat them tonight. We traveled 53 nautical miles today.

Friday

We headed for our last lock on the Trent Severn canal in Canada first thing this morning. Number 45! There were 3 boats ahead of us. It's one of the very few times we've had to wait. Going through this canal has been really fun and absolutely amazing, but we are glad to be done with locks for awhile.

Ok. Butter tarts are amazing. I can see why the clerk yesterday said they were in his top 3. They're small because they're so rich. It's so fun to taste things from other countries.

Once again we are hurrying across Severn sound and up lake Huron. The weather forecast says very high winds for the next 3 days. We didn't dare stop anywhere to visit any sights. It's been an incredibly beautiful cruise today. Other than fuel in Parry Bay we've gone as fast as possible. There were a lot of narrows getting to parry that slowed us down for many hours but the beauty was worth it. See the video!. It opened up though after that.

We pulled in at 6:30 to Wright's marina in Byng Inlet. The first thing the dock hand tells us is not to put any garbage out until tomorrow. They're having a little bear problem! He said no worries just go out in twos and make lots of noise. 😀

Saturday

We have a weather delay day today. The winds are way to strong to venture out. This isn't a great place for a delay. It's very remote with not much to see or do. We did keep really busy all day with chores. We did laundry and headed to the one restaurant/inn/grocery. Lunch was good, but the little grocery was the most pathetic one we've seen yet. The cauliflower and other veggies had mold on them, the bananas were brown and they didn't have any meat or cheese at all. We got bread, cookies, and some washers Ed needed. We were able to use their loaner car which was nice. On the way back there was a snake in the road. Ick!!! We stepped the mast, so we now have good radar. I spent a couple of hours swabbing the deck. Apparently when the muck is on there for several days in a row it stains. This required hands and knees, scrub brush, and special skid proof decking cleaner. I think I left some of my knuckles on the deck. Ed got all the lessons lined up for our next institute block so we're all good to go. We met a man on the dock who is very familiar with this area. He invited us over to show us his charts and the routes that are safest to take to get to Killarney our next stop, through thousands of rocks and islands. People are just so nice and helpful.

Sunday

We left at 7 am this morning to catch better weather. We did not want to be stuck there for 2 more days. The water on Lake Huron was really rough, the worst we've had yet as we traversed Georgian bay for 10 hours! And yes even the bow hatch leaked again. That onslaught was too much even for the boat plugs. I put plastic bins on the bed to save our bedding. We traveled just over 4 hours to get to Killarney. We got fuel and decided to continue. We were in somewhat protected waters now on an inside passage. We continued on to Little Current. There is a swing bridge that opens once at the top of every hour. We got there 4 min before 1. The timing was perfect. We decided to keep going. We were in a total squall for a bit. It was raining hard and the waves were very big. We're so impressed with this boat!!!! We finally pulled into Blind River marina at 5:30pm. That was a long day! We traveled 105 nautical miles. We are not so rushed now. We think we'll be here for a few days. There's a lot more to do though, so it shouldn't be bad at all. We are so tired after today, it will be good to rest tomorrow. Maybe we can get rid of these wretched coughs we have.