The End of the Trent-Severn Waterway

 A great deal of water has gone under the keels since we last had internet! 

At Lagoon City on the east side of Lake Simcoe, our friend Al on Harem woke up and could hardly open his eyes. They were sooo swollen! The night before his hand was swollen, and we just assumed it was a bug bite. Now this was serious. Someone offered to drive him to Orillia to the hospital, but since that was where we were going by boat, he took some Benedryl, and off we went!

Even the geese obey the No Wake sign!

 

 Reminds us of the Canadian artists, Group of Seven!

 Lake Simcoe was flat as glass...Kate tried being navigator! But she is always wondering where the dolphins are!!!

 Here we are, Snow Cat and Harem, at the Port of Orillia Marina, such a beautiful facility surrounded by parks and biking trails. Al went to the ER, and the diagnosis was environmental reaction! Must have been the fiberglass that was being sanded next to his boat. He sat all day while the workers tried to remove his props! He got some meds...and is doing much better!

Don had a reunion with his best friend from high school, Mike Newton, and his wife, Peg. We happened to talk to a lady on the dock in Orillia....and when I mentioned that Don was born and raised in Barrie....we realized he was best friends with her brother!!!! What a small world!!! We had several visits with Mike and Peg, and hope to see them this summer in Tobermory.

 The highlight of the waterway is the Marine Railway at Big Chute. This wooden structure rises out of the water, under your boat, and lifts it up. Then it goes down the railway tracks, keeping your boat level all the time, until you reach the water on the other side! Don is standing on the bow of Snow Cat.

 This is the view from the stern as we are lowered into the water at the end.

 Some of the cables that do the lowering.

 This is Harem at the top before going down the side of the hill. Pretty amazing!

Unusual rock....

 After the railway at Big Chute...we had to be careful as we motored through Little Chute!

 I must have taken 100 pictures of island-cottages...No, you won't have to look at them all!

 Just the right size for Kate!

 Our last lock....Lock 45...the night before we locked through it. Julie and I are pretending to turn the mechanism that opens the gates.

Don, with Al looking on, is working the machine that opens the butterfly valves for the water to leave the lock.

It is now Monday afternoon, June 18. We are in southern Georgian Bay, on a mooring ball in Hog Bay, east of Midland, having our inverter battery combiner replaced by the PDQ expert James Power.  In the morning, we will head north to Beausolil Island....avoiding rocks!