September 1, 2015 - All done for the year

Tod and Linda's Boating Blog

August 15th 2015 in Little Current, Ontario Canada

·      Current Location – 

o  Northport Michigan

o  Latitude – 45° 7.8' N Longitude – 85° 36.7’ W  

o  Total Miles – 1805

·      Total locks – 106 (That’s all for this year!)

·      Number of Days Away From Home – 138

So we are basically done for the year.  During the last two weeks we travelled from Canada's North Channel back into the US and westward through the Straights of Mackinaw.  We are in Northport Michigan where we will put the boat in storage until next summer.  We are doing fun stuff like engine oil changes and buffing/waxing the boat.  It's 90 degrees and soggy - ouch!

August 15th 2015 in Little Current, Ontario Canada

 August 15^th in Little Current, Canada

·      Current Location –

o  Little Current (town of) in the North Chanel of Lake Huron, Ontario Canada

o  Latitude – 45° 58.9' N Longitude – 81° 55.5’ W 

o  Total Miles – 1519

·      Total locks – 106 (That’s all for this year!)

·      Number of Days Away From Home – 123

We are at the beginning of the North Channel of Lake Huron heading west.   The North Channel is considered pretty wild and woolly around these parts and is often referred to as the best freshwater cruising in the world.  I saw a bear on shore when I was fishing the other day a bit south of here and the mosquitos are the size of Canada geese.  Oh, maybe those really are Canada geese. 

We still have about 300 miles to go to get to Northport Michigan where we will “winter” the boat.

August 1st through August 6^th – Finishing up the Trent Severn Waterway-

Just to recap, the Trent Severn is an inland waterway that is a series of canals, locks, rivers and lakes, that connects Lake Ontario to Lake Huron.  It is 240 miles long and has 44 locks of various sizes, shapes and engineering principles.  Most of the locks are the classic design similar to those in the Chittenden Locks in Seattle but some are giant “pans” that take your boat up or down and one is even a short railway where the boat is held up in straps while you are transited up and over a hill.  This lock is called the “Big Chute” and there is a picture below showing us going over along with another boat.

Most nights we just tied up to a lock wall but we also stayed in marinas in small towns along the way.

One night we had a raccoon visit our boat looking in the garbage but I woke up and chased it off.  A couple of days later a neighbor boat had a raccoon actually get inside his boat and cause a ruckus.  The boater ended up pinning the raccoon down with his boathook and stabbed it to death. I met him outside with a dead raccoon in a sack and he was pretty freaked out. 

I have caught a few fish along the way including pike, smallmouth bass and largemouth bass.  Considering that I don’t know much about fishing here I’m quite happy.

August 7th through August 15^th – Georgian Bay and the North Channel

I’m not sure if Georgian Bay and the North Channel are considered part of Lake Huron but they seem to be.  Georgian Bay is 170 miles long and the North Channel is 140 miles long.  The North Channel is more remote and rugged than Georgian Bay but they are both fantastic cruising grounds.  Key features include:

·      Waterways carved out of the Canadian Shield (HUMONGOUS granite cap that covers most of Ontario) 10,000 years ago during the retreat of the last ice age
·      Very dangerous rocks everywhere – you have to follow the charts and the chart plotter carefully.
·      Wildly varying water depths (even out in the open) from several hundred feet deep to big slabs of graninte lurking just below the surface.
·      No big mountain ranges but some areas where you can climb and hike on mountains made completely of quartz.
·      Warm water (70 + degrees)
·      Warm and humid weather in the summer
·      BUGS – Black flies and mosquitos abound in June and July.  By now (mid August) they have quieted down.
·      Enough dirt has accumulated on the islands to let some trees survive – Mostly fir and deciduous trees
·      Lots of birds including loons (everyone’s favorite in the evening), cormorant, seagulls, vultures, and even bald eagles.
·      Lots of small mammals including raccoons, mink, chipmunks, squirrels etc.
·      Thousands and thousands of islands everywhere.
·      Quite a few “cottages” in Georgian Bay.  Not very many in the North Channel.
·      Beautiful scenery in every direction.  You get numbed to it at times.

We cruised with three other boats that are doing the “Great Loop” for a while.  They were Ted and Joan Palango on Panchita, a 46 ft Egg Harbor, John and Genie XX on a 36’ Island Gypsy and Curt and Julie Corda on CJ, a 40’ trawler.  We all cruised together in various combinations for up to several weeks.  It is comforting to be part of a pack but now we are by ourselves again.

Below the picture gallery is our Personal Insight section.

Picture Gallery –

 

Our Party of Four Boats in Lock 39

Starting up The Big Chute - Our Boat is there too!

Nice Bass Eh?

Nice Pike Eh?

Linda Standing on Quartz

Looking NW from the Top of Quartz Mountain

100 Year Old House of the Group of Seven Artists

Morning Fog in Port Rawson

Personal Insight – The Magenta Line and Why We Love It

All of the way along the Intracoastal Waterway on the East coast and through much of the cruise we have taken this year, charts and chart plotters show magenta course lines. Sometimes there are alternate courses marked by dashed magenta lines but the main course is a solid magenta line.  When you are cruising from point A to point B, you can just follow the magenta line on the chart plotter and you don’t even need to know where you are (maybe a slight exaggeration). 

After using it a lot, how do you think we feel about the magenta line?

·      The magenta line is our friend.

·      We need the magenta line

·      It guides us for days on end.

·      Woe be us if we stray from the magenta line.

·      When it stops showing up, we are confused and feel betrayed.  We become afraid and want another fix.

·      When we take off on our own, we once again figure out how to actually navigate.  Eventually our self-confidence soars and we realize we don’t need no stinking magenta line.

·      But then it comes back on our chart plotter and we are happy.

·      All is well when we have the magenta line.

·      We love the magenta line!

Next Post

We hope to complete this year’s cruise by the first of September when we arrive in Northport Michigan.  We will put the boat away there and look forward to seeing all of you soon thereafter.  I might do another post (or not).

Bye, Tod and Linda

August 1, 2015 - Bobcageon on the Trent Severn Waterway

·      Current Location –

o  Bobcageon on the Trent Severn Waterway, Ontario Canada

o  Latitude – 44° 31.9' N Longitude – 78° 33.9’ W 

o  Total Miles – 1175

·      Total locks – 95

·      Number of Days Away From Home – 107 (Ay Chihuahua!)

We made the decision to put the boat away for the winter in Michigan so we are heading that way.  We are about halfway between Lake Ontario and Lake Huron on a very special passage called the Trent Severn Waterway.  It is 238 miles long and has 44 locks.  We are in the town of Bobcageon, which is a pretty happening place (seriously).  There are some spectacular cruising areas further down the line but that will be the subject of future blogs.

I’m going to try a different format in this blog than before.  I will put in a simplified summary of what we have been doing instead of a day by day and put in more pictures.  Hopefully this will be more interesting.

On a personal note, I will address the bug population in Eastern Canada this time of year.  Specifically, I will describe how to be a truly champion fly killer.  I hope you enjoy this as much as the pictures.

Where have we been for the last two weeks?

We spent half of the time around Kingston in Lake Ontario visiting the Thousand Islands and environs with Scott and Connie Neish and half of the time transiting the Trent Severn Waterway on the way to Lake Huron.

Our final days in Eastern Ontario with Scott and Connie Neish-

In addition to good food, drink and fellowship, we did some more exploring of the Kingston and Thousand Island area.  We took a drive West up the coast to Picton where Linda and I would have to travel later.  There are a number of ferryboats to help link various islands with the mainland and they are free to use.  Pretty nice eh?  We also went to Boldt Castle again and this time we visited the “boathouse” which is full of beautiful old boats from about 100 years ago.  Excellent varnish work! 

We took a drive inland to show Scott and Connie a lock that we went through (Chaffey’s) on the Rideau Canal and had lunch at an OLD resort called the Opinicon which is next to the lock . It has just been reopened after several years of being shutdown and although they have a lot of work to do overall but the restaurant is in good shape.

On our last day with Scott and Connie we did a slow circumnavigation of Simcoe Island, which is out in Lake Ontario and saw it’s very windswept scenery.

July 25th through August 1st – On the Trent Severn Waterway-

After Scott and Connie left, Linda and I headed west planning to stop somewhere in the Bay of Quinte but we just kept rolling until we were in the Trent Severn Waterway.  We went through the first six of 44 locks and ran a total of 81 miles from Kingston – that was a long day!

Life on the Trent Severn Waterway is spent cruising through a series of canals and lakes with a bunch of locks thrown in.  All of the locks are very cool but a few are really remarkable.  For instance, the Peterborough lift lock lets you drive the boat into a huge “pan” that just lifts you up 65 feet to the water level above .  You barely need to even hold your boat.  You will see several of the locks in the picture gallery below. 

Below the picture gallery is my personal section on dealing with flies.

Picture Gallery –

  

Linda and I spent a night on Camelot island and the water seemed fine.  It was around 70 degrees which I thought was warm until we went up the Trent Severn where the water was 76 degrees.

This is a really old guy looking at a really old boat.  Both are still in prime shape eh Scott?

This is a 115 year old racing boat.  Really narrow and long

In addition to old boats, there were old outboards at Boldt Castle.  These are a bunch of 100 year old models

As we were leaving Boldt Castle, this tanker came down the St. Lawrence River.  Pretty damn big!

Linda and Connie waiting for Lunch at the Opinion near Chaffey's Lock on the Rideau

This is one of my boat buddies on this trip.  It's a mallard duck that decided that if he walked into the cockpit of our boat from the swim platform and did tricks that he might get a snack.  Of course he did.

Locks and More Locks.  This is Linda Tending the Bow Line as Usual

This is one of the free ferryboats that serve the many islands offshore of the mainland of Ontario.  This ride was only a few hundred yards but others went several miles and were still free.

This picture doesn't do the historical program justice at Fort Henry near Kingston.  They have several reenactments including musket and canon fire and they finish off the show with fireworks.  It is largely a celebration that those traitorous Americans have never won a major battle with Canada.  Is it time to try again?

Linda took this one morning at daybreak.  The day had some spectacular weather.

Here we are waiting on the blue line to enter this lock.  We do a lot of this.

These are some of the more "rustic" cottages along the Waterway.  Many of the large fancy cottages have a whole island to themselves but they tend to be back in the trees so we don't have any great photos.  There are thousands of beautiful cottages along the TS waterway.

This is a 4-5 pound pike that I caught on a Kastmaster lure.  Catch and release of course (instead of fillet and release)

This is the mighty Peterborough Lift Lock.  You can see the big pan that the boats go up and down in.   It's 65 feet high and makes for a great view.  It takes approximately 20 minutes to transit.

Personal note - Dealing with Flies

You can't believe how many bugs there are in the NE compared to the NW and how exposed to them that you are in a boat like ours.  There are a whole bunch of pesky critters including gnats, mosquitos and flies but I am going to limit my comments today to dealing with flies.

There are basically two types of flies here, black flies and deer flies.  The black flies are more numerous and much smaller than deer flies but they both bite. 

We deal with both of them the same - squash em with a fly swatter.  But there is much more to it than that.  Here are the characteristics of the perfect fly swat.

1)  You kill the fly

2)  You don't squash it on anything important (like the windshield or my sandwich)

3)  You can find it after the whacking.

4)  You can pick it up and dispose of it

If you want a Phd in fly swatting, you will consistently hit the fly on the fly (i.e. no squashing on any of our stuff) and with your follow-on swing you will direct the dead or seriously injured fly over the side and directly into the water.

Fly swatting can be fun and entertaining but there is the ethical problem.  How many times can the Dali Llama forgive me in one day?  Should I take pity on flies in the future?  Somehow I doubt it.

What's next?

We will be entering the Georgian Bay and then the North Channel in the next week or so.  This is the more remote part of our whole trip so my timing on the next blog might be a bit off but more news around August 15th if possible.  Hi to all of you.