Buckhorn to Orillia

 Friday, 12 July – Buckhorn to Fenelon Falls, ON – 33 mi., 2656 cum mi.

Nice day, 69 degrees. John brought the shiny new-looking props over to the boat. He was quite proud to have repaired them within specifications.

Luke mounted them, returned us to the water, and we took the boat on a sea trial. This time we had calm water on a wide open lake, so we were able to test the new props thoroughly. Absolutely no vibration at any speed. Quite satisfied, we paid our bills and
continued on our journey.  We went through two locks, up 30 ft total. Bobcaygeon looked like a really nice town, but the lock wall was full of boats, so we went on to Fenelon Falls.

We saw Gary and Christelle from Time and Tide, so we tied up to the upper wall where electricity and water were available. The port ignition switch failed in Bobcaygeon, so we biked to a hardware store, Canadian Tire, and a marina looking for a replacement – no luck. Fortunately, the lower helm switch was fine. Nice to have the redundancy. We enjoyed docktails with Gary and Christelle.
Had not seen as many loopers as we expected, since many were stuck at the closed Erie Canal. But we did get a visit from Santa who was collecting recyclables from the waste cans. He turns them in for cash and gives it to charities.  He was passing out santa hats so we had a little Christmas in July.

Saturday, 13 July – Fenelon Falls to Sunset Cove Marina, ON – 22 mi., 2678 cum mi.

Beautiful sunny day, 73 degrees. Most interesting today was the very narrow

Trent Canal. Being over a 10 meter vessel, we were required to announce “security” on channel 16 to make sure no other large vessels were traveling in the opposite direction. It was so narrow that passing was dangerous. The canal was a cut through the Canadian Shield that was done by hand starting in the early 1800’s. The rocks removed were still piled
on both sides. There were folks enjoying the water, fishing and
picnicking.  We went through two locks, one up (then passing through the highest point above sea level (841 ft) on the waterway, then one down
the Kirkfield Lock which is the second largest lift lock in the world (Peterborough is the largest). The entry into the lock was exciting. As we neared the end of the “bathtub, “ it looked as though we would drive over the edge. We stayed at the Sunset Cove Marina. Nice, friendly folks. They allow transients to do their laundry in their own home! All the folks at the dock were quite friendly. We dipped into the clean water. The seaweed was dense and tickled our legs. Then we partied and danced on the dock to great music blasting from one of the boats.

Sunday, 14 July - Sunset Cove to Orillia, ON – 19 mi., 2697 cum mi.

Beautiful blue sky, 72 degrees. A swing bridge, 5 locks, and another swing bridge. We had to wait a

while for the first bridge to open. The lock tenders also opened the bridge, and they do not arrive at their stations until 9 AM, then they hop into a car to the bridge. But they were friendly and we forgave them. Lake Simcoe is beautiful! It was refreshing to be out of the locks for the day and on open water again. Lots of Sunday boaters on the water, lots of radio conversations, and lots of sailboats taking advantage of the healthy breeze. The Narrows connecting
Lake Simcoe with Lake Couchiching was a zoo. There are at least four marinas, all with boat traffic and folks maneuvering to fuel docks, Sunday boaters, waverunners, kayakers, fishermen in small
boats, trawlers (like us) trying to get through the narrow channel and its strong current, and so on. Lake Couchiching is shallow, so dense seaweed was abundant. We docked at the Port of Orillia – a very nice town marina, right at the base of downtown Orillia. And what a nice town!
Flowers hanging from the light posts, artwork displayed on the
sidewalks, including 6 ft tall “Letters of Orillia” – unique artwork by local artists and sponsored by local businesses – decorating the main street through town with the alphabet. My good friend and colleague Ken Kung and his lovely wife Amy and their beautiful daughters, Yvonne and Alicia, drove up from Toronto where they were visiting Amy's

parents. So nice to see them again! We gathered at the boat, walked around town, and enjoyed dinner at ERA 67 – the best restaurant in

town. Thanks again Ken! The next morning we saw a machine cutting the seaweed at the slips. It reminded me of a Zamboni machine at the ice rink. We met another Ken and Trudy in a looper boat, Satisfaction. They were stuck in the Erie Canal for a month – two weeks each in two different locks. Between storms and floods, they had tales to tell. And we met up with Owen and Mindy on Sea Grace (Unsinkables from St Pete Beach) who we have not seen since Norfolk. The loopers are coming!

Peterborough to Buckhorn

Monday, 8 July – Peterborough to Lakefield, ON – 10 mi., 2603 cum mi.

Warm, humid, 75 degrees, early sunshine turned cloudy. Today’s cruise was a short, but interesting one. We were first in line at lock 20, early enough to see the lock tenders raise the Canadian flag and

prepare the lock for traffic. We went through six locks. One of them – the Peterborough Lift Lock – was quite unusual. Imagine two huge bathtubs counterbalanced going up and down, filled with water and floating boats. This was an engineering marvel in its day. People from all over the world take the LiftLock Cruise from Peterborough to view and photograph the lock. There was an awesome view of the town from the top. At this point we completed half of the 42 locks on the Trent-Severn Waterway. These old locks need lots of maintenance and we watched a man fixing something even as the lock was filling and emptying.  This section of the waterway seems to be quite

popular with houseboats as well. The lock walls are always busy and interesting.  We see people docked overnight partying, and even camping.  We passed Trent University where many of the concrete buildings looked like they were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
We docked at the Lakefield Marina, after hearing that it was a nice marina (with the best ice cream) next to a nice town. And it was. We biked around town, stopped at some gift shops, discovered the post office, and found a wonderful restaurant (Cassis Bistro) where Al enjoyed the best gazpacho and rack of lamb he ever tasted.

Tuesday, 9 July – Thursday, 11 July -  Lakefield to Buckhorn, ON – 20 mi., 2623 cum mi.

Cloudy, 71 degrees. We went through four locks, taking us 46 ft up, and we passed the half-way point (by distance) on the Trent-Severn Waterway.

The waterway connects one lake to another. And the lakes here are beautiful, especially Clear Lake. Gorgeous homes along the water
and on rock islands in the water. We even saw a church on a rock. And lawn chairs everywhere. It‘s easy to see why people would fly up here in the summer, rent a houseboat, and explore the towns,
coves, and waterfalls on the lakes,
especially a houseboat with a sliding board for refreshing dips in the clear water. Lock 30,  Lovesick lock had the shortest rise – 4 ft, its very pretty and said to be the most photographed lock.  There are
myths concerning the name of Lovesick Lake, the most common concerns a Native American youth who was in love with a redheaded Irish girl who would have nothing to do with him, so he drowned himself in the lake.

We entered Buckhorn Lake - another beautiful lake and the home of the folks who run the Buckhorn Yacht Harbor. We stopped here, because they have the best prop shop in the area, and we were not satisfied with the vibration we were still experiencing on the starboard side. This marina is unusual for a
number of reasons: all the slips are covered, even those available to transients; this is a family business,
run by the family who live on the compound (in very nice homes),
and they offer full services. The founder and patriarch, Fred, who is now retired, sold the business to his two sons, Peter who is the service manager, and John who runs the prop shop. Their sons also work and live there. Peter’s wife, Cindy, runs the canvas shop. They

hauled us out on a  huge trailer. While rebuilding the props, they gave us a company truck to use for provisions and exploring the
area’s gift shops and restaurants. We discovered the Cody Inn that serves “the best Chinese food on the waterway.” And it was delicious.

Kingston to Peterborough Ontario

Saturday, 29 June – Monday , 1 July – Kingston, ON

We spent the weekend in Kingston. Our dear friend Peter Terpis came to visit with his lovely daughter, Adria. Haven’t seen him for a while. Peter lives in Rochester very near the Erie Canal, but, since we headed north through the Champlain Canal, he came to see us at the point where we would be closest to his home.

We took a boat ride, walked through the art festival at City Park, and
explored Kingston’s waterfront. It was great to see Peter and Adria. Hope to see them again soon, maybe in Florida. We discovered Dawn Treader had pulled into the marina. On Sunday. Peter gave us a ride to West Marine for supplies, then took off for home. We joined in the Canada Day celebrations, including Monday night’s           fireworks.

Tuesday, 2 July – Kingston to Picton, ON – 36 mi., 2486 cum mi.

Coudy, windy, 61 degrees. We followed Dawn Treader to Picton. Found Osprey (Jeff and Trish) on the way.  Picton is the largest town in Prince Edward County. It’s a popular stopover, with lots of artist shops and a choice of marinas. We docked at the Picton Harbor Marina. They had to fix the electric receptacles at our dock, even had to call in the "hydro" truck, but we got full

power in a couple of hours. Our slip was along the wall in a park-like setting, very close to the restrooms/showers. I rode my bike to the grocery and liquor store. Dawn Treader found a mooring ball at the Picton Yacht Club, Osprey chose to anchor in Hallowell Mills Cove, but they rode their dinghies to our dock for happy hour, then we walked into town for dinner. It turns out that Trish and Al both grew up in Whitehall (south Pittsburgh) and they went to the same elementary school and high school. Small world.

Wednesday, 3 July – Picton to Trenton, ON – 31 mi., 2517 cum mi.

Beautiful sunny day, 69 degrees, but a bit hazy. Followed Dawn Treader on the easy, calm ride all the way. The Harbormaster at the Fraser Park Marina said someone named Peggy was looking for us and gave us her phone number. Turns out, we met Peggy and her husband, Bob, as we went through the Chaffy lock together. They had converted their sailboat to a power boat, and they used to live in St Petersburg, but now live in Frankford, ON. Peggy said she took some pictures of us and wanted to give them to us. We arranged to meet at the next lock when it opened. Trenton is “the Gateway to the Trent-Severn Waterway,” where the Trent River runs into the Bay of Quinte.  It’s actually one of four wards of the City of Quinte West. This was a good place to stock up on provisions, get a haircut, and dine out. We had dinner at Tomaso’s, which had a reputation for being one of the best restaurants in town.

Thursday, 4 July – Trenton to Campbellford, ON – 20 mi., 2537 cum mi.

Cloudy, intermittent rain, 71 degrees. We got an early start, so we could be first through the locks. Sure enough, Peggy was waiting for us at the lock wall. What a

sweetheart! She brought homemade banana bread and pastries, photos of us going through the locks, and CDs of her adventures on the canals. And, being quite the amateur photographer, her photos were featured in the canal brochure. We love you, Peggy! All told, we went through 10 locks. This time Charli and I had to handle the lines ourselves (no Eli or Sam or Chloe to help us). We worked out a system: As I pulled into the lock and got close to the wall, Charli would reach for the cable at the bow, loop her line around it, then make fast on the bow cleat. That allowed me to move the stern toward the wall while she ran back to the stern, grab the cable, loop he line around it, then hand it to me as I turned off the engines, came down from the bridge, and grabbed the stern line from her. It worked out well. The lock tenders were in no hurry. In fact they seemed to move a little slower than usual. They were upset at recent staff reductions. They now needed

to tend 2-3 neighboring locks, driving from one to the other. This took some additional time, so we did not make the last pair of locks (11 and 12) before they closed. We had to spend the night at the bottom of lock eleven at the blue line (where you wait until the doors open). No power, no water, just a wall. They did leave us a key to the restrooms at the top of four flights of steps. Rather than trek the added distance into town above the locks, we decided to prepare our own dinners and eat on our fly bridge. Nice night.  We turned on the generator and went to sleep. In the middle of the night, the generator stopped. I restarted it, but it died in a minute or so. Now what? Here’s hoping the batteries will stay charged enough to start the engines in the morning.

Friday, 5 July – Campbellford to Hastings, ON – 18 mi., 2555 cum mi.

Nice day, 71 degrees, turning cloudy with rain later in the day. With fingers crossed, we started the

engines. They did start. We proceeded through the lock. While fueling in Campbellford, I called the Hastings Village Marina and found someone who was willing to look at my generator. We went through seven more locks by days end. It rained as we were leavinglock 18 and heading toward the Hastings Village Marina for the night. Dave, from Stevenson’s Marina, came over to check out the generator. He found a loose fuel filter, evidently letting some air into the line. Righty tighty and it was fixed. Relieved that it was nothing major, we went to dinner, then over to the Down Treader for dessert – apple pie ala mode – my favorite.

Saturday, 6 July – Hastings to Peterborough, ON – 38 mi., 2593 cum mi.

Cloudy, hazy, 70 degrees, then turning blue sky and nice. Dawn Treader followed us this time up the

Trent River. Lots of folks were enjoying themselves on the water.


Many of the waterfront homes had cool docks, boats, sliding boards, and creative ways to enjoy the water, and always some lawn chairs. Since it gets busy on the weekend, we went through lock 19 squeezed in with 5 other boats. Tight fit, but we all made it without waiting. We docked at the Peterborough Marina. It’s at the end of Little Lake, with a fountain in the center. The office in in a lighthouse with a deck restaurant/bar with live music all afternoon, and festive docktail parties going on – after all it is the weekend.  We met Freya and Don, our AGLCA harbor
hosts for Peterborough. Very nice people, very helpful with information, and they gave us a goodie bag full of maps, pamphlets, and homemade jelly. Peterborough’s stores and restaurants are a short walk from the waterfront. Al was happy to find Kilkenny Irish Cream Ale, a beer not available in the states that he really enjoyed in Banff on a ski trip. There was a free summer concert in the neighboring Del Crary Park. – did not recognize the groups or the music, but it added to the festivities. We stayed two nights, taking a break from the locks.  Dawn Treader pressed on, tight schedule to get home.