Little Current to the Good Ole USA

There is a weather front coming in for the next three to four days with rough water in the North Channel so we decided to leave bright and early and make a one hundred mile run for the border.  The customs dock is on Drummond Island Michigan.  We had good water conditions through the whole North Channel and arrived at the customs dock around 5:30pm,  checked in and pumped out.  We then went another hour to DeTour Michigan and met up with our looper friends on Average Looper and Navigator.  Mark and Jane on Average Looper made pizza's for everyone and Tom and Jan on Navigator made a special drink called Dirty Pirates.  We were glad to be back in the USA after almost two months in Canada.    Because of that weather front we all stayed in DeTour for a couple of days.  Next day our looper friends made us a steak dinner to celebrate being back together again, if only for a short while.  We are going to Mackinac Island and they are going to St. Ignace.  Here is a fun fact for you, while we were watching the water go bye we added up our nautical miles to see how far we have traveled since we left San Francisco and the statue miles is 4995.5 miles.  Yikes!  We also left our home port of Lodi a year ago.  Yikes!  Yes, we're still married and having fun.

Glad to be back in the USA

Here's Jan from Navigator

Here's Jane from Average Looper

Celebrating back together 

Navigator in the fore front and Average Looper in the back 

Great Lake ship 

Henry's to Little Current

On 8/8 we left Henry's and anchored at Hopewell Bay.  On the way we passed "Larry's Island".  Couldn't resist taking a photo here.  I would mention Georgian Bay is incredibly beautiful and home to 30,000 islands.  It is also part of Lake Huron.  Almost everybody seems to have a cottage on a rock with their name on it!  While we had the dingy out at Hopewell Bay's anchorage I was able to clean the "mustache" off the hull of the boat.

Next day we left for Bustard Islands.  Got there around 1:30 pm and enjoyed another beautiful anchorage.

Float plane coming into Henry's for lunch

More Georgian Bay

More Rocks!

Last rest stop before heading to the outside of Georgian Bay

Zoom in to read the sign about the barrel

There's Larry Island

Here's what it looks like

Anchored with Limelight

Sunset in the Bustard Islands

Little Current Anchor Inn where they broadcast every morning at 9:00 on the VHF radio to all the boaters in the area

Another WWI and II memorial

Orillia to World Famous Henry's

Stayed 8/2, 8/3, and 8/4 in Orillia.  It was a long Canadian weekend celebrating "Citizens Day".  Lots and lots of partying on the docks.  We had decided to stay in Orillia till after the holiday to avoid long waits at the locks.  So we took off Tues, 8/5 and we went through 3 locks and "The Big Chute" Marine Railway.  The Big Chute is a railway barge that lifts you out of the water, crosses a road and drops you 58 feet.  It was a unique, incredible experience.  After the big chute we were excited to go through our last Canadian lock in Port Severn.  The excitement was short lived after exiting the last lock into Georgian Bay where the channel markers changed colors.  In our confusion, we ran aground, AGAIN, and damaged our port side prop.  Luckily there was a marina with a boat lift and we were able to divert our just repaired props that were being delivered elsewhere to where we were staying in lower Starport Marina in Port Severn.  The next morning the props arrived at 4 am and we were pulled out, repaired and back in the water by 9 am.  We proceeded on to Beausoleil Island where we enjoyed a nice, peaceful anchorage for the night.  The next morning, 8/7, we left early in the morning to get a spot at the world famous Henry's Fish Restaurant and Marina located on Frying Pan Island.  This island is only accessible by boat or seaplane.  We couldn't believe how busy this place was! Many just come for lunch or dinner and leave.  Next few days we are anchoring out.

Starts daily operation at 9:00am.  The first lock from Orillia is right after this bridge

Limelight following us

Going thru the narrows

Rocks every where

The Big Chute coming down on our side

Limelight is in and we are on our way

Here we go! 

The last lock we have to go thru in Canada.  

I would say we have gone through over 125 locks.

These are the channel markers leaving the last lock 

This is what happens when you screw up in the channel

This is a screwed up screw

This is the free docks at the Canadian Park at Beausoleil Island that was full so we anchored out

Some of the beauty of Georgian Bay

One of the iconic stops on the loop

Panacea and Limelight at Henry's dock

Buckhorn to Orillia, ON

On Friday, 8/1 we left Buckhorn at 7:30 am.  The sun is shining and the water is smooth!  The beautiful terrain is filled with lush green trees along the bank and within the many small islands scattered along the way.  Lake Buckhorn is a very popular area to rent house boats and it is very interesting to watch them maneuver through the locks.  Drove right by the quaint touristy towns of Bobcaygeon and Fenelon Falls.  If we weren't so far behind we would have definitely stayed at both of these places. We went thru the narrow Trent canal, aka "the ditch".  One of the locks, the Kirkfield Lift Bridge, is the second largest lift lock in North America and we dropped 49 feet.  We also went through the concrete half circle historic Canal Lake Arch Bridge which was built in 1905.

Oh, the sun turned to rain when we stopped for the night.  That is quite common on East Coast and in Canada as of right now. We went through 8 locks today so it is time to stop for the night and have an adult beverage!  Can you tell Jan wrote this one?

After a quiet night staying at lock 40 we were on our way to Orillia which is only 18 1/2 miles.  We crossed Lake Simcoe which is the largest lake on the Trent Severn.  Luckily, the water was calm and the winds were light.  

The lock at Bobcaygeon and their world famous shoe store

Approaching the lock at Bobcaygeon

In the lock with all the tourist looking on

The ditch to the Kirkfield Lift Lock

Limelight following us

Entering the Kirkfield Lift lock where we start going down after raising to 841 feet above sea level

When you pull into this tub of water you are looking straight down 49 feet

Standing on the bow 

Boats coming into the tub

Just like the Peterborough Lift only not as big

Going down

This was called the Canal Lake High Arch Bridge, only one boat at a time

Built in 1905

Our last lock for the day #40

Lock wall #40, where we spent the night before heading to Orillia