Thursday, August 2-Sunday, August 5

Thursday, August 2-Sunday, August 5

Port Severn Lock #45 is the smallest lock on the Trent.  Only one of our big boats could go through at a time.  We had to wait for some boats to go through the lock ahead of us and then Tom went through first with some smaller boats.  We had to wait for them to bring some boats coming up the lock and then we went down through with a small boat.  

We were warned about how narrow and congested this area is just below the lock. We had to issue a Security Call on the radio to announce that we were entering and passing thru the narrow zone. Literally, there is not enough room for 2 boats to meet and pass each other safely.

About a mile or so outside the lock we passed Kilcoo Lane, Bob and Sheila’s cottage. They were all out there on a rock waving at us as we went by.

It was a nice good-bye to the Trent Severn Waterway.

We are now in the Georgian Bay.  This is a really busy holiday weekend for Canadians.  It is their Civic Holiday and they have Monday off so we knew that there would be a lot of boats out anchoring and cruising.  We decided to go up into a popular spot right by Beausoleil Island called Chimney Bay.

There were lots of boats everywhere. We dropped the dink and went exploring. A bunch of boaters were camped out on shore and had their smaller boats tied to a dock. As it turns out, they had a visit by a bear that night and the very next night as well.

The first night that we were there there were 14 boats anchored by us, by Saturday night  there were 44.  On Friday we took our dinghies over to Honey Harbor.  One side had a couple of marinas where we got fuel for our dinghies.  We cruised by  Picnic Island to the other side of Honey Harbour where they had a municipal dock to tie up so that you could visit the small village.  They had a store that had everything. A restaurant, a hardware store, a grocery store, a clothing store, a kitchen store and they even sold ice cream.  We visited a couple of gift store and left.  We were hungry so we took the dinghies over to Picnic Island and ate lunch at The Fry Hut.  This little place is a resort that has a convenient store and marina where you could get fuel and Ice cream.

On Saturday some Canadian gold Loopers named Dave and Sue came over to our boat to welcome us to the “neighborhood”.  They invited us to take a dinghy ride with them the next day.  That afternoon we dinghied over to Beausoleil Island and walked on the trails.  It was quite a hike and sometimes we had differences of opinions as to which way to go.

 

We met some campers there that said that a bear had visited their campground the night before. There is an open pavilion building that had bear proof locked cages for food from the campers so would not have food at their campsite.

The next day we took our dinghy and Dave and Sue’s dinghy and explored some neat anchorages in Musquash channel by Bone Island.  Fun ride.  Afterwards we stopped at Picnic Inland resort for Ice Cream.  When we got back to our Cove, people in boats around us were calling us over to talk to them.  It seems that after we left to go on our ride a Silverton boat came in and anchored too close to us and he dropped his anchor over our anchor chain.  As he was setting his anchor he dislodged our anchor and then both boats started drifting toward each other. Other boaters around us jumped in their dinghies and came to the rescue. They used their dinghies to go between our two boats so they didn’t collide.  One guy pulled up the anchor on the Silverton but explained that he thought our anchor came up as well. The Silverton took off and moved to another bay. The boaters around us kept and eye on our boat to make sure it was not dragging anymore.  When we got onto the boat we pulled our anchor up, moved the boat back to our original position and reset it.  That evening, the Canadian couple from the boat that saved our boat came over to visit and brought us a 6 pack of beer.  Great couple. She is a math teacher and Steve is a fireman.

This is the boat in our original position…

The next day we went over to Dave and Sue’s boat and they gave us some tips on great anchorages in the Georgian Bay. We really appreciate local knowledge. Dave  was amazing. He bought this boat after it was sunk in a hurricane. He owned a body shop and trucked the boat here to the area and set about rebuilding and refurbishing the boat. It literally looks like new. Just OUTSTANDING!

What a great anchorage…