One Month and still Talking

Hi Everyone

It is hard to believe that we have been on the boat for five weeks already.  It has been great and neither one of us is getting tired of living on the boat.  Everything is so interesting and with our friends on board, I get help driving and basically all the work is cut in half which leaves too much time for eating and drinking.  For those who are interested I will give a short update from the last message on July 14 when we were in Killarney.  The message, which mistakeningly got sent the other day, was a copy of my first note.  Sorry, finger problems when trying to send it to another friend who had not received the original.  Well we are now in Windsor and spending much time visiting with my mother, Linda's sister and many other friends.  More eating and drinking.

Back to the trip.  After Killarney, one of the Silverton boats had to return to Starport Landing in Orillia as he had only one week of vacation.  The two of us did indeed go to Baie Fine and went all the way up to the end of this fiord to an area called the pool.  It reminded me of British Columbia rather than Ontario; high steep walls with trees, many islands and deep, deep water.  In one very narrow spot the entrance was less than 30' wide and you could see rocks on both sides.  Rainey's Buoy, the other boat, was leery about going through so we took the lead.  No problem.  We then went to the "Pool" but there were already about 20 boats anchored in the small area.  We tried 3 times to set our anchor in the only spot available but were not successful due to all of the weeds.  We decided to go elsewhere and spent the night anchored in Baie Fine.  Beautiful, quiet and the water was crystal clear.

We then headed for the Spanish River to spend a couple of nights at the Spanish Marina; the purpose was to catch the final round of the British Open on their satellite TV in the marina lounge.  The water around the marina was very shallow and it had a funny rusty tinge in colour.  The marina itself was great, obviously gov't funds.  Besides the lounge and sat TV, the showers and washrooms were spotless, there was a sauna (not needed) and an impressive weight and exercise room (not used).  They served breakfast every morning upstairs until 11:30, not bad. The town itself was too far to walk but the local grocery store or the restaurant would pick up boaters if you wanted.  The grocery shuttle was no hell, an old beat up van with only three seats for the six of us.  Oh well, we were in the middle of nowhere, about 30 minutes east of Blind River.

After 2 days we were ready to leave but there were thunderstorms in the area.  I was able to track them on my radar because the area was so flat.  We decided to make a run for Gore Bay on the north shore of Manitoulin Island in the afternoon and although it was a little rough (2-3 ft waves) we made it to the harbour just as the wind picked up and the skies darkened.  We just barely got plugged in and the windows up when a thunderstorm hit.  A short time later we toured the town; a neat town.  I would definitely go back again.  The Rocky Racoon restaurant and J&B's pub were both excellent.  At J&B's for lunch on the second day I ordered some coconut cream pie.  It was the best ever, even better than mom's.  It was a quarter of the pie and at least 3 inches high; a meal in itself.  My friend and I were so stuffed after the lunch we decided to go golfing while the girls went shopping yet again.  A university coed from the course picked us up and brought us back to the marina again.  Solari, you're in trouble when I return; a 39 with a double on the first hole.

After a couple of great days in Gore Bay, we had to start heading for Windsor to drop our friends off.  We made it back to Killarney the first day just in time to witness a rescue.  A sailor fell down his hatch and could not move.  His wife could do nothing with the boat, not even assist another power boater who responded to their flare.  The couple had trouble towing the sail boat in so the guy got on the sail boat and brought it back while the wife took the power boat.  We helped her dock and she did a pretty decent job under the circumstances.  The ambulance, police and coast guard took about an hour to get the injured man out of the boat (he hurt his back) and they then airlifted him by helicopter to the hospital in Sudbury.  There is always something going on in Killarney.

We stayed in Tobermory the next day.  A tourist trap the whole way.  Little Tug marina is right in the centre of town and they pack (squeeze) boats into every possible spot.  I had a neat time getting in and out with literally a foot or two on either side.  The Flowerpot Islands are worth spending some time at and the Sweet Shop has excellent coffee, ice cream and peanut brittle.  The ferry to Manitoulin is pretty impressive as well; the whole bow of the ship raises up so that cars and trucks can drive on.  I had to squeeze up to a brand new 61' Viking at the fuel dock the next morning.  In order for me to fit on the dock my bow was right over his transom.  He delayed us by an hour because he had both pumps filling his tanks; 1600 litres in one and 1300 l. in the other.  My 571 l. was pretty small change.
We stopped at Port Elgin the next day to visit Linda's niece.  Another nice marina, although the wind was blowing so hard that the boat was covered in sand.  We had a tour of the town and then spent the evening watching the people who were watching us.  Evidently, the number one thing to do in Port Elgin is to buy an ice cream cone and check out the boats at the marina.  There were only three of us on the main dock next to the ice cream parlour.  The sunset here was truly impressive.  Hope the pics turn out.

In the morning we headed off to Bayfield.  Lake Huron was nice and flat for a change and we were able to go close to shore and had a very pleasant day.  The Harbour Lights Marina is the closest thing to Crysler Park Marina that we have seen.  The people were super friendly, played games and had bon fires.  There was a swimming pool and often groups would go out to raft together to go swimming and travel to Grand Bend or Gooderich for dinner or beers.  The town was really neat as well; lots of restaurants and unique shops.  Bayfield caters to the wealthy from Toronto, Michigan and even Ohio.  We were supposed to leave for Windsor on Sunday but when I heard the small craft and thunderstorm warnings we decided to stay put.  A good choice in retrospect as it rained hard and a few T-storms passed through.  It gave me an opportunity to check out a brand new 46' Carver Motoryacht from Cleveland who was my neighbour here.  Awesome. 

The winds were supposed to die down after midnight then increase to 30 kph by mid morning.  We decide to leave early in the morning so we were on the Lake by 6:30 AM.  Unfortunately, visibility was only about 150 yards.  Thank god, for radar and GPS.  It was somewhat disconcerting not being able to see anything but by 8 0'clock the fog lifted and we could see Sarnia.  We were on track after all.  So we made it to Windsor without any further excitement.  We are staying at the Lakeview Park Marina for a couple of weeks.  It is a good marina within two blocks of my mother's apartment.  Lilly Kazilly's is a good restaurant right here at the marina.  A patio, lots of people and Keith's on tap.  The beer is closer to the boat than the washrooms.  ;>)

Well we have not decided where we go from here.  A party tonight, golfing and a BBQ tomorrow at our friends and another BBQ at Linda's sister's place on Sunday.  We need a vacation.

Hope all is well with everyone.  Will check my email regularly over this next week.
Take care.
Tom & Linda
      

Greetings from Gore Bay

Hi Gang Finally found access to the internet again. The North Channel has been awesome. We anchored out in Baie Fine and it looked more like British Columbia than Ontario. We are only 2 boats now as one returned last weekend. Our leader was to go off to the Sault but liked our plan more and has stayed with us and will likely do so until Thursday when we plan on making Tobermory.

The weather has been great, really hot and humid. Yesterday there were thunderstorms, but we decided to cross the channel between the two bands of storms. We just barely made it to Gore Bay when the skies opened. This is a neat town with everything near to the marina. The town of Spanish was a bit of a disappointment but they can't all be great. 

We are headed to the Benjamin Islands today and then will start working our way back to Killarney and then on to Tobermory. As it turns out, we have only penetrated about half of the north channel. There is still 100 miles but we will have to save that for another time.

Hope all is well and I will check in again when I get a chance. Tom & Linda

The Ontario Loop, The Beginning

Hi Everyone, just a general update for those who are interested. We are moving along quite well. We are now (July 1) in Barrie at our friends, Mike and Susan's place. We will stay the weekend and in fact are planning on playing golf tomorrow, July 2. Just to get you caught up I will start from the begininng.

We left Crysler Park Marina On Thursday June 24 and had dinner with my cousin in Gananoque that night. We then headed for Belleviille for 2 days and met up with Bill and Sandi who used to be at CPM last year. They are doing fine and have a nice spot there. The Bay of Quinte was a little rough, at idle speed, water was splashing over the flybridge. Thankfully it was a fairly small bay and we were in Belleville in a half hour or so.

Last Sunday, we started the Trent-Severn Canal. It was our first time in a small lock and (touch wood) things seem to be going pretty good. We did 12 locks on that first day and spent the night in Campbellford; a beautiful spot on the town waterfront. We managed to get to Peterborough the next day. Had great Kalamari (their spelling) at a pub called Riley's. I do recommend the place. We did the lift lock the next morning. Really neat and easy, but not as neat as the Kirkfield lift lock where we went in on the high side and had to drive the boat up to the barrier and all we could see from the flybridge was a 40 or 50 foot drop. I thought it was neat but I think Linda thought differently.

The third day in the T-S got us to Young's Point where we stayed at a really neat, but small, resort and marina. Beautiful beach, patio restaurant within 10 feet of the boat and excellent food and service. Another recommendation, in fact highly recommended. On Wednesday we stayed at a nice lock (#35) called Rosedale. Had a good BBQ, swam and took it easy for the evening. On Thursday we finished the last of the Trent Canal before hitting Lake Simcoe. Boring and awful. It was narrow, shallow (in fact I had to turn off my depth sounder because it was in constant alarm state for shallow water.) weedy and filled with deer flies. Oh well, that is behind us now. We had trouble getting into a decent marina in Barrie and so we were stuck out at Big Bay Point Marina. A dump with no service and no hydro for my boat. Thankfully, Mike and Susan have taken us in.

The Promenade Days and Live-Aid concert have made this a booming town. We are having a good time, although Linda is moton sick now that we are back on land. She says the house won't stop moving. ??? We will keep our fingers crossed; there has been very little wind for all of the locking that we have been doing. Linda says locking is more work than sailing. It has been very hot and we are glad that we are finished for a while. Our friends, Denis and Bonnie, are meeting us at Queen's Cove marina in Victoria Harbour next Saturday, July 9 for the 2 week tour of Georgian Bay. Should be a good time.

I'll send a short note again when I get a chance. Enjoy your summer. Tom

Anyway keep in touch and keep the rubber on the road. Tom