Sometimes Things Don’t GO as Planned

 Lakefield And Buckhorn

Going thru the Peterborough Lift Lock took quite a bit of time. Lakefield was only a nine mile cruise but it involved 4 additional locks. We made it to Lakefield about 4 pm and decided to post up for the night. We all jumped into the canal to cool off and then enjoyed a shore dinner with the crew of Charlie Girl and Taylored For Two. After dinner we decided to take a stroll into town. On the way I heard a engine noise that I heard as a kid. I thought that sounds like a tractor pull. So I convinced the crew to follow the noise and sure enough we stumbled across a tractor/truck pull. What a blast.  

Nobody wanted to spent the $20 bucks per head to go in because it only had an hour to go. So we poked around and found a fence behinds the bleachers where we could see the the pull. Some of our crew had never seen one so I had to be the announcer so they got the idea. It was a hoot and holler!. On the way back Chris and I went to the lower side of the lock to check on a houseboat Bachelor Party of 30 sometings.

Well they invited on board and immediately out beers in our hands. It was hard to get away but we managed. The next morning we new we had weather moving in on us so we headed out at 8 am bound for the Lovesick lock. It was only 3 locks away but it went though another one of those incredible cruising grounds with a lot of windy channels and speckled with small pine tree rocky islands.

We chose Lovesick based on the when thunderstorms were projected to move in. Sue and I also came to the realization that unfortunately the prop repair we had done in Kingston was not good enough. We definitely had some vibration at certain RPMS. For those of you not familiar with prop vibration, a little bit can cause damage to other components like transmissions and bearing if you travel long distances.

 

We still have over 4000 miles to go so we needed to take care of it now. I knew that there was prop shop in Buckhorn that was top knothole at prop work. So we made the decision to pull into Buckhorn and have them pull the boat and rework the props. I spoke to the owner and explained our situation and he offered to pull us and eval the props. I heard they were known for being excellent.

The weather that was supposed to move in never did so we broke off from our group and went to the prop shop’s fuel dock. They said they would pull us in the morning and take a look. We no sooner got thru the Buckhorn lock and the skies opened up. Fortunately it was short lived so we were able to get to the dock without getting soaked. We had docktails with another Looper boat that was there waiting on parts so they could be on their way. The next morning the owner came down and gave us some bad news. We were too big for them to haul us out of the water. UGH! Now what do we do? 

The Big Bath Tub Lift

 Peterborough 

On Friday July 22nd we cruised 40 miles from Hastings down Rice lake to Peterborough Marina. We only had to transit one lock and that was right before we went to port. Rice Lake is a long narrow lake with a number of small islands, some with cottages that cover most of the land. Peterborough is a larger town with a lot of restaurants and conveniences that boaters like. 

I managed to get a much needed haircut just before happy hour. Dinner was had in town at Tassos, a Greek/Italian place where the food was plentiful and the taste was great. On Saturday there was a planned concert in the lawn right at the marina. The act was a rising country singer that they expected over 4000 people. We decided to press ahead to the next stop due to the some predicted weather and the fact there was a lot of Loopers at the marina. So Saturday morning we pushed off at 7:45 and headed to the famous Peterborough lift lock. This lock operates by two counterbalancing water chambers and uses no electricity. It was completed in 1904 and is still the highest of it’s type in the world. It raises boats over 65’ in under 2 minutes! It was a rush. A carnival ride for boats. The three crew from other two boats we were with decided to get on paddle boards and ride the lift down and then back up. When they came up there was a paddle club with 85 other paddlers that entered the lower chamber with them. While that was going on the lock goys invited us into the control room and even let us operate the switches. Super friendly guys. 

There is a group called “What Up Canada”.  Apparently these “influencers” on social media organize large groups of people to do tourist activities .This double decker cruise boat locked with is on the hydraulic lock.  I kept searching the crowd to figure out which guests were the “influences”,  

A kayaking club had a meet up the lock after us.  We counted about 50 kayakers.

Frankford, Campbellford and Hastings

 Trent Severn Historic Waterway

Tuesday morning, July 18th we pulled out of port early at 7:30 am as there was over 20 Loopers backed up at Port Severn Marina due to the weather. We wanted to get a jump to get ahead of the pack. As we said earlier, the locks don’t open until 9 am and the first lock was only 2 miles away. There is a Blue line that you pull up to to get in the queue to go into the locks. So we were there by 7:45 am and tied up.

 

 We had breakfast and coffee at the lock waiting for it to open. There was three other boats that had the same idea, Charlie Girl, Wild Thing and Taylored for Two. We had met these folks previously and enjoyed their company. Four boats pretty much fill a lock so it worked well except when we got there there was a couple of other boats that were already on the blue line.

So we had to wait for them to lock through and then it was our turn. When you enter the lock system the lock masters all communicate with each other letting the lock ahead know what boats are coming.  There is also a 10 KPH speed limit in a lot of the sections so if you show up too early they will scold you. Once you get into the first lock of the day you are generally with the same group of boats all day.

 

The good about that is you get to talk to the other boaters. The bad is if one of the boaters is new to boating it can get a little hairy. The weather that day was pretty warm with temps into the high 80’s. I think somebody forgot to turn on that Canadian air conditioner. There was a pretty good breeze so it wasn’t too bad. We only did 7.3 miles to Frankford but it took us until 2:30 pm to get there As we had 6 locks to transit.

When we got there there was only one space left and we were fortunate to grab the last one. Even better news it has power so we could run the AC. We got settled in and immediately headed off for some ice cream. After cooling off we took a quick spin in town which took all of about 5 minutes. The guys decided to follow me to the Largest boulder in Canada which was a 7 Km bike ride away.

We got to the boulder in the woods and took a pic. Glad Sue was not along as she would have been pissed that I had taken her on another long trek for little gain. We found our way back to the boats and enjoyed dinner aboard. After we socialized lockside and called it a night. 

The next day we were headed to Campbellford. It was a bigger town with pretty much everything a boater could need. The cruise was only 25 miles and 6 locks. The last two locks we a flight lock which means it is a double. When you come out of one lock you go right into the next lock. We got to Campbellford right about 1pm so we had some time to explore the town. The three of us went into town on our bikes to see what there was to offer. We went to a chocolate factory, the Sweetest Bakery in Ontario where there speciality was cream filled doughnuts and the walking suspension bridge. The suspension bridge spans across the rapids and offers a nice view of Riley Falls. We spotted some kids jumping in the water so we decided to join them as it was another hot day. After cooling off we had some dinner aboard and then went to the park where they had a band playing 50’s music. What a throw back. 

High lift lock in Campbellford.  The locks can get a little monotonous, but not when I met Martha, my friend for the day.  She had made avocado toast and had picked wildflowers for the boat…a girl father my own heart.  She had grown up in Peru and returns to see her family, although she lives in Rhodesia Island now.  We chatted about cooking, dining, and boating.  A good chat always helps the time go by on long lock days.

Traveling down narrow canal ways.   I am never 100% relaxed in these locks, although I have a very capable captain.  Anything can happen in a moments notice.  The cable I tie off to came off of the wall…I wondered why our boat was heading to the other side of the wall.  I whipped the line off the broken cable and on to a “different” one.  Collision averted.  

This little boat is called a Hobo. The guy that has it now has it all tricked out. Completely self sufficient. The guy is 6’3” and says he fits in it just fine. We have seen them at a couple of stops. Really friendly folks. Just goes to show you you don’t have to spend a lot to have a lot of fun. They are having just as good  a time as we are. 

After a warm day cruising we all had one thing on our minds….finding the perfect swimming hole.  We saw some people jumping off a a ledge of a not so high waterfall and did a short rock scramble to the water.  Feeling like a 10 year old jumping off the ledge into the cool clean water was good for the soul and was just the cooling off we needed.  Back on the bikes to find a “watering hole” to enjoy a “Cracked Canoe”, my most recent favorite beer.  No one seemed to notice we were dripping wet as we walked to the outside patio to have our drinks.

There was also a giant Toonie in the park to acknowledge the guy who designed it who was from Campbellford. For those that have not been to Canada they do not have paper one dollar bills. They have Loonies which are a dollar and Toonies that are two dollars. The crazy things you see along the way. 

This same night was a concert in the park.  Before long vans were dropping off folks from the local “nursing home” and the park was full of walkers and wheelchairs and an enthusiastic crowd.  By 9:00pm I walked past the folks from the nursing home and they teased me for going to bed so early!!!  

On Thursday July 21st  we cruised 19 miles and 6 locks to Hastings. The scenery started to change to  more rocky with more cedar and spruce. The locks went pretty slow and it was pretty hot for Canada. Just about three miles from our destination the winds picked up and we were hit with a small squall. Fortunately it only lasted 20 minutes so it was over before we got to the final lock at our destination. 

Just to keep thing fun as we were approaching the lock we were attacked by deer flies. These are the guys that land with their teeth and take a small chunk of flesh. OK so I am exaggerating a little but they do leave a welt. The rain had cooled things down a bit so all was good. Sue did a light reprovisioning and I got a couple of local craft beers at the LCBO. Yes I actually like some of the craft beers here. They have a class that is in a category of light IPA.

They call it very drinkable. At 3:30 we had the awesome experience of watching our daughter, Anna achieve the huge goal of receiving her RN pin. She finally did it and we watched on Zoom. We were even able to Zoom bomb her in the meeting. We are so incredibly proud of her. This has been a relentless pursuit of hers for the past 6 years. Way to go Anna you did it! 

Dinner was at a local Pub called McGuillys with the crew. Low and behold it was Karaoke night and we were treated to a rendition of “Take a Chance on Me” by the “Fromerly Charlies Angles”(Sue, Lisa and Melinda). Although we laughed a lot they actually did a pretty good job! This night was a riot.  A man we met at the bar named our group.  Abba has nothing on us for sure.  Although no contracts were signed, once we get our moves better synchronized this show is going on the road.

Gateway to the Trent Severn Waterway

 Trenton

We left Picton Saturday July 16th at 8am for a 39 mile cruise to Trenton. We arrived at 12:30 and after a quick pump out, yes there is a dirty job involved with boating, we got to our slip at Port Trent Marina. The marina turned out to be one of the nicest marinas we have ever been to as far as creature comforts. They provided free laundry and detergent, shower towels and bath mats, nice grills, and a really nice captains room.

They even had their out ice cream shop onsite with the famous Kawartha Ice Cream. Not sure why it’s so famous but it was really rich ice cream. The WiFi was awesome and the staff was as efficient and professional as we have ever seen. To top it off the oldest staff person was all of 25!  We went into town as they happened to have a festival along the Main Street.

Music was playing and stores had all their wears out on the street. Trenton itself was just another Canadian town but had all the basics a boater could want. The grocery store right next to the marina was top notch. We caught up on a lot of boat chores and enjoyed a couple of Looper gatherings on the docks. I went to a Canadian Aviation museum where they had a number of vintage aircraft most of which were made in the US.

Trenton is the gateway to the Trent Severn Waterway, a Canadian national heritage site. It was built much after the Rideau canal system so it lacks the old fashion lock systems. The Trent is 240 miles long with 44 locks ending at Port Severn which is at the mouth of Georgian Bay. We had planned on leaving on Monday but unfortunately the weather had different plans.

 

Rain moved in over night and continued into the afternoon. We decided another day at port would be better than transiting 6 locks in the rain. Besides we really liked the marina and were enjoying the comaraderie of  our fellow dock mates.  

Sometimes It’s Just About the Food

 The Smallest Places Sometimes Have The Biggest Surprise

On Friday July 15th we headed off to Picton Ontario which would be a 32 mile cruise from Kingston which was half way to Trenton which is the beginning of the Trent Severn Heritage Canal system. We were on a high from getting over a major hurdle. We arrived at the town marina around 1 pm. Sue took advantage of some down time while I explored the town.

It turns out Picton is a small quiet town that is beginning to boom from many moving out of Toronto discarding city life for a quieter pace. On my ride I found a local butcher shop which was loaded with shop made sausages, stuffed chicken breast and pea meal bacon. For those of you who have never had peameal bacon you are mossing out. It is another Canadian thing. It is a cured pork loin rolled in cornmeal. You slice it about 1/8” thick and pan fry it in a bit of butter. You then do one of two things with it.

You eat it like bacon with your eggs or you make some toast and slice up a garden fresh tomato and lettuce for a BLT the likes of which you have never tasted. It has a salty porky flavor that is to die for. So we loaded up with protein provisions and headed back to the boat to begin happy hour. We got a tip on a local restaurant that we stopped at earlier and were lucky enough to score a reservation at the bar. The restaurant was called Barcados, a Spanish tapas restaurant. We sat down and were immediately greeted by a friendly bartender.

He asked the appropriate questions about what we liked and quickly got us some drinks. He offered to order us a flight of food from the menu  that he promised would wow us. We cut him loose and the gastronomic adventure began. Let remind you Picton is a small rural Canadian town. We went from Tapas to dessert. When finished we both said it was easily on of the top five meals we have ever had. This place without a doubt is a Michelin Star quality restaurant. We learned that up till 2022 Canada was not included in the prestigious restaurant  rating company. This one will surely make the list in short order. 

White anchovy toast

This was the main which was some type of heritage pork

Sushimi tuna

Yes we even had dessert!

Russian Submarines

 Russian Submarines

So for those of you who are not into the technical part of our blog this might be one to skip, Patty. But then you wont know what the cliff hangar was all about! So in boating there is a saying that there are those that run aground and those that lie about it. Well our time was obviously up. We utilize a program called Navionics to navigate by. It gives us up to date charts with charted depths. We have used it for years and have found it extremely accurate. On our cruise this day we came upon an area in Little Cranberry Lake where the channel was taking us in a very narrow area between a tiny island and the main land. The chart was showing a depth of 6’ thru the narrow passage with a rapidly rising bottom on both sides.  On the port side of Mountney Isl it was much wider and the depth was charted at 11’. So I chose to go outside the channel to follow the deepest water. We slowly made our way past the island with the depth sounder showing 12’ of water. If you look at the chart, the black line was the suggested route from Navionics. The yellow line was our actual track. We passed the island without incident then all of a sudden we felt the boat lurch up then back down with a bang. Throttles down gears out. “What the hell was that?”  

We powered back up and had a sickening feeling when we felt a vibration. We had hit the running gear and damaged one of the props. I ran down to the engine room to check for water coming into the boat from a breach of the hull. Good news, if there is any at this point, bilges all dry. So we limped along the way to the last lock on the Rideau, Kingston Mills. Once there I dawned my diving gear to do an inspection. Bad news was the starboard prop had one of the 4 blades bent over. The good news no damage to the hull, rudders, shafts, transmissions or port prop. When I finished the hull inspection and came out of the water another guy that had just been dropped off at the lock from another boat and  asked what was I doing. His name was Jay.  I then proceeded to tell him our story. He said; “Oh you hit a Russian Submarine”! As luck would have it he works at a Metal Craft Marine, a company that fabricates aluminum fire boats, right in Kingston. They have done work for Little Creek Amphib base. He said, “let me make a few calls”.

Turns out the boat that dropped him off was Bob, the owner of both Metal Craft and Kingston marina. And thus began a series of additional small miracles that is hard to believe. As the wheels were turning on Jays side I started calling to find out where I could get the prop fixed, a diver to pull it off and get back on our way. I called a couple of places both Canada and Clayton, NY. Everybody said 6-8 weeks to get to it. “We don’t have 6-8 weeks”, I said. It would scrub our Loop. Then Bob gave us a name of a small outboard prop shop in Kingston where the owner, Jim is 84 years old and has been doing props for a zillion years. I phoned  Jim and he told me he owned a big boat years ago and understood my predicament. He said; “Get it to me and I will get it fixed. So now we needed to get the prop off. Next step, call a diver. Couple hours later I get a call back from the diver. He said to expensive for him to do it.

Here in Canada any commercial dive job there has to involve three other people, one buddy diver, one person on shore and one EMS guy with the ability to do decompression. Then before he starts he has to report the job to the Ministry of Health to get a permit. Diver option off the table. That meant we needed to get Next Chapter pulled out of the water. Turns out Bob who owns the marina and Metal Craft had a crane on site.

He said, “no problem we will get her pulled Thursday Morning”. Sandy, the yard manager said he wanted to get it all setup on Wednesday afternoon to pull it early Thursday. Well I jumped in and helped rig the crane. It went very smoothly so he decided to pull her all the way Wednesday at the end of the day. Miracle #2. Next Chapter was now on the hard. They put us on a commercial trailer but left us in the sling where we spent the night. Notice I didn’t say sleep for the night! All night about every hour we would hear a loud creaking as the old trailer hydrolics back leaked allowing very tiny movements. 

Thursday they had lined up a separate vendor to come pull the prop as they did not have the tools. That guy was a no show. Turns out the Marina was not good at paying their vendors in a timely manner. Now what? As I was sitting making calls to try to find a puller an older sea salt, Elision walked by with a couple of tools in his hand so I quipped, “Hey any chance you have a prop puller”? He stopped and looked back at me and said well as a mater of fact I do!. Miracle  #3.  He said it is at my house I will go grab it.

10 minutes later he shows back up and proceeded to help me pull the prop. 20 minutes later the prop was on the ground. He then looked at me and asked, “how you gonna get it to the prop shop”? I said if I have to strap it to my back and ride my bike I will. He then just handed me his keys and said I will be on my boat for a couple hours it yours. Miracle #4. Off to the prop shop. Dropped the prop off at 12pm.

Jim, the owner looked and shook his head and said I don’t know if I can fix it but we will give it a shot. I will call you and let you know. Back to the marina to drop the car off and profusely thank Elision for his help. Of course he refused any monetary gesture however I did fill his car with gas. 

Sue and I went into Kingston to do some more exploring and possibly get a hair cut. She found me a place for a trim so we sat down to wait our turn. Then the phone rings, “its the prop shop”. Breath held , Jims answers and said, “you can come pick up your prop its ready”! Miracle #5.  As we returned to the Marina trying to figure out how we were going to get back to the prop shop we ran across Bob the owner of the marina. He asked, “How is it going”? I said great except for one problem we have to get the prop. He said no problem here is the keys top my car, help yourself. Miracle #6. Off to the prop shop.

I lightened my wallet, grabbed the prop and was back to the Marina at 4pm. Borrowed a few tools from the work shop and had the prop back on at 4:30 pm. 

Now, when could we get Next Chapter relaunched? Found Sandy and asked, “Hey I know it’s late in the day any chance you could splash us”? He yes in fact if you are not ready , won’t be able to do it for two days as will be off. Dawned the hard hat again and at 5pm Next Chapter was floating again! Miracle #7. Now the big question, did Jim get the prop right? After all he said he was not really setup to handle big props. That worry would have to wait until tomorrow. Sue and I immediately walked into town to celebrate our current series of victories.  Well after several celebratory beers we passed out early. In the morning we planned to make our way to Picton, Ontario. At 9 am we idled out of the harbor with breath held. Throttled up the engines, cruising speed reached. Can’t stand the anticipation can you? No vibration! Loud cheers from the bridge. Miracle #8. If it were not the kind selfless generosity of total strangers we would not be on our way. This is what we love most about doing this trip. We all get too caught up in all the negative news of human nature. We are here to tell you that good people, by an overwhelming majority, populate the earth abundantly. We are ever so humbled to be on the receiving end of such true kindness and graciousness. We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all those strangers now friends, Bob, Jay, Sandy, Greg, and Jim that went out of their way to allow us to continue on this incredible odyssey

Goodbye Kingston!