On No Here We Go Again
So this is out of order but that’s just how it goes. Days of the week no longer mean anything so it’s hard to keep track of where we were and when. We forgot to include the run to Kirkfield Lock on the way to the mouth of lake Simcoe where we strayed just past the swing bridge. When we left Felon Falls we had to pass thru the the Kirkfield Lift Lock just like the one at Peterborough just not as tall.
Remember a lift lock is the one where you basically enter a bath tub and they lift you in the tub to the next level. In Kirkfield they lower you. We were all prepped for the trip as the entrance to the Kirkfield lift lock is treacherous in that it is so narrow that large boats like ours cannot pass another large boat coming from the opposite direction and the depth is only 5-6 feet. We draw 4.5’. So we headed off with our brand new tuned props and we get to the narrow part. We called the lock master to see if any boats were coming from the lock in our direction. He said there was one so we waited until it came out of the channel. He also said, “see you in 1.5 hours”.
I thought how could it take that long we were only 3 miles from the lock. Well it took that long as we were at idle the whole way when we were not out of gear trying to sneak across a shallow areas . Then all of a sudden we heard a thud. Shit, we hit something. How could that be, we were dead center of the channel? Well we continued along and passed thru the lock and had another 2 miles of shallow water.
We made it past the swing bridge where we spent the night. Did not even have a beer that night as I felt sick to my stomach. After Orillia which we already posted on we headed to the Big Chute Railway. The big chute is a cart that you drive the boat into and they catch you on straps and then it is pulled out of the water and it goes down a hill and let you out on the other side. It is a very simple design but an amazing piece of engineering.
Look up Big Chute Railway on You Tube. You will be amazed. It was another incredibly unique boating experience. It was both exciting and terrifying at the same time being the captain. The cruise to the big chute was spectacular. Comfortably narrow but picturesque. We stayed on the gray line for the night as we arrived on Sunday which is the day they don’t lift boats over an 11’ beam. It was a warm day so I got up the guts to put on a snorkel and masks to go take a look at the props to see what we damaged. Good news! No damage. We launched the Dinghy and headed back the way we came to a restaurant we saw on the water called Waubics. It was a great little restaurant that is only accessible by boat. Everything including staff are brought in by boat. We enjoyed a great meal and had a pretty sunset ride back to the boat.
The next morning we were number 7 to get thru the Big Chute. We thought we would not get thru until 2 pm as they only take one big boat per trip. Well things went quicker than expected so we went thur about 11am. It was simply exillerating. Check out this link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy7OG_vViSM
Great New Friends we met from the UK. We really enjoy their company. Already planning a trip to London to visit.
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