Georgian Bay: Port Severn to Midland

Well, I am almost a month behind on the blog but Deb has been doing such a great job posing picture albums on Facebook at CarouselCruising  that I feel some of the pressure is off! The other thing is that updating the blog is very tedious without a fast internet connection and we have had very few of those recently.

Entering Georgian Bay

We  left the Trent Severn Waterway system on July 26 and entered into Georgian Bay at the top of Lake Huron. Georgian Bay is one of the premier cruising grounds in the world, according to many. The waterway here can get quite busy but as we entered the bay we saw only a few other boats.

The navigation charts have "recommended routes" marked in red lines. The recommended routes are intended to be safe navigation areas with proper depths and distance from hazards.

Well, soon after we entered the Bay, we encountered a VERY narrow spot on the Recommended Route. The opening between the buoys was only a few feet more than Carousel's width AND the rout takes a 90 degree turn between the buoys! We approached the spot dead slow with the engines in neutral and using Carousel's inertia to move forward as we centered on the channel between the buoys, Mike put the port (left) engine in forward and the starboard engine in reverse. Carousel pivoted nicely around the red buoy as the green buoy just passed across the transom. Mission Accomplished!

The rest of the trip was pretty easy as we approach our first Georgian Bay stop, Beausoleil Island, 

part of the Georgian Bay National Park. The same pass that allowed us to stop overnight at the locks in the canal system is valid at the National Parks. We docked at the "Cruisers Dock" with a few other boats. We enjoyed a celebration steak dinner, the sunset, and a campfire. Since we had also now entered the Great Lakes, we paid our respects to the Great Lakes Cruising Club (GLCC) by hoisting their blue and white burgee on the port spreader. The GLCC is a great resource for detailed harbor descriptions throughout the Great Lakes. But, importantly, is was GLCC members who originally charted the "recommended routes" through the Georgian Bay in the 1930's and 40's.

Midland, ON

On the 27th we departed for a short 1 1/2 hour cruise to Midland, Ontario for a stay at the Wye Heritage Marina. Our purpose there was two fold. First we were going to depart Carousel for several days and fly back to Galena, IL for Mike's high school reunion and to meet up with some old friends. Second, we had been experiencing a little vibration on the starboard engine and we wanted to get that addressed before going much further. We had been talking with the marina on the phone for about 10 days about our stay. They were helpful in lining up a shuttle to take us to the Toronto airport. However, they hadn't made any arrangements internally to look at our engine issues. We departed Carousel on a Wednesday with the commitment that they would look at it "in a few days" and call the local Caterpillar guy. Well, that didn't happen. When we returned almost a week later, finally they arranged for the Cat technician to come by the next day. In about 30 minutes, he diagnosed that we had a bad fuel injector that was stuck closed. Simple enough fix, but the part was in Mexico and would take 2-3 days.

With that news, we shifted our plan and rented a car to do some land cruising. We also found out the next day that the part might not be arrive for 3-5 days. Well, Mike called the Cat dealer in northern New York, found the injector. They would have it at their location near Buffalo, NY the next morning. We called our secret weapon, our daughter Maggie who lives in Buffalo and she committed to picking up the part at 7AM the next day, before going to work (she starts at 8AM). When Maggie mentioned the early morning pick-up to her good friend, Kimberly Clendenning, a member of our church in Commack, Kimberly volunteered to take on the morning pick-up. Kimberly is going to school in Buffalo and working there this summer. The next morning, Friday, Kimberly was at the Cat parts store at 7AM, part in hand in about 20 minutes.

With that news, Mike told the marina to schedule Cat first thing Monday morning and Mike and Deb drove to Buffalo on Saturday morning, met up with Maggie and her boyfriend Brendan; had a nice visit with them and picked up the injector. We had an enjoyable day, seeing how homey Maggie has already made their apartment.  Of course, while in Buffalo, they took us for lunch at Duff's for a lunch of buffalo chicken wings!

On Sunday we visited some historic sites around Midland and the Monday morning repair went without a hitch. Mike asked Cat to mail the the parts that they had ordered to Killarney Mountain Lodge, a marina that we would visit in about 10 days. With that, we would now have spare parts on board should we ever have that problem again. We did some final provisioning, as there would be no ports for the next 5 - 6 days and were ready to set off to Georgian Bays 30,000 islands on Tuesday morning, August 9th.

Trent Severn Waterway Part 4:

Orillia to Port Severn, ON

Catching Up

We are at anchor on the Georgian Bay today waiting for an all-day rain system to pass. We have been having really great boating weather and, I believe, this is only the third rain day that we have had since June when we started.

So, this becomes an opportunity to catch up on the blog. Updating the blog takes a pretty good data connection so I have fallen behind. However, Deb has been updating the CarouselCruising Facebook page pretty regularly with pictures as we have been going along from her phone with marginal service.  Today while at anchor we have a pretty good cell service!

Deep Bay

Lake Couchiching

On July 24, from Orillia we proceeded north on Lake Couchiching for about 8 miles back towards the waterway. Lake Couchiching is a fairly shallow lake and we had to continue to watch our course to stay in deep water. 

We planned a pretty short day for ourselves with a short 2-3 hour, 12 mile journey to Deep Bay (map here) just off of Sparrow Lake.

Our list of obstacles for the day included some tight bends in the channel, a swinging railroad bridge and only one lock!

CN rail bridge closing JUST after we passed through!

Other things to look out for along the way

We moved right along and arrived in Deep Bay about 1PM. We moved toward the back of the bay and anchored between land with a few cottages and a large rock. The forecast included thunderstorms overnight so we selected this well-protected place with a good mud bottom to give the anchor great holding. The area was one of the prettiest that we had seen so far!

Sunset on Deep Bay

The Big Chute and Gloucester Pool

On July 25, our 14th day in the Trent Severn Waterway, we had a bit of work to do in getting the anchor up. The anchor and chain were covered with mud and weeds! The whole operation took about 20 minutes to clear the weeds and hose off the anchor chain as it was brought on board.

The trip along the way included several tight bends and narrow channels. By this time we have become pretty used to navigating in these tight quarters but continued diligence is necessary!

Weeds in Deep Bay

Deb navigating the channel

Sometimes it feels a little close.

Zut Alors!

In some places, the channel becomes so narrow that larger boats like us radio ahead on VHF channel 16 to warn of our approach and entry into the area. This lets other larger boats know to hold off until the first boat is cleared. The warning follows a standard format that is easy to recognize; "Sécurité, sécurité, sécurité. This is Carousel, a 42 foot trawler approaching Little Chute in 5 minute. All concerned traffic please respond on channel 16."

Lock 43 - Swift Rapids

This was also the big day for the tallest lock on the system and the Big Chute Marine Railway. The lock dropped us an amazing 47 feet and everything about it seemed large! No manual operation here - there was actually a concreate control tower. However, this is pretty small compared to the full-size Laker locks we will see next year getting to Lake Superior!

The Big Chute Marine Railway is another engineering marvel. The two bodies of water actually do not connect so the marine railway picks up the entire boat. The process is that all boats dock along "the blue line" and the lockmaster will call each boat over a loud speaker as he is ready and as he can fit them on board the railway. We got to go alone and you can see the video of our lift here.

Back in the water, leaving Big Chute!

After Big Chute we navigated a zig-zag course to an anchorage in Gloucester Pool (map here). We were serenaded by Loon calls in the evening. Another beautiful spot for the night!

Gloucester Pool Anchorage

Port Severn

July 27 was our last day on the Waterway. With only one lock to go we admitted that we were ready to move on and put the locks behind us for a while. The waterway in this area was very scenic with cottages along the way.

Lock 45 at Port Severn is quite busy since it connects the Waterway with the Georgian Bay. It is also smaller than most locks and, therefore can hold fewer boats. We had to wait about 30 minutes to enter the lock and we found the combination of wind that day, the current into the dam, and the closeness of the other boats that were waiting, made us do quite a bit of maneuvering to hold our position.

Waiting for the group ahead of us at Port Severn

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Two smaller boat in the lock with us

Then, upon exiting the lock, one last navigation challenge. The exit is an obstacle course of buoys leading under the the Highway 401 bridge, which strangely, has a large rock under it that needs to be avoided. Then we were in the Georgian Bay!

Highway 401 bridge